Apps for Film Study and Production

Hello Folks!  As this is my first post to the blog, you'll forgive my casual nature.  I've been playing and experimenting with a wide variety of apps that are affiliated with filmmaking and film analysis with mostly positive results.  I'll discuss each in turn and detail the experience thus far.

Film Study App:  this app has been most useful in close analysis of aesthetics, shot placement, and mise-en-scene elements.  The app affords annotation of each shot, and displays well for use in class with students.  They seem to like the ability to import entire films or film clips and then breakdown shots and scenes individually.  The drawbacks are few, though importing copyrighted content is difficult.  Thus far, I've relied on public domain examples from film history.  This serves the purpose I'm aiming for, though I tend to like to compare more contemporary examples of aesthetic forms and shifts in representation to the classic model and therefore have to shift to dvd or youtube.

Magic Hour App:  this app is interesting if not really complicated.  The basic idea is that the app identifies the next period at dawn or dusk that is commonly referred to as "Magic Hour" by cinematographers.  Magic Hour is the fleeting moments at either end of the day where the light softens, and gains a distinctive expressive feel.  I have played with it a bit and it usefully details the peak times and the start and end point of useful light for a shoot.  But, that's pretty much all it does.

I've added recently an app for Film Producing, which will help manage days, resources, interviews, and scripts, but I'm still experimenting and will withhold comment until I've had a chance to use it a bit more.

There's also a Digital Slate App that will be useful in the field; the main purpose of the app is to help identify the scene to be shot and to organize the content in shot lists and timecode.  I envision moving back and forth between apps in the field and encouraging student interns to help manage the shoot through the iPad.

Anyway, more soon on all of the above!