June 18, 2017

The Cult of Trash: How Do We Explain Our Taste for Really, Really Bad Movies?

You’re tearing us apart, Tommy!

The first time I ever saw the worst film ever made, I was with my brother and two of my cousins. We sat down in my living room in my old basement apartment, pulled up a pirated copy that was streaming on YouTube (because my efforts to buy it off of Amazon were unfruitful), and gazed in amazement while it played on a tiny sub-screen at 1.5x normal speed (typical format for pirated shit).

When the credits began to roll, we all just sat there, silent, awkward, and confused—confused by the absurdity of what we just consumed, but also confused by our genuine non-rejection of it, a non-rejection that quickly grew into full-blown love and then obsession. One of my cousins turned to me and asked, “What the f*** did we just watch?” I was like, “The Room.”

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Source: NoFilmSchool

June 18, 2017

Watch: Exploring the Power of the Match Cut

Find out how you can tell more dynamic stories with this slick editing technique.

Today is Father’s Day, and what better way to celebrate it than to recognize one of the major contributions of the Soviet daddies of modern editing. I mean, we all know it’s not the most glamorous job on a film production, but it is one of the most important. In fact, according to Soviet filmmakers in the 1920s, films are not made on the chaotic stages of a busy set, but in the quiet stillness of an editing room. It makes sense, though, because you can change the meaning of an entire scene simply by rearranging a couple of shots on a timeline. You can even alter how an audience perceives an actor’s performance by replacing one shot for another.

There is great, great power in editing, and in this video by Fandor, we get to see just how powerful it can be when you employ widely used editing techniques like the match cut and the graphic match.

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Source: NoFilmSchool

June 18, 2017

5 Camera Techniques That Will Help You Get Rid of Double Chin Drama

A few simple tricks can solve all of your double chin problems.

If you’re the proud owner of a double chin like I am, you know exactly how to minimize its glorious dominance on-camera. Most filmmakers and photographers know the high-angle trick, capturing your subject from above eye-level, but that’s not the only option you have. In this helpful tutorial, the Koldunov Brothers show you five ways to reduce the appearance of your subject’s double chin using camera placement, lighting, and lens choice. Check it out below:

Here are the five techniques the Koldunov Brothers mention in the video:

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Source: NoFilmSchool

June 17, 2017

Meet Arsenal, the ‘Intelligent Camera Assistant’ That Helps You Take the Perfect Shot

This wireless camera controller never wants you to miss out on the perfect shot again.

There are tons of wireless camera controllers out there that allow you to change your camera’s settings from the comfort of your own smartphone, but engineer Ryan Stout aims to take these kinds of devices to the next level.

Meet Arsenal, the “world’s first intelligent assistant for DSLR and mirrorless cameras.” This interesting little device not only allows you to control your camera wirelessly through an app on your phone, but its advanced machine learning algorithms actually help you capture better images. It does this through its “settings asssistant AI,” which can optimize your camera settings based on your shooting conditions (18 different factors), as well as the millions of high-quality photos it has been trained to compare your shot with using the same algorithm used in self driving cars.

Clearly there’s something about this device that has gotten the photo/film community in a serious tizzy. With four days left in it’s Kickstarter campaign, Arsenal has raised over $1.7 million.

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Source: NoFilmSchool

June 17, 2017

Watch: How to Capture Different Emotions with Different Lenses

There’s no such thing as the “right” lens, just the “right” lens for your story.

Your job as a filmmaker is not just to capture images that are beautiful, but to capture images that tell stories. There are many ways to do this through composition, color, and camera movement, but what about lenses? What kinds of lenses should you use to evoke certain emotional responses?

In this video, Matti Haapoja of Travel Feels explains how different lenses inspire different emotions in audiences and how you can use them to tell better stories.

Before you ever choose which lenses you’re going to use for a scene you’re should always ask yourself this question first: “What mood and/or emotion am I trying to create?” Once you nail that down, it’s just a matter of understanding how different lenses change the relationship between the subject and the background, as well as which lenses produce which feelings and tones.

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Source: NoFilmSchool

June 16, 2017

Web sling around NYC in ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ VR experience

Sony Pictures’ virtual reality unit, Sony Pictures Virtual Reality, teamed up with VR developers CreateVR to give Spider-Man: Homecoming its own VR experience. In it, you have to capture The Vulture while web slinging around New York City.

The post Web sling around NYC in ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ VR experience appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source: Digital Trends VR

June 16, 2017

Watching this mind-bending projection mapping demo will melt your brain

What do you get when you cross some cutting-edge tech with the world’s worst acid trip? Probably something like the setup created by French creative studio Theoriz. No virtual reality headset necessary.

The post Watching this mind-bending projection mapping demo will melt your brain appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source: Digital Trends VR