Deconstructing Cinematography: Saving Private Ryan

There are many factors that contribute to getting a good looking shot. Setting your white balance correctly saves time and frustration when it comes time to edit and opens up artistic options in the field. In this segment, we talk about the basics of color temperature, when to use auto white balance, setting your white balance manually by dialing it in or using a white reference object and how to ensure good results in tough situations.

Go behind the scenes as we break down how the opens for our latest Videomaker web videos were created with Adobe After Effects.  From start to finish, we show you how we built a basic two dimensional graphic title, and then used camera movement and expressions to take it into the third dimension.

Choosing and using the right mic for the job is an important step in any video project, and understanding a microphone’s directional characteristics is one determining factor. In this segment, we talk about a microphone’s directional response and sensitivity, how to interpret a polar response chart, and we listen to examples of various mics to hear how response works in practice. Knowing how to determine the directional characteristics of a mic, and understanding how this affects the sound your mic picks up, can help you make an informed choice for your next project.

The basic concepts of controlling depth of field with aperture, focal length, and distance are fairly easy to grasp, and we covered those topics in part one of this series, but now it's time to dig a little deeper. In this segment, we talk about perceived depth of field, how sensor size and angle of view can affect your ability to get the depth of field you want, and using depth of field to rack focus. There's a lot of confusion surrounding these topics, but a little common sense, and of course a bit of math and science can help us break it all down.

Every shooter wants to be able to direct the viewers' attention to the important aspects of a shot, and manipulating your depth of field is a great way to do it. In this two part series we talk about controlling your depth of field with aperture, focal length, and distance. In part two we talk about perceived depth of field, how sensor size and angle of view might affect your ability to get the depth of field you're striving for, and rack focusing. Knowing the different ways to achieve the depth of field you want for your scene will ultimately help you to craft more effective scenes.

Canon's XA20 and XA25 pack a ton of pro features in a compact form factor and provide a great bang for the buck. See what Canon has to say about its extensive list of features.

Zacuto's Recoil System is a whole new take on a handheld shooting rig. Check out all the possibilities in this hands on look.

Zacuto's Marauder is built for the run and gun DSLR shooter. Compact and easy to use, we get a walkthrough of the main features.

The Sennheiser MKE600 is a DSLR mountable shotgun mic with rich sound and a narrow pickup pattern. Discover all the features in this hands on video.

Rosco's Miro Cube lights are small, but pack a large punch, with some serious professional features. Check out our hands on look at the WNC and 4C models.

Zacuto's PlaZma light is like nothing you've seen before. Cutting edge technology comes together with a clean form factor to provide an elegant lighting solution.

The VariZoom Stealthy is a truly versatile camera support. Take a look as we get a thorough demonstration of its capabilities.

The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera boasts 13 stops of dynamic range in an extremely small package. Take a look at some insane setups seen at NAB 2013

Hear what Blackmagic has to say about their new 4K cinema camera and get a look at some impressive rigs!

We'd all like to have a professional lighting technician, and an unlimited budget to get the perfect lighting setup for the perfect scene.  But the reality is, most of us are lucky to have 2 or 3 lights in our arsenal.  Knowing how to control your lights can help maximize their potential. In this two part segment we talk about the properties of light, and using gels to control the color, intensity, quality, and color temperature of your light sources. Learning to use lighting tools properly will help you create a great looking scene, even if you've got limited resources.

We took the Panasonic DMC-GH3 in various shooting environments to test its detail, dynamic range, moiré, rolling shutter, image stabilization, color reproduction, post-production color correction capability, low light, and autofocus.

There's a lot more to shooting a great scene than just planting a camera somewhere and yelling action. We all want to shoot a scene that can be cut together to achieve great continuity with a good variety of shots. The 180-degree rule is a useful tool to help you achieve this. In this segment we talk about the basic principles of the rule, establishing action lines, working with shifting action lines, and redefining the action line using neutral shots, camera movement, and cutaways. Knowing how to apply the 180-degree rule, and when you might want to break it can take your production skills to a higher level.