Occam's Razor & other filmmaking rules I live by in 2026

I think in filmmaking, just like in life, you have to create the tenets that you run by. These tenets, whether they are your golden rules, your ten commandments, or your laws of motion, should govern your creative process. And every so often, you should reevaluate your golden rules, to see if they still apply.

So I wanted to talk about my golden rules, or what I'm setting in place as my five laws that structure how I run the set as a cinematographer.

Rule 1: Apply Occam's Razor First

The most beautiful solutions are the ones that start the simplest. Or, at the very least, we can always make things more complicated. And in a way, that's what I've been finding with my work; the simple, elegant solution is often the best approach to a problem.

And in that way, it's the rule that I try to apply first when I'm trying to light a space.

Take for example, the lighting setup I had for a dark basketball spot featuring an athlete. The goal was to be able to light the subject dramatically, with the rest of the scene falling into darkness. The trouble was that we were going to be shooting essentially 360 degrees, and had little to no time for lighting changes.

My solution was to add two hard side lights on one side of the court, and to add a soft frontal key that was high up to act as a bit of ambience t0 fall off; everything on wheels to constantly shift us down the court as needed.

The shoot worked, and was quite the dance with complex, rehearsed lighting shifts. Everyone was happy, but at the end of the day I was not. There was a more elegant solution, which was to have the lights on a second story overhang. While they wouldn't be as powerful due to distance, they would have produced a more dramatic affect, and been out of frame.

Recently, I've had to light a product shoot with nice, reflective, domed bottles. And while I could have gotten super complex with a series of flags and silks and diffusions and bounces, I ended up going for the elegant solution – a 6x6 magic cloth that we hung up to be as close to the product as possible and then draped over our lens. Provided instant life into the bottle, and made life a whole lot easier.

So for 2026, I'm going to be searching for the elegant solution first.

Rule 2: The Gaffer giveth & the Gaffer taketh away

Now, we can always make things more complex. And my second rule is to let the gaffer make things more complex. Call it a little pizzazz, or little kicker, but gaffers always know how to take something good and make it great. So for 2026, start simple, but let your gaffer add to the complexity to make everything better.

On commercials, I've seen gaffers go for easy, simple solutions first, and then elevate the work by adding a series of mirrors, streaks, and bounces that give life and little pockets of life that turn something that already was great into something magical. And in that way, the gaffer can giveth. Let the gaffer giveth as much as possible.

Conversely, allow the gaffer to taketh away. By God, gaffers know how to light. But they also know how to shadow, and while we can add multiple moments of light, you can do just as much by taking light away instead.

On set, I'm approaching my conversations with my gaffer as a discussion of what I'd like to start with (the elegant solution), and what I'd like to take away (using shadows to paint). After that, it's free reign to elevate to their hearts desire and as time allows.

Rule 3: Don't let the big light get behind you

A bit of a classic, but a piece of advice I heard and now adhere to. When we let the big light get directly behind us, everything is flat. Things lack contrast, and as a result, lack interest.

While there is a time and place for this flat, even lighting (which I often have to do), this rule is one I try to hold onto for a more run and gun shoot situation. Interest comes from contrast, and a beautiful image has just as many shadows as it has highlights. So lighting wise when under the gun, go for light that creates interest, giving shape and life to an image by throwing the light anywhere but behind you.

Rule 4: Everything must feel intentional

I was reflecting a bit on my philosophy for documentary shoots, where things are often loose on story. How do you approach something where your goal is to capture as much as you can, only to know what you can use later?

I realized that my approach needs to be crisper, and to move with more intention. If you're going to do B-roll of a sign, the movements should feel cohesive and singular. If you're going to go focus on a face, your rack should feel crisp and precise. And in that way, I've been approaching my camera work and movement as singular, precise motions.

And with the rise in gimbals and stabilization, things have gotten to feeling pretty loose. We've all kind of become normalize to a shakier cam and an orbit that changes speed. But because of that, when things are precise, they stand out a bit more.

So I've been trying to apply that intentionality to every aspect that I can. Camera movement is a big one, where I'm making my movements singular, cohesive ideas of movement. Lighting, obviously, is staying intentional as it always has been, along with composition. In a similar manner, I've been choosing my shot selection like an editor, with the ideas of shooting inserts, wides, and closeups coming through as a discrete shotlist from the editing room rather than one that comes from a postmortem of an edit.

Rule 5: If it is the best thing you've ever done, make it better

Why compromise on your exceptionalism? There is always something you can do to adjust and tweak to make it better. And while there is a time limit to our ability to tweak, my structure is to always take a moment before we shoot to ask myself what I can change or add to make this scene just a bit better.

And when you think about it, a lot of what we do is subjective and open to intepretation. That's somewhat the curse of being an artist; your perfection isn't objective, so we have to find solace in our abilities through ourselves. Can the lights be 1% hotter, the streaking light 1 degree more panned? Always.

So what some change can I make that makes perfection better? What can I do to elevate the scene even further?

That's the final piece of my approach; to find what is good and to try to continually elevate it to where it works even more than it already did. Time permitting, of course.

Bonus Rule: Red means Record

I think once a shoot, no matter the intensity and focus, I ask myself if I was actually recording. I haven't failed yet--knock on wood--and I don't want to start blaming sound this year.

What are your rules for this year? Are there any you agree with, or think I should add? Comment below.