Let me school you on a little something called an Infinity Wall, a.k.a. Cyclorama Wall, a.k.a. Infinity Cyc. Yes, it has more names than Ol' Dirty Bastard, but they all refer to the same thing. An infinity wall is a curved surface that seamlessly blends the floor and wall together so that anything you put in front of it — an object, a person — will appear to float against a simple, clutter-free backdrop.

Here's an example of one used by Mabona Origami:

In this screengrab from Sam Roble's video, How to build a cyclorama wall, you can see some of the infrastructure that supports it.

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Category:

Do It Yourself

Difficulty:

advanced

Traveling around the world making films sounds like the ultimate lifestyle, right? There actually are a handful of lucky you-know-whats out there who get to earn their living that way, like my new favorite source of career-envy, filmmaker Trey Chace.

Trey often finds himself traveling for production jobs. Over the years, he has developed a list of lightweight, compact, portable, and durable equipment that allows him to get jobs done efficiently. With the help of Trey's gear tutorial below, we've compiled our own list of essentials suitable for a traveling crew working with a medium budget. Whether you're a pro like Trey, or you're eying the greener pastures of the freelance filmmaker lifestyle like me, this Video School lesson is for you. Let's see what Trey has to say:

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Category:

Gear

Difficulty:

advanced

Have you ever found yourself planning a vacation getaway to some fun new place you're excited to explore and wondered what camera would be best to capture the experience in all its audiovisual glory? Maybe you considered bringing along a DSLR but didn't feel like lugging around a heavy, attention-grabbing chunk of gear that screams, "I'm a tourist with money, look at me!" So you compromised and brought just a mobile phone with a decent built-in camera or a dedicated point and shoot camera. Both of those are completely reasonable options, but if you want to improve your low-light performance and give yourself some lens options, all while keeping a smaller, lightweight profile, consider a mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera, or MILC for short.

MILCs are the smaller and svelter cousins of those lovable workhorses of the modern video world, DSLRs. Let's first dig into what they are by dissecting the name. You might remember from previous lessons that DSLRs have a built-in mirror that allows you to see through the viewfinder the exact framed view that the camera will record once you hit the all-powerful red button of commitment. This is great for framing your shot and was essential when LCDs with live view weren't standard on the back of every digital camera. Nowadays, though, it's not essential to have a viewfinder, especially when shooting video. It turns out, if you don't need a mirror assembly or viewfinder, you can make a similar but significantly smaller and lighter camera. This is great for when you're traveling or just out and about, since heavy stuff is, well, heavy.

Before we proceed with our etymological exploration of MILCs, check out this fresh example shot on a Panasonic GH2 by Leon Visser on a trip through Vietnam:

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Category:

Gear

Difficulty:

beginner

Lenses are designed to receive light and focus it into an image. But depending on your shooting conditions, not all light entering your lens will be focused. When light scatters and hits your camera’s sensor in unintended ways, it can generate a lens flare — typically a small starburst, ring, or circle of light. Sometimes lens flares are unintentional and can ruin a shot, but you can also use them to add style to your video.

Check out this sweet lens flare action among some evergreens. Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

You can achieve lens flares, or a lens flare effect, in a few different ways:

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Category:

Shooting

Difficulty:

advanced