Video
I edit my videos in Premiere Pro, color correct them in DaVinci Resolve (especially the ones in RAW format). When I need to have some compositing done I go to After Effects. The below list contains all the additional tools I use through the process:
- RedGiant Color Suite (Colorista III & Magic Bullet Looks)
- Neat Video – the best denoizer for video
- FilmConvert – analogue film simulation and analogue film grain plugin
- OSIRIS LUTs by VisionColor
- ImpulZ LUTs by VisionColor
- Trapcode Particular – awesome particle generator
- False Color Plugin – DaVinci Resolve plugin allowing be to compare contrast ratios and make the matching process smooth
- SlimRAW – Cinema DNG compressor, helped me save a lot of space on my storage drives with my Blackmagic and 5D ML RAW footage
iPhone & iPad
- Artemis Director’s Viewfinder – really cool app for scouting. Reproduces any camera, aspect ratio and lens combination using iPhone camera.
- FiLMiC Pro – one of the best video recorders for iPhone. Full manual control over exposure & focus, end much more.
- Shot Designer – awesome app that helps you create diagrams and animations for the camera and actors moves and blocking
- ShotPro – more advanced 3D designer for planning the shoot
Audio
I used to be a Presonus Studio One user when I was starting out my music production adventure. Over the course of years I tested out many different DAWs and ended up with Logic Pro X. Here’s the list of plugins that I use and that I think might be useful in the film production process:
- Waves VST plugins – all of them are amazing, but in day to day work I use C6 Multiband Compressor and L2 Ultramaximizer the most.
- Spectrasonics Omnisphere – infinite synthesizer possibilities. Countless number of presets and flexibility makes it HUGE!.
- Superior Drummer 2.0 – all you need for real drums
- Adobe Audition CC – I use it for some single track work and quick processing, like voice recording etc.
Photography
I use Lightroom and Photoshop on a daily basis for a photography work, and the below list consists of some useful tools that I use for additional treatment:
- Google NIK Collection – great plugins helping you achieve awesome effects and stylised photos
- ImageOptim (for OSX) – reduces the image size removing all the meta from the file
- Topaz plugins
- Affinity Photo – supposed to be the alternative for Photoshop, but after a bit of testing I found it buggy (especially in the luminosity masking area).
Other Utilities
There are plenty of applications I use on a daily basis, and here are the most important ones that I always install on my computer:
- 1Password – passwords database (for iPhone)
- DropBox – syncing files to the cloud
- aText – triggers real-time text replacement on predefined abbreviations
- Keyboard Maestro – see how much you can do just with your keyboard
- Launchbar – keep your hands on the keyboard
- ForkLift – best file manager on OS X
- Evernote – create and access your notes everywhere
- Ulysses III – writing without distractions (for iPad)
- Carbon Copy Cloner – For daily backups
- Omnifocus – to organize my life (for iPhone)
- BetterSnap – to organize multiple windows on my desktop quickly
- ScreenFlow – to record my screen (tutorials, screencasts)
- iStat Menus – to have a quick access to all the system’s statistics (CPU, GPU, RAM, etc)
- Spotify – to stream the music seamlessly
What works for you?
Let me know if you have any recommendation for the readers and for me. Do you have a tool that you cannot live without anymore? Let me know!