MICROSOFT SURFACE STUDIO 1

Our demand for high resolution entertainment is quite taxing on the creative industry and these creators need high-powered tools to cater to us. Meet the Microsoft Surface Studio, a designerfriendly all-in-one desktop that can recline to a drafting table. The trick here is that the 28-inch panel (the thinnest LCD in the world, according to the company), is of the touch variety and supports the Surface Pen stylus as well as Microsoft's new-fangled multifunctional Surface Dial input. This is just the type of machine the company needs to win over the designers ditching their Macbooks.

The catch: price and availability may not favour South Africa because, to date, we still haven't been officially blessed with even the Surface Pro product line. And $3 000 is a steep start point before conversion. When you lift your phone, it automatically illuminates the lock screen and its notifications.

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DIRECTORS KNOW WE REMEMBER the audacious shots: swinging between rooftops with Spider-man. Following a speeding car off a cliff. In the case of Assassin’s Creed, starring Michael Fassbender as the modern scion of a long line of warriors fighting the Knights Templar, director Justin Kurzel wanted to tour a medieval battle scene through the eyes of a hawk. But directors with such ambitions often find themselves ticking down a list of limited options for getting the shot they want. Crane-mounted cameras can capture extreme detail, but are generally stuck in a 15-metre radius and are slow. Helicopters can't fly within 150 metres of buildings, let alone people, and work only for long shots with little action. Drones lack finesse. So directors end up calling Todd “Hammer” Semmes.

Semmes's company, Spydercam, won a Sci-tech Award in 2011 for its innovative camera system, which utilises synthetic line, winches and propietary software to In this scene, a hawk soars over a heated battle. After overlooking thousands of soldiers, it plummets, darting between them at waist height before flying through archers’ fire and over an ancient wall. Here’s how the Spydercam was rigged to capture the scene without damaging Malta’s 500-year-old buildings.