Filmmaking

Filmmaking is entering a new era, powered by the technology that's made video games some of the most compelling entertainment in recent history. It's not green-screen CGI as we know it, either – it's the creation of whole digitally projected sets.

Phone makers continue to cram better lenses and more cameras into their phones, and now app developers are catching up: a new app called DoubleTake from Filmic lets you record from multiple cameras at once on the latest iPhone handsets.

With their built-in HD cameras and nice big LCD screens, tablets are tempting to use in professional video production. Their format is still a little cumbersome, though, which is where the iOgrapher Pro is designed to come in.

From long-awaited adaptions of classic sci-fi novels, to blockbuster original stories from some of our most creative modern visionaries, here are our picks for the most anticipated science fiction film and TV hitting screens in 2020.

Although camera drones can already automatically circle or follow a subject, they don't know what sort of shots actually "look good" artistically. That could be about to change, as a new system turns drones into self-directed aerial cinematographers.

Is high-frame-rate cinema a technological cul-de-sac, or is it a bracingly new visual aesthetic we just need to get used to?

​If you've ever wanted to copy the bullet-time effect made famous in The Matrix, where the camera appears to move around someone as they're frozen in action, then you might like the Wingo Pro. Taking a low-tech approach, it lets you swing your actioncam around your body.

Gudsen Moza has released a couple of new filmmaking tools at NAB 2019, including the interesting Slypod, which is effectively a motorized monopod that you can use as a precisely controlled camera slider. There's also a new AirCross 2 gimbal sized for mirrorless cameras.

Moza's latest DSLR-sized video gimbal is a big step forward from the cheap, lightweight Moza Air we reviewed back in 2017. But while it offers superior performance, and some cool new features and neat touches, it does require a couple of sacrifices from filmmakers.

360-degree VR footage needs to be super high resolution to let you look around a nicely detailed landscape, and now Insta360 has an all-in-one rig, the Titan, that gives 11k/30fps resolution using eight micro 4/3rds sensors and Flowstate stabilization.

​In motion-capture animation, an actor moves through a studio equipped with multiple cameras. A computer tracks markers on their body, building a 3D "skeleton" that is used to create the final animated character. Experimental new drone-based tech, however, may make the process much easier.

​Moza's Mini-Mi is an affordable (US$109) smartphone stabilizing gimbal, letting you shoot cinematic steadicam-style shots. It's got a few tricks up its sleeve too, including wireless phone charging, hyperlapses, "inception mode" and some very cool but not-quite-there motion tracking capabilities.