Bartlett Experimental Forest Fall Leaves. Photo by Ken Dudzik
From MoovyBoovy.com
November 4, 2006
Sony BRAVIA Paint Commercial
Filmmaker.com has a link to video of the making of a Sony BRAVIA paint commercial.
November 3, 2006
3D Is Here
Engadget reports on some very cool new imagery:
Forget what you know about lenticular-based 3D displays, holograms, and even those "real" 3D image projectors being toyed around with in Japan. That 3D image you're looking at above was generated within the Cheotpics360, a four-sided transparent pyramid develop by a Danish team of engineers and designers from viZoo and Romboll. The Cheoptics360 can display both computer and film content when used either indoors or out and scale from 1.5-meters on up to 30-meters. The video images generated by the four projectors are re-assembled within the prism-like pyramid through a process of mirroring and reflection making them appear to float in mid-air. Hear that gamers, how 'bout setting this rig up at your next frag fest! Check the video after the break... you will believe.
Via /film
If you like that you'll love this: a picture projected onto a screen of compressed air.
November 2, 2006
Tina Fey
Tina Fey, the former top dog at SNL, is now showrunner at "30 Rock". A.V. Club has an interview:
AVC: You graduated college in 1992 and were writing for SNL five years later. Is it common for someone to rise through the comedy ranks so fast?
TF: It sounds fast when you say it like that. I graduated in '92, and then I went to Chicago and started doing Second City. I took a class there for a couple of years, then I toured for a little less than a year, and then I was on the main stage there for about a year and half before moving to SNL in '97.
AVC: And then head writer two years later?
TF: Yes.
AVC: So is that common?
TF: I don't know that it is. It's funny, because when I'd hire staff writers at SNL, sometimes we'd hire Harvard kids where this was their first job, next to working at some golf course during the summer. They come right out of school. My friend Mike Schur, who's at The Office now, he and I interviewed for a job the same day. That's when we met. I was 27, and he was 21. I remember thinking, "Man, I'm an old lady around here." It's a young person's gig.
AVC: When you come out of college with the intention of becoming a comedy writer, is there a network of people who all know each other and know what jobs are available out there?
TF: I just knew I wanted to get to Chicago to study with Second City. The Chicago improv-comedy world is one big outlet. In L.A. it's the Groundlings, and Upright Citizen's Brigade in L.A. and New York. There's a bunch of different roads. You might be a stand-up, or a Harvard grad, or a Northwestern grad, or an improviser… those are the most common roads.
AVC: Did you ever do stand-up?
TF: At a very amateurish level in Chicago. Very safe open-mic nights. More like coffeehouses than actual comedy clubs. But I really admire stand-up, and I think I would have loved to learn how to do it. I think it's terrifying and thrilling. A really cool thing to do. It's a dying art, in a way.
AVC: It's sort of a distinct art form from being a comic actor. There's a great Mitch Hedberg joke about how when you get really good at comedy, they want you to be an actor. "You're a really good chef. Can you farm?"
TF: Right. It's a separate, special skill. And so many people get into it just to get opportunities as an actor. That's why, when you look at people like Colin Quinn… that's their art form. The art form they want to master and are so brilliant at. That's what I think is cool.
AVC: What is the difference, from a craft perspective, between writing a screenplay, writing a sitcom, and writing a sketch?
TF: Of the three, sketches are the most different, because you're not dealing with story at all, and it will kill you if you try. With the other two, you have to tell a story in a long form or a super-short form. When I wrote Mean Girls, I went into it knowing, "Okay, I don't know anything about story; I really have to try to learn." I did what everyone does: I read books. Same thing here with 30 Rock. Luckily, I'm surrounded with a writing staff that has more experience in the sitcom form. It's a good mix, because they know how to break a story into a half-hour, but at the same time, we're avoiding bad habits or getting into a rut, because a few of us have less experience and aren't locked into any specific way of doing things.
November 1, 2006
Buzz On Borat
Here is Kim Masters on the buzz Borat is enjoying:
For months, the Internet has been full of buzz about Borat, a new movie that opens Friday. But on the eve of its release, entertainment-industry research reveals that many potential moviegoers have never heard of the film. How could a picture generate so much chat and still fly below the radar?
Is this going to be another SoaP? Complete story
October 31, 2006
The Future Of Horror
(Revised 10/30/06. Originally posted 10/28/06). Scott Tobias and Noel Murray discuss what lies ahead for horror movies at A.V. Club. Scott points out the underlying theme of most horror movies today:
But you can always look to genre films to capture the tenor of the times, and I would argue that these two franchises exploit a deeper fear among young people, post-9/11: Namely, that they have no control over their own destinies. Death could come at any time, and even if they can see the gears at work, they can't do anything to stop it.
I agree with this. "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956), coming just after the height of McCarthyism and in the middle of the Cold War, is about having freedom of thought taken away (or censored) and identity usurped by a malevolent force which turns friends against each other. "Night of the Living Dead" (1968) echoes these themes, but is more direct and much simpler -- something is out to get us. 'Snatchers' is very 'You may not be able to trust your neighbors', while 'Night' is just 'Don't trust anyone'.
Today's horror movie is far less politically oriented. Read the rest
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