I'm late for New Year's resolutions for the Gregorian calendar as well as the Chinese New Year. So I decided to share my Nowruz New Year's resolution which is the new calendar year for Persians which will take place on March 21, 2018. I'm a month early hurray! To my Persian friend--Happy New Year and with health and blessings.

I came up with this in the early morning hours when inspiration came.

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1. Discipline: Daily surrender of my will to God

2. Focus: Do one thing at a time. Do it well. Complete the task. Move on.

3. Perseverance: Stick to the task. Learn, create, repeat.

4. Set Boundaries: Set parameters for work, for play, for personal time.

5. Know My Limitations: Learn to say no. Do something and do it well. If I don't have time for something then learn to set my foot down and say I don't have time; if I can't do something then ask for help; if I'm not able to do something then learn to surrender then move on. 

What a day it's been! I had my office broken into today by thieves! However when I consider the entire heist, it could've been so much worse. The only things that were stolen was the internet modem, a time capsule and an airport express. They could've taken the camera, the teleprompter and a whole host of other stuff. The computer was taken from my locked cabinet but never made it out the door. Instead it was simply transferred to the couch. All my audio equipment appeared to be in place. I couldn't full inspect the extent to which things were effected but it seemed that the audio equipment was still there. Authorities were busy getting a report as well as photographs, fingerprints and accessing the security camera HD. It was quite an experience. I'm thankful to God it wasn't worse. It really could've been bad. Just causes a headache and time spent on renovation rather than more important stuff. That's just how it is and I press on. 

​Unfortunately this give me greater impetus to move away from the Apple ecosystem and try a Windows platform. Having said that I will continue to use certain Apple applications such as Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro but now I'll be using Premiere Pro as well as the whole Adobe product lineup. I'm ready to have a new user experience. 
With the advent of the new unaffordable and unupgradable iMac Pro's with up to 18 cores and their APFS lineup, I'm ready to take on the Windows platform. There are advantages to both systems and I want exploit that to become better versed between both systems. I think being marketable in a competitive environment will be a greater asset. ​

This year is about to end and I want to share a few thoughts. Even within the last few months I've learned so much from my mistakes.

What I've learned in the past two weeks is that the story......the storyline trumps the type of camera, the equipment, the gear and everything else. I was thinking that I should invest in some cinematic glass. But as I've had listened to more and more lectures, seminars and tutorials I've come to realize that the importance of the story paramounts all others when it comes to making films. Having the human element of a story in any presentation really helps connect my audience to the information that I'm trying to convey. So this piece information has saved me lots of money. In the long run all the components of a good film such as lighting, sound, gear etc.... is important. It's just that the storyline is what I really need to focus on more than the other.

Lately I've been trying to perfect my gimbal shots. I submitted this short clip to a client who did some work for us. I never told him I was doing it til I needed more of his info. So he had no expectations. Next time I'll make it shorter. It's too long and loses the audience. Despite of that I think it turned out. I captured it in 4K and also was at 120 fps.

Things I've learned in filmmaking:

1. Learn.
When it comes to developing myself as a filmmaker I need to take advantage of all the information that is accessible online. The internet is full of resources. I need to tap into it and watch as many tutorials to grow my skills as an editor, a filmmaker, a sound technician, a director and as a content creator.


2. Create.
I must take the info that I've learned and then create my own projects. That information won't stick with me unless I use it to create my own work. Create projects that demand I learn a new skill. For example create a small motion graphics in After Effects or Motion. Start using Premiere Pro. 

3. Repeat.
Repetition of the process is necessary in order to mastered it. A skill gets better when it is used more often. 

4. Story.
The story is king. This is the most important key in the filmmaking craft. There's a saying that goes something like this: Audio without video is radio, video without audio is dead. Don't spend so much money on equipment when starting out. Rather focus on getting a good story and telling it well visually. The other stuff will come later. 

5. Networking.
Successful filmmaking is a collaborative effort. I can do everything myself but it will be a better product when I work with other creatives who know their craft well.

.........there's more to it than this but these stick out in my mind. 

The build quality on this lens seems to be well made. However, in my experience this lens is not all it's cracked up to be. The price for this cine zoom is well below other cinematic zoom lenses. 

I was out shooting on location when the lens completely stopped working. I had it sitting on the tripod waiting for the clouds to part. The weather was cold and so I thought this had something to do with its' malfunction. So I removed it from the tripod and set it close to the heater to warm up. It never worked. The focus stopped working both in manuel or automatic mode; the iris ring would NOT change the blades nor would the zoom function work. It was terrible! I was out in the field and the lens completely failed. I had to switch to using my photographic lenses instead. While 8 days remained on my trip I continued to mess around with the 28-135 lens to see if I could get it to work. The lens just simply stopped working.

After my trip I called the rep back at Mike's Camera's in Sacramento and he was extremely helpful. They have to send it back to Sony. What a dud of a lens!. Apparently this problem is common with this lens. So my plan for the 28-135 is to send it back to Sony then sell it. It's been a terrible lens. 

So I've had a bad experience with this lens. Hopefully it isn't everybody's problem. I certainly wouldn't recommend getting it. The zoom works well but manifests a lag. The image quality is not sharp or clean. Even if I had the money to purchase this lens again I certainly would not.

So now I'm looking for a replacement. Considering the Veydra mini primes. We'll see. I have to research it out more.

Man, it's been too long since I last wrote. Lots has happened. I got the change to tour the country of Turkey. It's an amazing place with so much history and places to visit. I'm too tired to write a long entry but so much has taken up my time since getting back. For one, I've just had lots of hard drive issue, computer failures and also just lots to fix around the house. In addition I've got a deadline to complete or nearly complete 2 websites before the end of the year. Besides I've started looking at different graduate schools. Preferably somewhere in Europe so I can stay close to my family if I have to fly to attend a few classes. We'll see what happens. 

I have some more pictures to edit. My biggest disappoint with this trip was the failure of my Sony FE PZ 28-135 mm cine lens. I was completely let down as the lens stopped working after the 2nd day of shooting. It wouldn't focus, wouldn't zoom and wouldn't even change iris stops. All settings were on manual and nothing would work. I contacted Mike's Camera in Sacramento and they will send the lens to Sony. I hope it can be repaired then I will sell the lens. It's a decent lens. I was just really bummed. 

​One of the things that I'm learning to do are time lapses. I mean I know how to do them I want to do it properly and do it well.

The bottom line for doing time lapses well is by creating motion blur. This is achieved by longer exposures and closing down the aperture. For example when doing a dawn scene close down the aperture to f22 while opening the shutter for longer periods such as 1/16th of a second. The same thing goes for time lapses that occur at dusk. This effect will create a motion blur of subjects such as cars or people. This creating a smoother transition from one frame to the next. 

If you want to do a time lapse outside of the "Golden Hour" such as shooting at midday when the sun is in full strength then use a neutral density filter. This way you can still creating motion blur. A ND filter 16 or ND 8 may do the trick. Close down the aperture and drag out your shutter speed say to 1/30th of a second and it may achieve the same results. Play with your shutter speed til you get the right amount of motion blur. 

Once you've created your time lapse, take it in to your video editor and create a push/pull effect to acquire an even more professional look. In Final Cut Pro (FCP) you can apply a "Ken Burns" effect. In Premiere Pro (PP), I believe you have to create a key frame to add dynamic movement to your time lapse.

Hopefully I'll be doing more of this on my videos as I recently purchase a full ND kit.

I've got lots on my plate as I have an upcoming trip. I'm looking forward to doing some traveling. Along the way I plan to take footage and images for my portfolio and this website. 

A thing I've recently been reminded of is that technology will continue to evolve. With my hard drive and my laptop recently going kaput (died completely), how important it is for me to back up my most important files onto a cloud server or somewhere on the internet. Not just any provider will do. I need a vendor that can provide stability, ease of use, adequate hard drive space and most importantly is security and encryption. Google is good as it provides free space but the problem with Google is its' invasiveness. Privacy with google, in my humble opinion, is only a facade. I'm sure there is something on the internet that can provide all those services but I need to do the research to locate it. 

I'm also now beginning to back up to a SSD as it has no moving parts. My old backup to an old SATA drive is no longer reliable. I recently experienced this when I connected my old 54oo RPM SATA to my working computer. It was encrypted so I punched in my code. However the hard disk would not reboot. My computer could not find the disk or the files. It was unrecognizable. I tried multiple ways. I finally stripped off the plastic housing and directly connected it to a SATA dock rather than by USB 3. Still would not read. So I will have to take it to a repair shop by which I can remove the files and transfer them onto a SSD. 

My 17 inch Mac Book Pro also died. It was a late 2011 model with a 2.4 GHz speed. I fried the logic board. The tech I had brought it to cleaned it up but forewarned me that it may have damaged the logic board as it has gotten too hot. He was correct. It was overheating. After 1 month of heavy use, the screen started to go bizzerk. With the use of rendering videos, Photoshop, uploading video files simultaneously the laptop has finally died. The screen would first start to freeze. I would reboot then start over. Same thing happened a few minutes later. Sure enough, the logic board finally died. It wouldn't even reboot. 

So I've learned my lesson. I will back up to a cloud server as well as a SSD.