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DIYP Quiz: Cameras in the movies

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When you start paying attention, you realize that so many movies show film and digital cameras in the frames. And if you’re a photographer who enjoys movie nights, we have a quiz just for you. Can you connect the stills from the movies they’re from?

All of these movie frames have one thing in common: they show actors holding cameras. Although it may not be directly connected to photography, it does test you for photographic memory. It’s certainly entertaining, and if you ask me – that’s what counts! :)

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These are the ways vehicles are rigged for extreme destruction in the movies

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There’s nothing more exciting in the middle of an action movie than some good old destruction, especially of the vehicular kind. They’re the kinds of crashes and explosions that can often make real life seem a bit boring. That’s because most vehicles these days are built to pretty high standards of safety and security. The kinds of explosions and crashes we see in movies just don’t happen in the real world.

In this video from Insider, the team at JEM FX pulls back the curtain to reveal some of the secrets they use in order to make the crashes spectacular and cinematic for the movies. Some of these have been well-popularised in behind-the-scenes videos from movies, but this video really breaks things down – both figuratively and literally – to show just how choreographed and well planned out these crashes really are.

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Viewers “raging” over camera’s dead pixels in Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead

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For movie watchers, there’s nothing more upsetting than settling in to watch the latest overhyped movie only to turn on your fancy, way-too-big, expensive TV to discover you’ve got dead pixels on your screen. They just sit there, taunting you, spoiling your viewing experience.

That’s the experience felt by quite a few people who sat down to watch the new Zack Snyder Netflix movie Army of the Dead. At least, it was until they realised that those dead pixels weren’t on their TV, but in-camera, recorded for all time in the movie itself, turning their dispair into “rage”.

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Watch to see the evolution of chase sequences over the last 100 years

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Chase scenes have been a staple in movies for almost as long as movies have existed. And boy have they changed over the years! Car chase scenes from the 1920s look practically comical now, yet were at the pinnacle of on-screen drama back in their day. With Fast & Furious 9 set to hit our screens this year, Insider decided to take a look at how they’ve evolved over the last 100 years.

From 1924’s Sherlock Junior, through Bullitt, The French Connection, Ronin, Drive and more, through to the latest Fast & Furious movies, it covers a lot of ground in not only how the filming of the scenes has evolved, but how new technological innovation has allowed them to kick things up a notch every so often.

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This is how they make fake drugs for movies

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There are a few methods to make fake blood for the movies (or you can simply buy it). But what about drugs? Of course, the actors won’t use the real thing on set, but it’s not that easy to find substitutes as one may think. Fake drugs need to look and act the same as the real ones, but they also have to be completely safe to ingest. So how do they do it? In this fantastic video from Insider, prop master Joel Barkow shares some tricks of the trade and reveals how fake drugs are made for movies.

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This epic tracking shot from a century-old silent film was way ahead of its time

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Some silent films from the early 20th century were groundbreaking in terms of stunts and effects. The 1927 movie Wings was way ahead of its time by more than one criterion, and one of them is certainly epic camera movement. You can see it in the clip below, and you’ll agree, this is the kind of shot we see in movies to this day.

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These high and low-budget setups show you how to light your shot like a scene from Joker

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Joker has been one of the biggest movies over the last couple of years, taking home both the best actor and best original score Oscars. But one of the things the movie is also well known for is its lighting. The movie uses a lot of blues and oranges, which is actually pretty common these days, but it does it in a somewhat unique way.

In this video, the A-Team takes a look at how you can recreate the lighting in Joker practically, using gels instead of grading in post, with both higher-end gear as well as low budget options.

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Apple is helping us spot the bad guys in movies by banning them from using iPhones

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Huge international companies pay close attention to their public image and there’s nothing strange about it. But Apple seems to has gone a tad too far. According to director Rian Johnson, the company bans movie villains from using iPhones in screen.

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This photographer builds highly realistic miniatures for stunning movie-inspired portraits

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It’s not rare that photographers are inspired by other types of art: it can be cinematography, music, painting – you name it. Photographer Nicholas Busch finds his inspiration in movies, and he brings together realistic miniatures, portrait photography, and compositing.

Nicholas builds hyper-realistic dioramas from scratch to create scenes from The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, Lord of the Rings and other movies. He then combines them with portraits, and with the help of Photoshop, he creates photos just like scenes we’ve seen on the big screen.

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