Those are good rules, but it isn't always practical to turn off the autofocus. Rule number one for me is use at least three cameras.

Also, if using an outboard recorder it is pretty silly to mount it on the camera unless you are moving a lot and you want it in one unit. The mics will pick up the noise from the camera. If you are using outboard sound it takes just a few seconds to sync it in post, even if you forget you clap your hands.

Why mention this? If you don't feed the output into the cam, the cams mics create a real backup with the limiter engaged in case something goes wrong with your outboard audio. Just common sense.

I wonder what kind of audience he meant this for. With all due respect to the writer (been a reader of LL for a long time), I think it's dangerous to do lists like this even for amateurs. Many people will take them as dogma without understanding why.

I like these guidelines. I've been thinking about making some laminated cards with the workflow for each kind of shot, a kind of checklist before the record button is pressed.

I'd suggest:

1. Confirm with headphones that your audio chains are in place and secure. You may have switched off mics/preamps to save on batteries during set-up --- are they all back on again. VU meters are no judge of quality.

People like to feel creative by not following rules but actually rules help creative work by showing people what 99% of the time works. Breaking the rules is also important cause you need to know the affect breaking them is. The above clip does not show that zooming is a good technique generally, it simply shows the strong and powerful effect zooming does.......and if you want THAT effect (sparingly) then cool use it.

I would say the new stabilisation on the Olympus cameras is starting to make the use of a tripod unnecessary if you want. I can imagine as this improves and cameras have almost a gimbal ability built in shakey footage with be the thing of the past....you'll have to add it in post. :)

Also some of the new auto focus systems are so advanced if used right they can be a like having a focus puller next to you.

The internal recording is not really the problem with many new cameras, the problem is more about getting mics close to the sound source.

I would add some more.

1. Don't cross the 180 degree axis unless you really want to disorientate people.

2. Don't use a wide angle lens for close ups unless you want to make the people look crazy.

3. Understand and use the rule of thirds.

4. Variety of shots, Wide, medium, close up etc..

5. Shoot matched action.

reichmann is a stills photographer trying to be a cinematographer ...he needs rules to make him feel comfortable. the technical rules ( 2,3,4,5,6,9,10 ) are obvious. The aesthetic ones ( 1,7,8 ) are laughable ...if you're a real filmmaker.

yes , but for cinema makers who know what they're doing, they would break any aesthetic rule , even the 180 rule, if it serves a purpose. I can imagine someone telling cassevetes , better to use a tripod , or antonioni to not zoom . And that's classical cinema. Most great documentaries break any and all rules, unless it's a talkinghead doc.

how is the article a "photo oriented resource"....when it's titled "ten commandments of cinematography" ?? You don't consider documentary ...cinema ? really, your comment makes no sense to me.

And ...well, is it really a "popular article" ? MR lives in my town and I've yet to see him exhibit here . The internet creates it's own myths.

I found this interesting.

Documentary Director Viktor Kossakovsky’s "10 Rules of Filmmaking"

1. Don’t film if you can live without filming.
2. Don’t film if you want to say something – just say it or write it. Film only if you want to show something, or you want people to see something. This concerns both the film as a whole and every single shot within the film.
3. Don’t film if you already knew your message before filming – just become a teacher. Don’t try to save the world. Don’t try to change the world. Better if your film will change you. Discover both the world and yourself whilst filming.
4. Don’t film something you just hate. Don’t film something you just love. Film when you aren’t sure if you hate it or love it. Doubts are crucial for making art. Film when you hate and love at the same time.
5. You need your brain both before and after filming, but don’t use your brain during filming. Just film using your instinct and intuition.
6. Try to not force people to repeat an action or words. Life is unrepeatable and unpredictable. Wait, look, feel and be ready to film using your own way of filming. Remember that the very best films are unrepeatable. Remember that the very best films were based on unrepeatable shots. Remember that the very best shots capture unrepeatable moments of life with an unrepeatable way of filming.
7. Shots are the basis of cinema. Remember that cinema was invented as one single shot – without any story. Or story was just inside that shot. Shots must first and foremost provide the viewers with new impressions that they never had before.
8. Story is important, but perception is even more important. Think, first, what the viewers will feel while seeing your shots. Then, form a dramatic structure of your film using the changes to their feelings.
9. Documentary is the only art, where every esthetical element almost always has ethical aspects and every ethical aspect can be used esthetically. Try to remain human, especially whilst editing your films. Maybe, nice people should not make documentaries.
10. Don’t follow my rules. Find your own rules. There is always something that only you can film and nobody else.

I think people hate the word rule, as we are such a rebellious lot these days. We use rules everyday though, when we write we use full stops, commas and capital letters for names and countries etc, does this mean a writer can't be creative if they use them? In fashion, painting, interior design etc people usually understand the color spectrum and how certain colors clash and certain colors compliment and how certain colors make people feel (also important in cinema). In music we know a set of chords on a guitar go together well and a B FLAT is a B FLAT. etc etc.

Rules in filmaking are just the same, a good example the 180 degree rule, it should be learnt and understood without question so you can get on with the real creative elements that aren't fixed rules.

*I've yet to like a Lars von Trier movie, but I think he has dumped all that no technical stuff concept out anyway. Ironically the Dogme 95 thing was all about having strict rules. Clearly he was trying to move cinema back to a more pure time where big CGI movies dominate, I don't think he is against rules like crossing the line etc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogme_95

@Vitaliy ...which tone ?....the tone where I disagree with you ? It's fairly obvious , that my statement was related to the subject matter of your post...i.e the linked article....not luminouslandscape in general. And in that context...your statement still makes no sense to me.

@babypanda...your posted rules are 1000% more intelligent. And of course LL is a photo site, but the article was posted as a cinema resource, was it not ?

@suresure123...you haven't seen "the element of crime" then ? I can name dozens of examples of painters, composers, writers, who pay no attention to "rules". Rules , you learn the first semester, and the second semester you learn to break them. If you want to be really creative, you always break them.

@babypanda....modern poetry was nothing more than a continuous experiment on breaking rules. If blake, keats, shelley etc hadn't learned to destroy structured verse, we'd never have seen/read whitman , pound, yeats....much less ee cummings, robert lowell, olson, creeley...and the beats like snyder and ginsburg....and that's just in english !

@kurth @suresure123

No flame here, please.

Thou Shalt Not Flameth