HD DSLR Workshops Mission Statement

Prior to shooting “House”, my main business was shooting commercials and features. Every year I used to shoot the Canon commercials for the Canon “Kiss” camera for the Japanese market, (the Japanese brand name for the Canon Rebel in Japan). The Canon client asked if I would consider shooting the spot on the 5D MK II… even though I had heard that some independent film makers had been using the 5D, 7D and 1D MK IV, for shooting video, I couldn’t bring myself to believe that it could possibly compete with shooting 35mm film, or one of the high end new breed digital cameras, (Genesis, Red etc..). When I started testing I was blown away! The more I used the 5D the more I was amazed at its capabilities… so that’s where my love affair with this giant of a camera in a small package started! Of course it’s not perfect, (no camera ever will be)… it’s still a stills camera after all… and there are dangers and pitfalls that are waiting to murder you if you don’t get it right!
However, if you avoid the dangers and enhance the capabilities of these cameras then you can achieve results that are not only completely impossible in the camcorder world, but also cannot be achieved shooting on 35mm state of the art motion picture cameras that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars for a camera and lens package. I suddenly realized the enormity of Canon’s gift to independent film makers… you really can shoot an independent film, suitable for theatrical release, on a camera and a few lenses that you can buy at Samy’s Camera for a couple of thousand dollars… or rent for much less than that.
Suddenly the world changed in one second… you have actor friends, you have a script that you love, and some spare weekends… the democratization of film making was suddenly upon us! On “House” of course, we don’t really have budget constraints over what cameras we may or may not use… we decide our shooting mode based on the scripts requirements… so when we chose to use the 5D to shoot the entire season finale of season 6 on the 5D, it was because we were shooting in the confines of a collapsed building, working in sets that were 3 feet high… and just impossible to consider regular film cameras… but then we discovered the stunning shallow depth of field achievable with the gigantic full frame sensor on the 5D… and it was so perfect to utilize this to put House in his own world, and defocus the otherwise attention grabbing, but unimportant detail around him…

So without more ado… and after that brief explanation as to how I got to where I am… I realized it was important to spread this message… to teach now more than ever that we have no limitations in achieving fully professional looking cinematic work with very limited resources, and to inspire students to use their creativity and inspiration to start to make their own films… because now there are no excuses!
This is the core of our workshops… to inspire, and to teach technique that will give confidence to filmmakers, photographers moving into film making, and industry professionals wishing to learn more about the digital process, to achieve.
It’s the most hands-on workshop that exists… and the ratio of instructors to students is very high… instructors with real industry experience, including several of my camera crew from “House” that have years of experience and expertise. Most workshops consist of a series of screenings of clips and a lot of ‘war stories’… in the HD DSLR Workshop you have a camera in your hands and you are practically involved every step of the way… and that is my promise!

Visit Gale’s Bio page to learn more about him.? View Gale’s work on his personal website at www.galetattersall.com.