THE COMPETITION
Cinemagic is a competitive festival with prizes for:

• Best feature and best short film for a teenage audience as judged by a jury of young people aged 15 -18.
• Best feature and best short film for a children’s audience as judged by a jury of young people aged 10 -14.
• Prizes of £1,000 are awarded to the directors of the best feature films and £500 to the directors of the best short films. The competition programme will include a minimum of 10 feature films and 15 short films.

SCREENING FORMAT
For screening purposes 35mm film is standard (and preferred) but in some cases we will screen Beta SP, Digi Beta, DV Cam and mini DV (all PAL European standard).

ENTRY PROCEDURE AND DEADLINE
Deadline for entries is 31st JULY 2009. The entry form (downloadable in the festival submissions section of the Cinemagic website www.cinemagic.org.uk) with all the required information and a preview DVD/VHS (PAL or NTSC) should be posted at the senders cost to:

Chris Shaw, Cinemagic, 49 Botanic Avenue, Belfast BT7 1JL, NORTHERN IRELAND.

Entry to the festival is FREE OF CHARGE. Please use a separate entry form for each film submitted. The entry form should be accompanied by the following:

1. A detailed synopsis of the film.
2. The biography, filmography and a recent photo of the director.
3. Photographs or transparencies of the film.
4. Press materials and posters.
5. A listing of the film’s participation and awards received at any other film festivals.
6. Information on whether the film has been exhibited in the UK/Ireland/Northern Ireland previously.

CONDITIONS OF ENTRY
All films must be available in English or with English subtitles. Feature films must be at least 50 minutes long and shorts must be less than 50 minutes in duration. Cinemagic accepts all kinds of films as long as they are suitable for an under 18 audience.

All films entered for competition must have been made within the 3-year period 2007 – 2009. Films with a theatrical distribution deal in the UK and films made before 2007 are not eligible for competition but may be screened at the festival.

It is the filmmaker’s responsibility to obtain all permissions and releases from the persons who appear in the film and who appear in any associated photo/still images. It the filmmaker’s responsibility to ensure that you have the right to show the film to a public audience in the UK.

PREVIEW DVD
Only DVDs in English or with English subtitles or dubbing are acceptable. Preview DVDs will only be returned if international reply coupons are enclosed by sender.

SELECTION
The Cinemagic selection committee of film specialists, educationalists and young people will decide which films will participate in the festival. The committee’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. The festival management may invite films for the competition and programme. Successful submissions will be informed before 1st September 2009. If you have received no communication from Cinemagic by this date then please assume that your film has not been selected for participation in the festival.

TRANSPORT INSTRUCTIONS
Film prints (and Beta or DV tapes) accepted for the festival must arrive at the above address by 2nd NOVEMBER 2009. If a film arrives after this deadline (except by prior arrangement) it’s participation in the festival will not be guaranteed. Notification of dispatch of the print should be sent in advance. The costs for transport of films to the festival are to be paid for by the sender.

Transportation should be by mail or courier only. Do not send films by airfreight. Film prints sent from non-European Union countries should be accompanied by a proforma invoice stating FOR TEMPORARY IMPORTATION ONLY, FOR CULTURAL EXHIBITION AND OF NO COMMERCIAL VALUE. The value of the print should be declared as less than £50 to avoid excessive importation taxes.

RETURN OF FILMS
Cinemagic pays for the cost of returning the film prints. For the period in which the films are in the care of the festival, they are fully insured for their print value. All prints will be returned to the address indicated by the sender within two weeks of the last day of the festival.

Links:
Cinemagic

Related:

• Cinemagic : Consultants
• Cinemagic Lisburn Kicks Off
• Cinemagic Lisburn
• Rotoscope with Quicktime & Photoshop
• Rotoscoping in 6 Steps

The award winning festival will be action packed with fascinating events for film fans that include over one hundred film screenings, masterclasses with film and television industry guests, workshops for schools, a festival jury panel and Q&A’s.

Over the course of a three day workshop in Queen’s Film Theatre, Belfast (6th – 8th July inclusive), the young consultants will work with the Cinemagic team to help steer the choice of films for the festival, as they watch and critique films from around the globe. Over the years Cinemagic has welcomed hundreds of young people to the young consultants panel and they have contributed greatly to the organisation of the festival, as well as introducing their schools and teachers to the variety of workshops and films on offer in November.

If you are a budding young film critic, then this is a fantastic opportunity to meet like-minded young people, and have fun deciding the content of the largest film festival for young people in Ireland and the UK. The lucky young people who become film consultants will also contribute ideas for the festival programme, and help with the marketing and promotion of festival events.

Chris Shaw, Cinemagic Film Programmer explains what the young consultants can look forward to: “Cinemagic, now in its 19th year, is dedicated to providing new and exciting opportunities for young people with all interests in film. The young film consultants will have the opportunity to watch and review international films that they would not normally have access to, so as well as being fun, the three day event will expand the young people’s understanding of the different genres of film and world cultures. The workshops will provide lots of opportunities for debate and a lively platform for young people to interact with each other and exchange their views on film”.

How to apply to be a Young Consultant:
Applicants aged 10-18 with a keen interest in film and the enthusiasm to work within a group should apply for a place by writing/emailing a letter telling Cinemagic why they would like to be a Cinemagic Young Film Consultant, and include a review of their favourite film.

This information, along with name, address, age, telephone number, email address and name of school/college should be sent to Claire Baxter, Cinemagic, 49 Botanic Avenue, Belfast, BT7 1JL or claire@cinemagic.org.uk. All applications should be received no later than Monday 22nd June 2009. Successful applicants will be contacted after this date with further details.

Links:
Cinemagic

Related:

• Call for Submissions
• Cinemagic Lisburn Kicks Off
• Films about Transformation
• QFT : Short Shots Trick of Light
• Cinemagic Lisburn

Last year, over 1500 filmmakers showed off their work through Virgin Media Shorts. The competition was judged by a celebrity panel including: Kevin Spacey, Gurinder Chadha (director of Bend it Like Beckham), Daniel Barber (Oscar-nominated short film maker), Stephen Mangan (star of Green Wing), James King (Radio 1’s film critic), Lenny Crooks (UK Film Council) and Sir Richard Branson (founder of the Virgin Group). 

12 films were selected and had their work blown up onto 35mm and screened across 214 cinemas in the UK. One film was picked as an overall winner and received £15,000 production funding from Virgin media with a chance to apply for up to £15,000 from the UK Film Council’s New Cinema Fund.

Virgin Media are looking for films up to 2 minutes 20 seconds including credits. Your film must be uploaded online at www.virginmediashorts.co.uk

This year Virgin Media also have a Mobile Shorts Award for films shot on mobile phones. Films for this category can be up to 60 seconds including credits.

The judges will select the 12 best films from the main competition which will be screened on 214 cinema screens across the UK. Out of those 12 one film will be selected with a £15,000 prize from Virgin Media and the chance to apply to the UK Film Council for up to £15,000 funding. This is to shoot their next film which will be shown on Virgin Media platforms.

Virgin Media Shorts will also be awarding a prize for the best film submitted that has been shot on mobile phone format. This film will be distributed across Virgin Media platforms.

The final 12 films selected from the main competition are also eligible to take part in the People’s Choice award, voted for by members of the public online.

The winners from all three categories will be announced at a ceremony in central London on 22nd September 2009.

For further information on how to upload your film, terms and conditions and guidelines, go to: www.virginmediashorts.co.uk

Deadline: Midnight, 22nd June 2009

Related:

• Foyle Film Festival

The week long programme of media and moving image events for schools is part of a series of activities to celebrate the 400th Anniversary of Lisburn this year.

One of the highlights of the programme is a special presentation of Northern Ireland Screen’s Digital Film Archive which will show clips of Lisburn ranging from the train station in 1897, Shopping Week in 1930, to life in the 1950s and the Queen’s visit in 1953. This free event takes place in Island Arts Centre at 12.00pm on Wednesday 1st April and it is open to schools and the general public.

School Film Programme:
Local Primary and Secondary School pupils are attending special screenings of ‘March of The Penguins’ (30th March) which follows the annual journey of Emperor penguins as they march single file to their traditional breeding ground; the thrill-a-minute adventure ‘The Goonies’ (30th March); ‘Touching The Void’ (31st March), a true story of two climbers and their perilous journey up the west face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes; the classic musical

 ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ (1st April), Shane Meadow’s ‘Somers Town’ (1st April), a black-and-white study of a social environment in London, and ‘Grizzly Man’ (2 April) which documents the devastating and heartrending story about grizzly bear activists in Alaska.

Nursery schools will be participating in the exciting ‘Cinebabies’ event which will introduce young people  to the wonder and magic of moving image, with the screening of a selection of pre-school television programmes from HIT Entertainment.

School Workshops: 
Primary School pupils, aged 7-11, will be getting creative in a unique Puppet Workshop and demonstration with ‘Face Inclusion Matters’ (30th March) and a fun-filled Claymation Workshop, which will teach young people how to make clay models and animate them using Stop-Motion animation (1st April).

Budding media moguls will pick up top tips from workshops that include Radio Production with Neal McClelland (31st March), Journalism and a Question & Answer session with the Editor of the Newsletter, Darwin Templeton (31st March).

Cinemagic Stars Acting Masterclass.
Young people, aged 13-18, interested in a career in musical theatre or contemporary theatre can develop their acting skills by participating in an intensive 3 day masterclass called ‘Cinemagic Stars’ (3rd-5th April) which is being hosted by actress Mikyla Dodd (Hollyoaks) and Claire Harrison from Diva Arts. Participants will devise, rehearse and perform numerous pieces of drama over 72 hours, and the masterclass will culminate in an end showcase for family and friends.

To apply for a place on the masterclass applicants should explain in 300 words why they would like to participate. Please state which area you are most interested in- contemporary or musical theatre. Include your name, age, address, phone number, and email address. Entries should be sent to Laura Carlisle, Cinemagic, 49 Botanic Avenue, Belfast, BT7 1JL or email Laura@cinemagic.org.uk

The full programme of events can be downloaded from the Cinemagic Website on www.cinemagic.org.uk.

Related:

• Call for Submissions
• Cinemagic : Consultants
• Cinemagic Lisburn
• Cinemagic 2008
• City of Ember Premier

To reverse and change the speed of a clip in Final Cut Express. Click on the clip you want to alter and then click on the ‘Modify’ Menu. Select Speed (or use the ⌘J shortcut). A window will appear giving you the option to reverse and set the speed of the clip.

Reducing the 100 makes the clip slower, increasing it makes the clip faster. Therefore if you want the clip to play at double speed set the number to 200(%).

Note this will alter both the video and audio tracks. If you want to remove the audio, click the video and click ⌘ L. This will unlink the audio and video thus allowing the audio track to be removed.

Very easy when you know how.

Related:

• Apple Motion : Drop Zones
• Time Freeze in Final Cut
• Turbo.264 HD Video Tutorial
• A Greener Leopard
• Right Click on Mac

It’s been 13 arduous year since I first had this ‘eureka’ moment which left me no choice but to throw myself headlong into the amazing world of animation…

Before I adopt my stance behind the lectern and impart entirely subjective advice on how to become an animation ‘pro’, I have to confess that I came to animation, like so many before me, by accident, and by just playing around (with a Super 8 camera, a tripod and some clay models, on a £20 budget).

Tip 1: Have a go!

This is the best way to tackle any art form, any medium, any creative technique… the best way to figure out if animation is for you is really to dabble in the medium and to be playful and open-minded, not to be put off early failures, unsatisfactory results, crumbling models. Everything seems daunting at first, nothing works. remember to keep your tasks simple at first and enjoy the little tasks, the small movements.

Tip number 2: Try to make what you already love watching.

In other words, if you are particularly drawn to computer animation, explore what it takes to make these kind of animations. Or is it Wallace & Gromit that gets you excited? Family Guy? Or something more experimental?

Whichever technique you are particularly drawn to as a viewer will be better for you to ‘dabble with’ as you will become more critical in analysing what works, and doesn’t, in other people’s work. It will also make you more aware of what is out there already.

May seem obvious, but many animation students create work in a vacuum, unaware of what is out there, what is possible, and there is nothing wrong with ‘borrowing’ heavily from artists you admire. Hey, we all do it..

3: Love the function, not the result.

Animation must be one of the most time-consuming, painstaking ways of making a film, even with the extraordinary leaps in technology; which we have benefited from in the last 2 decades.

With animation, you tend to build a film, bit by bit, over a prolonged period, and usually the more planned and prepared the easier the process.

But what makes it all the more bearable is to actually enjoy the bit you are doing: the building process, be this drawing, modelling, texturing, shooting…

Usually the resulting film is exciting to view at first, especially with family & friends, but after the tenth viewing, I‘m afraid it’s all down hill…

Soon your early films will look shockingly amateurish, compared to your hottest new release.

Tip 4: Draw – draw – draw!

No matter what your chosen animation technique, or particular skill; being able to draw will ALWAYS be your advantage and set you apart from other animators.

I continuously receive showreels and CV’s from animation graduates, eager for a job. Sadly, some of the lesser animation degrees out there fail to give their students this all-important training, concentrating more on the technical aspects of animation.

However, being able to draw characters well (and understand human anatomy from life drawing classes) is a strength which manifests itself in whatever you do, and any animation studio will spot this skill a mile off, when viewing your student showreel.

Finally, and this is standard advice for any budding artist:

Tip5 : Any experience is good experience.

In art, practice is everything, unless you’re an art critic.. No academic grades, qualifications, fancy titles or recommendations can change that.. Sheer practical experience will make you a better artist, more confident, original and ‘relaxed’ in your chosen medium..

That’s why the opportunity to do work in a professional environment (no matter how lowly the pay) should never be missed. And if trainee gigs are hard to come by (they are in animation studios these days), the next best thing is to animate your own projects, with whatever means you have, this is pretty much the route I have chosen, 13 years ago when I couldn’t get arrested for an animation job anywhere..

With tons of ambitions but no money; an experienced, well-known cinematographer told me “sometimes in the desert you gotta make your own rain”. That became my mantra to this day..

Related Links:

Flickerpix

Related:

• Rotoscope with Quicktime & Photoshop
• Rotoscoping in 6 Steps
• Life and Death of a Tea Bag
• Flickerpix: “Days Like This”
• IStopmotion Brings Leopard Bonus

The children’s charity Action for Children is holding special free screenings at QFT on the first Sunday of every month for the next three months.

Each film has been chosen because they show how children and young people are transformed by their experiences, and how essential it is that they get the support they need. The event kicks off with one of my favourite films I watched whilst growing up ‘Stand by me’ based on the Stephen King book ‘The Body’. (view the trailer on YouTube)

It’s an approach Action for Children puts into practise every day, and by being there for as long as it takes the charity has managed to help hundreds of thousands of the UK’s most vulnerable children and young people over the last 140 years.

The season begins with the Rob Reiner classic Stand By Me at 12pm on Sunday 1 March and will be followed by Juno on Sunday 5 April and Son of Rambow on Sunday 3 May.

Click here to find out how you can claim your FREE tickets to these special screenings in aid of Action for Children.

For further information on QFT events, please visit their website or pop into the box office at 20 University Square, Belfast.

Action for Children at QFT – Event Listings:

Sunday 1st March Stand by Me 12.00pm  Rated : 15
Sunday 5th April Juno 12.00pm Rated : 12A
Sunday 3rd May Son of Rambow 12.00pm Rated : 12A

You can subscribe to our Moving Image Arts content via email ( A maximum of a single email per day) via this link.

Related:

• Cinemagic : Consultants
• QFT : Short Shots Trick of Light
• Academy Award Poll Predictions
• Must See Films for Filmmakers
• Top 10 Love Films of all Time

The collection was originally screened at the 2009 London Short Film Festival and includes the festival’s overall BAFTA-winning film, ”September”, by Esther May Campbell.

TO BUILD A HOME (Andrew Griffin, 13 min)
A unique collaboration between the Cinematic Orchestra and filmmaker Andrew Griffin, who has taken music from The Cinematic Orchestra’s massively acclaimed album, “Ma Fleur” and used it as the inspiration for this short film, and starring highly acclaimed actors Peter Mullan and Julia Ford. A reinvention of the music video, creating a truly moving piece of film.

SEPTEMBER (Esther May Campbell, 21 min)
In an inbetween world of flyovers, grass verges and dead-ends, the motorway hum serves as a constant reminder of the speed of other lives. Into this forgotten corner of English no-land arrives someone who will change lives forever. Winner of the UK Film Council Award for Best Film at the 6th London Short Film Festival, as well as the recent BAFTA Short Film Award.

RAPUNZEL’S FLIGHT (Gustavo Arteaga, 7 min)
In a bid for freedom, a young boy helps his friend to the sea, in a stunning mix of model animation and real life landscapes.

PATIENCE (Robert Hackett, 7 min)
Envy and kindness through the eyes of two elderly women; although 82, Vera learns a life lesson from her neighbouring patient Constance.

THE PRIEST (Ivana Bobic, 6 min)
A priest tries to get closer to God by climbing a tree.

BREAKING THE MOULD (Rebecca Manley / Luca Paulli, 2 min)
Our hero is unwilling to rot on the ground like an ordinary windfall, but chooses to do something different with his life i.e. going out and seeing the world.

POP ART (Amanda Boyle, 16 min)
A film about the friendship between two 12 year olds – Toby, who is trying to make sense of his life, and Arthur, who is inflatable. Stars Bill Milner from SON OF RAMBOW and based on a short story by Joe Hill.

K (Piers Thompson, 20 min)
15 year old Kayleigh encounters an enigmatic stranger and is impelled to re-evaluate her future.

Booking and further information at www.queensfilmtheatre.com

Related:

• Cinemagic : Consultants
• Google Street View : Belfast
• Films about Transformation
• Barcamp Belfast Register Now
• Belfast Twestival Success

The poll, which was opened shortly after nominations were announced, shows that Slumdog Millionaire is an overwhelming favourite among British film fans – 59% of the people that voted feel it should triumph ahead of The Curious Curse of Benjamin Button in the all-important Best Picture and Directing categories.

Mickey Rourke is the popular choice to prevail as the Actor in a Leading Role for his gripping performance in The Wrestler – 42% of the voters preferred him to Brad Pitt (29%) in second spot, while Kate Winslet received was backed by a sizeable 59% of the vote to build on her BAFTA success by landing the Oscar for Actress in a Leading Role for The Reader ahead of Angelina Jolie (22%).

But the biggest endorsement within the online survey went to the late Heath Ledger’s film-stealing performance as The Joker in The Dark Knight – a massive 83% of the 9,000 getcloser.com users that voted supported his nomination of Actor in a Supporting Role.

The only category in which The Curious Case of Benjamin Button came out on top was in the Actress in a Supporting Role category, where Taraji P. Henson (26%) was marginally preferred to Penelope Cruz (25%).

The one thing I feel we can all say with a much greater degree of certainty, however, is that a posthumous Oscar will be awarded to Heath Ledger for his memorably manic portrayal of The Joker in The Dark Knight.

hmv www.getcloser.com poll results by category:

Best Picture

1. Slumdog Millionaire (59%)
2. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (22%)
3. Frost/Nixon (8%)
4. The Reader (7%)
5. Milk (4%)

Directing

1. Danny Boyle – Slumdog Millionaire (59%)
2. David Fincher – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (16%)
3. Ron Howard – Frost/Nixon (14%)
4. Gus Van Sant – Milk (6%)
5. Stephen Daldry – The Reader (5%)

Actor in a Leading Role
1. Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler (42%)
2. Brad Pitt – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (29%)
3. Sean Penn – Milk (15%)
4. Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon (13%)
5. Richard Jenkins – The Visitor (2%)

Actress in a Leading Role

1. Kate Winslet – The Reader (59%)
2. Angelina Jolie – Changeling (22%)
3. Meryl Streep – Doubt (12%)
4. Anne Hathaway – Rachel Getting Married (6%)
5. Melissa Leo – Frozen River (1%)

Actor in a Supporting Role

1. Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight (83%)
2. Robert Downey Jr – Tropic Thunder (7%)
3. Philip Seymour Hoffman – Doubt (4%)
4. Josh Brolin – Milk (3%)
5. Michael Shannon – Revolutionary Road (2%)

Actress in a Supporting Role

1. Taraji P. Henson – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (26%)
2. Penelope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona (25%)
3. Marisa Tomei – The Wrestler (24%)
4. Amy Adams – Doubt (18%)
5. Viola Davis – Doubt (7%)

Links:
GetCloser

Related:

• Films about Transformation
• Must See Films for Filmmakers
• Top 10 Love Films of all Time
• Rain : Cinematographic Excellence
• The Importance of Soundtrack

That would be a shame – because there are filmic riches just waiting to be discovered, but might look like they’re hiding. If you want to be a good writer, then read a lot, so goes the accepted wisdom. It stands to reason that if you want to be a good film-maker, you need to watch a lot of films.

Here are five different selections that might inspire, influence, confound, or challenge as you make your own movies:

There are obvious ones whose style, structure and passion brought something new out of a camera – like ‘Citizen Kane’, ‘Seven Samurai’, ‘2001’, and so on.

There are films that remind us how pacing doesn’t have to be rapid like Tarantino, or linear like the average rom-com; films that aren’t afraid to take their time to get where they’re going – ‘The Shining’, ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ and Terrence Malick’s ‘The Thin Red Line’ spring ever so slowly to mind.

There are movies that show us how to tell stories – films populated with characters who look real human beings, and have a beginning, middle, and an end after which you believe the characters you’ve just watched are still alive, still experiencing their own journeys.

Take your pick from this classic handful: ‘Field of Dreams’ (I mean it – no one who has actually sat through it could consider it worthy of its ‘cheesy’ reputation), ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, ‘Chinatown’, ‘Secrets and Lies’,

There are works of humanity that understand how art is not just there to excite us or show us new ways to crash cars or blow up buildings – you could do worse than spending a couple of days watching Michael Apted’s ‘Seven-Up’ documentary series, an astonishing record of how a few people have experienced life since the 1960s, which also serves as a mini-history of how documentary film-making has changed during that time. (The Maysles Brothers films are a genre all by themselves – take your time with them. Life will look different afterward.)

And there are films that break all the rules, that don’t care about convention, and whose makers realise that the desire to make a really good movie – well, there can be no shame in that. Try ‘Magnolia’, ‘Touki-Bouki’, ‘Last Year at Marienbad’, ‘Japon’, and ‘The Godfather Part II’ and see where they take you.

Gareth Higgins is the author of How ‘ Movies Helped Save My Soul‘ available on Amazon and runs the excellent TheFilmTalk Blog and Podcast site.

Related Links:
www.thefilmtalk.com
www.godisnotelsewhere.blogspot.com

Related:

• Films about Transformation
• Academy Award Poll Predictions
• Top 10 Love Films of all Time
• Rain : Cinematographic Excellence
• The Importance of Soundtrack

The scene is brilliant and uses a bit of CGI for the popcorn etc but it is possible to recreate this concept on a basic level using a mix of careful production and post production techniques. Obviously we won’t have the popcorn or accurate masking but it is great start if you are new to post production with Final Cut or Final Cut Express.

The first stage in creating a time freeze is the careful planning of the scene. I aim to have the main character who will interact with the frozen objects in the centre of the frame for the first attempt at using the technique. As you grow more confident you can move the character to obey the rule of thirds etc.

The frame should be thought of as three separate sections.

A will be our base video layer and it will be this layer that will freeze. B is our main character layer that will be on top of layer A and will be in motion throughout. The image below shows how this will work in Final Cut.

The two white vertical bars are your safer areas. It is important to concentrate throughout recording on these areas that no movement crosses (or enters) these lines.

One technique is to mark the areas on the monitor while recording. If action crosses these lines it will be cropped out in post production. For example if the main character’s hand crosses the safe area it will inevitably be cropped in the final edit.

To make the most of the technique it is important that your freeze layer footage is as active as possible. Freezing a few people standing around isn’t going to make for a good scene. As you can see in Big Fish the use of jugglers enable items to be held in midair and then released again at the end of the scene.

Depending on what you are doing in the scene you may need to capture the scene either as a single shot in which the main character is recorded at the same time as the footage that is to freeze or you may do it in two separate shots. Lighting becomes an issue if you shot two separate shots as changes in the light levels become apparent when you get to the overlay stage.  That said it is relatively easy to adjust the brightness of the footage to compensate.

Once you have shot the scene you should now capture it into Final Cut / Express. Drag the base clip (A) on to the first video layer. Then drag the character clip (B) on top (second video layer). If you have shot it as one single shot the B level is simply a duplicate of the original clip.

The first thing we are going to deal with is the audio. We are only going to need one sound line for scene so I suggest removing the audio line of sequence B. Remember that each video line as 2 audio lines for left and right audio and both the L and R lines should be removed.

Click on the top video layer and ‘unlink’ the audio by pressing CMD L. Now select just the audio layer for the sequence B and delete it (delete key).

The next stage is to crop the top video layer to our safe area lines. This enables us to see the layer below that we will freeze.

Double click on the top layer and it will appear in the middle clip viewing window (as well as the sequence window). Click on the ‘Motion’ tab along the top of this window.

In the Crop section drag the left and right sliders to point you think are the safe area lines (this can be tweaked later if necessary).

The top layer will now look something like the above picture. The black areas either side of the main character will reveal the video layer A below (I have hidden this layer for the sake of showing how the crop worked).

Next we have to freeze time on our base layer. Double click on this video layer so it appears in the clip window. Drag the timeline to the point at which time should freeze and cut the video using the razer blade tool (-b). Drag the right most clip to create a space the duration of the freeze.

Ensuring your timeline marker is on the last frame of the first half of the clip (where we made the cut, see above). Click on the Modify Menu and click ‘Freeze Frame’ the shortcut for this action is SHIFT N.

You can now drag the frame in the viewer window on your time time as a still. Click anywhere on this window and drag the image down to the space created on the timeline.

The freeze frame will probably not fill the entire time needed. Simply click on the end of the clip and drag it to fill the time.

This results in a sequence where time is moving, freezes at first cut and then comes alive again at the second cut. At the same time the top video layer is in motion throughout.

It is definitely worth experimenting with the technique a few times to get the best outcome. Quickly shoot 20-30 seconds of footage to experiment with and build up your confidence in the post production Final Cut stage. Once you have grasped the post production stage it will allow you to be more daring the production scene design aspects of the process.

To get the best from the technique aim for something daring, this some be something about to fall on the main character, time freezes, he/she gets out of the way and the item them crashes down. The more confident you are with the technique the more daring you can become.

Big Fish is a fantastic film, please don’t be tempted to try and watch the film on movie sharing sites as these really won’t do the film any credit at all. The DVD can be bought online for under £4 why bother with low quality, small screen sectioned alternatives ?!

Related:

• Final Cut – Reversing Clips
• 5 Top Story Writing Tips from a Big Fish
• The Importance of Soundtrack
• Post Production Saves Blackadder?
• Student iChat a Big Fish

In previous years, films such as Romeo + Juliet, which came top in 2008, and Casablanca, have tended to dominated, but this time round the top two positions were filled by Patrick Swayze offerings – Ghost and Dirty Dancing. We have listed the Top 10 films listed and would love to know what you think of the rankings or if you think a particular film should be on the list.

1. Ghost (1990) share of vote 8.7%
Young stockbroker (Patrick Swayze) and girlfriend (Demi Moore) move into a Manhattan loft and look forward to a wonderful life together. But their dreams are cut short when Sam is killed in an apparently motiveless attack. The newly bereft Molly goes into a deep depression… but Sam’s a lot closer than she realizes. With the help of a ’psychic’ (Whoopi Goldberg), Sam’s ghost must convince a sceptical Molly that he was, in fact, murdered by a work colleague, and protect her from impending danger.

2. Dirty Dancing (1987) 8.4%
It’s summer, 1963. Frances, seventeen and innocent, is on holiday with her parents in the Catskills. She meets Johnny, the hotel dance instructor, and is mesmerised by him and his dance style. She soon becomes his prize pupil, in dance and in love. The film that launched Patrick Swayze’s acting career.

3. The Notebook (2004) 7.8%
As teenagers, Allie (Rachel McAdams) and Noah (Ryan Gosling) begin a whirlwind courtship that soon blossoms into tender intimacy, but the couple are separated by Allie’s upper-class parents, who insist that Noah isn’t right for her. Several years pass, and, when they meet again, their passion is rekindled, forcing Allie to choose between her soul mate and class order. This tale has a special meaning to older gentleman (James Garner) who reads the love story to his ageing companion (Gena Rowlands).

4. Titanic (1997) 6.8%
A fortune hunter searching for a lost diamond near the wreck of the Titanic brings something else to the surface… a story from the past in which an unlikely romance between a beautiful English socialite and a streetwise Irish lad in steerage is fated to end before it has really begun… The Oscar-laden film that launched the careers of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.

5. Pretty Woman (1990) 6.3%
In a ‘Cinderella’ story that made Julia Roberts a star, an LA corporate raider, played by Richard Gere, hires a hooker to pose as his girlfriend for a week… and unwittingly falls in love.

Meanwhile, she wonders if the straight life – with him – might be her dream coming true.

6. Love Actually (2003) 6.1%
Christmas is approaching, and a group of people connected in some way, find themselves surrounded by love. The cast includes Hugh Grant as a prime minister who falls for a staff member, Liam Neeson as a widower counselling his son in the ways of love, Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman as a couple faced with infidelity, and Colin Firth as a writer who can’t resist the charms of his Portuguese maid.

7. Romeo + Juliet (1996) 4.6%
Shakespeare’s immortal tale of star-crossed young lovers gets an MTV-style updating from Baz Luhrmann in this hip, Florida-set adaptation featuring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes as the doomed teenaged children of rival industrialists. Visually stunning and a wonderful soundtrack, which includes the famous ‘balcony’ scene.

8. An Officer And A Gentleman (1982) 3.3%
Desperately hoping to earn a naval commission, an ambitious young man, played by Richard Gere, enters officer candidate school. The local factory girls dream of being rescued from their mundane lives by marrying the recruits once they become officers, but are always cruelly discarded after they’ve had their fun with them. Will Zack Mayo’s relationship with Paula Pokrifki be any different?

9. Moulin Rouge (2001) 3.2%
Cross ‘La Boheme’ with ‘Cabaret’, throw in a little bit of ‘Rent’, and you might almost begin to describe Baz Luhrmann’s visually opulent, fast-paced, funny, heartrending ‘Moulin Rouge’. Set in 1890’s Paris at the notorious Montmartre club, the movie stars Nicole Kidman as the high-kicking courtesan, Satine and Ewan McGregor as the sensitive poet, Christian.

10. Amelie (2001) 3.0%
Cinema magic from beginning to end, Amelie is an uplifting experience that will soften the hardest of hearts. Amelie works in a Parisian coffee shop, and inhabits a fantasy world. One day she realises how good it is to make people happy and sets out to change the lives of those around her, though it’s Amelie who needs the most help as she’s fallen in love with a man who collects discarded photo booth pictures and the two become obsessed with a strange phantom man who keeps appearing in the photos.

So what do you think of the 2009 Top Ten Love films ? Comment Below !

Links:
HMV.com 
LoveFilm

Related:

• Films about Transformation
• Academy Award Poll Predictions
• Must See Films for Filmmakers
• Rain : Cinematographic Excellence
• The Importance of Soundtrack

1. Think small. Write about a watch, a rock, a lock of hair; don’t write about death, change and love. The latter comes from the former.

2. Write clearly. If your story is to have any impact at all the reader needs to understand what you’re saying. Deliberate obfuscation is aggravating. Never use a big word when a diminutive one will do. You get the idea.

3. Create conflict. Somebody wants something and there’s somebody or something in his or her way. See illustration.

This is almost every good story ever written.

4. Write about people. Sympathetic characters are characters we care about because they’re human, not because they’re sweet or perfect. None of us are one thing or another. If your character is just complex enough we will care about him even when he’s driving drunk and running over cats. On purpose. Why? Because of that thing that happened with his mom. You know.

5. Surprise yourself. Follow a story wherever it wants to take you. If it surprises and delights you you’ll probably surprise and delight the reader. And this is a good thing.

About Daniel

As well as being a top author and College lecturer Daniel is a keen Mac user and blogger running his own site at www.danielwallace.org The site is updated on an almost daily basis with video and news, Daniel has also published a range of One Minute Drawings (OMDs)  which are proving very popular with readers.

Daniel’s recent book Mr Sebastian and the Negro Magician is receiving very positive reviews across not only America but the many countries in which it is available. Perhaps this is next Daniel Wallace book to make it to the big screen.

Links:
Daniel Wallace

Related:

• Time Freeze in Final Cut
• The Importance of Soundtrack
• Student iChat a Big Fish

The opening of the programme will be marked with a special evening film screening in Lisburn Omniplex Cinemas on 30th March at which young people and guests will be in attendance.

School Workshops.

Primary School pupils, aged 7-11, can get creative by participating in a unique Puppet Workshop and demonstration with ‘Face Inclusion Matters’ (30th March) and a fun-filled Claymation Workshop, which will teach young people how to make clay models and animate them using Stop-Motion animation (1st April).

Budding media moguls can pick up top tips from three secondary school workshops that include Radio Production with City beat’s Neal McClelland (31st March), Journalism with the BBC’S World Diplomatic Editor, Brian Hanrahan (2nd April), and a Question & Answer session with the Editor of the Newsletter, Darwin Templeton (31st March).

Cinemagic Stars Acting Masterclass.

Young people, aged 13-18, interested in a career in musical theatre or contemporary theatre can develop their acting skills by participating in an intensive 3 day masterclass called ‘Cinemagic Stars’ (3rd-5th April) which is being hosted by actress Sally Lindsay.

Participants will devise, rehearse and perform numerous pieces of drama over 72 hours, and the masterclass will culminate in an end showcase for family and friends. To register your interest, simply explain in no more than 300 words why you would like to participate.

Please state which area you are most interested in- contemporary or musical theatre. Include your name, age, address, phone number, and email address. Entries should be sent to Laura Carlisle, Cinemagic, 49 Botanic Avenue, Belfast, BT7 1JL or email Laura@cinemagic.org.uk by 20th March 2009.

The full programme of events can be downloaded from the Cinemagic Website.

Links:

Cinemagic
Island Arts Centre

Related:

• Call for Submissions
• Cinemagic : Consultants
• Cinemagic Lisburn Kicks Off
• Cinemagic 2008
• City of Ember Premier

I’ve heard a few people compliment how great the R.E.M. video is for ‘losing my Religion’ completely unaware of the artist being visually represented and acted out. There are marks for anyone who can name the artist in the comments:)

I’ve been trying to think of soundtracks that match Vedder’s Into the Wild in terms of the value added to the film. I think the obvious film for me is the 2001 New Zealand film ‘Rain’. Directed my Christine Jeffs based on the novel by Kirsty Gunn.

Janey is on holiday with her brother, Jim, mother, Kate, and father Ed, at their beach house on the Mahurangi Peninsual in New Zealand. Ed and Kate, who are on the verge of divorce, sit around in the back yard all day drinking whiskey and Janey and Jim are left to their own devices.

Cady, a local boatee who is having an affair with Kate, catches Janey’s pubescent eye. In response to his wife’s drinking problem and recurring infidelity, Ed turns to alcohol, ignoring his children almost as much as his wife, which eventually leads to a character’s fate.

I won’t give the story away as many readers perhaps won’t have seen the film given that up to last year it was difficult to get in the UK. We were fortunate to get both on their release and listened to the music before watching the film. The music is just as utterly stunning as the film. Written by Neil Finn, Liam Finn and Lisa Germano. Finn writes the score in a retro fashion fitting to timing of the film (70s) enhancing every scene with each song.

Rain has won awards across the world for breath taking cinematography. If you can get your hands on the Rain DVD or CD I would definitely recommend them both. Prepared to be moved my both. Check here for the Rain Study Guides.

I struggled to find a copy of the trailer. Click here for film and DVD information. It comes and goes on Amazon, the Soundtrack is definitely harder to get but can be imported from NZ or AU. Official Website for Rain.

Related:

• Films about Transformation
• Academy Award Poll Predictions
• Must See Films for Filmmakers
• Top 10 Love Films of all Time
• The Importance of Soundtrack

The process works well but can be challenging, prone to errors and produces a serious amount of paper. (Read it here). The following animation is by Californian based animator Benjamin Arthur and is entitled “Once upon a time in the woods”.  To date this animation has been viewed almost a million times !

We are especially excited that Benjamin has agreed to talk us through the digital workflow for this animation using a Tablet, Photoshop and  Apple Quicktime.

1. I filmed the scene using my canon digital camera.

The easiest part of the process.

2. I imported the footage from the camera.

The same process you would use to import any captured footage from your mini DV camera. You can import footage from DV using Quicktime (see here).

I then opened it in quicktime, then chose File>Export… then I chose to export to image sequence. You’ll need to make a folder for all the frames. I chose to export at 12 frames per second, just to make it a little easier (if you watch the Bill Plympton video on Current, he says how he animates at only 6 frames per second!).

(note: If you’re animating more than 30 seconds of footage, I’d suggest cutting it into 10-30 second clips and exporting the frames to separate numbered folders, if you have thousands of frames in a single folder, you end up scrolling forever when you go to open them).

3. Working with the Footage

Now you have to make some decisions based on how the footage looks, if it’s too bright, you’ll need to use an action in photoshop to darken it, so it’s easier to see outlines. An action in photoshop is a saved sequence of events within photoshop that you can batch to all the frames in one folder.

To create an action, first open the actions menu by choosing Window>Actions (if the window is already open, of course skip that).

(Note: You can save time if you adjust this in a video editing program, such as final cut pro or premiere before following step two. I prefer the longer way, because photoshop has so many effects it’s easier to get exactly what you want).

First, open a frame from your animation, the one the most reflects the image problems you want to fix. Create a new action by clicking the page turning at the bottom of the actions window, and it will prompt you to name it.

After you name the action, you will be recorded, so carefully edit the image to the point where you’re satisfied. I mostly adjusted levels at this point, which brings out the blacks. Then, while you’re still being recorded, change the size of the frame to the size you want the movie to be. 640×480 is what I used for mine, just make sure to preserve aspect ratio, so that the frames don’t get stretched.

At this point you can blow the image up to HD levels if you want, regardless of the size of the source video (for example, 720×480 can become 1080×720)

Next, you’ll want to create 2 layers, a layer behind your frame, which is filled with white, and a blank layer in front of it. Now adjust the opacity of your frame so it blends with the white in the background. This allows you to more easily see your drawing over the original frame.

Now you can stop recording your action by pressing the circular button on the bottom of the action menu. Close the frame you worked on, and do not save it. I would then open another frame of your animation and test your new action on it, just select the action you made and hit the play button, and everything should happen automatically.

If there’s problems with the action, or an alert window pops up, open a new frame and try again to carefully record the action – remember, every step you take is recorded.

4. Batch Processing

Select File>Automate>Batch…. The action you just created should already be there, just choose the folder you saved the frames to, and make sure the destination is save and close, then click “ok”. Photoshop should automatically begin opening, changing and saving all your frames. This could take a while, depending on your computer.

5. Drawing Time

Now it’s time to start drawing. I drew the entire thing in chronological order, which worked for me. I used my wacom tablet to draw everything. I test- drew one frame at the beginning, trying to figure out which details to keep, and which to drop. It’s important to be consistent, you can’t have objects blinking in and out, so keep track as you draw each frame.

Once you fully finish one frame, click the eye next to your original footage layer, and your drawing will be sitting on a white background. If you want to add color, come back through after you finish all the line-work. Once the frame is fully done, with your line-work on a white background, just save.

6. Check your Progress

To see the progress of your animation, go back to quicktime and choose File>Open Image Sequence… and open it at the frame rate you chose when you exported it.

7. Shading

To shade my animation, I took the original footage in each frame (using another action) and used the cutout filter, then de-saturated it to make it black and white. I left the opacity at around 30%.

The time needed to do this is considerable, as each frame can take from 2-10 minutes, drawing time. even if you drew extremely fast, say 2 minutes per frame, and were only doing 12 frames a second, it would still take you 24 hours of work to finish one minute of animation. My “In the Woods” animation took me about 3-4 hours a day for six weeks, so about 125 hours total.

Whew, ok, thats about the whole process, if you have any questions (or improvements), I’d be happy to address them.

Benjamin Arthur
Check out Benjamin’s site and demo reel.

Related:

• Rotoscoping in 6 Steps
• Call for Submissions
• Cinemagic : Consultants
• Elgato : Video Capture
• Top 5 Tips for Animators

Naturally there are a few films with significant soundtracks that are exceptions to the rule. There are also a few interesting movies on there and one or two that it took courage to admit to.

I’ll deal with the exceptions first. Having watched Top Gun at a very young age I really loved the guitar based theme track. Asking around I was told (incorrectly) that Joe Satriani recorded the music. Having not heard of Joe at that stage I bought ‘Surfing with the Alien’ and have been a fan since. In reality though Joe did not provide the soundtrack to Top Gun but a guitarist named Steve Stevens who is actually Billy Idol’s guitarist.

The video for the theme is linked to below mostly for the great guitar track but secondly for the entertainment provided by the outfit, seriously Steve ? (YouTube Link) I’d say the stylist was probably sacked after that one.

The second exception is Tim Burton’s Big Fish. Actually that isn’t fair, It is Daniel Wallace’s Big Fish. I had watched this film three times before I realised that Pearl Jam had recorded the end credit music “Man of the Hour” written specifically for the film.

Anyone who hasn’t seen the film has missed out on a really great movie. The author of the film (who is a friend of Amuze) Daniel Wallace’s website is also well worth visiting.

One final exception is the brilliant use of R.E.M.s ‘Sweetness follows’ in the movie Vanilla Sky during a cross cutting scene towards the middle, as well as a number of other great tracks from a range of artists… I guess you have to see it. So, what films have I watched because of the music. Well, confessions out of the way first.

A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 3
I saw this at a stage where I was even close to the being the 18 rating associated with this movie (so I don’t appear overly old) I had to see it as rock band Dokken wrote the theme track “Dream Warriors”

Musically it might not be everyone’s cup of tea but there is no doubt about it George Lynch was one of the most influential guitarists of the time. For me though the best bit about the film was the credits. Perhaps I was too young to understand the film but didn’t scare me, well, perhaps the nurse scene did a little.

Days of Thunder
Described as Top Gun on wheels Days of Thunder was famous for “Show me Heaven” by Maria McKee. Maria was not our attraction though but the great John Waite. Waite famous for “Missing You” in the late 80s had, had at this stage joined class rock band Bad English.

Bad English was ballad focused rock made famous by a number of songs written by Diane Warren. The soundtrack was good and film was alright, hey, it was 1990.

I am Sam
I am Sam is a fantastic film featuring the great Sean Penn. The soundtrack featured a series of Beatle’s covers by bands such as Stereophonics, Ben Harper, Eddie Vedder, Neil and Liam Finn.

The songs are scattered throughout the film adding massively to the mise en scene of an already brilliant movie. If you have not seen this film it is definitely worth a watch, if you love the Beatles then it is a must !

Rain
I’ve already covered Rain on here in past musings. Rain, an New Zealand film features the atmospheric music of Neil and Liam Finn and also Lisa Germano. Liam’s track ‘Lucid Dream’ is nothing short of brilliant. The soundtrack for this film is fantastic from the outset holding the same beauty as the cinematography of the film. A educational study guide is available for this film. The guide looks at the film from a media studies point of view rather than a Moving Image Arts but it is definitely worth looking at. The resource is available here.

Into The Wild
The award winning epic by Sean Penn features a full soundtrack by legend Eddie Vedder. I can’t say anything more than I have already, this really does have to be my album of the year. Subsequently I also discovered recently that the video for “Guaranteed” is now available on iTunes. The full movie as also been added to iTunes to rent or buy and it is definitely worth seeing for the combination of sound and picture. One of the songs used in the film has also been used in the Stand up to Cancer Ad (here).

Reign Over Me
Hard to believe this is an Adam Sandler film. I say that as a big Sandler fan but this is not what you would expect from a Sandler film…. it is dead serious throughout. It features a cover of the Who Track “Reign Over Me” my Pearl Jam. Reign Over me is a pretty good film with a brilliant title track that is pretty hard to get hold of.

I admit only three of the films listed I would consider favourites (Big Fish, Rain, Into the Wild) but the point of the most was to demonstrate the movies watched due to the soundtrack.

There are probably more films I watched down to the music. I admit to buying The Usual Suspects soundtrack but I don’t tend to listen to it on a regular basis. I haven’t included Purple Rain as it was just too obvious nor have I included “Singles” as Eddie Vedder makes and appearance, so again too obvious. I do have a copy of the Antz soundtrack for “I can see clearly now” though and it is a great movie too. Anyone anything to add ?

Related:

• Films about Transformation
• Academy Award Poll Predictions
• Must See Films for Filmmakers
• Time Freeze in Final Cut
• Top 10 Love Films of all Time

The end of the documentary featured a brilliant insight in to the power of editing and thus a great resource for Moving Image Arts. The last thirty seconds of Blackadder goes Forth (series 4) were set to be a disaster. A rushed 1-2 take ending looked pretty ropey when played back. The following footage demonstrates how editing software created one of the best endings of any comedy series.

At that stage it was likely to have been Avid editing software but the same come have easily been produced in a class situation with Final Cut Express or similar. Even the poppy scene could be recreated in Final Cut using two video lines or if you really want to make it look great a mix of Final Cut and Photoshop.

Perhaps it shows the importance of experimenting with footage you are not happy with. I wonder with editing software having improved massively over the last twenty years would they have done anything different ?

I deliberated whether to put the clip on YouTube and if there are an issues with it being there and used for educational purposes please contact me and I will remove it immediately. I don’t want to get into any hot water but it is a great clip for Moving Image Arts.

If you haven’t really watched Blackadder before then you have missed out on of the best comedy series ever. If you want to get the full glory buy the DVD box set and watch it over a few weeks, brilliant stuff.

Related:

• Final Cut – Reversing Clips
• Time Freeze in Final Cut
• Rotoscope with Quicktime & Photoshop
• The Importance of Soundtrack
• Screen Capture Full Length Webpages

Producing a rotoscope of a clip is relatively simple but quite time consuming. Ideally select a video clip that involves a process that can be repeated such as jumping or skipping.

This guide will allow you to produce rotoscope video a little like the type used in the a-ha video and the Foy Vance video featured at the bottom of this post. 

Rotoscoping : The Basics

• 1. Export the 2-3 second clip as jpgs. In premier elements each frame is saved as a number 1.jpg for example refers to frame 1 and so on.
• 2. Delete all the even number of frames (this cuts down on the time needed for tracing etc).
• 3. Print each of the odd numbered images in draft format on a standard laser or inkjet printer. It is advisable to number each printout as it comes out of the printer.
• 4. Trace each printout and again number each tracing.
• 5. Use a stopmotion application such as istopmotion to capture each tracing. Remember to take 2 frames for each drawing to compensate for the fact we disgarded the even numbered frames in step 2.
• 6. Render this footage out to a final .dv

When used as an animator’s reference tool, it can be a valuable time-saver. Rotoscope output can have slight deviations from the true line that differ from frame to frame, which when animated cause the animated line to shake unnaturally, or “boil”. Avoiding boiling requires considerable skill in the person performing the tracing, though causing the “boil” intentionally is a stylistic technique sometimes used to emphasize the surreal quality of rotoscoping, as in the music video Take on Me.

Rotoscoping has often been used as a tool for special effects in live-action movies. By tracing an object, a silhouette (called a matte) can be created that can be used to create an empty space in a background scene. This allows the object to be placed in the scene. While blue and green screen techniques have made the process of layering subjects in scenes easier, rotoscoping still plays a large role in the production of special effects imagery.

Rotoscoping has also been used to allow a special visual effect (such as a glow, for example) to be guided by the matte or rotoscoped line. One classic use of traditional rotoscoping was in the original three Star Wars films, where it was used to create the glowing lightsaber effect, by creating a matte based on sticks held by the actors.

The term “rotoscoping” (typically abbreviated as “roto”) is now generally used for the corresponding all-digital process of tracing outlines over digital film images to produce digital mattes. This technique is still in wide use for special cases where techniques such as bluescreen will not pull an accurate enough matte. Rotoscoping in the digital domain is often aided by motion tracking and onion-skinning software. Rotoscoping is often used in the preparation of garbage mattes for other matte-pulling processes.

There are many ways in which you can experiment with this technique but this is provide a good basis to work from. The YouTube video below shows a recent music video using a variant of the above technique by A-Ha

Links:
FxGuide to Rotoscoping
Rotoscoping in Flash Tutorial
Rotoscoping in Flash (2)

Related:

• Rotoscope with Quicktime & Photoshop
• Call for Submissions
• Cinemagic : Consultants
• Amazon Mp3 iTunes Guide
• Top 5 Tips for Animators

Films such as Terence Davies’ poignant ‘Of Time And The City’ provides insights into the director’s life growing up in Liverpool. While ‘At Home With The Clearys’ is a closeup look at the life and legend of Father Michael Cleary, with the director Alison Millar providing an introduction, and answering questions after the screening. Anti-nuclear campaigner Adi Roche will be attending the screening of the ‘The Children Beyond Chernobyl’ which documents her journey back to this radioactive exclusion zone.

Filmmaker Neasa Ni Chianáin will introduce ‘Fairytale Of Kathmandu’, which follows Irish poet Cathal Ó Searcaigh on one of his annual trips to Nepal. The film provides a personal and unexpected glimpse into the life of this celebrated man. James Marsh’s documentary ‘Man On Wire’ is the extraordinary story of Philippe Petit’s tightrope walk between the Twin Towers. Sandhya Suri’s bitter-sweet film ‘I For India’ is a chronicle of immigration in sixties Britain, as seen through the eyes of one Asian family and their movie camera.

The festival gets off to an epic start with the Northern Ireland Premiere of ‘Brideshead Revisited’ starring Emma Thompson, Michael Gambon, Matthew Goode, and Ben Whishaw. While the Closing Night film is the Irish Premiere of Michael Winterbottom’s latest movie ‘Genova’, starring Colin Firth. The programme also includes the Irish, UK, and European Premiere of Deborah Kampmeier’s controversial film ‘Hounddog’ (Dakota Fanning), and the director will introduce this screening.

Foreign Language films to look out for are ‘The Wave’, ‘Three Monkeys’, and ‘Princesses’. While movies such as ‘The Black Balloon’, ‘Hamlet 2’, ‘Man On Wire’, ‘My Winnipeg’, and ‘Religulous’ are not to be missed. Classic films include ‘Sunset Boulevard’ and ‘Distant Voices, Still Lives’. The festival programme also includes the first screenings in Northern Ireland of three Irish films: ‘Eden’, ‘Kisses’, and ‘Anton’.

Special presentations and workshops include established screenwriter Deborah Moggach, who recently received a BAFTA nomination for her screenplay for ‘Pride & Prejudice’. The programme also includes a Masterclass with Casting Director Lucy Bevan, who has been involved in some of the most successful movies produced over the last few years – including ‘His Dark Materials:The Golden Compass’, ‘Elizabeth The Golden Age’, and ‘The Libertine’. Visual FX Company Double Negative return to the festival to deliver a presentation on the film ‘Hellyboy II:The Golden Army’. We are also delighted that up and coming young Belfast actor Martin McCann (‘Closing The Ring’, ‘Band Of Brothers 2’), will be delivering an acting masterclass.

Moving Image Arts Showcase : 
Sample piece from the Moving Image Arts Showcase.

 

The Foyle Film Festival also boasts a stand alone education programme which provides curriculum focused screenings and events targeted at all local schools and colleges. There are also outreach events taking place at the Strule Arts Centre, the Alley Arts Centre, and the Letterkenny Arts Centre.

Winners of the Light In Motion (LIM) Film Awards will be announced on Saturday 29 November after the Closing Night Film (‘Genova’). Recipients of the LIM Award qualify for consideration in the Short Films category of the Annual Academy Awards® without the standard theatrical run, provided the film otherwise complies with the Academy rules.

The main venues for the festival are the Omniplex, the Orchard Cinema at the Playhouse, and the Nerve Centre in Londonderry.

The festival programme will be officially launched on Tuesday 21 October @ 6pm-7.30pm in the City Hotel, Queen’s Quay, Derry. All Welcome – come along and help celebrate 21 years of the Foyle Film Festival,

Links:
Foyle Film Festival

Related:

• Virgin Media Shorts 09

Speaking at the festival’s programme launch, Joan Burney-Keatings, Cinemagic Chief Executive, said “We’re offering the best Cinemagic Festival yet with increased numbers of international films and practical film and television related workshops for young people. Our Education Programme has developed to include more opportunities for schools to get involved in Moving Image Arts, and families can enjoy a wide range of films that will brighten up the dark November nights!”

Maire Campbell, Public Affairs and Communications Manager for Coca-Cola Bottlers (Ulster) Ltd discusses the partnership with Cinemagic:

“Cinemagic gives young people the opportunity to gain exciting and practical experience in many Arts based disciplines. We are delighted to support the valuable work of Cinemagic and wish them every success now and in the future.”

Festival Guests
Special guests attending the young people’s film festival in Belfast include multi-awarding winning writer-director Mike Leigh OBE (Secrets and Lies, Topsy Turvy, Vera Drake, Happy-Go-Lucky), charismatic British actor Ray Winstone (The Departed, Beowulf, Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull), film critic, broadcaster and journalist Mark Kermode, highly acclaimed producer and BAFTA Chairman David Parfitt, BBC Diplomatic Correspondent Brian Hanrahan, Casting Director Ros Hubbard (The Lord of The Rings Triology, United 93, The Bourne Ultimatum), Director Annie Griffin (Book Group, Festival),and Cinemagic patron Dermot O’Leary (Big Brother’s Little Brother, X Factor, BBC Radio 2).

Festival Films: Special Previews and Documentaries
Movie enthusiasts will have the opportunity to view the best international films for young people ranging from special previews, to documentaries, modern classics and shorts, as well as family and kids’ favourites. The Opening Night animated preview, ‘Niko & The Way To The Stars’ (13 Nov), directed by Michael Hegner and Kari Juusonen (A co-production with Magma Films, Ireland) is sure to delight young audiences and it will set the standard for the eclectic line-up of films being screened over the 23 days of the largest film festival for young people in the UK and Ireland. The Cinemagic Festival will close in Belfast with a preview screening of ‘Madagascar Escape 2 Africa’ (30 Nov) (Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks animation).

The 20 fascinating ‘in competition’ feature films in the ‘Around The World’ programme include the Irish Preview of Japanese animation ‘The Girl Who Leapt Through Time’ (14 Nov), the UK Preview of Spanish fantasy animation ‘Nocturna’ (22 Nov), Norwegian family mystery ‘The 10 Lives of Titanic The Cat’ (15 Nov), the UK Preview of powerful Danish drama ‘Worlds Apart’ (21 Nov), the imaginative tale of a kind-hearted little kitten in the Irish Preview of ‘Komaneko’ (22 Nov), and the story of life as a 13 year old girl in Irish drama ‘32A’ (19 Nov) directed by Marian Quinn. Documentary fans can enjoy skillfully made films such as ‘Heavy Load’ (20 Nov) which follows a year in the life of a punk band, and ‘In The Shadow of The Moon’ (26 Nov) in which the surviving crew members from NASA’s Apollo missions tell their unique story.

Festival Films:
Modern classics include the gritty, urban tale of hope and despair in ‘Half Nelson’ (20 Nov), the story of an innocence lost set amidst violence and conflict in war-torn El Salvador in ‘Innocent Voices’ (15 Nov) and the powerful socio-political drama in ‘The Lives of Others’ (23 Nov). Fun for all the family is guaranteed with screenings of ‘Charlotte’s Web’ (22 Nov), ‘Happy Feet’ (23 Nov), ‘The Wizard of Oz’ (15 Nov), ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ (16 Nov) and ‘The Sound of Music’ (23 Nov). The Festival’s teenage classics include a strong line-up of much loved film titles from Alan Parker’s ‘Fame’ (16 Nov) and the Coen Brothers ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’ (22 Nov) to Ridley Scott’s ‘White Squall’ (16 Nov) and Charles Laughton’s ‘The Night of The Hunter’ (22 Nov).

Cinemagic ‘Talent Lab’ Masterclasses.
Young people aged 16-25 who are keen to get an inside track on the media industry can do just that as the hugely successful ‘Talent Lab’ event sponsored by Invest Northern Ireland returns to the festival. Promising to be a fantastic mix of creativity, fun and learning, the two day ‘Talent Lab’ masterclasses will run on 27th and 28th November in Belfast Metropolitan College at the Castlereagh Campus. Masterclasses include Cinematography, Scriptwriting, Acting, Publishing, Production Design and Art Direction.

Cinemagic Young Filmmaker
The judges of the 2008 Cinemagic Young Filmmaker Competition in association with BT Vision. are looking for imaginative and original short films made by young people, to be showcased as part of the festival. The Cinemagic Young Filmmaker Competition is free to enter and it is open to young people from across the UK and Ireland aged 4-25 years old. Shortlisted films will be screened at a Cinemagic awards ceremony at ODEON Cinemas on 28 November.

You can also book by telephone on 028 90 24 66 09 or in person at the Belfast Welcome Centre, 47 Donegall Place from 10am-5.30pm, Monday to Friday and 11am-3pm Saturday.

To Book Workshops Tel Cinemagic on 028 90 311 900

Links:
Cinemagic 

Related:

• Call for Submissions
• Cinemagic : Consultants
• Cinemagic Lisburn Kicks Off
• Cinemagic Lisburn
• City of Ember Premier

The novel was adapted by Caroline Thompson, and the film is directed by Gil Kenan. City of Ember will be released on October 10, 2008 and is rated PG.

The story follows two children, Lina Mayfleet and Doon Harrow, who live in the City of Ember, an underground city built to house a human community for 200 years. Having reached the end of its 200-year mission, Ember’s power source begins to become problematic and the lamps start to flicker. Together, the children search for clues that will unlock ancient mysteries about the city and save the people of Ember and get out before it’s too late.

The entire night was fantastic. Arriving at Movie House to find the same performers who worked with Duke Special during the Empire series of events. Fire eaters, stilts and centre stage was the actual City of Ember statue. 

After a drinks reception Richard Williams, CEO  Screen outlined the success of City of Ember highlighting the fact the film is the biggest title to come out of Northern Ireland and featured a large NI cast of crew and extras. Gregory Campbell spoke briefly about the creative industries in NI and star of the film Saoirse Ronan (Oscar®  nominee for Atonement) introduced the film.  There was certainly massive excitement about Saoirse’s presence. Saoirse had actually just attended the New York premier the previous evening !

So was it worth the wait ? Absolutely. Like many others we had met some of the stars of the film while they were in Belfast. It was a strange feeling to see what they were filming finally on the big screen. City of Ember is a gripping family adventure.

The setting is visually spectacular and the special effects are absolutely stunning. It was easy to see why NI Screen have such pride in the film, the city creation is remarkable and it is hard to believe it all happened 2 miles from the centre of Belfast.

I guess there are obvious comparisons to the Walden’s Narnia series of films and even though we are massive CS Lewis fans City of Ember is easily on a power. 

There was the odd flurry of applause when an extra was recognised on screen and the end credits received the longest film applause we have seen. The final icing on the cake was a City of Ember chocolate courtesy of NI Screen on the way out were the audience were met with mics and cameras. 

If you want to enjoy City of Ember to the full I would definitely encourage you  to see it in the Cinema (out on the 10th). The film won’t disappoint  and you can’t help feel a sense of pride that it was made in Belfast. 

Links:
Official Website
Cinemagic
Northern Ireland Screen 
Behind the Scenes of City of Ember

Related:

• Call for Submissions
• Cinemagic : Consultants
• Cinemagic Lisburn Kicks Off
• Cinemagic Lisburn
• The Importance of Soundtrack

1. Rebecca

2. Shadow of Doubt

3. Notorious

4. Strangers on a Train

5. Dial M for Murder

6. Vertigo

7. North by North West

8. Pyscho

9. The Birds 

10. 39 Steps

I have no doubt there are many out there who would disagree with some of the films listed, the fact that  ‘To Catch a Thief’ is not listed etc. If you feel strongly do post a comment.

Related:

• The Importance of Soundtrack
• Post Production Saves Blackadder?
• City of Ember Premier
• Film History : The Cut
• Rain Study Guides

I always loved the ironic contrast that in large music retailers such as Woolworths there would always be a large wall (or bin) of TDK D90 tapes, these cassettes too carried the warning on piracy and they were of course for recording your own personal music ignoring the fact that 90s meant you could get an album on either side. 

The tape recorder gave birth to the concept of the ‘compilation tape’ replaced not so well by the digital ‘playlist’. People made tapes not so much to copy music not to create their own theme cassette. The TDK D90 was often used as a chat up line and generally said more about the person sending it than the actual artist making the music.

Well the film High Fidelity based on the novel by Nick Hornby revisits the era and importance of the compilation cassette. The film unlike the book is set in America and stars John Cusack.  The synopsis : Early-thirtysomething Rob Gordon (Cusack) is a slacker who owns a vintage record shop, a massive collection of LPs, and innumerable top-five lists in his head.

At the opening of the film, Rob recounts directly to the audience his all-time top-five “breakups” which doesn’t include his recent falling out with his girlfriend Laura (Iben Hjejle), who has just moved out of their apartment. Thunderstruck and obsessed with Laura’s desertion (but loath to admit it), Rob begins a quest to confront the women who instigated the aforementioned top-five breakups to find out just what he did wrong.

The mix of direct audience communication and humorous flashbacks really make High Fidelity a great watch. My highlights are “Kevin Bannister” (you have to see it, as I won’t give too much away). The film is smart features a cameo by Bruce Springsteen and has enough music trivia to keep most music fans happy. Tim Robbins character will raise a smile, (I mention him simply so I can name drop and mention I’ve met him once) and Jack Black is on top floor as an assistant in the record store.

If you like music and have reached the dizzy age of 30 I’d say it really should be on your Love Film rental list at the very very least. If you have seen it please post what you thought, I know some people didn’t like but it is certainly on my top ten films of all time list. Note YouTube click contains some swear words….. Jack Black!

Related:

• Films about Transformation
• Academy Award Poll Predictions
• Must See Films for Filmmakers
• Top 10 Love Films of all Time
• Rain : Cinematographic Excellence

Launching the season, Susan Picken QFT Manager said: “If the credit crunch means you’ve cut back on your continental travels this year, fear not – with the third edition of the annual Stella Artois Continental Classics season, we’re bringing the best of continental living to you, with films from France, Italy, Germany and Spain!”

This year’s classic line-up brings together over five decades of the very best in continental cinema from acclaimed directors including , Jean-Luc Godard and Michelangelo Antonioni.

Highlights include the a long overdue re-release of the wonderful Jules et Jim, where love and friendship become entangled, and the New Wave classic Bande à Part, in which two street wise characters attempt to pull off a heist that could make them their fortune.

Keeping with our crime theme we have Le Cercle Rouge which follows Corey, who is fresh out of prison and decides to step back into the shadowy world of crime – a move which ends in disaster. A massive QFT audience favourite, Hidden is a thriller in which mysterious video tapes which seem to hold the key to hidden secrets from a TV host’s past, begin to appear on his door step.

There’s also a focus on French comedy with another chance to see the Oscar-winning Amélie and some of the enchanting comic creations of the inimitable comedy genius Jacques Tati. In Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday, we follow Tati as the title character when he comes to a beachside hotel for a holiday, where he accidentally (but good-naturedly) causes havoc. Jour de Fête tells the story of Tati’s inept and easily-distracted postman who goes to hilarious lengths to speed his postal deliveries aboard his bicycle.

From Germany comes Fear Eats the Soul, where a strange attraction develops between an immigrant man and a woman twice his age as they end up drawn to each other because of their loneliness. Bleak but brilliant and with flashes of black humour, this is a true German classic. The fatal attraction continues in That Obscure Object of Desire, in which a dizzying game of sexual politics occurs when a man becomes obsessed with his maid.

We also have a very special screening of Tarkovsky’s masterpiece The Sacrifice, which asks the question “How much would you sacrifice to save the world?” In this accomplished and audacious film, Alexander offers his entire family to God in an attempt to save the planet from nuclear disaster. Also screening is The Red Desert, an Italian masterpiece which follows one woman’s experience of mental illness as she conceals it from those close to her. 

Since we’re generous types at the QFT, we’ve decided to treat you to a free film! When you see 3 films in the Stella Artois Continental Classics the 4th is free. (Offer not available online – please register your name and telephone number with QFT box office.)

For further information and booking for all Queens’s Film Theatre film events, please visitwww.queensfilmtheatre.com or drop into the QFT at 20 University Square.

Related:

• Cinemagic : Consultants
• Films about Transformation
• QFT : Short Shots Trick of Light
• BBC Presenter Auditions
• QFT Goes Digital

Head of Moving image Arts, David Cleland explained, “This amazing opportunity was made possible by the wonders of Apple’s iChat application. From our classroom in Lisburn we were able to enjoy an interactive workshop with Daniel in North Carolina. The full screen digital link up was the first time we have done something of this magnitude and I’m happy to say it was a great success.”

Sixth year Harry Bateman went on,“Daniel also starred in “Big Fish” so he was able to give us lots of information about his experiences on the set of the film as well as the intricacies of writing for film. He was very informal and we had a lot of fun taking part in the video conference.”

Daniel Wallace commented “I’d just had my first cup of coffee, wandered up to my home office and then I was speaking to and looking at David’s class in Lisburn. So cool. My head’s still spinning over what we were able to do with iChat. ”

The Moving Image Arts A-Level was developed by the British Film Institute and CCEA in collaboration with the Nerve Centre and Northern Ireland Screen. The new qualification is located within the arts curriculum and has a clear focus on the visual arts and its relationship with film. Students have the opportunity to study and create their own films and animations using applications such as iStopmotion and Apple’s Final Cut Express.

David Cleland concluded “Students seldom gain access to writers of block buster films and we in Wallace really appreciate Daniel’s participation in this event.”

Related Links:
www.danielwallace.org
Apple iChat

Related:

• Time Freeze in Final Cut
• 5 Top Story Writing Tips from a Big Fish
• The Importance of Soundtrack
• Free iChat Effects for Leopard

Whether producing a 30-second spot, the nightly news or a major motion picture, Final Cut Studio is the choice of editors around the world,” said Rob Schoeben, Apple’s vice president of Applications Product Marketing. “With the introduction of Final Cut Server, collaboration just got a whole lot easier for millions of editors, producers and clients who work with Final Cut Studio.”

“For the past few months we’ve been using a beta of Final Cut Server to manage our entire workflow pipeline, 24/7, and it held up beautifully,” said Evan Schechtman, CTO of Radical Media. “Best of all, Final Cut Server integrates seamlessly with our home-grown solutions so it’s actually adding new value to systems we’ve relied on for years.”

Final Cut Server automatically catalogues media and generates thumbnails, poster frames and low-resolution clip proxies for quick browsing in user specified formats. A cross-platform client enables a PC or Mac to use Final Cut Server’s broad search capabilities, which extend from simple keywords to complex combinations of IPTC, XMP and XML metadata. Final Cut Server also configures a range of highly specific access controls that define user permissions on an asset or project basis.

Final Cut Server scales to support workgroups of different sizes, ranging from a two-person post house to a multi-national news organisation and can automate as much, or as little, of the production pipeline as needed. A configurable event-based response model tracks job status, monitors media changes, and automates review and approval notifications and complex sequences of tasks—all through a series of simple menu selections.

Tightly integrated with Final Cut Studio® for a seamless extension of the workflow, Final Cut Server includes Compressor 3, Apple’s industrial strength digital encoding and compression tool, which delivers pristine format conversions for publishing to DVD, broadcast television, the Internet, Apple TV®, iPod®, iPhone™ and other mobile phones.

Pricing & Availability
Final Cut Server is available immediately through the Apple Store® Here, Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorised Resellers for a suggested retail price of £699 (inc VAT) for one server and 10 concurrent client licenses, and £1,399 (inc VAT) for one server and unlimited client licenses. Full system requirements and more information on Final Cut Server can be found at http://www.apple.com/uk/finalcutserver

Related:

• Final Cut – Reversing Clips
• Time Freeze in Final Cut
• Post Production Saves Blackadder?
• Life and Death of a Tea Bag
• Free Apple Motion Templates

I don’t know what it is about the songs written by Eddie Vedder than make then last so long in terms of their sheer listenability. Having been a fan of Pearl Jam since the early 1990s it became habitual to watch films featuring PJ music. Singles, Dead Man Walking and of late Into the Wild.

There hasn’t been a week this year that I haven’t listened to at least one track from the Into the Wild soundtrack. I’ve pretty much learnt to play every song including the fantastic Guaranteed. 

The link between music and film has always been prolifically strong. Film students refer to music overlay as non diegetic sound a rather scientific term to describe the sounds and music you not expect to find the depicted scene in reality. Used properly music can enhance the emotional strength of a film beyond anything that can be created visually.

Into the Wild works in a similar fashion. A moving true story of Chris McCandless. The film is beautiful, moving and challenging. Eddie Vedder wrote the soundtrack. His ability to draw on his own upbringing and experience results in a soundtrack just as important as the moving image being watched.

The strength comes from the reality. Vedder’s tepid upbringing is not far from that of Chris McCandless and it is fair to say you can’t effectively write about pain until you’ve really felt it. The sheer emotion and sincere feeling oozes from every song. The title track is best listened to with the overdubbed lines from the film. (here). Vedder discusses the contribution his personal experiences bring to the music here. 

I’ve listened to no less that fifty albums this year and I return to the Into the Wild soundtrack on a weekly basis. Each sound throwing up the image taken by Chris on his camera outside bus 142 (featured with this post) If you have not watched the film or listened to the music it really is worth watching. Film first, soundtrack for a long time after.

If you have listened to the music or seen the film please post what you thoughts of either below. 

Links:
Soundtrack | Book | Film

Related:

• Films about Transformation
• Academy Award Poll Predictions
• Must See Films for Filmmakers
• Top 10 Love Films of all Time
• Rain : Cinematographic Excellence

Links:
Stop Motion Resources

Related:

• iStopmotion 2 Released
• Final Cut – Reversing Clips
• Top 5 Tips for Animators
• Time Freeze in Final Cut
• Post Production Saves Blackadder?

If you want to create quick yet eye catching final credits for a movie I highly recommend Keynote. Transitions and effects in Keynote 08 help you build cinema-quality presentations. New transitions give you more choices for transporting your audience from slide to slide, flexible text animation puts your words in the spotlight, and interleaved builds offer additional options for every element in your slides.

If you create your end credits as a series of Keynote slides you can add a range of animated effects and images to puctuate the message. There are over two dozen transitions to choose from all of which retain their animation once exported to Quicktime.

It should also be remembered that you can embed video within your Keynote presentation so you are not limited to end titles featuring simply text and image.

Once you have completed your credits simply export the presentation to QT : Click “Export” in the file menu.

Select Custom to ensure you export your quicktime both at the correct resolution and compression.

You can now adjust the quality of the end titles:

Once complete (this may take some time depending on the amount of animation used) you can import your end credits in to iMovie or Final Cut.
For more on Keynote click here.

Related:

• New iWork Templates for Education
• Keynote Remote Hands On
• Alpha Transparency in Keynote 08
• Keynote for the Cloud
• Alpha Tool Tutorial Keynote 09