Featured Video - Introducing the Scorpion

Featured Filmmaker

Featured Filmmaker ~ Student Film Club: Paper Airplane

Written by: Shirley Baugher

“Kids today!” How often have you heard that expression used—usually by an adult deploring the behavior of young people? Well, Steve Weiss recently used the phrase in an entirely different context. He was marveling at the accomplishments of a group of student filmmakers at a recent meeting of the Illinois International Film Festival. These young people were part of the Student Film Club, an after-school group of high school students from across School District 186 in Springfield, Illinois; and they were showcasing their first feature-length production: Paper Airplane.

Check Out the Student Film Club: Paper Airplane

In the News

Event Cinema Workshops Host Educational Event During WPPI in Las Vegas

Professional HDSLR filmmakers, Joe Simon and Kevin Shahinian, are back with a one day only HDSLR-centric workshop and Zacuto is proud to be a sponsor. The all new cinematography workshop will take place during the WPPI convention in Las Vegas at the Aria Resort and Casino on February 21st 2012. The event is specifically geared toward photographers and cinematographers in the wedding industry looking to take their event filmmaking skills to the next level in all areas.

Event Cinema Workshops Host Educational Event

Writing Series

Your First Draft: The Easiest Hardest Draft You’ll Ever Write ~Jill Remensnyder

Written By Jill Remensnyder

Fade In

Okay, now what? You’ve been thinking nonstop about your story for months and feel like your ready to write the first draft. How do you approach such a huge task? 90-120 pages is daunting compared to 140 character twitter feeds and Facebook posts we’ve become accustomed to. The answer is simple; approach writing your first draft one step at a time.

Check Out Your First Draft, by Jill Remensnyder

What's New

Win a Zacuto Z-Finder at www.viewbug.com

Calling all ornithologists!! Or if you aren’t an ornithologist, but you have a camera and like birds, this contest is for you. ViewBug, one of the first online communities dedicated to photo contests, is giving away a free Z-Finder to whoever submits the best bird photo to the website by May 15th 2012. Color, black and white, raw and edited photos are all acceptable formats.

The Z-Finder is the perfect tool to use when shooting photos or video on a DSLR camera. Because the sunlight and glares make it nearly impossible to see the LCD, the Z-Finder is absolutely essential when shooting outdoors. It attaches to the back of your cameras and blocks all external light, allowing you to view a pristine image without any distractions. The Z-Finder also adds an extra point of contact. With any camera, you want to bring it close to your body for extra stability. Holding the camera out in front of you so that you can focus on the screen makes the camera’s image unstable and shaky.

Win a Zacuto Z-Finder!

Featured Columnist

Documenting Food & Lifestyle in Mexico ~Darryl Thoms

A month ago I was asked by a premium food book publisher to document food and lifestyle in Mexico in full High Definition video. There was an additional constraint – it had to be in a low-impact, low-key way, so my obvious choice was the Canon 5D Mark II with a Zacuto Z-Finder Pro viewfinder.

Filming at historic sites in Mexico requires a lengthy approval process, whereas amateur photography (ie photography without a tripod) – requires no special approvals. Also, the last thing someone from overseas needs in Mexico is to draw attention to themselves on the side of the street.

Read more on Documenting Food & Lifestyle in Mexico