Yesterday I wrote an article on what cameras YouTubers use, after watching the WVFRM Podcast’s wonderful video: ‘Your Favourite Creators’ Favourite Cameras!’
Close to the tip of the video (embedded under), YouTube legend Casey Neistat is requested if “gear nonetheless issues,” and his reply caught in my thoughts: “I reject the supposition that it’s necessary to grasp gear and have gear. I reject it wholly.”
He even goes as far as to name himself an “anti-gear purist,” which I feel is a very neat method of placing it. It evidently means lots to Casey when anyone compliments his work, however he clearly doesn’t get pleasure from it when individuals go straight to the gear.
“After they say, ‘What did you shoot it on?’ It’s the biggest insult you possibly can ever say to somebody. It’s insulting. And, I take it personally.”
Okay, so he talks about all this with tongue firmly in cheek, however I fully get the place he’s coming from. Casey’s level is that specializing in gear an excessive amount of diverts from storytelling. This is my two cents…
ABOVE: Watch the WVFRM Podcast episode
The rationale I agree wholeheartedly with Casey’s first level is that asking a creator, filmmaker or photographer about gear, particularly earlier than you say anything, diminishes their work.
Positive, within the phrases of Oscar Wilde, “Imitation is the sincerest type of flattery”, however gear speak fully bypasses the creator’s content material. This means that you just deem the gear crucial a part of the inventive course of, not the creator.
And therein lies a giant drawback with the gear narrative – so many people suppose it is the gear (or lack thereof) that is stopping us from creating nice content material.
I feel this can be a significantly straightforward entice to fall into. Each images and video could be a difficult, technical enterprise – particularly video. You possibly can rapidly persuade your self that you just completely must have a digicam that may shoot 4K 60p 10-bit 4:2:2, enclosed in a cage so you possibly can mount your exterior monitor, shotgun mic and numerous handles.
Oh, and don’t neglect the ND filters, cine lenses, fluid head, gimbal, and so forth. That’s to not say you shouldn’t put collectively a rig, however for those who’re beginning out on the planet of video for the very first time, that’s a substantial outlay and a setup so difficult that you could be effectively find yourself dropping by the wayside and transferring on to one thing else.
There’s a motive that almost all content material creators begin easy, and Casey Neistat is a good instance of that. He’s one of the well-known content material creators on the planet, and he’s achieved that standing utilizing achievable setups.
He’s finest identified for his day by day vlogs, and what strikes me most about his movies is how little his type has modified over time – although he’s upgraded his tools. And I imply that as a praise.
Evaluate one in all his early movies with one in all his later choices and also you’ll discover that his distinctive modifying type hasn’t modified a lot. It’s a bit extra pronounced these days, the edit strikes at a quicker tempo, and the manufacturing values have risen barely with the inclusion of drone footage, timelapses and the like.
However Casey’s expertise for crafting a fascinating story has at all times been there, and his earlier work is simply as moreish as his newest and biggest. The actual fact is, for those who gave Neistat a kind of outdated 1080p Sony Handycams, he’d go do one thing cool and create a fascinating story with it. So don’t let gear get in the way in which of your content material.
You possibly can at all times improve sooner or later, however you’ll by no means get to return and document the expertise you had immediately.
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