Search found 1887 matches

by Dave Watterson
Wed Sep 03, 2008 11:20 pm
Forum: Competitions, Festivals and The Art of Film
Topic: Optimum Length! Is Longer Better?
Replies: 20
Views: 18442

I re-read this thread and realised that Greg was originally talking about competitions organised within a club or perhaps between a couple of clubs. While many of us have been talking about national and international festivals. At club level things can be much more restrictive ... and judging can be...
by Dave Watterson
Wed Sep 03, 2008 9:44 pm
Forum: Competitions, Festivals and The Art of Film
Topic: Optimum Length! Is Longer Better?
Replies: 20
Views: 18442

Maybe part of the attraction for am-dram actors in a film project could be having a chance to LEARN film technique. Tape is cheap, though time can be a problem. But it may be worth planning time to try some key scenes then on another night playing them back - probably repeatedly - in a workshop sess...
by Dave Watterson
Wed Sep 03, 2008 9:37 pm
Forum: Competitions, Festivals and The Art of Film
Topic: 3:1 Ratio On Video
Replies: 6
Views: 7428

Slightly to my surprise - because I thought from my cinema and 35mm experience I was familiar with how different a widescreen show can look - this is impressive even on the YouTube version which is not the full 3:1. Given that there have been all sorts of widescreen formats over the years in cinemas...
by Dave Watterson
Tue Sep 02, 2008 10:04 pm
Forum: Competitions, Festivals and The Art of Film
Topic: Optimum Length! Is Longer Better?
Replies: 20
Views: 18442

In the IAC Festival the average length of entry is just under 12 minutes. On the main website http://www.theiac.org.uk/events/forthcoming_festivals.html has a listing of major competitions by the maximum length they accept. Notice that the Phase 4 Fiction Film competition organised by Ken Wilson for...
by Dave Watterson
Tue Sep 02, 2008 12:26 am
Forum: Equipment and Technical Issues
Topic: buying projector
Replies: 14
Views: 16168

Good advice, Roy. Just a word of warning ... look for eBay projectors which are new rather than used. I don't know if they fall off the back of lorries or are just imported by bright people who can afford to undercut the shops. I've had some good eBay deals too. Projectors are known as "beamers...
by Dave Watterson
Sun Aug 31, 2008 11:18 pm
Forum: Equipment and Technical Issues
Topic: buying projector
Replies: 14
Views: 16168

Fair enough. I apologise for the mean Scots joke.

Dave
by Dave Watterson
Sun Aug 31, 2008 9:50 pm
Forum: Equipment and Technical Issues
Topic: buying projector
Replies: 14
Views: 16168

Hi Frank, Border people don't have to live up to the "mean Scot" image! But your club is not alone in wanting a decent projector at a relatively modest price. I am sure a lot of readers will be interested in the replies you get here. The cheapest sources are all likely to be internet ones ...
by Dave Watterson
Sat Aug 30, 2008 8:28 pm
Forum: Equipment and Technical Issues
Topic: Anybody editing in HDV?
Replies: 29
Views: 27021

Hi Ned I suggest the wiki is a good starting point: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVCHD#Panasonic and this may help https://eww.pavc.panasonic.co.jp/pro-av/support/desk/e/download.htm Or you could buy a Sony Playstation! Dave P.S. For those not following the story of the AVCHD system, it was develope...
by Dave Watterson
Fri Aug 29, 2008 10:06 am
Forum: Club and General Issues
Topic: What a typical club should have for watching movies?
Replies: 12
Views: 10333

the processor has a fader - which is useful. In a perfect world there would be a mixer board with HDMI inputs and outputs at a reasonable price, but in the real world I wonder if we should consider returning to the physical method of dimming a projector ... sliding something in front of the lens. T...
by Dave Watterson
Wed Aug 20, 2008 11:35 pm
Forum: Equipment and Technical Issues
Topic: Blue Skies
Replies: 3
Views: 4994

Welcome back, Stingman! We missed you. I'd start trying with the Video Effects>Image Control>Change Color. Open up the effects control. Grab the "eye-dropper" from the "Color to Change" line and click it on the sky to be improved in your preview pane. Then use the "Saturatio...
by Dave Watterson
Tue Aug 19, 2008 11:07 pm
Forum: Competitions, Festivals and The Art of Film
Topic: Competition Entries Reluctance to Accept HDV
Replies: 17
Views: 18635

Um ... I don't like to even think this, let alone write it ... According to "How Stuff Works" website, NHK Science and Technical Research Laboratories is developing a successor to HD. The frame size proposed is 7680 x 4320 (16 to 9 ratio) with a frame rate of 60 per second in progressive m...
by Dave Watterson
Mon Aug 18, 2008 1:06 pm
Forum: Competitions, Festivals and The Art of Film
Topic: Movie titles - what's in a name?
Replies: 22
Views: 20097

Movie titles - what's in a name?

The old lore was that a title should catch the audience's attention and interest. Is that still true? Recent festival winners that are intriguing include: In the National Interest The Trap Behind the Wire The Prey [/b][/i] but also among the winners are blander titles like: Mosel Gold Nautilus Life ...
by Dave Watterson
Sat Aug 16, 2008 10:50 pm
Forum: Competitions, Festivals and The Art of Film
Topic: Promo films and music-videos
Replies: 6
Views: 6571

The argument here is that festivals need to compare apples with apples so entries should be divided by genre and judged by people who have some understanding of that genre. I have no trouble agreeing with the second part of this statement but the first gives me the shivers. At one festival the judg...
by Dave Watterson
Fri Aug 15, 2008 9:48 pm
Forum: Competitions, Festivals and The Art of Film
Topic: Promo films and music-videos
Replies: 6
Views: 6571

Promo films and music-videos

At the 2008 Festival of Nations we saw a film about an Austrian school. Like similar movies in Britain it was clearly aimed at parents and teenagers - encouraging students to enroll there. It happened to be very well made and quite entertaining - which is not always the case with such films. The jur...
by Dave Watterson
Sat Aug 09, 2008 9:49 am
Forum: Club and General Issues
Topic: Recommended movies on the web - UPDATED
Replies: 32
Views: 66531

There is an amazing compilation of clips from commercial movies which have been made into a send-up version of those tv shows: "100 best xxx movies"

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FExqG6LdWHU[/youtube]

Dave