For many filmmakers, ARRI cameras can be intimidating. They are the best of the best, used to capture the largest scale movies and commercials. In fact, ARRI cameras were used on every single film that received a nomination for either Best Motion Picture or Best Cinematography in the 2019 Academy Awards.
But not many of us get regular hands-on time with these cameras, and the scale of productions that they’re used on means that there’s little room for experimentation and getting comfortable with ARRI cameras before going on set.
ARRI Academy
In 2016, ARRI set up its global education initiative, ARRI Academy, to help cinematographers around the world get the best results from their equipment. Part of achieving this was to demystify ARRI cameras and show that there are no special secrets to operating them. In fact many of the cameras that you’re familiar with owe a lot to ARRI’s user friendly menu systems.
Since that time, ARRI has hosted many in-person workshops and helped thousands of filmmakers get comfortable shooting on ARRI cameras. But the reality is, in-person workshops are expensive to run and therefore they’ve been limited to only a handful of cities around the world.
So today MZed is proud to announce a global partnership with ARRI that will see many of its workshops released online, available to all filmmakers, no matter where you are in the world.
Certified Training for ARRI Camera Systems
The first ARRI Academy course to arrive on MZed is Certified Online Training for Camera Systems. This 10 hour course covers a lot of ground, but it primarily focuses on the ALEXA LF, ALEXA SXT W, ALEXA Mini and AMIRA cameras, as well as the Signature Prime range of lenses.
In addition to covering how to operate the cameras and their various strengths, course presenter and Senior Trainer at ARRI Academy, Florian Rettich, discusses ARRIRAW, the ARRI Look management workflow, HDR and more. In lesson six there’s even a fantastic explanation of how digital camera sensors work, and how ARRI does things differently to achieve such a wide dynamic range.
Everyone that completes the course will receive an official ARRI certificate of completion, which is a great way to demonstrate your knowledge of ARRI camera systems.
How to watch ARRI Academy courses on MZed
As with many MZed courses, Certified Training for Camera Systems can be accessed in two ways. Firstly you can purchase it outright, which means you have lifetime access to the course, and you can choose to stream it online or download the files to watch offline (you won’t qualify for certification if you watch the lessons offline, however).
Secondly you can get unlimited streaming access to the course along with all the other MZed Pro courses if you become an MZed Pro member. If you want to know exactly which courses are currently available to MZed Pro members, you can see a complete list here.
It’s also important to keep in mind that ARRI doesn’t just design and make cameras. They have an entire filmmaking ecosystem that includes lenses, stabilisers, lighting, camera support, wireless video transmission, and more. So expect there to be a wide range of filmmaking courses from ARRI Academy coming to MZed soon!
