News & Events

Advanced Lighting for Self Shooters Workshop

British DP and FS100 camera master on the Revenge of The Great Camera Shootout 2012 Den Lennie will be holding a small group hands on filmmaking class at here at Zacuto on June 6-7. Den will be sharing techniques on how to master small footprint location lighting and demonstrating how to take footage and take your footage shot on multiple formats into a grade with DaVinci resolve Lite.

“Using DaVinci Resolve can seem intimidating at first but as a self shooting DP often working on corporate films, learning to use this powerful software has transformed my shooting and business,” says Den Lennie.

Learn more on Lighting workshop

Gear & Tools

Is it the End for the Visual Effects (VFX) Industry? Why Hollywood Could Look Different

Written by: Glenn Eck

The visual effects industry has arguably become one of the most important components in the financial successes of the biggest films over the past 20 years. Looking at the top 10 grossing films of all time (Avatar, Titanic, and The Avengers sit at the peak), the greatest similarity connecting them is their heavy use of spectacle and special effects. Those effects come at a high cost.

Learn more on VFX

In the News

Zacuto Joins The Art of Storytelling Tour

From June 3rd to August 4th 2013, Monte Zucker Photographic Education will be producing The Art of Storytelling Tour, a 31 city educational tour that will help to enhance your film work. The Art of Storytelling Tour calls to the professional and amateur filmmaker and promises to deliver an overview of the artistic elements and core principles of cinematography. The tour will include Instructor Alex Buono, Oscar nominee and Director of Photography of Saturday Night Live to train the attendees.

If you are a DSLR and/or Cine-style camera user—these workshops are for you! They will include advanced techniques for lighting, lens selection, blocking, camera movement, audio, workflow, camera settings, visual structure, and more.

Check out the Art of Storytelling Tour

Tips & Tricks

How To Bring a Cinematic look to a Small Budget Commercial, part 4

Written by: Ryan Walters

Part 4: Story-boarding On A Small Budget

Welcome to part 04 of this ten part series on how to bring a cinematic look to a small budget commercial. In this series I am sharing with you the behind the scenes process of how we at Bleeding Thorn Films make a project happen – warts and all from script to screen. In Part 03, I covered how to location scout. In Part 4 I am covering story-boarding.

Check out Part 4

Z-Kudos Award Winners

Louis Sutherland & Mark Albiston ~ Z-KUDOS Award

Written by: Shirley Baugher

What do you do when you’re eight years old, a runt, with no friends, and are constantly being bullied by the big boys on the playground? What do you do when you have hair that sticks out in every direction, protruding teeth, and you are hopelessly in love with the prettiest girl in class? What do you do when you live your young life creating comic book art and writing stories that no one appreciates? What do you do when even your teacher is out to get you and makes your life miserable in class?

In, The Six Million Dollar Man, directed by Kiwi A-Team boys Mark Albiston and Louis Sutherland, their goal was to create an alternate life where looks don’t matter and bullies don’t exist. Andy, a young New Zealand boy in the The Six Dollar Fifty Man, packed his art and stories in his nerdy brown satchel and imagined himself a super hero able to leap tall buildings in a single bound and rescue lost treasure.

Discover Z-KUDOS Award Winners