vivo x Kolder Creative: New Smartphone Filmmaking Masterclass Featuring vivo X500 Pro Max

SHENZHEN, China, Oct. 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Following the global launch of the vivo X500 Series, Kolder Creative has released a smartphone filmmaking masterclass featuring the X500 Pro Max. The ten-video course builds on vivo's creative partnership with filmmaker Sam Kolder and follows the creation of a single vertical Reel from filming to final export. Through demonstrations of the X500 Pro Max's imaging capabilities and insights into Kolder's creative decisions, the masterclass aims to help more creators use smartphones for cinematic storytelling.

Putting Creative Possibility into Practice

Co-engineered with ZEISS, the newly launched vivo X500 Series combines an advanced ZEISS Telephoto Lens System with cinematic video capabilities, giving creators the flexibility to capture different perspectives and shape their visual stories. In the masterclass, Kolder uses the X500 Pro Max to demonstrate how camera settings, framing, and editing choices contribute to a finished film.

The collaboration reflects vivo's user-oriented approach to innovation and its mission to create value through technology. Through practical filmmaking education, vivo helps creators learn to use its imaging tools and develop their own approach to visual storytelling.

"We believe smartphones should be a first choice for creative expression, not a second-best option for professional filmmaking. Together with Sam Kolder, we want to challenge that perception and give more creators the freedom to tell their stories," said Yu Meng, Vice President and Head of Imaging at vivo. "By combining the imaging capabilities of the vivo X500 Series with practical filmmaking education through Kolder Creative, we aim to help creators focus less on the complexity of their equipment and more on the people and moments they want to capture."

A Filmmaker's Perspective, Shared Step by Step

Known for cinematic travel and adventure films defined by distinctive transitions and immersive storytelling, Sam Kolder shares the techniques and thinking behind his work through Kolder Creative. The platform offers learners a closer look at his filmmaking process, connecting technical instruction with practical creative experience.

The masterclass extends Kolder's collaboration with vivo following "The Garden Route", a cinematic short film shot entirely on vivo X300 Ultra. Through practical instruction, he shares the creative decisions behind his filmmaking, helping aspiring creators understand how individual shots come together to tell a cohesive story.

Across one introductory video and nine lessons, Kolder guides learners through creating a vertical Reel, a short-form social media video. The course covers native camera controls, composition, footage selection, editing, sound design, color grading, and export. Each stage builds on the same project, showing how individual techniques contribute to the finished film.

"The technology has finally caught up in the world of film. A phone now does what used to take a bag of gear," said Sam Kolder. "This course is an inside look at how I turn mobile footage into a cinematic film, start to finish, so people can see every decision along the way."

Building a Reel with Intention

Using vivo's native camera app, Kolder explains how technical choices support the story he wants to tell. He demonstrates Log recording for greater flexibility in color grading, shows how frame rate and shutter settings affect the appearance of movement, and explains how neutral-density (ND) filters help control exposure. Practical comparisons show the effect of each choice and when creators might use it.

Kolder also explores the composition within the vertical 9:16 frame. Using examples from the project, he shows how close-ups, medium shots, and wider views add variety and form complete sequences. He starts with a broad story direction while remaining open to unexpected moments during filming and new possibilities during editing.

In DaVinci Resolve, a video-editing and color-grading application, learners see how he organizes and selects footage and builds a narrative around voiceover and music. Matching movement between shots creates fluid connections, while sound design adds atmosphere and presence. Color grading follows an approachable workflow using look-up tables (LUTs) and adjustment nodes that allow shots to be refined.

To support hands-on learning, the course includes the Reel's final soundtrack and offers a 50% discount to Filmkid LUTs, which Kolder uses in his grading demonstrations, and a 50% discount to LUTs by Bryn North, a fellow filmmaker and Kolder collaborator. Together with guidance on exporting vertical social video, the masterclass gives learners a complete workflow in which they can apply to their own stories.

Cinematic Tools Built Around the Creative Process

vivo X500 Pro Max brings together imaging capabilities that support the creative principles explored throughout the masterclass. Its 200 MP ZEISS APO Telephoto Camera gives creators tighter framing options, complementing the course's emphasis on capturing varied shot sizes and building complete sequences from different perspectives.

For creators working with color in post-production, Cinematic Pro Log Video on the ZEISS TrueDynamic Main Camera provides a flexible foundation. A dedicated Log curve, specifically tuned to the camera's 17 EV ultra-high dynamic range, preserves rich highlight and shadow detail and subtle tonal gradation, giving creators greater scope to shape the final image through the LUT-and-node workflow demonstrated in the course. DaVinci Resolve natively supports vivo Log and vivo Wide Gamut, enabling a more seamless integration into professional color-grading workflows and refine color, contrast, and tonal expression in post-production.

Multi-Focal 4K 120 fps recording and the main camera's native 4K 240 fps recording expand the possibilities for capturing movement and creating slow-motion footage. A 7800 mAh BlueVolt Battery and 90W FlashCharge support the demands of filming on location, helping creators stay ready as scenes unfold and conditions change.

Through the masterclass, vivo and Kolder Creative show how a smartphone can serve as the primary camera for a complete filmmaking project. By explaining the technical process and creative decisions behind a finished Reel, the collaboration helps learners approach their own projects with greater intention and confidence.

The ten-video vivo x Kolder Creative smartphone filmmaking masterclass is available from November 9, 2026 via https://www.koldercreative.com/.  

About vivo

vivo is a technology company that creates great products based on a user-oriented value, with smart devices and intelligent services as its core. The company aims to build a bridge between humans and the digital world. Through unique creativity, vivo provides users with an increasingly convenient mobile and digital life. Following the company's core values, which include Benfen*, user-orientation, design-driven value, continuous learning and team spirit, vivo has implemented a sustainable development strategy with the vision of developing into a healthier, more sustainable world-class corporation.

While bringing together and developing the best local talents to deliver excellence, vivo is supported by a network of R&D centers in Shenzhen, Dongguan, Nanjing, Beijing, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Xi'an and more cities, focusing on the development of state-of-the-art consumer technologies, including 5G, artificial intelligence, industrial design, imaging system and other up-and-coming technologies. vivo has also set up an intelligent manufacturing network (including those authorized by vivo), with an annual production capacity of nearly 200 million smartphones. As of now, vivo has branched out its sales network across more than 60 countries and regions, and is loved by nearly 600 million users worldwide.

*"Benfen" is a term describing the attitude on doing the right things and doing things right – which is the ideal description of vivo's mission to create value for society.

Stay informed of latest vivo news at https://www.vivo.com/en/about-vivo/news  

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vivo x Kolder Creative: New Smartphone Filmmaking Masterclass Featuring vivo X500 Pro Max

vivo x Kolder Creative: New Smartphone Filmmaking Masterclass Featuring vivo X500 Pro Max

vivo x Kolder Creative: New Smartphone Filmmaking Masterclass Featuring vivo X500 Pro Max

vivo x Kolder Creative: New Smartphone Filmmaking Masterclass Featuring vivo X500 Pro Max

Two-day visit comes as NABEP's production in the Petrozamora oil fields hit a record 115,000 barrels per day and a sixth drilling rig arrives.

CARACAS, Venezuela, Oct. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. State Department officials, including Chargé d'Affaires John M. Barrett, visited the oil fields of North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP) in western and eastern Venezuela on Oct. 23 and 24 to see how quickly the company is growing production under its August agreement with the U.S. government.

On Friday, Daniel Kennedy, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Energy and Critical Minerals, joined NABEP CEO Alejandro Betancourt and PDVSA leadership at the Bachaquero field on Lake Maracaibo. The group inspected the Bachaquero Lago 2 compression module and checked on Bachaquero 3 and Ceuta 4, two projects expected to add to NABEP's production there within four months. That same day, NABEP's production in the Petrozamora oil fields reached a record 115,000 barrels per day. Mr. Barrett followed the visit from Miraflores Palace in Caracas. On Saturday, he and Mr. Kennedy traveled to NABEP's Junín 10 block in the Orinoco Belt, where the company's new drilling rigs are at work.

"Less than two months after this historic agreement was announced, our partner NABEP has already ramped up its oil production and brought in new rigs from the United States," said Mr. Barrett. "American rigs are putting Venezuelans to work, and Venezuelan oil is strengthening America's energy security. Both of our countries are winning."

Junín 10, formerly known as Junín Sur, is where most of NABEP's new drilling is taking place. Three drilling rigs are working there today, and three more will start soon, including a sixth rig that recently arrived in Venezuela. NABEP also runs 13 workover rigs for well repair and maintenance, with 15 more on the way.

"Every barrel we produce is the work of Venezuelan hands," said Mr. Betancourt. "From the shores of Lake Maracaibo to the Orinoco Belt, thousands of NABEP workers are bringing these fields back to life. There are real challenges ahead. Some of these fields have been producing for decades, and others have never been drilled. No company knows this ground better than NABEP, and no one is better positioned to unlock what it can produce."

NABEP directly employs more than 5,000 people and supports over 10,000 contractor jobs across Venezuela. Over the past two years, the company has grown production from about 18,000 barrels per day to more than 200,000, funded by roughly $1 billion of its own investment. The same strategy is being used to fund its ongoing production push, with hundreds of millions of dollars more being reinvested every month. As of Oct. 19, NABEP's total hydrocarbon production across its fields reached 223,509 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

The visits come after NABEP's August agreement with the U.S. Departments of State and War to significantly expand oil production in Venezuela. NABEP holds the rights to commercialize more than 65 billion barrels of proven reserves in the country and is targeting production of more than 1 million barrels of oil per day in the near term.

About North American Blue Energy Partners
North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP) is an independent oil exploration and production company operating in North and Latin America, with offices in Caracas, Maracaibo and Lechería. NABEP is committed to the responsible development of energy resources, the safety of its people and the prosperity of the communities where it operates. www.nabep.net 

Media contact
press@nabep.com

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U.S. Officials Tour NABEP's Venezuelan Oil Fields: "Both of our countries are winning"

U.S. Officials Tour NABEP's Venezuelan Oil Fields: "Both of our countries are winning"

U.S. Officials Tour NABEP's Venezuelan Oil Fields: "Both of our countries are winning"