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Category: Apps

Apps

I Screen, You Screen, We All Screen for Green Screen: Part II

Welcome back green screeners!  As you may recall, last week I explained how green screens help filmmakers to composite (combine) multiple layers of imagery.  Don’t remember that?  Here’s a 13 word reminder (not including “presto”):  Shoot actor against green screen, remove green in post, add a new background — Presto!  While the green screen process sounds simple enough, there are a few technical hurdles you’ll need to jump, and thanks to some brilliant app developers, your iThings will help you jump higher. Last week I proclaimed my love for an awesome app called Green Screener, a tool designed to measure

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Apps

I Screen, You Screen, We All Screen for Green Screen

What did you do last week?  I mercilessly tore my living room apart and temporarily transformed it into a green screen (a.k.a. “chroma key”) studio in which I directed a short comedy called 2084.  For as long as I can remember, my friends and I have joked about shooting 2084 on a massive soundstage with high-end gear and a huge crew — total overkill for this very silly, 3-minute short.  Well, after ten years of that not happening, we finally decided to shoot 2084 with a tiny crew (four of us) and a budget just large enough to cover lunch.

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Apps

Are iOS Camera Apps Helping or Hurting Filmmakers?

While that overtly sensational headline may reek of clickbait, it’s also a fair and reasonable question – one I was asked while speaking on a Photography/Videography panel at this year’s Macworld Expo in San Francisco. Jeff Carlson, the panel’s moderator (and all-around-photography-guru), was asking me specifically about the new wave of filmmaking apps that attempt to guide the filmmaking process, and automatically correct their user’s mistakes. It’s a tough question to answer. On the surface, it appears that these applications are replacing creative control with pre-defined scripts and algorithms… but maybe there’s more to it than that. Let’s take a

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Apps

How I use my iPhone to charge all my other batteries. Wait. What?

Want to hear a funny story? Not too long ago, I drove 4 hours to a last-minute, geographically isolated, commercial shoot with an SUV full of professional camera and audio equipment, only to discover that most of my gear’s rechargeable batteries were nearly dead! Oh wait, I meant “a horrible story,” not “a funny story.” Thanks to a very resourceful gaffer, I survived the day (and the shoot), but vowed never to be surprised by another dead battery. I set out to find a solution that would allow ALL of my batteries to be fully charged on short notice, but

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Apps

iWorld 2014 – Emulsio Video Stablizer for iPhone & iPad

Does your video suffer from the shakes? Perhaps it needs a dose of Emulsio! Equally at home on iPhone or iPad, Emulsio is an impressive app that will stabilize unsteady footage, remove unwanted rolling-shutter artifacts (a.k.a. “jello-cam”), and make you the envy of millions (that last part is not guaranteed). Simply import a shaky video from your iThing’s camera roll, let the app analyze your clip’s motion, move a slider to control how much stabilization you want to apply (higher settings result in greater cropping), and then export the results back to your camera roll or distribute it via the

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Apps

My other favorite video camera app: Spark

Last week, I posted about FiLMiC Pro ($4.99), the most powerful video camera in the App Store. While it’s the app I rely on most for consistently delivering professional results, there’s another video camera app I love equally (for very different reasons). It’s called Spark ($1.99). While FiLMiC Pro is clearly intended for a pro minded shooter, Spark targets the more casual, playful user. What the app lacks in high-end features, it more than makes up for with unapologetic simplicity. I don’t mean to say that Spark lacks gusto. It just takes a very different approach to filmmaking. Most modern

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Apps

Is FiLMiC Pro Still the Most Powerful Video Camera App? Spoiler: Yes

While every iThing comes with Apple’s own camera app, you should take a moment and explore the incredible, feature-rich alternatives waiting for you in the App Store. At last count, there were over one trillion of them. Sure, I just fabricated that statistic because I didn’t feel like doing research, but my point is this: There are a LOT of video camera apps. So which should you buy first? Well, that’s easy! FiLMiC Pro ($4.99) is hands down the most powerful video camera app you can add to your arsenal. It starts by giving you manual, independent control over white

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Apps

Movie Magic Scheduling To Go is now FREE

Movie Magic Scheduling for Mac & Windows (the industry standard for budgeting film and television production) recently received a major update (to version 6). So, why am I sharing this info here? Because, while announcing their update, Entertainment Partners also declared that their companion iPad app, Movie Magic Scheduling To Go, has dropped from $29.00 to FREE! Yeah, you heard me. Free. The iPad app is an extension of the desktop apps, allowing you to import, view, and manipulate schedule date while on set — like having a classic strip board in digital form. The app is not a stand-alone

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Apps

O.P.N. FOR DECEMBER 2ND, 2013

Welcome to another edition of Other People’s News. What follows are some of the more interesting info-nuggets I’ve recently spotted around the web-o-sphere. On his VJ Technology Blog, Glen Mulcahy offered up a super handy cheat sheet of iMovie gestures. He also discusses what I believe is the app’s best new feature: the ability to detach audio from existing video clips. Glen also recently published a very nice report on using radio mics (lavs, handhelds, etc.) with an iPhone. iMore took a look at the recent olloclip update. The new version offers an additional macro lens, and more. If you’ve

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Apps

Black Friday Deals for Mobile Filmmakers

Found a few good Black Friday discounts for iPhone and iPad owning filmmakers. Who doesn’t love a bargain? Readdle is offering 50% off of PDF Expert for iPhone (now $4.99, regularly $9.99) and PDF Expert for iPad (now $4.99, regularly $9.99), both of which are excellent for reading PDF screenplays and filmmaking contracts. Photojojo.com is offering a nice discount on their Camera Table Dolly (now $75, regularly $90). Comes with an adjustable arm and smartphone clamp. Perfect for getting silky smooth dolly shots on your iPhone. Gamma & Density Co. has discounted their iOS color correction tools: ExpressColor for iPhone & iPad (now $1.99, regularly $2.99) and Image

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