The ultimate magazine for next generation filmmakers
Editor in chief Adam Duckworth Contributor Lee Renwick Chief sub editor Beth Fletcher Sub editor Elisha Young Junior sub editor Jack Nason EDITORIAL ADVERTISING Group ad manager Sam Scott-Smith 01223 499457 samscott-smith@bright-publishing.com Ad sales manager Ed Grundy edgrundy@bright-publishing.com DESIGN Design director Andy Jennings Design manager Alan Gray Designers Lucy Woolcomb and Man-Wai Wong PUBLISHING Managing directors Andy Brogden & Matt Pluck MEDIA SUPPORTERS AND PARTNERS OF:
IMAGE If you’re going to be a filmmaker, then you’d better understand the tech side, too!
The most important new video camera of the year is, of course, the Apple iPhone 12. Certainly in terms of howmany will be sold and howmany millions of videos will be taken on them and uploaded to social media sites. Most absolutely awful, of course. Yes, you can rig them up and shoot full feature films on phones – talented people have. But what makes the iPhone truly important to professional filmmaking is that it is just so easy to use. There are settings or even dedicated apps that allow you to actually control the phone’s video settings, and even put a stylish grade on the finished film. Then share them in seconds to your social media pages or friends. You don’t need to spend hours digging through menus to work out how to do everything. The real glory of smartphones is how easy they are to use, and how just about everyone nowadays is used to the swiping, pinch-to-zoom and icon-led menus. It’s the newway of doing things and something camera manufacturers could learn from. Take the masked-up filmmaker in the photo above, shooting on a Red with a bank of Rotolight Titan X1 lights. He will have had a huge learning curve in how the camera works, and the glut of menu items available. From codecs to compression, file formats to memory card formatting, it all has to be learned and committed to memory. With external monitors there are so many more settings, and if they are monitor/ recorders then there’s a lot more options, too. The same for audio, and then add in wireless audio, wireless video transmission systems and motorised sliders, it’s hugely complicated. Motorised gimbals, POV action cams, drones… they all take a lot of technical know-how to learn. As do lights, especially complicated RGBWW LED panels. Of course, big productions will have their own camera assistants, DITs, lighting techs and a whole crew to sort out the techno stuff. But for the majority of independent filmmakers, they have to know how to do everything. Luckily, clued-up companies are now launching their products with app control, and we test several in this issue, such as the Hollyland Mars video transmitter and Panasonic BGH1 camera. Some of these apps are easy to use – such as Manfrotto’s gimbal app or pretty much anything made by DJI. Others are far more clunky, such as Sony’s Imaging Edge Mobile. As filmmaking tech continues to advance, hopefully the next big advancement will be companion apps that offer genuinely ease of connection and use. Or touchscreens on the products themselves with the ease of use that Apple has managed to squeeze into its consumer-level kit. It’s no good being on set with the most capable kit in the world if you don’t know how to use it.
Bright Publishing Ltd, Bright House, 82 High Street, Sawston, Cambridgeshire CB22 3HJ
Pro Moviemaker is published quarterly by Bright Publishing Ltd, Bright House, 82 High Street, Sawston, Cambridge CB22 3HJ. No part of this magazine can be used without prior written permission of Bright Publishing Ltd. ISSN number: 2045-3892. Pro Moviemaker is a registered trademark of Bright Publishing Ltd. The advertisements published in Pro Moviemaker that have been written, designed or produced by employees of Bright Publishing Ltd remain the copyright of Bright Publishing Ltd and may not be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. Prices quoted are street prices. In sterling they include VAT but US dollar prices are without local sales taxes. Prices are where available or converted using the exchange rate on the day the magazine went to press.
ADAM DUCKWORTH, EDITOR IN CHIEF
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