Kyle's Super Swag Film Blog

While some people may not realize it, most films have their plot broken up into three parts using the Three Act Structure. At first, you may think that the term "three act structure" is a fancy way of describing the beginning, middle, and end of a film, it actually goes more in-depth than it seems. Each of the three acts has it's own themes and ideas that are best showcased during this point in the film. In order to best explain each act and it's purpose, I will go through them one by one. Act 1 The first act in a film is primarily used to establish the world of the film. This includes describing the characters of the film, their goals and aspirations, their traits and the setting of the film. The first act also commonly includes or foreshadows the beginning of the plot and what is to follow in the other two acts. While all three acts within the three act structure are extremely important to the film at large, the first act might be the most important. If the first ac

Over the past couple of weeks I have worked through the production phase for my next film. Throughout this time I have managed to complete a majority of what I needed to do to produce the film. With schedules being difficult to arrange properly and the world being a different place, there were some hurdles that I ran into while working. The following is a summary of my production process. Casting When I decided on the concept of this film, I wanted to keep the cast very small. It was my goal to only have two characters as to not over-complicate things, however, I was flexible with adding another character should they be needed to make a scene work better. At first I had two people offer to lend their help as actors for the film. Due to problems with getting both people to be available to shoot, I had needed to ask two other people for their help. Luckily, I did find actors who's schedules worked and allowed me to film with them. Shooting Originally, I had anticipated needing the he

If you were to look into purchasing a high quality digital video camera, one term that you might hear in your research is the term "RAW Video". With the advancement of digital cinema cameras, the way we record and edit footage has also advanced. One of these major developments would be the ability to record RAW video. What Is RAW Recording? Recording RAW video allows the camera to directly record the data captured from it's sensor without any being compressed into a particular format. Normally, when you record a clip on your camera, the footage is recorded strictly with the white balance, ISO, and other settings you chose prior to hitting record. By recording in RAW, you are then available to change settings like your white balance and ISO during the editing process. Different cameras record in their own versions of RAW. For example, Red Digital Cinema's cameras record in their own REDCODE RAW format which can only be filmed using Red's cameras and edited with sof

Previously, I have investigated different tools you can use to stabilize your camera, which can be found  here . Since writing that blog post, I have had plenty of time to test using both my tripod and my Steadicam. While each of them is useful in certain scenarios, sometimes it is difficult to bring both pieces of gear with you for some shoots. For this reason, I have decided to compare the strengths of each to determine which is better for all-around shooting scenarios. Strengths Of A Tripod Using a tripod allows you to get the very smooth and stable shots with minimal effort. From my experience using my tripod, it has been most useful when I have been in front of the camera and unable to closely monitor how the shot looks. With the tripod being able to sit completely still without requiring someone to be near, it can completely replace a camera operator in some scenarios. Tripods also take the edge in smooth tilts and pans. While it is definitely possible to get stable pans and tilt

Over the past few years, podcasts have grown to become one of the most popular forms on media on the internet. With the simplistic idea of people just talking, podcasts are easy to be enjoyed by anyone. While podcasts typically rely on just audio, some podcasts incorporate video to aid with it's presentation. As someone who is interested in film and video I decided to look more into video podcasts and what goes into making them. Popular Video Podcasts Out of all the video podcasts that I have seen, the most popular would have to be The Joe Rogan Experience . The Joe Rogan Experience  hosted by Joe Rogan is the perfect example of a standard video podcast. Each episode involves Rogan simply talking with his guest about whatever they feel like for a couple of hours uncut. The video element of The Joe Rogan Experience  does not add nor subtract from the podcast overall as it only shows the raw footage of Rogan and his guest speaking. The appeal of The Joe Rogan Experience  primarily li

Friday October 30th marked the release of the second season of the hit show The Mandalorian . While there are many things that contribute to how great of a show it is, the one aspect that has peaked my interest the most would have to be it's use of virtual sets. Virtual sets created in real time using the Unreal Engine makes the world of Star Wars  come alive on-screen at home and for the actors during filming. While the technology that creates virtual sets is amazing and will likely change the way that all films and shows are made, it is definitely something that smaller productions and individuals won't be able to make use of. Instead, the tool available to all film makers that I will be discussing today is Rear Projection. Why Use Rear Projection Rear Projection allows for a cheap and easy way to transform the background of your scenes. The concept of rear projection involves the projection of a pre-recorded video behind your actor. This allows for the actor to act within th