Inspire Design Create with David Lee

Have you ever been on location with complete white walls everywhere? If you cringe as your initial reaction you are not alone! What are we as cinematographer supposed to do with so much light bouncing everywhere in such locations? One of the best ways to combat the flatness of having to light white wall interiors is by lighting from the outside to set your room tone levels. By lighting from the outside (setting up your lamps outside to shoot into windows/door frames etc) you at least have a measurable way to set the room tone yourself as well as creating the contrast from hard light and soft light. When you can't light from the outside that means you need lights inside and the only way to fight the flatness of it is with a ton of grip, but if you don't have the resources or the budget you'll find that time and time again these types of projects really struggle to look as good as they could be.

If you enjoyed this episode please rate it and let me know how i'm doing! Follow the podcast if you're loving the content and share it with your friends!

www.atdavidlee.com | www.legendarymediahouse.com | Instagram @atdavidlee | YouTube www.youtube.com/atdavidlee 

"Hmmm well if I don't get the 600D I can buy three 120Ds, that should better right?". Many times going with many smaller lights creates a bigger mess for a few different reasons:

1.) You need 3 stands rather than 1 if you went with the bigger light

2.) Diffusing 3 lights vs 1 requires more grip, more setup time to get them all in the right position

3.) For interiors you're already fighting a losing battle if you're trying to do all the lighting from inside

That being said there are times when you need smaller fixtures but for very specific uses. In today's episode I offer my case for why you should always (majority of the time) go with the bigger light.

If you enjoyed this episode please rate it and let me know how i'm doing! Follow the podcast if you're loving the content and share it with your friends!

www.atdavidlee.com | www.legendarymediahouse.com | Instagram @atdavidlee | YouTube www.youtube.com/atdavidlee 

When it comes to project agreements, the level of detail you put in will make your life easier. How so? Well if you've ever had a client ask for more revisions, additional deliverables, longer lengths etc because your project agreement did not outline a clear and defined scope of work you know how that goes - not pretty. You either agree to do the work at a low fee or for free or cut ties with that client. Both are not optimal solutions so I hope that in this week's podcast episode you can avoid this trap and do the right thing both for you and your client.

If you enjoyed this episode please rate it and let me know how i'm doing! Follow the podcast if you're loving the content and share it with your friends!

www.atdavidlee.com | www.legendarymediahouse.com | Instagram @atdavidlee | YouTube www.youtube.com/atdavidlee 

Not a great feeling right? You take the time for an hour or two hour long discovery call, take another 24-48 hours doing some number crunching and research just to have the lead come back to you with half the amount you quoted for. The thing is, many times you can avoid this all together by doing more work and asking more questions in the discovery engagement call by asking them this one question, "What's your budget"? When you do this you immediately take out any vague questioning or giving the lead an opportunity to beat around the bush - if they do at least you know and that gives you more information on how to respond.

In this week's podcast episode we're covering some tips on how to not dig yourself in a deep hole to have to negotiate your way out of and some best practices for speaking to clients when they question your quote.

If you enjoyed this episode please rate it and let me know how i'm doing! Follow the podcast if you're loving the content and share it with your friends!

www.atdavidlee.com | www.legendarymediahouse.com | Instagram @atdavidlee | YouTube www.youtube.com/atdavidlee 

When clients see your work, they can trust for the most part that you can deliver on the services and deliverables they need. Whether that's through your social media presence, your reel or your network you can find that all of the above will help eventually get you to the point where you can start working with bigger budgets. Spec work is still by far going to separate you from others and show agencies and clients the level of work you can deliver and let's face it, the better the visuals the bigger the budgets...more or less. I hope you guys enjoy this episode and I know i'm like a broken record constantly talking about shooting spec and networking but it's what has helped me exponentially move away from one man band videographer shoots to working with crews and larger budgets.

If you enjoyed this episode please rate it and let me know how i'm doing! Follow the podcast if you're loving the content and share it with your friends!

www.atdavidlee.com | www.legendarymediahouse.com | Instagram @atdavidlee | YouTube www.youtube.com/atdavidlee 

We've all been on set or in the post production process and at one time have asked ourselves, "Who the heck is in charge here?". Is it the Agency, is it the client or are they both calling the shots? It's not a black and white answer and because of that it can be frustrating as part of the crew when you're trying to do your best work. In today's podcast I breakdown a few tidbits of information and how to tackle some scenarios where it feels like your leadership over the project is getting away from you along with ways to ensure money isn't coming out of your pocket when asked for ridiculous things on the day or during post production.

If you enjoyed this episode please rate it and let me know how i'm doing! Follow the podcast if you're loving the content and share it with your friends!

www.atdavidlee.com | www.legendarymediahouse.com | Instagram @atdavidlee | YouTube www.youtube.com/atdavidlee 

Ever wonder why your frame isn't looking the way you want? Most of the time it looks either too "sourcey" or something just looks off right? For me I always find that if i'm not able to bounce the light it always looks unnatural unless you have really large fixtures to help create that natural lighting vibe. That's where bounce light can save the day, IF you have the space to do it.

In today's episode we're talking about the difference in quality between using Bounce Light and Direct Light, the times where direct light is just easier to setup and how you can test the difference with budget equipment.

If you enjoyed this episode please rate it and let me know how i'm doing! Follow the podcast if you're loving the content and share it with your friends!

www.atdavidlee.com | www.legendarymediahouse.com | Instagram @atdavidlee | YouTube www.youtube.com/atdavidlee 

Majority of the time we have some type of game plan going into a day of production. Our pre-production process has created a workflow for us where we can tweak lighting on the day to best suit what is happening around us. With that said do we still need lighting diagrams in run and gun situations or with limited crew and resources? I think we do because what a lighting diagram can do for you as a cinematographer is create a track record of what worked and what didn't work. That way the next time you find yourself in a similar situation you can go back to your notes, your history book, and help prevent the same problems you had the last time.

If you enjoyed this episode please rate it and let me know how i'm doing! Follow the podcast if you're loving the content and share it with your friends!

www.atdavidlee.com | www.legendarymediahouse.com | Instagram @atdavidlee | YouTube www.youtube.com/atdavidlee 

Have you ever been hesitant with pricing your projects higher? Do you feel if you did price higher your clients will want to back up or immediately low ball you? I've been there before especially in the beginning where you "think" by dropping your prices lower you can get more work that way, but all that leads to is you becoming the go to discount production unit and having those same clients refer to others who want the discount. On the opposite of the spectrum is overcharging and especially in our current inflation economy there are many industries overcharging without actually delivering anything more in return. That being said I hope you guys can take away something of value by learning to price higher without overcharging.

If you enjoyed this episode please rate it and let me know how i'm doing! Follow the podcast if you're loving the content and share it with your friends!

www.atdavidlee.com | www.legendarymediahouse.com | Instagram @atdavidlee | YouTube www.youtube.com/atdavidlee 

You're eating lunch scrolling through Instagram and say to yourself, "Man what am I doing in life...". Yup, I was there MANY times before I started my freelance filmmaking career, but little did I know what it actually takes to even scratch the surface of living my life and building a career as a Cinematographer and filmmaker. What does it even mean to BE A FILMMAKER??? I think one way we can start on that journey is with Short Films, so today we're talking about some general rules of thumb to consider when tackling your first short film such as:

- Micro Short Film vs Longer Form

- How to find cast and crew

- Collaborating with a Director

- Minimize cost and Tax Return Incentives

If you enjoyed this episode please rate it and let me know how i'm doing! Follow the podcast if you're loving the content and share it with your friends!

www.atdavidlee.com | www.legendarymediahouse.com | Instagram @atdavidlee | YouTube www.youtube.com/atdavidlee