About AVCHD>>>>

WHAT IS AVCHD?
If you’re not familiar with the new AVCHD codec I’ve outlined some of its technologies with some direct comparisons to the tape-based HDV codec.

Announced in 2006 by Sony and Panasonic, this new industry-standard format is now supported by more than 30 companies and implemented in numerous camcorders, NLE systems, and consumer HD playback devices.

The AVCHD codec is considerably more modern than the older HDV codec. It uses a variety of techniques to achieve greater efficiency than MPEG-2, especially at low bitrates and when dealing with difficult material. AVCHD should be capable of delivering really amazing results but we’ll get into real world performance later on.
What’s beyond debate is that HDV has a resolution of 1440x1080 and uses the MPEG-2 compression codec, while Sony NXCAM or Panasonic AVCHD on the other hand uses full 1920x1080 HD with the more modern MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 codec (H.264 is what Blu-ray and Sky HD broadcasts use). And of course AVCHD’s efficiency makes it ideal for tapeless operation: it uses SD (Secure Digital) and SD/HC (High Capacity) cards, Sony Memory Sticks and other solid-state flash drives such as Sony’s dedicated HXR-FMU128 128GB flash drive.

AVCHD has twice the compression efficiency and considerably improved video performance, especially at lower bitrates, over the older MPEG-2 compression algorithm used in the HDV codec. HDV uses a “constant” bit rate of 25 Mb/s whereas AVCHD camcorders such as the NX5 use a more efficient “variable” bit rate, with a maximum quality setting of 24 Mb/s.
In contrast with MPEG-2 (HDV), in which inter-frame compression based on the correlation between adjacent frames uses fixed blocks of 16x16 pixels, AVCHD divides the blocks into multi-sizes as small as 4x4 pixels. With this method, it is able to use large blocks to process images that show only slight changes on the screen, and smaller blocks to process images that have considerable change. This raises the accuracy of motion compensation, which in turn, boosts the quality of fast-motion images while increasing compression efficiency.

3D technology

A 3-D ("three-dimensional") film or S3D ("stereoscopic 3D") film[1] is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception. Derived from stereoscopic photography, a special motion picture camera is used to record the images as seen from two perspectives (or computer-generated imagery generates the two perspectives), and special projection hardware and/or eyewear are used to provide the illusion of depth when viewing the film. 3-D films are not limited to feature film theatrical releases; television broadcasts and direct-to-video films have also incorporated similar methods, primarily for marketing purposes.

3-D films have existed in some form since 1890, but until 2010 had been largely relegated to a niche in the motion picture industry because of the costly hardware and processes required to produce and display a 3-D film, and the lack of a standardized format for all segments of the entertainment business. Nonetheless, 3-D films were prominently featured in the 1950s in American cinema, and later experienced a worldwide resurgence in the 1980s and 90s driven by IMAX high-end theaters and Disney themed-venues. 3-D films became more and more successful throughout 2000-09, culminating in the unprecedented success of 3-D presentations of Avatar in December 2009.

READING A FILM

READING FILM15.10Reading film-film is a language, has to be learnt-communicative, there is a grammar, structure-words/sentances/paragraphs-lighting/shots/etc etc-visual medium; every element is visually present-you get the directors' vision, not so much your own-perception can be different-DENOTATIVE VS CONNOTATIVE OBSERVATION-(direct)vs(associative)-two levels in which our mind works-connotative viewing requires the observer to draw upon his culture educational & psychological background in order to interpret that image-the more film literate you are the more you will lend yourself to the connotative level-a filmmakers greatest challenge is to create a perfect combination..........[trilogy:fire earth water]-cultural background has large effect on opinion"CONNOTATIVE"-METONYMY VS SYNECDOCHE-These two terms are drawn form literature& are closely related; they compliment each other as the two main ways to use connotative meaning in film.-met...[from Greek, means "substitute -film is not just a linear medium, but also spatial-it draws our attention to the frame, and how objects are placed in the scene-This was named by Bazin in the 50s as "mis-en-scene"-the time based story is called "mantage" which means "putting together"MIS-EN-SCENE-because we work within a confined frame the first factor we need to mention is our aspect ratio. various AR's work better for various scenes (eg, cinescope & landscapes)Closed vs Open Form:does the shot remain static, leading is to believe there is nothing outside the fame, or are we panning & tracking around the room, giving it a more open feel.-does the camera move at all? are we getting closer or further from the action? Or are we staying at the same place throughout-brain can only digest 2.5 images in a frame-there is always one element in a shot which draws our attention first"dominent element"-the element can be a key clue for the plot, it can be bright light that contrasts a dark scene, an action-size does matter..the bigger an object in the frame the greater its importance/focus-rule of thirds-position of camera;from below empowers charactor-by using spatial framing, we can create dominance in relationships \-vertical alignment-the higher an object/person in the frame, the more dominant it is-space head of charactor fills up-focus:soft/harsh........../lolita, stanley coubrickclocky org -lines, symetry
Evon Productions

storytelling via lighting

Storytelling Through Lighting


• Light is basic concept through which films are made. The whole principal of film is the registering of light on film or tape.
• It is thus absolutely crucial to pay careful attention to how we construct our sets and setup the lights
• Indeed one of the greatest responsibilities of the DoP is to select the proper lights for the relevant scene.
• However, set aside the technical aspects of lighting, there is a much bigger role for them to play, and that is ‘Storytelling’

CHROMA KEYING

Ten Tips for a better Chromakey
One - Buy a darker background When buying your material for your Chromakey Background, whether it's paint or cloth, buy one or two shades darker than a "True Blue" or "True Green". Since you are usually putting lights on your background, you will find out that the lights wash out your background and you find it suddenly too light for a good Chromkey.
Two - Try Shooting Outdoors The Sun (especially on an overcast day) is the world's biggest Soft Light. If you want a nice even and evenly lit background for keying, try to put your ChromaKey background outside.
Three - Try some Backlighting In most cases, Chromakeying is done inside. If you are able to place a light source behind your Chromakey Background (sorry, this will only work with a pretty evely transparent cloth material), you will find a nice even background with no shadows.
Four - Light Background and Source Independently Light your background and your subject individually to avoid shadows
Five - Soften your lights That doesn't mean turn them down but rather try to use wax paper in front of your lights or bouce your lights off an umbrella (the special photo kind) or white sheet. A softer light means less shadows.
Six - Use RGB Key Instead Most Non-Linear edit systems expect an absolutley perfectly even background for good results when using the "Green Screen" or "Blue Screen" Chromakey option. Try RGB Key or Color Key where you can select the color you want to key on with a color picker.
Seven - Blue Better than Green? The ancient question is, which key color is better, Blue or Green. In most cases, you will find Blue working better since there is much more green content in skin color than blue content
Eight - Buy an old real time keyer. These days, you can find old chromakey units for very cheap. TV Stations are discarding their old Composite keyers and you can pick them up at auctions or from equipment brokers. These units are Composite only so you may not like the quality for your final product but they can be a great tool to monitor your keying efforts while you are recording, allowing you to make adjustments whithout having to render and check back footage.
Nine - Take Notes If you are doing a lot of keying, you'll want to carefully record the settings you use, the lighting position and everything else that you may need to know to quickly re-create that perfect key you had during the last taping.
Ten - Buy Some Virtual SetsOf course....Now that you have that whole chromakey thing down, you can save tons of money by keying your subjects over one of 3DVideoBackgrounds.com 's Virtual Studio Sets. You can find them on the web at http://www.3dvideobackgrounds.com With these inexpensive Virtual Sets, a bare wall, some decent lighting and your trusty keying function is all you need to create a production that looks like a million bucks.

HDV FORMAT

There's no doubt that HDV has made an impact on our industry. However, HDV is not DV. In fact, there are significant differences to working with HDV, especially when compared to the video we've traditionally worked with.
The big issue is that HDV uses a compression system called Long-GOP MPEG-2. What this means in English is that a group of images, generally 15 for NTSC video, are all grouped together and treated as a single frame (a GOP, or Group-of-Pictures). So, instead of one picture per frame, which we are used to in DV and film, we have 15 pictures to one frame. This makes for really great compression, but it's almost impossible to edit. The reason is that MPEG was designed to only allow edits at the start of one of these Groups of Pictures. This boundary is called an "I-frame."
DVD's use a similar compression structure, which is why it is often difficult to edit video which has been compressed into MPEG-2 for DVD use.
However, Apple has figured out a way to edit HDV natively, without converting it into a different file format. However, this native editing is not without trade-offs. So, here is a list of the ways HDV is not the same as DV:
HDV needs serious CPU power. You need a minimum 1 GHz processor and 1 GB RAM.You can’t monitor HDV thru FireWire while editing, you can only watch HDV on your computer screen.You can only output to tape using Print to Video. You can't Edit to Tape.You can't up-rez HDV to HDCAM using FireWire, though you can do so using a capture card, such as an AJA Kona card.The native resolution of HDV is 1440 x 1080. However, HDV only outputs at 1920 x 1080 interlaced using line-doubling, or 1280 x 720 progressive using down-sampling.HDV takes significantly longer to render than DV, because the image size is four times larger.FCP only renders HDV frames that changed during editing. A frame is changed if an edit occurs anywhere within the GOP, except on the I-frame boundary, or if you've applied an effect or transition.There are timecode accuracy and frame-rate issues in capturing and outputting HDV.When capturing HDV, you can't control the deck or camera as precisely as you can with DV. So, in general, capture with larger handles than you would normally use.HDV only supports 2 channels of audio in or out.If you want to export an HDV sequence to include on a DVD, be sure to export it using File > Export > QuickTime Movie and make it SELF-contained. Reconform all I-frames to match the HDV compression structure. Remember, exporting puts it into an MPEG format.To help with some of these problems, Apple has created an Intermediate codec which converts HDV from it's long-GOP MPEG-2 structure into a frame-based video format. There are several benefits to using the Intermediate codec and one disadvantage:You can monitor the results of your editing using the intermediate codec thru FireWire.The intermediate codec is less resource intensive and better for editing on slower computers.The intermediate codec creates files that are four-times larger than native HDV.There are reported quality issues with the intermediate codec.Converting between HDV and the intermediate codec is not loss-less, however, Apple says it's testing shows that the conversion quality is better than competitive products. Look at the results and judge for yourself.

joke

If ladies were banks: The tall slim ones are called --Skye bank;The robust and spacious ones--Oceanic bank;The ones that move from one relationship to another--Intercontinent al bank;The silent but dangerous ones are--Firstinland bank; Those who are not cute yet they love being heard-- Bank PHB;Those who stick to one man--Fidelity bank;Those who seems caring yet debit you massively for every affection--UBA;Those that go to any extend to make you sad--Zenith bank;Those who are old yet they don't realize they are no more in vogue--Union bank;The brief and summarized ones--Micro Finance;The huge ones that ''stand gidigba for ground'--Firstbank;The beautiful, reserved and homely ones--Diamond Bank;The ones that must spend their annual vacation abroad even when the husband is broke -- GTB

evon cares to know which one u belong