Independent Movies

Why Is Eureka a Good Film?

2007-10-12T13:06:00.000-07:00

Don’t be afraid of the 217 minutes! Although the film’s pace is slow, a deeply psychological and substantial plot is brought to surface. The photography is excellent (Matsaki Tamura). The photographer uses more shots in one set up. He moves the camera from long shot to close up and back. Right from the film’s opening sequence this defines the atmosphere. This frequently creates a very complex screen as well. It points at the internal struggle behind the actors seemingly aimless and hesitant wandering. The photographer applies depth composition amazingly. He doesn’t use wide angles but uses long lens (for example in the film of Carlos Reygadas the Battle in Heaven). Thus the objects and actors can only be seen at a particular distance. It makes a unique effect to pick or hide the important parts of the film. It also depicts the characters' relations to their environment and to other people; expressing their non-existant, or rather uncertain connection with the world. They are isolated from normal life. They are connected by the tragedy they experienced and now they try to find a way out together.

Shinji Aoyama: Eureka

The Best Video Compression Tutorials on Youtube

2007-09-10T19:44:00.000-07:00

Video on the web is a huge part of today's internet experience.
How to make your video "web friendly"?

Many different formats and video compression programs are waiting for you. The following videos can help you achieve the best final result. These videos show you the suitable programs and settings.

In this video you can see the two-step solution, with Movie Maker and Virtual Dub.

Canopus is an excellent program for this kind of work. In this video you can get detailed information on the program settings.

Many people say the Premier isn't any good at these sort of tasks. Watch this video.

And finally the Movavi Video Suite. Maybe this is the most userfriendly solution.

Of course these videos don't show every possiblity. If you want more tips, check out the VideoHelp.com and Squidoo.com websites.

Good Luck

Bergmans Life-work in Moving Pictures

2007-08-14T06:17:00.000-07:00

The following sample videos come from Bergmans significant works.

Smiles of a Summer Night (1955) the intricate romantic comedy made famous director from Bergman.

The Seventh Seal (1957), a knight plays chess with Death.

Wild Strawberries (1957) The story is following the a day in the life of an old professor. Flashbacks and dream sequences are creating a penetrating investigation of life and death.

The trilogy

Through a Glass Darkly (1961)

Winter Light (1963)

And the last film of trilogy The Silence (1963)

His most personal film Persona (1966)

Bergman shows the human psyche and relationships over again.
Cries and Whispers (1972) Look at the colors too. It’s brilliant.

His last movie film Fanny and Alexander (1982). Watch this trailer.

The last film from Bergman is a TV film. Saraband (2003)

Weekly Indie Gems

2007-07-13T18:11:00.000-07:00

The best independent videos in the last week. Watch these films and leave your comment!

Oxygen
Film by notoriousm

I like this animation because the maker creates perfect work with several emphatic pictures and subtitles. Some elements are stereotypical , but these are expressive too. He uses different technics, photos, drawings, collage etc. Unfortunately sometimes I can’t read the subtiles. But this is the youtube frame size . The music harmonize with the pictures and the story, but it is sentimental a ’bit. I like the laconism of the end of the film.

He is a gifted guy. See more works for him.

Spare Parts
Film by Ankn85

Spare Part is an excellent, german, student film. There are gloomy pictures with effects and voices in there. But the actors play and plastic lungs are funny. This contrast gives the films essence. Monty Python's The Meaning of Life comes to my mind. In this film in one scene a man in a white robe cut out the „unseeing” peoples tracts. It’s very absurd, as Spare Parts too.

The film haven’t got any redundant infromation. The creator uses some shots cleverly and with good rhythm. It is artless, consistent, meaty and it has very good atmosphere.

I like this film.

Jeet
Film by paraschaudhari

Jeet is a very nice videoclip on You Tube. But it isn’t only nice, it is an excellent work too. The pictures and the music are consonant and have good rhythm. The editing effects enhance the films power. It’s perfect.
We get used to the different frame sizes and the motion effects. We have seen this result yet in action films and videoclips. In most cases it wasn’t well but in this film the creators can work out this problem.

A Young Genius Colin Levy

2007-06-18T10:38:00.000-07:00

Colin Levy is a talented young guy. If you see his site you will agree with me. You find here some photos, films, animations, tutorials and visual effects.

Look at this foretaste from Colin works.

„Did you know?” is a good compilation and it runs many important problems about our human world.

„In a way, this one film says more than any of my other movies, ever” - writes Colin. It’s true, but there are also good films of him.

The cloning is very popular subject. Colin has made his own version.
CLONING: Direct interaction

But how can you make it? Look our howto movie, it will help you.
Let’s see another interesting trick. How do we fire our finger without pain? Choose the „Magic Trick” video.

Of course a genius can fault sometimes. I don’t understand why is this film here.

The jokes aren’t funny. It is very calculable. „This movie is my longest short film” - writes Colin. Maybe it’s the problem.

And now one more extra. It is a fly trip in the garden with a spaceship.
Choose „Spaceship in Suburbia”.

What do you think? He is a skillful guy, isn’t he?

How to Set White Balance

2007-06-13T05:48:00.000-07:00

The phrase "White Balance" comes from professional video. Videographers make it tough and use a special kind of oscilloscope called a waveform monitor to match or "balance" the signals from the camera's red, green and blue channels to make whites look neutral under these different kinds of light.

In digital photography and amateur video we have it much easier. You can just press a button to make whites neutral, or let the camera do this automatically. It's also trivial to use this adjustment instead to make whatever colors you prefer.

Digital cameras usually have built-in sensors to measure the current color temperature and use an algorithm to process the image so that the final result may be close to what we see. But, the algorithm(s) being used may not be accurate enough to make every situation correct.

example
auto white balance

manual white balance

Digital cameras have some built-in sets (Daylight, Cloudy, Flash, Shade etc.) but we can get the best result we use manual set.

1. Look for a white surface.
2. Direct the camera to surface.
3. Press the "White Balance" buttom on camera.

You can record pictures in real colors with this setting.

"Bill Viola is worth then Scorseses." (Peter Greenaway)

2007-05-08T12:19:00.000-07:00

Bill Viola is a pioneer of video art. For over 35 years he has created videotapes, architectural video installations, sound environments, electronic music performances, flat panel video pieces, and works for television broadcast. His works focus on universal human experiences: birth, death, emotion, the unfolding of consciousness.

Bill Viola is very versatile and sensible vanguard artist. It demonstrate this short portrait film (click here).

Viola in his earlier films experimented with the video technic.

Bill Viola always uses in his works slow motion effect for example in the Passion (2003). This inspired by traditions Renaissance painting. Visit this site (click here)

And finally the Anthem

If you interest violas works you will find more videos on youtube and google video.

Jesus

2007-04-15T05:19:00.000-07:00

Risen is an animation film on YouTube. It was made by Ben Kaufher. I haven’t found any information about him and his films except two sentences: „It's everyone's favorite dude doing everyone's favorite activity. Experimental animation about a short road trip”.

Risen is a dorky interpretation of Jesus' resurrection and the creation of the world. But I don’t understand why he does these things.

The sounds bolster up the images of the film perfectly. But the colors of the film seem inconsistent. Although the sets are simple, it looks fine.
I don’t understand the end of the film exactly. But maybe this is my fault.

Hungarian Animation for Oscar

2007-03-13T04:08:00.000-07:00

The animation filmmaking in Hungary was pushed into the background on last decades. But recently the 3D animation’s evolution attracts many hungarian people this field again.

For example Pál Tóth in Szeged, Hungary. He experiments borders of the animation. Géza M. Tóth belongs to this creaters too. His last film the Maestro has got several international awards and it was nominated for Oscar.

Will old succeses of hungarian animation come back?

Hungarian animation in the past

Ferenc Rufusz’s Fly won the Oscar (in 1981)

Marcell Jankovics’s Sisyphus was nominated for Oscar (in 1976)

Béla Ternovszky’s most famous film the Cat City (in 1986)

Gyula Macskássy’s Duel Oscar nominee (in 1961). He was the greatest creater and committed to the hungarian animation.

Good luck to the Hungarian animation.

Orderly Chaos or Why Is Babel the Babel?

2007-02-10T11:24:00.000-08:00

The story of the Babel is the symbol of incomprehensibility. In the Love Dogs, Inarittu showed he is a master of the more event thread passing narrative. Why couldn’t he replay it? Was it too big work with him? This film all the same runs, it’s complete. It’s simple, effective, spectacular. It’s a good movie but absents from analysis and discovery so only it is just a film of the many other ones. It doesn’t exceed on the scheme but it use that skilfully. It doesn’t show new elements from reality. We don’t understand the problem better than it represents: the incomprehensibility, the difficulties of communication, which go under the cultural and linguistic differences. We feeze the characters, but we forget them after we leave the cinema. It doesn’t change anything of the world, neither does ours. I expect a film that disturbs and leave me with plenty of questions. Of course I like relaxing too, but in that case I wouldn’t have chosen this film. It remained between only two types. It took big, but it hold small and it couldn’t get rid of the narrative’s models.

Alejandro González Inárritu - Babel (American Drama, 2006, 142 min)

Reflection on Film Criticism

2007-01-22T05:16:00.000-08:00

What is criticism good for? Is there any objective measure for the appreciation of films (or other products)? Is there? Then what is it needed for? What one likes the other gets upset. What one laughs at, the other cries. All of us can only see the world that we live and experience. We interpret everything with the help of them. The woman who was raped she wouldn’t relive the experience on film screen definitely but it would probably free her from her trauma. Perhaps it would be very painful, but it might help her face up to fears.
There isn’t only one objective measure but many different ones and still there are works and films, which are chosen and subsisted. We talk about them; we see them over and over again. Why does it happen? Is it only a result of an arbitrary choice? Why do we say that Picasso was a big painter? Why do we talk about Orson Welles as a big director? Because of the critics who say that? Do these artists thank their reputations for coincidence? I don’t think so. Then what for? Most of the public became alienated from them. They don’t appreciate their works. Then why are we enthusiastic about them? I think because they teach to see us, if we let them. A critic’s task is to mediate between the public and the creator. The critic can show a way, a door, which is only his view. This might help us to find our own ones. It depends on our decision to enter it or not (for example Franz Kafka’s Before the Law).