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5 effective tripod hacks for your next film project

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It’s rare that I actually see new ways to utilise a tripod. When these videos pop up, they’re invariably just a rehashing of somebody else’s tips and tricks. It’s not that I think I’ve seen or know them all already, but it’s just rare that I see something new. Maybe you have seen or even attempted these techniques before, but I haven’t.

This video, though, from Cinecom, takes us through five great ways to use a tripod that you might not have considered before. Specifically, the tripod shown in the video is the MeVIDEO Travel Tripod, but these tips can be used or adapted to work with just about any of them. I’ll definitely be trying out a couple of these

This cinematic handheld iPhone X video shows off just how well its lens stabilisation really works

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We just posted about a particularly well made iPhone X video yesterday, profiling French dessert maker Elise Lepinteur. While it is a very nice and polished final product, the phone had a little assistance from sliders, gimbals and 3rd party lenses.

In this video, though, from Matteo Bertoli Visuals, we see the iPhone X footage completely unassisted, handheld. That’s right, no gimbals, no sliders, no bolt-on lenses. He didn’t even use Filmic Pro to film it, he used the phone’s standard app. And it looks pretty amazing.

This is how some of Hollywood’s legendary historic lenses look on a modern cinema camera

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I’m a sucker for old glass. Whether for stills or video, I’ve always been a big believer that the lens plays a massive part in getting “the film look”. It’s why I often shoot video and stills with old M42 and Nikon Ai-S lenses. Older glass just has character that modern lenses do not. Modern lenses are too perfect, too clinical.

In this video, DP Jody Eldred visits filmmaker Todd Fisher (brother of Carrie) to test out some of cinema’s most famous lenses. Or at least, lenses that shot some of its most famous movies, including The Godfather, The Shining and Casablanca. He tests each of them with a Blackmagic Ursa Mini Pro 4.6K, to see just how much of an effect each lens has on the image.

Filmmaker shoots an awesome commercial to sell his girlfriend’s old car

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In the sea of Craigslist ads or eBay auctions, you need to find a way to stand out if you want to get noticed and reach a good price. This is exactly what filmmaker Max Lanman did: he filmed a full-scale commercial for his girlfriend’s 1996 Honda Accord. And he did such a good job, that he got an offer 68x times higher than the car’s actual value.

5 GorillaPod tricks to make filmmaker’s life easier

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GorillaPod is a handy tool for photographers, and pretty popular among the vloggers. But, you can use it in many different ways when shooting video. It can help you mock a slider, a camera rig and even a drone (sort of). Jordy Vandeput of Cinecom.net shares five tricks you can pull off using just the GorillaPod. Although they’re mainly aimed at filming, photographers can use some of them as well.

New Tomb Raider movie poster mocked for bad Photoshop job

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The new Tom Raider movie with Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft is coming next year. The trailer is out, and so is the official poster. However, Vikander’s neck looks so long in the poster that it seems to provoke more comments than the actual movie. And on Twitter, it’s slowly turning into a meme.

Lessons on properly lighting dark-skinned actors from “Insecure” director of photography Ava Berkofsky

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How to properly light the model depends on several aspects, and one of them is skin color. Insecure’s director of photography, Ava Berkofsky, makes the actors in the series look fabulous. In this 2-minute video, she shares her lessons on properly lighting the dark-skinned actors to achieve the best results.

Netflix buys up Ed Harris photography drama “Kodachrome”

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Netflix has acquired the photography themed drama, Kodachrome in a deal worth $4 million. Starring Ed Harris, Jason Sudeikis and Elizabeth Olsen, it’s set during the final days of Kodachrome’s processing availability.

The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday at the Princess of Wales Theatre. It follows a father-son road trip to reach a Kansas photo lab before its doors close for good. If they don’t get there in time, then it’s never going to happen (in theory).

These are the first 12 things a filmmaker should buy

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If you have decided to start making films, there is a list of items you need to have before you get started. Darious Britt shares a list of 12 things you absolutely need to get before you start shooting videos and films.

If you are transitioning from photography to video, you already have some of these items. As for the others, you might need an upgrade to your gear or buy new stuff, so you can make the recording, storage, and editing possible. Darious suggests some budget-friendly solutions, so you don’t have to save up for years to start making your first film. For us with a smaller budget, it sounds pretty encouraging.

New to filmmaking? These are some mistakes you should avoid

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We all make mistakes, and that’s okay – it’s one of the ways to learn and grow. However, it costs you less time, money and energy to learn from someone else’s mistakes, and Jordy Vandeput from Cinecom.net kindly lets you learn from his. He shares five biggest mistakes he made as a filmmaking beginner, so you can avoid them and be more successful in from the very beginning. What’s more, most of them are applicable to photography as well, and even to whatever you do.

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