Aesthetics are about more than just high quality footage. It's about mood, tonality, and feel. These are visual elements that are helpful for the pre-production process. Here are some pointers:
1. What is your goal?
How do you want your audience to feel while watching your video? With your guidance, your video producer and director will be able to suggest an appropriate aesthetic to achieve your goal.
2. Look for examples.
Send your video production team examples of photos and clips that inspire you. Make sure to describe what specific elements you like best about each example. The examples do not need to be related to your story. It can simply be that you like a photograph or the way the color looks in a movie you saw.
3. Which camera will best serve your needs?
Every camera is different - there is no single greatest, do-it-all camera out there. Ask your production team which cameras would be available to use, if they are able to rent, and which would fit your aesthetic goals the best. Here are a few of our favorites:
The Sony FS700 with the Convergent Designs 7Q can be an extremely valuable toolset capturing 4k raw, high speed 2K raw, and 4k to HD footage in a ProRes or cinema DNG format.
Although the camera is not 4k, the Canon C300 films extremely high-quality 1080p images in a highly-manageable file size (This helps with productions that need very fast turnarounds). The C300 is also incredibly powerful in low light situations like night shoots with a small crew.
The RED Epic Dragon delivers high speed 6K content in an extremely light-weight package (ideal for MōVI). The resolution and frame rate options allow for a significant amount of flexibility in post production. The original RED Epic is still an excellent option at high speed 5k files.
The RED Scarlet is a more affordable option with .R3D raw options at 4k resolution. This option is often desirable because of its lower price point and similar quality to the RED Epic options.
As your on-set production team, we'll make sure your vision is captured exactly how you want it. With the proper planning, our team arrives ready to operate the Freefly MōVI M10, acquire dynamic aerial footage, plan and capture motion-controlled time-lapse photography, and make any other a la carte specialty shots come to life. If you would like the gear and a grip but don’t need a Director of Photography or Director, we’re happy to help supply you with only the team or tools you need on set.