Around Trasimeno

The Cinema of Italy comprises the films made within Italy or by Italian directors. Since the development of the Italian film industry in the early 1900s, Italian filmmakers and performers have, at times, experienced both domestic and international success, and have influenced film movements throughout the world. As of 2014, Italian films have won 14 Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film, the most of any country, as well as 12 Palmes d'Or, the second-most of any country.

Siena in Italy

 

Schrader used his new project, a 10-episode web series called Life on the Other Side inspired by Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita, to discuss a new era in the filmmaking business. "If Fellini were alive today, he’d make La Dolce Vita as a web series, because maybe that’s a better way to make it than a three hour movie,” he said.

“We’re entering into a new era when so much of the old rules are changing. We don’t know how long a film is no more. We used to think a film was somewhere between an hour and a half and two hours. But now it’s somewhere between 3 minutes and 70 hours. You know, Mad Men is a movie. And we’re seeing the rise of new concepts. The film studios of the future are going be called Amazon and Google — and they are already called Netflix. This is where filmmaking and film-going is headed,” he stated.

Panorama of Florence

In photography, panning refers to the rotation in a horizontal plane of a still camera or video camera. Panning a camera results in a motion similar to that of someone shaking their head from side to side or of an aircraft performing a yaw rotation. Or to that of an opening door if the door stays facing one way.

Filmmaking and professional video cameras pan by turning horizontally on a vertical axis, but the effect may be enhanced by adding other techniques, such as rails to move the whole camera platform. Slow panning is also combined with zooming in or out on a single subject, leaving the subject in the same portion of the frame, to emphasize or de-emphasize the subject respectively.

In still photography, the panning technique is used to suggest fast motion, and bring out the subject from other elements in the frame. In photographic pictures it is usually noted by a foreground subject in action appearing still (i.e. a runner frozen in mid-stride) while the background is streaked and/or skewed in the apparently opposite direction of the subject's travel, similar to speed lines, and is often used in sports photography, primarily of racing.

Perugia

The antique market of Perugia (Italy)Perugia today hosts two main universities, the Universiti degli Studi and the Foreigners University(Universiti per Stranieri), and are melting pots for students from all over Italy and the world. Stranieri serves as an Italian language and culture school for students from all over the world. The city also hosts the Umbra Institute, an American school for students studying abroad in Perugia. The Universiti dei Sapori(University of Tastes), Accademia delle belle arti (Art Academy), and Scuola di giornalismo radio televisivo (a radio-television journalism school owned by RAI) are located in the city as well.Stagecraft is the art of building, attaching, and rigging scenery as well as other technical aspects of performance including sound, costuming, makeup, and lighting.It comprises among the many other disciplines * Scenery, which includes set construction, scenic painting, theatrical properties, theater drapes and stage curtains, and special effects. * Theatrical properties, or props, which includes furnishings, set dressings, and all items large and small which cannot be classified as scenery, electrics or wardrobe. Props handled by actors are known as handprops, and props which are kept in an actor's costume are known as personal props. * Costume design, or costume construction.* Makeup, or the application of makeup to accentuate an actor's features.Though there are existing companies where much can be rented, it often can be a wise thing to look around interesting (street)markets

San-Gimignano

Federico Fellini

“A person’s clothes make up part of his character. I draw the character with his costume. I suggest it to the stylists with my drawings; the drawings translate some of my emotional impressions. For me elegance happens when there is a correspondence between a person’s personality and how she dresses herself. Finally, don’t forget that costumes, like dreams, are symbolic communication. Dreams teach us that a language for everything exists — for every object, every color worn, every clothing detail. Hence, costumes provide an aesthetic objectification that helps to tell the character’s story.”

Theater in Rome

Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. These films are designed to entertain the audience through amusement, and often work by exaggerating characteristics of real life for humorous effect.
Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (the black comedy being an exception). One of the oldest genres in film, some of the very first silent movies were comedies, as slapstick comedy often relies on visual depictions, without requiring sound. Comedy, unlike other film genres, puts much more focus on individual stars, with many former stand-up comics transitioning to the film industry due to their popularity. While many comic films are lighthearted stories with no intent other than to amuse, others contain political or social commentary

 

Forum and markets of Trajan

TRAJAN FORUMThis Forum celebrates Trajans campaign in the territory that is now Romania and is the largest and most recent of Romes imperial forums. Built between 107 and 113 this vast structure includes a triumphal arch, an equestrian statue of Trajan and the largest basilica ever built in Rome Basilica Ulpia 17 m by 60 m) that now only consists of ruins of columns and friezes.

Trajan Markets used to host 150 shops selling all kind of goods coming from the known world at that time. It is a three-floor semicircular structure that was built in the first part of the 2nd century BC. In the streets outside the market flourished numerous taverns and part of the structure was house to public administration offices and to a stock exchange.

 

Religous Rome

Many films are made with film formats that are wider than video's standard 4:3 aspect ratio. Where possible shoot proper widescreen video to enhance your 'film' look.
Many cameras with a widescreen mode produce pictures of this aspect ratio by throwing away valuable pixels from a 4:3 CCD. Check your camera's pictures in widescreen mode. If they are less sharp than in standard mode, then your camera does not have true 16:9 capabilities.
You have two choices:

1. Shoot in 4:3 but with an optical anamorphic lens adaptor
But you might have problems if you don't have a 16:9 viewing capability in your editing package. Reduce the height of your video by 75% and you will have a 16:9 widescreen picture within a 4:3 frame.
2. Shoot in 4:3 but frame for 16:9 so black bars can "letterbox" your frame top and bottom in post- production.

The Vatican

Propaganda is a form of communication aimed towards influencing the attitude of the community toward some cause or position by presenting only one side of an argument. Propaganda statements may be partly false and partly true. Propaganda is usually repeated and dispersed over a wide variety of media in order to create the chosen result in audience attitudes.

Trastevere (Rome)

Nowadays, Trastevere maintains its character thanks to its narrow cobbled streets lined by medieval houses. At night, natives and tourists alike flock to its many pubs and restaurants, but much of the original character of Trastevere remains.
The unique character of this neighborhood has attracted artists, foreign expats, and many famous people. In the sixties and seventies, the American musicians/composers Frederic Rzewski and Richard Teitelbaum, of the group Musica Elettronica Viva, lived in Via della Luce. Sergio Leone, the director of Spaghetti Westerns, grew up in Viale Glorioso (there is a marble plaque to his memory on the wall of the apartment building), and went to a Catholic private school in the neighborhood. Ennio Morricone, the film music composer, went to the same school, and for one year was in the same class as Sergio Leone.

A bath in Rome

Teach Yourself The Technology of Film Making
If you cannot afford to go to Hollywood or go to film school, you can teach yourself by using a personal computer and professional quality software. Today, most of the tools used in Hollywood are available on your personal computer. If you want to learn the technology of making a motion picture, all you have to learn to use the computer programs that the pros use.
it makes no sense to go to a local Junior College for a digital video class if all they give you is the same tutorial you get free from Apple. Just buy the program and begin learning. (See more about learning film editing below.)
If you want to master all of film making technology, there are 20 programs that you need to learn. Fortunately, you can often download fully working demonstration programs as well as lots of free tutorials to help you learn. You don't need to go to school for this. You just need determination, a good computer and lots of time.

Traveling through the Alps

A road film is a film genre in which the main characters leave home on a road trip, typically altering the perspective from their everyday lives.

The genre has its roots in spoken and written tales of epic journeys, such as the Odyssey and the Aeneid. The road film is a standard plot employed by screenwriters. It is a type of bildungsroman, a story in which the hero changes, grows or improves over the course of the story.

The on-the-road plot was used at the birth of American cinema but blossomed in the years after World War II, reflecting a boom in automobile production and the growth of youth culture. 

 

South Tyrol

According to 2014 data based on the 2011 census, 62.3 percent of the population speaks German (Standard German in the written norm and an Austro-Bavarian dialect in the spoken form); 23.4 percent of the population speaks Italian, mainly in and around the two largest cities (Bolzano and Merano); 4.1 percent speaks Ladin, a Rhaeto-Romance language; 10.2% of the population (mainly recent immigrants) speaks another language as first language.

South Tyrol is granted a considerable level of self-government, consisting of a large range of exclusive legislative and executive powers and a fiscal regime that allows the province to retain a large part of most levied taxes, while nevertheless remaining a net contributor to the national budget. As of 2011, South Tyrol is among the wealthiest regions in Italy and the European Union.

 

Dark Florence

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the Metropolitan City of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants, expanding to over 1,520,000 in the metropolitan area.

Florence was a centre of medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of the time. It is considered the birthplace of the Renaissance, and has been called "the Athens of the Middle Ages". A turbulent political history includes periods of rule by the powerful Medici family and numerous religious and republican revolutions. From 1865 to 1871 the city was the capital of the recently established Kingdom of Italy.

Heaven on Earth?

Pure Goddess, whose silver covers These sacred ancient plants,
we turn to your lovely face unclouded and without veil... 

Temper, oh Goddess

the hardening of you ardent spirits temper your bold zeal,
Scatter peace across the earth 

Thou make reign in the sky...

Spoleto

 

The Cinema of Italy comprises the films made within Italy, or by Italian directors. Since the development of the Italian film industry in the early 1900s, Italian filmmakers and performers have, at times, experienced both domestic and international success, and have influenced film movements throughout the world. As of 2013, Italian films have won 13 Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film, the most of any country, as well as 12 Palmes d'Or, the second-most of any country.

 

Weddingcake in Rome

In 1885 construction of the monument started after a design by Giuseppe Sacconi, winner of an architectural contest. The northern slope of the Capitoline Hill was cleared to make way for the monument. Roman ruins and medieval churches were destroyed in the process.

The Victor Emmanuel Monument is not exactly known as one of Rome's most beautiful structures. It is considered too monumental and the bright white color does not fit well into the ochre color of its surroundings. The monument has been given nicknames such as 'typewriter' and 'wedding cake'.
The monument is nevertheless well worth the visit, even if only for the great views from the top.

 

Intermezzo Roma

Many roadshow presentations of films from the 1950s through to the 1970s were provided with entr'actes that took the form of overtures to the second part, including most of the adaptations of Broadway musicals released at that time, but the practice soon spread to drama films. In many cases it was the same piece as was used for the overture (as in Lawrence of Arabia in 1962 and 2001: A Space Odyssey in 1968), but others such as Ben-Hur (1959) and How the West Was Won (1962)

Trajans column

Trajan's Column is a monument in Rome raised by order of emperor Trajan. It is located in Trajan's Forum, built near the Quirinal Hill, north of the Roman Forum. Finished in 113, the spiral bas-relief commemorates Trajan's victory in his military campaigns to conquer Dacia.The structure is about 30 meters in height, 38 including its large pedestal. The shaft is made from a series of 18 colossal Carrara marble drums, each weighing about 40 tons, with a diameter of about 4 metres. The 200 meter frieze winds around the shaft 23 times. Inside the shaft, a spiral staircase of 185 stairs provides access to a viewing platform at the top.Originally, a statue of Trajan would have stood atop the column. In 1588, it was replaced by a statue of St. Peter The relief portrays Trajan's two victorious military campaigns against the Dacians; .The scenes on the frieze are continuous. The imagery is not realistic as the sculptor pays little attention to perspective. Often a variety of different perspectives are used in the same scene, so that more can be revealed The scenes depict mostly the Roman army in military activities such as setting out to battle and engaging the Dacians, as well as constructing fortifications and listening to the emperor's address. In all, 2500 figures are shown. It was traditionally thought that the Column was a propagandistic monument, glorifying the emperor's military exploits. But because the structure would have been generally invisible, surrounded by other buildings in Trajan's Forum, and simply the difficulty involved in following the frieze from end to end, it is now considered to have had much less propagandistic value.Based on the inscription, the column may have been a measuring guide for the construction of the forum.

Forum Romamnum

Originally the area of the Forum was humid and covered in grass, as it was not suitable for construction. This changed in the 7th century with the construction of the Cloaca Maxima. This sewer system was based on a natural stream, which was enclosed and covered to drain the area, a sign that the settlements on the Palatine Hill was spreading into the valley.Gradually more public buildings were build around the square, thus forming a natural centre for the rapidly growing town.
In republican times the construction on the Forum continued, with a series of basilicas, notably the Basilica Sempronia and the Basilica Aemilia.
The current image of the Forum Romanum is a result of the changes made by Julius Caesar as pontifex maximus and dictator, which included the construction of the Basilica Julia where the Basilica Sempronia stood, the building of a new Curia and the renovation of the Rostra, the speakers platform. Caesar didn't see all his plans realised before his death, but most was finished by his successor Augustus, including the Temple of Divus Julius, dedicated to Caesar deified.
In imperial times the importance of the Forum as a political centre diminished, but it remained a centre of commerce and religious life. Construction and restoration continued, but now mostly in the form of honorary monuments, such as the Arch of Augustus, the Arch of Titus and the Arch of Septimius Severus.
After the fall of the empire in the west, the area was abandoned. A few buildings were converted into churches, including the Curia, the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina and the Temple of Divus Romulus; the rest was left to shepherds and their animals, to the extent that the popular name of the area became Campo Vaccino, the cattle field.
The site of the Forum Romanum is still subject to excavations, and several parts of the Forum cannot be visited, but the whole area have the status of an archaeological site, open to visitors