Anamorphic Cookbook

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The Anamorphic Cookbook is a dream I’ve been working on for the past five years. Shooting anamorphic on a budget was the thesis for my graduation project in film school in 2013. Two years later I started a channel on the subject. Since then I’ve reviewed dozens of anamorphic adapters, lenses, and related accessories. I’ve made tutorials from editing anamorphic footage to modifying lenses in order to achieve the anamorphic look for cheap.

The channel’s mission has always been teaching filmmakers how to achieve the anamorphic look. But making gear reviews only teaches people about that one piece of equipment and there were plenty of anamorphic subjects to cover. That’s the Anamorphic Cookbook! It takes viewers through the history and the meaning of anamorphic. It teaches you how to build your own rig, and it’ll finish up discussing how to edit CinemaScope footage. This is a long-term project with weekly videos and at least eight Modules with multiple videos each.

Like every other filmmaker during quarantine, I decided to put together an online course. Every time I thought about what the price for such course should be, the idea didn’t sit right with me. In the end I decided to make the whole thing available for free, since that has been the purpose of my channel since the beginning.

MODULE 1 – Foundations

MODULE 1 starts with an intro to the course itself. Chapter 2 is about “why anamorphics boost your production value through the roof”. Chapter 3 covers the history of the anamorphic format and how it became popular in Hollywood. In Chapter 4 we talk about the structure of anamorphic lenses and what makes them different from your regular lenses. Chapter 5 wraps up with the meaning of aspect ratios and how they changed over time. We also talk about how we perceive production value differently based on a film’s aspect ratio.

New episodes come online every Monday, 8:30AM PST. Being a member of the channel puts you four weeks ahead of the general audience. Members are usually finishing the Module that’s just starting for everyone else.