Various TOTEM posts 2001 - 2003

Alex Knappenberger · May 18th, 2003, 09:41 PM

http://www.sonicfoundry.com/vegas90/

Since I am crappy with ideas, I am wondering if anyone would like to share any creative ideas they would have come to mind for a video for that. Even though I have no chance of winning something like that, it would still be fun to try, but I need a good idea first, and i'm terrible with ideas...

Any whacky ideas would be appreciated, thanks.

Frank Granovski · May 18th, 2003, 11:00 PM

E-mail me, and I'll tell you a good one (idea).

Frank Granovski · May 19th, 2003, 12:03 PM

Supervideo.com is down and someone gave me this link:

http://firefly.sparse.org/~mrt/cgi-b...supervideo.com

Frank Granovski · May 19th, 2003, 01:14 PM

I guess they fixed it. It was down a whole day.

Boyd Ostroff · May 19th, 2003, 01:31 PM

I know that many people here also frequent the discussion groups at dv.com. Today I can't even to open the boards at all. They have been unbearably slow for quite some time. During the past week there's been an odd intermittent glitch such that when I click on a topic instead of having it displayed in my browser, instead I get an error message that I'm attempting to download an unknown type of file.

Now I realize that this is a free service that DV provides and therefore it's hard to expect any level of service, but for such a prestigious magazine I find all this rather disgraceful. Especially when you compare it to the exceptional response time I've gotten spoiled with here at DV Info Net Community (thanks Chris! :-)

So I'm just wondering if anyone around here know's what's up at dv.com, or if they even care about the situation? It's really a shame to have such a fantastic magazine, and so many helpful people who would like to use their site but just can't tolerate the problems.

Actually, DV is one of those really unique publications that really get people excited. More than once I've been reading the latest edition at a restaurant or on the train and a total stranger will come up and say "Wow, you're reading DV, what a great magazine", then start a conversation. I can't ever remember experiencing this phenomenon with any other publication. I hope somebody will address their web problems.

But in the meantime, I'm certainly content to just enjoy hanging out with all the great people around here! :-)

Alex Knappenberger · May 19th, 2003, 01:44 PM

Yeah, it's been like that for me, for a while also. I think the whole forum system they use is crap. They need to switch back to something like this, vBulliten, or whatever...and fix the website up and get it on a faster server.

Joseph George · May 19th, 2003, 09:18 PM

I think that a good measure of nation's culture wuold be a ratio of commercial film to art film box office revenues. I wonder if anyone knows of someone tracking such trends for various world markets and how does US compare to other countries?

Joseph George · May 20th, 2003, 02:27 AM

Total projections (eventually reached figures) in millions of dollars for top movies playing this weekend:

Matrix Reloaded (Warner)
$340 m - $345 m

Baby Day Care (Sony)
$118 m - $123 m

X2 (Fox)
$215 m - $220 m

Down with Love (Fox)
$25 m - $30 m

Lizzie McGuire (Disney)
$40 m - $45 m

Anger Management (Sony)
$135 m - $140 m

Identity (Sony)
$50 m - $55 m

Holes (Disney)
$60 m - $65 m

In comparison Spider Man (Sony) made a total of 405 million in the US. Matrix 2 (Warner) will come close to this figure.

Charles French · May 20th, 2003, 09:52 AM

I wouldn't pay a dime to see em all.

Dylan Couper · May 20th, 2003, 10:34 AM

Matrix Reloaded was worth at least a dime, if only for the visual effects.

Joseph George · May 20th, 2003, 11:59 PM

romance, suspense, or fun -- or a combination

artistic cinematography and sound effects and music for accent and emotion. Well balanced combination can evoke semi-hypnotic state in the audience. When that happens, you can be sure that you made a good film. These are the movies that people get hooked on and want to see again.

good story with only as much dialogue as necessary

dynamics, not just same pace throughout the picture

good acting

large screen, proper watching distance for that particular type of picture, quality sound and proper sound level

Some examples of good commercial pictures that had the proper ingredients: Enemy at The Gates, Born Identity, Shining; to a great extent also Streets of Fire, XXX, etc., etc.

Camera work on a good film must resemble camera work on a good music video. The camera that moves, the lights that flash, and good music, can create this semi-hypnotic effect.

When making any kind of video, you should use as much of these ingredients as you can. When ti comes to sound, you don't need surround sound; good stereo sound will do fine.

Boyd Ostroff · May 26th, 2003, 08:30 PM

I've been watching the History Channel special on the Tsars tonight, and noticed something which I've seen in other places recently. It appears to have been shot in 16:9 widescreen, however when they letterbox it for regular 4:3 broadcast they don't show the full frame. There's just a slight black band at the top and bottom of the screen. I think I've seen this called 14:9. Just curious as to the rationale for this? Seems like they want to go widescreen but wimp out, thinking that Joe Sixpack doesn't like letterboxed video.

I realize that letterboxing is one of those topics that elicits strong negative reactions from some people. Personally I much prefer seeing the original composition that the cinematographer (or videographer) chose, and don't mind the black bands. The only channels which seem at all commited to presenting movies in their original format seem to be Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and sometimes the Sci-Fi channel. It's big disappointment that American Movie Classics (AMC) runs all their stuff as pan and scan 4:3, and also Bravo, which shows many of the "arty" classics does the same.

Maybe we'll just have to wait a few more years for HDTV to get affordable. However that won't even solve the problem of 2.35:1 which would still need to be letterboxed.

Rob Lohman · May 27th, 2003, 06:47 AM

14:9 is very popular in England. It was introduced as a middle
road for everyone. This way your 16:9 widescreen TV can display
it as 16:9 chopping of a small bit and on a standard 4:3 TV you
don't get as much black bars.... There was a document somewhere
about this

Richard Alvarez · May 27th, 2003, 05:11 PM

Hey, the "Errors and Ommisions" office really dropped the ball on "Bruce Almighty". Apparently God's phone number in the film has a common exchange prefix instead of the usual 555 that they give fictitious movie phone numbers.

Several people are getting constant calls!

Can't figure out how that one got by the director, let alone E&O.

Rob Lohman · May 30th, 2003, 05:53 AM

Funny indeed.... Perhaps there is a story on the internet somewhere
about this?

May 18th, 2003, 09:41 PM	#106
Alex Knappenberger High School Student Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Canton, Ohio, USA Posts: 609	Any good ideas? http://www.sonicfoundry.com/vegas90/ Since I am crappy with ideas, I am wondering if anyone would like to share any creative ideas they would have come to mind for a video for that. Even though I have no chance of winning something like that, it would still be fun to try, but I need a good idea first, and i'm terrible with ideas... Any whacky ideas would be appreciated, thanks.

May 19th, 2003, 12:03 PM	#108
Frank Granovski Outer Circle Join Date: May 2002 Location: Hope, BC Posts: 7,524	supervideo hacked? Supervideo.com is down and someone gave me this link: http://firefly.sparse.org/~mrt/cgi-b...supervideo.com

May 19th, 2003, 01:31 PM	#110
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,787	What's up with the DV.com boards? I know that many people here also frequent the discussion groups at dv.com. Today I can't even to open the boards at all. They have been unbearably slow for quite some time. During the past week there's been an odd intermittent glitch such that when I click on a topic instead of having it displayed in my browser, instead I get an error message that I'm attempting to download an unknown type of file. Now I realize that this is a free service that DV provides and therefore it's hard to expect any level of service, but for such a prestigious magazine I find all this rather disgraceful. Especially when you compare it to the exceptional response time I've gotten spoiled with here at DV Info Net Community (thanks Chris! :-) So I'm just wondering if anyone around here know's what's up at dv.com, or if they even care about the situation? It's really a shame to have such a fantastic magazine, and so many helpful people who would like to use their site but just can't tolerate the problems. Actually, DV is one of those really unique publications that really get people excited. More than once I've been reading the latest edition at a restaurant or on the train and a total stranger will come up and say "Wow, you're reading DV, what a great magazine", then start a conversation. I can't ever remember experiencing this phenomenon with any other publication. I hope somebody will address their web problems. But in the meantime, I'm certainly content to just enjoy hanging out with all the great people around here! :-)

May 19th, 2003, 09:18 PM	#112
Joseph George Permanently Banned Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Los Angeles, California Posts: 265	Culture of a nation vs. art film popularity I think that a good measure of nation's culture wuold be a ratio of commercial film to art film box office revenues. I wonder if anyone knows of someone tracking such trends for various world markets and how does US compare to other countries?

May 20th, 2003, 02:27 AM	#113
Joseph George Permanently Banned Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Los Angeles, California Posts: 265	Matrix 2 vs. Spider Man Total projections (eventually reached figures) in millions of dollars for top movies playing this weekend: Matrix Reloaded (Warner) $340 m - $345 m Baby Day Care (Sony) $118 m - $123 m X2 (Fox) $215 m - $220 m Down with Love (Fox) $25 m - $30 m Lizzie McGuire (Disney) $40 m - $45 m Anger Management (Sony) $135 m - $140 m Identity (Sony) $50 m - $55 m Holes (Disney) $60 m - $65 m In comparison Spider Man (Sony) made a total of 405 million in the US. Matrix 2 (Warner) will come close to this figure.

May 18th, 2003, 11:00 PM	#107
Frank Granovski Outer Circle Join Date: May 2002 Location: Hope, BC Posts: 7,524	E-mail me, and I'll tell you a good one (idea).

May 19th, 2003, 01:14 PM	#109
Frank Granovski Outer Circle Join Date: May 2002 Location: Hope, BC Posts: 7,524	I guess they fixed it. It was down a whole day.

May 19th, 2003, 01:44 PM	#111
Alex Knappenberger High School Student Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Canton, Ohio, USA Posts: 609	Yeah, it's been like that for me, for a while also. I think the whole forum system they use is crap. They need to switch back to something like this, vBulliten, or whatever...and fix the website up and get it on a faster server.

May 20th, 2003, 09:52 AM	#114
Charles French Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: grenada,ms Posts: 78	I wouldn't pay a dime to see em all.

May 20th, 2003, 10:34 AM	#115
Dylan Couper Wrangler Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Vancouver, British Columbia Posts: 8,314	Matrix Reloaded was worth at least a dime, if only for the visual effects. __________________ Need to rent camera gear in Vancouver BC? Check me out at camerarentalsvancouver.com

May 20th, 2003, 11:59 PM	#116
Joseph George Permanently Banned Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Los Angeles, California Posts: 265	Best ingredients for a good film, or video. romance, suspense, or fun -- or a combination artistic cinematography and sound effects and music for accent and emotion. Well balanced combination can evoke semi-hypnotic state in the audience. When that happens, you can be sure that you made a good film. These are the movies that people get hooked on and want to see again. good story with only as much dialogue as necessary dynamics, not just same pace throughout the picture good acting large screen, proper watching distance for that particular type of picture, quality sound and proper sound level Some examples of good commercial pictures that had the proper ingredients: Enemy at The Gates, Born Identity, Shining; to a great extent also Streets of Fire, XXX, etc., etc. Camera work on a good film must resemble camera work on a good music video. The camera that moves, the lights that flash, and good music, can create this semi-hypnotic effect. When making any kind of video, you should use as much of these ingredients as you can. When ti comes to sound, you don't need surround sound; good stereo sound will do fine.

May 26th, 2003, 08:30 PM	#117
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,787	Strange aspect ratios I've been watching the History Channel special on the Tsars tonight, and noticed something which I've seen in other places recently. It appears to have been shot in 16:9 widescreen, however when they letterbox it for regular 4:3 broadcast they don't show the full frame. There's just a slight black band at the top and bottom of the screen. I think I've seen this called 14:9. Just curious as to the rationale for this? Seems like they want to go widescreen but wimp out, thinking that Joe Sixpack doesn't like letterboxed video. I realize that letterboxing is one of those topics that elicits strong negative reactions from some people. Personally I much prefer seeing the original composition that the cinematographer (or videographer) chose, and don't mind the black bands. The only channels which seem at all commited to presenting movies in their original format seem to be Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and sometimes the Sci-Fi channel. It's big disappointment that American Movie Classics (AMC) runs all their stuff as pan and scan 4:3, and also Bravo, which shows many of the "arty" classics does the same. Maybe we'll just have to wait a few more years for HDTV to get affordable. However that won't even solve the problem of 2.35:1 which would still need to be letterboxed.

May 27th, 2003, 06:47 AM	#118
Rob Lohman RED Code Chef Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Holland Posts: 12,514	14:9 is very popular in England. It was introduced as a middle road for everyone. This way your 16:9 widescreen TV can display it as 16:9 chopping of a small bit and on a standard 4:3 TV you don't get as much black bars.... There was a document somewhere about this __________________ Rob Lohman, visuar@iname.com DV Info Wrangler & RED Code Chef Join the DV Challenge \| Lady X Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Buy from the best: DVinfo.net sponsors

May 27th, 2003, 05:11 PM	#119
Richard Alvarez Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: San Mateo, CA Posts: 3,840	Errors&Ommissions GOOF Hey, the "Errors and Ommisions" office really dropped the ball on "Bruce Almighty". Apparently God's phone number in the film has a common exchange prefix instead of the usual 555 that they give fictitious movie phone numbers. Several people are getting constant calls! Can't figure out how that one got by the director, let alone E&O.

May 30th, 2003, 05:53 AM	#120
Rob Lohman RED Code Chef Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Holland Posts: 12,514	Funny indeed.... Perhaps there is a story on the internet somewhere about this? __________________ Rob Lohman, visuar@iname.com DV Info Wrangler & RED Code Chef Join the DV Challenge \| Lady X Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Buy from the best: DVinfo.net sponsors