Photographers can learn about composition from movies and TV shows, and a Twitter account Comp Cam: Geometric is a wonderful example of this. They have recently released Geometric Shots: a searchable database of composition breakdowns from movies and TV shows. You’ll love it if you like exploring composition, no matter if you are a photographer, videographer, or just a fan of movies and TV series.
How to use shutter speed to your advantage to help you get the film look
There’s more to getting the “film look” with video than simply shooting your camera at 24 frames per second. It’s not just the colour grading, or the lens used, either. These are, of course, factors, but all components of a much greater whole. Issues other than the framerate are mostly variable. One issue that often gets ignored, though, is the shutter speed.
In this video from Wolfcrow, Sareesh Sudhakaran tells us how shutter speed affects our footage. It explains why we don’t always get the look we desire, and how to correct it. Breaking the 180° shutter rule (which is different to the other 180° rule) can work to great effect when used with a purpose. At other times, it just looks like a mistake. Understanding the principles behind the rule, rather than simply accepting it, helps us to know when and how to break them.
This former Nuclear Bunker is now home to over a hundred years worth of American cinema
Located at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia, the Library of Congress Packard Campus was originally built as a nuclear bunker. It stored $4 billion in gold, and would’ve been the location to which the President would have been taken had the need arisen during the Cold War. Now that this potential need no longer exists, it is home to 6.3 million pieces of the Library of Congress’ movie, TV and sound collection.
It has miles of shelves, 35 climate controlled vaults for sound recordings, safety film and video tape and 124 individual vaults for flammable nitrate film. It’s also a complete lab for the preservation and restoration of cinema’s finest moments. In this video, we get to take a look inside the Packard Campus, and see some of the archives and restoration rooms.
This is why your camera shoots 29.97fps (not 30fps) and why it doesn’t really matter any more
If you’re not dealing with broadcast, and you’re simply uploading to YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, etc. then I’ll save you some time. You don’t have to stick with 29.97 framerate. It’s old, it’s obsolete, it’s no longer technically relevant, shoot and play back at whatever framerate you like.
If you want to delve a little deeper into why 29.97fps is even a thing, check out this video from Matt Parker at Standup Maths. In it, he talks about how 30fps became 29.97fps in the first place. It basically boils down to a combination of the frequency of the electrical supply (60Hz) and the amount of broadcast “bandwidth” that was available to the first colour analogue TV signals.
What life is like shooting stills on a movie set
I always thought being the stills shooter on a movie set would be such great fun. It probably is, too. But when one hears stories and sees footage of them in action one quickly realises how stressful it is. Under constant pressure to get the shot, it must be perfect every time. Your images are going to sell the entire movie to the general public. You need to not only get the technical side perfect, you need to capture the mood and spirit of the characters, too.
In this two part video interview from AdoramaTV, we peek into the life of world renowned movie stills photographer Aidan Monaghan. It’s interesting to hear how his career evolved from architecture to landscape, then theatre, and how it all helped him get started shooting movies.
Grip it Good – The indespensable members of a film crew
On a film set, the grip handles all means of camera support. Grips assist the cinematographer and gaffer in managing and sculpting the light. They also deal with safety aspects of cast and crew while working on set.
In the world of photography we may occasionally have an assistant, but such jobs are usually up to us. In this video from ASC Cameraman, Mark Vargo, we get an peek into the life of a grip.
‘The Proposal’ – Behind-the-Scenes Look at Shooting Finland’s First Surper Hero Movie Poster
About a month ago I was contacted by a production company called Woodpecker Films and they asked me if I’d be interested in photographing the official poster for this year’s Helsinki International Film Festival – Love & Anarchy. I’ve always been intrigued by movie posters, so saying yes to a project like this was a no-brainer.
But things got even more interesting when I was briefed with the concept of the short film-advertisement that I would be shooting the poster for. Director Anssi Määttä and screenwriter Antti Tuominen were determined to create the first superhero-movie to come out of Finland.
40 Movies About Photography–How Many On The List Have You Seen?
This past July, Adam Sherwin posted a list of 40 movies about photography that “every photographer should watch” over at Resource Magazine. When I first saw the list, I had already seen quite a few of the films mentioned, but it also led me to discover a slew of other photography related movies I hadn’t heard of before. Since then I’ve been working my way through the curation. While I probably won’t watch all of the films (honestly, they don’t all look interesting to me, as I’m sure they won’t all look interesting to you, too), I have seen a little over half of the titles so far, including those I had previously watched.
Here’s a list of some of my favorite (and not so favorite) films from the list, but be sure to head over to the original post and check it out in entirety. There might be some gems listed for you to discover, as well.[Read More…]
The Cinematography of Roger Deakins
A cinematographer is also known as a director of photography. They’re the guys that make the movies we watch look how they look. It’s their photographic eye that we see. And they don’t get too much recognition for the work they do, with most of the attention going towards the director and actor already. I wanted to write about a few good ones and see if it can become a weekly thing if you guys are into it. You probably know the work these guys have done, so I’ll cover what they did to get the shots that we see on the big screen.
If this is going to be the first out of more to come, I’ll start it off with a bang by focusing it on Roger Deakins.
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