Overview
Our Dystopian Trailer Projects are due this thursday. Our group has been working on it, but we still aren't completely finished
What's Up
I took the final cut project home on Friday, because it was still just a rough cut. I was nervous because at school we have FCP 6, but at home I have FCE 4. Luckily, they were compatible; so I have been editing since Friday. As of now, I have everything done except for adding our production company name to the end of the trailer. The production name that we are going to use is Flying Carrot Productions, which my fellow CAP member and I started while we attended SSI. I havent been able to figure out how to extract the footage for the production company name off of vimeo, but hopefully Mr. Mayo will be able to help us with that.
I'm happy that I got in all of the editing before our power goes out (It always does). But, I am annoyed that MCPS is making a decision as to whether to cancel school or not at 5:00 AM tomorrow. I will most likely not have power, and I will have to wake up earlier in order to check. Not fun.
Here's the video that has our production company name in it. (It's at the very end).
Can't Let You Go from mrmayo on Vimeo.
P.S.
I'll upload the Trailer on Thursday.
"I see storms on the horizon.
Zepher will not blow them away.
Prepare for their wrath."
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Friday, October 19, 2012
Thoughts on Copywright
In CAP 10's upcoming dystopian movie trailers, a project that involves making a movie trailer for a hypothetical dystopian movie, most, if not all of the trailers will include music or sound effects in some way.
Some music that can be found online is in the public domain, meaning that the creator no longer owns it, but more often than not, is not in the public domain. Even if it is, permissions from the liscenser, recording company, etc. are needed to use the music without infinging on copywright laws.
Sites such as ccmixter.org and freesound.org are good scources for music that is (mostly) copywright free. These sites use a special type of copywright called Creative Commons or CC. Depending on the specific type of CC, the arist may require that their name be in your credits, that you ask permission before using, or meet some requirement. These artists are typically very small, and may do thier own recording and editing.
The difference between this kind of "attribution music" and songs from popular artists such as The Strokes, Ellie Goulding, or any other artist; is that it is much more difficult to obtain permissions to use these works. In order to use these works, one typically needs to obtain permission from both the artist or band, as well as the publisher, record company, or liscencer. This is somewhat more difficult, and these institutions may ask for both credit and for a sum of money to be paid.
Interestingly though, record companies think it a waste of time to give permission or issue a liscense unless money is being made of of the showing of a video with the music in it. Based on my expirience, record companies rarely, if ever, reply about using a piece of music in a school or personal film. If they do reply, it is only to say that they don't want to spend the time issuing a legal liscense, and just to use it anyway if it is a project that does not generate revenue.
The laws on copywright, as well as the obscure interpretation of these laws, are both extensive and difficut to understand. One typical law, for example, is that if the song is "significantly altered" (remixed) then it is concidered a new work. Well, what constitutes "significantly altered"?
Even though using Creative Commons Liscensed songs is clearly easier to deal with and offers more defined rules than copyrighted music, if the song is only for school or personal projects, the use copywrighted material is usually accepted, and should be allowed for use in school projects.
P.S. I saw the movie "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" tonight, there may be a movie review in the near future. IT WAS AWESOME! Here's the trailer.
"Is west a copy of east?
or east a copy of west?
are both just altered north?"
-Zepher
Some music that can be found online is in the public domain, meaning that the creator no longer owns it, but more often than not, is not in the public domain. Even if it is, permissions from the liscenser, recording company, etc. are needed to use the music without infinging on copywright laws.
Sites such as ccmixter.org and freesound.org are good scources for music that is (mostly) copywright free. These sites use a special type of copywright called Creative Commons or CC. Depending on the specific type of CC, the arist may require that their name be in your credits, that you ask permission before using, or meet some requirement. These artists are typically very small, and may do thier own recording and editing.
The difference between this kind of "attribution music" and songs from popular artists such as The Strokes, Ellie Goulding, or any other artist; is that it is much more difficult to obtain permissions to use these works. In order to use these works, one typically needs to obtain permission from both the artist or band, as well as the publisher, record company, or liscencer. This is somewhat more difficult, and these institutions may ask for both credit and for a sum of money to be paid.
Interestingly though, record companies think it a waste of time to give permission or issue a liscense unless money is being made of of the showing of a video with the music in it. Based on my expirience, record companies rarely, if ever, reply about using a piece of music in a school or personal film. If they do reply, it is only to say that they don't want to spend the time issuing a legal liscense, and just to use it anyway if it is a project that does not generate revenue.
The laws on copywright, as well as the obscure interpretation of these laws, are both extensive and difficut to understand. One typical law, for example, is that if the song is "significantly altered" (remixed) then it is concidered a new work. Well, what constitutes "significantly altered"?
Even though using Creative Commons Liscensed songs is clearly easier to deal with and offers more defined rules than copyrighted music, if the song is only for school or personal projects, the use copywrighted material is usually accepted, and should be allowed for use in school projects.
P.S. I saw the movie "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" tonight, there may be a movie review in the near future. IT WAS AWESOME! Here's the trailer.
"Is west a copy of east?
or east a copy of west?
are both just altered north?"
-Zepher
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Tutorial - Compositing - Final Cut Express 4
Here is a video explaining how to composite in final cut 4 express.
It is kind of long so I might make a revised version making it shorter.
"Edit in the west. Hollywood Style"
-Zepher
It is kind of long so I might make a revised version making it shorter.
"Edit in the west. Hollywood Style"
-Zepher
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Getting Back Into the Flow
Well, I haven't made any posts in a while, but here is my plan for my blog in the future.
This weekend I will hopefully start doing some Final Cut for Mac tutorials on various things such as compositing using screenr. I would also like to post about backpacking and climbing, but im not really sure how to make that interesting.
Back on the topic of film making, I may also start playing around with Final Cut at my house and uploading videos of whatever; music videos, VFX tutorials, maybe short scenes. Heck, I may even make a short film if I am feeling adventurous and dont have three unit tests on one day like I did today.
Sorry if this post is a little bid disjointed, I still need to wrap up AP NSL homework and work on a service project.
I will leave you with two cool songs. Enjoy!
What Makes A Good Man - The Heavy
You Wish - Nightmares on Wax
"May the west wind be full in your sails"
-Zepher
This weekend I will hopefully start doing some Final Cut for Mac tutorials on various things such as compositing using screenr. I would also like to post about backpacking and climbing, but im not really sure how to make that interesting.
Back on the topic of film making, I may also start playing around with Final Cut at my house and uploading videos of whatever; music videos, VFX tutorials, maybe short scenes. Heck, I may even make a short film if I am feeling adventurous and dont have three unit tests on one day like I did today.
Sorry if this post is a little bid disjointed, I still need to wrap up AP NSL homework and work on a service project.
I will leave you with two cool songs. Enjoy!
What Makes A Good Man - The Heavy
You Wish - Nightmares on Wax
"May the west wind be full in your sails"
-Zepher
Sunday, September 23, 2012
5x5
Clips Used
- Putting on headphones
- Walking across room
- Walking to workbench
- Adorning gear and walking toward garage door
- Opening garage and twirling axe\
Camera: Nikon Coolpix (point and shoot)
Editing: IMovie 06
I did not use an online editor and I did not run into any problems along the way.
I am very pleased with how my 5x5 turned out. Since I wanted to use music, I played it in the background, which I thought the camera might not have picked up, but it did.
For our next video challenge, we could:
- Make a music video of a song that doesn't already have one (a semi-popular song) with a neighbor that is in CAP or by yourself. This project might take more time to do.
- A video in which there is one main color (red, blue, green etc.)
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Dystopian Trailer Critique
Terminator Salvation . Joseph Nichol . PG-13. May 14, 2009
In the year 2018, an artificially intelligent network of robots and computers called Skynet have taken over the world, with the goal of eradicating humans. John Connor (Christian Bale), is the fated leader of the resistance against the robots. He encounters a prototype humanoid-cyborg named Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), that he hopes will help the resistance destroy Skynet. Marcus and John are able to destroy the Los Angeles branch of Skynet, but unfortunately, John was wounded in the battle and needs a heart transplant to live. Marcus gives his heart so that John will live. The war is far from over, but the resistance has dealt a crippling blow to Skynet.
Here is the link to the trailer.
The trailer for Terminator Salvation is exemplary because it exhibits dystopian premises, controls, and protagonist and uses many effective cinematographic techniques to expose the setting, create suspense, and make the viewer want to see the movie.
In the trailer, citizens are under constant surveillance by hunter-killer robots, that will kill or capture any human that leaves his or her hideout. Citizens fear the outside world and Skynet, and thus, their freedoms are restricted. Since humans are under the constant threat of attack, they live in a dehumanized state; not trying to improve their living conditions, having little food, having little to no contact with the outside world, in order to remain unnoticed by Skynet. These dystopian premises expose the general setting and premise of the movie.
Skynet uses Technological and Post-Apocalyptic Controls in order to control, oppress, and kill humans. The robots and Skynet are in themselves a Technological Control. The robots then nuke the earth so that most humans are killed. The rest of the world lives in a post-apocalyptic world where they are not able to gather natural resources. In addition to the dystopian premises, the types of dystopian controls are also used to set up the world in which the story takes place.
The protagonist in the trailer, John Connor, resists the powerful Skynet, and is the leader of the resistance. The characteristic of the "society" that is bad and that John seeks to change is fairly obvious: humans are being eradicated by Skynet. John is simply the protagonist because he is the leader of the resistance and the character upon which the film focuses. By introducing John Connor as a character, the film begins to shows the conflict that will take place in the film.
The trailer contains various cinematographic techniques that are used in order to enhance the message and overall effectiveness of the trailer. The video is shot with hard light (dark blacks, bright whites, lots of shadow), and is desaturated. This gives the video a depressing and post apocalyptic feel. In addition to this, the music sets the tone and mood for the trailer. Finally, there are a voiceovers with very charged words making the trailer epic and exciting. These cinematographic techniques enhance the mood and setting of the trailer and film, and make the viewer want to see the movie,
Depending on what my group's final idea is, we may use some, all, or none of the techniques I have mentioned above. I particularly liked the cinematographic aspects of the trailer (darkness, desaturation, music), and I hope to use them in my trailer.
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