Filmmaking Gear in Action

                iPhone Filmmaking Gear In Action

    It is one thing to tell you about the cool gadgets that you can use to make your iPhone film. It is another thing all together to actually see some of the items being used. I have found a great tutorial that shows some of the equipment being used. Here it is, have a look.

Mobile Filmmaking Gear from Photojojo from Vimeo Video School on Vimeo.


    Okay let me remind you again that the equipment that we pick is only part of the job. You still need to study lighting and sound. To make a good movie you will need a good story. When you are first starting out it is okay to make it up as you go along, but when you are ready for a professional looking film you are going to need a good script and plan your shots. You are a filmmaker and that is what filmmakers do. Whether you are shooting on film or making a low budget digital film you still have to plan out your shots.

    Okay that is it for this very short post. Good luck guys. Remember to add us to your google plus and to stumble us on stumble upon.

Stable iPhone Filmmaking

                Are You a Stable Filmmaker?

    Not a silly question if you spend a few hours each day in front of a computer screen watching footage shot with the iPhone and other digital devices. One of the biggest problems is shaky camera.

    Far too many iphone film makers think that they have the hands of a master surgeon and believe that they can maintain a steady shot even in the middle of a hurricane. You cannot do this and even if you are the one in a million film maker who could why would you want to take the risk.

    With camcorder and Dslr cameras I would readily suggest using a tripod, but the smart phones are so much smaller and part of the fun of using them is their mobility. So what I am going to suggest to you guys is a few steady cam options for you to consider.

    This is a little tutorial on one such option.


    This is a look at two more stablizer videos. 


    Okay that is it for now, please remember to stumble us on stumbleupon and to tell a friend about this blog. Thank you for visiting and if there is any information you wish for me to include in a future post please suggest it in a comment and I will see what I can do for you. Thank you for visiting.

Filmmaking Resources

                iPhone Filmmaking Resources

    Since the whole filmmaking using a phone industry is still in its beginning stages the resources for those of us who are interested in this field is limited.

    There are a great many iPhone short films out there right now and a few
features in production at this moment. Today I would like to introduce you to
one such resource a channel dedicated to this form of filmmaking and I thought that I would post two of their short tutorials.





    As always you must keep in mind that you are still a film maker first. The rules do not change no matter what you use to capture an image. Your iPhone is almost equal in cost to most of the low priced camcorders that shoot footage at 24 frames per second. It is almost even in price to the Canon t2i a Dslr that has been used to shoot not only many shorts, but more and more features. If you are going to be a film maker then you are still going to have to take some time to learn about lighting and sound and quality acting. If you have the talent that little camera phone can not only produce quality footage, but if you are talented enough it can make your dreams come true.



  Good luck with your project. Remember to stumble us on stumbleupon, add us to your google plus and check out our advertisers. They are the ones who pay the bills for this blog to remain active.  Thank you and good luck.

Iphone 4s vs. The World

                iPhone Filmmaking, The Battles

    If you want to know how good a camera is then sometimes you are going to have to pit it against other cameras. If the iPhone is going to be used to make films, then it is going to have to be able to compete against the dslr cameras. So I have gathered together some test videos where the iphone 4s is pitted against the massive dslr cameras.

    You would at first think that it would not stand a chance, but hey this is a Apple and they have been known to make some pretty impressive technology.

    To look at the iPhone laying next to the Dslr cameras you would think that in this battle to come that the iPhone would be crushed.

    Okay the first battle we are going to look at is the iPhone vs. the Canon t3i. Both are shooting HD rather than movie mode, but I was pretty impressed by the iPhone 4s. It seemed to have richer and deeper color than the Canon.

Next up is a battle with the Canon 5d mark ii. This camera is the gold standard of Dslrs. They are shooting feature length movies with the Canon 5d and the iPhone 4s measures up well to this camera.

      Just remember if you are going to be an iPhone filmmaker you are still going to have to learn about lighting and sound and the basic techniques used by filmmakers. If you wish to learn many of these techniques I am building a all purpose website for the micro budget filmmaker. If you would like to visit it
click here . The site is not complete yet, but there is plenty of information for the beginning filmmaker there.

      The last thing that I would like to leave you with is a very basic lighting tutorial. You will need to know this if you are going to be making a low budget movie with your iPhone.

                IPHONE And Film Apps


    You got your iPhone. You have tried to shoot your own little short film and it looks like a home video.

    What happened?

    You shot it without adding any film maker apps.

    That is okay. This can be fixed. The great thing about the iPhone is that there are tons of apps both cheap and not so cheap that can help you make the best iPhone film possible.

    The apps that you will select depend largely upon what you have in mind. I am going to assume that you want to shoot something that looks like a standard motion picture. This means that you want the footage that you record to be shot at 24 frames per second. This can be accomplished by adding an app named Filmic pro. This app will give you a few options depending upon the look you wish to achieve. Here is the basics of what Filmic pro is all about.

    Next you will need a color and or look correcting app. You will want this because most film makers either lighten or darken scene. Some scenes are grainier and some are crisper. This is done to aid with the visual story that you are trying to tell. This is done also with how you choose to light each scene, but after the filming is over you will want to have the ability to change the look of your film as much as possible. The best app for this is called Movie looks.    

        You will also want to keep track of how much money you are spending. You will be amazed at how much money can be spent shooting a five minute short if you do not budget carefully. This app is free and it is named Film Budget. Also get an app named Red Laser it is a barcode scanner. You can scan items and it will check to see if it is available anywhere online for a lower price.

    You are going to need an editing app. I would recommend that you use iMovie. You can edit your movie in phone with this. Understand that if you want to do a pro job of editing and color correction you should export your footage to your computer and use a higher class of editing equipment. Note that most Apple computers come with world class media editing software fully installed such as Final Cut Pro.

    Okay that is it for now. Remember to stumble us on Stumbleupon and add us to your Google plus.
    Thank you and good luck with your film

iPhone Gadgets.

                    IPHONE GADGETS

    Let’s start with the fact that there seems to be a new gadget designed to help you shoot with the iPhone every other day. It is hard to keep up with them, but I thought that I would mention a few today. I will also throw in a DIY solution as well.

    The first item we will look at is the Tiltpod. If you want to find one of these Tiltpods I would suggest Googling, it won’t be hard to find. It is a simple sort of mini tripod that can attach to your keyring so you can take it anywhere. Great thing to have for a iPhone filmmaker.

    Okay here is a review of the Tiltpod followed by some footage.

Next up is the awesome GLIF. I love this item and can not wait to get my hands on it. It will allow the filmmaker a chance to mount an iPhone and attach it to any number of tripods or my favorite the Monopod. Also you can just set it up go. Take a look and remember it is okay to send me gifts.  Hey did you notice how gift rhythms with Glif?

This is the Glif. from Studio Neat on Vimeo.


The DIY I am offering does not really have much to do with the iPhone. then again you could make an iPhone movie about the making of this. This happens to be a how to make the legendary Ironman repulsor Arm. This DIY can be done for under 20 dollars. While if you guys want a DIY of how to become the Incredible Hulk it's easy. Get angry. Get really really angry. And don't forget to wear pants that stretch. I never could figure out why he doesn't.  The Hulk is the superhero that needs tights the most. Tights stretch you know. He could buy them from a WWE store. He could even have his logo on the sides and back.

iPhone Gone Super 8

                 iPhone Old School Look

    Let’s have some fun with our iPhone filmmaking.

    The best thing about filmmaking is the fun you can have experimenting. You can do fan films. You can do your takes on scenes from your favorite movies.

    One of the best ideas that was suggested to me was why not do a super 8 kind of movie with the iPhone. It turns out that the guys who did the movie Super 8 already had that idea. They even came up with an App to help you do just that. All you have to do is visit the App store and find it for about two dollars and it will be well worth it.

    Basically you get to shoot as if you are using an old super 8 camera. The footage is pretty good and with this 8mm vintage App you get to switch from standard 8mm to the 1920's to the 1970's looks. I like the 1970's look so much I am planning on shooting a Grindhouse short film using it.

    One more little filmmaking tip before you start shooting using your vintage 8mm app if you want to have that JJ. Abrams anamorphic lens flare you need to smug your lens with your finger. The oil from your finger will stain the lens enough to produce a natural lens flare.

    Good luck and have fun like the guys who did this Super 8 trailer using the iPhone and if you like this blog we would be grateful if you were to Stumble us on Stumbleupon our goal there is page one.