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These are the seven rules (guidelines) to cinematic framing and composition

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Composition is always such a hotly debated topic. There are so many “rules” (and sometimes a few that conflict with each other), but unless you want to start getting yourself obsessively wrapped up in those debates, you have to think of them more as guidelines. But they’re guidelines that we often see followed to great effect in many movies, TV shows, and photographs. Do you know why? Well, it’s because they often work.

In this video, Kellan Reck walks us through seven of what he considers to be the most important rules, tips and tricks to get a good cinematic looking shot. And while the video is geared towards filmmaking, much of what is said can be applied to photography, too.

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Why filmmakers love lamps – should you use one in your next video?

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This is a rather interesting observation that I’ve never picked up on before but I’ll sure be on the lookout for in the future. Have you ever noticed how many lamps appear in movies? Sometimes even in particularly awkward or unusual places? Filmmaker and YouTuber Patrick Tomasso certainly noticed after recently rewatching Eyes Wide Shut. He then studied other movies and noticed they were everywhere.

They’ve been around in cinema for years and it doesn’t look like they’re going away any time soon. But why? Sure, lamps exist in the real world, but not usually to the extent that they appear in certain films and certainly not in all of the places that they pop up in movies, either, as Patrick illustrates.

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This is the most difficult shot in movie history and here’s why it matters

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Movie and shot breakdowns are always a lot of fun to watch. Even breakdowns for bad movies are often quite interesting. That’s the case here, as film boffin Patrick Willems describes in this particular video. It describes a particularly bad movie (The Bonfire of the Vanities) by a particularly good director (Brian De Palma).

It was widely regarded as a pretty bad movie when it was released and it still is today. But there are elements of it that are quite exceptional. Such as one particular shot that De Palma said he’d never include in a movie. And that’s one of a plane landing – to signify that one of the characters has just travelled somewhere.

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13 Gimbal tricks to up your gimbal game

Gimbals have become increasingly popular and it’s obvious why. Moves that required master camera operators can now be done with significantly less training. Add the fact that gimbals are becoming more powerful, more affordable, and more features rich, and you have a winning tool. That being said, gimbals still require a learning curve. This series of tips is here to help you get the most out of our gimbal on your next shoot. We got our resident gimbal expert Oleg Balzanov and a super talented dancer, Danielle Stephen to help us teach you these tips.

For this tutorial, we used three pieces of kit. A Manfrotto MVG460 gimbal, a dedicated remote, and a monopod style accessory called a Gimboom. The 460 is a great gimbal with tons of nifty features and a really good payload capacity. AS for the Gimboom, if you have seen their FAST tripod legs, it’s basically a single leg of that tripod. It’s nice to see that Manfrotto saw how monopods are used in tandem with gimbals and created a dedicated product for it.

So without further ado, here are our top 13 gimbal tricks:

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This frame rate comparison shows why you shouldn’t just shoot everything at 120fps

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With the influx of new cameras these days capable of shooting 120fps and even faster, it’s natural that many of us acquiring such a camera will want to have a play with it and see just how it performs and how our footage looks. A lot of people complain about certain cameras that can shoot 120fps overheating, but is it really that big a deal? Are you going to be shooting 4K 120fps all day?

Well, no. It’s unlikely. And you probably shouldn’t, either. In this video, Mark Bone takes a look at frame rates and when and why to use them and why shooting 120fps for anything other than slow motion is just a waste. And, well, even shooting 60fps is over the top for a lot of content you might shoot – particularly anything cinematic.

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Pre-production: How cinematographers should prepare for a shoot

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Shooting a video production, whether it’s for a Hollywood blockbuster, a YouTube video or anywhere in between isn’t as easy as you might think. Especially if it’s not something you’ve done before. Or maybe you have, but things didn’t go as you expected and you’re not sure how to fix it.

Well, have a watch of this video from the folks at In Depth Cine. The channel is dedicated to going in-depth into filmmaking and cinematography and the various processes that are part of that world and workflow. In this video, they talk about how a cinematographer prepares for a shoot.

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How to shoot a no-budget horror short film

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Shooting short films is one of the greatest creative outlets for many video shooters, especially those that might otherwise be trapped in the corporate world, always shooting to a brief. But shooting a film, even a short one, can be quite expensive, depending on what that story is, and how you think you need to tell it.

This short film above, Whispers, shot by filmmaker Joris Hermans, however, was shot on no budget at all. Of course, there are some prerequisites. You need to have a camera (Joris used the Canon EOS M50) and other basic gear, but they’re things that almost all those interested in shooting with video will have already.

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The brilliant use of complementary colors in “The Queen’s Gambit”

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByLgbBgqXwE&ab_channel=aboutphotography

I recently finished Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit and I have so many great impressions. It’s not just the story and characters I liked, but this TV show is a real treat for photographers. Martin Kaninsky is also enchanted by it, and in his recent video, he guides you through the brilliant use of complementary colors in The Queen’s Gambit.

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Seven composition techniques you can learn from “The Queen’s Gambit”

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYW6hEb42_A&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=aboutphotography

Watching movies and TV series is not only a great pastime activity on cold winter days but also a great way to find inspiration for your photography. Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit has become insanely popular, and it’s one of the shows photographers definitely should check out. In this video, Martin Kaninsky analyzes the series from a photographer’s point of view, giving you seven composition rules you can learn from it.

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Twitter account One Perfect Shot becomes an HBO TV series

Twitter account One Perfect Shot is all about the iconic frames from movies and TV series. But here’s an interesting twist: the account itself is soon to be adapted into a TV show. In collaboration with HBO Max, One Perfect Shot is about to become a documentary series.

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