Recent Videography Articles

The Life of Filmmaker Casey Neistat: When Opportunity Meets Preparation

Casey Neistat is one of the most popular filmmakers and YouTube creators of the past decade. By the age of 33, Neistat created some of the most viral videos ever posted on YouTube, sold a show to HBO for about 2 million dollars, and produced numerous commercials for major companies such as Mercedes-Benz, Nike, and Google. In his latest video, Neistat shares his very interesting personal story — from growing up as a trouble-making kid to being a dad at age 17 and the things that made him become a filmmaker.

Scenes Displaying the Beautiful Cinematography In the Star Wars Films

The story in a film is, and shall always be, king. But without good visuals the story may seem incomplete. We must admit that sometimes a film is worth watching only because of the imagery. Despite the mixed opinions on how good each of the Star Wars films is, there's some great cinematography that's pleasing to the eye.

[Video] Shot By Shot Breakdown Of A Modern Wedding Video

We just received another great installment of video comentary with the incredible wedding videographers at Visual Masterpiece. Even if you hate weddings you will be able to appreciate the talent that goes into each of their videos. Check out the full post to see the BTSV and the finished product as well as a breakdown of the gear that they use on every shoot.
Get Started With Night Time-Lapses in the City Using These Tips

Shooting time-lapse video can be a slow start for many videographers. There’s a lot of time put into capturing every scene, and so when you’re just learning the ropes, mistakes in scene selection or camera setup can mean hours of shooting time thrown away. In this video, Moritz Janisch of Fenchel & Janisch gives newcomers some helpful tips on shooting better quality time-lapses in the city at night.

DC's Air.Craft Is This Week's Beautiful Example Of High Budget, High Octane Cinematography

DC Shoes collaborated with FMXer Robbie Maddison to create this beautiful short of Maddison at an aircraft graveyard which has been converted into a playground for the moderately insane. The film is chock-full of amazing cinematography, created with a number of big-budget cameras, and the color grading is just sublime. DC has confirmed a BTS

Arri Announces the Alexa Mini - 4K, Lightweight, Compact, Probably Not Affordable

Making generous use carbon fiber throughout the 4K cube that will be released as the Arri Alexa Mini, Arri's newest camera takes a direct stab at RED's Dragon, as both feature incredibly similar specifications — even their 2.3 kilogram weight. Of course, Arri isn't new to the game; they know enough to bring some game with the Mini.

The Top 100 Films To See for Cinematography

If, like me, you love cinematography, you probably have a few favorites in mind when you think of the term. But even the most dedicated film buff is unlikely to have seen everything on this list.

How to Make Your iPhone Videos More Cinematic

Getting into video is often thought to be expensive. Buying new cameras, new lenses and specific gear such as stabilizers or fluid head tripods. But what if you could save some money and film with your iPhone, while still getting an amazing quality out of it? In a recent video, Matti Haapoja from TravelFeels gives us a few ideas on how to create cinematic looking footage with our smartphone.

Watch as 3-year-old "Action Movie Kid" Fends Off a Shark Attack in His Living Room

If you're into video effects (and are half the Calvin and Hobbes fan that I am) then you're really going to dig this fun, lighthearted, imagination fueled video created by Dreamworks animator Daniel Hashimoto. As part of Daniel's absolutely amazing personal project, "Action Movie Kid", son James repels the vicious advances of a great white shark, in an effort to save younger sister Sophia. Daniel promises us a proper behind-the-scenes video in the future but in the mean time offers up a great side-by-side video showing the before-and-after.

Thinking About Shooting Anamorphic? Here's What You Need to Know

If you’re making a film, obviously the focus needs to be on the story. It seems that’s become the popular counter to a lot of debates about the fine-tuning of an image. While Roger Deakin’s mentality of “the type of camera doesn’t matter” can hold true on most levels, if we’re going to take ourselves seriously as creatives we need to be actively making decisions about how and why we create. Why do you choose this over that? And how does it affect story? One of the most important decisions you make as a director of photography or cinematographer is about lenses.

Is The $27 Takstar Mic Good as The Rode Pro?

Many photographers create video content to supplement their photography and they know by now that bad audio is a great way to destroy beautiful footage. They also know that's easy to break these delicate devices as we pack more and more gear into our bags. It was the constant breaking that led me to this shotgun mic which will not break your bank.

Fire Blowers, Slow Motion, And Bullet Time = Epic Video

This amazing two-minute video was created using 48 DSLR cameras stacked side-by-side and a RED Epic camera shooting at 120 fps. The result is an amazing video that combines fire, slow motion, and bullet time into one amazing spectacle.

How Holograms Were Added to a Video Using Only Exhaled Breath and Light

With the advancement in technology in the past few years (and decades), music videos and videos in general use more and more computer generated imagery and effects. The band 'Travis' decided to go back to the basics and hired Matt Robinson and Tom Wrigglesworth of Wriggles & Robins to help them create a super creative video without using CGI and green screens. Instead, they just used a projector and breath. Yes, breath. Actually, freezing breath. They filmed below freezing temperatures, and when band members exhaled into the cold air the projection showed up in mid-air. Creative, simple and awesome.

10 Tips for Easier, Better Text Graphics in Your Next Video Edit

In just about every video I edit, during my last or second to last round of revisions I find myself having to add titles, credits, name graphics (lower thirds), and one or two other pieces of text to help explain and give context to the video. Here are my go-to techniques for cranking out decent looking graphics both quickly and efficiently.

Winners of the 2017 NYC Drone Film Festival

I attended the Third Annual NYC Drone Film Festival this year and I have to say I was beyond impressed with some of the work I saw. I expected a lot of cinematic, crazy drone filming type stuff, but I was glad to see that there were a bunch of categories for all kinds of different drone work that was submitted. From all this, I was inspired to keep going out there and creating the work I do and maybe even submitting something myself for next year. Here are the winners of each category, check them out and enjoy some of the work that went into all this filming!

Capturing Wingsuit Flyers And Directing A Video Shoot At 10,000 Feet

Working at high altitude is always a challenge, but trying to follow fast moving objects that are actually people defying death is a whole other level of intensity. In this behind the scenes video for a Verizon Fios ad, Director Rob Cohen has wingsuit flyers recorded jumping off of a cliff, but then has to get creative to shoot the not-so-real landing. See how they did it and check out the final ad inside.

Behind the Scenes: Aquatic Beauty Shoot With Lindsay Adler

High-end beauty photography requires images to be as close to perfection as humanly possible both in camera and in retouching. There's often a myth circulated that beauty editorials are so heavily Photoshopped that they are in essence all Photoshop. This is simply not the case.

The History of Photography in Five Minutes by COOPH

If you frequent this site, there's a pretty good chance you love photography. But how much do you actually know about its origins? Most of us rightfully jump to the camera obscura when thinking about the beginnings of photography, but how did we get from there to today's modern cameras? Have you ever wondered what the first photo ever taken was of? Or what the world's first color photo was of?

UK Photographer Takes You on a Wanderlust-Inspiring Hike Through Northwest England

Oftentimes, while tending to mundane household or business-related tasks, I glance out the window and say to myself, "It is way too beautiful a day out today for you to not go out and photograph something!" It's a wonderful sentiment that many shooters have, I'm certain. I wish I could say that it is with regularity that I throw my camera bag into the backseat and make some dust. I usually don't.

7 Items you Need on set as a Filmmaker

While preparing for a shoot, whether it’s for film or photo, there usually is a few miscellaneous tools you don’t think of until you needed them. Sometimes they are really basic tools, when you realize you don't have them with you, you end up being disappointed that you didn’t think of it before.

Could Wiral LITE Be a Videographer and Vlogger's Dream?

The Wiral LITE is a portable cable cam kit. It’s small, lightweight, versatile, affordable, and strong enough to carry my mirrorless camera and pro lens. This may be a videographer’s dream.

Behind the Scenes with Mark Seliger and Lenny Kravitz

Mark Seliger is, without a doubt, one of the great photographers of our generation. Seliger's prolific portraiture, out-of-this-world conceptual work, and his dedication to furthering photography has earned him a place in the ranks of master photographers such as W. Eugene Smith, Ralph Gibson, Richard Avedon, and Walker Evans. In this two-part video produced by Profoto, Seliger takes us behind the scenes of a recent shoot with rock icon, Lenny Kravitz.

Why Photo and Video Gear Doesn't Matter Much and Story Is Everything

What makes a photograph or movie memorable? With cinema as widespread as it is, a film needs to stand out in a big way, not only to succeed at the box office, but to be remembered in any capacity. As for photographs, it's the same challenge. We remember the Tiananmen Square protest photo because it captured the issues sweeping the globe in a single frame. Films like "The Shining" and "There Will Be Blood" are relatively simple in terms of visuals, but have stories that will forever make them classics. And that's exactly what makes a film or a photograph great: story.

Debunked: Viral Tape Measure VFX

Captain Disillusion is back again, and this time he's uncovering the various techniques used to create the famous “Tape Measure Tricks” video. How much of it is visual effects?