This afternoon I saw a fantastic presentation from Taz Goldstein at HandHeldHollywood, on some of the best apps available on the iPad for film makers. Taz was hilarious and energetic, and was kind enough to chat to me after the show for our lil Podcast, so look forward to that soon. His presentation was a godsend, because most of the ProApps aimed at filmmakers range anywhere from $9.99 to $129, so they've always been the kind of apps that are beyond an impulse buy for me, or that "i guess i should buy it to talk about on the podcast" obligation. So to hear a professional director who has downloaded all the available apps and can say which are worth the cash and which are worth avoiding was incredibly valuable. So, without further ado, Taz's list.
Artemis Directors Viewfinder and Remote
iTunes Link
This blew me away. Use your iPhone as a directors viewfinder to plan out shots, and feed that information over wifi to your iPad. You can select the lens size, ratio, etc.There is an iPad version coming soon too, to make use of the new camera. Very slick. $36 on the Australian Store.
Storyboard Composer
iTunes Link
There are far too many Storyboard apps on the app store, so it was great to here which one Taz chose. With a simple user interface, far more options that the average hobby film maker would need, and easy importing and exporting, I could easily see why this was his favourite. Watch this demo video, then give them your money! $18
Technicolor Movie Slate
iTunes Link
A great slate that allows you to quickly mark shots as good, take voice notes, etc. You can even export the notes as a Final Cut Pro XML file for immediate bin creation. Another feature thats probably overkill for myself and most of you, this slate can sync to any camera that uses jam-sync LTC. $23.99
Easy Release
iTunes Link
Simple. Brillant. All it does is create release forms for talent, but it does it very well. There are pre-canned release forms to get you started, simply fill in the blanks, save the form as a template, then hand it to your talent so they can sign with their finger. Email the pdf to them and yourself. $12.99
ProPrompter
iTunes Link
Another type of app with many competitors, but watching this hands on it was pretty clear the attention to detail meant this was the Teleprompter app to get. The universal app can sync between iPad and iPhone, so you can use your iPhone to remote control the iPad scrolling. $12.99
iMovie
iTunes Link
Little ol' iMovie got a mention, as a great way to do simple edits on the go. Really, you need to play with iMovie on the iPad 2 if you havent, its pretty amazing. $5.99
And finally...
OmniGraffle
iTunes Link
Yep, its pricey, but so worth it. I love Omnigraffle on the iPad, I even prefer it to the Mac version. Moving graffles around with your fingers feels so much better than using a stupid old mouse. So if you can afford it, block those shots and plan that lighting set up with Omnigraffle. $59.99
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