Tuesday, 17 December 2013
how to make digital video look like film
Digital video looks very sharp, but many people miss the feeling that they got from watching films that were filmed on film. This video will show you how to replicate the look of old film without having to actually shoot on it using a bleach bypass in Final Cut Express. Working with film is hard, so watch this video and inject some of that organic feeling back into your movies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlDc54few00
Thursday, 12 December 2013
What effects does music have on a person?
we think of music as entertainment, or an accompaniment to entertainment. Most of us can't remember life without phonograph records, cassette tapes or Compact Discs and the artists we all have listened to on them. The great majority of radio stations exist to play music, and there is hardly a minute on TV - other than news shows - that doesn't have theme music, background music or commercial music.
But as much as we enjoy different kinds of music, it is all of one purpose: to entertain. We have The Music Business and The Entertainment Business. Why else would we listen to music besides entertainment?
In the past, and in other parts of the world today, there are definitely other reasons. The classical Master Beethoven, for example, was justly famous for being able to evoke specific emotions in his listeners, and wrote pieces that we still listen to today to evoke joy, sadness, loss and return. His piano sonata Les Adieux couldn't be clearer if he had written a short story: two lovers part, they experience their loneliness, but are joyfully reunited in the last movement. The ability of music to evoke emotions is its first and most obvious power, and we shall return to it again.Physical and mental effects
Some types of music can relax us. After a stressful work day, classical music, certain types of jazz, or our favorite ballad singer can physically relax our bodies and distract our minds from the cares of the day - at least for a while. On the other hand, loud, fast music with a strong beat can exhilarate (or bother) us. In fact, sometimes we may prefer one kind of music or artist, and at other times that's the last thing we want to listen to.
So we have all experienced music's physical and mental effects on us at one time or another. In fact, the mental effect is so strong at times, a few lines from a song can keep running through our minds despite our efforts to ignore them or make them stop.
Emotional effects
There are other ways music affects us emotionally. One way can be most clearly demonstrated by movie music. 
Music signals us when something scary, threatening or ominous is about to happen. If you close your eyes in an action, horror or thriller movie, you can pretty much tell what's happening on the screen by the music alone. The same is true for a romance. Film composers such as John Williams get paid big money for their ability to shift your emotions from moment to moment. Movie theme music - such as Williams' Star Wars theme - can make us practically march out of the theater, our shoulders thrown back, determined to vanquish our own foes. (And sometimes we just hope one will show up right then so we can spring into action.) Our self-confidence has been affected, and it is as much due to the movie music as the movie story and visuals.
Music signals us when something scary, threatening or ominous is about to happen. If you close your eyes in an action, horror or thriller movie, you can pretty much tell what's happening on the screen by the music alone. The same is true for a romance. Film composers such as John Williams get paid big money for their ability to shift your emotions from moment to moment. Movie theme music - such as Williams' Star Wars theme - can make us practically march out of the theater, our shoulders thrown back, determined to vanquish our own foes. (And sometimes we just hope one will show up right then so we can spring into action.) Our self-confidence has been affected, and it is as much due to the movie music as the movie story and visuals.
So what's going on between us and this music? What is the emotional hook music has on us all about? There is something going on here besides sound waves, the mechanism of the ear, and synapses firing in the brain. Apparently, music and mood are intimately connected in some non-physical way.
Altered states of consciousness
Music has also always had a sacred purpose. Most of our modern religious music is but a faint echo of other powers music has had in the dim past, although some of this ancient power has recently come to light, which is one of the purposes of this site.
Used in certain ways, one of the principal powers of music can be to induce altered states of consciousness (ASC's). These can be anything from a very relaxed state, to a much deeper state, where non-ordinary realities can be experienced. There are many ways to enter such states - meditation and psychotropic plants are but two - but music has always been one of the primary entrance points to these inner states. Nothing is required but the music and the listener. Not all music can do this, but some, such as that on Memories of Home, is capable of inducing them.
What happens in these states? When I have played this music for different groups of people, many have reported that they experienced a mental and emotional excursion or trip that seemed 
quite real to them. Calling this a dream seemed to be wholly inadequate; the word vision came closer. But experience seems more accurate. These experiences have generally been of a place and time, if you will, that is distinct from ordinary, waking reality. It is not that the music creates these realities or their contents, for they are all distinctly different for each person. Rather, the music opens a kind of inner space in which certain experiences can occur.
quite real to them. Calling this a dream seemed to be wholly inadequate; the word vision came closer. But experience seems more accurate. These experiences have generally been of a place and time, if you will, that is distinct from ordinary, waking reality. It is not that the music creates these realities or their contents, for they are all distinctly different for each person. Rather, the music opens a kind of inner space in which certain experiences can occur.
If the music itself doesn't create the content, then what or who does? Perhaps the easiest way to express the answer is to acknowledge that we are all much more complex than we are led to believe. Certain kinds of music have the power to pull an inner curtain aside, so to speak, so that we become temporarily aware of parts of ourselves which are usually inaccessible. What is experienced in these moments is rather like a message or a movie from me to me - a non-conscious film clip made conscious through the music.
The expansion of meaning
Modern psychology, from Freud onwards, has contained the notion of the Unconscious - which consists of a collective aspect as well as a personal one. This is usually described as being an amorphous collection of suppressed emotions, feelings, past experiences, archetypes (moving on to Jung) and other flotsam and jetsam over which we seemingly have no control. This is described as being the "location" where our fears and phobias exist, which in some extreme cases forces us to become out of control, when we become neurotically or pathologically ruled by our fears.
The problem with this explanation is meaning. One result of listening to music played in these Mesopotamian tunings is that the experiences people have reported having always meant something to them at the time they were listening to it. 
If what is non-conscious within ourselves is just flotsam, then a random experience, instead of a pertinent and timely one, would be expected. There seems to be no doubt that these experiences were intelligently, and lovingly, I might add, presented to each listener to make of what they would. These "film clips" are usually presented symbolically, rather than literally, which is the language of our "unconscious." Still, they are presented meaningfully, which implies a purpose, and therefore an intelligence, behind them.
If what is non-conscious within ourselves is just flotsam, then a random experience, instead of a pertinent and timely one, would be expected. There seems to be no doubt that these experiences were intelligently, and lovingly, I might add, presented to each listener to make of what they would. These "film clips" are usually presented symbolically, rather than literally, which is the language of our "unconscious." Still, they are presented meaningfully, which implies a purpose, and therefore an intelligence, behind them.
We do not have to look far to find the source of this intelligence. It is only a non-conscious part of ourselves communicating with the conscious part. This non-conscious part has many names: Higher Self, Guardian Angel, Intelligent Self, Inner Self, and so on. It has also been called the link to Creator and the Oneness of all being. But by whatever name we use, denying that it is intelligent is to deny experience. It is the source of our dreams, visions, hunches, intuition and emotions. It is in short only us, but an us that we must define much more broadly than we are accustomed to doing.
The world is just a little more complex, undiscovered and multi-leveled than science has yet uncovered, that's all.
The difference between film and video
1. Price
One of the main differences between film and video is that Film is very expensive, video is not. Film costs around £2 per 24 stills, or 1 second worth of filming. £2 for one second, imagine the cost of a full film, you do the math. Unless you have more money than sense or some investors with a crazily good belief in your directing skills.
2. Image quality
Other than just cost you have the image quality. The largest difference is in how each medium captures and displays imagery. Film simply captures light, creating lines of depth and colour, meaning it looks soft and smooth, even when projected at large sizes. Digital video however has a native resolution and is made of pixels, so it is much sharper than film, with a more rigid appearance. A pixel (picture element) is a small part of the picture containing just one colour. Obviously this means the greater the number of pixels, the higher the quality of the image.
3. Film Rate
When film is run, it films at 24fps (frames per second), in other how many still images appear on the screen every second. in contrast, video runs at 29.97 for NTSC and s4fps for PAL.
One of the main differences between film and video is that Film is very expensive, video is not. Film costs around £2 per 24 stills, or 1 second worth of filming. £2 for one second, imagine the cost of a full film, you do the math. Unless you have more money than sense or some investors with a crazily good belief in your directing skills.
2. Image quality
Other than just cost you have the image quality. The largest difference is in how each medium captures and displays imagery. Film simply captures light, creating lines of depth and colour, meaning it looks soft and smooth, even when projected at large sizes. Digital video however has a native resolution and is made of pixels, so it is much sharper than film, with a more rigid appearance. A pixel (picture element) is a small part of the picture containing just one colour. Obviously this means the greater the number of pixels, the higher the quality of the image.
3. Film Rate
When film is run, it films at 24fps (frames per second), in other how many still images appear on the screen every second. in contrast, video runs at 29.97 for NTSC and s4fps for PAL.
Wednesday, 11 December 2013
Teaser Poster Mood Board.
Teaser Poster Mood Board
I created this mood board in Adobe Photoshop to showcase some of my favourite teaser posters of 2013. The average teaser poster doesn't usually contain much information about the film other than maybe the name of the film, the date of release and other things such as the Directors name. However, some of the posters shown above contain a bit more information than that; a couple contain names of actors present in the film, and other show quotes from critics who have already seen the film whereas others contain information relevant to the contents of the film, but this is quite rare within teaser posters.
Personally I like the look of the two largest posters in this collage; The "Black Rock"poster down on the left and the "Only God Forgives" poster up on the right. I really like the simple design of the "Black Rock" poster, it leaves so many questions only to be answered by watching the film which is the main purpose of a teaser trailer, and I feel it has accomplished this very well. The Bold knife silhouette leads you to think that the themes of the film are quite sinister and violent.
The "Only God Forgives"poster also leaves questions, however doesn't give many hints to the themes of the film, only the location. The neon light effect of the poster makes me think that the film is based in Thailand or china, especially in the shape of the lights. In fact this film is based in Bangkok.
Personally I like the look of the two largest posters in this collage; The "Black Rock"poster down on the left and the "Only God Forgives" poster up on the right. I really like the simple design of the "Black Rock" poster, it leaves so many questions only to be answered by watching the film which is the main purpose of a teaser trailer, and I feel it has accomplished this very well. The Bold knife silhouette leads you to think that the themes of the film are quite sinister and violent.
The "Only God Forgives"poster also leaves questions, however doesn't give many hints to the themes of the film, only the location. The neon light effect of the poster makes me think that the film is based in Thailand or china, especially in the shape of the lights. In fact this film is based in Bangkok.
Tuesday, 10 December 2013
The difference between 'Film' and 'Video'
The Difference Between 'Film' and 'Video'
To get the film look from video, there are a few things that are altered in order to accomplish this; Latitude, Colour, Interlaced Image.
The biggest difference between film and video is the contrast latitude of the mediums. That is how many steps in the value scale between black and white. Film compared to video has a smooth gradation between values. Related to this is the actual difference between the brightest and darkest detail the mediums can capture before reading totally black or totally white.
The second biggest difference is colour depth. Film has more colours than video, Especially NTSC video cameras (NTSC is the video standard used in the US) Often pro videographers use PAL system (PAL is a European standard) because it has better colour sampling.
Third, Progressive scan. Most video cameras and all consumer TVs use interlaced scanning. That is each framed image is actually two images. Image a photo, cut into 480 horizontal strips. Now imagine the every other strip scanned by the camera. This creates half the image, now imagine the remaining alternate strips being scanned by the camera this creates the other half of the image, then the two images are knitted or "interlaced" together to create the whole image. This process of capturing and playing back an image gives video a very different look than film which is one whole picture played after another.
To get the film look from video, there are a few things that are altered in order to accomplish this; Latitude, Colour, Interlaced Image.
The biggest difference between film and video is the contrast latitude of the mediums. That is how many steps in the value scale between black and white. Film compared to video has a smooth gradation between values. Related to this is the actual difference between the brightest and darkest detail the mediums can capture before reading totally black or totally white.
The second biggest difference is colour depth. Film has more colours than video, Especially NTSC video cameras (NTSC is the video standard used in the US) Often pro videographers use PAL system (PAL is a European standard) because it has better colour sampling.
Third, Progressive scan. Most video cameras and all consumer TVs use interlaced scanning. That is each framed image is actually two images. Image a photo, cut into 480 horizontal strips. Now imagine the every other strip scanned by the camera. This creates half the image, now imagine the remaining alternate strips being scanned by the camera this creates the other half of the image, then the two images are knitted or "interlaced" together to create the whole image. This process of capturing and playing back an image gives video a very different look than film which is one whole picture played after another.
Film Poster Examination.
Film Poster Examination.On the right is the 2013 poster for the recently recreated/sequel to the original 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'. The poster decayed aesthetics of the poster emphasise the themes of the film (the black and white, sharp image with black and white fragments displayed either behind the character are quite creepy. Also the high contrast of the image really shows all of the detail on the features of the character - especially the iconic face of the main character, Letaherface.) The red text (also rough and decaying) contrast with the ink blot black image and and the white background. The colour red in this case has violent connotations as anyone who has seen any of the other films, or anyone who has at least heard of the title will know the themes and content of this film. Of course the red connotes violence and blood, due to the nature of this film this colour is highly relevant.
The Text displayed at the bottom of the poster which is quite difficult to read, however is shown on most official film posters contains all the info that you may need to know about the film ie. Director, Production companies, actors and other content. The font of this text is named 'Steel Tongs' and is commonly or only known for this use.
INTRO
http://www.beachfrontbroll.com/2012/10/1-clip-drips-in-dark.html
This is the website where we are getting our film intro from. This is a free site where you can use video clips. There are quite a few good film intros that we could use, but we have chosen to use the Leaks A Little video loop as this can correspond with the film movie title. The movie title is 'SEEN' and this clip looks like it is a light that is circling, searching for something. This could link in with the items that keep going missing.
This is the website where we are getting our film intro from. This is a free site where you can use video clips. There are quite a few good film intros that we could use, but we have chosen to use the Leaks A Little video loop as this can correspond with the film movie title. The movie title is 'SEEN' and this clip looks like it is a light that is circling, searching for something. This could link in with the items that keep going missing.
Thursday, 5 December 2013
Research into Film Posters
Research into Film Posters.
According to "WebDesignerDepot" there are seven elements to a great film poster; Starting with 'Attention' - for the poster to jump from the wall. To grab peoples eyes as the pass doesn't have to mean flashy graphics and provocative imagery. By almost teasing the viewer with what is shown on the poster, the viewer can be intrigued to the context of the poster, leaving them to find out the meaning by seeing the film.
The second Element of a great film poster is 'Iconography'. This includes 'showing without telling', The use of imagery on a poster with out blatantly saying what the film is about are often the most effective posters. Close ups of the main character(s) giving subtle hints to what the plot of the film consists of, although simple, have great aesthetics.
'Interest' is the third element, much like the element you create an incentive to see the film by creating a puzzling poster (depending on genre of course). Most of film posters these days often put the viewer in the middle of or a strand of a scene in the film. the incentive is that the viewer needs to see the film in order to resolve the situation.
The fourth element is 'Appeal'. To create a desire to see the feature for both fans and non-fans alike. a lot of film posters are quickly adapting to gain the aesthetics of comic books and so, for comic book fans its a warm welcome, but to none fans of comic books its an arty, nice looking and exciting new film poster advertising the latest release. So by broadening their audience they no longer rely on niches to get interest from the public.
Furthermore, the fifth element of creating a great looking film poster is 'Style'. Making sure that the stylistic values of the poster coincide with the style in which the film itself looks is fairly important; after all, the way your film is presented and looks is unique to you. how are you going to gain an audience for your films if it just blends in with the rest? By creating your own look, and taking ideas from others (eg Film Noir) you are able to create films distinguishable to you.
Six on the list is 'Lasting Appeal'. Another way in way the designer can create a great poster is by using formats commonly used for other things (a look that suits other formats). This means your graphics and imagery are just as recognisable on a DVD cover as it is on a large film poster. (one famous example is the 'Jurassic Park' bold but brilliantly recognisable cover/poster design.)
The previous point also links with the seventh and final point, is recognisability. For example, is it a sequel? if so make it obvious that it is. 'The Godfather' is a fine example of this; they seem to have their own logo of the puppeteers hand.
According to "WebDesignerDepot" there are seven elements to a great film poster; Starting with 'Attention' - for the poster to jump from the wall. To grab peoples eyes as the pass doesn't have to mean flashy graphics and provocative imagery. By almost teasing the viewer with what is shown on the poster, the viewer can be intrigued to the context of the poster, leaving them to find out the meaning by seeing the film.
The second Element of a great film poster is 'Iconography'. This includes 'showing without telling', The use of imagery on a poster with out blatantly saying what the film is about are often the most effective posters. Close ups of the main character(s) giving subtle hints to what the plot of the film consists of, although simple, have great aesthetics.
'Interest' is the third element, much like the element you create an incentive to see the film by creating a puzzling poster (depending on genre of course). Most of film posters these days often put the viewer in the middle of or a strand of a scene in the film. the incentive is that the viewer needs to see the film in order to resolve the situation.
The fourth element is 'Appeal'. To create a desire to see the feature for both fans and non-fans alike. a lot of film posters are quickly adapting to gain the aesthetics of comic books and so, for comic book fans its a warm welcome, but to none fans of comic books its an arty, nice looking and exciting new film poster advertising the latest release. So by broadening their audience they no longer rely on niches to get interest from the public.
Furthermore, the fifth element of creating a great looking film poster is 'Style'. Making sure that the stylistic values of the poster coincide with the style in which the film itself looks is fairly important; after all, the way your film is presented and looks is unique to you. how are you going to gain an audience for your films if it just blends in with the rest? By creating your own look, and taking ideas from others (eg Film Noir) you are able to create films distinguishable to you.
Six on the list is 'Lasting Appeal'. Another way in way the designer can create a great poster is by using formats commonly used for other things (a look that suits other formats). This means your graphics and imagery are just as recognisable on a DVD cover as it is on a large film poster. (one famous example is the 'Jurassic Park' bold but brilliantly recognisable cover/poster design.)
The previous point also links with the seventh and final point, is recognisability. For example, is it a sequel? if so make it obvious that it is. 'The Godfather' is a fine example of this; they seem to have their own logo of the puppeteers hand.
Tuesday, 3 December 2013
shooting pack
we will be shooing the walking scene tomorrow and this is what we will need:
-Camera
-Tape
-Shot list
-Script
-Story board
-Tri pod
Props
-Emilys Phone
-Camera
-Tape
-Shot list
-Script
-Story board
-Tri pod
Props
-Emilys Phone
Monday, 2 December 2013
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