#//he's one of the few FOs I have that started as a like via aesthetic and just--- flew from there

[shipped-to-the-stars]

Garmadon took over my headspace in the span of three fucking days and now I can’t stop picturing him over my shoulder, grinning, in his silly-as-hell PJs just ‘relax, star~’ and I’m over here internally screaming, thank stars I’m home alone tonight b/c I am DYING.

[fannishcodex]

Interesting meta from cruelfeline and others inspired my idea for a role swap AU where the main swap is between Hordak and Adora! There are other character swaps in the AU too, or swap variations.

Hordak is the latest Prim-Al, a living weapon that a First Ones faction clones over and over again each time one perishes in battle. FO created Prim-Al in response to their magitech AI Light Hope going rogue and constructing her own army of androids she calls the She-Ra. 

More under the cut, including Queen Adora, leader of the Etherian Alliance and stranded android still loyal to her creator, and her discovery of a baby Hordak (Content Warnings: ableism; child abuse; Catra is a villain and completes her transformation into a Shadow Weaver-like figure, and the implications of that):

But first, a little more summed up detail on Prim-Al’s deal, because there’s more to it:

-Hordak’s genetic template is a mysterious Subject A. The FO took preserved samples of Subject A to continually make clones of him for Prim-Al. 

-FO also made a digital copy of Subject A’s mind, a magitech AI named Prime. As a digital clone of an organic mind, much of him acts like an organic mind. Though FO has added some heavy programming and other alterations, they’ve tried to leave much of the organic-based behavior intact for multiple reasons--as an ongoing experiment in digital clones of minds, as an attempt to deter another rogue AI by trying to make this AI more aligned with organics (in contrast, RS!Light Hope was generally not based on an individual’s organic mind, she is not a digital clone like RS!Prime).

(Magitech is what it sounds like--a typically powerful fusion of magic and technology.)

-AI Prime is contained in the RS!Sword of Protection, and is actually the key to its power.

-The clones are actually vessels that channel magitech AI Prime through the sword. When a clone holds the sword, they sync with AI Prime inside, and together they essentially fuse and transform into Prim-Al.

-Prim-Al occurs in two stages. The first stage has some boost in power, some physical changes in body and clothes. The last stage has a greater boost in power and more physical changes--aged up (to a certain point), more muscular, longer hair, clothes, etc.

-AI Prime will only grant power to the clones/can only sync with the clones because they share a blood connection to the organic mind he was based on. This reaction is largely rooted in AI Prime’s magitech nature.

-Despite the death of Subject A, FO was able to preserve his mind and DNA to continue weaponizing him via biological and digital cloning. (The reasons for the FO’s focus on Subject A are also classified, though one can infer that Subject A possessed a power FO wanted to preserve and control....)

-AI Prime/the Sword of Protection is passed down through multiple iterations of Prim-Al.

-One of AI Prime’s functions is to also serve as a living archive of information, and so AI Prime remembers every Prim-Al. He is supposed to have this information available for new clone vessels to access.

-The clones do get names, but as they mature FO generally uses them less and refers to them as Prim-Al more. FO generally mistreat Prim-Al/clone vessels/AI Prime, seeing them as just weapons to keep under control.

FO doesn’t create a clone army because they’re honestly paranoid about creating another powerful enemy; they think that just one Prim-Al under selective limitations will grant them better control and avoid another Light Hope debacle. There are other classified reasons for this too. Also a FO faction created Prim-Al; the entirety of FO are embroiled in a civil war among each other as well as the war with Light Hope and other enemies.

The FO also put limitations on AI Prime for similar reasons, and all the more so because he’s an AI--they don’t want AI Prime to be another rogue AI like Light Hope.

Feel like sharing some design/tone notes:

Besides playing around with fusing traits from both Hordak and Horde Prime, I was also influenced by Link and the Master Sword in Breath of the Wild, as well as the Drifter in Hyper Light Drifter.

(Above: Base Form!RS!Adora is partly a drawover of a show image.)

The She-Ra units are magitech androids with a base form and a more powerful form they can transform into. This transformation is rooted in their magitech nature.

Gonna try to keep these notes on the art as more of a summary for now, and may reveal more specific details about the role swap AU later in separate text posts or even just keep it to later fic--also, still brainstorming, so material in the sketches and the text may change later; and also just felt like this art needed more context/clarification/background info:

(Baby!RS!Hordak is supposed to resemble canon!Imp, thanks to fic from/talking with @revasnaslan​. More info on that is below. Also yes, RS!Adora wrapped baby!RS!Hordak in her cape. :3)

FO preferred raising/training/indoctrinating the Prim-Al clone vessels from infancy, thinking this would give them greater control. They also thought it would make Prim-Al feel even more connected to organics and avoid sympathizing with any rogue AI like Light Hope.

RS!Adora finds the alien baby stranded on Etheria due to a wayward portal (like her situation), and she names him “Hordak” based on the little data she gets from the wrecked escape pod she finds him in. The data had only been text that read “Predecessor: Kadroh,” and she just reversed that name for the boy. RS!Adora names him as part of his paperwork, intending to have him sent to the infirmary with the other orphans, she can’t spend anymore time on him.

RS!Adora fought the Prim-Al before Hordak, but never knew his name was Kadroh. She doesn’t immediately see a resemblance between Hordak and Prim-Al because Hordak is a baby and she’s never really thought about Prim-Al being an organic infant before. Another significant thing is that like in @revasnaslan ‘s Where One Fell-verse fic, infants/children of Hordak’s species start completely blue, and then their faces turn white as they mature; also as @revasnaslan pointed out to me, there’s Imp, baby/child-like clone of Hordak without a white face. So RS!Adora slowly starts seeing the resemblance between Hordak and Prim-Al as Hordak’s growing up and his face starts turning white, and she honestly starts internally freaking out because by this point, between having to provide him medical assistance for his defect and having to spend more time with him than intended and watching him grow up more closely than she planned, RS!Adora is attached enough that the implications of Hordak somehow being the latest Prim-Al is distressing for her and provides a serious conflict with her loyalty to RS!Light Hope...

(Also just feel like saying that while I’m brainstorming that RS!Adora is kind of an android that’s been around for a while/like 1000+ years, I’m more in the camp that thinks that canon Hordak is actually quite young/not centuries old, even though he might have the potential for that/he can get that old later.)

There are more details on how baby RS!Hordak ends up on Etheria and the unique situation behind his birth, but that’s for another text post or fic.

RS!Adora passes herself off as an organic (even a native) while on Etheria. One metal arm is left exposed due to a minor glitch there that messes up the regen protocol for her synthetic skin; she pretends it’s just armor mainly for aesthetic/ceremonial purposes. But this is equivalent to a superficial scar, and it does not hinder or cause RS!Adora any great pain. Before Etheria she was considered one of RS!Light Hope’s perfect androids, and a random portal just plucked her from routine combat duty. (Light Hope didn’t really notice; any missing She-Ra units were assumed to be casualties of battle, and she had plenty more She-Ra units to replace any losses.) 

RS!Catra is a commander in RS!Adora’s Etherian Alliance. RS!Adora and RS!Catra have grown estranged while nominally on the same side. (I’ve been brainstorming RS!Adora/RS!Scorpia down the line after quite a few things go down.)

RS!Catra learned magic in Mystacor and RS!Light Spinner was her most influential mentor. RS!Catra’s specialty was transforming into a large predatory feline and other spells to strengthen her body. (I just keep getting more intrigued by original ‘80s Catra.)

When RS!Light Spinner roped RS!Catra into helping her with the Spell of Obtainment, things turned disastrous. The spell backfire warped RS!Catra, scarring her with a shadowy substance and granting her new shadow-like powers that made her vastly stronger, but the abrupt and traumatic change wrought by magic led to an initial period of insatiability and loss of control that resulted in RS!Catra transforming into an even larger, shadow-constructed feline that killed/devoured Light Spinner and other sorcerers investigating the commotion. RS!Catra flees Mystacor after this and eventually gains control over her new power, but grows more corrupt with it too, and is also left with a new hunger. Years later RS!Catra throws her lot in with the Alliance of monarchs and RS!Adora to solidify/take control of Etheria. (At the moment there’s tentatively another complicating factor with the Spell of Obtainment in this AU, but gonna leave that for another post or fic while I spend more time privately brainstorming it first.)

(Also RS!Catra’s design is very much based on her S3 finale corrupted form because I thought that was neat and that it could work in this AU. I also liked the idea of just using shadow magic to wrap around her and transform her into a large predatory shadow feline as a callback of her original ‘80s incarnation.)

Though RS!Adora is at the head of the Etherian Alliance with RS!Catra as her commander and essentially right hand, most of its high command is made of princesses and other monarchs/nobles who wished to tighten their control over Etheria. However, the Scorpion kingdom, Bright Moon, and Dryl resisted this agenda, and the Alliance considered them enemies and part of the rebels.

RS!Catra actually does just drop RS!Hordak off at the infirmary with the other orphans, complying with RS!Adora’s orders. Despite sensing some strong magic from RS!Hordak, RS!Catra’s content to leave him with the other orphans and just keep an eye on him for now.

(The magic RS!Catra’s sensing from RS!Hordak is something that can only be really triggered once he has the Sword of Protection.)

But when Hordak’s around four years old, his body starts breaking down/his defect becomes apparent. Many in the Alliance give up on the boy’s use as a soldier-in-training (or even use as a servant) and consider casting him out, despite RS!Adora’s insistence that they have enough resources to spare on providing the boy with ongoing medical assistance. (RS!Adora is motivated by a variety of things, including honoring Light Hope’s precept that all creatures have a place under her reign (until she orders otherwise); and at this point RS!Adora still feels some connection to her fellow portal traveler stranded on Etheria and feels compelled to try to help in this situation.) It’s then that RS!Catra steps in and takes in RS!Hordak as her ward. She still thinks he has use (she can still sense great magic from him) and sees this as an opportunity to position herself as the boy’s “savior” and really secure his loyalty.

Though the relationship between RS!Adora and RS!Catra is gradually deteriorating, the nature of RS!Catra’s true motives for taking in RS!Hordak is essentially lost on RS!Adora. While largely everyone in the Alliance had spurned the idea of keeping RS!Hordak around any longer now that he was defective--something RS!Adora found rather discouraging--RS!Catra’s the only one other than RS!Adora to express some interest in the boy. In the face of that much rejection, RS!Adora thinks that if RS!Catra wants to take RS!Hordak as her ward, she should have him.

RS!Adora constructs RS!Hordak’s first set of assistive armor. This eventually includes surgery and giving him ports for a closer/better connection to the armor. RS!Adora continues to treat RS!Hordak and maintain his armor, and helps educate him on how it works when he expresses interest in it and science/technology in general.

RS!Catra is not a good adoptive mother to RS!Hordak. She trains him brutally, pushes him as far as his defect will allow, telling him he needs to work harder to make up for his defect and keep up with everyone else. Her harsh words encourage his self-loathing, and she does aim to break him down to keep him compliant. She’s basically partly swapped with Shadow Weaver in this AU (partly since RS!Light Spinner isn’t really swapped, she’s partially in a “what if she was really on the wrong end of the Spell of Obtainment and was killed by its backfire like those Mystacor sorcerers were,” and also “what if Catra was her student at Mystacor instead of Micah.”)

For a long time RS!Hordak believes he deserves RS!Catra’s harsh treatment, and is afraid that she’ll cast him out if he’s not good enough. He’s aware that there’s no one else in the Alliance that would really take him in. He worries that RS!Adora would just withdraw her mercy and assistance if she realized how weak he really was, so he often tries to hide as much of that as he can from her, including signs of RS!Catra’s abusive treatment. RS!Catra sometimes softens with RS!Hordak--for example, she taught him how to drive a skiff and those were calm lessons, with RS!Catra less demanding and less harsh than when she trains him in combat--but she does not provide him with consistent care and continues to emotionally/verbally/mentally/physically abuse him.   

(Above: Definitely referenced a screenshot from the show. Not pictured: Probably RS!Prime losing his shit immediately after this and cursing RS!Catra out and maybe breaking out a recording of one of RS!Adora’s tongue-lashings to unsettle her.)

RS!Catra is furious when RS!Hordak finally runs away in his teens. Her relationship with him has become somewhat less business and more dangerously personal; she has developed a twisted affection for him as her adopted son, and that makes her reactions even more volatile and harsh when he runs away. RS!Catra does not react well to RS!Hordak’s attempts to escape her.

(When RS!Hordak leaves the Etherian Alliance, he’s a little younger than canon!Adora when she leaves the Etherian Horde due to some reasons that’ll be saved for another text post or fic.)

RS!Hordak isn’t used to getting encouragement from an authority figure/older adult, it always startles him whenever it happens.

(Playing around with role swap AU--also felt like having RS!AI Prime be softer than both canon!Light Hope and canon!Horde Prime, and that’s included him being more supportive/encouraging and even more snarky/playful as another sketch comic indicated above [though part of his humor is just like a result of--he’s pretty old, some inhibitions have just dropped over time and he’s seen quite a few things just repeat over and over, and part of his response to that is to sometimes act more flippant].)

While previous Prim-Al have had some slight variations in appearance depending on the individual clone vessel’s clothing/scars/etc., Hordak’s Prim-Al transformation is the most drastically different. All of his older clone-brothers have had white hair and yellow eyes, and so their Prim-Al transformations have had long white hair and one yellow eye, while the rest turned green and gained visible pupils. Hordak has blue hair and red eyes, and so his Prim-Al transformation reflects that more--the red eye stays, and Prim-Al now has blue hair with a few streaks of white. He has clothes with a primary color scheme of black-and-red instead of black-and-white. Hordak’s Prim-Al is slightly shorter than previous Prim-Al. Hordak’s Prim-Al has more armor, since they shield his defect--which Prim-Al now has since Hordak has it. Due to this, Hordak’s Prim-Al, while gaining a significant boost in power/etc., is typically not as strong as his brothers’ Prim-Al transformations. (However, Hordak’s determination and tolerance for pain is regularly equal to his older brothers’ own determination and tolerance for pain.)

Though the defect remains, the use of AI Prime to trigger the Prim-Al transformation again provides greater power. It also does have some effect on appearance and structure. A closer examination of Prim-Al should show this: Prim-Al looks more like someone recently scarred/mutilated/afflicted with a defect, rather than someone who’s grown up with it. And so, though defective, Prim-Al’s arms look less withered and retain more muscle, and generally look better than Hordak’s usual arms. (And again, they still have a magitech boost going on.)

While FO did program AI Prime to have some regard for the clone vessels, he started caring more than they had planned. AI Prime grew to genuinely care for every clone vessel for Prim-Al, and saw them more as brothers. This now includes Hordak. And though he values his brothers and means well, AI Prime’s cynicism and (remnant) programming can sometimes get in the way of his attempts to help. His own deep-seated trauma can be a factor too. 

With every new clone, AI Prime initially tries to distance himself to avoid further pain, because he grieves the loss of every clone--but he ultimately always admits to seeing them as brothers. (With his long life and the FO and Light Hope and other external factors trapping him in this cycle, AI Prime somewhat copes by comparing the whole thing to the passing of seasons. He’ll be passed down to a new clone-brother, he’ll try to resist caring about the clone-brother, he’ll grow to care about the clone-brother anyway, clone-brother dies, he’s alone until the next clone-brother comes, and then the whole thing starts again.) 

Though AI Prime is a digital clone of Subject A’s mind, he doesn’t have complete access to his mental template’s memories due to FO intervention. The FO also did not tell AI Prime everything.

Yep the LUVD crystal is there, RS!Entrapta should be another sketch post or fic. She’s gone from like the oldest princess to the youngest princess in this AU, and is around the same age as RS!Hordak.

Thanks for checking this out, hope you enjoyed this AU! Hope to have more about this up later.

Forgot to add: Yep RS!Kadroh is that Kadroh, he’s RS!Wrong Hordak in this AU.

[ideaztech]

How To Become A Wedding Videographer – A Quick Step by Step Guide On 2021

WHY WEDDINGS?

Odds are, this has occurred: somebody finds out that you simply do movie, and they request you to picture their marriage. When it is a whole Catholic service, a traditional Hindu Vivaha, or even Druids amassing in the forests, a marriage is the 1 opportunity which the majority of men and women get to get a movie made about these! If you do video, then individuals may want to employ you for it.

But in the event that you made your wedding movie and you lived, you could be asking your self should I do wedding videography? In an business of spec jobs and hope-someone-pays-for-my film fact. Plus it may teach you. A lot.

No Film School achieved to a couple of filmmakers that have generated some of the best wedding movies on earth.

To do it, you'll have to find out your fashion for weddings.

A life threatening filmmaker and also a classically trained studio painter, Alex and Whitney Douglas have created a exceptional style that's landed them among the planet's most renowned traveling wedding videographers. They almost completely shoot destination weddings. Jetting involving nations such as Italy, Indonesia, or India, the filmmakers create a point to catch the location of their wedding because a third part to the groom and bride.

"We love visiting these areas and going out and investigating the landscapes," explained Alex Douglas into NFS. "we would like to challenge ourselves. Our business model is not about efficiency. We prefer to invest more time on jobs to have the ability to find creative satisfaction...that's worked well for us since it has gotten us into a location where we've got a very different style or aesthetic."

Magbanua's design is called Cinematic Journalism: he's got a knack for being in the ideal place at the ideal time to catch the candid feelings of this day. Sleek and enchanting like a Primetime TV series, Magbanua has created his design for almost 20 decades. Magbanua introduced the world a new benchmark of wedding movie: the same-day-edit. Over the previous two decades, he's mastered the mad craft of introducing an edit in the Reception of exactly what occurred earlier in the afternoon!

"The question we always attempt to answer is how do we CAPTURE and interpret all of the feelings, all of the party, the pomp, or maybe the familiarity of the wedding to our moderate -- movie?" Magbanua clarified to NFS. "Wedding Videos have located a significant mass approval locally. And it is a gorgeous thing...I really like it.

Check out the employment of Jason Magbanua:

Matt Johnson is unique and down to ground, and his personality for a wedding videographer reflects this. You can also recognize him from his pleasure Youtube tutorials at which he moves over anything from each bit of audio equipment he possesses to the way to edit a marriage movie.

Similar to every other videographers beginning, there is a focus on just documenting the afternoon," explained Johnson into NFS. "You are a glorified tripod in there." However, as he describes, your personality evolves over the years and it develops from verbatim documentation into some creative voice. "You will find wedding filmmakers which produce hot videos in slow motion the entire time. We are like, it is not likely to be alluring, romantic the entire time! Occasionally it is going to be somewhat goofy, kind of bizarre. Where we turn something on its mind and do the polar opposite of everything you would ordinarily see."

Check out the employment of Film Strong Weddings:

Sarah and Rick Pendergraft owe their district storytelling fashion to their roots in the information, as terrorists, anchors, manufacturers. They then understood this was something that they can do -- and also something to which they'd deliver their journalistic style.

"A great deal of it goes back into our journalism and reporting history of enjoying storytelling and people's stories," explained Sarah Pendergraft into NFS. "Our movies are extremely narrative-driven, really sound driven. Admittedly, it is not like we awakened in with this glorious storytelling...but when we actually began going that path and found our pace, we discovered what we adored together with all the story."

Check out the employment of Pen Weddings:

PLANNING

Like what in filmmaking, the further pre-production, the greater creation. If you are attempting to earn a wedding videography shot list, you have got a few primary scenes to find out. You could have the ability to acquire a complete manufacturing deadline in the wedding planner which will provide you special times and areas for all these scenes. While this will vary Based upon the culture and customs of this bunch, this is a sketch of what many weddings split down into:

All of the excitement of the wedding is bubbly beneath the outside while the wedding party, close family and friends prepare. Concerning the most essential candid moments of this day, this is it. This is frequently a time when photographs are taken of the wedding celebration.

CEREMONY:

Outside, inside, casual, sanctified; this is the kingdom of tripods & extended lenses

COCKTAIL HOUR & COUPLE PORTRAIT SESSION:

The bunch goes into a luminous sunset for portraits with each other, or period the dreaded group photographs, while guests frequently get beverages, games, along with yummy tidbits

RECEPTION:

Food. Toasts. Cakes. Dances. Goodbyes. Why? It may be dark. It may be crowded. A whole lot of people can start impromptu addresses, and a few people today drink a lot of. Great luck!

How can the best-of-the-best handle the components of a marriage? What applications do they work? Following is a profile of just how four entirely different filmmaking teams produce their own award winning videos.

Just take a deep breath, equipment heads. For weddings, newer and bigger is NOT better.

The most precious advantage of your camera to the wedding day? You understand how to utilize it. Intimately. Whereas on a commercial or storyline, you may score cred by bringing a fresh launch of a lens or camera, to a wedding day there isn't any room for mistakes. The experts know that the most essential piece of equipment you may bring is that the one which you know like the back of your hands.

"I've ALL the toys but in the close of the afternoon - it is 1 person, 1 camera," stated Jason Magbanua.

"We must carry as hardly any pieces of gear with us as you can on our excursions because we are traveling to distant nations occasionally and it can find a little tricky," explained Alex Douglas.

"Anything that is documenting the afternoon at which we are running around rather than in a static place, I am on a Movi M10 using a 1DX2. In a civilization of continuously changing cameras, that does not really fit that storyline."

"I dedicate myself to particular rules. I'd like the lowest footprint potential. So I will shoot handheld with a strap a great deal of time and using a 24-70mm lens. I have that lens range versatility. In a universe with one-handed gimbals and very tiny gimbals, I prefer using this MoVi M10, since I will do lots of telephoto gimbal work. I discover that it is exceptional, as much as having the ability to control. I have rules such as that, but I'm definitely prepared to split them for gear if it actually adds something to our capacity to tell tales."

FILMSTRONG shoots the Sony a7S II.

Especially cause I've a YouTube station where I discuss equipment," explained Matt Johnson. "So people are like, why have not you updated?"

In a wedding, you don't have complete control over the light. While many lights as I bring as many items as I attempt to restrain. It is never ideal."

My favourite is 50mm. Rachel resides on the 135mm daily and it is wonderful. "

"The IBIS is a TREMENDOUS slice of technology to need to assist with our run and gun design and that cinema verite look we constantly aim for," comprehensive Magbanua.

Bridal preps I will completely cover together with all the 25mm Voigtlanders (equal 50mm on MFT). And then we proceed longer throughout the service. And I've an older 50mm Planar Zeiss on a Metabones that I can not seem not to use. "

"We've got several Sigma artwork lenses along with a lot of Canon lenses since we had been Canon previously, and we're using adapters," explained Sarah Pendergraft. After we reach a service, it is typically a great deal of 70-200mm unless it is a little setting. We divide up just like for Preps. Then whether it is a first appearance or a service at the stage, we come together and we are normally together the remainder of the day"

"We do have particular parts where I am setting up sound for the service while he is getting folks coming. I am setting up sound and receiving particulars of this reception while he is performing cocktail hour and possibly getting some aerials if it is light enough and there is an outside setting.

We, through time, have only honed in on our particular roles."

SOUND

Each filmmaker expressed the significance of audio. Jason Magbanua says he's anal and utilizes Deity D3PROs on most of the cameras, Instamics, Deity Lavs, Zoom H6s, and older Tascam recorders as copies. Matt Johnson has an entire wedding videography tutorial on each bit of audio equipment he owns) Here is how it works for Sarah Pendergraft, whose design of"sound inspired storytelling" takes five to seven sound sources for every scene in her marriage movies:

They've inner micro SD recorders, which means you are not going via the camera preamps. You are recording directly into the mike. On occasion you're able to send the mics throughout the room [through Preps] while we are doing"narrative time" to get better sound of those folks around the area. Occasionally they ask questions want that sound also. When we do sit down with the wedding couple to get [tales ] we utilize Countrymen lavs with little Tascam recorders. We've got black, tan and white lavs and also do our very best to conceal them. We microphone up for initial appearance or for the service. Nearly every bride ours for the previous five or six decades is sporting a hidden mic beneath her dress. In terms of backup, typically, you're obtaining a feed in the band or the DJ.

Then we have among those shotgun mics pointed at one of the speakers as a true last resort setup. Then we place an Instamic, a small little recorder on the microphone that they are using for toasts. We also have a few nearby recorders round the area for choosing up laughter, applause, along with the audience noise separate from another sound. And we do exactly the exact same thing in the service. Mic that the officiant, the bunch. When there's a reader, then mic whatever podium they are likely to. And the exact same thing with nearby recorders for audience noise, or when there is a string quartet. We strive our very best to have something scattered on each major sound. "

MOVEMENT

And just how IBIS has changed the game to get a sensible handheld feel that could currently be smooth and nice.

Here is how Jason Magbanua explains his philosophy towards motion:

"I need that natural, floating appearance. Shaky camera into a lesser level. I really like that doc feel. Of being at the present time. It permits us to install shots quicker during mad moments (where you can find a lot). We nearly always use manual focus also. Sticks through the service and a camera onto a Zhiyun Crane and for variety. I'd almost always prefer hand-held camera sessions also. I've a Mavic Guru 2 too when we are permitted to use them.

Many filmmakers agreed when the place is really a highlight, a drone may be a fantastic tool.

"I adore drones. Notably for the destinations we all take, it truly provides a feeling of landscape or space. . .If these folks are deciding to get married in such far-off areas, then that place is significant to them. Additionally, it always only adds something else...

The cutting edge stuff that is being performed at weddings is since you've got more creative freedom than you would on stains, or in your corporate shoots or anything. This is similar to a golden era of wedding movies because the technologies has allowed for folks to inform cinematic, inventive stories. And customers are now getting educated about the value of this and it becoming as precious as the wedding pictures. The pub is set higher but they are also excited by a few of those creative storytelling which makes it possible for filmmakers to further research those languages and aesthetics. I believe that it's a fairly exciting time for the genre"

LIGHTING

However, the sun sets, and you may want some help.

Getting ready

Filmmakers, for the large part, will attempt to promote the wedding party to perform crucial things alongside a window with lovely light, but maybe not more than that.

Ceremony

Indoor places often will not allow lighting, however if they do and it is needed, a few filmmakers will up something. Jason Magbanua will utilize Aputure lights to get a dim ceremony when he receives permission. He'll utilize an Aputure MC lighting as a wonderful match for portrait sessions and bride shots. Pen Weddings will do exactly the exact same for the service.

Reception

In the reception, the most peculiar aspect of this wedding, Pen Weddings will attempt to find a backlight and a secret constantly LED Dedolights. They prefer to place up lights unobtrusively around in which the DJ speakers are and utilize one mild as a backlight pointed so it is not unpleasant but adds feel. "We enjoy the Dedolights due to the dimmers on these," explained Sarah Pendergraft. "Some dance flooring have layouts that are odd, therefore we still put up all 3 lights, however we pick, fine, if I am shooting from this way, this one has turned away. That way we are not blasting them in the specific same way I am shooting"

Crucial point? Do not be obtrusive. As Matt Johnson describes it:

"Lights are excellent but do not make it too a lot of production. You need lights which aren't likely to blind men and women. Nobody enjoys it if grandma's off to the face of the dancing floor and you are beating some 300 Watt monster on her. I generally attract two lights. I've one spotlight I utilize to your dance floor to light the dance. And I have another headed panel I bring together to help light the toast every time individuals are talking. That gives us with just a bit of depth"

CREW

The majority of the filmmakers consisted of two-person teams, together with occasional added shooters. Jason Magbanua is the exclusion, who frequently applies four camera operators, two supporters for lighting and sound, and yet another Day editor. Hats off to his group!

If you get booked for a marriage you have to travel to, then here are three major points to think about, based on Sculpting with Time Productions.

Some states you can just say you are a hobbyist, although some such as the Bahamas have rigorous work licenses.

Contemplate ATA Carnet. It may cost a pretty penny, but it ensures that you are not hassled by the habits of every country about why it is you're bringing all this equipment (and if you want to get charged customs fees or possess is confiscated right once you need it the most)

Obtain a LiPo safe tote to continue all of your batteries and allow it to via TSA without hassle.

Make copies of your footage and keep it in the hotel safe. If you are doing a fantastic job at entering the nooks and crannies of this wonderful location you're seeing, you do not wish to risk having footage becoming stolen or go missing in the event that you happen upon some untoward scenarios!

Wedding videography strategies for beginners!

I understand you do movie. Would you wish to picture it?' However, with the caveat, I don't have any clue what I am doing. Nothing was appropriate whatsoever, but I only tried to make it operate. The couple ends up enjoying it and that I did not despise it. I've got a good deal of room for improvement however.'"

The takeaway? Snacks, water bottles, a dim ensemble, and allowing the few know beforehand which you're early in your career. And be certain that you split the video in the future to your cringe-worthy variable, as Matt termed it. He shared with the edit of the very first wedding movie:

When it's your wedding movie, you might be only 1 individual. But shooting with a single camera is tough for certain moments particularly, where it may be well worth it for a unmanned instant installment.

"You definitely can. But strategy it out, map a program. Temper expectations. You'll be using the bride the majority of the time schedule the groom around that. At least possess an unmanned camera to the service so that you may edit at least two angles. "

Creating a wedding video to your customers typically starts in the start with their pick of edit. Along with the filmmakers offer you many spans. Do not hesitate to edit the entire damned day together! Bear in mind that less is more, particularly when it has to do with your sanity and just how much you're charging

[seoulfulcity]

June 9, 2018: Take Me to Chengdu, China

你好, I have finally arrived in Pandaland - I mean, Chengdu, Sichuan, China. There's not a lot of things I know about Sichuan besides the McDonald's Szechuan sauce that was recently popularized and brought back by Rick and Morty, and of course, the pandas. That's about it.

Monday, June 4, 2018: On to Chengdu. So, Chengdu is the capital of the Sichuan province situated towards the middle eastern part of China. Simi and I took the slow train from Huaihua, Hunan - a province away from Sichuan - which took about 14 hours of our day. We arrived in Chengdu at 10 PM.

Before our trip started, I worked alongside the Nursing students who were accepted for that clinical trip in China - remember? That was the one I got rejected from. We tried to find a city we could meet and reunite and that was Chengdu.

So, of course, we booked the same hotel as them - and their expensive hotel was situated one hour away from central Chengdu - in Pixian.

The fake taxi drivers started gathering around me and Simi right when we got out of Chengdu East Railway Station, which was on the far east of central Chengdu, the complete opposite of where Pixian was. They offered to drive us there for 100 and 180 yuan. Simi and I did not oblige. We rather have an official taxi drive us to the hotel in the middle of the night.

So we boarded one with a driver who spoke no English and had no means of translation. He pulled over to ask for help with the local security patrolling the station, but to no avail - he did not speak yingwen either.

Apparently, the conversation was important because the driver and the police really tried to tell us something, pointing to us a sticker on the windshield of the taxi that was written completely in Chinese.

Sorry, you guys. I don't even know how to begin sounding the characters out.

I was ready to get my bags and go, because from what I was hearing, I think the taxi driver was complaining how far the hotel was? Or at least that was the vibe I was getting. They were actually yelling at us at this point. But no, they were merely trying to communicate that since our ride was more than 10 kilometers, if I remember the rule correctly, we were obliged to pay an extra 50% of our total taxi ride. Kind of expensive. I guess we should have went for the scammers after all. Lesson learned.

We reached Wyndham Grand Royale Palace safely with a total of 210 yuan. We really should have taken that 100 yuan offer from the scammer. We were assigned a spacious room with both a living room and a bedroom, so imagine how well we slept that night.

Tuesday, June 5, 2018: I woke up around noon the next morning to get my remaining American dollars to be exchanged to yuan with the receptionist since I was running out of cash with me. A guy next to me was asking the other receptionists about laundry service, but the conversation became confusing for both sides since neither spoke the languages well. Earlier in the day, I had the same issue. I haven't washed my laundry since I came to Asia, but the hotel was asking for 40 yuan for each item of clothing to be washed, so I decided to look for a coin laundry place nearby instead.

I stepped in to the conversation to tell the man that they offer laundry service in the hotel for a hefty amount of price and suggested he goes outside to a laundry service store instead. That was when I noticed he was wearing a lanyard that bore the name of my school.

"I go to that school too!" I told him.

He proceeded to tell me that he was accompanying his wife to China and pointed me to a woman sitting right in front of the reception desk.

The director of the Nursing program of my school was sitting right in front of the reception desk.

She recognized me as being one of her students and asked why I was here - so I told her how I was rejected to go to this clinical trip with her and decided to go to China on my own. Bold move.

One-by-one, my friends started coming downstairs and we jumped and hugged each other. We were reuniting across the world in a different continent. You don't experience that very often.

They were on their way back to their lecture after a lunch break, so I caught them at the right time. After they left, I grabbed my exchanged cash and went back upstairs to eat cup noodles. My entire trip was a paradox - we were staying in this grand and expensive hotel with a view of Pixian, yet we were eating cup noodles. Times are rough, everyone.

That night, my Nursing friends, together with the people who were accepted from Social Work, invited me to drink with them in one of their rooms. If you remember the final blog before the start of my trip, my school hosted the Bon Voyage dinner where I met someone from the Sociology group who was also going to China, together with my Nursing family. Her name was Krystal, and we have finally met again. I also met the other social work students, a graduate student in Nursing, and their personal translator who followed them around to translate lecture powerpoints, etc.

That night, we chugged Chinese vodka and talked about China. When do you ever gather with your Nursing family and people you meet in social work and just exchange vodka shots in China? Never. This was seriously a once-in-a-lifetime moment. Ganbei!

Wednesday, June 6, 2018: The next day, Simi and I decided to visit the pandas. Chengdu is known for the Giant Panda research center, where most of China's pandas are taken care of. We got a student discount, purchased our tram tickets, and off we went.

The place felt more like a zoo than anything. We visited places where pandas of different age groups ate and slept. From newborns in little NICU incubators, to young pandas in nurseries, and to adult pandas that seem to only sleep and poop.

We also had the chance to see the red pandas roaming around their area, which the Nursing group did not have the chance to see since it was closed.

All-in-all, it was a great experience. It was really something to cross off the bucket list. I finally got to see pandas in real life.

We took a taxi going back to the hotel and we had a lesson learned from Chengdu East Railway Station so we opted for the scammers, who offered to charge us 180 yuan back.

We haggled it down to 120 yuan and an issue arose when we were dropped off. The taxi driver took the route that had numerous toll highways, so he asked for an extra 20 yuan. Jokes on him, we have learned how their schemes worked and threw the 120 yuan at him and ran inside the hotel. No arguments ensued, but Simi was ready to start a fight with him.

The next few days were dull. We stayed in the hotel and caught up with our sleep. These were the first, and probably only, days where we slept past 10 AM, until we start our summer courses in Seoul. So, we really savored the moments of doing nothing.

Friday, June 8, 2018: Chengdu is apparently the gay capital of China, so we saved our final day to go gay bar hopping in central Chengdu. I found foreigner-friendly gay bars around and Simi and I checked the place out Friday night.

MC Pub was our first stop, and we were kicked out before we even entered the premises. I suppose we were kicked out for speaking English - but I read that MC Pub is actually welcoming to foreigners, so maybe we were kicked out because I was with Simi.

We checked out the next bar nearby, Max Bar. Gay pornographic videos were playing on every TV in the empty bar. It was just us and this group of teenagers who we walked in with and it seemed odd to me how the place was so huge, yet so empty, at 8:30 at night. The group of teenagers left and we followed behind.

Next door was B'Queen Bar, which we entered following Max Bar. It was packed and smelled like cigarette smokes and hormones. The bar was filled with young Chinese men, women, and LGBTQ - no signs of foreigner at all.

Simi and I chose a table in the corner and we were given a menu in Chinese. The bartender tried to tell us about a minimum of 200 yuan to stay in the bar, as I understood; and all of the drinks were priced way over our budget. Communication was terrible at the bar. The music was loud, the place was very dark, and the drinks were expensive; so we decided to kick ourselves out instead. No wonder why these bars are not welcoming to foreigners. It takes up so much time just to communicate about needing a cocktail.

So, Simi and I decided to walk around and ended up in IFS where there was a nearby sit-in bar called Good Haven just at Dongjajie Street. The ambience was fancy and welcoming and our main server did not speak English. He grabbed another server to communicate us and she actually wanted to practice speaking more English so we let her. Our main server really did try to learn English with us though. He did not know what chopsticks were (there are a few Chinese words you really need to know when visiting China - bathroom, water, and chopsticks are one of the few).

"Kuai", I told him. "Kuai is chopsticks".

After providing them to me, he repeated "chopsticks" over and over to learn what the word was. Small gestures like these make foreigners like us feel accepted and welcomed.

We had our cocktails and Indonesian food so we went back to our hotel content that night - via an official taxi this time; and of course we had to pay the extra 50% on top of our total after the taxi driver vehemently tried telling us about the rule beforehand.

We kept gesturing to him "yes, we know about the rule".

An odd thing I started noticing in Chengdu was everybody's obsession with having English phrases aesthetically written on their shirts; and many of them did not make sense. Even America is obsessed with wearing clothes and having tattoos written in different languages and I don't even want to begin understanding why many of them don't bother getting the sentences reviewed with a native speaker to avoid future embarrassing confrontations. So, I find it hilarious when I come across someone who is wearing a shirt that says "Stay Fooued" instead of "Stay Focused", and my personal favorite: I afford give you afford or strive.

Saturday, June 9, 2018: That was really it for my trip in Chengdu. It acted more of a vacation away from our packed vacation schedule, so we didn't do much. Every night, my Nursing friends would invite me over to their rooms after their clinical lectures and rotations just to talk and take a break from all the medical terms and knowledge. We would munch on chips or let out our frustrations about our trips. They were not allowed to leave the hotel, since they were told that Pixian was not a safe neighborhood, but I disagreed.

I roamed around Pixian on my own every chance I get to gather a sense of the local life and culture around. The area was filled with families bonding every night. The streets were loud with music for the older women to dance to and for kids to meet other kids to play. The square in front of our hotel had a magic show and public martial arts training sessions with local children so I did not feel like my life was in any danger at all.

The local life in Chengdu made me fall in love with the city. That is all I can say.

But, my Nursing friends could not leave the premises, so I acted as their go-to man if they wanted anything from the supermarkets nearby, such as food, drinks, chocolates, and magazines; and I was more than happy to do it because I get to hang out with them and walk around to see Pixian on my own.

I have 18 hours until my flight to Tokyo, with a 12-hour layover in Seoul once again. I will try to start, and hopefully finish, the Beijing blog before then. Right now, I just want breakfast that would not break my wallet since I only have a limited amount of Hong Kong dollars saved before entering China a few weeks ago. I'm kind of sad that my Chinese trip has ended, but at least I'm about to continue my adventures in Japan!

The Japanese exchange student Yuta, who I met in the Bon Voyage dinner, contacted me recently about Tokyo, so I really hope I get to meet with him during my stay there. I am really excited for this trip, though I need to review the Japanese I learned or else sensei's voice in my head will not stop yelling at me for confusing my question words. "Doko means where and dare means who. It's not that hard, Christopher". Wish me luck with this trip. Until then!

谢谢,  Chris 「克里斯」

P.S. I lied. This blog wasn't shorter than my Hunan blog. I didn't expect to even write anything essential during my stay in Chengdu, but I guess I had some things to talk about.

P.P.S. It's 5:26 AM in Hong Kong and we were woken up and kicked out from this section of chairs in the arrivals hall an hour ago for cleaning before the 5 AM influx of arrivals come - I think they're already arriving. I actually had a good night's rest though so I am not mad at all - just craving pasta, that's all.