Iphone 6 Cinematography

iStanbul // iPhone 6 Plus from The Film Artist on Vimeo.

I thought this video was fascinating because it was all shot with the new iphone 6 Plus. Of course the guy used different video filters and applications, but that fact that we have phone cameras that can produce such amazing quality is so so cool.

I don't think it will be long before we start to see actual films being made with camera phones and other recording devices. When I was younger I had a really bad, old video camera that I barely knew how to use, and now I think the landscape has changed drastically to the point where kids can start using mobile devices and ipads to create videos.

I wish I had the knowledge and accessibility to things like this when I was a kid because it could've greatly propelled my creativity. I think the slo-mo and time lapse features are so cool on the new phones, and with each new generation the features are just going to get cooler.

Malaria by Edson Oda

Malaria is a new short film by Brazilian filmmaker Edson Oda. The story consists of a dialogue between Death and a mercenary named Fabiano, who announces he's been hired to kill the grim reaper. It is an interesting story in itself but the best thing about it in my opinion is the technique/design; mixing time-lapse with origami, kirigami (which i didn't know about before watching this), and nankin illustration, presented in a comic-book-like style. The different shots and camera angles are changed manually by the "animator" during the film (he changes from shot to shot by placing a new drawing on top of the last one), which gives an interesting aspect of performance to the film.

I am posting this here because I find this to be a very interesting/unusual way of telling a story. Also because I've been working on my computer a lot and it's just very nice to see how creative people can get on the more analog side of things.

Here's the link;


Malaria from Edson Oda on Vimeo.

Motion Grahpics

Just thought this would be a really cool video to watch. I always thought time lapse was so cool to watch in any form. This adds some art to the time lapse accompanied by some real creepy music.

Flawed Symmetry of Prediction from Jeff Frost on Vimeo.

Pat O'Neill

If you happen to be in LA, one of the things you should check out is the calendar of events of the Academy. After all what else is there in LA?

For example, in a couple of days Pat O'Neill, an experimental filmmaker and optical effects artist whose first 35mm feature, "Water and Power," won a Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival in 1990 will screen a restored print and hold an onstage conversation.

O'Neill, a graduate of UCLA (and later a teacher at CalArts), makes extensive use of optical printing, time lapse, motion control and other techniques, interweaving these materials into complex, sometimes humorous and surrealist montages.

He has worked extensively in the feature film industry, on such films as "The Empire Strikes Back" (1980), "Dragonslayer" (1981), "Return of the Jedi" (1983), "RoboCop" (1987), "Dances With Wolves" (1990), "Tank Girl" (1995) and "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" (1997) as an optical effects artist/technician.

This is a snippet of "Water and Power," which was selected for inclusion in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2008. Remember it is an optical print process, pre-digital.