This week we were given a special treat. And no, it was not my presence in the lecture room (har har), it was a film related lecture. Yay!
Josh gave us a brief history of the cinema. With this post I plan to give an even briefer history, making it almost irrelevant.
1895 - Birth of cinema
1906 - First feature length narrative is released IN AUSTRALIA! (Ned Kelly film)
1929 - The first all colour movie that was recorded in colour and not colourised in post production.
1933 - First drive in theater created.
1937 - Disney releases Snow White. First full length, all colour, singing, animated movie.
1940s - Mass production in Hollywood.
1952 - Movies on TV
1956 - AMPEX makes first video recorder. Priced around $50, 000 and not very practical.
1963 - AMPEX releases consumer video recorder - $30, 000 & Multiplex theater is born (reduction of screen size).
1967-69 - Sony introduces VCR + Portapak.
1970 - Birth of IMAX (returning to massive screen size).
1972 - Pay TV comes out. Producers discover they can sell movies to Pay TV and then to regular TV.
1985 - Blockbuster video store opens.
1995 - Pixar releases Toy Story.
1997 - DVD video becomes available.
Sunday, August 30
Creation: week 4 - big screen to small
Friday, August 28
Creation: questions for the idle mind
1. What is the height of the world's biggest tree? How long did it take to grow?
A: The tallest tree in the world is a coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), named Hyperion after a person in Greek mythology. He is no less than 115.55 m (379.1 feet) tall. According to redwood standards, Hyperion is quite young and still growing vigorously. The tree is estimated to be around 600 years old, which is about 20 years in human time.
Plagiarised from here on 20/08/09
2. What is the best way (quickest, most reliable) to contact Madonna?
A: A fairly dodgy looking website called superior pics, which claims to provide the general public with contact addresses to their favourite celebrities, gave this address for Madonna:
Creative Artists Agency
9830 Wilshire Boulevard
Beverly Hills, California 90212-1825
USA
Sourced from here on 20/08/09
Madonna's manager's name is Liz Rosenberg. Here are her apparent phone number and website.
Contact: Liz Rosenberg (212) 707-3256 liz.rosenberg@wbr.com
Sourced from here on 20/0/09
But if you really wanted to contact Madonna, your best bet would be a 'chance run-in'. I'd suggest stalking her house which is apparently somewhere in Manhattan... specific.
3. What is the age of the oldest ever captive elephant? Is this older than the average wild age?
A: On average, an elephant lives between 50 and 70 years although the oldest living elephant was recorded to have reached 82 years old. His name was 'Raja' and he lived in captivity in Sri Lanka.
Plagiarised from here on 20/08/09
4. How would you define the word ‘glycomics’? In your own words, what does it really mean? What does the term ‘seagull manager’ refer to?
A: i)The definition of glycomics has evolved to cover a range of scientific disciplines that are applied to study the structure and function of carbohydrates (sugars) in biological systems.
Plagiarised from here on 24/08/09
ii) A seagull manager refers to a manager who is brought in to deal with a project, makes a lot of fuss, achieves nothing, and then leaves.
Plagiarised from here on 24/08/09
5. What is David Cronenberg's most recent feature film? Which of his films had 'Blondie' in it?
A: i) Cronenberg's most recent feature film is Easter Promises (2007).
Sourced from here on 24/08/09
ii) Cronenberg's 1983 film 'Videodrome' starred Deborah Harry (Blondie).
Sourced from here on 24/08/09
6. When was the original 'Hackers' released?
A: The original Hackers was released in the following:
USA: 15th of September 1995
UK: 3rd of May 1996
Australia: 11th of July 1996
Sourced from here on 28/08/09
7. Why do phone numbers in Hollywood films star with ‘555’?
A: The phone companies began encouraging the producers of television shows and movies to use the 555 prefix
for fictional telephone numbers, roughly during the 1960s. This was done to try and prevent real telephone numbers
being used so that real people would not be prank called.
Sourced from here on 28/08/09
8. What is the cheapest form of travel from the Gold Coast to Cairns?
A: Webjet suggests that flying is the cheapest form of travel. You can get a one way ticket for $189 with Jetstar.
Sourced from here on 28/08/09
9. What song was top of the Australian Pop Charts this week in 1970?
A: In Wikipedia's ever expanding waste-land of knowledge, I successfully found the song that was top of the Australian pop charts during the third week of August.
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Up Around the Bend/Run Through the Jungle. This week marked the end of its 6 week reign at top of the charts.
Sourced from here on 28/08/09
10. Which Brisbane band includes Stephen Stockwell on keyboards and vocals?
A: The Black Assassins
Monday, August 17
Creation: week 2 - the internet and computer
1791 - Charles Kebabbage was born. He was the inventor of the first digital computer (although it was mechanical and not electronic). Babbage made parts for the first Difference Engine, although, due to lack of funding, it was not completed in his lifetime.
1815 - Ada Byron was born. Daughter of Lord Byron - a famous poet. She clearly did not follow in her father's footsteps as her idea of an interesting career was mathematics and science. She conceived the first computer program.
1912 - Alan Turing was born. He studied quantum mechanics, probability, logic at Cambridge University and wrote a crucial paper clarifying the computability of numbers and the possibility of a machine to compute them.
1950s - Computers first commercially made by IBM. They were initially used for military, government and corporate work due to their large and expensive design, but it soon became apparent that they would get much smaller and less expensive.
1965 - Gordom Moore proposes Moore's law: the capacity of microchip's doubles every two years. This remained true for over 40 years.
1970s- Xerox PARC developed concepts such as the mouse and the pull down menus which made the personal computers we all use today possible.
1975 - the first PC was released. It wasn't overly useful but it provided tech-nerds with endless hours of fun. This was also the year that Bill Gates started Microsoft.
1976 - The seeds of Apple were planted.
1978 - The Apple II was launched. Long story short, the creators made a LOT of money.
1979 - Apple grows exponentially. Eventually they hold 50% of the market.
1980 - IBM began to enter the PC market.
1980s to 1997 - IMB and Bill Gates combine powers and dominate the market. Bill Gates stabs a few people in the back, but in the end he turns out to be very wealthy. So it's all justified...
1998 - After the domination of Microsoft, Apple re-enters the market with their new iMac line.
1991 - A Finnish programmer named Linus Torvalds decides to add his own ideas to the pre-existing operating system Unix. Eventually resulting in the free operating system Linux.
2001 - Windows released XP. Apple released Mac OS X
2006 - Apple Computer introduces the MacBook Pro, their first Intel-based, dual-core mobile computer, as well as an Intel-based iMac.
2007 - Microsoft Corporation launches Windows Vista.
1960s - The idea of the internet comes from the RAND corporation.
1965 - Larry Roberts at MIT Lincoln Lab directs the first networking experiment. For the first time, two computers talk to each other using packet-switching technology.
Source here 30/08/09.
1980 - Tim Berners-Lee writes program called "Enquire Within," predecessor to the World Wide Web.
Source here 30/08/09.
1987 - 10,000 hosts on the Internet.
Source here 30/08/09.
1989 - 100,000 hosts on Internet.
Source here 30/08/09.
1993 - Web grows by 341,000 percent in a year.
Source here 30/08/09.
2000 - Fixed wireless, high-speed Internet technology is now seen as a viable alternative to copper and fiber optic lines placed in the ground.
Source here 30/08/09.
September 2000 - There are 20,000,000 websites on the Internet, numbers doubling since February 2000.
Source here 30/08/09.
2006 - There are an estimated 92 million Web sites online
Source here 30/08/09.
March 2007 - 1.114 billion people use the Internet according to Internet World Stats.
Source here 30/08/09.
(All information was gathered from the lecture notes expect where stated otherwise.)
Creation: a shot in skins
In film and television, every shot needs to serve a purpose. A shot that seemingly contributes nothing to the scene can often leave the viewer saying: "well, WTF?... seriously." So, as most moving pictures attempt to tell a story, the creator is constantly creating and answering questions.
The examples I have compiled below are all from the first 2 series of Skins. The website of the show can be found in this conveniently named hyperlink. Skins
This is Chris. His mother just left him alone with one thousand pounds and after spending all the money on one crazy night, he is at his father's place, painfully attempting to either obtain some money or be given a place to stay.
This shot answers the question: 'Who is at their father's place asking for money or a place to stay?'...
This is Jal. She has a clarinet. She also has a very important clarinet exam in a couple of weeks and she needs to practice.
This shot answers the questions: 'What is Jal holding in her hands?'...
This is Cassie. She's the one in the yellow top. I know it's a little hard to see her but that's because it's a very long shot. At the moment she is unhappily running away because the boy she likes - Sid - and who she thought liked him back, in fact does not. But don't worry, Cassie, he'll come around. He's just a little worried about the angry drug dealer he couldn't pay and who has somehow found a way into becoming apart of the teaching staff at his school.
This shot answers the question: 'Where is Cassie currently running?'...
This is Sid. He is a very unhappy boy because his Dad has just passed away and his girlfriend is off in Scotland making sexy time with the locals (he believes). Don't fret though, Sid, you're sexy time is not far away.
Sid is standing in front of a sunset. We know it is a sunset because an entire day has passed before this scene takes place.
This shot answers the question: 'Approximately, when is Sid standing there?'...
This is Sid. A self-portrait. Effy has asked Sid to paint something on the topic of emotion as she is having difficulty completing her Art assignment. In return she will help Sid get out of the mess he has once again found himself in. Sid produces the depressing picture you see above, however Effy insists that 'loser' is not an emotion. It's a fair call.
This shot answers the question: "Why has Sid drawn a depressing picture of himself?"...
This is a glass. It is currently being filled with brandy by the actor Bill Bailey (funny man). He is trying to comfort his friend who is upset about his son getting hit by a bus. Which is understandable.
This shot answers the question: "How did that glass get brandy in it?"...
Friday, August 14
Thursday, August 13
Chaos: upload a video
My 'long-haired' friend - Felix. He took too long to start his SOR assignment in year 12. So this happened.
His blog can be found here: http://philcollinsistheman.blogspot.com
Creation: screen lingo
Ahh, film! This course is brilliant.
For the aspiring filmmaker (I being one), there are certain terms that one must understand. The various shot types used in the production of moving pictures are rapidly becoming commonplace knowledge as more and more high schools are offering film and television subjects. These shot types are used to describe the distance between the camera and the subject and they are as follows: Extreme Close-Up (ECU or XCU), Big Close-Up (BCU), Close-Up (CU), Medium Close-Up (MCU), Mid Shot (MS), Medium Long Shot (MLS), Long Shot (LS), Very Long Shot/Wide Shot (VLS or WS).
Extreme Close-Up
The extreme close-up (ECU) singles out a portion of the face (often eyes or lips) or isolates and magnifies an object.
Image sourced from here
The big close-up (BCU) comes in between the extreme close-up and the close-up. It is usually a shot of a persons face, brow to lips. This is useful for people with ugly hair and shoulders.
Kidding.
Image sourced from here
The close-up (CU) is traditionally the shot showing just the head, hands, feet, or a small object. It emphasizes facial expression, the details of a gesture, or a significant object.
Image sourced from here
The medium close-up (MCU) shows the entire face and a portion of the body.
Image sourced from here
The mid shot (MS) frames the human body from the waist up.
Image sourced from here
The medium long shot (MLS) is usually a shot of the human body from the knees up.
Image sourced from here
In the long shot (LS), figures are visible but the background dominates.
Image sourced from here
In the Very Long Shot/Wide Shot (VLS or WS), the human body occupies a very small portion of the frame. It is often hard to distinguish one character from another.
Image sourced from here
Bibliography:
Bordwell, D & Thompson, K 2006, Chapter 5: The Shot: Cinematography in Film Art: An Introduction 8th ed. McGraw-Hill, New York.
"White Noise (2005)." Movie Screenshots. Web. 14 Aug. 2009. (Link to site)
"Transformers 2 Review: Transformers 2 Screenshots." Transformers 2 Review - Revenge of the Fallen Movie Trailers. Web. 14 Aug. 2009. (Link to site)
"Blade Runner." Movie Screenshots. Web. 14 Aug. 2009.
"Disturbia (2007)." Movie Screenshots. Web. 14 Aug. 2009. (Link to site)
"Angela's Ashes." Movie Screenshots. Web. 14 Aug. 2009. (Link to site)
Wednesday, August 12
Thursday, August 6
Creation: technological convergence
Convergence is defined as two or more things coming together or heading towards the same point (hooray for dictionaries). In relation to technology, this refers to the intertwining of two or more pre-existing technologies in order to produce a more convenient and effective piece of technology.
Some examples:
Skype:
Although not a physical piece of technology, Skype is a freeware program that allows people to communicate with each other at no cost.
Millions of individuals and businesses use Skype to make free video and voice calls, send instant messages and share files with other Skype users.
Headset:
The headset is the convergence of the speaker and the microphone. It is a fairly basic piece of equipment that allows users to speak into the microphone without the use of their hand.
Just in case you are unaware of what a speaker and/or a microphone looks likes, I have attached a photo of both :D.
Ruler Calculator:
Human ingenuity! Is there any greater example?
Here we see the convergence of the calculator and the ruler. It was mainly used by children in the late nineties to cheat on their mathematics exam whilst pretending to measure non-existent lines. No stationary collection is complete without this baby.
The name speaks for itself. There are many different types of smart phones, the most notable being the iPhone. These allow you to listen to music, browse the web and play games whilst also performing the ordinary tasks of older model phones such as sending and receiving text messages.
