How Losing 30 Hours a Week Made Me Value My Creative Time

Last night I signed up for a 100 days of writing challenge with my writing group. However, the challenge began the night before a 6am work start at my day job. The irony was not lost on me. I finally committed to writing daily, something I had been telling myself I wanted to do for a long time, but the night I committed was the night I badly needed to sleep so I could be rested for work.

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Film Production, Gear List, Film Producer, BMPCC4K Nexus Production Group Film Production, Gear List, Film Producer, BMPCC4K Nexus Production Group

The Advantages of Owning Your Own Film Gear

For the past six years, we have produced a feature film every year. In the same period, we have made 12 short films as part of our Life Improvised series. This high output is resource and wallet intensive. But a big reason why we can produce so many films and keep costs down: we own and use our own film gear.

I recommend all aspiring independent filmmakers consider this approach. I didn’t always think this way. Initially, I rented equipment or hired cinematographers with their own cameras for my first short films and even my first feature.

But gradually, I started investing in gear — a cheap boom pole, microphone, made in China redhead lights, and a secondhand JVC GY-HD101 camera. 

I didn’t really know how to use any of this gear properly. I remember filming something at the Melbourne International Film Festival for a film producer and my footage being shaky and out of focus. But though I was inexperienced, owning gear allowed me to practice, learn, and slowly improve. It was an investment in myself and my craft and what I wanted to do as a career.

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