Televisual article - Live sport: The beautiful game

Live 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.

Broadcast, Cinefade, Education, Variable Depth of field, Variable ND filterOliver Janesh ChristiansenJanuary 11, 2023live sport, broadcast, Cinefade, television, football, Televisual magazine, variable ND filterComment

The Love I Give - Sunrise time lapse music video

Director 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.

Education, Filmmaking, Variable ND filter, Cinefade, BTSOliver Janesh ChristiansenJune 7, 2022music video, VariND, variable ND filter, sunrise, exposure compensation, Cinefade, Natasha DuursmaComment

Fade the Flames by Karim Hussain CSC - Canadian Cinematographer magazine article

My 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.

Cinefade, Cinematography, Director of Photography, Education, Filmmaking, Film Production, Variable Depth of field, Variable ND filterOliver Janesh ChristiansenMay 29, 2022Canadian Cinematographer magazine, Karim Hussain CSC, depth of field, article, publication, Cinefade, Firestarter Comment

Anatomy of a Scandal - Flashbacks with Cinefade

Shooting on Sony Venice Cameras at 6K 17:9 with the new large format Leitz Prime lenses, the Cinefade enables Director of Photography Balazs Bolygo BSC, HSC to transition from a very shallow depth of field at T1.8 to a deep depth of field at around T8, a Cinefade of more than 4 stops. In the end, two distinct scenes made it into the final cut…

BTS, Camera Assistant, Cinefade, Cinematography, Director of Photography, Film Production, Filmmaking, Hire, Variable Depth of fieldOliver Janesh ChristiansenMay 16, 2022TV series, Cinefade, cinematography, variable depth of field, filmmaking, Netflix Comment

Behind the scenes with Shane Hurlbut ASC using Cinefade

Cinematographer Shane Hurlbut ASC gives us a behind the scenes look of his newest feature film Tall Girl 2, available to stream on Netflix now. We analyse the Cinefade scenes and get a brief insight into Hurlbut's creative process of using our novel storytelling tool.

BTS, Cinefade, Cinematography, Director of Photography, Education, Filmmaking, Variable Depth of fieldOliver Janesh ChristiansenApril 17, 2022Cinefade, depth of field, VariND, Netflix, Shane Hurlbut ASC, cinematography, variable depth of field, bokeh effect, background blur effectComment

Live sports broadcast uses Cinefade VariND for cinematic look

One 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.

Education, Cinefade, Variable Depth of field, Variable ND filter, BroadcastOliver Janesh ChristiansenApril 13, 2022broadcast, deep depth of field, exposure, VariND, Cinefade, football, LaLiga, live sportComment

More Like This podcast - Spotlight on ‘Mank’ featuring Erik Messerschmidt ASC

Listen 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.

Cinefade, Cinematography, Director of Photography, Education, Filmmaking, Variable Depth of field, Variable ND filterOliver Janesh ChristiansenFebruary 12, 2021podcast, Netflix, Cinefade, Mank, David Fincher, Erik Messerschmidt, cinematography Comment

Cinematography of 'Mank' - How Erik Messerschmidt ASC used a variable depth of field

“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

David Fincher's 'Mank' uses Cinefade extensively

Focus 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.

Cinefade, Cinematography, Director of Photography, Filmmaking, Variable Depth of field, Variable ND filterOliver Janesh ChristiansenNovember 19, 2020depth of field, variable depth of field, VariND, Cinefade, David Fincher, Erik Messerschmidt, cinematography, focus, Citizen Kane, MankComment

Hire Cinefade VariND in London,Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, England & Edinburgh,Glasgow, Scotland & Wales and Northern Ireland

The Cinefade VariND is available to rent directly from our base in London and from our local rental partners with same-day courier services.

How to adjust depth of field in film

In the past, Cinematographers have always been limited to choosing a depth of field that stays consistent throughout the shot. A variable depth of field that creates a sort of focus blur or background blur effect has vast creative applications and the potential of becoming a must-have feature for Lens Control Systems (LCS).

Cinefade, Cinematography, Education, Film Production, Filmmaking, Variable Depth of fieldOliver Janesh ChristiansenNovember 4, 2018depth of field, film, motion picture, Cinefade, variable depth of field, adjustable ND filter, adjustable depth of field Comment

Combining Cinefade with a Dolly-Zoom shot

The 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.

Cinefade, Cinematography, Education, Film Production, Filmmaking, Variable Depth of field, Variable ND filterOliver Janesh ChristiansenOctober 15, 2018Dolly-Zoom, Trombone shot, Vertigo effect, Hitchcock effect, Cinefade, Cinefade-Dolly-Zoom-shot, Motion Control rigComment

Paul Cameron ASC uses Cinefade to vary depth of field in 'The Commuter'

“Director Jaume Collet-Serra and I wanted a severe depth-of-field shift to accentuate Liam Neeson's experience - something to isolate him from his surrounding world. I was in the process of designing a system when my A-camera first AC, Dave Cozens, came upon Cinefade. It was exactly what we were looking for.”

- Paul Cameron ASC

BTS, Camera Assistant, Cinefade, Cinematography, Director of Photography, Education, Film Production, Filmmaking, Variable Depth of fieldOliver Janesh ChristiansenJanuary 28, 2018The Commuter, Feature film, Paul Cameron ASC, Liam Neeson, CinefadeComment

Hire Cinefade VariND in Paris, France; Madrid, Spain; Warsaw Poland; Helsinki, Finland; Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Vienna, Austria; Oslo, Norway; Stockholm, Sweden and throughout Europe

The Cinefade VariND is available to rent directly from our base in London and from our rental partners throughout Europe.

Cinefade, Education, FAQ, HireOliver Janesh ChristiansenJanuary 2, 2018hire, rental, rent, Cinefade, Cinefade VariND, VariND, variable ND filter, Arri Germany, London, Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, England, Wales, Arri Rental, Panavision, Paris, France, Warsaw, Poland, Berlin, Germany, Madrid, Spain, Oslo, Norway, Stockholm, Sweden, Finland, Helsinki, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Brussels, Belgium, Rome, Italy

Cinefade VariND Verleih in Deutschland

Kameraverleih Firmen in deutschen Städten wie München, Berlin und Köln haben den Cinefade VariND Filter zum Verleih bereit und wir verbinden Sie gerne um ein System zu organisieren.

Cinefade, Education, FAQ, HireOliver Janesh ChristiansenJanuary 1, 2018hire, Cinefade, Cinefade VariND, VariND, variable ND filter, Germany, Berlin, Munich, Cologne, Weiden, Vantage Rental, Arri Germany, Verleih, leihen, Miete, mieten, variabler ND Filter, Tiefenschärfe, variieren

Hire Cinefade VariND in Germany

The Cinefade VariND is available to rent directly through us with worldwide shipping and local partners throughout Europe, US and Australasia. In German cities such as Munich, Berlin and Cologne there are several large camera rental houses that stock the Cinefade VariND and we would be happy to put you in touch and arrange a system for you.