Journal.
A collection of stuff we feel is worth sharing.
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Knowledge
My week at the APA Masterclass
This year I was one of the lucky applicants chosen to attend the APA Masterclass in the hustle and bustle of Central London. If you’re not au fait with...
Knowledge
Women in Film, Animation & Production: 15 groups to follow
When I’m planning my year’s content, events like International Women’s Day are always a bit of a catch-22. I recognise that they are essential, as they can be a...
Company Culture
Meet the team: Eryn Sivak
Fresh off the back of returning from parental leave, I sat down with Eryn Sivak, one of the motion designers here at Storm & Shelter, to have a chat...
Knowledge
How Eagle has taken the pain out of mood boards
I’ve been in the creative industry for over a decade now — and you know the thing that I’ve always found the most difficult? Actually demonstrating what I’ve got...
Company Culture
What I want to achieve in 2023
A resolution-style post in January? Groundbreaking. Although resolutions are a bit old-hat, it’s good to take some time to reflect and set goals for the year so that you...
News
Creative Firsts: Our first big pitch
Earlier this month, our co-CEOs Nick Patterson & Gruff Vaughan sat down with Creative Cardiff as part of their ‘Creative Firsts’ series — a deep dive with some of Cardiff’s...
Establishing Shot
My week at Storm & Shelter – Zoe
Everyone, please let me introduce you to Zoe! Zoe is the latest honorary #Stormie who joined us last week for work experience to get a peek behind the curtains...
Establishing Shot
Things I wish I’d known before becoming a cinematographer
Hi. I’m Lewis. I’m a cinematographer and CTO at Storm & Shelter and here are some things I wish I knew before I started. There really aren’t any shortcuts...
Establishing Shot
Things I wish I’d known before becoming a creative director
All right, you scallywags! I’m Josh Bennett I’m the creative director of Storm & Shelter and these are some things that I wish I knew when I started. You...
Establishing Shot
Things I wish I’d known before becoming a creative
Hey, I’m Mac. I’m one of the creatives here at Storm & Shelter, and these are a few things I’d wish I’d known before starting. Not every piece of...
Establishing Shot
Things I wish I’d known before becoming an editor
Hi. I’m Michael. I’m an editor here at Storm & Shelter and here are some things I wish I knew before I started out. Check your edit multiple times...
Establishing Shot
Things I wish I’d known before I went into production
Hi, I’m Amy. I’m part of the production team here at Storm & Shelter, and here are some things I wish I’d known before I started. Get it written...
Establishing Shot
Things I wish I’d known before I started Storm & Shelter
Well hello there, I’m Gruff Vaughan. I’m one of the CEOs here at Storm & Shelter and here are some of the things that would have been very helpful...
Establishing Shot
Things I wish I’d known before I became a content marketer
Hi, I’m Jamie. I’m Storm & Shelter’s content marketing manager. You may recognise me from the last time I appeared in front of the camera for the sake of...
Establishing Shot
Things I wish I’d known before starting to design for motion
Hi, I’m Izzy! I’m a designer here at Storm & Shelter as part of the MoGraph team, and here are some things that I wish I’d known before I...
Establishing Shot
My week at Storm & Shelter | Karol
This week was the third and final round of our work experience partnership with the University of South Wales… at least for now. Full of enthusiasm and proving that...
Establishing Shot
My week at Storm & Shelter | Abi
Another week of our work experience partnership with the University of South Wales means another blog checking in about how the week has been. Spoiler alert: it was good. ...
Establishing Shot
Things I wish I’d known before starting Storm & Shelter
Hey everyone, Nick here. I’m one of the founders and Co-CEOs of Storm & Shelter, and here are some of the things that I wish I’d known before starting...
Establishing Shot
My week at Storm & Shelter | Dan
When you’re a student, we know how important it is to get some hands-on experience of what exactly the job is gonna be like once you’re out there in...
Establishing Shot
Things I wish I’d known before I went into production
Hi I’m Natalie, I work in the production team at Storm & Shelter as an Assistant Producer and here are some things I wish I had known before I...
Creativity
Creatives’ Workshop: The Throne of Agony
Look, we all know that feeling. You sit down to an exciting new project, you’re coming up with ideas, the first couple are okay, they hit the brief, but...
Creativity
MoGraph (not so) Monthly: Behind The Scenes
Here at Storm & Shelter, one of our core values is ‘Go a step further’. Although that could sound like a bit of HR fluff, what that boils down...
Establishing Shot
Sh*t you may hear on set: A film term glossary
I’m not gonna lie, when I was told that I’d be going on set for the first time I was ever so slightly (hot) bricking it. Even though I...
Company Culture
98 Days Later: Jamie
It’s been three months since our content marketing manager, Jamie, graced us with their shining presence. Well technically it’s been five, but let’s pretend this interview was done straight...
Knowledge
Creating a virtual environment on a budget
One of my favourite things to do as a filmmaker is to look at large scale Hollywood productions and be like ‘Oh I bet I could do that… just...
Post Production
Spilling the beans: offering free therapy to our team
At this point, I feel like pointing out “looking after your employee’s mental health is important” is a tad redundant. Duh. Of course it is. Always has been; always...
Company Culture
Improving our Parental Leave Policy
Sometimes, as company founders, it’s easy to fall into the trap of “if it ain’t completely broke, fix it later”, even when it’s something you know you should get...
Creativity
Creative Insight: Focusrite Scarlett #NeverStopCreating
Hey, Josh here. I’m taking a short break to blab about of my favourite projects to date, the ‘Never Stop Creating’ campaign film for the Focusrite Scarlett and *hoo...
Company Culture
Hybrid working: how we’re doing it
Since the introduction of lockdowns, and even more so recently seeing as you can’t get away from posts about “hybrid working”, everyone’s been having the same conversation: “What is...
Creativity
Creative Roundup | May 2021
Howdy! Every Wednesday lunchtime, us Storm & Shelter lot get together as a team to spend some time totally saturated in creative ideas. With a new theme each week,...
Creativity
Creatives’ Workshop: Keeping balance (and not boiling over)
“Just got a few notes…” 🤯 Stress is an unfortunate by-product of the creative process and one we should try to keep on top of. This time, our curly-haired...
Cinematography
2020 Camera Updates: What’s going on and should I even care?
2020 — The year the world decided to throw all of its proverbial spanners into the doom blender. We’ve only just crawled our way over the half way mark,...
Creativity
Creatives’ Workshop: How to get into a creative mindset at home 🧠
Working remotely has its challenges, especially getting in the zone. Our in-house creative and general odd-ball, Josh, collated some valuable tips and tricks to help you manage your mindset....
Company Culture
What Being ‘Creatively Brave’ Means to Me
I’m partial to sharing a thought or two from time to time. I often find myself pondering, but since I work in visuals I tend to shy away from...
Photography
How to shoot lifestyle product photography
Promoting products through platforms like Instagram has never been more available. From what I can see, it’s not a surprise that there’s a higher demand for producing the right...
Filmmaking, Cinematography
How to shoot Super 8 film in 2020: A Digital Native’s Guide
If you’re like me, and you’ve spent the last decade of your life shooting on digital cameras, from 5Dmk2s all the way up to Sony Venices, shooting on film...
Company Culture
What has podcasting taught me?
It’s tough to argue against claims that I love my own voice as I announce the news that I’ve unleashed a podcast upon the world. With the reality being...
Filmmaking
Film grain: the power of nostalgia
First things first, let’s make clear the difference between film grain and digital noise. In a nutshell, noise is interference that comes from a digital sensor, whereas grain is texture that comes from...
Cinematography
The Canon C200: Why did we just buy one and abandon 7 years of Sony?
Anyone who’s read my previous blogs about Sony cameras will know that, with the exception of the Venice (or maybe the F65 if I ever use one), I have...
Cinematography
Capturing on Digital vs Film — What’s the Difference?
This is another question that came to me via a film course lecturer. I’m going to try and give an accurate answer without getting TOO technical, however for a...
Filmmaking
Lewis’ Top Tips for Industry Newcomers
This week, I received an email from a lecturer of an online film course, asking me what my top tips would be for young filmmakers looking to get started...
Filmmaking, Post Production
How to Fix White Balance (Quickly!) In DaVinci Resolve
As much as I’m a stickler for detail when it comes to getting things right in-camera, even I have to concede that sometimes it’s better to get an imperfect...
Cinematography
RED Monstro x IPP2 — First Impressions
About a month ago, I was at a large-format open day that Video Europe held at their Bristol house. The lineup was littered with new offerings from ARRI (LF),...
Cinematography
The Cinematography of: Novo Amor & Ed Tullett Live Sessions
Is it really 2018 already? Heck. It feels like a long time since I’ve had a spare morning to sit down and write one of these cinematography breakdowns, so...
Cinematography
Shooting on RED: My First Time
First times are a funny thing. Rarely do people remember the second time they rode a bike without stabilisers, or the seventh time they fell from a climbing frame....
Cinematography
P+S Technik Kowa Evolution Anamorphic Lenses
As I write this, I’m sat in Video Europe’s rental house in Bristol. Only minutes ago, I begrudgingly handed back these Evos. I guess I shouldn’t be sad that...
Cinematography
Amsterdam Night Portraits: Shooting Like Brandon Woelfel
Upon landing in Amsterdam for IBC last Sunday afternoon, we found ourselves with an evening to kill. Not satisfied with the idea of sitting in a coffeeshop or getting...
Cinematography
IBC 2017 — Cinematographer’s Choice
As if by magic, September had snuck up on us once again, meaning only one thing: it was time for the Storm & Shelter annual trip to IBC. For...
Cinematography
IBC 2017— New Releases, Rumours and More!
It’s that time of the year again. Europe’s biggest tech-petting zoo is about to open its doors once more and play host to all of your favourite manufacturers. 1271...
Cinematography
The Cinematography Of — Ampify “Uncovering Musical Creativity with Slugabed”
Last month, we teamed up with our pals at Focusrite/Novation to produce a commercial for Ampify, a music creativity platform housing popular apps like Blocs Wave, Groovebox and Launchpad...
Cinematography
RED Weapon S35 8K RAW: First Impressions
Usually, when taking a two week holiday from work, most people typically visit a warm country, go for lots of relaxing walks, and generally do whatever they can to...
Cinematography
The Cinematography of — Nineteen Fifty Eight “Dark Blue”
It’s no secret that I’ve had a fascination with achieving beautiful, soft-looking skin for a while now. Not personally of course, it’s unlikely that you’ll catch me with a...
Cinematography, Filmmaking
Jelley’s Q&A #003: Learning Resources
Those of you who read Q&A #002 will know that Alex Banks took advantage of this platform, and asked me two big questions at the same time. So I’ve...
Cinematography, Filmmaking
Jelley’s Q&A #002: The Creative Process
This time, the ‘Q’ of Jelley’s Q&A (still unsure if I like the title…) comes from Alex Banks, who got in touch through the comments section of my last...
Cinematography
Cooke Anamorphic Primes on a Sony a7S
Sometimes, world firsts happen because someone has achieved something great—a true innovation. Sometimes they happen out of pure morbid curiosity mixed with an unhealthy fascination and a can-do attitude....
Cinematography
Cinematography Breakdown: Icarus
As someone who’s idea of creativity revolves around planning everything down to the finest detail, I’m often heard rambling on about how limiting the amount of locations and characters...
Filmmaking, Cinematography
Jelley’s Q&A #001: Analysing a Set
“So like, what’s the first thing you do when walking onto a brand new set?” — Michael Pearce, Filmmaker, Bath Before I jump straight into this one, because Michael...
Filmmaking, Cinematography
Jelley’s Q&A: Send In Your DoP Questions!
Ever since I made the decision to really take a career as a DoP seriously and work out what it actually means to be one (I’m still working on...
Cinematography
Cinematography Tuesday: Into The Ark’s Brightest Creatures
As anyone who’s been watching the latest series of The Voice on ITV would know (not sure how many cinematography fans watch that garbage, but still) Blackwood-based soulful acoustic...
Cinematography
Blackmagic Announce URSA Mini 4.6K Pro
Only two days ago was I inside the Blackmagic show truck at BVE complaining to Glenn the sales rep about how it has been impossible to get hold of...
Company Culture, Filmmaking
The NUFT to WUFT Scale
When you’re a small team trying to achieve big things, every single one of you has to be on-the-ball on a shoot. If someone’s not pulling their weight, it...
Cinematography
BSC Expo 2017 — Our Picks
The British Society of Cinematographers holds an expo each year to give industry professionals, students and general kit-dribblers a chance to gaze upon some of the latest offerings in...
Cinematography
How To Choose Your Glass
It’s true what they say, no one lens can do it all. It doesn’t matter how fast it is, how much zoom it has or how sharp it is....
Cinematography
IBC 2016 — The Good, The Bad & The 8K
In the process of flying back to the UK from Amsterdam and the subsequent week of shoots that followed, I’ve had some time to reflect on what this year’s...
Post Production
Cooke Speed Panchros remade? Shut up and take my money!
When combined, the words “Cooke” and “Vintage”are enough to get this DP’s tail wagging like a dog in a sausage factory. In recent years Cooke Speed Panchros were becoming...
Cinematography
Cinematography Tuesday – Time To Change Wales
Firstly, thanks to everyone who spent the time to check out this feature last time around (2 weeks ago). Your feedback has been noted and has encouraged me to...
Cinematography
Welcome to the Big Leagues, Canon! Reaction to the C700
For years, Canon has been well known for it’s photography, broadcast and cinema lenses, even having some success with their Cinema EOS range, but has never really had a...
Cinematography
Cinematography Tuesday – Mustang
Welcome to what is the hopefully the first of many cinematography Tuesdays! I hope that by doing this weekly (or bi-weekly, or however often I get the time to),...
Post Production
Anamorphic to Anamorfake — How To Blag That Bokehlicious Filmic Look
For me, the Anamorphic ‘look’ has always been the true filmmaker’s calling card. Despite being born in a decade that saw anything analogue become superfluous, films shot with anamorphic...
Post Production
Can the a7S’ Cine 4 Profile compete with S-Log2?
“Noisy, but with wide dynamic range.” This is what’s typically heard when a discussion is started about the pros and cons of the a7S’ S-Log2. At Storm & Shelter,...
Post Production
The Storm & Shelter Christmas List
Let’s face it, you never get everything on your Christmas list. Sometimes you don’t get any of it, especially if you come from a working class background and ask...
Post Production
Sony a7S & Atomos Shogun: A Setup Guide
Laurel & Hardy. Bonnie & Clyde. Ant & Dec. All examples of famous partnerships. Decent enough in their own right, but much better together (or worse in Bonnie &...
Post Production
Does the a7S’ HDMI port break S-Log2?
It’s been 18 months since the Sony a7S smashed down the film industry’s doors and proclaimed itself the king of low light. Along with its ability to see in...
Projects
Bathtubs, Earplugs & A Pickaxe
It’s early October and I’m standing on the side of a grassy hill, surrounded on all sides by ominous mountains and thick, grey fog. Two skinny figures drag a...