NIZO – NEW iPhone Filmmaking App

A Sydney-based team of creative professionals are challenging traditional workflows with a new filmmaking app called Nizo, released a few days ago. Essentially, this app is an all-in-one camera and editing app.

Normally your camera and editing software are 2 different tools, doing 2 very different jobs. But with Nizo, the idea is to bring these two activities closer together. The camera and editing tool in one.

“shoot and edit in harmony”

The pitch:

“Nizo is an all in one filmmaking tool focused on the essence: shoot and edit in harmony. Nizo pairs the camera with simple editing tools in a fluid and immersive gestural workflow; designed for a complete focus on the image.”

So how does it work? Shoot some footage and up pop the editing controls, right over the camera interface. Everything is fluid and minimalist, which they seem to be marketing to the Vimeo “high aesthetics” crowd, as opposed to the vlogging “professional influencer” community.

“Swipe up to mute your microphone, add audio, or insert cross dissolves. These settings apply to every clip in the timeline. Swipe down to return to a list of all projects. Tapping and holding a clip enters a secondary interface where you can flick up to delete, tap again to duplicate, or slide to rearrange your timeline.” Michael Steeber

Image Mechanics say you can shoot in either automatic or manual with “beautiful real-time colour grades inspired by the rich colour and grain of motion picture film”.

They’re going for the film look.

The app’s presets inspired by the iconic colour of Kodak Kodachrome, or the high contrast black and white of Kodak Tri-X. Complete with a grainy aesthetic and imperfections.

Depending on the subject, you can choose between 24 and 60 frames per second in 4K format. The Nizo recording format is a 16:9 aspect ratio at 4K, or 1080p HD, with 24 frames per second playback. The standard fps for motion picture quality.

“Our obsession to simplify the art of filmmaking and to honour the image lead us to a new way of filmmaking,” said Jason Cotterell, co-founder of Nizo. “We pushed ourselves to distil how filmmaking should feel on a mobile device, paring the experience back to the relationship between the camera, image, and the timeline.”

This camera demo footage gives you a brief glimpse into how the app’s camera and editor interface work.

“Our ambition is to inspire the next generation of filmmakers,” said Vicki Tourtouras, co-founder of Nizo. “We see iPhone filmmaking as an exciting and accessible art-form for artists to express themselves.”

So this app is not for a wide range of uses – at least, not yet. It’s attempting to re-think things, in a highly simplified, minimalist way. If you think about it, we have come a long way from the idea that camera operator and editor are entirely different, highly specialised jobs, as they were before digital filmmaking changed everything.

We are still operating under a system designed for shooting and editing a physical roll of film. So it’s exciting to see the Nizo team challenging that idea. However, this app isn’t going to replace your LumaFusion or Premiere pro set up, but rather encourage you along a different way of thinking.

Shoot

Auto or Manual: ISO, Shutter Angle, White Balance.

4K video recording at 24 fps or 60 fps*

1080p HD at 24 fps or 120 fps slow-motion*

Toggle wide-angle or telephoto lens*

Shoot natural or with a cinematic preset.

Toggle cinematic stabilisation (1080p) on/off (via Settings).

16:9 aspect ratio at 4K (3840×2160) or 1080p HD (1920×1080) format.

Video formats recorded in HEVC and H.264

24 fps playback for motion picture quality.

Cut

Trim clips fast with precision.

Duplicate, reorder or move clips to another film.

Mute mic, add and trim music from your library.

Delete clips with a press-and-flick

Wrap

Export to Camera Roll at full-HD.

iTunes File Sharing for advanced post.

Read Next: Best Smartphone Filmmaking Kit 2019.



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