I am a Dutch amateurfilmer and homevideo-enthusiast, as well as producer, director, editor of "C'est le Toon". This video-blog is a communication-tool sharing news, documentaries, family videos, interviews, travelogues, visual arts and filmmaking. It also contains tips about and examples of how-to make interesting homevideos, travelogues, ipodsfilms vacationfilms and vodcasts etc. Search the site for worldwide video's and movies! Enjoy.
april 17, 2017
Riquewihr Alsace
TransitionsIn film or video scene consists of a sequence of shots. Each shot is made from a different perspective and then they are joined together. The joining together of the individual shots to make a particular scene is accomplished through transitions.The transition may be from one camera angle to another camera angle or from one camera to another camera. When you do transitions as a CG animator you are fulfilling the role of the editor, whose task is to put together a set of individual shots into a scene. One technique that film editors use is to focus on a particular element that is consistent between shots. This can be a physical object or it can be a compositional element such as a motion, color, or direction.
april 16, 2017
Markets in Strasbourg
There are two things that, if added to a camera, will immediately reduce jitter – good old fashioned weight, and a lowered center of gravity. The quickest and probably the most readily available method you can use to get both of these things is to attach your camera to a tripod, and then fold up the legs.
A tripod is great for side-to-side pans and up-down tilts. But if you pull up the legs and keep that extra couple of pounds beneath your camera, you’ve made yourself an instant pendulum. In other words, with additional weight concentrated toward the bottom of this rig, the unit is less prone to wiggling and being shaken than the camera alone. Try it sometime. Actually, your tripod should be attached nearly every time you get set up for filmmaking.
Red Movie
Color psychology is the study of hues as a determinant of human behavior. Color influences perceptions that are not obvious, such as the taste of food. Colours can also enhance the effectiveness of placebos. For example, red or orange pills are generally used as stimulants. Colour can indeed influence a person; however, it is important to remember that these effects differ between people. Factors such as gender, age, and culture can influence how an individual perceives color. For example, males reported that red colored outfits made women seem more attractive, while women answered that the color of a male's outfit did not affect his attractiveness.
april 14, 2017
Petite France
Petite France is a historic quarter of the city of Strasbourg in eastern France. It is located at the western end of the Grande Île, which contains the historical centre of the city. At Petite France, the River Ill splits up into a number of channels that cascade through an area that was, in the Middle Ages, home to the city's tanners, millers and fishermen, and is now one of Strasbourg's main tourist attractions. Petite France forms part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Grande Île, designated in 1988.
april 06, 2017
Artis Amsterdam
Animals as varied as bees, beetles, mice, foxes, crocodiles and elephants play a wide variety of roles in literature and film.
A genre of films has been based on oversized insects, including the pioneering 1954 Them!, featuring giant ants mutated by radiation, and the 1957 The Deadly Mantis.
Birds have occasionally featured in film, as in Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 The Birds, loosely based on Daphne du Maurier's story of the same name, which tells the tale of sudden attacks on people by violent flocks of birds.
Fore more movies of Artis use search
april 03, 2017
Landscape Turkey
In terms of film production, Turkey shared the same fate with many of the national cinemas of the 20th century. Film production wasn't continuous until around the 1950s and the film market in general was run by a few major import companies that struggled for domination in the most population-dense and profitable cities such as Istanbul and İzmir. Film theatres rarely ever screened any locally produced films and the majority of the programs consisted of films of the stronger western film industries, especially those of the United States, France, Italy and Germany. Attempts at film production came primarily from multinational studios, which could rely on their comprehensive distribution networks together with their own theatre chains, thus guaranteeing them a return on their investment. Between the years 1896–1945, the number of locally produced films did not even reach 50 films in total, equal to less than a single year's annual film production in the 1950s and 1960s. Domestically produced films constituted only a small fraction of the total number of films screened in Turkey prior to the 1950s.
april 01, 2017
A Giant Beast
Who
In the film language, the who question is typically answered with the close-up (CU). The primary point of focus in any close-up is the subject's face. This framing typically mimics the experience of what you would see in real life if you were conversing with a person. A close-up is an intimate portrait of someone, more intimate than you would ever get with a stranger. This is part of why fans inherently feel as though they "know" famous actors. (Though the feeling is certainly not mutual!)
Who Are They?: A Close-up gives insight into who a character is.
These shots leave little doubt that one is a no-nonsense sourpuss and the other is a idealistic dreamer.
Close-ups can vary widely based on camera position, lens choice, and other production considerations, but ultimately you can count on such a shot to answer this fundamental question.
maart 30, 2017
Rain
Throughout the years, filmmakers have invented new ways to communicate with their audiences, and one of them is through camera movement. Before there were dollies, cranes, and gimbals, movies were shot entirely on tripods, so watching events unfold through stationary shots was the norm. However, once the camera became mobile, filmmakers were able to create new words in the cinematic language that give meaning to a shot, like how the dolly-in could signify growing intensity or a how a shaky handheld shot could signify chaos or realism.
maart 22, 2017
Girl in Danger
Cecil Blount DeMille was an American filmmaker. Between 1913 and 1956, he made a total of 70 features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of the cinema of the United States and the most commercially successful producer-director in film history. His films were distinguished by their epic scale and by his cinematic showmanship. He made silent films of every genre: social dramas, comedies, Westerns, farces, morality plays, and historical pageants.
DeMille began his career as a stage actor in 1900. He later moved to writing and directing stage productions, some with Jesse Lasky, who was then a vaudeville producer. DeMille's first film, The Squaw Man (1914), was also the first feature film shot in Hollywood. Its interracial love story made it a phenomenal hit and it "put Hollywood on the map. The continued success of his productions led to the founding of Paramount Pictures with Lasky and Adolph Zukor. His first biblical epic, The Ten Commandments (1923), was both a critical and financial success; it held the Paramount revenue record for twenty-five years.
Hunger
The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund was created by the United Nations General Assembly on the 11th of December 1946, to provide emergency food and healthcare to children in countries that had been devastated by World War II. The Polish physician Ludwik Rajchman is widely regarded as the founder of UNICEF and served as its first chairman from 1946. On Rajchman's suggestion, the American Maurice Pate was appointed its first executive director, serving from 1947 until his death in 1965. In 1950, UNICEF's mandate was extended to address the long-term needs of children and women in developing countries everywhere. In 1953 it became a permanent part of the United Nations System, and the words "international" and "emergency" were dropped from the organization's name, making it simply the United Nations Children's Fund, retaining the original acronym, "UNICEF".
maart 20, 2017
Zaanse Schans
Short films have become a lot more popular nowadays with the advancements in the field of media, but coming up with short film ideas can be challenging. Since short films are easier to make than the feature movies, the production cost is also a lot cheaper. One has to have some ideas and they may be inspired or may come mainly from your everyday life, personal life, personal experiences, experiences of others, or even on the fantasies that you have.
The first thing to remember is that you have maximum 10 to 15 minutes to grab your audience’s attention, so make sure to make the best out of the least. Some people do not have any trouble in coming up with ideas for the short film, and they get it spot on. On the other hand, most people do not even know how long should their short film should be.
maart 17, 2017
The Desmet Collection
Jean Desmet was a pioneering film distributor and theatre owner in the Netherlands.
The Desmet Collection consists of films, posters, stills and company documents, mainly from the period 1907-1916.
The film collection contains over 900 films of all genres; from France, Italy, USA, Germany and more...
Since 2011, Desmet Collection held at the EYE Filmmuseum has been inscribed on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register.
https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/collection/...
maart 16, 2017
The Most Beautiful Shots In Movie History
maart 14, 2017
Racing Pigeons
Pigeon racing is the sport of releasing specially trained racing pigeons, which then return to their homes over a carefully measured distance. The time it takes the animal to cover the specified distance is measured and the bird's rate of travel is calculated and compared with all of the other pigeons in the race to determine which animal returned at the highest speed.
While there is no definite proof, there are compelling reasons to think the sport of racing pigeons may go back at least as far as 220 AD or possibly earlier. The sport achieved a great deal of popularity in Belgium in the mid 19th century. The pigeon fanciers of Belgium were so taken with the hobby that they began to develop pigeons specially cultivated for fast flight and long endurance called Voyageurs. From Belgium the modern version of the sport and the Voyageurs which the Flemish fanciers developed spread to most parts of the world. Once quite popular, the sport has experienced a downturn in participants in some parts of the world in recent years, possibly due to the rising cost of living, aging fanciers, and a severe lack of public interest.
maart 11, 2017
Go goat go
A children's film, or family film, is a film genre that contains children or relates to them in the context of home and family. Children's films are made specifically for children and not necessarily for the general audience, while family films are made for a wider appeal with a general audience in mind. Children's films come in several major forms like realism, fantasy, animation, war, musicals, and literary adaptations.
maart 09, 2017
Power Kid
Campaign started in Eindhoven
The Kid Power program is administered by the U.S. Fund for UNICEF (USF). The more kids move, the more Kid Power points they earn. Kid Power points are converted to funding by USF partners, parents and fans, which UNICEF uses to deliver lifesaving packets of therapeutic food to severely malnourished children. Target is a proud sponsor of the Kid Power program. The U.S. Fund for UNICEF does not endorse any brand or product.
Wild west super 8
.This super8 film telles about a hot weekend with the members of the filmclub
maart 04, 2017
Faces on the Ferry
Current usage of the term "visual arts" includes fine art as well as the applied, decorative arts and crafts, but this was not always the case.
Animated GIFs
Through the article ‘Darkly Absurd GIFs of Famous Paintings’ we discovered that its maker, Kajetan Obarski, is based in Amsterdam. Could we find him and ask him to do something simlarly creative with our archive video? We pitched the idea to him, which he reacted very positively to. We decided to meet in Amsterdam, which was a bit scary - what kind of maker is behind these violent and absurdly dark animations? As it turned out, a very friendly young man, who was open to working with us and exploring the archive for general silliness and small, interesting, animated stories.
We told Kajetan about Open Beelden, which he used to find and download the material. All of the videos on Open Beelden are available for re-use through a Creative Commons license or through the Public Domain Mark. Kajetan was very inspired by all the material and it did not take him long to re-work it into his signature style of quirky animation.
Source: Eye filmmuseum
Heya Ard & Keessie
Kees Verkerk was World Allround Champion in 1966 and 1967, and European Allround Champion in 1967. He won an Olympic gold medal on the 1,500 m in 1968 and a silver medal on the 5,000 m. Four years earlier (in 1964), he had won Olympic silver on the 1,500 m. In 1972, he won Olympic silver on the 10,000 m. Nationally, he won four Allround titles in 1966, 1967, 1969 and 1972. As a result of his performances, he received the Oscar Mathisen Award in 1966 and 1967, the first skater to win this award twice, although until 1967, skaters were not to win it more than once.
februari 26, 2017
Carnival expo
In May 2006, The Economist reported that 90% of clips on YouTube came from amateurs, a few of whom are young comedians. It, in effect, also brought amateur talents.Citizen journalismCitizen video reporting dates back as early as the development of camcorders, but all videos were screened by the local media outlets of the time, until its spread has been aided by free upload websites in which censorship is limited to make a vast amount of videos available to anyone who wants it.
Preparations for Carnival
Steam with carnival
There are two things that, if added to a camera, will immediately reduce jitter – good old fashioned weight, and a lowered center of gravity. The quickest and probably the most readily available method you can use to get both of these things is to attach your camera to a tripod, and then fold up the legs.
A tripod is great for side-to-side pans and up-down tilts. But if you pull up the legs and keep that extra couple of pounds beneath your camera, you’ve made yourself an instant pendulum. In other words, with additional weight concentrated toward the bottom of this rig, the unit is less prone to wiggling and being shaken than the camera alone. Try it sometime. Actually, your tripod should be attached nearly every time you get set up for filmmaking.
februari 24, 2017
Parade Floats
A parade (also called march or marchpast) is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of some kind. In Britain the term parade is usually reserved for either military parades or other occasions where participants march in formation; for celebratory occasions the word procession is more usual
Concert Carnivalesque
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing.
The musical film was a natural development of the stage musical after the emergence of sound film technology. Typically, the biggest difference between film and stage musicals is the use of lavish background scenery and locations that would be impractical in a theater. Musical films characteristically contain elements reminiscent of theater; performers often treat their song and dance numbers as if there is a live audience watching. In a sense, the viewer becomes the diegetic audience, as the performer looks directly into the camera and performs to it.
februari 22, 2017
Land of the Midnight Fun
A cartoon is a type of two-dimensional illustration. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to (a) a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic artistic style of drawing or painting, (b) an image or series of images intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or (c) a motion picture that relies on a sequence of illustrations for its animation. An artist who creates cartoons is called a cartoonist.
The concept originated in the Middle Ages and first described a preparatory drawing for a piece of art, such as a painting, fresco, tapestry, or stained glass window. In the 19th century, it came to refer to humorous illustrations in magazines and newspapers, and after the early 20th century, it referred to comic strips and animated films. In the 21st century, cartoons could be published on the Internet.
februari 21, 2017
Dreaming about Van Gogh
Surrealist cinema is a modernist approach to film theory, criticism, and production with origins in Paris in the 1920s. The movement used shocking, irrational, or absurd imagery and Freudian dream symbolism to challenge the traditional function of art to represent reality. Related to Dada cinema, Surrealist cinema is characterized by juxtapositions, the rejection of dramatic psychology, and a frequent use of shocking imagery.
Kurosawa a painter himself, his films have always been colorful and painterly, and his final few projects were intensely so. One of those last films, 1990’s Dreams, the first of his films for which he alone wrote the screenplay, not only originated fully in Kurosawa’s mind, but in his unconscious. A departure from his typically epic narratives, the film follows various Kurosawa surrogates through eight vignettes, based on eight recurring dreams, each one unfolding with a surreal logic all of its own. In the fifth short episode, “Crows,” Kurosawa casts Scorsese, his fellow auteur and his equal as a visual stylist, as Vincent Van Gogh.
februari 13, 2017
Grab em by the mussel
viral
All the Countries Trolling President Trump's 'America First' With Viral Parody Videos
Ashley Hoffman
Feb 11, 2017
At a time when President Donald Trump is keeping American comedians busy, the rest of the world can't help but join in on the satire.
The "America First" parody video trend is sweeping the globe after a sketch first popularized by Dutch comedy show Zondag met Lubach took off in January. The inaugural video used Trump's own quotes in a spoof packaged as a promo to convince Trump he should dub The Netherlands "second." A wave of videos followed, as countries spun comedy gold to make the case that they deserve second place.
British Museum
The British Museum is dedicated to human history, art and culture, and is located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection, numbering some 8 million works, is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence and originates from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its beginnings to the present.
februari 07, 2017
Polar light
An aurora, sometimes referred to as a polar light or northern light, is a natural light display in the sky, predominantly seen in the high latitude (Arctic and Antarctic) regions. Auroras are produced when the magnetosphere is sufficiently disturbed by the solar wind that the trajectories of charged particles in both solar wind and magnetospheric plasma, mainly in the form of electrons and protons, precipitate them into the upper atmosphere (thermosphere/exosphere), where their energy is lost. The resulting ionization and excitation of atmospheric constituents emits light of varying colour and complexity. The form of the aurora, occurring within bands around both polar regions, is also dependent on the amount of acceleration imparted to the precipitating particles. Precipitating protons generally produce optical emissions as incident hydrogen atoms after gaining electrons from the atmosphere. Proton auroras are usually observed at lower latitudes.
februari 06, 2017
Whales under Northern light
Lighting illuminates the performers and artists in a live theatre, dance, or musical performance, and is selected and arranged to create dramatic effects. Stage lighting uses general illumination technology in devices configured for easy adjustment of their output characteristics. The setup of stage lighting is tailored for each scene of each production. Dimmers, colored filters, reflectors, lenses, motorized or manually aimed lamps, and different kinds of flood and spot lights are among the tools used by a stage lighting designer to produce the desired effects. A set of lighting cues are prepared so that the lighting operator can control the lights in step with the performance; complex theatre lighting systems use computer control of lighting instruments.
Motion picture and television production use many of the same tools and methods of stage lighting. Especially in the early days of these industries, very high light levels were required and heat produced by lighting equipment presented substantial challenges. Modern cameras require less light, and modern light sources emit less heat.
februari 05, 2017
Modern movement
In the visual arts, many artists, theorists, art critics, art collectors, art dealers and others mindful of the unbroken continuation of modernism and the continuation of modern art even into the contemporary era, ascribe to and welcome new philosophies of art as they appear.
The term refers to tendencies in visual art, novel ideas and architecture, and sometimes literature. In music it is more common to speak about genres and styles instead. See also cultural movement, a term with a broader connotation.
As the names of many art movements use the -ism suffix (for example cubism and futurism), they are sometimes referred to as isms.
februari 03, 2017
Tromso: Polar night
The city of Tromso is located in northern Norway’s winter wilderness. Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever thought I’d make it to this part of the world. Honestly, I’ve never even heard of this city until I did my research of the northern lights, and the best places to see them… and when it comes to the Aurora Borealis, this city comes up a whole lot.
However, apart from being one of the best places to see the lights, Tromso itself is a beautiful city with so much to offer; scenery, art, history, food– even when its dark for most parts of the day in winter. And gloomy. And freezing cold.
februari 02, 2017
the Old School
A film school is any educational institution dedicated to teaching aspects of filmmaking, including such subjects as film production, film theory, digital media production, and screenwriting. Film history courses and hands-on technical training are usually incorporated into most film school curricula. Technical training may include instruction in the use and operation of cameras, lighting equipment, film or video editing equipment and software, and other relevant equipment. Film schools may also include courses and training in such subjects as television production, broadcasting, audio engineering, and animation.
Shrove Tuesday
The word shrove is a form of the English word shrive, which means to obtain absolution for one's sins by way of Confession and doing penance. Thus Shrove Tuesday gets its name from the custom for Christians to be "shriven" before the start of Lent. Shrove Tuesday is the last day of "shrovetide", somewhat analogous to the Carnival tradition that developed separately in countries of Latin Europe.
In the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and Canada, Shrove Tuesday is alternatively known as "Pancake Day" or "Pancake Tuesday" due to the tradition of eating pancakes on the day.
Catholic and Protestant countries traditionally call the day before Ash Wednesday "Fat Tuesday" or "Mardi Gras". The name predated the Reformation and referred to the common Christian tradition of eating special rich foods before the fasting season of Lent.
In Germany it is known as Fastnachtsdienstag (also spelled Faschingsdienstag, or Karnevalsdienstag) or Veilchendienstag . It is often celebrated with street processions (called Karnevalsumzüge) or fancy dress. The processions are typically smaller than the ones on Rosenmontag. In Kindergartens and most Elementary Schools it is celebrated with fancy dress. When celebrated in schools, it is normally handled as a kind of half-holiday: classes are off and the school day begins some hours later.
In the Netherlands it is known as "vastenavond", though the word "vastelaovond" usually refers to the entire period of carnival in the Netherlands.
SEASONS of NORWAY
20,000 kilometers have been travelled, 200,000 photos taken and 20 terabytes worth of hard drives filled. Months have been spent hiking through the mountains, sleeping in tents and travelling through the entire country hunting for the best locations.
SEASONS of NORWAY is shot and edited by Morten Rustad. The video is available in up to 8K resolution (7680*4320 letterboxed).
INFORMATION ABOUT THE FILM CAN BE FOUND AT: http://www.mortenrustad.com
januari 30, 2017
Amsterdam/ Chinese New Year
januari 24, 2017
Y Pestis
A study by an international team of researchers published in October 2010 confirmed Y. pestis was the cause of the Black Death and later epidemics on the entire European continent over a period of 400 years. The team used ancient DNA and proteins recovered from the bodies of plague victims buried in Hereford in England, in Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse in France, and Bergen op Zoom in the Netherlands to identify the pathogen. They found two previously unknown, older strains of Y. pestis that had spread from China by two different routes, rather than the modern Y. p., orientalis and Y. p. medievalis.
Dutch introduction to the new president
Viral videos are among the most common type of viral phenomena. A viral video is any clip of animation or film that is spread rapidly through online sharing. Viral videos can receive millions of views as they are shared on social media sites, reposted to blogs, sent in emails and so on. When a video goes viral it has become very popular. Its exposure on the Internet grows exponentially as more and more people discover it and share it to others.
januari 22, 2017
The people of Merida
Mérida has been populated since prehistoric times as demonstrated by a prestigious hoard of gold jewellery that was excavated from a girl's grave in 1870. Consisting of two penannular bracelets, an armlet and a chain of six spiral wire rings, it is now preserved at the British Museum. The town was founded in 25 BC, with the name of Emerita Augusta (meaning the veterans – discharged soldiers – of the army of Augustus, who founded the city; the name Mérida is an evolution of this) by order of Emperor Augustus, to protect a pass and a bridge over the Guadiana river. Emerita Augusta was one of the ends of the Vía de la Plata (Silver Way), a strategic Roman Route between the gold mines around Asturica Augusta and the most important Roman city in the Iberian Peninsula. The city became the capital of Lusitania province, and one of the most important cities in the Roman empire. Mérida preserves more important ancient Roman monuments than any other city in Spain, including a triumphal arch and a theatre.
januari 20, 2017
Madder
Rubia was an economically important source of a red pigment in many regions of Asia, Europe and Africa. The genus name Rubia derives from the Latin ruber meaning "red".
The plant's roots contain an anthracene compound called alizarin that gives its red colour to a textile dye known as Rose madder. It was also used as a colourant, especially for paint, that is referred to as Madder lake. The synthesis of alizarin greatly reduced demand for the natural compound.
Colorflower
Colorfulness, chroma, pure color and saturation are related but distinct concepts in colorimetry and color theory, referring to the perceived intensity of a specific color. Colorfulness is the visual sensation according to which the perceived color of an area appears to be more or less chromatic. Chroma is the colorfulness relative to the brightness of a similarly illuminated area that appears to be white or highly transmitting. Therefore, chroma should not be confused with colorfulness. Saturation is the colorfulness of a color relative to its own brightness. Though the general concept is intuitive, terms such as chroma, saturation, purity, and intensity are often used without great precision, and even when well-defined depend greatly on the specific color model in use.
januari 19, 2017
Fontaine de Vaucluse
Geography
Fontaine-de-Vaucluse ("spring of Vaucluse") is built around a spring in a valley at the foot of the Vaucluse Mountains, between Saumane and Lagnes, not far from L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. It is named after the spring, the source of the River Sorgue.
Fontaine-de-Vaucluse
Hydrography
The fountain, or spring, of Vaucluse, situated at the feet of a steep cliff 230 metres high, is the biggest spring in France. It is also the fifth largest in the world with an annual flow of 630 million cubic metres.
The fountain of Vaucluse surges in March for about 5 weeks and then subsides. The increased flow of water swells the Sorgue to flood. The mechanism behind the surging remains somewhat of a mystery.
Sur le Pont
Sur le Pont d'AvignonOn y danse, On y danse
Sur le Pont d'Avignon
On y danse tous en rond
On the bridge of Avignon
We all dance there, we all dance there
On the bridge of Avignon
We all dance there in a ring
januari 17, 2017
Made in France
A slide is a specially mounted individual transparency intended for projection onto a screen using a slide projector. This allows the photograph to be viewed by a large audience at once. The most common form is the 35 mm slide, with the image framed in a 2×2 inch cardboard or plastic mount. Some specialized labs produce photographic slides from digital camera images in formats such as JPEG, from computer-generated presentation graphics, and from a wide variety of physical source material such as fingerprints, microscopic sections, paper documents, astronomical images, etc.
Reversal film is sometimes used as motion picture film, mostly in the 16 mm, Super 8 and 8 mm "cine" formats, to yield a positive image on the camera original. This avoids the expense of using negative film, which requires additional film and processing to create a positive film print for projection.
januari 15, 2017
Carnival Collage
Carnival is a Western Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typically involves a public celebration and/or parade combining some elements of a circus, masks, and a public street party. People wear masks and costumes during many such celebrations, allowing them to lose their everyday individuality and experience a heightened sense of social unity. Excessive consumption of alcohol, meat, and other foods proscribed during Lent is extremely common. Other common features of carnival include mock battles such as food fights; social satire and mockery of authorities; the grotesque body displaying exaggerated features, especially large noses, bellies, mouths, and phalli, or elements of animal bodies; abusive language and degrading acts; depictions of disease and gleeful death; and a general reversal of everyday rules and norms.