InCinematographer - Issue 1 - June 2017 - 46

46

www.incinematographer.com | Issue 1 | June 2017

Kyno: Taking the
Indie Film Circuit
by Storm

Storyboarding Stalking Nina

Kyno helps speed up video workflows by
combining the tools cinematographers require
for everyday production tasks in one simple
user interface...

I

n an industry where movies must have broad
appeal to turn a profit, independent filmmakers are
more often free from the constraints of commercial
success. Uninhibited by the pressures of the box
office, they have room to explore niche themes via
unique storytelling techniques, letting their inner
creativity run wild.
Nevertheless, the realm of indie filmmaking
presents its own set of challenges: small team sizes,
reduced budgets, and on-the-fly changes to filming
can present a difficult environment in which to
produce creative work.
But with Kyno on their side, Director Charlie Griak
and Assistant Director Matt Cici are able to work at
the speed of their imagination. Even in a production
where improvization and changeability are necessary
factors, Kyno is ready to help them keep track of
what's been shot and when.
Organised creativity
Throughout early 2017, Griak and Cici are preparing
original storyboards for Stalking Nina, a psychedelic
sci-fi thriller planned for filming in the summer:
An out-of-options actress agrees to appear on a
supernatural 'reality' show - an experience that will
ultimately drive her and the crew to become lost in
manifestations of their own nightmares.
Being directors, Griak and Cici know that careful
management of footage is key. At least, it is if you're
going to tell a consistent and meaningful story within
the limited hours of filmed narrative.
And they're not just directors - Cici is also a
creative trainer at Apple and works at Twin Cities
Film Fest.
"My interest is always in finding efficiency in
workflows," he explains. "Being that I work at Apple,
I like to seek out plugins and extensions that can
provide the ultimate resource."
Cici discovered Kyno in one of his many hunts for
the latest camera-related software. Specifically,
he was searching for a tool that could automate
and streamline the day-to-day aspects of
post-production.
"I've spent weeks of my life doing the same tasks
over and over; like marking which folders had to be
edited or ignored," says Cici. "I was getting confused
the whole time, even with an assistant editor.
However, Kyno can handle those tasks, no matter
how trivial, which is absolutely brilliant."

Efficient planning
As an illustrator,
Griak emphasises
the importance of
visual
reference
in
the
preproduction
and
planning phases of filmmaking. Kyno's ability to
insert markers into footage and easily export stills
is incredibly useful in this regard, enabling Griak to
easily sort and deliver the footage he wishes to use
as reference.
"As soon as I saw that clip export function in
Kyno, I knew it was exactly what I needed," he says.
"I'm already using Kyno to communicate with my
cinematographer in Brazil. I'm showing him all of
these clips as examples of how I want to proceed
with our project, editing them down to just the pieces
I want to show.
"Kyno makes perfect sense and lines up with the
way I work. It feels like the tool that filmmakers have
always wanted, but we never knew that we could
have!"
Camera crazy
When it comes to actual production on Stalking
Nina, Kyno is going to play a key role, keeping hours
of footage from multiple cameras as accessible as
can be.
"The trick with Stalking Nina is that each of the
actors will also be carrying a camera as part of
the story," explains Griak. "It will be a huge mix
of footage, featuring orchestrated shots from the
cinematographer, while occasionally cutting to the
cameras held by actors."
The crew expects to gather huge amounts of
footage every day, but with Kyno on hand, Griak
and Cici won't have to worry about time wasted
converting clips or searching through files. Freeing
up hours from the footage review process, they will
effectively be able to manage dailies within a 24hour turnaround.
"It will be nice using Kyno in this production to
quickly run through everything we have on a memory
card - we'll be able to immediately see what's
working and what's not," confirms Cici. "This helps
us out twofold - we can spend more time thinking
about the creative side of things, and we'll be able to
quickly react to production problems without any red

tape. Kyno makes us more efficient, which makes us
more effective."
Instant overview
Griak and Cici expect Kyno to make a huge
difference when logging all of the footage in post
stages as well. For example, when dealing with a long
clip, Kyno can immediately take out only the relevant
sections.
No resources will be wasted in Final Cut Pro or
Premiere, as Cici explains: "With Kyno, we only edit
the things we want to, by very quickly marking,
logging, capturing, and favoriting. Everything that
you could want to do with normal files on a daily
basis, now you can do with your media. That opens
up a lot of doors for us to spend more time perfecting
the edit versus organizing.
"One thing that especially stuck out to me was
being able to convert very quickly whatever it is that
you're working on," he adds. "You can create proxies
or you can create rendered version of what you
originally had."
Into production
Although Stalking Nina is still in the early stages
of pre-production, Griak is confident that Kyno will
prove a key asset, especially with attentive technical
support from the Lesspain team.
"When I asked for a demo, Lesspain's Co-Founder
Robert Kruger was very respectful and gave me a
great overview of the software," he says. "I have no
doubt that, while we're in production, contacting the
Kyno team won't be difficult at all. They're already
proving to be a really good resource."
"Having such a solid program already, I doubt we'll
find many flaws in Kyno," adds Cici. "When I first tried
it, I installed the software, plugged in the hard drive,
and Kyno found every single video clip immediately.
It blew my mind.
"I knew Kyno was software we had been waiting for
for a very long time."
www.lesspain.software/kyno
http://www.incinematographer.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=XygxZ8bcVVI http://www.lesspain.software/kyno
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