IAC DISCUSSION FORUMS

Ned’s well-reasoned posting is one of the best arguments I have yet seen on the thorny subject of the derogatory connotations associated with the word “amateur” in the IAC’s title and in the title of BIAFF, its premier competition/festival. Few non-commercial film festivals worldwide now use the poi...

[It's most likely my fault but when I ask questions in various forums, I don't understand the jargon people use to enable me to solve the problem. They seem to think that everyone knows as much as they do, and most of us don't. I am just a video maker who uses the basic methods of production. I tot...

What are THORSAA's plans for a festival in 2012?

Ian Woodward

Ned refers to the fact that America’s Southern Utah International Documentary Film Festival (DOCUTAH) does not differentiate between professional and non-commercial film makers. This was what attracted me to this particular festival from the outset and what made it all the more sweeter when my film ...

It is sad news indeed, Dave, that this year’s Festival of Nations was the last.

Let’s hope it can be resurrected in some way because a film festival that attracted 1500 non-commercial entries was clearly doing something right.

I’ve just come across Austria’s Festival of Nations website where the results for the 2012 festival are published. I’m astonished to find that of the 200 recipients of awards and diplomas, there is only one representative from the UK – namely, Jim Walker, for his rivetting film Chinese Whispers. The...

Thanks, Fred. Apart from two softbox studio lights (500W each) on either side of the green screen, the subjects (situated about 4ft in front of the screen) are lit from each side, with a 300W light on the RH side being high looking down, a 300W light on the LH side being low down looking up. I used ...

Can anyone explain why, after I’ve filmed a subject against a green screen and then chroma-keyed it onto a video background, the edges of the inserted subject becomes blurred and, in general, the subject itself loses its original sharpness? No matter how much I adjust the chroma-keyer controls (Colo...

Great stuff, Tony.
Well done.
With many, many thanks,
Ian Woodward

If only, Willy, if only!

Also, while we're in saluting mode, a belated congratulations for your success at this year's Tallinn International Festival.

Ian

Congratulations, Willy (Van der Linden) on winning the Silver Medal at this year’s Seoul World Short Film and Video Festival for your film Say Wensleydale Cheese . I look forward to seeing the film one day as it is set in a part of Yorkshire from which one half of my family hails. I’ve visited the a...

I forgot to mention, Ned, that I also considered the Imperial War Museum (IWM) but I was put off by the following stipulation in their Terms & Conditions: “Please note that the Imperial War Museum's User Agreement is explicit regarding the use of material. “Specifically any item purchased under ...

I’m planning a film where I’d like to use, here and there, about one minute’s worth of WW2 archive footage of foot solders in combat in France. British Pathe possess an amazing collection of such footage, but when I wrote to BP and explained that I was a member of the IAC and that I would like to us...

Yes, Pinnacle Studio can convert the audio files to Dolby Digital (AC3), but it’s set to MPA (MPEG-1 layer 2) by default. Over the last few years I’ve burned literally hundreds of DL blanks at 100 per cent quality (8500 Kbits/sec) – including 100 wedding DVDs for each of the family representative at...

Tom, Pinnacle Studio settings display "Best" as: 8500 Kbits/sec. You can manually change this to any setting. 59% is about 5000 Kbits/sec What would you recommend I can use to ensure 90-min DVDs still come out looking good? On Studio you don't get to choose things like CBR, VBR, etc. The o...