NEW CAMERA ACCESSORIES DESIGN ON THE MARKET

These are some awesome designs from MariSue Original Designs. Camera lens bags small and large, camera straps with quick release and without, sd card holders and all in matching sets. They look really cool.

CREATE SHAREABLE NETFLIX PLAYLISTS WITH FLIXTAPE

Remember mixtapes? I sure hope you do, otherwise I’m dating myself here. Basically, back in the 80s and 90s, instead of creating playlists, we created mixtapes on audio cassette tapes. Making a great tape was a far more laborious task since you needed to play the media back in real time and time the records and stops by hand. There were also a lot of rules.

Netflix has decided to bring the concept back for the new streaming medium called Flixtape. I can’t help but think that the streaming service is on an 80s kick right now after releasing Stranger Things. Here’s how the service works.

1. Name your Flixtape
   The name of your Flixtape is everything, it’s how we kick off your playlist with a few movies and shows that capture the vibe you want. Type in the feeling you’re trying to capture, a nod to the genre you love to geek out on or a message to the person receiving it.
2. Edit your playlist
   Mix it up. The editor allows you to replace and remove any of the 3 titles Flixtape has suggested for you. You can also search for and add up to 6 total titles to your playlist.
3. Customize your cover
   Your Flixtape is meant to be personal. Each one has a customizable cover with doodles that match just about any theme. Feel free to personalize it even more by adding the name of a friend, loved one, or whoever else is lucky enough to get your awesome Flixtape.
4. Share it
   Launch your Flixtape into the world with Twitter or Facebook. You can also share it with someone special via email or text. Anyone who has the privilege of viewing your Flixtape will see your amazing title, experience your custom cover, peruse your playlist and watch the titles on Netflix (as long as they have an active account).

What I really like about this, is that it solves one of the fundamental problems of a streaming service like Netflix, which is the ability to talk about an episode over the watercooler the next day. While you won’t be able to synchronize it, you will be able to send your friends a tailor-made favorites kind of like, well, a mixtape.

I would still like to see more features included into this if Netflix plans on taking the service seriously. There’s a definite use for user curated playlists, and it could introduce a more social aspect to the streaming service.

Check out Netflix’s video introducing the concept below:

You can head on over to flixtape.netflix.com to get started right now. Leave a comment.

July 19, 2016 By Danny Santos

WHY WOODY ALLEN SHOT HIS NEW FILM 'Café Society’ ON DIGITAL

There is no greater fight in modern cinematography than the film vs. digital as a medium. You have proponents and detractors on both sides, with (generally) new blood preferring digital (with some exceptions), and the old guard defending film.

The latter is where you would expect to find a technically unsavvy director like Woody Allen, who has shot all of his movies on film for decades. Well that perfect run is about to come to a close, as his new film Café Society, which opened the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival, was shot digitally on the Sony F65 and F55.

Collider had a chance to speak with spoke with Allen’s two long-time producers Edward Walson and sister Letty Aronson. According to Aronson, the switch wasn’t made without some concern:

“He’s not a big technical person so he was very concerned about it but then we were lucky enough to get Vittorio Storaro for this film.”

Not only is this Allen’s first time shooting digitally but Apocalypse Now cinematographer Vittorio Storaro’s first time as well. The legendary cinematographer’s willingness to switch mediums is what convinced Allen. Here’s whatAronson revealed:

“Vittorio’s never done digital, either, but he knows that is the future and so Woody was convinced when Vittorio said he’d do it.”

I tend to find digital a bit too crisp and harsh, which I think is where film’s softness really shines through. But I also realize that there are technical limitations to film, plus there aren’t a lot of development labs in existence anymore. Just because film isn’t the first format filmmakers reach for, however, doesn’t mean that you can’t shoot digitally and make it look like film, which is how Storaro and Allen approached the cinematography for Café Society. Producer Walson remarks:

“I think they both painstakingly took measures to make digital look more like film than many other filmmakers out there today who are shooting on digital cameras. I think there was a certain artistic element that was put into it and they’re both very phonetical about light and knowing when to use natural lighting cues or what should use artificial light. I believe they developed a way to create a more film-like quality with the lighting, the time of day, and so forth. They were able to give more of the allusion of film than most digital films out there today.”

In an interview over at Celluloid Junkie during Cannes, technophobe director Woody Allen noticed no difference between shooting on digital or film on set saying:

“There’s a camera, it has to be lit. It’s an identical thing except instead of celluloid you’re working digitally. But everything has to be composed and you go through the exact same motions as if you were shooting with celluloid. If anything, you have a few more options later because you’re working digitally. But if you’re working with a master photographer the effect can be very beautiful as you can see in the movie. There were no compromises. No modifications or anything had to be different because it was digital.”

Café Society will premiere in theaters on July 15, 2016. Here’s the trailer:

July 19, 2016 By Danny Santos

FIRST LOOK: BLADE RUNNER 2 ARTWORK SHOWS 'TOXIS' LOS ANGELES

The first official artwork for Blade Runner 2 has been released, and shows a “toxic” dystopian L.A where the “climate has gone berserk.”

Set several decades after Ridley Scott’s groundbreaking 1982 film, the follow-up is directed by Denis Villeneuve (Sicario, Prisoners).

The bleak artwork, published by EW, show the dark and acid-rain soaked metropolis, which made the first film an icon of the science-fiction genre.

Starring Harrison Ford, who is reprising his role as Rick Deckard, and Ryan Gosling, very little is known about the sequel, which Alien filmmaker Scott is producing.

While the original picture was an adaptation of Philip K Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, the new movie is an “extension of the first film” according to French-Canadian helmer Villeneuve.

Speaking to EW, the director said: “I’ve always been attracted to science-fiction films with strong visual signatures that lead us into unique parallel worlds and the original Blade Runner is by far the best of all time.

“Ridley Scott had the genius to blend science-fiction and film noir to create this unique exploration of human condition. The new Blade Runner is an extension of the first movie a few decades later.”

Blade Runner 2 concept art (image courtesy: EW)

Villeneuve added that the story of Blade Runner 2, written by Hampton Fancher and Michael Green, will take place across the west coast of the U.S., and not just Los Angeles.

He said: “The climate has gone berserk – the ocean, the rain, the snow is all toxic.”

The director worked with legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins, who he teamed with on his last project Sicario, to shoot the highly anticipated sequel.

He spoke highly of the crew, saying: “It’s a great team and spirits are very high. Failure is not an option.”

The rest of the cast includes Sylvia Hoeks, Robin Wright, Ana de Armas, Carla Juri, Mackenzie Davis, Barkhad Abdi and Dave Bautista.

Blade Runner 2 will hit screens on October 5, 2017.

By Mark Hodge

WHICH CAMERAS ARE THIS YEAR'S EMMY NOMINATED SHOWS USING?

When nominations come out, by now you know the drill: One day we talk about who’s in the running for the gold, and the next day we talk about the cameras used to get them there. We’ve done it with Oscar, and now it’s Emmy’s turn.

It’s no secret that film and television are two different animals. And while both have found themselves caught up in the digital revolution, there is a cadre of rebellious film directors who have enough clout to persuade studios to let them continue to shoot on celluloid. That’s very rare in the world of TV, where the digital cinema camera and its smaller cousins (DSLR, etc.), have been a godsend for tighter schedules and lower budgets. So here’s a list of the cameras used in this year’s Emmy nominated series and made for TV movies:

Amazon’s The Man in the High Castle does the same thing. And according to Mr. Robot‘s AMA on Reddit, the series also shoots on the RED EPIC DRAGON. Other series shot on RED include The Night Manager, and although they weren’t nominated, Netflix’s Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Longmire series (this season was gorgeous to watch) are filmed with RED cameras. RED even keeps a rather complete list over at RED.com/Shot-on-red/television.Many series love to shoot on the 6K RED DRAGON platform. David Fincher’s, House of Cards, for instance, has been filmed on RED from the beginning, since Netflix committed to 4K after its freshman season, and have since gone 6K with DRAGON. Are they going to move on to WEAPON? I don’t know. Is there a need?

Last year’s Emmy surprise, Transparent, uses Canon’s C500, with a 4K finish by LightIron.  Portlandia began their series run with the Canon 5D Mk. II, but has since transitioned to the C300.But RED isn’t the only camera platform that serial cinematographers love. ARRI’s variety of ALEXA cameras are very popular with shows like Bates Motel, Gotham and Downton Abbey. The Americans shoot with two ARRI ALEXAs and two ALEXA PLUS cameras. This year’s 2nd highest nomination getter, The People vs. OJ Simpson also filmed with ARRI. And while Netflix just loves its REDs, Orange is the New Black is shot at 1.79-1 using an ARRI ALEXA.

And though many reality-based programs use the Canon Cinema series platform, many simply couldn’t be made without GoPros. The Amazing Race, for instance, uses more GoPros than you can shake a stick at.Then there are the series that take the hybrid approach, where A and B cameras could be a mix of ARRIs and REDs. As I’m certain the color graders just love that, series like Game of Thrones, and Homeland like to take this approach. Although it seems that most use the ARRI ALEXA as their main A camera, with the RED EPIC singing backup with the B cameras.

By James DeRuvo (doddleNEWS)

YOUTUBE'S DILEMMA: Why Online Stars Struggle to Make Good Movies

VidCon 2016

Shutterstock

A movie starring two YouTubers will make its money back in iTunes sales, regardless of its quality. That may sound like a good thing, but it’s not if you’re an online content creator looking to transition into traditional Hollywood projects and shake your reputation as a one-trick pony. Speaking from the sixth VidCon, the annual convention for digital content creators and their fans, creator Jimmy Wong is uncertain about his and others’ crossover prospects.

“It’s really hard to transition YouTube stars into traditional acting roles,” says Wong, who rose to YouTube fame with his viral hit “Ching Chong! Asians in the Library Song” — a timely response to an ugly, racist video rant.

READ MORE: Diversity is Thriving on YouTube and Four More Reasons to Be Excited for VidCon 2016

Wong is a filmmaker at RocketJump, a digital movie studio and YouTube channel that also hosts original content on its website. RocketJump produced the digital series “Video Game High School,” directed by the company’s founder and Wong’s brother, Freddie Wong. The studio is developing a new series, “Dimension 404,” which recently announced appearances by Patton Oswalt, Megan Mullally, and Constance Wu.

Though many stars learn about YouTube series from their kids (like Jon Favreau, who featured Wong’s cooking show in the background of “Chef”), it’s unlikely they lowered their rates just to delight their children; it’s clear RocketJump and other digital studios have big enough budgets to draw at least B-list talent.

But digital studios could stand to hire better writers. In May, Fullscreen released “Electra Woman & Dyna Girl,” a remake of a Sid and Marty Krofft series, toplining two of YouTube’s shining stars, Grace Helbig and Hannah Hart. The script, which follows two small-town superheroes seeking fame in the City of Angels, poked fun at its own derivative plot, but relied too heavily on inside jokes. Helbig and Hart play their best Helbig and Hart, though, which is exactly what their teenaged fans want.

“I don’t know why they even give them character names,” says Wong, adding, “Am I watching this because it’s Hannah and Grace, or because it’s good?”

READ MORE: YouTube Has a Quality Problem and 4 More Takeaways from VidCon 2016

Digital box office numbers are extremely hard to gauge, as the industry is notoriously tight-lipped on the subject. However, insiders say that Helbig and Hart’s first feature, “Camp Takota,” more than made its money back. “I think that taught the wrong lesson,” Wong says. “Which is, you don’t need to worry about the quality of the product as long as you are able to make the purchases back in iTunes sales.”

Conversely, you won’t see any YouTube stars in “High Maintenance,” the most critically acclaimed web series to date, which debuted on Vimeo in 2014 and will come to HBO this fall. HBO also tapped Issa Rae, creator of “Awkward Black Girl,” to develop a comedy series for the network. Rae originally hosted “Awkward Black Girl” on YouTube, but seems to be distancing herself from that audience; she canceled her scheduled VidCon appearances at the last minute this year.

YouTube stars seeking industry respect should take a page out of Rae’s book: do quality work, gain a respectable online following, then get the hell out of dodge. However, if money is the goal (rather than mainstream fame), YouTubers can clean up with book deals, brand partnerships, and iTunes sales. According to Wong, companies routinely fork over $80,000 for a few product placements on a popular YouTube channel.

For now, it seems young content creators must choose between money and prestige. But if they want to cross over into traditional Hollywood projects, they’re going to have step up their game.

written by Jude Dry