[HN Gopher] Magic of software; what makes a good engineer also m...
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Magic of software; what makes a good engineer also makes a good
engineering org
Author : kiyanwang
Score : 4 points
Date : 2025-05-19 05:26 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (moxie.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (moxie.org)
| mrandish wrote:
| > a filmmaker can use a camera to make great films without
| understanding in detail how to build the camera, and there is
| probably not much of a predictable relationship between knowledge
| of how the camera works and quality of the resulting film.
|
| This sentence conflates two different things to support a single
| point. One is true but the second is not. It's correct that a
| filmmaker does not need to know "how to build a camera" to make
| great films. However, a filmmaker certainly needs to know "how a
| camera works" to make a great film. And not just in the pedantic
| sense of where the Record button is but in the sense of a great
| violinist needing to know how their violin works (but not how to
| make a violin). The camera is the artistic instrument of cinema
| and using it well requires understanding how to leverage lens
| selection, aperture, shutter speed, exposure, focal plane,
| lighting, framing, etc to achieve the desired artistic outcome.
|
| Another possible confusion in this sentence is the catch-all term
| "filmmaker" when the actual example is more narrowly focused on
| operation of the camera. Deciding how to apply a camera toward
| making a motion picture is generally the responsibility of the
| cinematographer. Sometimes uniquely skilled directors can also
| act as their own cinematographer but the roles and skill sets are
| as divergent as composer and violinist.
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