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You're really determined to spam this forum, aren't you?

I've just done a blog post talking about the software I find essential, but I'd be interested (for a follow-up post) on what other people use - especially if it's not the obvious (Premiere etc) but more obscure tools.

A friend of mine recently bought the Zoom H5 and the NTG-3 mic. We did some tests against my NTG-2 and a couple of other mics. Not only did the NTG-3 sound very slightly cleaner and richer compared to the -2 (to my untutored ears), the gain was better - with a fixed setup, we used record level 6...

To which I feel obliged (as the developer) to add StoryFlow, for creating & managing shot lists: http://www.zolascope.com/storyflow And, simply as a contented customer, the MoveSlate clapper app: http://www.movie-slate.com/ Anyone else got any useful apps?

I think what you're mostly overlooking is her emotional and psychological state - which is largely what this film is about. Picking holes like this in a clinical, rational way takes no account of the condition the character is in.

Rechargables work well in a lot of places, but they run for even less time than ordinary alkalines. For something critical, where constantly changing batteries can be a nuisance, I'm prepared to accept the extra cost of lithium cells as one of the expenses of making the film. So I also use them...

If you're using phantom power, that doesn't surprise me. I tend to use lithium batteries - expensive but last a lot longer and so reduce battery changing and the number of nasty moments when you're in the middle of a great take but it's a race between the director calling 'cut' and the recorder...

So much here depends on what your agreement was, how you briefed him, and whether any of this is in writing. As someone who has been a freelance journalist, magazine editor and photographer for over three decades, I've been on both sides of this situation. So here's my take. If you didn't...

Photozone doesn't just have different measurements for different crop factors - it makes explicit that you cannot directly compare results between sensor systems. The differences in resolution etc caused by only using the centre portion of the lens will be so negligible as to be irrelevant in...

No-one is perfect. If the villain were perfect, he'd be invincible. Villains, like heroes, should always have flaws.

Okay, I don't know if this will fit with your plot, but try this... The bad guy needs to pass messages to someone else, but covertly. Encrypting emails won't work because such encryption raises an immediate red flag at the NSA, and traffic analysis on the emails can be revealing. So the guy is...

Banks, for obvious reasons, are some of the hardest places to hack into. It happens, but it's not a trivial job. The idea of someone sitting at a computer and, after a few minutes' tapping, managing to exploit a bank's computers is pure fiction - and yes, sloppy writing. Hacking attacks against...

There's always a difficult balance to be struck between exposition and baffling the audience. And it's especially difficult when plot/action relies in some way on technical issues. You constantly need to ask yourself: * What does the audience need to know? * Can I do this some way other than...

Wrong again. It's not physics that hurts, it's people that don't understand it while pretending they do.

Sorry, but what TheKraut is saying is complete nonsense. The idea that the lens' faults get magnified to the point where the image is noticeably degraded might apply if you're using very, very cheap and nasty lenses. But any decent lens massively out-resolves the (relatively) low-resolution...

Although I've been a stills photographer for some decades, and have a very fine light meter (a Sekonic L-608, thanks for asking), for the first three short films we shot I didn't use it. I found it easier to use the histogram on the camera and the false colour on the Ninja-2. This was especially...

It varies. In some cases, you'll simply use available light (including practicals). In other cases, you'll plan very, very carefully so that lights can be positioned out of shot throughout the take - switching on and off as appropriate. And in yet other cases - including the famous Touch of...

Most of the thrillers & action movies I've seen in the past few years have plot holes you could drive an illegal Russian convoy through. To suggest that recent movies are somehow more credibly plotted is nonsense. If anything, they're getting more ludicrous as they compete for ever more amazing...

The previous answers of boards or bin bags are good, and cheap. We recently did this a slightly more expensive way, using Cinefoil, which - because of the semi-rigid nature of the foil - make blacking out three windows and one door very easy and fast.

Every time you change the scene, then the first time you mention the characters you must do so individually and IN CAPS. In the example you gave, these are obviously two different scenes, so in the first you'd have: INT. RESTAURANT - DAY DAVE, JOHN, MICHAEL and BEN are sat at a table in the...