CAMERA SETUP

- The challenges of shooting with shallow depth of field:
What is so special with the the 5DMKII is the ability to have interchangeable lenses and thus control the shallow depth of field, meaning that you can have the beautiful out of focus backgrounds and the very shallow depth of field, giving us the cinematic look we all crave and love. This is truly revolutionary, since up till now the only way to achieve this was with super expensive cameras and lenses.

However there are challenges when shooting with shallow depth of field here are the most common ones:
- losing focus on the subject - when shooting with a shallow depth of field it challenging to keep the subject in focus if they are moving. Depending on how shallow of a field you are working with, even static interviews might be hard to focus on the part of the subject's face that you want to all the time. The solution is to be bold and to make a choice if you are working in the field with out a tripod. Chose the shot and commit to it. Re-adjust ifd you must but dont fiddle back and forth to find the focus. Guess and make a choice, commit to it and then adjust your position to get things in focus that might not.
If you are using a pull focus ring like the "Run n' Gun" set or the Zacuto, you can make marks on the ring so that you know the in-focus range of the subject. What I mean is that if some one is walking toward the camera and you have made marks on the pull focus ring to mark the in focus position of the subject, at 3 meters, 2 meters and one meter. In Fiction you would make marks on the floor as well which would correspond to the marks on the pull focus ring

SHUTTER SPEED:
For most situations you have to use in order to have the film look we are looking for:
PAL 25 frames per second
Shutter Speed 1/50
only
if you are doing pans and tilts or there is some quick action use:
PAL 30 frames per second
Shutter Speed 1/60

EXPOSURE:
- Using the ND filters so as to be able to shoot with shallow depth of field in bright daylight. Having this option is what really makes DSLR with interchangeable lenses so great, it allows to have a shallow depth of field which is what gives the MKII the ability to look like it was shot on a cineflex or a much more expensive camera.
Use ISO and ND filters in bright settings to control exposure and avoid over exposure

WHITE BALANCE:
WB: 5600K in noon light and work from that standard.
Use custom WB in settings with multiple light sources.