Authors — Michael Murie
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Reviewing the ProAm Taurus Jr. Crane
With all the attention on brushless gimbals it’s easy to overlook cranes — pieces of equipment that can add cinematic motion to any shot. Cranes can also be large, difficult to move and hard to operate. The ProAm Taurus Jr is a small crane that solves most of those problems; its only limitation is that its range of motion may not meet every need. The Taurus Jr is 50” long and 5 ¾” wide and constructed primarily of two parallel rectangular tubes that are 2” x 1”. It is primarily constructed of powder coated and anodized aluminum. The only item that […]
by Michael Murie on Jul 29, 2014 -
Sympathy, Said the Shark: Shooting in POV
Writer, director and editor Devin Lawrence says that when he set out to make Sympathy, Said the Shark he’d already gone through two projects which had stalled out due to lack of financing, so he decided he had to come up with something where “money can no longer be the ultimate road block.” The resulting project was shot in 14 days and primarily in one location, but it was by no means a simple project to make as much of it was shot using a POV rig built around the Blackmagic Pocket Camera. Lawrence, who works in LA primarily as […]
by Michael Murie on Jul 21, 2014 -
A Round-Up of the Last Non-Linear Editor Updates
June proved to be a rich month for non-linear editor users. Adobe released their latest Creative Cloud update, Apple updated Final Cut Pro X, Motion, and Compressor, the public beta of DaVinci Resolve 11 was released, and the Mac beta of Lightworks finally appeared. Adobe Creative Cloud On June 17 Adobe released the second major update to Creative Cloud. For Premiere Pro this release adds a new masking feature for effects. You can now easily add an effect mask either using an Oval or a four-point polygon tool. A built-in tracking tool makes it possible to track a shape […]
by Michael Murie on Jul 10, 2014 -
Seeing in the Dark with the Sony a7S
When Sony announced the a7S mirrorless camera at NAB everyone was interested in its 4K capabilities, but it’s the low-light power of this camera that may be the true selling point. With the “S” standing for sensitivity, the a7S is the third a7 camera to be released. The a7 and a7R were announced in October of last year and started shipping in December. Those two models record HD video and stills at much higher resolutions than the a7S; the a7 has a 24.3 megapixel sensor capable of 6,000 x 4,000 pixel stills, while the a7R has a 36.4MP sensor capable […]
by Michael Murie on Jul 7, 2014 -
The Language of Motion: At Vincent Laforet’s Directing Motion Tour
On a wet Saturday in May, about 100 people gathered in a hotel ballroom for the Boston stop of Vincent Laforet’s Directing Motion tour. This daylong event, with an optional evening session, promised to teach all levels of filmmakers the cinematic language of motion. Laforet started by saying that he was going to ruin cinema for us, and proceeded to show a clip without audio. “It’s never, ever moving the camera because the camera should move,” he said. The event is structured in two parts: a daytime workshop that runs from 9:00 am to 4 pm, and an evening seminar […]
by Michael Murie on May 23, 2014 -
IFFBoston: Freeload Director Daniel Skaggs and Editor Ryan Seitz
For 18 months Daniel Skaggs rode freight trains with a DSLR, a consumer video camera and some GoPros, documenting the lives of train riders. The resulting film, Freeload, was co-produced and co-edited by Mather McKallor and Ryan Seitz. This was the first full-length feature film project for all three. We interviewed Skaggs and Seitz at the recent Independent Film Festival Boston, where Freeload was an official selection. Filmmaker: What is Freeload about? Seitz: It’s a documentary about modern day train riders. Daniel road trains for 18 months and really got acquainted with the guys who ultimately became the characters of […]
by Michael Murie on May 22, 2014 -
Here Comes the ARRI AMIRA
ARRI has met with some success in digital filmmaking with their ALEXA camera. As just one indication of their dominance, the ALEXA was used on three-quarters of this year’s Best Picture nominees. It’s been praised for its image quality, ease of use and ruggedness. But it’s not cheap, and it’s not light. ARRI last year announced the AMIRA, and described it as a documentary camera. It’s smaller and lighter than the ALEXA, but if you were hoping for a significantly cheaper camera, you’ll be disappointed; the base AMIRA is $39,999. For those on a budget, renting the camera remains the […]
by Michael Murie on May 14, 2014 -
How To Sell Your Movie at AFM: Unconventional Tips From the Moonshine Kingdom Team
If making a movie seems like a Herculean task, selling it can be even harder. You have to work festivals, industry contacts and many other avenues in the hope of finding a buyer. When Mooshine Kingdom‘s director Milton Horowitz and cinematographer Ryan Forte went to American Film Market (AFM), they decided to take a slightly different approach by going as exhibitors rather than as filmmakers. “I noticed that it said if you go as an exhibitor, you get access to the buyers list,” Horowitz says. “We thought, ‘That’s what we need, we need the buyers list.’” Though it was more […]
by Michael Murie on May 13, 2014 -
Creating Moonshine Kingdom: An Interview with Milton Horowitz and Ryan Forte
Mooshine Kingdom director Milton Horowitz says that, like a lot of Americans, he grew up watching too much television. This eventually led to film school at Cleveland State University, where he met cinematographer Ryan Forte. “Ryan’s younger than me,” says Horowitz. “He’s 21, I’m 32, and even though we’re 11 years apart we still love the same types of films and the same movie techniques.” While this is ostensibly their first feature film, Forte says he tried to make a feature film when he was younger that became “way too long. I sent it to a film festival and it […]
by Michael Murie on May 8, 2014 -
Vincent Laforet on Directing, Cinematography and Knowing Your Craft
Vincent Laforet is a Los Angeles based director and DP who has directed a number of commercials and short narrative films. A prize winning still photographer who has worked for The New York Times, he is perhaps best known for Reverie, the short movie that introduced the world to the video capabilities of the Canon 5D Mark II. Laforet is currently undertaking a US workshop tour with the Directing Motion workshop, which will visit 32 cities over the next ten weeks. “I knew that there was a hunger for learning about the craft of filmmaking, and I thought this would be […]
by Michael Murie on May 5, 2014
