After Hours

It’s hard to remember this (thankfully) but ten years ago it was impossible to get elected to a highly contested political office while supporting gay marriage. Hillary’s statement in 2000 that marriage was between a man and a woman, but people in committed same-sex relationships should be given the same rights as a married couple was a politically dangerous compromise in the year 2000. Indeed, this was the exact same compromise that Bernie Sanders helped usher in in Vermont that same year.

People get so damned pissed at Hillary…picking apart every bit of her record to confirm the existing bias that she’s a conspiratorial, power-hungry nut job. It’s terrifying to me, because she’s likely to be the nominee, and we seem really predisposed to distrusting her.

I don’t really understand people who get up in a politician’s face for being at the mercy of public opinion. It is literally their job to enforce the will of the people, that’s why this is a democracy. I would much rather have a person lead this country who is willing to change their mind than one who has always believed and will always believe the same thing. Or worse, someone who knows without a doubt that they are always right and have somehow never been wrong.

Bernie has been a much more stalwart supporter of LGBT rights than Hillary, and his vote against the “Defense of Marriage Act” was politically dangerous and courageous. But he also had the freedom of representing a small, homogenous, progressive state.

I remember the dumb arguments we made to ourselves the gay marriage wasn’t a big deal. I remember accepting those arguments myself. And I remember it being an litmus test that conservatives were using to weed out progressives and further their totally unrelated agendas. It sucked, but it happened…and we have to remember that before around 2006, a very strong majority of Americans opposed gay marriage.

It seems impossible now to be a conscious human and be opposed to marriage equality, but that was not the case 20 years ago. We sucked, and we shouldn’t forget it or give people a pass…but Hillary was ahead of the curve on this issue…just not as ahead as Bernie was.

Charming Illustrated Cinemagraphs Reflect The Idyllic Mood Of Lazy Summer Days

Charlie Kelly & The Waitress UP Parody

More than 50 percent of the witness statements said that Michael Brown held his hands up when Darren Wilson shot him. (16 out of 29 such statements)

Only five witness statements said that Brown reached toward his waist during the confrontation leading up to Wilson shooting him to death.

More than half of the witness statements said that Brown was running away from Wilson when the police officer opened fire on the 18-year-old, while fewer than one-fifth of such statements indicated that was not the case.

There was an even split among witness statements that said whether or not Wilson fired upon Brown when the 18-year-old had already collapsed onto the ground.

Only six witness statements said that Brown was kneeling when Wilson opened fire on him. More than half of the witness statements did not mention whether or not Brown was kneeling.

"People play dress up and play war games in the streets with civilians. ‘What are the police doing there?’, is my question. You’re not protecting the people…and you’re not protecting property, so why are you there?

Then a larger question I would also ask of the American people…is it ok to break the law or not? Because the cops are breaking the law left and right. It’s state law…state regulation to wear a badge and have a badge number and have a name tag visible. We have a right to freedom of the press. We have a right to assemble. They’ve blocked out air space so that the press cannot view what’s going on. They’re violating people’s rights, left and right. They’re firing tear gas and other projectiles into people’s homes…at people on their private property. So…is it ok to use violence to get what you want…or not? Because, a cop blew the head off of Michael Brown, shot a teenager 6 times…but Michael Brown’s the savage because he pushed a guy in a convenience store?

Like, you don’t own us anymore. You see? Either we all have the same inalienable rights…or we don’t. Back in the day we could have separate rights…but we’re not…that noise is dead now.”

this is something I get A LOT, so I’ll cover it here! I may stray from the initial question because I’ll try to be as clear as I can because this isn’t a simple answer of recommending which one you should use. I’ll also make it quite universal!

It’s great that you’re thinking of using DSLR to make films, they are incredibly fun to work with and they can provide great results when used correctly. too many people think buying a DSLR will make everything look fantastic without any effort, this is not the case. 

I would strongly recommend reading about cinematography, watching a lot of films, and maybe even buying a really cheap handy cam for £100 to practise composing shots and then cutting together your footage. If you’ve never worked with cameras before in this field, I wouldn’t suggest jumping straight into DSLR without a bit of practise first. 

once you do feel comfortable enough to spend at least £600 on an entry level DSLR, then make sure you read into which one will work best for you. do you need an articulating screen? do you need full-frame? are you vlogging? doing stop motion?

once you’ve decided on the body, you’ll have to start looking into lenses. this is where it can get expensive, especially if you don’t know what you’re looking for. If you’re making vlogs then you can get by with the kit lens that comes with the body, but if you’re thinking of making short films or maybe even commercial work, you’ll want to invest in some good glass. 

It’s so important to read and learn about what you’re buying. I know too many people who buy DSLR and have no idea how they work and end up not getting the best results out of their camera. you’ll be learning about ISO, aperture, shutter speed, white balance, picture styles, latitude, depth of field and so much more. It’s incredibly important to learn what all of these functions mean and how they work in conjunction with each other, because that is what DSLR is built around. 

okay, so that’s the main portion of what I have to say, I’ll move onto what I use. this is not me recommending equipment to use because It’s not necessarily going to apply to what you need.

so I use the Canon 5DMKii at the moment, I started with a 550D but when I started doing professional commercial work, I felt it necessary to upgrade. I have a variety of lenses such as Canon 50mm 1.8, Canon 35mm 2.0, Tokina 11 - 16mm 2.8, Tamron 28 - 75mm 2.8, Tamron 17 - 50mm 2.8 and some others that I can’t remember right now. again, It’s really important to learn about focal length, sensor size and what these lenses do because some apply to different situations more than others. 

so once you’ve got your camera and lens(’s) sorted, you may want to invest in other bits of equipment, again, depending on what you’re intending to make. a sturdy tripod is important. you don’t want to spend over £1,000 on a camera and then have it fall over and get damaged! 

lighting! lighting is a huge part of film making. shooting with your DSLR under natural lighting can produce some pretty decent quality footage, but as soon as you start shooting inside, at night, you’re going to have to start bumping up the ISO and your video quality will began to degrade. luckily you can get away with using desk lamps and what not, but if you want to get the best out of your camera, you’ll want to use something like white light soft boxes. 

we’re nearly there, I promise. another thing that’s pretty essential is sound. no matter what you’re doing, sound is important. Rode do a really good videomic range which are somewhat inexpensive. I personally use a Rode videomic pro and a bluebird condenser mic. 

that’s pretty much the essentials to get going. eventually you might want other accessories. I use bits of equipment like an external monitor, a zoom, oh, also batteries! lots of extra batteries! and other little bits and pieces.

I must stress that this might not be for you, whether it’s because of costs, or maybe because you’ve found other alternatives like handycams, this is just covering almost everything if you want to start making professional content with DSLR. this is also just my view on it, you’ll find some people swear by DSLR and some people absolutely hate them. It’s all about what works best for you. 

Carl Sagan

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