Category: News

The release of the 2015 Creative Cloud apps was far from the only thing Adobe announced today.

The company also announced (and released) a brand new stock photo service. Aptly called Adobe Stock, the new service is both a standalone stock photo hub and (more appealingly) an integrated platform which has its primary functionalities built directly into Adobe’s desktop apps. This means that you can search for stock photos, download a watermarked comp, and license assets directly with Adobe’s programs, all without ever having to open your web browser.

Here’s a brief demo of how Adobe Stock can greatly improve the process of using a stock photo in a Photoshop composition.

And here’s Terry White, Adobe’s worldwide design and photography evangelist, to tell you everything else that you need to know about using Adobe Stock, including the various pricing options, which range from $9.99 per image to various subscription plans anywhere between $30 and $200 per month, depending on how many images you need.

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In the weeks leading up to NAB 2015, Adobe announced massive updates to all of their Creative Cloud video applications, with Premiere Pro in particular getting lots of stellar new features in the color grading department.

Today, the company announced that the 2015 Creative Cloud apps are available and ready for download. Just open up the CC App, and they’ll be there waiting for you. In case you need a bit of a refresher about what’s coming to the 2015 versions of Premiere Pro, After Effects, SpeedGrade, and other video apps, here’s are a few quick introductory videos from Adobe.

And here’s a more in-depth look at the new features that are now available in Premiere Pro. This comes from ReTooled.net.

Adobe also announced that they’re giving users more control over the installation process.

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That headline was definitely a bit hyperbolic, and I apologize, but holy smokes, you guys have to check this out.

On April 22, 2015, Volcano Calbuco erupted in southern Chile, encasing the country in a thick cloud of volcanic ash. On a ferry heading southward at the time was Martin Feck, a German filmmaker and founder of Timestorm Films. In the description for the video, Feck sets the scene for how he and his team were in the right place at the right time, and how they captured some of the most stunning images of volcanic clouds in recent memory:

After 10min on the ferry we noticed a massive, almost nuclear looking cloud boiling upwards just where we left a few hours ago. Frenetically looking for a good outlook we then rushed to the only non-forested place to get a decent view of the show. We quickly put every bit of camera-equipment we could find on the constantly growing mushroom-cloud. We shot timelapses in 8K and 4K with a Pentax 645Z and Canon 6D. On the A7s we shot 4K video to the Shogun. We filled almost all of our memory cards in the prior night so I had to do backups while shooting all this stuff.

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David Fincher is one of the most lauded directors of our time, with a style all his own. But his work, no matter how unique it is, is not without its influences.

His affinity for close-ups and faces, sweeping dolly shots, and use of silhouettes and shadows, Fincher has clearly been (and continues to be) influenced by one of modern cinema’s great pioneers, Steven Spielberg. Despite the fact that these two doesn’t seem to have a whole lot in common when it comes to how they make films, this video essay by Southern Oregon University student Michael Bryant explores the connections between the directors’ work.

Even though a lot of credit goes to the DPs they work with, Spielberg and Fincher certainly utilize a lot of interesting techniques when it comes to cinematography.

Faces

The close-up, which was invented around the turn of the 19th century, started out a technique to show an action in more detail. D.W. Griffith was one of its pioneers, but Carl T. Dreyer turned the close-up into a tool to show the expressiveness of the human face, namely in The Passion of Joan of Arc.

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Jurassic World just set a record at the box office for opening weekend – but what do these box office numbers mean?

How do we measure an audience? – It’s not always as simple as counting tickets. In this lesson we look at the techniques and methods studios and distributors use to calculate who has seen their products and try to make sense of all those Box Office Numbers and Ratings.

This lesson is proudly sponsored by RØDE Microphones:

Have you ever wondered what’s actually happening inside of your DSLR when you take a photo?

It’s one of those small things that’s really easy to take for granted. You press the button, there’s a clicking sound, and voila, you have yourself a photograph. But the amount of technology and engineering that goes into creating that photograph is pretty incredible. Need proof? Gavin over at The Slow Mo Guys (one of the most wildly entertaining and informative YouTube channels in existence) used a Phantom Flex to capture the mechanical shutter of the Canon 7D at a whopping 10,000fps. Needless to say, this should give you an entirely new perspective on what’s going on inside of your camera:

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Coming almost a year after the price dropped to $6K, we’ve got another $1,000 cut, bringing Sony’s FS700 to down to $5,000. While you might see the FS7 as a better value with its internal 4K, it does start at $8K, which may or may not be just above your budget, especially when you build out a kit for that particular camera. That’s not the only deal on the FS700, we’ve also got the 18-200mm kit lens version which is now down to $5,600. Here’s a look at the two options for purchasing a new FS700:

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Roger Deakins needs no introduction around these parts. He is, after all, one of the most prolific and talented cinematographers to ever grace the medium of film. At the Cannes Film Festival last month – where Deakins’ latest film Sicario was premiering – a representative from ARRI caught up with him. Needless to say, some delectable cinematography wisdom was imparted:

First and foremost is how Deakins approaches preparation for any given scene. He says that one of the things he’s learned from collaborating with the Coen brothers over many years is that storyboarding is crucial, not necessarily because you’re planning the exact shots that you will eventually capture, but because the process forces you to find the “essence of the scene.” He’ll meticulously storyboard everything with a director, but oftentimes that material will go out the window as soon as they arrive on set and start shooting. However, what he learned about the story and characters during the storyboarding process helps inform all of those spontaneous changes made on set.

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Christmas has come early this year.

Well, actually, Christmas will be coming at the same time as it does every year, but this year it will also come with an extra special present for fans of 70mm (and let’s be honest, anyone with a functioning set of eyeballs is a fan of 70mm). Today, The Weinstein Company announced that Quentin Tarantino’s newest flick, The Hateful Eight, will be released on Christmas day with a glorious 70mm anamorphic presentation.

Not only that, but it’s being reported that theaters in 50 cities across the US will be retrofitted with 70mm projectors in order to bring the full 70mm experience to as wide an audience as possible. Though it has not been confirmed yet, this would make The Hateful Eight the widest 70mm release in over 20 years. No word yet on which cities and theaters will be getting the 70mm treatment, but we’ll share that list as soon as we have it.

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In April, Blackmagic announced a host of exciting new cameras (as seems to be their ongoing April tradition).

Most excitingly, the company showcased a new 4.6K sensor with impressive dynamic range that will soon make its home in both the URSA and URSA Mini cinema cameras. In case you’re wondering how exactly that sensor performs, here’s some early footage, shot in 4:1 RAW with the original URSA:

To my eye, this is some of the nicest footage to come from Blackmagic’s cameras to date. This is a great sign because, coming from an early pre-release version of the upgraded URSA, the capabilities of the production versions of these cameras will likely be even better. With this footage, I’m struck by the clean, naturalistic colors and skin tones, the super smooth highlight rolloff (plus the lack of blown highlights when shooting daytime interiors against a window), and the fact that there aren’t any issues whatsoever when shooting directly into the sun. I’m inclined to say that Blackmagic is really starting to get the hang of this whole camera manufacturing thing, which is exciting news for independent filmmakers everywhere.

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