Are You Sure You Want To Move That Camera?

From using Steadicam to gimbals to drones, it has never been more effortless to move our cameras so fluidly, but be sure to consider your moving shot thoughtfully

Dan Brockett

Rhino Slider EVO Pro As someone who has been shooting for a while, I must confess that I get it. The desire to move your camera. Never before in the history of cinema, video, motion-picture image making, whatever you want to call what we do, has it been so relatively effortless to move our cameras so fluidly. For years, the choices we had were pretty... Read more

September/October Preview: Michael Rubenstein

Coming up in the September/October issue, HDVideoPro interviews video director and advertising photographer Michael Rubenstein

HDVP

Michael Rubenstein on location in NYC. Coming up in the September/October issue, HDVideoPro interviews advertising photographer and video director Michael Rubenstein. Whether he’s working alone or with a crew, Rubenstein’s forte is telling stories about real people doing real things. It’s a look advertisers and editorial clients alike are into. Like... Read more

The Case For Shooting RAW

Whether working in film and TV or shooting events and weddings, it all depends on your client and where your work ends up

Dan Brockett

Canon EOS C200 Digital Cinema Camera It all depends on what part of the production world you exist in. Some of us work in the rarified air of creating “cinema,” whether for indie small audiences or huge audiences worldwide. Some of us produce work for television. Many of us only produce work for corporate clients or even weddings and events. Depending... Read more

Jawad Mir: The Art Of The Cinematic Wedding

Creating one-of-a-kind short- and long-form films that tell a story

By Mark Edward Harris / Photography By Jawad Mir

A still from a wedding video produced by Jawad Mir and Film-Style Weddings, “The Secret of Flamenco” The stated goal of videographer Jawad Mir’s Toronto-based company, Film-Style Weddings, is to create not only a memorable film for the participants but to make a complete stranger feel that they were a part of the wedding. Mir often creates supplemental... Read more

Capturing The Best Video Possible

For still shooters stepping into video, a short primer on workflow, including codecs and video compression settings from input to output

By David Alexander Willis

The video imaging chain is complex and getting more complex all the time, yet advances in technology are allowing companies like Sony and Panasonic to squeeze immense editing capabilities into tiny still camera-style bodies. These cameras are able to achieve similar features as much more advanced professional video and filmmaking camera systems because... Read more

Prepping Still Cameras To Work With Video

Getting cameras and their kits to function well in the field can take a bit of work, but these solutions aim to make the process an easier one

By David Alexander Willis

The market for video-capable DSLR and mirrorless cameras has exploded over the last decade, thanks in part to their advanced video functionality and relatively small size. While most photographers can pick up a still camera and start shooting straight out of the box, the videographer needs to spend some time, and effort, to configure most still cameras... Read more

NASA Goes Hollywood

To create authentic effects for Sir Ridley Scott’s The Martian, Territory Studio collaborated with the agency for thrilling results, underscoring this modern-day Robinson Crusoe adventure in space

By Simon Wakelin

For Sir Ridley Scott’s latest space adventure The Martian, Territory Studio teamed up with specialists at NASA to design future user-interface (UI) technology featured extensively in the film. Territory’s Creative Director David Sheldon-Hicks collaborated with Production Designer Arthur Max and Motion Graphics Art Director Felicity Hickson on the... Read more

Outside The Box Tools

Cinematographers discuss the sometimes unorthodox tools that help them on set

By Ian Blair

Cinematographers have access to more sophisticated equipment—everything from the latest digital cameras to a wide variety of lenses and lighting—than ever before. And, yet, many still will use an outside-the-box tool to solve a particular filmmaking problem, and that solution can range from the very latest iPhone app to a simple rubber band. Here,... Read more

The Laws Of Motion

For indie filmmakers, camera movement is now a viable option

By Clint Milby

A still image is the capture of a single moment in time, frozen and devoid of any movement except for what may be implied by its content. When the subject is compelling and when the photographer executes the capture just right, what’s rendered can be just as powerful as any narrative film, thus the phrase, “A picture is worth a thousand... Read more

HD DSLR Q&A

HDVP takes an in-depth look at the popular format and the many misconceptions that come with it

By Michael Guncheon

The HD DSLR revolution started relatively quietly in Cologne, Germany, when people saw the first SLRs that could record HD video. In 2008, at Photokina, both Nikon and Canon showed still cameras that used their Live View function to record video. In the past year, I’ve been invited to speak at a number of conferences, both technical and production-oriented,... Read more

Master Tools

DP Shane Hurlbut, ASC’s new rental company provides DSLR gear to the professional filmmaking community

By Clint Milby

Two years ago, if you were to have asked cinematographer Shane Hurlbut, ASC, if he planned to open a camera rental house in Los Angeles, he probably would have laughed out loud. Nonetheless, it’s exactly what he has done. So why would a celebrated cinematographer with more than 20 films under his belt, including Terminator Salvation, We Are Marshall... Read more

Small Camera, Big Picture

With the season finale of FOX TV’s House shot entirely with Canon EOS 5D Mark IIs, will more professional productions follow suit?

By Skip Ferderber

What more is there to say about the season finale of FOX TV’s House M.D., which is the episode shot entirely on the Canon EOS 5D Mark II HD DSLR? A lot, actually. Oh, not so much on the facts of the production itself. Unless you’ve been shooting in Mammoth Cave for the last four months, you probably know a fair amount about how the episode... Read more