Have you ever seen a newscast and wondered how they could broadcast all those titles on the screen with all that information? Those graphical overlays are called lower thirds and are used in various media. Lower thirds are the graphical overlays used in the bottom third of a television screen and film to show critical …
When I saw the latest trailer for the film adaptation of Frank Herbert’s epic sci-fi novel Dune (1965) by director Denis Villeneuve, I thought something looked very familiar. Some of the shots in the new trailer looked very similar to the cinematography of the 1984 adaptation of Dune by David Lynch, which I personally love …
An often-used concept, when people are talking about the film, is the French term mise-en-scene. If you’ve ever wondered what lies behind that fancy French concept, I’ve created this illustrated guide. But first, let’s have a brief definition of the meaning of mise en scene: Mise-en-scéne in a film is everything you see on the …
If you’ve ever wondered why an image of an inanimate object on screen made you cry, you probably have Lev Kuleshov to thank. Lev Kuleshov was a Soviet filmmaker in the early 1900s that made famous, through a camera test where he cut a man’s neutral expression with different objects, that you can change the …
Featured Artwork by Giorgos Tsitras This guest post was written by Andrew Straeger who is the Director at Berlin Sci-Fi Filmfest. Straeger has over 30 years of experience from the film industry as a writer, filmmaker, and producer, and has participated in lots of workshops and panel discussions through the years. Straeger has recently published …
The world is unpredictable and all too often that reflects itself in our shoots. If you’re an independent filmmaker and shoot outside, it’s only a matter of time until you find yourself facing bad weather. Luckily, there are some steps we can take to prepare ourselves and our gear to survive the elements Now, none …
Sometimes you want your film or YouTube vlog to have black bars over and under your video to give your video a certain cinematic look and feel. The black bars frame your footage within a specific aspect ratio and remind people of watching Hollywood-movies in a Theater or on the flatscreen at home. Maybe you …
DSLR, mirrorless cameras, action cameras, and even smartphones today come with decent to great image stabilization built-in. But not all image stabilization is created equally. So I decided to break down the four most common types of image stabilization found in modern cameras today. In some cameras, the different types of stabilization work together for …
YouTube is the number one platform for independent content creators. Many indie filmmakers and vloggers have found their voices on YouTube. The great thing about YouTube is that content creators can put out work even with budget equipment. With the right knowledge, you can get pro shots even with a $300 camera. But with many …
Have you ever watched a video online and marveled at the cool timing of a shot as it speeds up and slows down in perfect rhythm to the music? You might think this is a simple slow-motion effect, but it’s actually a slightly different technique called speed ramping. Speed ramping is a technique used to …