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Film Theory

Filmmaker Buster Keaton in black and white

Buster Keaton – Silence is Golden

On the anniversary of his death, Chris Haigh pays homage to Buster Keaton, the greatest clown of all whose inspiration lives on in the modern movie world.
The Deer Hunter film is the real Tropic Thunder movie
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The Deer Hunter – The Real Tropic Thunder

Think you've heard of crazy things happening on movie sets? Think again. Here's a story of near death experiences, deadly snakes, a military coup and half the star-studded cast narrowly avoiding being washed into the South China Sea!
Screenwriter typing on laptop
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Best Online Resources for Screenwriters 2019

Good screenwriting doesn’t come easy. If you think it does, you’re probably not reading enough. It demands an understanding of universal truths and possessing a well-anchored self-awareness. This translates to numerous drafts, collaborations, and a proven toolkit of resources. Ultimately, it’s…
Mixing Dialog and Music with Fairlight
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Mixing Dialogue and Music with Fairlight

What's that, you want to have voices and music at the same time? Mixing voices and music is a big problem that many editors have to face. Ross Papitto, my wonderguy on sound editing is here to not only solve that problem in DaVinci, but also to save your editorial lives!
Torrential raining with car and silhouette of man under bridge
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Budget Lighting for Passion Projects

This month’s podcast focuses on your budget lighting questions. Specifically, I cover these topics: How-to lighting set-ups for Inner Circle member’s projects Advice for lighting on a micro-budget Tips on recreating looks in camera and in post How to light for an iPhone shoot The…
Sand falling through fingers
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TV Script – How to Write Like a PRO!

TV and online ads are becoming longer, more artistic feats. That said, many new writers make the mistake of handing in script formatted drafts to clients instead of TV formatted scripts. It’s actually an easy fix just by knowing the correct template to work with.
Creating cinematic depth in filmmaking
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Smoke & Haze – Creating Cinematic Depth

One of my most favorite ways of not only creating depth, but diffusion with smoke & haze. In this series I’m going to focus on what creates depth in an image, how to get it, and why it's so important.
Ryan Gosling Neon lights
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Film Productions – Tips and Tricks

Creating a healthy DP-Director relationship is a key element to having a smooth production. This podcast will show the must-knows behind establishing a productive shoot.
Embarking on a Journey with Faelan Maley

Galapagos – Embarking on a Journey

Fáelán, is a cinematographer on a mission, and she’s going to take us through her most recent expedition; filming in the rainforest.
Digital lofi gif
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Resolution is Not Sharpness! Which Is More Important?

One of the comments I hear all too often is, “4K is too sharp, it’s too much resolution.” Well, here’s the thing… resolution and sharpness are not a 1:1. Instead of thinking of higher resolution images as “sharper,” try thinking of them as smoother.
Breaking down screenplay
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Emotional Arc: Breaking Down Your Screenplay

Breaking down a script and creating something tangible for an audience isn’t an easy task. It takes time, it takes meditation, and it takes pre-visualization. Don’t rush this process and enjoy it. You have a blanket canvas… now paint it.
Boy stretches the screen open - aspect ratio
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Aspect Ratio for Your Story

On a feature film, it’s important to understand how aspect ratio is going to affect your story, creatively and logistically. Your framing comes down to how the story wants to be told.
Altering the color of image

Colors in Filmmaking – What Do YOURS Represent?

How Color Archetypes can affect your work as a filmmaker. Understanding color archetypes takes time, but it’s manageable when applied with common sense.
Behind-the-Scene of Logan film

Depth of Field:Lenses & Emotion in Filmmaking

Properly crafting the cinematography of a movie is a crucial part of the filmmaking process. Let’s talk about a few different styles of film language. There are so many options to choose from when crafting a scene, but it comes down to picking the right ones.
A grid of movie posters
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Harnessing Your Inspiration

Take hold of your inspiration and run with it! If that’s one thing I can share with everyone, it is to not avoid what makes you tick as a filmmaker. That soul and essence will be what carries you to greater levels, not conforming to what everyone else wants in the moment, or looks for you to be. Stay true to your style, your passions, and what you want to get out of this industry.
Filmmakers and cinematographers at workshop

Artist Spotlight – Featured Creators

The team here at Shane’s Inner Circle and Hurlbut Visuals wants to continue to support the careers of our members by providing a new platform for exposure: The “Artist Spotlight” hosted on the front page of The Hurlblog. Our new “Artist Spotlight” is a way for our members to share their own stories of how they’ve applied what they’ve learned in the Inner Circle on a recent project. We want to give members the opportunity to dive into detail with their own article that we’ll host here on the Hurlblog.
IMAX camera on rig outside
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Tips for Mixed Formats in Cinematography

Throughout my career, I have been interested in using and mastering different mediums to enhance the storytelling experience. Since the dawn of cinema, movies have been captured on celluloid. As time progressed, we introduced new acquisition formats and film gauges like 8mm, 16mm, Super 8mm, 65mm, video tape, and digital video capture. Each new format registers a certain mood/feel due to past experiences with the medium or how it’s been utilized in the history of the moving image. So, how can you utilize different formats to enhance a story?
Bladerunner android pigeon

Camera Emotion – Creating a Look Part 3: Establishing Time Periods

The look for 2014 in Fathers and Daughters had to feel temporary, lean, crisp, sharp. There would not be any yellow from the Tiffen Antique Suede filtration. The camera emotion has to speak for each character. Taking an actor’s performance even higher is dependent on the camera and how it makes the audience feel. We cannot leave that to only the look of the film itself. We turned to the MoVI for that camera emotion and it worked beautifully in this film.
Camera operator with long lens
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Focal Length: Go Long or Go Wide

One question I get asked a lot is how to choose the right focal length. Do I go long in a certain situation or do I go wide? How do you know what to choose? There are different times to employ various focal lengths - knowing when to employ each is part of the craft that is cinematography. Here’s my secret sauce for choosing whether to go long or wide in a scene.
Aaron Paul and Amanda Seyfried in bath tub
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Black Glimmer – Creating a Look Part 2: Fathers and Daughters

I wanted to nail the look of Fathers and Daughters in-camera. To do that I turned to Tiffen filtration. The 1989 is Katie’s perspective from when she was 10 years old. This look had to be warm, inviting, colorful, with flares and glowing highlights. The Tiffen Antique #2 gave us this yellow, slightly aged quality to it all. The highlights were perfectly bloomed with the Glimmer Glass #1. These filters were magical and got us right where we want to be, all in-camera.

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