By Lindsay Tsuji

Big budget, green screen, Terminator-style explosions and special effects aren’t for everyone. That’s particularly true for filmmakers who simply don’t have the budget or manpower to make it happen.

Filmmakers and producers are often bogged down with rental fees for equipment, permits and paperwork. But lately, technology has been on their side. Handheld mobile devices could be just what these cinema enthusiasts need.

In January, Apple announced that more than 10 billion mobile applications have been downloaded by more than 160 million iPhone, iPod touch and iPad users worldwide. With over 350,000 different apps, people are discovering new ways to make life just a little bit easier. Who says it can’t be easier for artists, too?

Mobile apps can do a number of different things to help filmmakers create the film they’ve always wanted. Fine Cut checked out three that are already on the market.

First up is a storyboard app by Cinemek. Based in California, they are most well-known for producing the ‘G5’ 35 mm lens adaptor, an HD imaging device that allows for depth of field and field of view at 35mm. Cinemek launched the app in 2009 – it allows moviemakers to take pictures from their phone and create a storyboard on the road.

Photo courtesy of Cinema Inc.

Jonathan Houser, CEO of Cinemek, says his company saw an opportunity to make things a bit easier for filmmakers. “It allows you to play with your ideas so that you can get real time feedback on it,” Houser says.

As a seasoned cinematographer and former Seattle Film Institute professor, Houser says he saw his students struggling to convey their movie ideas on paper. The app can help you map out your film while you’re still in the inception stage, Houser explains.

“Before you start renting gear, before you start getting cameras, you can pre-visualize and think about your close-ups and think about your wide shots and play them back real time on your phone,” Houser says. “So you really get an idea of exactly how your film is going to look and then you’re educated a little bit more before you start production.”

For $20, Houser says it’s not the cheapest app out there but it can save you money in the long term.

Next on deck is an app from Moviola, a company that has been producing tools for filmmakers since the 1920s.

They released their Final Cut Pro Field Guide mobile app in March 2010. This $3.99 app tries to eliminate the uh-oh stages of editing. From a searchable listing of all Final Cut keyboard shortcuts to step-by-step instructions on how to troubleshoot audio sync problems, this app delves into the mechanics of editing with Final Cut software.

Randy Paskal, president at Moviola in Hollywood, California says this kind of technology allows filmmakers “to have the confidence to try new things while they’re right in the middle of action.”

The third app comes from film stalwart Kodak. Their depth of field calculator is available for a free download from the iTunes app store. It calculates the setting for a desired focus in a shot and can create different moods in film. The Kodak app lets you enter information like film format, F-stop, and focal length to calculate things like the near limit and far limit distances.

Nicole Phillips, director of web marketing for the Entertainment Imaging Division at Kodak, says this app allows people to use technology as they’ve always done but with more speed and efficiency. “It would just be easier than to have to look it up in a book or use one of those old-fashioned wheels to find out what the right numbers are for lighting or the distance from the character to the camera. The process requires the same discipline.”

[pullquote]“The mobile device is the most pervasive computer that we’ll probably ever see in the next couple decades. It’s just another way to engage the customers.”
- Ameet Shah, Five Mobile Inc.[/pullquote]

These three apps are different in focus, price and use, but what they do have in common is they’re trying to make it easier for filmmakers to make movies on the go. Whether you’re an established filmmaker or an aspiring indie moviemaker, you still want your idea to fully come to life on the big screen.

Ameet Shah is a managing partner of Five Mobile Inc. in Toronto. They’ve produced apps for Disney, Cineplex and Sony Pictures television. “At the end of the day, you gotta realize that the mobile device is the most pervasive computer that we’ll probably ever see in the next couple decades. It’s just another way to engage the customers,” says Shah.

“There are certainly people out there that are purists, but it depends on what your goal is. If you think of it as a business then you need to look at these things.” There have always been naysayers to technology that overreaches into the creative world, but Moviola’s Paskal says it allows for more free thinking.

“I think you’re also finding a lot more creativity becoming available as a result of these tools being around.”