Launching FrameUp: An App for Filmmakers

Integrative Professional Studies major Ronan Furuta ’25 is designing more than just his degree. With a focus on film and graphic design, Furuta spends a lot of time behind a camera and on film sets. Champlain’s experiential curriculum puts students in the “real world” right away, building professional skills. Along with industry experience, it also introduces students to challenges in their fields—like the one Furuta aimed to solve with his new app: FrameUp.

Setting His Sights

While shooting projects for class, for his internship with Champlain’s Marketing Department, and professional projects for clients, Furuta became aware of just how time-consuming configuring each shot is. Carrying around a heavy camera to scout, switching lenses in between scenes, and having to wait for his crew to move tripods is tedious. Furuta knew of apps that simulated different cameras and lenses, but they were less than ideal or costly. His solution? Create his own!

His app FrameUp allows cinematographers and filmmakers the ability to easily switch out lenses and sensors without having to carry heavy equipment and spend precious minutes doing multiple swaps. You may be able to hold your fingers up in a rectangle to mimic a viewfinder, but FrameUp is entirely more accurate and reliable.

Furuta and his friends use the app in many of their film classes, such as FLM 325: Advanced Cinematography or their Film Capstone.

“I was recently shooting a film for a friend, and it saved a lot of time getting to look through the viewfinder and show the director so that they can improve the image,” said Furuta.

His new projects and the feedback from his peers drive the continual improvement of the app as well. “The most fun part was getting to make something that I get to use every day. It was an app that I wanted but didn’t exist in the form that I wanted it. Getting to use it every day, and getting to see other people use it every day has been really gratifying—and getting to build the features that people want.”

Looking Back at the Footage

If he could go back in time to give himself one piece of advice, it would be to start sooner.

“The image processing part of it was something that kind of scared me, and I didn’t think I would be able to make it happen,” Furuta said. “Being able to integrate with a camera on your phone was something that I didn’t think I’d be able to do.”

It’s been a long journey for Furuta, filled with exploration. Many of the apps he had previously made did not have to be as efficient, and because FrameUp deals with real-time imaging and processing, it took a lot more technical skill to produce.

Furuta mentioned that, “this app has to be really precise to correctly recreate different cameras, and it has to work inside of the very technical film workflow. There’s a lot of research I had to do into how color spaces are represented in code.”

Despite the difficulties Furuta had during this process, his skills did him well, and he was able to produce an app that can help so many in the film industry. “It’s gratifying to make something that can be really robust—film sets are demanding environments. Getting to make something that can work every time for people and is a tool that people will be able to use for their own creative projects is really awesome.”

Interested in FrameUp?

Download the app