Category: News

Headlining our Deals of the Week, the $999 Pilotfly H2 handheld gimbal is a whopping 55% off right now.

This week in filmmaking deals: Save $100 on the GoPro HERO8 Black, as well as $70 off of the Zoom H6 Handy Recorder. If you’re already in the market for some mobile filmmaking gear, you can save $20 on a Digital Creator Set from Moment. Also, you can save $550 on the Pilotfly H2 3-Axis Handheld Gimbal Stabilizer, which usually retails for $999. Finally, Adorama is running a special on the Canon XC15 Professional Camcorder that will save you $200.

GoPro HERO8 Black

[deal id=”120041″]

Action cameras have become a staple of everyday image capture, so if you’re in the market to buy one, you might want to take advantage of this sale on the GoPro HERO8 Black, which features 4K at 60 fps, 8x Slo-Mo, HyperSmooth 2.0, TimeWarp 2.0, and so much more. These things usually retail for almost $400, but you can get one now for $299.

Pilotfly H2 3-Axis Handheld Gimbal Stabilizer

[deal id=”120046″]

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Sony pushes back its live event one week.

In the wake of NAB Show 2020 being canceled, companies who regularly attend the event are coming up with alternative ways to introduce the new products that would have been announced at that time. Many, including Adobe, Blackmagic Design, Cooke Optics, and Zhiyun, are resorting to virtual press events or livestreams.

Sony originally had its livestream scheduled for April 20th, the same day as Canon, but has decided to move the event to Thursday, April 30th at 10 AM ET.

It’s a smart move by Sony, even though the company announced its event first. It didn’t seem like Canon was going to consider rescheduling their own. Why try and compete for eyes on the same day?

It’s not uncommon for companies to try and one-up each other. RED recently announced a Solitary Series with a livestream, and days later, Blackmagic announced an event for the same day. This week, OnePlus released its new 8 Pro smartphone, and a day later, Apple rolled out the iPhone SE second generation.

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The prolific movie producer is looking for 2-minute movies you make at home for the first (and last) Corman Quarantine Film Fest.

The “Godfather of Independent Film”, Roger Corman, has challenged everyone stuck at home to entertain each other by making short films. In an announcement made on Corman’s Instagram, the prolific Hollywood producer will accept video submissions through social media for the next 2 weeks.

He’s calling it the “Corman Quarantine Film Festival” and says he hopes it is the last one to ever happen.

In perfect Corman form, he says “The story can be anything you imagine.”

Here are the rules

1. You have to stay home and stay safe and film the video inside your house or in the backyard.
2. The short must be filmed on a cell phone.
3. It must be under 2 minutes.

What can you win?

If you’re selected as the winner, Corman himself will help you “make a trailer for the film and its director will receive a signed certificate from me as well as a Best Picture award for the first and last Corman Quarantine Film Festival.”

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BFI and The Film and TV Charity have established an emergency fund to support U.K. freelancers impacted by COVID-19.

The fund was established through a £1 million donation from Netflix and officially opened on April 8 to support members of the U.K.’s creative film and TV community.

It quickly grew to £2.5 million ($3.1 million USD) with additional donations from BFI, BBC Studios, BBC Content, WarnerMedia, and private donors. Today, Comcast-owned broadcast network Sky donated £500,000 ($624,000 USD) as well.

“At this incredibly difficult time, it’s important that we do all we can to support our most needy freelance colleagues,” said Gary Davey, CEO of Sky Studios, “and we hope that this donation will help to alleviate some of the immediate financial challenges many of them are facing over the coming weeks and months.”

Sky Group seems to be dedicated to supporting filmmakers during this time; Chief Executive, Jeremy Darroch, has pledged to donate 100% of his salary to COVID-19-related charities until the crisis is over.

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While it might seem intimidating at first, finding and working with experts on a certain subject matter is well worth the benefits to your project.

The first “Hollywood” money that anyone I know ever earned was as a consultant. Sure, folks we knew had made money editing industrials or PA’ing, but the first time someone I knew made money from a major studio production, they were paid to help with the translation of the head credits of a major action film from modern English into an ancient language they happened to know. That particular example was under the table, and in honor of it being “Hollywood” money, our friend spent it all in a Sunset Strip nightclub that evening in celebration. Easy come, easy go.

The benefits of hiring a consultant are huge. At its most basic level, a consultant helps ensure that your project is accurate. For most of us, there is something we desperately love and have deep knowledge about, and when we see that portrayed incorrectly on screen we are driven nuts.

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This month, Empire Magazine re-released an awesome Q&A with director Quentin Tarantino in which he answered readers’ questions.

The interview, which originally ran in July 2019, is chock-full of interesting facts and secrets about the director and some of his most beloved movies and characters.

For example, do you know what Tarantino’s favorite movie shot of all time is? He says you can find it during the iconic showdown from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

“After you’ve seen all the little shots of the guys getting into position, you suddenly see the whole wideness of the bullring and all the graves around them,” Tarantino says.

This would be a great time to check out the mathematical editing of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

Another reader asks what Tarantino’s favorite character to write was. He says it’s Hans Landa from Inglourious Basterds. And Tarantino makes an interesting point during his answer to this question.

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DJI to announce a Mavic Air sequel soon.

DJI released a video on its social media accounts teasing an event slotted for April 27th dubbed “Up Your Game.” The event is likely the launch of the DJI Mavic Air 2, which is probably the lower half of the image in the teaser video. Why do we know this? You can thank the FCC who listed an unknown DJI controller in its database along with the Mavic Air 2, as reported by DJ Drone.

The Mavic Air series sits between the Mavic Mini and Mavic 2, with the original Mavic Air weighing 438g, so it’s likely the Mavic Air 2 will need to be registered with the FCC if you plan on operating it in the United States. The process is simple, taking roughly 5 minutes, so don’t stress. It’s best to be compliant than to deal with a fine. Registration details can be found here. If you want to bypass that altogether, consider the Mavic Mini, which falls under the 249g requirement.

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Sound design helps the audience sink into their seats and experience your film in more visceral ways. So you better get it right.

Sound design is one of those tricky things that you don’t notice when it’s excellent. It’s only on repeated viewings that it really shows its worth. The first time, it just draws you into a movie and lets you enjoy it.

What I love about this kind of artistry is how many things go into every choice.

One of my favorite websites dealing with sound and sound design is Film Crux. They’ve done free giveaways for us in the past and generally have excellent information available. Plus I’ve bought and used their sound kits. Lots of fun.

They recently released this video of sound design tips.

Check it out and let’s go through them after the jump.

13 Sound Design Tips to Make your Film Feel More Cinematic

1. Punctuate

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The Script Lab and Coverfly are offering this FREE screenplay competition to help open talent-discovery to anyone and everyone, regardless of financial ability.

The only good thing to come from this time is that people in Hollywood are spending time reading again. They’re going through stacks of screenplays to set up their next projects and to have something ready on the other side of the coronavirus pandemic.

But you might be left on the outside if you don’t have representation or a way to get your work in front of the right eyes within the industry.

Winning a contest can help.

We’ve talked about how to win screenplay competitions before, and though we talked about how most of these things are scams, we also know a good deal when we see one.

And this screenplay contest is free.

The Script Lab’s 2020 Screenplay Contest is open to feature, TV and short screenplays. Scripts must be in English and formatted with industry-standard screenwriting software.

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