Recent content by Gentle

Working with models is usually fun. Understanding that work as an interaction with performance art and seeing the human behind the "performance of beauty" makes it a nearly enlightening experience. Seeing past ideas of "pretty girl, pretty pictures" and digging deeper in the visual language with...

This is probably the most detailed article on U, S, and Toby: Film & USA on any film BTS so far: A DP and Director's Diaries entry, it discusses the 14-day shoot I did a month ago in Utah and Nevada with French Photographer Jean-Paul Bourdier. Not just shooting naked people in bodypaint in...

Aaaaand we're back, a lot of new content, instructions, tutorials, experiences and insight in what the film world at UC Berkeley looks like. Simona wrote an entertaining yet informative article on the DeCal class, week 9: "Rigging". She talks about Grip gear - all sorts of clamps, stands, and...

Sorry for the long abstinence, there was a lot going on this semester. I am teaching a Cinematography DeCal class at Berkeley, and some of the students wrote an article on each class, to practice the knowledge they absorbed. Hope the articles are helpful to some of you! Guest Article...

Ace Salvador just wrote a great guest article that is - no doubt - a must-read for every budding filmmaker. In "Sitting In The Director's Chair", he describes the path a director can and should take to slip into various sections of the entertainment industry, be that now the Commercial, Feature...

Haha, yeah - I love that meme, it's so incredibly fitting to our generation :D Behind the Scenes of Day 1: An article and video detailing what happened on the first day of shooting "All I Want Is Silence". A visit from an Academy Award winner, costume improvisation without killing the quality...

Harry, a student at Berkeley, got to be Production Assistant on American Idol. How he got the job, what he learned there, and what tips and advice he can distill out of his experience can be read here. Make sure to check out his "PA Survival Kit", a list of 20 handy items when you go to a set...

Berkeley summer break - new articles! Guest Article: What To Do At Cannes If Your Short Got In Thales Correa went to the Cannes Festival (Short Film Corner) with his short film "Parents". Being there for a week taught him a lot about what to prepare for next time, and how to take the most...

Glad you like them Steve! :-) Finally, the first semester is over and I have time to recap...: Work in Progress: Global Collective Intelligence A new, quite complex article. We have been innovating for thousands of years and had significant technological and social progress. In the next...

The U, S, and Toby Blog is back - after a long hiatus. There is nine articles available in the new, temporary space. Now, all articles will be written in uncensored English language. If you want to stay absolutely up-to-date, join the U, S, and Toby facebook page - now transitioned to English...

That was "Whitehorse Ranch" in Yucca Valley, about 2.5 hours east of LA! :-)

My 2012 Cinematography reel is finally finished (after many rounds of feedback and constructive criticism)! 2012 Cinematography Reel and Behind the Scenes to the Making of this year's movies I shot. These are some handpicked impressions (took about 100 hours of selecting footage and chopping...

Judging focus on the back display of a DSLR can be difficult to impossible. Clunky on-board monitors that are mounted on the flash shoe can cause unwanted wiggle, instability and inertia in high-speed environments. There is a new solution now, with a DIY rig: An Android Application named "DSLR...

Aloha! My name is Toby, I'm a 23-year old filmmaker from Austria and live in LA now. I started visual arts when I was 14, and discovered film three years ago. Since then, I've been writing a blog entitled U, S, and Toby. It starts with studying at Santa Monica College and how to do cool stuff...