All The Gear No Idea · One day · KwaZulu‑Natal

Make the
mistakes here.

You own the camera. You've watched the tutorials. What you haven't done is shoot enough to make the mistakes — and you're going to make them somewhere. Better here than on a client's set, with their money and their deadline.

Join the list See the day

Format: One full day, in person
Seats: 8 — deliberately
Where: A studio, KwaZulu‑Natal
From: R4 125

The diagnosis

You're not shooting enough.

Almost nobody who comes to this day has a knowledge problem. They know what an f‑stop is. They know what 180° shutter means. They've watched more YouTube than I have.

What they haven't done is shoot. Not properly, not under pressure, not with someone waiting. So the mistakes are all still ahead of them — the white balance nobody checked, the rig that wasn't balanced, the key light half a stop hot, the interview with the aircon running.

You cannot read your way past that. You have to make the mistakes. The only question is whether you make them on a paying job or in a studio where they cost you nothing but a bit of pride.

The day

Theory until 11.
Camera in hand after that.

The morning is the stuff you need so the afternoon isn't wasted. The afternoon is why you came.

01

Settings, properly understood

Frame rates, shutter, ISO, white balance, codecs and what your camera is actually recording. Not definitions — the reasons one choice closes doors later in the edit.

02

Rigging and build

How a camera gets built for the shot in front of it, and why a badly balanced rig ruins more takes than a bad lens. Hands on the gear, building and rebuilding.

03

Lighting, from first principles

Key, fill, separation. Shaping and killing light. What one good light and a bounce can do that four bad ones can't.

04

Live set — product

A real product, lit and shot properly. Where product reveals its shape and where it turns to plastic.

05

Live set — movement

A model, doing something physical. Tracking a moving subject, choosing a frame rate with intent, and keeping focus when the subject won't hold still.

06

Live set — interview

The format most of you will actually be paid for. Two-camera setup, eyeline, sound, and a background that isn't an accident.

Depending on the day and the venue, a car set runs as a fourth. Sets are shot in rotation, so everybody operates on every one.

What's in the room

The bit that makes it worth R4 125.

Most workshops at this price are a talk and a slide deck. This is a working set with people in front of it.

A studio, booked for the day Three live sets, built and lit A model, briefed and directed An interview subject Product to shoot Lighting kit, modifiers and grip Eight people, not forty Me, on the floor, all day

You bring your own camera and glass — you should be learning on the body you'll actually use on Monday.

A subject on the interview set, lit and framed

Set 03 — interview

What you leave with

Cards full, and a reason for every frame on them.

Your footage: Everything you shot, on your own cards, yours to use
The manual: A printed workshop manual to work from afterwards
Certificate: A Conniston Studios certificate of completion
The guarantee: Leave without footage you can actually use and I refund your seat

That last one isn't a marketing line. If the day doesn't put usable material on your card, it didn't work, and I'm not keeping your money for a day that didn't work.

The seat

Eight seats.
No waiting list theatre.

Eight is the number where everyone still gets to operate on every set. Twelve would be easier money and a worse day. The next date is being locked with the studio now — the list gets it first, and it isn't a long list.

R4 125per seat, incl. VAT

Join the list

Tell me which workshop on the form and I'll come back with the date before it goes public.

Straight answers

Before you ask.

If it isn't here, email me. I'd rather talk you out of a seat than take R4 125 for a day that was never going to help you.

What camera do I need?

Whatever you own and will actually use. Mirrorless, cinema body, even a capable hybrid — the principles hold. Bring your lenses, batteries, cards and a way to offload. I supply the lighting and grip.

I'm a complete beginner. Should I come?

If you own a camera and have shot with it, yes — even if the results have been bad. If you've never taken it off auto and aren't sure which end the card goes in, you'll spend the day catching up instead of shooting. Email me and I'll tell you honestly which side of that line you're on.

I shoot for my own business, not for clients. Is this for me?

Yes. The sets are product, movement and interview, which is most of what a business needs to make in-house. You'll be in a room with freelancers, which is usually the fastest education available.

Do I need to know how to edit?

No. This day ends when the cards are full. What happens to that footage afterwards is Make The Cut, and the two can be booked together.

Where is it, and when?

A studio in KwaZulu‑Natal, being confirmed now. Dates go to the list before they go anywhere else — join it and you'll hear first.

What if I can't make the date?

Seats transfer to the next running of the day, or to someone else, up to seven days before. Just tell me.

The other half

Shoot it here.
Cut it there.

All The Gear No Idea fills your cards. Make The Cut teaches you to turn a card full of footage into something somebody actually watches to the end. Independent days — take either first.

Both days: R5 625
Booked separately: R6 620 — you save R995

Make The Cut

Make themistakes here.