8 things filmmakers spend WAY too much time thinking about.

As filmmakers, we pride ourselves on focusing on the details, making sure every frame is polished.

But let’s be honest—there are endless ways we obsess over minutia that no one else (except maybe our fellow filmmaker snobs) will EVER notice.

Here’s a reality check on the things we love to overthink:

1. How to Credit Ourselves

When I completed my first feature and started typing up the end credits, I suddenly realized: this is it—whatever I call myself here will set the tone for my entire career.

But with a name like mine, Kent Lamm, it didn’t quite have the gravitas of a “Stanley Kubrick” or “Steven Spielberg” or “Martin Scorsese.” Clearly you need AT LEAST 4 syllables to be a critically acclaimed director.

I considered incorporating my middle name, using my initials à la P.T. Anderson, anything… but nothing sounded prestigious enough.

The reality was, at the end of the day, if Ang Lee and both Spikes (Lee & Jones) could rock 2 syllables… so could I.

Plain old Kent Lamm it was.

Because in the words of WWF era The Rock:

 2. The Perfect Color Grade

Oh the hours I’ve spent tweaking color on my films—obsessively trying to achieve the “perfect” look—only to realize my monitor’s color was way off.

I’d send off the final product, only to hear feedback like, “The colors look so washed out!” or “Why is everything orange?”

To be fair, their monitors weren’t color-calibrated either.

And without a super-expensive Flanders Scientific or another color-calibrated setup, every monitor tells a different story.

So if you’re not checking your exports on multiple screens, don’t waste 100 hours color grading on a single, cheap monitor thinking you’ve finally nailed it.

Oh, and also, make sure you switch off Night Shift mode! You know, the setting that turns your Mac’s colors warmer when the sun goes down. Whoops…

My reference monitor

 3. Which Prime Lens Set to Rent

Ahh lens sets. This should really be at the top of this list IMO.

Every cinematographer obsesses over them, but what do they actually add to the final film? Sure, they may make things a bit cleaner or grittier, but 99% of the audience will never notice.

I’ll tell you who definitely DOES notice – me (or whoever else is paying for the film), because renting a set of cinema lenses is always a big unexpected line item on the budget that the director of photography INSISTS we need to achieve the right “look.”

Once, on Will the Machine, my DP and I debated which expensive vintage cinema lenses to rent. It came down to 2 sets – one with a hexagonal bokeh, and one with round.

I argued a hexagonal bokeh would complement the protagonist’s robotic nature—“they look like bolts,” I said. My DP agreed enthusiastically.

We both knew the reality… nobody cares about your bokeh shape bro.

 4. The Crafty Table

When I’m buying crafty, I end up overthinking what everyone might want: snacks, drinks, treats, little surprises.

I walk down the grocery store aisles putting myself in each cast and crew member’s shoes, turning every crafty run into an unnecessarily exhausting exercise in empathy.

But we all know the essentials: coffee, Welch’s fruit snacks, Clif bars, water bottles, a case of La Croix (budget permitting).

Beyond that? Most goes untouched and ends up as my own personal groceries for the week.

Not that I’m complaining. I love string cheese.

 5. Background Actors

Background actors (aka extras) are like the sprinkles on your shot’s ice cream cone—you want them there, but not too close together, or too far apart.

You need that sweet spot where it looks natural yet orderly.

Aesthetic but not TOO aesthetic.

The end result?

Far too long spent orchestrating every extra, which way they’re facing, where they are in the scene, when and where they move in the shot – all for the goal of not having anyone in the audience pay attention to them.

And along the way, you make all the extras feel like cattle being herded back and forth across the set.

Oh, and bonus points for keeping them away from the “good” crafty. 😂

6. The Ultimate Camera Rig

Rigging out your camera is the filmmaker’s version of working on an old Corvette in the garage.

I used to be obsessed with finding the best accessories and routing the wires to be as compact as possible (cable management is my drug of choice). This is basically why the DSLR Video Shooter YouTube channel exists.

Now? I strip down my camera as much as possible.

Once you’ve got 10lbs of gear bolted on, it becomes a chore to pick up the camera and start filming.

Sometimes, the simplest setup really is the best setup.

Or you know… just hire a DP and let them deal with it.

7. Aspect Ratios

Should we go 16:9 or the slightly wider 1.85:1?

Go crazy with 2.39 anamorphic?

Make it an artsy 4:3 like First Reformed, or an even squarer 1.19:1 like The Lighthouse?

It’s tempting to spend days on aspect ratio tests to see what best tells your story, but let’s face it: two minutes into the film, the audience doesn’t care about your aspect ratio—they’re either invested in the story, or they’re not.

And if they’re not, the aspect ratio won’t save you.

8. Every. Single. Insert. Shot.

Every time I make a film, I get towards the end of the day and think, “Okay, just the insert shots left—I’ll fly through these!”

And every time, I’m humbled.

They seem so simple: just a quick close-up of a hand picking up a prop, or a text appearing on a phone.

But then the camera has to be jammed into a weird spot, the depth of field is razor-thin so we’re missing focus, the actor’s arm is blocking the action, or I’m spending way too much time adjusting a banana for the “perfect” look – flipping it to the side with best amount of freckles, tilting it to best catch the light just right.

Before I know it, I’m debating if the banana we’re using is banana-y enough. “Do we have another banana that’s more of a Central Casting banana?”

It’s a familiar pain—one iconically captured in the Magnolia making-of featurette as Paul Thomas Anderson painstakingly sets down keys over and over for an insert shot.

If you’re not cursing by the time you nail an insert shot, are you even trying?

So next time you’re knee-deep in the tiny details of your film, ask yourself—will anyone even notice this?

Or is this just for you?

Sometimes, good enough actually is good enough.

PS – Did I miss anything? Reply and let me know what you overthink on your films.

Favorite things this week:

🍿 Movie: Saturday Night

I loved the actors, their characters, and the overall energy. So much fun to watch, and for anyone who’s made films or had to put on a show of any kind, I’m sure you’ll relate to the chaos.

I went back and watched the first episode of SNL after watching the film and was surprised at how fast-paced it was compared to modern episodes. From a production standpoint, it must have been harder to run a show like that than it is in its current form.

Let’s make some movies.

-Kent