Visual: Polarizing filters
Because of the CMOS chip which is found in a large array of digital cameras, cameras have a tendency to have increased sensitivity to infrared light. While this may not cause a massive headache to you,...
View ArticleCinematography: What Is A Light Meter?
If you’re the type of filmmaker who likes to watch hours upon hours of behind the scenes footage, you may have noticed somebody on the set holding a light meter, which looks a like this. Light meters...
View ArticleVisual: Balance & Unbalanced Compositions
Did you know that every object that is visible within the frame carries visual weight? This includes but is not limited to; the colour, the hue of that colour, the brightness, the size and even the...
View ArticleVisual: What is Log & Linear
As you start to venture off from the DSLR world, presuming that a DSLR has been your gateway into low budget filmmaking. You may come across the terms log (logarithmic) and linear. For example “…. The...
View ArticleVisual: Standard Frame Rates
The standard frame rates are 24p 24.00 25 and 29.97. 24p (p stands for progressive, as in progressive vs interlaced) 24p or 23.98 (or 23.976 if you want to get really technical) is the most common...
View ArticleCinematography: Foreground Interest
This is one of those tips that you have to take with a pinch of salt. It can be put to good use, but it’s also not a standard for every shot. The cinema screen, the LCD monitor on your camera, your...
View ArticleVideo: Adrift
Every now and then a new filmmaking fad will appear and it will feature in every single low budget video known to man. A prime example is the array of videos on Vimeo that feature really shallow depth...
View ArticleVisual: Landscape Lighting
Landscape shots are an art in their own right. Peter Jackson once said that the montage shots of the fellowship walking through Middle Earth in Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of The Ring were the...
View ArticleVisual: Seasonal Landscapes
Running from the landscape tip yesterday, we talked about how different lighting throughout the day can affect your shot, for the better and the worse. Let’s have a look at how seasons can affect your...
View ArticleVisual: Diffraction
What is diffraction? In brief; it is an optical term that refers to a loss in image detail. This defect occurs when the light rays are dispersed by the iris in the lens. Therefore it is more likely to...
View ArticleVisual: Aesthetic Distance
What is Aesthetic distance? It may be a phrase that has popped up in a film theory textbook but you wasn’t too sure what it meant, or maybe you’ve never even heard of the phrase. Well here’s a good...
View ArticleVisual: 10 Youtube Channels To Learn Filmmaking Tips
Here are 10 great YouTube channels filled with hours upon hours of filmmaking tutorials and tips. Who needs film school when you have YouTube! Right..? 1. The Home of IndieTips.com – UglyMcGregor...
View ArticleCinematography: The Moving Camera
It wasn’t long after the conception of the filmmaking and the Hollywood system that filmmakers started to look for more ways to help better tell their story, and one of those methods was to move the...
View ArticleVisual: DIY Art Direction Tips
Art direction can make or break your film. I’ve been in a situation a few times where the actors are completely on form, but the scene still falls flat. It was only until we were back in the editing...
View Article5 Needed Essentials For A DIY Film Shoot
I think there’s a safe generalization to be made about DIY & Indie Filmmakers, and that is; we spend a fair bit of time window gazing online at the latest filmmaking equipment. As well at the same...
View ArticleVisual: Lines In The Frame
What makes a great film? Actors providing brilliant acting? Intricate costume detail, grand locations and a sweeping score? While you can answer yes to all of these questions, a great film is a film...
View ArticleVisual: The Spielberg Face
What makes a film director an auteur? It is a question that is likely asked to a lot of film students, it is also a question that often gets lost in translation. A simple brief understanding of the...
View ArticleCinematography: The Master Shot
The master shot can often be confused with an establishing shot as both shots establish the scene by identifying key signifiers such as; who is in them and where the location is. However an...
View ArticleCinematography: Surface Divisions
The screen is a flat surface with one plane, and usually filmmakers tell their story with one point of view at a time. However, there are several ways that you can divide the frame and play out two...
View ArticleVisual: What is Blocking?
Blocking is the term that describes where, when and how subjects are placed and move within the frame. In the tip where we discussed how dialogue should always be motivated the same goes for blocking,...
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