In this tutorial, we learn how to break an arm in half & blow up a head in film. To do this, you will need: a tripod, after effects, and actors. First, you need to record a shot with the background and the person whose head you want to blow up. After this, put the clean plate ...more
In this video tutorial, viewers learn how to build a green screen. The materials required for this project are: two 10 ft long PVC pipes, measuring tape, saw, duct tape and pipe elbows and couplings. Begin by marking the two PVC pipes with 6 ft on one side and 4ft on the other ...more
This incredible brick film titled "Trinity Help" is a frame-accurate stop-frame animation of the famous bullet-dodge scene from The Matrix. Creators Trevor Boyd and Steve Ilett: "By 'frame accurate' we mean that we took all of the video frames from that part of the movie (th ...more
In this video tutorial, viewers learn how to make a slow motion video on a camcorder in Sony Vegas. In a film camera, this is called "overcranking". On your camcorder, set your rec format to PH 720.60 P. Then open your clip in Sony Vegas and set up a time line. Then make a reg ...more
In this video, Bailey from Bobtot productions demonstrates how to take screen shots of your computer screen. First of all, type in 'jingproject.com' in your browser. Download the file for Windows or Mac and save the file. An icon 'jing' appears on your desktop. Clicking on thi ...more
When shooting a movie, a director creates a storyboard. A comic book artist must do the same thing for drawing a comic book. Thumbnails are small blocks that represent the pages in a comic book. There is no finished work, but sketches. When following the script, the artist nee ...more
For various reasons — ranging from lens type to the frame rate to the storage medium —, footage shot with a camcorder doesn't really look anything like what one would see in a Hollywood film. However, with a little bit of work and a touch of post-production, you can make your ...more
Forgot to take a few production stills on set? No problem, work with what you have... the actual video footage. See how to get photos from video with iMovie or Final Cut Pro 6. It's a very simple process to make video stills into JPEGs or PNGs or whatever picture file you wan ...more
Adam from Chemical Reaction wants to show you a little movie magic. This video tutorial will show you how to create, shoot and edit a time freeze effect for your homemade film. Stopping time is no joke, but doing it with a little camera skills and a little editing skills makes ...more
This tutorial shows you how to download, install and use the free program Stop Motion Animator. See how to set up and configure your animation settings, how to set the proper compression and then use the camera on your computer to shoot the frames for a stop motion animation. ...more
This instructional photography video shows how to setup large white infinity backgrounds in the photo studio. The key components to this setup is include this six foot octobox softbox light, which requires quite a bit of power; a framed aluminum reflector; the background itsel ...more
The camera shake method of filming is used in many popular TV shows including 'The Office,' 'Glee,' and 'Modern Family.' Typically the camera shake - or a wobbly, unstable frame - contributes a sense of urgency, unease, and interest to a shot, making it more dynamic and unpred ...more
All of us know by now that the pictures you see of actresses and models in magazines have been doctored beyond belief. After the initial photo shoot, retouchers quickly work their magic with thigh chub resizing (only in Photoshop do women not have cellulite), wrinkle reducing, ...more
The manual that's included with the Canon EOS 5D Mark II is a great starting point for learning the camera, but it's definitely not the only place you should be getting your information from if you intend to master your 5D Mark II. If you don't have the manual, you can downloa ...more
If you're always taking blurry and underexposed pics with your mobile device, try using some of the tips below to turn your phone into a valuable photography asset. It doesn't matter if you have an iPhone, Android smartphone, or even a first-gen camera phone... you can still t ...more
Setting up shadows takes just as much time and attention as setting up lights. You can think of all of your illumination as one half of your lighting design, and shadows as the other, equally important half. Shadows can add richness to the tones and shading of your image, tie ...more
Cinemagraphs are those incredible video-photo-mashups that isolate movement in a moving frame. Don't know what I'm talking about? Then check out these fantastic examples on If We Don't Remember Me. Creating these 'living movie stills' can be a time consuming process, as this ...more
Today I'll be detailing how to use the two YouTube Video Editors to enhance the quality of your work, as well as going over a simple workaround to save time uploading the variety of clips you'll need to assemble a more complicated piece of filmmaking. While the tools YouTube ...more
Although there are many great camera apps with filters for the iPhone, Android users should not feel left out. Apps such as Vignette and Retro Camera offer an exciting array of filters to complement any photograph. I've tested out different filters from both apps, and uploaded ...more
If you're the proud owner of a Canon EOS DSLR, then you'll be glad to know that you no longer have to use EOS Utility on your computer to enable remote live view shooting with your camera. Now, all you need is your Android equipped smartphone (sorry iPhone users) and a new mob ...more
Science is most marvelous when it's creating an explosion, even at the tiniest of proportions. In the video below, Daniel Rosenberg from Harvard's Natural Science Lecture Demonstration Services reveals the secret to shooting a cork rocket over twenty meters using a little chem ...more
Flying orbs. At first, you might think of the Tall Man and his army of flying sentinel spheres, equipped with zombie brains and a mini-arsenal of saw blades, drill bits and shooting lasers. But these flying orbs weren't conceived from the evil mind of a superhuman mortician—th ...more
Windows 7 has a new feature called Device Stage. It's a powerful and handy hub for all of your electronic gadgets that connect to your PC. It's device management for the power user! Microsoft shows you the layout real quick, so watch and learn. In Windows 7, working with prin ...more
Ever heard of Nürburgring? If you're an auto racing enthusiast, you likely have. According to Wikipedia, the racetrack was nicknamed "The Green Hell" by Jackie Stewart (famed Scottish racing driver) and is known as "the toughest, most dangerous and most demanding purpose-built ...more
So you're collecting stuff and crafting stuff, but what's it all for? You could wait and find out when you get there, or check out some screen shots of what's inside each building. Covered wagon Cabin You need 3 of each building material to complete the cabin. You need 5 c ...more
I watched Michael Mann's "Public Enemies" (DP: Dante Spinotti) last night for the first time and was struck by a very unconventional, yet effective (I think), cut. In the opening sequence (video below), Dillinger is driven up to the entrance of a prison and escorted out of the ...more
How do you top a movie like Avatar? James Cameron's recent release pioneered in 3D technology, and was the first film to gross more than $2 billion, as well as being the highest grossing 3D movie of all time. What do you do after wrapping up a project like that? Well, Cameron' ...more
In this Software video tutorial you are going to learn how to shoot a bow in Pivot. Open Pivot and select a stick. You can adjust the size of the working space. Adjust the position of the stick in to an arrow shooting position. Then put a bow in his hand and move up the arm to ...more
This video shows you how to properly focus your video camera. Usually cameras have two focusing modes, manual and automatic. Despite the sophistication of modern cameras and their auto focusing modes, manual focusing still gives the person operating the camera the most control ...more
Looking to get your family together somehow? Why not a family portrait? It's both a great keepsake and as an excuse to get everyone together. In this video, learn how to snap a great family portrait. You Will Need: • A large group of family members • A camera • A tripod • ...more
Ever wanted to have your own window into the infinite? By using this tutorial by Shooting Eggs, you can create an infinity mirror that will show rows of colored lights that seem to recede into the distance forever. It's a trippy illusion you can create with simple and inexpens ...more
Time-lapse photography used to require expensive and dedicated equipment, but in today's futuristic world, we now have easy access to universal machines like the iPhone, which are pretty much tricorders. Reel Moments is a time-lapse app for the iPhone from Nexvio. It’s a ‘pic ...more
Download the P2 Step-by-Step Reference Guide. With Avid, editing footage captured with the Panasonic HVX200 camera is fast and easy. Avids system uses the same native file format as Panasonic P2 memory cards, so theres no need for any transcode, capture or file conversion pro ...more
Apple is famous for their easy to use consumer software such as Garage Band and iMovie. However, I've found their apps a little hard to use. Why? Because their suite of software, mainly the consumer apps I've mentioned, errs on the side of ease of use. Isn't that a contradict ...more
How do you review an app that refuses to work for you? I was quite excited this week to review iCinegraph, an iPhone App that simplifies the creation of cinemagraphs. However, if this was a car review it'd be the kind of review where the car under consideration is never able t ...more
The debate over whether video games can be considered art or not has intensified in recent years as games like Braid and Flow have taken the digital aesthetic experience to new heights. These new games are great examples, but there are much older ones that present compelling a ...more
Here at WonderHowTo, we appreciate the fine art of photography (including its extensively vast bag of mind boggling tricks). We also enjoy playing with fire. Sorry, most of us are little boys at heart, and we can't get enough tutorials that fall within the playing-with-matches ...more
If you've ever been inside of a real laboratory, you probably noticed how expensive the equipment is. You'd never be able to afford even just one of those ultra high-tech machines required to splice genes or split atoms. Even the lesser machines can be prohibitively costly, in ...more
Giveaway Tuesdays has officially ended! But don't sweat it, WonderHowTo has another World that's taken its place. Every Tuesday, Phone Snap! invites you to show off your cell phone photography skills. Submit your best shot to our weekly competition for a chance to win an awes ...more
If you're between the ages of 20 and 40, then video arcades probably hold a special place in your heart. Whether you all but lived in one (me), wished you could, or detested those with a liking for them, there's no denying that arcades were a ubiquitous part of American cultur ...more
Since its release three years ago, Canon's EOS 5D Mark II has been the most sought out digital SLR for photographers everywhere. But it's also becoming a favorite amongst cinematographers, thanks to its compact size and high-def video recording mode, seeing action in everythin ...more
Difficulty Level: Moderate Photoshop Skills Photoshop isn't just for zapping zits and adding freaky colors to sunset pictures! You can use it for fun, altered-reality pictures, too. If you have a tripod and some friends, you can combine many exposures as separate layers and u ...more
This is a continuation of a previous post about getting "unfocused" with your DSLR. We all work hard to get pictures that are sharp and have perfect focus. Maybe we’re missing the forest for the trees. Think about mood, color, ideas—in other words, not your gear. There are l ...more
If you're a lucky owner of the iPhone 4, you know that the upgrade to its camera app includes a front-facing camera feature which acts like a video cam on your computer. Apple, of course, intends the front-facing feature to be mainly used for the FaceTime application which ena ...more
Animation Training: In terms of training, few actually get the "right" training. They go to a crash course program like Mesmer f/x (which teaches you about brand X software in 3 short weeks), put together a rather weak demo reel in the same timeframe, and then hit the streets ...more
Hey editor Mike here from thesubstream and I would like to welcome our newest contributor to the site, our tweens 'n' teens cinema specialist, my little sister Amanda. We're going to make her go watch all the movies that we don't want to see ourselves and then make her tell us ...more
Update: New Trailer (7/9/10) In July of 2008, Fawaz Al-Matrouk, director of "To Rest In Peace", brought me on to shoot his USC graduate thesis film. Two years, 3 cameras, and over 15,000 miles later, the film is in its last week of post, having completed our final color correc ...more
I’m terrified of you. Yes, you- Director of Photography (DP). Your framing is beautiful, but your lighting could kill me, and my career. I am the Makeup Artist, and I don’t believe we’ve met. In most Film schools they’re still teaching using film in this digital age. Same is ...more
Problem: You're a PC gamer who absolutely loves The Elder Scrolls series and were eagerly anticipating the release of the newest game, Skyrim. But as much as you'd like to pick up the new game, money is tight. What do you do? Solution: Mods! The previous game in the Elder Sc ...more
There are seemingly endless photography apps for the iPhone—it is perhaps one of the most popular arenas for application developers. We've covered a few in Giveaway Tuesdays, but nothing comprehensive. We would be remiss to omit the two most popular frontrunners—Hipstamatic ( ...more
Giveaway Tuesdays has officially ended! But don't sweat it, WonderHowTo has another World that's taken its place. Every Tuesday, Phone Snap! invites you to show off your cell phone photography skills. Submit your best shot to our weekly competition for a chance to win an awes ...more
So, you scratched up your $500 Adobe CD and now it's unreadable. You could go buy a new one, but you already purchased it! Searching The Pirate Bay and downloading some Adobe software can usually be easy enough, but what should you watch out for? And what about your movies? W ...more
WonderHowTo is made up of niche communities called Worlds. If you've yet to join one (or create your own), get a taste below of what's going on in the community. Check in every Wednesday for a roundup of new activities and projects. Thanks to all of our active moderators and ...more
Wouldn't it be nice to just sit at your buddy's house, plug into his network, and see exactly what he's doing? What if it was as easy as that? What makes packet sniffers like Wireshark such potent tools is that a majority of local area networks (LANs) are based on the shared E ...more
Have each of the guys do an enema, each in a different color. Then have them all shoot it out onto canvases, frame it and you have the first ever enema art fair.
This software tutorial shows how to make stop animation movies with Windows Movie Maker and a digital camera. Learn how to shoot the frames of motion with your camera, import them into Windows Movie Maker and turn them into a stop motion animated movie.
While photography usually gets all the love, our phones have gotten really good at capturing video. Think about it — when was the last time you needed a camcorder for a vacation? With mobile cameras getting better each year, we're now at a point where smartphones can be used f ...more
OnePlus always seems to offer affordable yet powerful tools for videographers of all kinds. The camera hardware itself is crucial, but what's hardware without good software to highlight its real potential? It doesn't matter which version of the smartphone you have, they're all ...more
Stories are everywhere in social media today, but that wasn't always the case. In 2013, Snapchat introduced the world to these temporary windows into our daily lives. Since then, stories have infiltrated other popular apps. However, to stand out, you can't solely rely on the a ...more
If you shoot videos with your iPhone in low-light situations, you may not always get the results you want. And that applies when recording video in 720p, 1080p, and even 4K resolutions. But there's an easy way to maximize your video's quality when filming in dark environments. ...more