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Valentina Vee on the KASBAH Ātman Universal Shoulder Rig
If you have ever looked up anything filmmaking-related on YouTube, there’s a good chance you already know Valentina Vee. Over the years, her various tutorials have been a window into professional filmmaking practices: covering everything from detailed lighting plans to streamlined editing workflows. Vee’s career spans a range of genres: across commercials, narrative shorts and documentaries; working with everyone from The Rock to The Deep.
I became a filmmaker right on the cusp of the digital revolution, someone who started their career with the Canon 5D Mk II and has worked in both the digital and traditional worlds. Sometimes I shoot a commercial on an ALEXA Mini LF, sometimes I shoot a documentary on the Sony BURANO, and sometimes I turn my Sony A7SIII on its side to shoot a TikTok.
For me, it’s all about having the most flexible skill-set and tools that’ll allow me to quickly transition between many different styles of shooting. In this ever-changing filmmaking world, it’s important to be able to adapt to new challenges, because that’s the way you’re able to stay relevant and book work.
Starting out in editing, Vee’s skillset grew into cinematography and directing and has refined those skills. Fast-forward to today, and Vee finds being on set trumps being sat in front of a monitor any day.
I prefer production! I actually started in the post-production world and I’ve actively been trying to wean myself off of it in recent years. Sometimes I have to do VFX myself here and there because it’s easier and cheaper for me to do it than to hire outside help. But for the most part recently, I prefer being on set than anything else.
The first thing I do when I arrive on set as a cinematographer is make sure that my CLT and the G&E department know what the plan is for the day, and I check in with them about what our first lighting setup will be. I make sure that they are set, before going over to interface with the camera department. Most of my ACs already know what needs doing when it comes to camera prep, so while the camera department is prepping, it’s really the lighting I focus on first.
Alongside freelance work, Vee is also the Director of Motion Pictures for streaming platform Nebula. For those unaware, Nebula is a massive creator-owned streaming platform that started as a home to video essays, tutorials and podcasts. With the new Motion Pictures department, the scope and scale of projects has expanded; with short films such as Identiteaze, documentaries such as Boomers or game shows such as The Getaway. There’s nothing conventional about Vee’s day-to-day, and every day comes with its own pressures on set – what do you do if something goes wrong?
I don’t mope and I don’t blame. By that I mean that if someone on my team does something that puts our production behind, I correct the mistake for next time and move on. On the last multi-cam shoot I did, one of the operators forgot to switch card slots when the first one was full and wasn’t recording for the last 10 minutes of the show.
She told me that she expected me to yell at her, and she was surprised I was “so cool” about it. I calmly noted that it’s a good lesson and we will make sure it doesn’t happen again. Nothing is gained by going “well I told you so” or fixating on the “coulda, woulda, should-a’s”.
That’s easier said than done, especially when you’re in the heat of production and you’ve got a lot riding on you. But I try as much as I can to look towards what lessons we can learn from past mistakes, instead of spending time making people feel bad for their shortcomings.
In a business of reputations, this sort of practical approach is always valuable – filmmaking is stressful enough as it is. And in order to make her camera setup as pragmatic as her creative outlook, Vee uses our very own KASBAH Ātman Shoulder Rig:
I searched for a long time for the perfect shoulder rig, and actually purchased one from another company that I had to return because it was too heavy and not cushioned enough. The KASBAH is lightweight and ultimately – comfortable. Which I attribute to its unique shoulder cushion.
It is also important for me to have ultimate flexibility when operating – whether I want to have a VCT plate or a dovetail plate, whether I want the camera to be a little bit further out from my head or right up against it. And for the cage – the way the handle slides back and forth allows me to easily correct for balance when on an Easyrig.
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This new setup has come in handy across Vee’s various Nebula projects – proving a versatile option for narrative and documentary shooting.
This system is so universal and can work for different projects. For example, on Dracula’s Ex-Girlfriend – a film I both directed and shot – I used the KASBAH shoulder rig and plates, but mounted them to the C500 Mk II directly, instead of using the entire LeftField system, as I did on the documentary Boomers with my Sony BURANO.
See if you can spot her customised “LeftField Vee” baseplate in these behind-the-scenes shots.
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