Apple
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Watch: Apple-Produced Takashi Miike Film Shot on iPhone 15 Pro
In what is a refreshing — at least for us at Filmmaker — changeup from the usual sorts of films that get the iPhone demo treatment, Apple has released a new 19-minute short, Midnight, directed by Takashi Miike. It’s no Audition or Ichi the Killer, naturally, but his adaptation of Osamu Tezuka’s manga is a lot of fun. There’s also an accompanying short behind-the-scenes video, below, that demonstrates the use of iPhone modes like Action and Cinematic — the former’s handheld stabilization and the latter’s rack focus — as well as, most impressively, the use of the phone’s LIDAR scanner […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 6, 2024 -
2022 in Cameras
2022 was a quiet year for camera technology, thank goodness. The decade plus I’ve been covering camera breakthroughs on this website has been a rocket ride. So much velocity, so little time to stop, catch one’s breath, smell some roses. Ask yourself, who can any longer tell the difference between film and digital origination on the big screen? Be honest. No less than Roger Deakins declared film a dead issue half a dozen years ago. His latest, Sam Mendes’ Empire of Light, shot using Arri Alexa Mini LF (large format) and spherical Arri Signature Primes, is a loving paean to […]
by David Leitner on Dec 31, 2022 -
Swimming With The Megalodons
When the media world’s most predatory shark realizes he’s about to be someone else’s lunch, you have to wonder whether we all might need a bigger boat. Only four years ago, Rupert Murdoch was circling the waters of Time Warner in the hope of hooking those prized assets and feeding them into his own 21st-century entertainment factory. Today, he is the one hocking most of the family jewels to the Walt Disney Company in a $71.3 billion deal that leaves his clan with a stripped-down entity focused on live news and sports, as well as a passive stake in a […]
by Colin Brown on Sep 17, 2018 -
Reviewers Hail Video Performance of Apple’s New iMac Pros
After neglecting the pro market in recent years, Apple is out with the first of two new machines this Thursday, the iMac Pro. (The redesigned Mac Pro is expected sometime in 2018). The ultra-high-end 18 Xeon core processor version won’t be available until next year, but the 10-core version seeded to reviewers this week is receiving very high marks for power and speed. Over at MKBHD, Marcus Brownlee posts a seven-minute video with his thoughts, including how Final Cut Pro on the machine has handled 8K RAW files with simultaneous color correct and use of plug-ins. Regarding Final Cut use, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 12, 2017 -
Watch: Michel Gondry’s Charming, iPhone-Shot Summer Vacation Short, Detour
Michel Gondry has made a charming and inventive — in his typically lo-fi way — short film for Apple that shows off the video capabilities of the iPhone 7. With elements of The Red Balloon, Toy Story and, I’m sure, memories Gondry has revisited from his own childhood family vacations in France, the short follows a family on their annual summer sojourn, a trip that winds up leaving the youngest child’s prized red tricycle along the side of the road. Impressively, the short doesn’t try to fake some kind of crazy bokeh, or indulge in trick macro shots. No, like […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 29, 2017 -
Worlds Within
Oculus Rift Just reaching stores is the long-awaited Oculus Rift ($599), the highest-end VR headset presently on the consumer market. Launched in 2012 with $2.5 million in Kickstarter funding and purchased two years later by Facebook for $2 billion, Oculus Rift in this early iteration is focusing on gaming, with EVE: Valkyrie bundled with the kit. The company is developing film applications too. There’s Oculus Video, an app allowing viewers to watch movies in either 2-D or 3-D from within a virtual cinema space. (You can even select your seat and angle of view.) And there are already dramatic VR […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 21, 2016 -
New OSX App Hedge Manages File Transfers
Released this week, Hedge is an OS X app for streamlining the process of importing camera footage and making backups. Hedge will transfer multiple disks at the same time and verify each copy. Paul Matthijs Lombert came up with the idea for Hedge, and is CEO of the developer, The Sync Factory. He answered the following questions via email. Filmmaker: Where did the idea for Hedge come from? Matthijs Lombert: I’ve been an acoustician and mastering engineer for over ten years. I originally came up with the idea for Hedge when working on a Dutch multicam documentary. I designed the audio […]
by Michael Murie on Mar 23, 2016 -
Several Kind of Funny Reasons Why You Probably Shouldn’t Upgrade to Apple Music Yet
I have a lot of positive things to write about Apple Music, but in the interest of not burying the lede, I’ll write this first: If you have a large, well-tended and carefully created iTunes Music Library, do not upgrade to Apple Music. Do not install the latest 12.2 version of iTunes and, most importantly, do not turn on iCloud Music Library on any of your devices. Or, if you decide to ignore the above advice, make sure you have a Time Machine backup of your iTunes library before you go ahead and do so. Why the alarm, you ask? […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 6, 2015 -
Shooting Romance in NYC with the iPhone 6
Here’s a nifty behind-the-scenes featurette on the iPhone 6 shooting of Tristan Pope‘s short film, Romance in NYC. The film is shot entirely from the first-person perspective, like Lady in the Lake and Enter the Void, and the mobility of the iPhone enabled the director/camera operator to play the role of the first-person protagonist. As you’ll see in the video, Pope lets his own hands and arms enter and exit frame, aided by variety of gear — including a Gorillapod — as well as well-choreographed production assistants.
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 17, 2015 -
Five Questions for Humanity Creators Kerrin Sheldon and Gaston Blanchet
“An iPad app for explorers,” the just-launched Humanity dubs itself as a “new kind of travel show that places authenticity and storytelling above all else.” Notably, Humanity avoids star ratings, food porn and shopping tips in favor of immersive looks into the landscape and the people of a particular place of interest. From the press release: Humanity is an app that allows you to choose your own path. We don’t want you to check-off a country, we want you to live and breathe it, to explore its many offerings and expand your horizons. While quality storytelling will always be our […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 21, 2014
