CUPIC web series production is underway, with the first episode in post and shooting another. The project is shot documentary style and the reenactments are mostly stand alone short films. We will start with five episodes that will give you background of the organization and the early cases.

Some of the stories that you can expect to see; an updated version of THE CONTACT, THE EMISSARY, and remakes of the stories from the original 1992 series. The projected date of series debut, early June 2010. Visit http://cactuspix.com/CUPICtv/

Filming on a Soundstage Vs On Location
By Greg Viera

But for producers and directors, the question of whether to shoot on a soundstage or in an actual locale is an important decision.

Cost

Shooting on a soundstage can be very expensive depending on the city, the length of the project and even the time of year. Some studios charge as much as $1,000 per day for the use of their facilities, especially in high demand areas such as Hollywood. There is also the additional cost of building all the sets from scratch. Everything from the furniture to the lighting to the scenic backdrops must be created and installed.

Shooting on location can also be expensive but it often turns out to be more cost effective. A scout location can work with a city government or building owner to negotiate a fair rate, and the set backgrounds are already in place and ready to go.

Control

Having total control of the elements of a scene is usually quite important to a director. This is something that needs to be taken into account when choosing where to film. A soundstage is a closed set where the temperature, noise level and quality of light can be manipulated at will. Outdoor locations, unfamiliar territory and public places inherently contain an element of unpredictability. Something as simple as a change in the weather can delay a shoot for hours, wasting valuable time and money.

Authenticity

Another factor for movie makers to consider in this situation is the matter of authenticity. How much attention to detail does the film setting call for? An elaborate car chase scene, for example, requires real streets and traffic. On the other hand, if most of the scenes consist of dialogue between two people in a jail cell, it is much easier to recreate the atmosphere in an artificial setting.

The next time you are enjoying a new flick, take the time to notice the details in the background. You may be surprised to find out that what you thought was a real location was in fact a bit of movie magic, obtained through the use of a few props and skillfully designed scenic backdrops.

The next time you are enjoying a new flick, take the time to notice the details in the background. You may be surprised to find out that what you thought was a real location was in fact a bit of movie magic, obtained through the use of a few props and skillfully designed scenic backdrops.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Greg_Viera

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Does spending millions of dollars to tell a compelling story make sense? From Cleopatra to Titanic, Hollywood has spent big bucks to entertain while simultaneously earning a significant return on investment.

After watching Avatar on its opening day, all I can say is the expenditure was indeed worth it. Of course to be honest, I am a science fiction fan from my early childhood days of reading Jules Verne to H.G. Well. I remember many of those now “cheesy” science fiction movies such as Them or The Blob to even the better ones As the Day the Earth Stood Still to the first War of the Worlds.

Watching this movie I had this one consistent thought, “Cameron’s creativity was endless.” From the colors to the intricate environmental relationships between the humanoids on the planet Pandora to all of the native flora and animal life not to mention the mixing of animation with actors, I just could not stop thinking about the details within this incredible film. Having experienced the many contemporary science fiction and fantasy films, I could not find one having such an intricate story line. Possibly the closest one was Dune and yet never reached the depths of Avatar.

While having this ongoing thoughts of Wow, how did he think this up?, I also experienced several deep emotion reactions to this movie. These emotional jumps reminded me of watching Sleeping Beauty as a child. Not since Disney (which was a very long time ago) have I had an emotional connection with an animated picture.

In reflecting after leaving the theater, I realized that Cameron must have had read McCafferty’s Dragons of Pern not too mention possibly Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Last of the Mohicans. I saw and felt through the dialogue pieces of Native American to African American cultures.

The physical look of the Na’vi appeared to be cat like in the face like the Beast in the Beauty and the Beast television series. Their bodies moved like the felines in the musical Cats only with the combined agility of Spider Man, Flash and the Fantastic Four.

If you wish to experience something far different than anything you have ever seen, then you should purchase a ticket for Avatar. The only thing is you may wish to see it again because in one viewing you will truly not see everything that is happening on the big screen.

P.S. When it comes out in DVD, this is a must for my collection. Also, I believe Cameron may be thinking a series based upon the ending of the movie.

Author and entrepreneur Leanne Hoagland-Smith writes on a plethora of business and self-improvement subjects. Occasionally, she reviews the works of others. Get her first business and sales book, Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, the Keys to Unlocking Sales Success.

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White Cyc Studio Visual Effects
By Phil G.

Have you watched the series Star Trek on TV? Have you seen a Star Wars movie? Have you seen a Sci-Fi movie or TV series involving outer space? Have you wondered how they created the scenes flying in outer space? Most of the visual effects for these programs were filmed in a white cyc studio using infinity cycs. The infinity cyc is curved at the bottom where the wall and floor join together creating a visual effect of limitless space. A white cyclorama is use on stage to create an illusion of sky.

Star Trek is a good example showing the starship Enterprise flying through limitless outer space surrounded by stars from a distance and the cameras zooming in on the starship. At the end it would show the starship Enterprise in space and the cameras would zoom away from the starship as the show ended. These visual effects were done using a white cyc studio. The model of the starship Enterprise was suspended from the ceiling in the center of a white cyclorama stage.

What makes a good white cyc studio? The white cyclorama needs to be well constructed and free from: visual flaws, seams, dirt, visual corners, and sharp angles that cause shadows. The white cyclorama should have:

1) Efficient space for zoom shots and to avoid crowding, difficult camera angles, and allow for proper lighting arrangements.

2) A high ceiling to prevent difficult camera angles, and lighting problems.

3) Two or more cyc walls to film to film against to avoid filming limitations.

4) Efficient time for setup, filming and take down if renting a white cyc studio.

Some film studios don’t have their own white cyc studio, so when they need to use a white cyc studio they go off lot and rent one of many studios in LA. There are a number of studios in and around LA let’s look at what a couple of studios feature.

White cyc studios in LA should feature:

1) Whisper quiet air conditioning.

2) Three-thousand square feet.

3) Ground level access.

4) Sixteen and a half feet to lighting grid.

5) Two white cyclorama walls seventy-feet in size.

6) Complete lighting and grip.

7) Free V/O booth and makeup room.

The studio will provide any needed production equipment.

Other great studios that you can rent out features:

1) Eighty linear feet of shoot able white cyclorama.

2) Twenty ton of grip, lighting, stedicam, jibs, dollies.

3) Three white cyclorama walls.

4) Motion control setup.

5) Four editing bays.

6) 3D animation/compositing.

7) Pre to post production crews.

Film, video, and post production equipment.

9) Film, HD, and SD camera packages HD cameras.

10) Mini thirty-five adapter from P and S Technik thirty-five mm Zeiss PL, F-one point three speed lens eighteen, twenty-five, and thirty-five, fifty, eighty-five.

11) Twenty-five foot Stanton Jimmy Jib with Remote Head and Dollies.

12) Cinema Products Provid Steadicam for sixteen mm film, HD, DV-Cam and DV cameras.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Phil_G.

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How to Make a Movie – A Primer
By Antonio Fox

If you want to understand how to make a movie, you’ve come to the right place. This is an overview of the filmmaking process – a primer, if you will. Chances are that the actual process is different than what you think it is.

For example, novice filmmakers often believe that the director is also the cameraman. This is not the case. In fact, the cameraman is not the “cameraman.” The job is split between two specialists: the cinematographer (who oversees the photography of the movie) and the camera operator (who physically runs the camera). So, in practice, the duties of the cameraman are two steps removed from the director and performed by several people.

But hold on! We are getting way ahead of ourselves. Let’s back up and start from the beginning. It’s obvious that making a movie involves “light, camera, and action,” as they say, but how is this actually accomplished? By understanding the steps used to make a movie, you will better see how the pieces fit together.

The filmmaking process can be divided into five basic steps:

Development

In the development stage, the producer secures the script and raises financing. The script is perhaps the most important ingredient used to make a movie. It serves not only as the blueprint for production, but the foundation for everything that follows.

The story must be outstanding, otherwise the finished film is destined to failure. The producer can locate a great story by purchasing the rights to a book, optioning a spec script (a script written on speculation by an aspiring screenwriter), or adapting a news story or historic event. For more insight on what makes a great script check out the tutorial Story (link below).

Pre-Production

During pre-production, the director, cast, and crew are brought on-board. Casting is perhaps the most important element after the script. Great acting gives life to a great script, but poor acting is its death knoll.

On major productions, the casting can take many months. It’s important to find actors that are not only fine performers but have the ability to bring depth and dimension to the roles. In addition to casting and crewing, pre-production also involves finding locations and developing the production schedule.

Production

When people think about making a movie, they typically think in terms of production. As you can see, however, a lot of work is invested prior to the camera rolling. During actual production, the director is the artistic leader, responsible for translating the script to the screen. To accomplish this he relies on different craft departments–camera, sound, design, etc.

Each craft department has it’s own boss. For example, the cinematographer is in charge of the camera department, the mixer is in charge of the sound department, and the production designer is in charge of the design department. Based on years of union regulation, each department is carefully structured with it’s own chain of command. You wouldn’t think this because film is considered an art form, but a major film production is run like a well-oiled corporate machine!

The director has his own little department as well, composed of the assistant director and the continuity supervisor. Believe it or not, the assistant director has no creative duties. His job is solely to keep the set running smoothly and on time. Depending on the size of the production, there can be one or more assistant directors. The continuity supervisor is the person you see following the director around with a notebook. The job involves keeping track of the director’s shots and preferred takes.

Post-Production

As you might expect, post-production involves editing the film, which is shot in small snippets and usually out of sequence. What most novice filmmakers don’t understand is that sound editing is a huge part of the post-production process. There are special editors called “sound designers” that add all of those great sound effects that contribute to the excitement of a scene.

Sound actually goes through two cycles in post-production. The first cycle involves adding the right sound effects and music, and the second step involves blending all the sound tracks together so that they sound right. The latter step is called sound mixing and it is crucial indeed. Without proper sound mixing, dialogue might sound too low, music too loud, and sound effects a mishmash. Sound mixing puts all of these tracks in proper perspective.

Distribution

When a movie is completed, it goes through a roll-out process whereby the film is distributed to different outlets for exhibition to the public. There are many steps involve, including: developing an advertising campaign, assessing how many theaters to open in, determining whether to enter film festivals or use sneak previews, etc. Later considerations are DVD, TV and international release.

Like the other areas of the filmmaking, there are people who specialize in the different areas of distribution. Although many low budget films wait until the end of the filmmaking process to secure distribution, successful producers know that this is one of the first steps and it goes hand in hand with raising financing.

Conclusion

If you are a low budget filmmaker, you will not be able to afford all of the specialists discussed above. This doesn’t mean that you can’t make a great movie.

To achieve the highest level of efficiency for your limited money, it is important to combine jobs and duties in a logical way. Remember, you cannot do everything yourself, and if you try to, the final product will be inferior. At the very least, you should have a competent cinematographer, sound person, and assistant director.

Finally-and this applies to all levels of production from no budget to mega budget-you must have a great script and talented actors. Otherwise, you are wasting your time.

We hope that this primer is helpful in understanding how all the pieces fit together to make a movie. Best of luck!

Visit How to Make a Movie! http://www.FilmSchoolHomeStudy.com for tips, advice, and strategies for aspiring filmmakers.

Here’s a link to the screenwriting tutorial mentioned above: http://www.filmschooldirect.com/sample_lessons/sample_lesson_screenwriting.htm.

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You can also watch the first trailer for Iron Man 2 in High Definition on Apple

Iron Man 2 takes place only six months after Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) revealed his identity as Iron Man at the end of the first movie. Mickey Rourke stars as a powerful new Russian villain named Whiplash.

Green Screen and Virtual Reality
By Phillip G.

Green screen is the key technology that makes Virtual Reality (VR) possible today. What is green screen? Green screen is a screen that’s the color green placed in the background of a studio set while the foreground scenes are filmed. This will allow the creator to add any type of background they desire to create a special effect. How is this done?

Once they are finished filming the scene the film is taken to the editing room and the color green is deleted from the film, and the desire background effect is added to the film. What this does is it provides the feeling of action occurring on the film. The green screen is not always green. Sometimes blue or white is used if the surfaced screen has a color conflict with the foreground. Green doesn’t go well with certain colors like yellow or people with blonde hair, and certain shades of color similar to green. The reason the color isn’t used is during the editing process, all of the green is removed, and it will also remove the colors similar to it, leaving holes in the foreground in place of the foreground image. It is also very important to have the correct lighting and all shiny objects removed or dull to prevent problems during the editing process. Plus the cameraman shouldn’t be allowed to use the sharpening feature on his camera to prevent flaws in the green surfaced screen from appearing in the film. The computer used during editing will allow for all necessary sharpening.

What is Virtual Reality? Virtual Reality allows a live person to enter an imaginary scene and take part in the scene’s action providing the feel of reality. This is made possible with the use of a green screen which allows the designer of Virtual Reality to add his own background to create the desire effect. Creating the virtual reality effect requires the use of a professional green surfaced screen studio to accommodate for a successful creation of the Virtual Reality. Some of these green screen equipped studios are based in Los Angeles and each one has its own specialty.

Some studios specialize in creating Virtual reality games and simulators with their green surfaced screen studios. One studio in LA specializes in the creation and production of special effects for film which would be near impossible without green screen technology. This studio came about when their founders decide to get involve with production of special effects using green surfaced screen. You can also find studios that focus on training, market branding and entertainment company. One of the applications of Virtual Reality use is creating simulators which provides the user a feeling they are actually taking part like flying an airplane or a passenger on an airplane.

A famous Hollywood actress had a fear of flying as a passenger on an airplane. She was place in a custom design flight simulation as a passenger and allow the experience of take offs and landings of an airplane to help her overcome her fear of flying.

There are so many other sites offering different forms of advice on how to use green screen but most of them are not very detailed or precise. Before following these, make sure to check my own articles and reviews on Green Screen and Green Screen Los Angeles. You can also reach me at 1-323-851-3825 or phillipguy@hotmail.com

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Video Shorts Are the Hottest Video Production Style Today
By Stephan Czepanik

Video shorts are hot!

Video shorts are the hottest new format to promote a business on TV, online or DVD. It is one of the most cost effective video productions and usually produced in a very short time. Video production editing or also called post production for shorts is not anymore as time consuming as it used to be and the hard-software for editing is getting less and less expensive.

Corporate shorts in TV production provides innovative videos to capture the essence of a story or product, and give a personal touch to help connect with the viewer. Shorts in any video production can be used for a range of needs: branding, sales, awareness, promotional, political, educational and informational uses. A video short intends a specific purpose in a corporate or B2B environment and watched by a targeted audience.

They can help craft the right message to promote and push a brand – and make it stand out visually.

Video production and post production editing for shorts aim to inform the audience, give more insight and a greater understanding about the world and its subjects. It becomes true: A great story starts with imagination.

Some of the first pioneers of video shorts and film TV production are the German born Director and cameraman Max Skladanowsky who built one of the first film cameras in 1890. For his first film, Bioskop, he used to loops of 54mm film, one frame being projected alternately from each. This made it possible to project at 16 frames per sec, sufficient to create the illusion of movement.

Video production editing was done linear to this time therefore it was very limited and time consuming.

Also the man who has been called the “father of the documentary film production, Robert Flaherty,” born in 1884 (Michigan U.S) produced short films. Flaherty produced Nanook of the North, A Story Of Life and Love In the Actual Arctic, the first feature length documentary film production, in 1922.

Not to forget that his video production editing was still done linear, in compare to today’s much faster non-linear video editing suites.

Another pioneer work in video and film production was the earliest known feature length narrative film in the world, an Australian production called THE STORY OF THE KELLY GANG (1906).

Or did you know that one of the world’s first film studios, The Limelight Department was operated by The Salvation Army in Melbourne, Australia, between 1897 and 1910? It produced about 300 films of various lengths, making it the largest film producer of its time.

Since then workflow of video production, post production editing and equipment of a cameraman has changed tremendously. As well the platforms it screens and the aims it is targeting.

Strong believes are that in the common years 70% of all web based content will be bundled in video shorts, vodcast (podcast video).

Therefore every company and individual should start to think in this direction to stay effective and promote their business online with a podcast video.

Corporate Shorts provide innovative podcast videos for a website to capture the essence of a business, and give a personal touch to help connect with the audience. An effective online podcast video presence is the future promotional and informational vehicle.

Today most TV channels stream their video content on the web because people like to follow up shows and programmes they missed or just want to be more flexible with viewing times.

What is anyway the difference between PODCAST and VODCAST?

Podcast is Audio for web only

Vodcast is Video and Audio for web

By that post production or non-linear video production editing becomes highly increased and has changed dramatically as well.

In compared to film production 50 years ago, today’s video editor can edit your video footage at points that are both creative and logical. Video production editing can be done in very short time in house or on location with a mobile video editor and edit suite. Using digital video footage, they can create sophisticated animated text effects, special effects and combine movies with still images.

With original or existing digital footage the video editor can animate, transform and composite multiple movies and images, apply colour correction, improve audio quality and add animations.

Video editor can use video footage to combine green-screen interview footage with customized virtual sets while adding convincing effects like virtual shadows and reflections in your video production edit.

This was not possible in the early stages of film and video production! A TV or film producer, director or cameraman needed many hours of work and post production was very limited.

But there is more! Video production soundtrack editing is one of the big advantages of today’s technology.

Different soft- and hardware is used to compose loop-based soundtracks in any musical style for a video production, or to provide and edit a stock music soundtrack.

Video shorts are the way to go.

Stephan Czepanik is on of the leading producers, directors and cameraman in video production. He creates sophisticated and creative pictures within video production editing. He is German born and highly qualified and experienced. His works have been screened in over 80 countries. http://www.filmgauge.com.au

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