American Cinematographer - November 2021 - 60

Tech Focus Compiled by Phil Rhodes
Software for Cinematographers
Software and apps that help streamline and enhance the filmmaking workflow
have become essential items in the cinematographer's toolkit. In this
special section, director of photography Christopher Probst, ASC details a
few of his favorite options for prep, production and post.
" All of the applications and services profiled here aid in facilitating communication,
simplifying on-set tasks, and increasing the nuance and influence
the cinematographer has on the image-making process - and many
of them do it in the palm of your hand, " Probst says. " It's certainly worth
exploring these and the myriad other tools available for your cellphone,
tablet or computer. "
ShotDeck offers thousands of screengrabs
for users to analyze.
Prep
ShotDeck
Lookbooks are important tools for filmmakers
to communicate with each other about images
for a given project. ShotDeck, a website created
by ASC member Lawrence Sher, has a curated
database of thousands of screen-grab stills
from moving-image productions, which are
Helios Pro | SkyView Lite | Sun Surveyor Lite
Predicting the position of the sun has always
been crucial for any daytime shot. Probst notes
that free apps such as SkyView Lite and Sun
Surveyor Lite offer sun location and mapping
paths, but for extended options, he prefers
Helios Pro (pictured at right), created by cinematographer
Nic Sadler of Chemical Wedding.
Probst: " There are new augmented-reality /
light-simulation features that allow the app to
extensively metadata-tagged with keywords for
such categories as type of shot, location description,
theme, mood, color scheme, and even
the types of equipment used.
Probst: " You can search for certain tags, and
it'll bring up hundreds of high-quality images
from some of the most cinematic movies to use
as references. You can then select the frames
that best fit your project and start building a
'deck,' which can then be sent to other members
of your team. It's a remarkably powerful,
time-saving tool. "
render an environment to simulate exactly how
the sun will illuminate it and where the shadows
will fall at any time of the day and on any date
in the future. For example, in urban settings, it
utilizes OpenStreetMap building data to render
a 3D reconstruction of the city - while out in
nature, the app creates a dynamic 3D mesh of
the terrain. "
Shot Lister
Creating a shot list is essential for many filmmakers.
But when scene breakdowns stretch
the abilities of a conventional spreadsheet, Shot
Lister can help, as it is designed to handle a wide
range of organizational tasks.
Probst: " Shot Lister allows you to create
and organize your desired shots and plot them
to a time-of-day schedule. You can easily edit
your shot list as things inevitably change during
the production - and as you check off your
60 / NOVEMBER 2021
progress, it even tracks your schedule, indicating
if you are ahead (in green) or, more than likely,
behind (in dreaded red). "
American Cinematographer - November 2021

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