FILMMAKER'S KIT · TWO DAYS · BALLITO
Shoot it Tuesday.
Cut it Thursday.
Tuesday: bring your own camera and glass. Thursday: bring a laptop with DaVinci Resolve installed, the free version is enough. Everyone cuts the same footage I supply, so the only variable is the decisions.
01
Tuesday — settings, properly understood
Frame rates, shutter, ISO, white balance and codecs, and the reasons one choice closes doors later in the edit. Theory until 11, camera in hand after that.
02
Tuesday — rigging and lighting
Building the camera for the shot in front of it, and what one good light and a bounce can do. Key, fill, separation, shaping and killing light.
03
Tuesday — three live sets
Product, movement and a two-camera interview, lit and shot properly. Everyone operates on every set.
04
Thursday — selects and the draft
A Resolve project that doesn't fight you at hour six, deciding what's alive, and a rough shape down fast. Structure before finish.
05
Thursday — pacing and cadence
Where the cut goes, how long a beat holds, how you build and then give the viewer room. Match cuts, J and L cuts, and when not to use them.
06
Thursday — colour, sound and export
Balance first, look second. Dialogue, atmospheres and a mix that holds up on a phone speaker. Master, cutdowns and verticals rendered before you leave.
THE TWO DAYS
Two days.
One job.
Both days run 09:00 to 17:00 at Creative Sprout in Ballito. You work, I come round.
Creative Sprout, both days
Three live sets, built and lit
Model and interview subject
Product to shoot
Lighting and grip
Edit footage, shot properly
Small rooms, not forty
Me, on the floor, all day
Tuesday's room is eight people, so everyone operates on every set. Three of those seats are held for the kit.
WHAT'S IN THE ROOM
The bit that makes it worth R4 965.
Most workshops at this price are a talk and a slide deck. These are two working days: a set with people in front of it, then a timeline with real footage on it.
SET 03 — INTERVIEW
WHAT YOU LEAVE WITH
Full cards on Tuesday. A finished film on Thursday.
YOUR FOOTAGE
Everything you shot on Tuesday, on your own cards, yours to use
THE MANUAL
A printed workshop manual to work from afterwards
CERTIFICATES
Two Conniston Studios certificates, one for each day
THE GUARANTEE
Leave Tuesday without footage you can actually use and I refund that day
On Thursday you also leave with a finished, exported film and the Resolve project to keep. And the guarantee isn't a marketing line: if Tuesday doesn't put usable material on your card, I'm not keeping your money for that day.
THE KIT
Three kits.
Then it's day by day.
Tuesday's room is eight people, so everyone operates on every set. Three of those seats are held for the kit. Once they're gone, you can still book each day on its own.
No. On Thursday everyone cuts the same properly shot footage I supply, so you see exactly what each decision does. Take your Tuesday cards home and recut them with what you learned.
Tuesday: your camera, lenses, batteries, cards and a way to offload. Thursday: a laptop with DaVinci Resolve installed (the free version is fine), headphones and a drive with about 50GB free. I send a setup checklist the week before.
They're two separate workshops with their own rooms, and other people book them individually. Wednesday is a day to look at what you shot before you learn to cut it.
No, the kit is two standard seats. If you want the Make The Cut Pro seat on Thursday, book the two days separately.
Creative Sprout in Ballito. Tuesday 1 December and Thursday 3 December, 09:00 to 17:00 both days. Nothing on Wednesday.
Your kit transfers to the next running of both days, or to someone else, up to seven days before. Just tell me.
STRAIGHT ANSWERS
Before you ask.
If it isn't here, email me. I'd rather talk you out of a seat than take R4 965 for two days that were never going to help you.
BOTH DAYS
R4 965
BOOKED SEPARATELY
R6 620 — the kit saves you R1 655
JUST ONE DAY
Only need
one day?
Each day stands on its own. All The Gear No Idea is R4 125 on Tuesday, Make The Cut is from R2 495 on Thursday. If you only need one half, book that day by itself.
Almost nobody who books these days lacks information. You know what an f-stop is. You've watched more tutorials than I have. What you haven't done is shoot enough to make the mistakes, or cut enough to feel why an edit goes flat.
On the camera side it's the white balance nobody checked, the rig that wasn't balanced, the key light half a stop hot. In the edit it's every shot roughly the same length and every moment carrying the same weight. Nothing builds, nothing drops.
Tuesday puts usable footage on your cards. Thursday teaches you what to do with footage once you have it. Each day stands on its own. Together they're the whole job.
THE DIAGNOSIS