👋 I'm Rob, Welcome to the Coffee On Set Newsletter! Every other week learn new ways to leverage AI in your video production career. Learn the fundamentals to better prompting, automating workflows, and building your own tools.

Hey Reader,

I want to share how I turned ChatGPT into my go-to resource for technical questions so you can do the same!

If you’ve ever been stuck searching for the perfect, tailored solution to a problem you have when editing video, this might just change the way you work ☕️

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The Challenge

For most of the year, I’ve been working on a documentary series about space exploration. The footage looks incredible thanks to a Sony Burano paired with Atlas Orion Silver Edition Anamorphic lenses 🤩

But the real challenge? Filming with new gear, and editing anamorphic footage (for my first time 😳)

I love tweaking every detail, making sure the lighting, movements, and camera settings are just right. It’s a fun challenge racing against the clock to get the best possible shot, relying on gut feelings, technical knowledge, and the tools at your disposal.

So, I had to make sure the camera settings and the project settings in post production were optimized for the lenses and final delivery.

In Davinci Resolve, there is an overwhelming amount of options for setting up your project. From the project settings themselves, to the timeline, to exporting.

Naturally, I turned to the usual suspects—Google and YouTube—but I quickly found myself wasting my time

. Videos were too long, and advice felt off. I even tried reading the manuals but then needed more espresso ☕️

What about ChatGPT?

That’s when it clicked. I thought, “What if I could feed all this information—manuals, notes, even transcripts—into ChatGPT and create my own custom user guide?”

Fast forward, and now ChatGPT is my #1 tool for answering technical questions, finding settings in the Burano or DaVinci Resolve, and even helping me explore new techniques for editing current projects.

The 4 Steps

Here are the four steps I used to transform ChatGPT into an invaluable resource for video production...

1. Initial Prompt
   • To begin, I tell ChatGPT what I am using this chat for:
   • ”𝙄 𝙖𝙢 𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙛𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙤 𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜. 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙪𝙥𝙡𝙤𝙖𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪’𝙧𝙚 𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣𝙛𝙤 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙘𝙚𝙨. 𝙄’𝙡𝙡 𝙖𝙡𝙨𝙤 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙪𝙥𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙟𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙨.”
2. Upload Manuals
   • I uploaded the official manuals and guides for Davinci Resolve, the Sony Burano, and Sony FX3.
3. Additional Gear
   • Since not all equipment comes with manuals I will upload a link to the product page. Example for lenses: https://atlaslensco.com/orionsilveredition/
   • “To test that you were able to obtain information in the link, please tell me the filter size of the 25mm and the weight of the 40mm. Convert the weight to pounds.”
4. Knowledge Hub
   • Beyond manuals, I continue to compile a mix of YouTube tutorials and blog posts into a cohesive knowledge hub that is converted to text, formatted, then pasted into the chat. I add an additional prompt after this saying:
   • “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘒𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘏𝘶𝘣. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘴, 𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘒𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘏𝘶𝘣 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵”
     • This will ensure the responses are coming from my preferred resources.

💡 When uploading documents, keep it under a few thousand words to optimize ChatGPT’s performance.

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Want to dive deeper? The full course is available for free inside the Coffee On Set community, where explore new ways to leverage AI in our industry.

Random Tip: How I Used Lowe's ChatGPT to Fix My Dishwasher

I even used ChatGPT to fix my dishwasher 😂

I gave it the make, model, and told it about this weird smell after every wash. After listing all the things I’d already tried, this GPT came through on the first try!

Turns out, the drain hose wasn’t mounted high enough to drain properly—problem solved, smell gone. Who knew ChatGPT could double as a home appliance expert?

6 Keys to Prompting Next Episode...

The next email we will cover the 6 Core Components to prompting GPT. Get a better understanding of how to control ChatGPT and tailor it to your specific needs.

💬 Your Input Matters

I’d love to know—are you currently using AI and automations in your job? If so, what would you like to learn more about? Hit reply and let me know. Your feedback will help shape future content.