August 31, 2018

Get Hands On with the Canon CN-E 20mm Prime Lens

We test drive the Canon CN-E Primes with the Canon EOS C300 Mark II.

When Canon introduced the EOS C700 FF into its cinema ecosystem, the company also brought with it the new CN-E 20mm prime lens. The addition makes it the seventh in the series accompanying the 14, 24, 35, 50, 85, and 135mm.

While the CN-E Primes have been out for a while (now with positive reactions from those in documentary and narrative genres), we wanted to take a closer look ourselves. Canon supplied an EOS C300 Mark II and a full set of lenses to review.

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Source: NoFilmSchool

August 26, 2018

5 Simple ‘Desert Island’ Effects You Can Do In-Camera

These effects are so easy, you barely even need your camera to do ’em.

What’s a “desert island” effect? Well, imagine being on a desert island thousands of miles away from your gear bag, a camera store, or like, the photo+video section on Craigslist and all you have with you is your trusty camera, a tripod, and whatever you have on your person. What kind of cool in-camera tricks do you think you could pull off? If you take a look at this video from the team over at Film Riot, you’ll at least be able to do five.

These effects are great to have in your back pocket regardless of your budget or access to gear. They’re incredibly simple to do, they can add a ton of production value to your film without costing you anything, and you don’t need much if any additional gear. Again—you crash land on a desert island with your camera and somehow both of you survive—guess what. You can still make an awesome movie.

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Source: NoFilmSchool

August 24, 2018

How Full Frame & Super 35 Sensors Affect The Cinematography Process

Let’s look at the visual results we get with larger sensors.

We’ve seen our share of formats over the decades—Kinetoscope, Cinerama, Cinemascope, Ultra Panavision 70, IMAX—but out of all of them, Super 35 is probably the most popular among filmmakers since its debut in the early 1980s.

What we’re seeing today is the industry moving towards larger full frame sensors, or what we like to refer to as full format emerge. These are cameras with sensors approximately 36mm x 24mm, though they may be slightly larger or smaller (but below 65mm).

Discussions are shifting towards topics like,: “What’s the difference between Super 35 and full frame?” and “Which one should I use?” The latter has a simpler answer: Neither one is right or wrong. They’re tools.

Define your story. Choose the look you want. It doesn’t have to be one format throughout the entire process.

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Source: NoFilmSchool

August 24, 2018

Watch: What ‘Seven Samurai’ Teaches Screenwriters About Story and Structure

Akira Kurosawa’s ‘Seven Samurai’ is one of the most influential films in cinema history. Here’s what the 1954 classic teaches us about screenwriting and structure.

As Jack from (Jack’s Movie Reviews) remarks at the beginning of his video, Seven Samurai’s influence on popular film (and particularly, American film) is vast. Countless filmmakers, including George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola, have drawn inspiration from Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 masterpiece, and its characters, shots, scenes and even “narrative beats” have been quoted time and again.

Jack’s video focuses on the film’s script and story, written by Kurosawa along with longtime-collaborators Hideo Oguni and Shinobu Hashimoto, the latter of whom passed away last month at the age of 100. Specifically, he looks at how the film’s structure plays a large part in taking what could be two potential problems—its huge number of characters and epic length—and “not only mitigate…but turn them into assets.”

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Source: NoFilmSchool

August 24, 2018

‘America to Me’: How Oscar Nominee Steve James Made a 10-Hour Collaborative Docuseries

The 10-part series premieres on Starz this Sunday evening, August 26th.

Equity over equality (or at least a considerate and proper understanding of the two) is a key issue at the forefront of nonfiction filmmaker Steve James’ latest docuseries, America to Me, a ten-part limited event that takes its title from a Langston Hughes poem and debuts this Sunday on the Starz network. Set over a year at Oak Park and River Forest High School (OPRF) in Oak Park, Illinois, the series follows 12 students as they navigate through their high school careers, dealing with shyness, romantic crushes, sports, slam poetry, homecoming dances, and inattentiveness.

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Source: NoFilmSchool