Pro Moviemaker September/October 2016 sampler

GROUP TEST:

AIRTIME

Ultra-reliable, feature-packed, flat-panel LEDs reviewed

How time-lapse can transform drone footage

LED LIGHTS Bringing the International Space Station to IMAX

MEDIA SUPPORTER

The ultimate magazine for next generation filmmakers

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MANFROTTO DIGITAL DIRECTOR + SUPPORT KIT WORTH OVER

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and-gun! nru ld ou sh u Yo ? ed at iv ot -m lf se Multi-skilled & PRO TEST PLUS VR REVOLUTION

Why shooting in 360° will change the way you think

SONY FS5

Hands-on with the compact 4K powerhouse

On test: Veydra Mini Primes Filmmakers collective: The benefits of joining forces How to combat noise pollution Yuneec Typhoon: Flight-tested

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WELCOME The ultimate magazine for next generation filmmakers Bright Publishing Ltd, Bright House, 82 High Street, Sawston, Cambridgeshire CB22 3HJ

Editorial Editor Terry Hope Contributor James Abbott Senior sub editor Lisa Clatworthy Sub editor Catherine Brodie Advertising Sales director Matt Snow 01223 499453 mattsnow@bright-publishing.com Senior sales executive Krishan Parmar 01223 499462 krishanparmar@bright-publishing.com Design Design director Andy Jennings Design manager Alan Gray Senior designers Mark George & Laura Bryant Designers Emily Stowe & Katy Bowman Junior designer Lucy Woolcomb Publishing Managing directors Andy Brogden & Matt Pluck Media supporters and partners of:

Nothing ever stands still in this business, but even I’ve been taken aback by the speed with which everything seems to move these days.

No sooner have we established ourselves as a standalone title than we move to a bi-monthly publishing schedule. And no sooner do we do that than we find ourselves with a new sibling, the well established title Definition - published since 2003 - which has now joined the Bright stable along with its hugely experienced editor Julian Mitchell.

Definition magazine has established itself as the No 1 title read by leading practitioners and decision makers at the cutting edge of moving image optimisation, and it’s fantastic to have it alongside Pro Moviemaker: exciting times indeed!

And we’ve got an exciting issue lined up for you as well, complete with an interview with retired astronaut Marsha Ivins, who has made no less than five trips into space, plus a catch up with Rich Stevenson, who films in a different but equally challenging environment, namely underwater.

We’re also looking at the world of Run and Gun in this issue are taking the exciting new Yuneec Typhoon H drone for a spin and are accessing the merits of Sony’s excellent FS5.

Another action-packed issue then and enjoy the read: I’m off to get ready for a busy few days walking the halls of IBC!

Pro Moviemaker is published quarterly by Bright Publishing Ltd, Bright House, 82 High Street, Sawston, Cambridge CB22 3HJ. No part of this magazine can be used without prior written permission of Bright Publishing Ltd. ISSN number: 2045-3892. Pro Moviemaker is a registered trademark of Bright Publishing Ltd. The advertisements published in Pro Moviemaker that have been written, designed or produced by employees of Bright Publishing Ltd remain the copyright of Bright Publishing Ltd and may not be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. Prices quoted in sterling and US dollars are street prices, without tax, where available or converted using the exchange rate on the day the magazine went to press.

Terry Hope TERRY HOPE, EDITOR

MEET OUR TEAM OF EXPERTS JAMES ABBOTT FILM JOURNALIST With a background in photography and journalism, James is habouring a growing interest in video. He’s a huge fan of timelapse photography and can often be found lurking around the UK coastline at sunset capturing the dramatic changes in light that’s occuring.

LARRY JORDAN SOFTWARE GURU Based in Los Angeles, Larry Jordan is considered one of the best software trainers in the world, and his philosophy is to make the business of editing less frightening and more understandable. To date he’s got eight books and thousands of technical articles to his name.

PHIL RHODES FILM JOURNALIST Phil is a highly respected cinematographer, technologist, writer and, above all, communicator, who has a wealth of experience testing product from all the top manufacturers. Never afraid to speak his mind, he’s always worth listening to.

JAMES ARDEN FILM EDITOR James is a Londonbased fimmaker working in shorts, music videos and branded content. He was selected by BAFTA as a Guru Film Pro 2016 and currently heads up Creative Video at Vidsy. Recent work has included videos for Mulholland and Young Amphibians.

REBECCA MACHIN FILMMAKER Rebecca has specialised in making short films for online audiences since 2005.

Since then she’s produced films on almost every subject imaginable, most recently shooting and editing films for the Alzheimer’s Society and the British Mountaineering Council.

KARIM ILLYA DRONE PILOT Aged just 26, Karim has already lived in nine different countries and has travelled to 40 more, and his wanderlust sparked in him a desire to fly a drone to capture some of the remarkable places he was visiting. He currently lives on the island of Maui in Hawaii.

TOM FLINT AUDIO SPECIALIST Tom Flint has been reviewing pro sound recording products for more than 17 years, and he’s interviewed many of the world’s top music producers and studio engineers. He also produces his own music and and videos and has recorded the sound for numerous short films.

JAMES BAYLISS-SMITH FILMMAKER A documentary cameraman and filmmaker, James’ career was born out of a passion for adventure, travel, creativity and technology. His work has taken him round the globe and he’s filmed in over twenty countries and in a variety of situations.

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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016

CONTENTS NEWS

6 THIS JUST IN

Keep up to date with all the latest industry news and announcements from around the world.

FEATURES

18 CASE STUDY: FILMING IN SPACE

The latest IMAX blockbuster was filmed by rookie camera operators who happen to be astronauts sharing their privileged view of the planet we call home.

27 CASE STUDY: UNDERWATER MEDIA Richard Stevenson is a highly experienced diver who took the plunge into filmmaking almost accidentally, but has now become a specialist in the field.

ACADEMY

18 27

37 HOW TO: RUN-AND-GUN

Working alone can offer the ultimate in flexibility to work anywhere in the world with the minimum of kit. We spoke to three filmmakers to find out more.

48 HAIL THE NOISE!

We consider all the noise problems you may encounter on location, what the issues are and ultimately how to get around them.

53 BEHIND THE MASK

Adobe Premiere CC features a new selection of masks for hiding or modifying portions of clips. Learn how to apply them in your films.

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MOVIE MATTERS

58 POWER IN NUMBERS

Joining or creating your own collective can bring with it a whole host of benefits for filmmakers. Community, support, skills and work itself are just a few.

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64 AN ALTERNATIVE REALITY

Virtual reality is the next big thing in filmmaking. Terry Hope attended a Raindance course to find out more about what’s involved in making 360º films.

67 ASK THE EXPERTS

Discover the ins and outs of copyright, and what the options are when selecting music to use in your films.

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81 72 READ ALL ABOUT IT

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Check out the latest news from the world of aerial filmmaking, including the relaxing of US drone laws.

75 INTERVIEW: KARIM ILIYA

Hawaii-based drone filmmaker Karim Iliya is no stranger to adventure and travels far and wide to shoot his films.

81 TESTED: YUNEEC TYPHOON H

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The Yuneec Typhoon H may be the new kid on the block, but this feature packed drone means business.

GEAR

88 SONY PXW-FS5 Designed to be smaller and lighter than Sony’s existing line-up of digital cinema cameras and offers professional features.

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96 VEYDRA MINI CINEMA LENSES

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If you’re looking for a prime cinema lens kit for your Micro Four Thirds or Sony E mount camera, then look no further.

105 GROUP TEST: LED LIGHTS

We test six of the best LED light options for the ultimate in power and portability, at price points for every budget.

121 BUYERS’ GUIDE: MUSIC

Don’t miss our run through of essential audio libraries that can supply the score you need for your film

125 MINI TESTS

We take a look at some of the newest and most exciting filmmaking accessories hitting the stores.

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CASE STUDY FILMING FROM SPACE

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FILMING FROM SPACE CASE STUDY

NO PLACE LIKE HOME FILMING FROM SPACE

The latest IMAX blockbuster was filmed by a bunch of rookie camera operators, but then again they were all highly trained astronauts looking to share their privileged view of the planet we call home WORDS TERRY HOPE

E

very astronaut that’s ever had the privilege to head off into space has come back enthralled and inspired by the experience.

It doesn’t matter how familiar you might be with the vast amount of imagery out there depicting the view looking back towards Planet Earth, nothing quite prepares you for the real thing. And when you do experience it first-hand it’s a moment that changes your life, reminding you just what a beautiful home we all share and how vulnerable it can be should we not take good care of it.

With space tourism still in its infancy the fact is that most of us will never have the chance to share that same awe-inspiring experience. However, there’s still a chance to get a strong flavour of what it might be like thanks to the medium of film – specifically IMAX film. Those who have been to

an IMAX cinema will already be familiar with how intense the experience can be, with a screen that extends beyond your field of view, stunning film quality and state-of-the-art sound.

The problem is that IMAX cameras, thanks to the size of the 65mm film they use, are big, cumbersome and heavy, three things that are anathema when it comes to taking something into space. The ending of the space shuttle programme, the only way to get bulkier items into space, appeared to shut the door on further productions, but the development of smaller high-quality digital cameras has come to the rescue. The latest IMAX blockbuster – the seventh to be made in space – is A Beautiful Planet, which serves as a testament that it’s now possible to achieve ultimate high quality without a bespoke piece of heavyweight kit.

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ACADEMY AUDIO EXPERT

SAY NO TO NOISE POLLUTION

Noise pollution can ruin a sound recording, so you need to identify potential problems before settling on a location. Tom Flint looks at the issues and how to avoid them WORDS TOM FLINT

A

camera can only capture what is in front of its lens, but a microphone doesn’t need to be pointing directly at something in order to hear it, and it’s quite capable of recording a noise source located behind, below or above its diaphragm. This characteristic is usually more of a curse than a blessing for sound engineers, which is why they frequently use extremely directional mics with hyper-cardioid polar patterns.

Directional mics, like shotgun models, are less sensitive to noises coming from the sides than they

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are to the sounds being produced immediately in front of them, but even the best designs are nowhere near totally directional and they can usually have a few undesirable characteristics that limit their use in certain situations.

The upshot of all this is that if a filmmaker wants to capture good sound, they can’t just choose a location for the way it looks. They must also give some thought to the potential ‘noise pollution’ in the area and then devise a schedule that accommodates both lighting and sound requirements.

© JOE CARVER

AUDIO EXPERT

come along just as the previous one was disappearing.

Another source of noise pollution was a small aeroplane that spent most of the afternoon meandering around in the distance. Normally you would expect a plane to pass over and disappear fairly quickly, but this one kept returning, and must have been conducting a land survey project or have been involved in pilot training. In the context of what we were shooting a bit of low-level aeroplane noise was not inappropriate, but I was aware that it would make it difficult for us to achieve audio continuity when editing different shots together, so we chose to wait for it to quieten down before starting a new take.

Fortunately for us the plane was not crop dusting, otherwise it would have been much lower and considerably louder.

Between interruptions from the plane, the cars and sun-blocking cloud formations, we somehow managed to complete the scene before the end of the day, but it took about five hours, which is a long time to be standing on a

“During these peak times almost every take had to be delayed while we waited for the sound of a passing car to die out” With many scenes set at night but shot in the day it was necessary to try and block out the general noises that could ruin the illusion.

When filming up in a tree canopy the main noise problem came from a B road that was close to the location. © JENNY SWINDELLS

On location I recently recorded the sound for a film that was shot almost entirely in and around a rural farmhouse.

The place was owned by family members of the film’s director, so we had almost unlimited access to the house and its surroundings for the duration of the shoot.

This arrangement made the shoot easy to manage, very cheap to do, and overall it was a very pleasant project to work on. Nevertheless, from a sound recording point of view, we were faced with a number of unforeseen problems that slowed progress and made things difficult at times.

One key scene, for example, saw the lead characters climb a tree, which meant that both the DoP and I spent many hours balancing on branches in the canopy! We found that shooting from different points of view amongst the branches was a tricky and timeconsuming process, but perhaps the biggest problem we faced (apart from chronic hay fever) was the noise from a B road that passed by a few yards the other side of a nearby hedge. It turned out that the route was a rat run for locals making school pickups and coming home from work, and for this reason it was particularly busy mid-afternoon and in the early evening. During these peak times almost every take had to be delayed while we waited for the sound of a passing car to die out, and very often another car would

branch with a boom pole and a pollen allergy!

Many more segments of the film were set at night, but for practical reasons we had to shoot some of them during the day and early evening, using blankets and card to cover the windows.

From a visual perspective, this worked extremely well, but there were several sound sources that threatened to betray the illusion.

Although we had uninterrupted access to many rooms in the house, it was still occupied by the owners, so the noise of people moving about, distant conversations, the television, kitchen and washing machine all caused us some problems at one stage or another. Fortunately our hosts were more than accommodating, but I think we were all aware that there was a limit to the restrictions that we could place on them.

Once again, the interior shots were affected by the noises of cars passing by outside. These were not loud sounds, but they didn’t fit

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MOVIE MATTERS COLLECTIVES

BETTER TOGETHER

POWER IN NUMBERS Joining or forming your own filmmaking collective is the perfect way to create a community of like-minded individuals. We speak to collectives in the UK and US to learn about the benefits WORDS JAMES ABBOTT

W

hen filmmaking relies on groups of people coming together for productions it’s only too easy to forget the solitary aspect of the work. The production itself is a hive of activity, but when the cameras have stopped rolling and it’s time to go home that group dynamic will have all but disappeared.

A collective is a group of individuals who come together to achieve common creative goals. There are a number of

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different objectives collectives will come together for, but most highlight, above all, the importance of building a community. However, they can be much more than simple mechanisms for socialising and support.

The film industry is highly creative and skills based, and a collective is a great way to share and learn new skills. Collectives can also be formed around a complete crew to allow you to explore personal creative projects without the need for

commercial input. But it doesn’t stop here; when the work comes in you’ll also be able to take on projects in a team you know and trust.

There are so many reasons why filmmakers can benefit from creating their own community, but don’t just take our word for it. Mark Thomas, co-founder of the Soup Collective in the UK, and Jeff Sterrenberg from Meerkatmedia in the US tell us why collectives are so important for the filmmaking industry.

COLLECTIVES

SOUP COLLECTIVE: Mark Thomas soupcollective.co.uk What are the main advantages of being part of a collective?

The focus of a collective is on creating a community, sharing skills and, above all, feeding off each other to generate excitement around a project. The result of this is part of the process of generating work, as the energy is very much evident in the finished work and often leads to other projects.

Are teams formed for commissions through the collective?

While everyone involved tends to have a multidisciplinary skill set, there are definite specialisms within the collective.

For instance, animation, camera, edit, post and coding. The key consideration when working out who fits a project best often comes down to the level of interest and enthusiasm it generates in an individual. Starting off on this foot is vital in setting the tone and energy for the project, and ultimately leads to stronger collaborative projects.

How do you share the fee for commissioned work?

With most projects there is a production fee that covers studio rent and upkeep etc. We always try to invest in something new with every key project – often to develop R&D projects. On Soup Collective projects the rate tends to be the same for all participants, based on the level of input. More often than not, with the more ambitious arts-led projects the workload tends to exceed this, so it’s important for all to feel committed from the outset. The plus side is that often the developments from these projects inform and generate other work in different sectors (music video, commercial).

What commitment is required from members of the collective?

Nothing formal, but there is a shared sense of responsibility, particularly within projects. Everyone who is or has been a part of Soup is also active in their own right as an individual freelancer.

This enables everyone to have a degree of security, and also makes the coming

together of people something more valued in a way because it brings new skills and energy to each project.

What are the challenges of being part of a collective?

The best advice here is to never underestimate communication skills.

Lack of communication has been an issue for us in the past. Even at the busiest times it’s important to check in briefly with everyone to ensure all is OK. As with any organisation, there are always going to be issues such as personality clashes and maintaining energy on projects where a little has to go a long way.

How can people join a collective?

With Soup the process is informal. It

tends to happen quite organically with people starting off with placements or through recommendations. Some individuals stay for a few projects, while others have begun this way and been with us for years.

What should you think about when starting a collective?

No matter how basic, it’s good to start with some key guidelines to make sure people are aware of commitments and flexibility etc. This is where the importance of communication comes into play. Think about what the reason behind getting started is – what’s the nature of the collaboration? Is it about developing skills, creating a community, all of the above or something else?

MEMBER CASE STUDY: Percy Dean “I kind of muddled my way into Soup. I’ve been a photographer for over 20 years, and when DSLRs began offering video I started shooting. I’m now a cinematographer and photographer offering a full service for clients who need video and stills. Despite working in groups when filming, the members of the production team often spend a lot of time working alone. Being a member of a collective helps to keep you on the ball because you maintain human interaction with a group of like-minded people. You can bounce ideas off each other and simply talk about the things that interest you, such as storytelling or the films you’ve seen.”

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GEAR SONY PXW-FS5

TESTED

SONY PXW-FS5 Designed to bring a smaller, handheld form factor to Sony’s line-up of digital cinema cameras, the PXW-FS5 incorporates professional features that differentiate it from consumer and CSC models WORDS REBECCA MACHIN

A

s a filmmaker I find myself working on documentary and corporate productions, usually in small crews of two to three people but sometimes on my own. When I choose a camera for a shoot I look for portability and ergonomics alongside a great spec, and when I’m shooting on a tiny budget affordability counts for a lot. At less than half the weight of the FS7 and costing a fraction of what you might pay for a Canon C300 Mark II, on paper the Sony FS5 sounds like an exciting option for run-and-gun shooters like myself.

At the time of its launch the FS5 was not without its issues.

Initially, not only could it not shoot DCI 4K, but it was also impossible to display its output on a monitor at the same time as you were shooting. Fortunately this was resolved at NAB 2016 when Sony announced a new (paid) firmware update, enabling the camera to provide DCI 4K (4096x2160) 60p/50p Raw to a compatible external recorder. The FS5 now has the potential to be a first-choice A camera and not necessarily just a B camera to its older sibling, the FS7.

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Handling Picking the FS5 up out of the box I was struck by how light it was: just 830g/1.83lbs, substantially less than the run-and-gun shooter’s stalwart, the Canon EOS 5D Mark III. Adding the removable 8.9cm/3.5in LCD viewfinder and smart grip adds little to the overall weight, but it still feels sturdy. You should be able to just pick up this camera and go – and keep on going – for a full day’s handheld shoot.

Unfortunately, unlike the FS7, the FS5 does not sit well on the shoulder and really requires a shoulder rig for comfort. This was something I didn’t happen to have, but the camera and Sony’s 18-105mm f/4 lens were still light enough for me to hand hold the set-up in a range of positions without developing arm tremors.

The smart grip’s position is easily adjustable while holding the camera, enabling the user to move from an overhead position to filming at floor level without the need to put everything down and fiddle around. The grip feels nice in the hand, although the record button is not quite in the right spot for me, resting under the thumb rather than the

PRO MOVIEMAKER SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016

SONY PXW-FS5

“I was stuck by how light it was: just 830g/ 1.83lbs, substantially less than the runand-gun shooter’s stalwart”

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