Hollywood Dreams and Your Smartphone Camera with FilmConvert and Filmic Pro

2021-05-11

The partnership between FilmConvert and Filmic Pro is bridging the mobile smartphone filmmaking with traditional filmmaking communities. FilmConvert has been creating software for film grain and color grading for about ten years. They’ve been keeping an eye on the mobile filmmaking community’s growth and have partnered with the app used by Hollywood filmmakers like Steven Soderbergh to shoot their films with iPhones. Episode 98 of the SBP Podcast Mobile Filmmaking is a discussion with FilmC...

The partnership between FilmConvert and Filmic Pro is bridging the mobile smartphone filmmaking with traditional filmmaking communities.

FilmConvert has been creating software for film grain and color grading for about ten years. They’ve been keeping an eye on the mobile filmmaking community’s growth and have partnered with the app used by Hollywood filmmakers like Steven Soderbergh to shoot their films with iPhones.

Episode 98 of the SBP Podcast Mobile Filmmaking is a discussion with FilmConvert’s John Parker and Filmic Pro’s Eliot Fitzroy explaining this partnership and how it benefits iPhone filmmakers.

FilmConvert has been working with Filmic Pro since 2017 to create supportive profiles with its software. They have brought compatibility between FilmConvert’s software and Filmic Pro’s App. Filmic Pro is available for both IOS and Android.

Most recently they have worked together to create a tool, Cinematch, that brings the look and feel of professional Hollywood cameras to the iPhone 12. John explains how it handles footage shot with the iPhone and it produces the color and tone of the Hollywood high end cameras when coupled with the FilmicPro app.

According to the Cinematch website, “Using dedicated camera packs, CineMatch converts your footage from one Log picture style to another. Mix and match between SLog2/3, CLog, BRaw, V-Log/L, RED IPP2 and more, and apply the correct REC.709 transform with a single click.”

One of the drawbacks to mobile filmmaking, according to some filmmakers, has been the dynamic range limitations of smartphone cameras. However, the process of using FilmicPro with the iPhone 12 and Cinematch’s Nitrate is an exciting game-changer for filmmakers.

According to FilmConvert’s John Parker, it will “…Give your films higher production quality. It’ll look like a million dollars.”

Cinematch can also do something powerful for documentary producers. A producer can send a camera person to capture footage with an iPhone, bring it into the production timeline, and it will create a seamless process that will match the look and feel of the other camera. Essentially, you won’t notice it was shot with a smartphone.

Using Filmic Pro Log V2 and V3 features can help match the quality of your film using the iPhone 6s through the iPhone 12.

“Shooting log is one way to do that because you have a much more neutral starting point to build your finished look,” says Eliot Fitzroy.

John Parker shares the work and details involved in creating different color profiles at the FilmConvert Lab. It’s a process which involves gathering data using different cameras as they record test footage under different conditions.

I asked Eliot and John a bit about their experience in filmmaking and what brought them to where they are today.

Eliot mentioned his love for narrative films and the horror film genre, which he eventually would like to find time to make new films.

John shared his past within a local TV station in New Zealand putting together some local news stories and also lived in New York for some time, where he worked on some documentaries which ended up at the Tribeca Festival. Though his experience has been mostly in editing and post production, he’s also done some screenwriting.

We get to discuss our thoughts on the current state of mobile filmmaking and how Apple has helped realize creativity opportunities for content creators from writers and musicians to filmmakers.

This episodes includes a mention of the winners of the 2021 International Mobile Film Festival in San Diego and Best Feature Film Awardee Jennifer Zhang who shot and fully edited her feature length film using only her iPhone.

Watch the video we referred to in the podcast, shot and voiced by Eliot Fitzroy: https://youtu.be/gJcpmAXIMx8

The process with before and after comparisons by FilmConvert: https://www.filmconvert.com/blog/matching-an-iphone-to-an-arri/

Listen to more about FilmConvert from our interview with John Parker in 2018 Episode 38: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/smartphone-filmmaking-post-production-color-grading/id1296673665?i=1000419187935

Cinematch Website: https://www.cinematch.com

FilmConvert Website: https://www.filmconvert.com

Filmic Pro Website: https://www.filmicpro.com

Follow FilmConvert:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/filmconvert

 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FilmConvert

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/filmconvert/

Filmic Pro on Social Media:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/FiLMiCPro

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/filmicapps/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FilmicPro

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