» Posts Tagged ‘shorts’
We have seen a few examples of what the new Sony F55 is capable of, but there aren’t really many samples showing what its similar-looking sibling, the F5, can do. A group of students over at USC produced a recent project called The Contract that was shot exclusively with the new camera, and they wanted to explore just how - the camera was and how it would perform in mixed-light situations. Check out the movie, written and directed by Rodney Hooks, below. More »
We’ve already seen a little bit of what is possible in the After Effects plugin Trapcode, but now we’ve got a short called EXODUS from Magnus Östergren that was commissioned by Peder Norrby, the founder of Trapcode, to specifically show off what Trapcode Mir (a part of the whole suite) was capable of. Click through to check out the short: More »
Make a Short Film in Northwest Louisiana for a Chance to Win $50,000
Last year, 86 teams competed in the first annual Louisiana Film Prize, and one lucky team walked away with $50,000. Now, the 2013 iteration of the LAFP has just kicked off, and once again they’re offering a cool $50,000 for the best short film shot in the northwestern section of the Bayou State, as well as $500 prizes for each of the 20 finalists. Here’s the details on the competition’s rules and how to enter: More »
We’ve talked about how just because something is made as an advertisement, that doesn’t necessarily mean it can’t stand on its own as a piece of art. The same can be said for a film made for a particular cause, in this case domestic violence. FRED et marie and Marie et Fred were both commissioned by Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, or the French Community of Belguim, one of the three official communities in Belgium. The films focus on the abusive marriage between Fred and Marie, and they were both shot on the Arri Alexa — I mention this because they are two of the nicer-looking films I’ve seen lately. Click through to watch both. More »
Advertisements have come a long way in the past decade or so — even in the last 5 years. More and more content has gone from strictly showing off a brand, to actually telling a story and moving an audience. Since the internet attention span can be lower than any other medium, the video content that typically succeeds is short and to the point, and what format utilizes its time better than the commercial? Watching a Maiyet ad directed by Cary Fukunaga, I was reminded of all the great ads recently that have done more than sell a brand, they’ve moved you in a way that would seem impossible on the surface. Click through to check out some commercials that truly take the format in a different direction. More »
As the year comes to a close, we’ve got plenty of ‘Best Of’ lists coming down the pipeline over the next couple of weeks. We share videos throughout the year, but it is simply a snapshot of the hundreds and thousands of videos uploaded every day. The good people over at Vimeo, who consistently curate a steady stream of fantastic videos, from shorts and docs, to music videos, to experimental videos, and everything in between, have handpicked a list of their 12 favorite videos from 2012. More »
Anamorphic shooting at the low budget level is difficult, and with the options out there for filmmakers, getting a proper aspect ratio and a sharp image is next to impossible without a lot of effort or a lot of patience. When Zeek Earl of Shep Films shared some test footage, I took notice, because it was some of the cleanest and sharpest anamorphic footage I’ve seen come out of a DSLR. After exploring a bit further, I discovered their short film In The Pines, and also found out that the test footage posted was for a Kickstarter project that will end in less than 24 hours. Click through to check all of it out. More »
Patrick Stewart has had a rather long and varied career, from the stage, to the screen, and literally everything in between (including a recurring role on Seth MacFarlane’s American Dad cartoon). In Angus Jackson’s short film Epithet, he plays a poet in the later years of his life who is keen on courting younger women. The film was shot on the Arri Alexa (which is completely inconsequential, but, you know, some of you may be wondering these things). Click through to check it out. More »
While it’s not available all over the world yet, the Kinefinity KineRAW S35 has made some serious noise across the filmmaking community, because it’s poised to disrupt the industry in a similar way as the (not yet shipping in volume) Blackmagic Cinema Camera. At a base price of $6,000 ($7K-$8K for a working package), the mostly non-proprietary 2K 12-bit Super 35mm uncompressed and compressed RAW camera is matched in specs (in this price range) only by the no-longer-available RED ONE MX. Specs are really only part of the equation, however, and it’s the actual image the camera produces that is arguably more important. Thanks to Matt Allard at DSLR News Shooter, we’ve got a fantastic idea of what this camera is capable of with his short film The Iron Psyche. More »
It’s not often that an excerpt of a film is enough to satisfy me, but that was exactly the case with a clip from Lynne Ramsay’s (Ratcatcher, Morvern Callar, We Need to Talk About Kevin) short film Swimmer. As part of the 2012 Olympics, a number of British filmmakers were commissioned to make films, and they were shown before the games in London earlier this year. While it doesn’t seem like all of them have been released in full anywhere else, if you did happen to see them, I just might be a little jealous, especially since the excerpt from Ramsay’s gorgeous black and white 35mm short film is so enticing. Click through to check it out. More »
The short film format has the capability for interesting and experimental projects because most shorts only have to sustain your attention for minutes, and not hours. Many shorts are a story and a punchline, while others are a dreamy snapshot of life. A.G. Rojas’s Dread would better be described as the latter, and the text beneath the video is where I derived my title for this post: “A story about a few hours in the life of a Bugle Boy sweatshirt.” It’s a bit of misdirection, but in an interesting way it’s also a perfect description. The under eight minute short film is worth a look, so click through to check it out. More »
We’ve shared quite a bit of animation on this site before, but the new short from directing duo Silsoe Mouse called Little Red is an entirely different animal…so to speak. Many of us have heard about Ms. Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf, and it’s a story that has been told and re-told thousands of times over the last few hundred years (in many different mediums), but Silsoe Mouse takes an interesting spin on the classic story not only in visual style, but in the actual storytelling itself — with a few unexpected twists. Click through to check out the short. More »
Short films, especially those that make it into festivals, often have a story and a definite punchline (though that’s certainly not always the case). Concept is important, as is execution, but capturing the viewers attention in a hurry can make or break many of these movies. Pockets, from the super team DANIELS (which includes Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan), deals with exactly what you’d think, and might cause you to look at your jeans in a whole other way. More »
Many lament the fact that when a new camera is announced and released (or partially released in the case of the Blackmagic Cinema Camera), most of the videos that find their way online are just camera tests, which usually lack a story, let alone characters or a script. This hasn’t quite been the case with the Cinema Camera, thanks to people like John Brawley, but it’s always great to get a fully realized story as a showpiece for the camera. Philip Bloom, who reviewed the BMCC in September, took the camera (with help from Rick Joaquim and Dale Ballentine), into a real-world shooting situation and produced a documentary about a building called the Ponte City tower in Johannesburg, South Africa. More »
Win a $10,000 Film Grant in 'The Cabin in the Woods' Spoof Horror Film Competition
It’s that time of year when people are thinking up costume ideas, picking out pumpkins for carving, making party plans, and if you’re a filmmaker with a penchant for horror, you’re probably also thinking about making a film. And really there’s no better time to do it. Vimeo and Lionsgate are putting on The Cabin in the Woods Spoof Horror Film Competition which is offering a $10,000 Grand Prize to the best satirical or comedic horror short. More »
Open Source doesn’t always have the greatest reputation in the filmmaking community, often because many believe it means unsupported and infrequently updated — and sometimes they’re right. We’re going to be getting the first open source camera, but open source software has existed for filmmaking for quite some time and there are plenty of options out there that can produce spectacular results, like the 3D animation program Blender. The Blender Foundation has been working with talented people to make films using the software, and Tears of Steel is their 4th completely Open Source film. How open? They are releasing all of the materials for the short film completely under a Creative Commons license (free to reuse and distribute with attribution). The film is streaming, and also available as an HD download (which is the way I’d recommend watching). More »
Loom, a science fiction short film directed by Luke Scott (son of Ridley and nephew of Tony), was used by RED to show off their 4K 3D projector at NAB 2012. The last time we talked about Luke Scott, he had just directed a viral video for his father Ridley’s Prometheus. While you won’t be able to watch it in 4K (or in 3D), the H.264 file is remarkably clean. The film is set in the mid-21st century and stars Giovanni Ribisi as a scientist working at a laboratory attempting to grow meat for human consumption. While he plays worker bee during the day, he’s got a secret that could land him in jail. More »
Driven Creativity Competition USA: Offering a Grand Prize of $5,000 and an 8TB Thunderbolt Hard Drive
Hard drive company G-Technology is holding their annual contest for professional and amateur filmmakers (as well as photographers and musicians): The Driven Creativity Competition USA. Filmmakers can submit in the Short Film, Animation, and GoPro Active categories and will be competing for some great prizes, including a grand prize of $5,000 towards your next creative project and an 8TB G|RAID Thunderbolt hard drive. More »
Couch Fest: A Film Festival Happening in Living Rooms Around the World with a Top Prize of $500
In 2008, Seattle filmmaker Craig Downing had an idea: Take a film festival out of theaters and put it into the more intimate, communal venue of peoples’ living rooms. What resulted was the self-described “awkwardly awesome” Couch Fest. Now in its fifth year, Couch Fest has grown from a Seattle-based festival to one that happens in homes and idiosyncratic venues world-wide, spanning North America, South America, Europe, and even as far as Oman. This year the Golden Couch award for best short is $500, and there are other goodies on offer as well: More »
If you were handed 50 GoPro HERO2 cameras to disperse around the New York City streets what would you come up with? Actually, to step back for a moment, how on earth would you deal with the laborious task of controlling them all without an army of ADs poised to capture your multi-cam opus? Enter the recently launched GoPro Wi-Fi BacPac + Wi-Fi Remote Combo Kit and skater Ryan Sheckler’s demonstration run from the top of the Manhattan Bridge to the storied Lower East Side skate park in promo video New York City: More »
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