31 maart 2014

Big city song


What makes Amsterdam so attractive is the 17th century historical atmosphere combined with the mentality of a modern metropolis creating a friendly and relaxed environment. The small scale of the buildings and the intimacy of the streets, canals and squares create an atmosphere that visitors find unique.

The city has the highest museum density in the world and is home to cultural highlights, such as the Van Gogh Museum, Anne Frank House, Hermitage Amsterdam and the Rijksmuseum with Rembrandt’s world-famous Nightwatch. Other well known places of interest in Amsterdam are the Palace on the Dam, the Artis Zoo, Jewish Historical Museum and the Rembrandt House.





30 maart 2014

Volendam: fish and tourists



Volendam is a popular tourist attraction in the Netherlands, well known for its old fishing boats and the traditional clothing still worn by some residents. The women's costume of Volendam, with its high, pointed bonnet, is one of the most recognizable of the Dutch traditional costumes, and is often featured on tourist postcards and posters (although there are believed to be fewer than 50 women now wearing the costume as part of their daily lives, most of them elderly). There is a regular ferry connection to Marken, a peninsula close by. Volendam also features a small museum about its history and clothing style, and visitors can have their pictures taken in traditional Dutch costumes



27 maart 2014

Hilaria: funfair




Humour is the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humoral medicine of the ancient Greeks, which taught that the balance of fluids in the human body, known as humours (Latin: humor, "body fluid"), control human health and emotion.

People of all ages and cultures respond to humour. The majority of people are able to experience humour, i.e., to be amused, to laugh or smile at something funny, and thus they are considered to have a sense of humour. The hypothetical person lacking a sense of humour would likely find the behaviour induced by humour to be inexplicable, strange, or even irrational. Though ultimately decided by personal taste, the extent to which a person will find something humorous depends upon a host of variables, including geographical location, culture, maturity, level of education, intelligence and context.




25 maart 2014

ICE-sculptures


Ice sculpture is a form of sculpture that uses ice as the raw material. Sculptures from ice can be abstract or realistic and can be functional or purely decorative. Ice sculptures are generally associated with special or extravagant events because of their limited lifetime.

The lifetime of a sculpture is determined primarily by the temperature of its environment and thus, a sculpture can last from mere minutes to possibly months. There are several ice festivals held around the world, hosting competitions of ice sculpture carving.

23 maart 2014

Arles capital de Provence



Arles and the Rhone, the people of Arles and their river, a history of love and mistrust depending on the water’s mood.
In the 19th century, commercial activity on the docks and riverbanks was still flourishing. Van-Gogh, who mainly stayed clear of the local population, explored the city and its surroundings, unceasingly painting the transformations of nature in spring, the landscapes, workers in the fields or on the river. All that he saw inspired him and became art. He would rest his easel on the riverbank whenever the wind allowed him to.

21 maart 2014

My birthtown in one minute


Music videos use a wide range of styles of film making techniques, including animation, live action filming, documentaries, and non-narrative approaches such as abstract film. Some music videos blend different styles, such as animation and live action. Many music videos interpret images and scenes from the song's lyrics, while others take a more thematic approach. Other music videos may be without a set concept, being merely a filmed version of the song's live performance.



Downfall


The movie is well known as the inspiration for "Downfall parodies". One scene in the film, in which Hitler launches into a furious tirade upon finally realizing that the war is truly lost, has become a staple of internet videos. In these videos, the original audio of Ganz's voice is retained, but new subtitles are added so that he now seems to be reacting instead to some setback in present-day politics, sports, popular culture, or everyday life. Other scenes from various portions of the film have been parodied in the same manner, notably the scenes where Hitler orders Otto Günsche to find SS-Gruppenführer Hermann Fegelein, and where Hitler discusses a counterattack against advancing Soviet forces with his generals. By 2010, there were thousands of such parodies, including many in which a self-aware Hitler is incensed that people keep making Downfall parodies, and videos that depict Hitler as having a fierce rivalry with Fegelein, with the latter plotting mischief against his superior through a number of cruel and often comical antics. Clips from other films, such as Inglourious Basterds, Dear Friend Hitler, Hitler: The Last Ten Days and even films or footage that have little or nothing to do with Downfall's subject matter, are also juxtaposed for humorous effect. Parodies that make use of special effects or computer-generated imagery are also starting to become popular among fans, ranging from superimposing the characters' heads on other footage, to rotoscoping scenes from the film into different backgrounds.

20 maart 2014

Winter in Holland



A hidden camera is a still or video camera used to film people without their knowledge. The camera is "hidden" because it is either not visible to the subject being filmed, or is disguised as another object.
Hidden cameras are also sometimes used in reality television to catch participants in unusual or absurd situations. Participants will either know they will be filmed, but not always exactly when or where, or do not know they have been filmed until later, at which point they may sign a release or give consent to the footage being produced for a show.





17 maart 2014

Weirfishing on anchovies


A fishing weir, or fish weir, is an obstruction placed in tidal waters or wholly or partially across a river, which is designed to hinder the passage of fish. Traditionally they were built from wood or stones. They can be used to trap fish.


Alternatively, fish weirs can be used to redirect fish elsewhere, such as to a fish ladder.
As fish traps, fishing weirs date back to the Bronze Age in Sweden and to Roman times in the UK.)
In medieval Europe, large fishing weir structures were constructed from wood posts and wattle fences. 'V' shaped structures in rivers could be as long as 60 m and worked by directing fish towards fish traps or nets.


15 maart 2014

Never walk alone



The introduction of the Beta VCR in 1975 and VHS in 1976 heralded a revolution in the making of home movies. Videocassettes were extremely inexpensive compared to film and they could even be erased. This had the effect of greatly increasing the hours of footage of most family video libraries. It took a few years before consumer video cameras and portable VCRs were introduced, and later combined to create camcorders, but by that time, many consumers already had the playback equipment in their homes.


13 maart 2014

First schoolday


Scene from “Alleman”
Haanstra was born in the town of Holten and became a professional Dutch documentary film maker in 1947. He won international acclaims. He directed several fiction films. Fanfare, a comedy situated in a small Dutch village, is still the Netherlands' second most popular film ever (measured at the box office), only surpassed by Paul Verhoevens Turkish Delight.
In several shorts and in long documentaries like Alleman Haansta reflected on The Netherlands and its inhabitants. All these films made him one of the most popular filmmakers in the history of Dutch cinema. The documentary Alleman was seen in the cinema by 20 percent of the total Dutch population.


 

 

10 maart 2014

Alarum clock


9.5 mm film is an amateur film format introduced by Pathé Frères in 1922 as part of the Pathé Baby amateur film system. It was conceived initially as an inexpensive format to provide copies of commercially made films to home users, although a simple camera was released shortly afterwards.

It became very popular in Europe over the next few decades and is still used by a small number of enthusiasts today. Over 300,000 projectors were produced and sold mainly in France and England, and many commercial features were available in the format



 

 

06 maart 2014

Next year Princes Carnival


In Holland, carnival is a holiday mainly celebrated in the south of the country. The provinces Limburg and Noord-Brabant are the predominantly Catholic provinces of the Netherlands, where most inhabitants celebrate Carnival. Though some people take the Carnival traditions very seriously, most people keep it simple and just drink, sing and dance wearing a colorful outfit.
The Carnival celebrations start after the mayor symbolically hands over the key to the city to Prince Carnival. For three days, the Carnival Prince has control of the city and, together with his subjects, celebrates the temporary establishment of their Kingdom of Fools.


 

05 maart 2014

Bits & Pieces



The term silent film is therefore a retronym—that is, a term created to distinguish something retroactively. The early films with sound, starting with The Jazz Singer in 1927, were referred to as "talkies", "sound films", or "talking pictures". Within a decade, popular widespread production of silent films had ceased and production moved into the sound era, in which movies were accompanied by synchronized sound recordings of spoken dialogue, music and sound effects.



A September 2013 report by the United States Library of Congress announced that a total of 70% of American silent feature films are believed to be completely lost. There are numerous reasons for the loss of so many silent films, three chief causes being: (a) intentional destruction by film studios after the silent era ended, (b) damage due to environmental degradation of the films themselves, and (c) fires in the vaults in which studios stored their films.

First Dutch soundfilm



Willem van Oranje (1934) was the first Dutch talking feature. It was shot at the Philips Studios ('Philiwood') in Eindhoven, using the 'Philips-Miller Filmband', a new system for recording sound. In the year of the film's release, the inventors of the 'Philips-Miller Filmband' were lauded at the Geneva 'Union Internationale de Radiodiffusion'.
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With the economic crisis looming over production, all the parts of the extras were filled out by unemployed inhabitants of Eindhoven.


01 maart 2014

Music music music


Independent filmmakers have also pressed low-cost consumer and prosumer cameras into service for digital filmmaking. Though image quality is typically much lower than what can be produced with professional digital cinematography cameras, the technology has steadily improved, most significantly in the last several years with the arrival of high-definition cameras in this market. These inexpensive cameras are limited by their relatively high compression ratios, their small sensors, and the quality of their optics. Many have integrated lenses which cannot be changed.