Langres....Natural stone

Films are cultural artifacts created by specific cultures. They reflect those cultures, and, in turn, affect them. Film is considered to be an important art form, a source of popular entertainment, and a powerful medium for educating—or indoctrinating—citizens. The visual basis of film gives it a universal power of communication. Some films have become popular worldwide attractions by using dubbing or subtitles to translate the dialog into the language of the viewer.

Xmastime

Verkade girls

A flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point in the story. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story's primary sequence of events to fill in crucial backstory. In the opposite direction, a flashforward (or prolepsis) reveals events that will occur in the future. Both flashback and flashforward are used to create suspense in a story, develop a character, or add structure to the narrative. In literature, internal analepsis is a flashback to an earlier point in the narrative; external analepsis is a flashback to a time before the narrative started.


In movies and television, several camera techniques and special effects have evolved to alert the viewer that the action shown is a flashback or flashforward; for example, the edges of the picture may be deliberately blurred, photography may be jarring or choppy, or unusual coloration or sepia tone, or monochrome when most of the story is in full color, may be used.

Audiovisual Archives

The Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision (‘Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid’) is a cultural-historical organization of national interest. It collects, preserves and opens the audiovisual heritage for as many users as possible: media professionals, education, science and the general public. In addition, the institute develops and disseminates knowledge in the area of audiovisual archiving, digitization and media history.

Sound and Vision (‘Beeld en Geluid’) has one of the largest audiovisual archives in Europe. The institute manages over 70 percent of the Dutch audiovisual heritage. The collection contains more than a million hours of television, radio, music and film from the beginning in 1898 until today. All programs of the Dutch public broadcasters come in digitally every day. Individuals and institutions entrust their collection to Sound and Vision as well. The institute ensures that the material is optimally preserved for (re)use. Broadcasters, producers and editors use the archive for the creation of new programs. The collection is also used to develop products and services for a wide audience, such as exhibitions, iPhone applications, DVD boxes and various websites.

Cooking in the family

In both the United States and Europe, the idea of children's films began to gain relative prominence in the 1930s. According to Bazalgette and Staples, the term "family film" is essentially an American expression while "children's film" is considered to be a European expression. However, the difference between the two terms can be seen in casting methods adopted by American and European films respectively. In American family films, the search for a child protagonist involves casting children that meet a specific criteria or standard for physical appearance. In contrast, European children's films look to cast children who appear "ordinary". Similarly, in American family films, the adult cast can be composed of well known actors or actresses in an effort to attract a wider audience, presenting narratives from an adult or parental perspective. This is shown through the casting, script, content of the plot, editing, and even Mise en scène.

Blowing bubbles

Filmmaking involves a number of discrete stages including an initial story, idea, or commission, through scriptwriting, casting, shooting, editing, and screening the finished product before an audience that may result in a film release and exhibition. Filmmaking is both an art and an industry. Films were originally recorded onto plastic film which was shown through a movie projector onto a large screen (in other words, an analog recording process). The adoption of CGI-based special effects led to the use of digital intermediates. Most contemporary films are now fully digital through the entire process of production, distribution, and exhibition from start to finish.

Walk around in Pompei

A three-dimensional stereoscopic film (also known as three-dimensional film, 3D film or S3D film) is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception, hence adding a third dimension. The most common approach to the production of 3D films is derived from stereoscopic photography. In it, a regular motion picture camera system is used to record the images as seen from two perspectives (or computer-generated imagery generates the two perspectives in post-production), and special projection hardware and/or eyewear are used to limit the visibility of each image in the pair to the viewer's left or right eye only. 3D films are not limited to theatrical releases; television broadcasts and direct-to-video films have also incorporated similar methods, especially since the advent of 3D television and Blu-ray 3D.

 

Saint-Nicolas eve. (on sunday)

In the Netherlands, "Dutch children put out a clog filled with hay and a carrot for Saint Nicholas' horse. On Saint Nicholas' Day, gifts are tagged with personal humorous rhymes written by the sender. In the United States, one custom associated with Saint Nicholas Day is children leaving their shoes in the foyer on Saint Nicholas Eve in hope that Saint Nicholas will place some coins on the soles, for them to awake to.
The American Santa Claus, as well as the British Father Christmas, derive from Saint Nicholas. "Santa Claus" is itself derived in part from the Dutch Sinterklaas, the saint's name in that language. However the gift giving associated with these descendant figures is associated with Christmas Day rather than Saint Nicholas Day itself.

Eindhoven: Glow

Around 50 light artists have created light installations, sculptures, projections and performanced. These all offer the visitor of GLOW a surprisingly new perspective on the city. GLOW can be visited, free of charge. Over 650,000 people visited GLOW last year.

GLOW NEXT, where new projects are based on experiments which are shown for the very first time. Eindhoven is a pioneering city and a breeding ground for creative, artistic and technical talents who show their skills at GLOW NEXT.
This year, GLOW will have its 10th anniversary. We will celebrate this at Stadhuisplein, right under the light arches of De Cagna, one of the GLOW highlights of the past.

I phone home

In both the United States and Europe, the idea of children's films began to gain relative prominence in the 1930s. According to Bazalgette and Staples, the term "family film" is essentially an American expression while "children's film" is considered to be a European expression. However, the difference between the two terms can be seen in casting methods adopted by American and European films respectively. In American family films, the search for a child protagonist involves casting children that meet a specific criteria or standard for physical appearance. In contrast, European children's films look to cast children who appear "ordinary". Similarly, in American family films, the adult cast can be composed of well known actors or actresses in an effort to attract a wider audience, presenting narratives from an adult or parental perspective. This is shown through the casting, script, content of the plot, editing, and even Mise en scène.

 

Super eight

Happy 50th Birthday Super 8!

We’re celebrating a very special birthday this year – Super 8 is turning 50!

Fifty years ago, Kodak introduced Super 8 mm. This “super” format solved some of the challenges of standard 8mm, which launched a few decades earlier. Regardless of those hurdles, 8 mm cameras became a common sight at family parties, special events, and vacation destinations by the 1950s. But with the invention of the 50-foot cartridge in 1965, anyone could shoot without interruption for a much smaller investment. Suddenly everyone was a filmmaker!

Many of today's great filmmakers — Steven Spielberg, J.J. Abrams, David Fincher, Tim Burton, Peter Jackson, Michael Bay and Christopher Nolan — got their “start” creating Super 8 movies in their back yards. This powerful little format has gone on to forge an emotional path into the hearts of many artists and filmmakers over the decades. And its unique look is still revered today.

Feeding the animals

In motion picture terminology, the term tracking shot may refer to a shot in which the camera is mounted on a camera dolly, a wheeled platform that is pushed on rails while the picture is being taken; in this case the shot is also known as a dolly shot or trucking shot. One may dolly in on a stationary subject for emphasis, or dolly out, or dolly beside a moving subject (an action known as "dolly with").

The term may also refer to any shot in which the camera follows a subject within the frame, such as a moving actor or a moving vehicle. When using the term tracking shot in this sense, the camera may be moved in ways not involving a camera dolly, such as via a Steadicam, via handheld camera operator, or by being panned on a tripod

Censorship in featuremovies

Blue Movie (1971)
In 1971 in the Dutch film world the sex wave also eruptedl. Both Mira and what I see, but particularly in Blue Movie, nudity and sex played an important role.
In Blue Movie there are two classics in the field of nudity in film: first, the scene in the elevator in which Hugo Metsers has sex experience with a roommate while half the flat before the elevator doors are waiting, and secondly, the final scene of the film, in which one sees (almost complete erection )of the actor.
This was unprecedented in the Dutch film.