Here you will find download links, tutorials, blog posts, FAQs and other goodies.
Short 5min setup video covering all the basics to setup and operate the cmotion Cinefade VariND and cPRO.
Iain interviews the Founder of Cinefade, Oliver Janesh Christiansen at Cinec 2018 to talk about the cmotion Cinefade VariND.
When I heard about the Cinefade, I said, "Oh my god, this is a tool that I can actually control exposure with while keeping the iris position where I want it for storytelling purposes", which in my opinion, is really what it's for. The iris position has an enormous effect on how you tell the story because it controls depth of field. I was really excited to use the tool for that reason.
Read MoreLive sport is increasingly turning to cinematic cameras usually seen on a film set to add emotion and drama. But blending those shots with rest of the action is no easy feat.
Read MoreDirector Nano Clow and DP Natasha Duursma challenged themselves to a particularly tricky one-take music video shoot. The idea was to shoot a time lapse with the camera taking an exposure once a second during sunrise. Shooting 16mm film on an ARRI 416 camera, one of the challenges was to maintain a constant exposure during the extreme light change at sunrise.
Read MoreMy relationship with the Cinefade system began a while before I even knew it existed. While prepping director Brandon Cronenberg’s 2020 feature Possessor, we had a crazy idea that we had never seen done before. When the character of Vos (Andrea Riseborough) would jump in and out of possessing someone, the world around her would start blurry in shallow depth of field, then sharpen up in focus, revealing her surroundings. Effectively a depth of field rack in shot while maintaining a single focal plane, without affecting the lighting.
Read MoreOne of the first sports leagues to experiment with full-frame sensor cinema cameras during their live-sports broadcast productions is the Spanish professional football league La Liga and we take a look at how the Cinefade VariND helped to match the two different types of cameras and allowed the operators to quickly transition between a cinematic to a broadcast look.
Read MoreThe Sony FX6 and FX9 take the electronic ND feature one step further with bokeh control, which essentially allows operators to mimic the Cinefade variable depth of field effect. The aim of the bokeh control is to automatically change the built-in electronic variable ND filter to maintain a constant exposure when opening up or closing down the aperture.
Read MoreListen to a short extract of the More Like This podcast from Netflix Queue in which cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt ASC discusses his and David Fincher's thought process behind using the Cinefade as a storytelling tool.
Read More“We used this tool called the cmotion Cinefade. It’s a motorized variable ND filter that you sync to the iris so we could effectively pull depth of field. It’s quite extreme. You could pull five stops of depth of field. So we could go from a T8 to a 2. That thing kind of lived on the camera. There were times where we’d say, “It’s too much. Let’s look at it at a 5.6.” So you set the iris to a 5.6, the VariND compensates and now you’re looking at the same scene but with less depth of field. So, it was nice to be able to use focus and iris as a storytelling tool instead of just an exposure tool.” - Erik Messerschmidt ASC
Read MoreBruno had a revelation when he realised that he is able to also play with the depth of field and change it in shot: Starting the scene with a very deep depth of field and as the scene gets more intense he is able to gradually transition to a shallow depth of field.
Read MoreFocus and depth of field play an incredibly important role in the cinematography of ‘Mank’ and we are excited for you to see how DP Erik Messerschmidt utilised the Cinefade VariND to help craft the look.
Read MoreThe Cinefade VariND makes it easier for ACs to keep their distance to the camera operator and actors, in addition to avoiding unnecessary contact with the camera and accessories.
Read MoreThe novel Cinefade system synchronises the external iris motor of a professional camera system with a light transmission filter to vary depth-of-field in film.
The same light transmission filter can also be used individually as a motorised variable ND filter that is remotely controlled by a cmotion lens control system to allow for precise and fast exposure changes when the camera is inaccessible or when the creative brief calls for an exact T-stop to maintain a consistent depth-of-field.
Tracking shots at a shallow depth of field in which the camera tracks closer to the subject are notoriously hard for focus pullers to keep sharp, especially if the subject is also moving. A variable depth of field can be used to extend the depth of field when tracking towards the subject to give the focus puller a better chance of nailing critical focus.
Read MoreThe Cinefade shot is often compared to the Dolly Zoom shot, also known as the Vertigo effect, Trombone shot, Zolly amongst many others. Although it is technically different, the comparison refers to the narrative motivation behind applying one of the two shots in a film: Accentuating a pivotal moment in the narrative.
Read MoreThe cmotion Cinefade VariND is made up of a Motorised Polariser and a Static Polariser which when combined can be used as a motorised variable ND filter that is remotely controlled by a cPRO lens control system to allow for precise and fast exposure changes when the camera is inaccessible or when the creative brief calls for an exact T-stop to maintain a consistent depth-of-field, even in changing lighting conditions.
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