Show Us Your Shot
In this segment of Show Us Your Shot, filmmaker Alec Kubas-Meyer gives us a behind-the-scenes look at a video review of the 2018 thriller, Searching. Because the film takes place entirely on a computer desktop, Kubas-Meyer deviated from his usual review technique and chose to mimic the visual style of the film itself. So watch and follow along as he shows his filming setup, and how he accomplished his result.
In this segment of Show Us Your Shot, skydiver and aerial cinematographer Laszlo Andacs discusses the possibilities and the challenges of camera work while jumping out of airplanes. The piece is illustrated with breathtaking aerial sequences that capture the beauty and technique of aerial cinematography as the cameraman hurtles toward the ground with cameras mounted on his helmet. You can see footage of jumps and the preparation behind them as Andacs and other cameramen capture various projects, such as Anthony Flammia's music video "My Life
In this segment of Show Us Your Shot, visual effects supervisor Adam C. Sager discusses how the team behind the 2018 Tribeca-selected, stop-motion animated short film, Two Balloons, utilized green-screen compositing to isolate and combine various shot elements together into seamless compositions.
Writer/Director/Producer: Mark Smith
Animation Director: Teresa Drilling
Art Director: Kathleen Chamberlain
Director of Photography: Reijean Heringlake
Motion Control Operators: Mark Eifert, Jim Birkett
Special Effects Supervisor: Javan Ivey
The filmmaker behind Learning to Drive, Roderick Stevens, shares his thoughts on his film and filmmaking.
Steven Gladstone: How long have you been working in the industry, and how did you get started?
Roderick Stevens: I’ve worked in the film industry in some capacity or another for just shy of 30 years. I moved from a small town in southeast Arizona to Los Angeles, in 1990, to attend the since defunct Film
Steven Gladstone: You wear many different hats—writer, producer, director, actor, etc. Do you go by Filmmaker, or is there a distinction?
Gregory Blair: If I’m relegated to a single label, I use “Entertainment Professional,” because it is generic and inclusive enough to represent my writing consulting, TV, and theatre work in addition to my various roles in the film industry.
SG: How long have you been working in the industry, and how did you get started?
GB: Seems like forever, but I didn’t really start until I was in my twenties and, despite
Making a complete film that lasts only a minute takes far more time to shoot and edit. Kelly Murray and Hillary Hanak opened up to me about what was involved in making the one-minute-long horror film, 3:13.
Steven Gladstone: How long have you been working in the industry, and how did you get started?
Kelly Murray: I've been working in film for seven years, since 2012. Growing up, I was involved in the arts and was a strong writer, so I studied English literature and writing at college. I was, however, involved in the University's student
In the segment of Show Us Your Shot, filmmaker Sam Stephan shares the details behind the making of his short film, The Third Day.
“On The Third Day, we budgeted for four days of shooting the 11-page script. Various high-frame-rate shots and zooms had been conceptualized from the beginning, so we chose the Angenieux Optimo 17-80mm T2.2 zoom lens and a RED Scarlett-W. Zooms kept the frame moving without the use of dollies or stabilizers, both of which can become expensive and time consuming to utilize. I also feel that zooms communicate
I had the opportunity to catch up with Jillian Bullock, the filmmaker and creative force behind A Sense of Purpose: Fighting for Our Lives, and she shared some thoughts on making the film and the filmmaking process in general.
Steven Gladstone: How long have you been working in the industry, and how did you get started?
Jillian Bullock: I’ve been in the industry since 1991 when I graduated from La Salle University and got an internship on the set of Spike Lee’s movie, Malcolm X.
SG: Did you go to school to learn about filmmaking?
JB: I went to
In the segment of Show Us Your Shot, Director Roderick E. Stevens and Cinematographer Daniel Gonsalez, in an effort to accentuate the grounded reality of their hero's journey in the latter half of the film, chose to mix shooting styles and formats, including Super 8 film for the opening flashback scenes, 4k RAW (on a Sony F55) for the first half of the roadtrip with the two brothers, and 35mm (Arricam LT) once protagonist Michael steals the car to embark on his own adventure. Both larger formats were captured with vintage, Todd AO, anamorphic
In this segment of Show Us Your Shot, filmmaker Jillian Bullock filmed a scene in Fairmount Park, in Philadelphia, in the summer: “We headed out early to beat the heat, but we had a problem with the DJI Ronin Gimbal, which wasn’t cooperating. This meant we had to do more takes of the scene. I made sure we had plenty of water bottles available for cast and crew. More care was given to the lead female actor, Tamara Woods, who was pregnant at the time. We kept taking breaks in order for her to hydrate and get a little rest. I told her to stand in
The filmmakers behind Clickbait, Michael Epstein and Sophia Cacciola (collectively Filmmakers), share some thoughts on their film and filmmaking.
Steven Gladstone: How long have you been filmmakers, and how did you get started?
Filmmakers: While we’ve each had a lifelong interest in film and filmmaking, we really started out being dedicated to music and songwriting. We toured in many bands over the years and, around 2008, we decided that we really
In this segment of Show Us Your Shot, filmmaker Sophia You, Executive Producer Samantha Tan, and Creator Jenna Lam guide us through the filming of an episode of Ambitious, a web series about an Asian-American girl who cannot seem to find a place where she feels she belongs. In the final scene of the series’ finale, she placed the two main characters inside a frame within a frame to suggest that they cannot escape the situation in which they find themselves and must draw closer to each other, literally and metaphorically, to have an honest
In the segment of Show Us Your Shot, Director Roderick E. Stevens and Cinematographer Daniel Gonzalez explored a few options for safely capturing the driving scenes in this road movie, including using a 70" LED TV as a background, before settling on green screen for compositing. This also freed Stevens up to manipulate the art direction and color grading further to create a contrast between the heightened, almost surreal first half against the familiar reality of the latter half.
Roderick Stevens’s Bio
In this segment, Chris Seivard shares with us how he pulled off a professional shoot for a client, using mostly natural daylight streaming through the location’s windows, supplemented with two LED fixtures to light the interior. Watch the video, as Seivard explains his setup, and be sure to study the lighting diagram.
This project was for an insurance company. The goal was to give investigators a feel for what the deposition process might be like, after an incident investigation.
The test involved an actor, dressed in a cowboy outfit, lighting up and smoking a cigar. The test was done late in the day, with no additional lights, and we were racing against the sun. The green screen we had was a little bit on the pale/unsaturated side, but we went ahead with it anyway. We imported the footage into Final Cut Pro and applied the Keyer effect.
Most of it was working well, except there were some areas that were bleeding through the image so we tried to clean that up with the addition of masks/garbage mattes. You can see where