filmmaking
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Tribeca and Epic Games aim to help indie filmmakers harness Unreal Engine
Workshops with Unreal Engine experts and artists will help creatives learn how to use the platform.
Sony shows off its Airpeak filmmaking drone for the first time
Wait... so what was filming the Airpeak?
'Virtual' studios could offer a real alternative to green screen special effects
'Percival' is a short film that was filmed entirely on a virtual studio. Here's why that could be a really big deal for the future of big-budget filmmaking.
Hideo Kojima says his game studio may venture into filmmaking
In an interview with the BBC about his new game, Death Stranding, Hideo Kojima mentioned that his studio, Kojima Productions, will venture into filmmaking. This idea isn't exactly a surprising one; Kojima is famous for taking a film-like approach to game design while also being infamous for including lengthy cutscenes in his work. That said, filmmaking and game design are two different beasts. Kojima doesn't seem phased by this, though. "If you can do one thing well, then you can do everything well," he claims, seemingly bucking conventional wisdom.
Netflix reveals the challenges of creating 'Bandersnatch'
Last month, Netflix dropped its interactive film Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, which lets viewers get involved in how the story plays out. Now the company is providing a look at some of the challenges the team faced while making the movie. "Part of the excitement of working at Netflix is constantly inventing what is internet TV," Todd Yellin, Netflix's VP of product, says in a short video released by the company. "There's a lot of responsibility because we are innovating on this whole new form."
'Away' is a full-length CG movie made by one person
A boy dangling from a tree in a barren desert. A forest filled with standing stones that have circular holes punched through them. Turtle-riding cats. Spooky caves. Curious elephants. These are just a few of the shots in the first trailer for Away. The 3D animation is far from perfect, but there's a clear, distinctive style throughout. The most impressive part, though, is revealed in the video's description: "Animated feature film by Gints Zilbalodis." Unlike the latest Pixar movies, Away is being made by just one person. It's a colossal challenge, but one that the 23-year-old animator has been building toward for eight years.
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will display an iPhone 5s
Director Sean Baker ripped up the filmmaking rulebook by shooting his Sundance hit Tangerine on an iPhone 5s. Now, over two years since the flick scooped more than seven times its budget at theaters, the Oscars has come knocking. No, the filmmaker isn't getting a belated gong (although his current indie success story The Florida Project could change that). Rather, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is pinching one of three iPhone 5s handsets used to film Tangerine to display in its upcoming Academy Museum. You'll be able to see it for yourself, alongside film memorabilia from The Wizard of Oz and Alien, when the 300,000 square foot space opens its doors in 2019.
The LG V30 is better for video recording than photography
LG has made a name for its V series by stuffing the phones with top-notch multimedia recording features, and its latest addition takes this much further than before. The new V30, unveiled here at IFA 2017, is the first smartphone to offer a glass lens with a f/1.6 aperture, and offers nifty video-recording tools that should excite aspiring Spielbergs. To see if it really lives up to LG's promises, I took the V30 around on a trigger-happy tour of Berlin's Tier Garden and found it a versatile, powerful camera (at least in daylight). In fact, its filmmaking features made me feel like I could pass for a somewhat experienced director.
Create your own films on a VR movie set
When someone mentions "VR filmmaking," they're usually referring to 360-degree video, or some kind of video game environment where the story unfolds around you. One developer in Japan, however, has taken the concept in a vastly different direction. 'Make it Film' is an experimental project by 'MuRo' that lets you operate a camera inside a VR environment. Like a film director, you can frame up the shot and then hit record as characters converse or take part in an action scene. It was built on top of Unity3D and currently works with the Oculus Rift and Touch controllers.
Filmmaker Ridley Scott is committing to VR in a big way
Filmmaker Ridley Scott isn't a stranger to using emerging tech to push his creative vision. I mean, for all of Prometheus' faults, Scott's use of 3D wasn't one of them. Back in 2015 Scott said he was working on a a mystery VR project, so today's news that his RSA Films outfit is launching RSA VR as a company "dedicated" to virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed media perhaps isn't too surprising. However, it does signal that Scott has an eye to the future beyond whatever timelines the Alien and Blade Runner universes take place in. In fact, the first project for RSA VR is a previously-announced Alien: Covenant vignette.
Watch NASA's first 4K broadcast from space on April 26th
If you've ever wanted to see Earth orbit in stunningly real high-def, here's your chance. On Wednesday, April 26th, you can watch the first 4K livestream from the International Space Station 250 miles above the Earth. Commander Peggy Whitson will speak as part of a panel called "Reaching for the Stars: Connecting to the Future with NASA and Hollywood." While we've seen 4K video from space before, this is the first time it will be live. You'll need a 4K-capable television or monitor to see the full resolution, of course, but there will also be lower-resolution streams on NASA Television as well as the agency's Facebook page and website.
Kristen Stewart co-wrote a paper on machine learning
Kristen Stewart, best known for her role as Bella in the Twilight saga, has co-authored a paper on machine learning. It details her use of a technique known as 'style transfers' for select scenes in Come Swim, a short film that will be shown at Sundance and marks her directorial debut. The process has become popular with apps such as Prisma, which allow the user to apply filters in the style of famous paintings. At its core, the system relies on deep neural networks to identify the "content" of your photo and the "style" of another, blending them together into a completely new image.
Google taps film students with Glass Creative Collective
Glass hasn't exactly been revered for its brilliant image quality, but that's not stopping Google from making a push among budding filmmakers. The Glass Creative Collective, a partnership with film and design schools, is intended to familiarize students at a handful of institutions with the video-capture wearable. Several colleges, including the Rhode Island School of Design, UCLA and the University of Southern California are on board -- students will reportedly begin exploring the device as a filmmaking tool beginning this fall. Glass could be a fit for documentary filmmaking, and for capturing point-of-view footage, of course, but performance limitations would likely prevent it from taking on a starring role in any production. We're a bit skeptical that the Creative Collective will be a booming success, but Google's promised to circle back with results once the program gets off the ground.
'Samsara' creators Ron Fricke and Mark Magidson discuss the digital filmmaking divide (video)
We've set up shop in a conference room above Third Avenue in Manhattan, a Canon 5D trained on Ron Fricke and Mark Magidson. I find myself apologizing awkwardly for the setup, several times. There's a long boardroom table in the middle and a customary junket breakfast spread to the right. It's about as plain as meeting rooms come, save for a few movie posters lining the walls, advertising films distributed by the indie film company that owns the space. Hardly ideal for our purposes, but here were are, all clumped into a single corner, with the director and producer of Samsara flanking a cardboard poster for their movie, leaned atop a stand. It's not the welcome befitting the creators of a big, beautiful sweeping cinematic masterpiece. But they're tired -- too tired to care about such things, perhaps. They dismiss such apologies, clip their lavaliere microphones on over their shirts and sit down. Fricke motions to the single SLR seated atop a tripod, explaining that he used the same model on a recent commercial shoot. "We have a solid background grounded in shooting in film, and that just stays with you," he adds. "When I'm shooting like with a 5D, like what you're using now to shoot this interview, I'm working with it like it's a 65 camera. It's my frame of reference, my background. I'm just wired that way." The world of filmmaking has changed dramatically in the two decades since the duo first unleashed Baraka on the world, a non-narrative journey across 25 countries that became the high-water mark for the genre and a staple in critics' lists and film school syllabi.
Final Draft Reader for iPad hopes to replace paper scripts
For over 15 years, the film industry has been undergoing a steady transition to digital. First it was editing that was primarily affected, as programs like Avid Media Composer and Final Cut Pro offered better alternatives than reel-to-reel cutting. Next came shooting on digital video, instead of physical film. But perhaps the last film production holdout to make the leap from physical to digital is the paper script. Sure, since the 1990s there has been screenwriting software, but even those scripts needed to be printed out so cast members could do table reads and production staffers could carry the scripts around with them on sets. All that's set to change, though, thanks to Final Draft Reader for iPad. Final Draft Reader is just that, an iPad reader for your Final Draft scripts. However, in the way the app handles your scripts on the iPad, they behave just like printed drafts. Final Draft Reader displays scripts on your iPad exactly as you would see them in printed form. They are paginated perfectly to industry standards. When you open the app you can select from all the scripts you've imported. Tapping on one opens the script and you can then proceed to swipe from one page to the next (alá how you turn pages in iBooks -- cool page flip animations and all). In addition to simply reading the script, you can also highlight one or more characters' lines (helpful for table-reads), and add notes with the tap of your finger. A lot of thought went into making this app for its target audience: cast and production crew (in the image above, cast members of From The Grave do their first paperless table read). You can see a complete list of Final Draft Reader's features here. Final Draft has even added some nice eye candy, like the realistic pulpy-looking background of the pages. Share options include email, printing, and Dropbox sharing all from within the app. The only negative I see with the app is its lack of iCloud's Documents in the Cloud support, but hopefully Final Draft will add that soon. Final Draft Reader is a great tool that will help eliminate the need to print out paper scripts (and reprint them every time there is a little change). I highly recommend it for anyone who is in the film industry. And fear not, though Final Draft Reader is just that -- a reader for scripts written in Final Draft for OS X or Windows -- the company is planning on releasing a full iPad editing tool, Final Draft Writer for iPad, later this year. Final Draft Reader is available in the App Store for $19.99. %Gallery-161306%
iStabilizer Dolly brings smooth tracking shots to iPhone video
The number of iPhone accessories that are targeted at amateur and pro filmmakers is climbing, and a new product announced today promises to let you capture those smooth dolly shots you see on the big screen. iStabilizer is now selling the US$59.95 Dolly, a rolling dolly with an extendable arm for making those cinematic masterpieces. As you can see in the image above, the 1.25 lb. Dolly works perfectly with an iPhone, but the adjustable grip can also hold that same phone with a case of your choice, Android phone (cough...), a GoPro camera, or many other devices. We'll be getting one of these soon for a full review; in the meantime, be sure to take a look at the video below for an idea of the shots you can take with the Dolly. And while you're at it, spend some time getting that movie script into shape, OK?
Apple to offer filmmaker workshops for Tribeca Film Festival
Filmmakers in New York will want to be sure to stop by the West 14th Street and Soho Apple stores beginning April 20th through April 28th. The company is offering a series of filmmaking talks and workshops at the two locations in honor of the Tribeca Film Festival. The Apple Store, West 14th Street, and the Apple Store, SoHo, are proud to take part in the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival. To celebrate the spirit of independent film making, we're hosting free events and workshops from April 20 through April 28. And everyone's invited to attend. Grab a seat for an exclusive Meet the Filmmakers session - presented by Apple and Indiewire - and hear the film industry's leading actors, writers, directors, and producers discuss their latest projects. The "Meet the Filmmakers" events will feature Q&A's with writers, directors, producers, and actors including Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Brad Hall, Emily Blunt, Morgan Spurlock, Chris Colfer, Jenna Fischer, Julie Delpy, Freida Pinto, and more. There will also be several "What's New in Filmmaking" workshops that delve into Final Cut Pro X, iLife and iWork for filmmakers, social media in film making, location scouting, lighting, effective story telling, and more. A full list of workshop schedules can be found here. Interested readers can also download the free Tribeca Film Festival app.
LomoKino Super 35 Movie Maker lets you channel your inner Charlie Chaplin for $80
Ever wish you could return to a simpler cinematic era -- one characterized not by 3D graphics and Spielberg, but by silent images and Eisenstein? Well, you can now spearhead the movement yourself, with Lomography's new LomoKino Super 35 Movie Maker. With this device (pictured above), amateur filmmakers can manually produce their own frill-free movies on any roll of 35mm film. All you have to do is load your film into the so-called "magic box," turn the crank and let the LomoKino work its magic. The camera, which boasts a 25mm lens and max aperture of f/5.6, will capture 144 shots on a single roll of film, good for about 50 to 60 seconds of footage. It also supports a wide array of effects, including slide film, color negative, redscale and black and white. Once that's developed, you can run it through Lomography's LomoKinoScope, direct it toward a light source, and watch your homemade Baby's Lunch or Nanook of the North unfold before your eyes. You won't find any sound, special effects, or fancy post-production tools here -- just moving images, plain and cinematically pure. Lumiere enthusiasts can grab one now for $80, or opt for both the LomoKino and the LomoKinoScope, bundled together for $100. For more details, roll past the break for a sample video and the full PR, or get a closer look at the LomoKino in the gallery, below. %Gallery-138276%
Marshall Electronics outs glasses-free Orchid 3D monitor for pro filmmakers
If you're trying to turn your next film into a three dimensional cinematic masterpiece, having a quality camera to record things is a necessity. But, prudence demands that would-be James Camerons film with a first-rate monitor to view all that video as well. Good thing Marshall Electronics has made the Orchid OR-70-3D monitor to meet all your moviemaking needs. It's got a 7.2-inch, 1600 x 600 glasses-free 3D display that works using parallax barrier and lenticular hybrid technology -- all in a package that weighs just under three pounds. In order to let you fine tune things in all three dimensions, there's real-time waveform and color vectorscope monitoring along with a suite of other 3D tuning tools. The cost for such prodigious production value? $7,899, which sounds like a lot, but if it helps you make the next Avatar you'll have no problems recouping your investment. PR's after the break.
ContourRoam waterproof camera takes hands-free filmmaking underwater
Contour has already produced a handful of imagers for football players and cyclists, but the company has now come out with a solution for underwater explorers, as well, with its first waterproof camera -- the ContourRoam. This hands-free device boasts a super wide-angle, 170-degree rotating lens, capable of capturing HD video in three different resolutions (1080p, 960p, and 720p) at 30fps. Its lens can also rotate up to 270 degrees, and projects a horizontal laser to help you align your shots. The camera's instant on-record option, meanwhile, allows you to start recording as soon as you turn it on, while its waterproof aluminum body lets you shoot video at underwater depths of up to one meter for up to 30 minutes at a time -- meaning you can leave that old ContourHD case at home. Aspiring Steve Zissous can buy one now for $200, at the source link below. Otherwise, just wade past the break for more information, in the full presser.
