End Of an Era

As most have read, Lucasfilms has sold themselves to Disney for a tune of 4 Billion plus dollars.
Disney buys Lucasfilms

Now some people are very upset about this. The same people that really upset about this is the same people that haven't had a date in a few years if ever if that tells you anything. I feel as if this is a good thing. Two of the major superpowers of movies coming together. It can only make the movie experience better. Take the example of Disney buying out Marvel Comics. Everyone was all upset about the purchase of Marvel, but when The Avengers came out, you could see where Disney with its endless bank roll came in. With great money comes great CGI effects, to almost quote a Marvel superhero.

What has made this matter worse is the fact that Disney has already announced that they will be making a new Star Wars movie. It is not been released if they will remake any of the other movies or if they are continuing the saga with the last 3 chapters. With all this being said, to me, I am super pleased. Due partly to the fact that nerdy kids are now running to hide under their beds or closets just to cry themselves to sleep about what evil things Disney is about to do with their childhood. I think in the grand scheme of things. With Disney's power, I think of theme parks. (that I would actually like to go to as an adult. Still praying for the horror theme part that opens at dark and closes at dawn. One can dream.)

So moving forward we shall have to see what Disney/Lucasfilms has to offer us in the future. I hope a lot. With Disney now owning the three superpowers Marvel, Henson Productions, and now Lucasfilms, Disney is about to be unstoppable.

Keep being awesome out there,

Jonathan.

Movies in the Future

When looking at the future of this business you really should think about what the future does hold. The future of films is changing. Films are going into digital when means everything is going to digital. So it will no longer be film, its going to be just call movies. Movies now can be downloaded at the movie theaters and be kept on a hard drive. This is both a good and bad thing. Theaters will much safer now. Film being super flammable, will not be in the theater. The bad things about not using film anymore is the lost of jobs, and the lost of an art.
21st Century Cinema

Tips with Editing Software

OK guys. Some people have been asking me about some of my secrets about how I make my videos look like movie quality. There are two easy steps to get you on your way. These steps are super easy and they take less than 2 minutes to do. First of all, when you start you’re editing project; put your fps (frames per second) to NTSC DV 24p (720x480, 23.976 fps). The pixels at this point really doesn’t matter, and if you are wanting wide screen the just do the same format but choose the widescreen format. All that really matters at this point is the 23.976 fps. It’s the standard for all movie companies. This will help you with the look of the video, but it’s not all you need to do. You should also use color corrector and secondary color corrector. These are both important to make your images pop. If used remember, you lose the color red when you record. It dulls out and it is not as vibrant as it should be.  Red will be most needed color to be put back into the video, then green and finally blue. All these things are important, but the most important is red.  When doing this you will have to play around with what color look best suits you and your audience. 

Notice the difference. The greens are greener and the red clay comes out better. The sky is a bit more crisper. This is just images that I found on the internet. I took like 1 minute to look and fix this. You can do the same, but be sure to take your time. As you can see it is a bit over colored, but I did that to show you the effect of what could be done. 

I hope this all helps you out in your future video quests.

Desire

-->

This week I am not going to review anything. I feel that I should remind people more about the desire of being in either film or radio. I want you to remember that both media's do make the world turn. I remember when I decided to go to college and take broadcasting. I wanted to be a radio DJ. My first semester I took video class instead of an audio class because I knew that I would like the audio more and wanted to get the video aspects out of the way. After one semester of video I was hooked on it and did better in video classes than in audio classes. The reason was desire. When you love something in this medium do it, and don’t take no for an answer. 

                There is a reason why you like film or radio, find out what it is, or if you already know, hold on to it. These things will be your legacy throughout your life. Hopefully it will be your driving force behind to continue and do better for yourselves. For your own sakes, don’t do anything half way, and make sure that you are truly happy with the project that you have done.  That will be the key to success, your happiness. Even if you make a full length picture, a radio show, a 20 second video, or record one song, no matter who does or doesn’t like it, be sure that you do.

Keep dreaming in Dreamland

Jonathan

The Artist

Hello Everyone, This week I am going to review a movie entitled The Artist.

This movie won best movie at The Academy Awards in 2012. Normally I am not into to the best movie, movies but this one is worth a watch. First of all, it is a silent movie for the most part. It has 2 unknown actors as the main cast, Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo. The supporting cast on the other hand is a who's who of film. John Goodman, James Cromwell, Penelope Ann Miller, Missi Pyle, and Malcolm McDowell just to name a few of the background cast of this great movie. It starts in 1927, the hight of silent movies. Jean Dujardin is the best silent movie star at the time, and with his trusty side kick, his dog, he is the golden star of the silver screen. George Valentin has befriend a lady by the name of Peppy Miller (Bejo), who he gets into movies. By 1928 on the other hand, talking movies have started to come out. Like most silent actors at the time, George Valentin (Dujardin), didn't believe that talking movies will be better than silent movies. So though out the movie he has to deal with the harsh reality that silent movies are out and "talkies" are in.

For me, this movie was a great movie. The side kick was just awesome though out the movie. Even at the serious parts, the dog made things funny but tasteful. Somethings I would have done differently. When Jean Dujardin has realized that he was not making it with the times, the director should have made him silent and everyone else around him have sound and was able to talk. Just my thought on the subject, but all and all, this was a fantastic movie. Watch it, and then watch it again. I will.

Review on Sony Vegas Pro

I have been dealing with Sony Vegas for almost 2 years now. It has become a staple in my Broadcasting classes. To me this is a great intermediate program with a lot of great plug-ins, transitions, and FX in general.

In saying all these nice things about Vegas, now the bad stuff. It doesn't have enough of the plug-ins, transitions, or FX. When looking at Vegas compared to Final Cut, the standard for most movie companies, you are left wanting more. With that being said, intermediate is the best answer for it. For the price that you are paying, which is about Seven hundred dollars, its not that bad. You can make a great indie film with this program in post. Speaking of the plug-ins, transitions, and FX, large companies pay programers to make these for their Post companies. Then Post adds the new plug-in or what have you and everything is golden. In Vegas, you don't have that option. So why pay Seven hundred dollars for a program that you have to get Sony to update when they feel like it. Most likely in the next few years anyways, due to the fact that Sony will not be making any new Vegas models after 12, you won't be getting any new plug-ins at all. All and all I really do not like Vegas. It is the Post program that I use the most, but it is not the best, by a long shot. Save your money, get a Mac, and get Final Cut. Best that money can buy out in a consumers market.

Welcome to the New Blog

On this Blog, I shall be reviews into Films and Music and giving my opinions on them. Also helping with video and audio tips and reviews of editing software.

This week I have a few tips for shooting.

The first tip: Be sure that you always have what you need when shooting. If you know you're going to need a lot of stuff, have someone help you. This way you don't feel bogged down when carrying a camera, tri-pod, green screen, sun reflector, lights, and lighting stand. Always have a friend even if your friend is a dolly. Also check you equipment to be sure everything is where you want it. Even if this takes a few times looking at it. Also look through your camera to see what it looks like not only before recording but after in playback. In playback is how it most likely will look on your editing software, or computer playback. Make sure your camera is set-up in the manner that you want to record in.

The second tip: Location. Know your area and what you are shooting. You should take time with where you are shooting before you even shoot. Professional film crews take time out to know what a shoot looks like before even rolling the camera. You should as well. Walk around look at your surroundings and make sure people are not going to get in your way while you shoot. If you are going from a lighted area to a darker area, be sure to film for the last shot you are going for, in this case the darker area and vice versea.Only you know what you are filming as the director. Know your location.

The final tip for today:  Script. It doesn't matter if your shoot for 30 seconds or 3 hours, you should have a script and follow it. Storyboard your shots. If you go half way on this, your shoot will show going half way. Let me explain. When I was in my second semester of college taking Video 2 class. We had two projects due around the same time. The first was a 2 person interview, and the second was a How-To video. The first project I took my time writing out a script, making sure facts were correct, and making sure that each person talking on camera had a great understand of what they were talking about. This shoot was smooth, took 30 minutes to shoot a 3 minute interview, (this was with prep time, sound check, camera check, etc.) The second shoot, I did none of those things, and it was horrible. It took one hour to just get through the first part of the video. No script was wrote so no one knew what to say. It took forever. That's the point I am trying to make here. Do your script. Things run much more smoothly. It doesn't mean you can't deviate from it, but you have a strong back bone when you have a script. (Both videos are posted at the bottom of the Blog.)

Please look at my YouTube page. You can follow me there, my Twitter (@MeJonathanMeBad), Facebook, or Google +(Both Jonathan S. Jacobs).

Also I am adding a link to someone that has put a lot more time and lists a lot more stuff to think about when shooting.
http://zeroone.com/video-production/a-handy-guide-to-pre-production/