30 april 2008

Dutch Destiny


A disaster film is a film genre that has an impending or ongoing disaster as its subject and primary plot device. Such disasters include natural disasters such as earthquakes or asteroid collisions, accidents such as shipwrecks or airplane crashes, or calamities like worldwide disease pandemics. The films usually feature some degree of build-up, the disaster itself and sometimes the aftermath, usually from the point of view of specific individual characters or their families.
The genre experienced a renewal in the 1990s boosted by Computer-generated imagery (CGI) and large studio budgets which allowed for more focus on the destruction, and less on the human drama.


Bordeaux Saint Andre


A quote from Truffaut:

“To be a film critic helped me a lot because it’s not enough to be a cinephile and to watch a lot of movies. The necessity to write about films pushes you to get better, and forces you to make a mental gymnastic. It’s when you have to sum up a screenplay in ten sentences that you realize its weaknesses or its strength.”



26 april 2008

Ride



The Center for Home Movies advocates the preservation of films within the household. Often called “family films,” home movies are likely to have their greatest meaning for immediate family members. Even if no one in the family currently takes an interest in these personal documents, a future spouse or child may find them of enormous significance.

In addition, you may be surprised to learn that your home movies can hold great interest for a much wider public, including local historians, international scholars, and artists. Popular celebrities or historic events that appear in your films would be obvious examples, but in fact it is the record of normal human beings being themselves in everyday circumstances that may be of most historical value. Imagine how our knowledge would be enriched if we had original movies of home life in the 1700s or 1850s, whatever the circumstance of the subjects! In a hundred years, and even today, your home movies will contain unique and precious documentation of a way of life – from the cut of fashionable clothing to the eroding contours of a beach. The mere backgrounds in your films may be of historical interest, even if the main subject is out of focus or making a silly face. And home movies can offer a real-world comparison to the fictionalized versions of our history conveyed through popular films and television programs.


20 april 2008

Dutch Nationalpark Biesbosch


A Super 8mm camera is a motion picture camera specifically manufactured to use the Super 8mm motion picture format. Super 8mm film cameras were first manufactured in 1965 by Kodak for their newly introduced amateur film format, which replaced the Standard 8 mm film format. Manufacture continued until the popularity of video cameras in the early 1980s. The cameras are no longer professionally manufactured (although used cameras may be restored and sold) and most cameras readily available are used from the 1960s and 1970s.


16 april 2008

Sound and Vision



The Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision looks after, and provides access to 70% of the Dutch audio-visual heritage. In total, around 800,000 hours of television, radio, music and film;] making Sound and Vision one of the largest audiovisual archives in Europe.
Sound and Vision is the business archive of the national broadcasting corporations, a cultural heritage institute (providing access to students and the general public) and also a museum for its visitors. The digital television production workflow and massive digitization efforts break grounds for new services.



15 april 2008

The Eifel and a Ravine



Stop Buying Filmmaking Equipment and Make Something
Despite all the good, some of the time, these advances have stopped filmmakers on their tracks, especially now, when state of the art changes day by day. Many filmmakers get stuck because they insist on having the latest and greatest of technology. If it came out yesterday, but today’s version goes to eleven, the old one is crap, and the new one is God’s gift... Until tomorrow’s version.
Filmmakers who have to have the latest stuff do this all the time. They are also the people who never get anything done, because they are always waiting for the next best thing. And the next best thing is SOOOOO much better than what they have. Keep in mind that the equipment they have in their closet used to be the next best thing. They’re also spending money on things that might make their stuff look great, when they should be focused on telling a great story.


The Dutch and the Water


As an economically and socially advanced nation, the Netherlands is a low-lying nation, with a sophisticated agricultural sector and high population density. Half of the country lies below 1 meter above sea level, with an eighth of the country lying below sea level. Without an extensive network of dams, dykes and dunes, the Netherlands would be especially prone to flooding. As a predicted outcome of Global Climate Change, sea level rise could impact the Netherlands drastically, leading to social and economic devastation.







10 april 2008

In and around the Tropenmuseum



Following the independence of Indonesia in 1945, the scope of the museum changed from just the colonial possessions of the Netherlands, to that of many undeveloped colonial states in South America, Africa, and Asia. In the 1960s and 1970s the Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken English: Ministry of Foreign Affairs encouraged the museum to expand its scope to more social issues such as poverty and hunger. In the early 1970s a new wing for children was added. This wing is now called Tropenmuseum Junior.

The Tropenmuseum has now started to use semi-permanent exhibits that focus both on domestic and foreign cultures.

The photography collection consists mainly of historical photographs of the former Dutch Colonies from 1855–1940. The museum released a large number of photographs under a Creative Commons licence to the Wikimedia Commons.



 

07 april 2008

Highlights of the Highlands


Scotland's legal system has remained separate from those of England and Wales and Northern Ireland, and Scotland constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in public and private law. The continued existence of legal, educational and religious institutions distinct from those in the remainder of the UK have all contributed to the continuation of Scottish culture and national identity since the 1707 Union. In 1999, a devolved legislature, the Scottish Parliament, was reconvened with authority over many areas of home affairs following a referendum in 1997. In May 2011, the Scottish National Party won an overall majority in the Scottish Parliament. As a result, a referendum on independence will take place on 18 September 2014.





04 april 2008

The cathedral of the Russian Empire


A slide show is a presentation of a series of still images on a projection screen or electronic display device, typically in a prearranged sequence. Each image is usually displayed for at least a few seconds, and sometimes for several minutes, before it is replaced by the next image. The changes may be automatic and at regular intervals or they may be manually controlled by a presenter or the viewer. Slide shows originally consisted of a series of individual photographic slides projected onto a screen with a slide projector. When referring to the video or computer-based visual equivalent, in which the slides are not individual physical objects, the term is often written as one word, slideshow.


03 april 2008

Shutting down airports



'Shutting Down Airports' by The Flints. Recorded at Halamusic in Toronto, 2008. Videos are 'Mother and daughter', 'Nostalgia winter 78', and 'His master's choice' by antonwithagen, published under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Netherlands license.

Bergen op Zoom


I love having options in the editing room. The biggest learning lesson from my very first short film was not getting any variations in performance. In post, I didn’t have anywhere to go with the characters as every take they were doing the exact same thing every time. That’s no fun. Now, I love exploring the scene with the actors to see what can arise. In the editing room, it gives me more room to shape the character and storylines. It’s much more organic.





01 april 2008

Focus on SouthSweden


Super 8 mm film is a motion picture film format released in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement of the older "Double" or "Regular" 8 mm home movie format.

The film is nominally 8 mm wide, exactly the same as the older standard 8 mm film, and also has perforations on only one side. However, the dimensions of the perforations are smaller than those on older 8 mm film, which allowed the exposed area to be made larger. The Super 8 standard also specifically allocates the border opposite the perforations for an oxide stripe upon which sound can be magnetically recorded.

Unlike other "super" gauges such as Super 16 and Super 35, the film stock used for Super 8 is not compatible with standard 8mm film cameras.


There are several different varieties of the film system used for shooting, but the final film in each case has the same dimensions. By far the most popular system was the Kodak system