100 Best Movies of All Time

Mr. Showbiz's CRITICS' Picks:
The 100 Best Movies of All Time
The films chosen for this list were limited to English language films made since the birth of the talkies.

69 seen

100 Greatest Foreign Films

by Movieline Magazine
(part 1, in alphabetical order)


1. L'Age d'Or/Un Chien Andalou (1930), aka The Age of Gold or The Golden Age, France, directed by Luis Bunuel
Luis Bunuel's two semishort surrealist hand grenades (cowritten in varying degrees with Salvador Dali) make a double bill that can restore your faith in the subversions of youth. Pure Spanish-Parisian piss and vinegar.

How to build a static 35mm adapter

How to build a static 35mm adapter

Few interesting links!

http://www.digitalmagic.com.hk, Post service.
http://www.filmmagic.com.hk, Camera and productionservice
http://www.heavyoptical.com.hk, 35mm film wok
http://www.i-magic.cm.hk, Digital Cinema/ E-Cinema
http://indie2zero.com/
http://cinerent.net
http://www.rentaprohk.com/
http://www.asbroadcast.com/
http://www.fso-createhk.gov.hk/dir/production_search_result.cfm?sub_cat=AVEquipment&sort=eng

Film Look with After Effects

My notes on F stop, ISO....

exposure= amount of light

exposure is controlled by

1. shutter speed
2. aperture

ISO=sensor sensitivity

100= more light reqd.

3200= less ligh reqd.


lesser ISO
rich colors
less noise

Higher ISO
dull colors
more noise

ISO should be <400


F stop
1.0 1.4 2,0

F stop is also used to differentiate ISO or shutter sppedd.

Knife Trick!

35 mm adaptor

Fight Sequence!

Car hit!

Gun shots!

Adding Subtitles in Adobe Encore DVD

Subtitles generally translate the main audio track, but they can also be used to supplement the video by providing captions, lyrics, hints, or teacher notes. Some designers create simple graphics using subtitle image files to add pointers or to mask, highlight, or overlay areas.

You can type subtitles directly into the Monitor or import subtitles using three different file types or scripts. Here are some subtitle basics:

Each subtitle text string or screen, whether it is an imported file or text typed directly in the Monitor, shows up as a separate clip in the timeline.

A timeline may include up to 32 subtitle tracks for standard full screen video and 16 subtitle tracks for widescreen video. However, a DVD player can display only one subtitle track at a time.

Subtitles are overlays. They do not become part of the video or slideshow. For that reason, viewers can opt to display any of the subtitle tracks over the same video. This means you don't have to transcode multiple video files, one for each subtitle track.

Subtitles are limited to only three colors, which define the outline, the fill, and partial anti-aliasing (smooth edges along diagonal lines) of the characters or graphics. You can use different three-color sets for each subtitle group.

Manually Adding Subtitles
You can add subtitles by typing them in the Monitor. The process involves selecting a starting video frame, typing in the subtitle text string, positioning it on-screen, and setting its ending frame. If you accept the default text font, color, and other characteristics that's all there is to it. But you might want to adjust those other properties. You'll do that in this lesson's final section.

1. In the Behind the Scenes timeline you worked on in the previous exercise, right-click anywhere in the audio or video tracks or in the blank area below the Audio tracks and choose Add Subtitle Track.


Note

You can also choose Timeline > Add Subtitle Track.




2. The Subtitle track will show up in the section below the audio tracks. If you can't see it, expand the height of the Timeline Viewer and drag the divider line (highlighted in the next figure).




3. Set a language for that subtitle track by clicking the language drop-down menu (as you did with the audio track) and choosing a language from that extensive list.


4. Click the Monitor tab to open it.


5. In the timeline, drag the current time indicator to the first frame in which you want to add a subtitle.


6. Click the Show Safe Area button (highlighted in the next figure) to display the two rectangular safe area guides.


Note

You want to put subtitles inside the inner boundaries of the safe area, the screen region called the Title Safe Margin. NTSC-standard TV sets suffer from something called overscana tendency to cut off the edges of the video image. Placing text within the Title Safe Margin guarantees viewers will be able to see all of the text. The outer boundaries define the Action Safe Margin within which you want to keep all other important elements.


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7. Click the Text tool in the Tools panel (highlighted in the next figure).


8. Move the cursor into the Monitor, note that the pointer changes to an I-beam within a dotted box (highlighted in the next figure).



9. Position the baseline of the I-beam pointer where you want the subtitle to begin, and click to set the insertion point for the type.


Note

When you click to create an insertion point, a subtitle clip will appear in the Subtitle 1 track in the Timeline Viewer. That clip will have a default duration of 2 seconds. You can change that default duration by selecting Edit > Preferences > Timelines.






Typing Vertically




You can have your subtitles run vertically on the screen. Simply use the Vertical Text tool instead of the regular (horizontal) Text tool.





10. Type in some text.


11. Click the Selection tool (the black arrow on the left side of the Tools panel), click inside the subtitle text bounding box, and move the text to an appropriate screen location.


Note

To reposition the subtitle text without switching tools, Ctrl-drag the text. When you release the Ctrl key, the text cursor returns.



12. Move the CTI to a new location in the video.


13. Click the Add Subtitle button (highlighted in the figure following Step 6).

That places the insertion point at the same place you ended up dragging the subtitle bounding box to in Step 11.


14. Type in another subtitle.

Take a look at the Timeline Viewer, Subtitle 1 track. As shown in the next figure, there will be two clips there. As with all still images on a timeline, you can drag subtitle clips to other locations and shorten or lengthen them.



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Importing Subtitles
You can import subtitle files. Encore DVD accepts three subtitle file types: text scripts, image scripts, and FAB image scripts.

Image and FAB use graphics that can be text or any shape. In those cases, the text position is set by its location on the graphic and, once imported into Encore DVD, you cannot reposition the text or change its size or font. You can change its color. All three subtitle file types have information associated with them, either in separate script files or within the text file, that specifies the start and end timecodes of the subtitles.

Text Subtitle Script Files
Unlike image-based subtitles, text script files include the subtitle text along with the timecode for the start and end point for each subtitle. Text scripts contain no screen position or formatting information. You format and position the subtitles as a group when you import them and you can later update those parameters on a subtitle-by-subtitle basis.

The Import Subtitles (Text Script) dialog box also lets you designate the track on which they will be placed, the language, and the color set and group that will be used when displaying them.

Since creating subtitle files for import into Encore DVD is a specialized task, we won't go into too many details here. Many DVD producers rely on subtitle production companies to do this work more because it's tedious.

If you want to create text subtitle files, you can learn the specifics by choosing Help > Adobe Encore Help, clicking the Contents tab and opening Working with multiple audio and subtitle tracks > Creating and editing script files.

Creating Text Script Subtitles
Here's a basic overview. You can create text script subtitles in any text editing software such as Windows Notepad. The text should follow this format (the underscores designate a single space between items):


Subtitle #_Start Timecode_End Timecode_Subtitle text



Additional line of subtitle text


Here is an example:


1 00;00;04;08 00;00;06;25 Creating subtitle files is easy,



once you get the hang of it.


This subtitle would start at 4 seconds and 8 frames into the video and end at 6 seconds and 25 frames. It would appear as two lines of text.

Save your text script subtitle collection as a TXT file using UTF-8 or UTF-16 encoding (Unicode Transformation Format). To do that in Notepad, choose File > Save As and choose UTF-8 from the Encoding drop-down menu (Notepad does not have a UTF-16 option).



Importing Text Subtitle Scripts
1. Add another subtitle track by right-clicking in the Timeline Viewer and selecting Add Subtitle Track.


2. Right-click in the Audio/Video track area of the Timeline Viewer, choose Import Subtitles > Text Script, navigate to Encore DVD 2.0 CIB Assets/Subtitles and double-click on Text subtitle script.txt.



3. In the Import Subtitles (Text Script) dialog window, make a few adjustments and selections:


Grab the upper-right corner of the text bounding box and shrink it down to match the length of the subtitle. Otherwise, later you won't be able to expand the size of the text and if you add text, it might be too small to view easily.

Center the text bounding box just above the title safe guide (refer to the next figure).

Choose the text characteristics, subtitle track (if you choose New, that will add a third subtitle track to the timeline), language and other parameters (the Color Set feature is covered later in this lesson).


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4. Click OK.

As shown in the next figure, that will add five subtitles to the beginning of the timeline.


5. To see the subtitles in the Monitor, click the Track Selector, (the empty box to the left of the Subtitle 2 track header), to switch on the display.

You can change subtitle durations and locations on the timeline as well as edit the text and text characteristics in the Monitor.



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Image and FAB Subtitle Files and Scripts
Image and FAB subtitles use graphic files in addition to script files. It does not take any technical expertise to create them but, as is the case with text subtitle files, the process is tedious and most producers rely on other companies to produce image-based subtitles.

Both Image and FAB subtitle files can be made in graphics software like Photoshop CS. The next figure is a cropped portion of one of the sample FAB subtitle files you'll import in the next section.



Here are some image-based subtitle creation tips:

The text should have bordersstrokes in Photoshop parlance. That helps them stand out over the video.

Use sharp edges for text and graphics. Don't use gradients, feathering, or anti-aliasing.

Image files can be in JPG, GIF, PNG, TIF, or BMP format.

Limit image files to three colors or fewer.

Note

The colors you use when creating the subtitle graphics are not necessarily what will display over your videos. This concept can be a bit difficult to grasp. Basically, after you import a collection of graphic subtitle files, you assignor mapcolors of your choice to the colors in the graphics using the Timeline Color Set. That process is covered later in this lesson.



What differentiates Image and FAB subtitle files are their scripts. In particular, Image Scripts specify the file folder location where you've stored the subtitle graphics files. FAB Scripts do not need that extra information.

Other characteristics of those script files can be a bit esoteric, so if you're interested in creating subtitles refer to the Encore DVD Help file.

Importing Image-Based Subtitles
For this exercise you will import an FAB Image Script because you don't need to edit its script file to specify the location of its graphic files.

Note

If you want to see how importing Image Script subtitles works, you need to make sure the Image Subtitle script.txt file directory line matches where the subtitle graphics files are stored. The text file's location in this case is C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Encore DVD 2.0\Adobe Encore DVD 2.0. If you copy/paste the Image Scripts folder to that location, then things should work smoothly. Otherwise, edit that text file's directory line to match the location of the subtitle graphic files.


1. Right-click anywhere in the Video/Audio track area of the Timeline Viewer, choose Import Subtitles > FAB Images Script, navigate to Encore DVD 2.0 Assets\Subtitles\FAB Subtitles, and double-click FAB script.txt.




2. In the Browse for Folder dialog box (refer to the previous figure), select the FAB Subtitles folder and then click OK.



That opens the Map Colors dialog box. You need to tell Encore DVD the function of each of the graphic file's three colors so it can properly map colors to the subtitles.

Background Maps transparency to the subtitle background.

Fill/Color 1 Maps to the fill of the subtitle text (or for nontext subtitles, the object).

Outline/Color 2 Maps to the outline or stroke of the text or object.

Note

Any additional colors in the image become transparent.




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3. Click the Background eyedropper, position it over the blue graphic background and click to select the color.

To clarify, that tells Encore DVD to make that blue color transparentto give it 0% opacity. There is no need to select the other two colors since they are the default Red and Black values in the Map Colors dialog box.


Use Default Colors




It's a good idea to use default colors when creating FAB or Image Script subtitles, because it can be difficult to select the color used in the thin text outlines. Using white for the background (instead of the blue used in this case) will save you a step since it's the default background color in the Map Colors dialog box.





4. Click OK. That opens the Import Subtitles dialog box.



[View full size image]


5. Choose Track 1, choose the language of the subtitle, and note that the Absolute Timecode button is selected.


Note

If you trim a video after you create its subtitles, you'll probably want to choose Relative to squeeze the subtitles into the shortened video. Selecting Absolute imports the subtitles at the exact timecodes specified in the subtitle file.

6. Open the Color Set drop-down menu and click on Group 2 and Group 3 in turn, and note how that changes the color of the subtitle text in the Import Subtitles screen. No matter what Color Group you select, you can change it and customize it later.


7. Click OK.



Ten subtitle clips of varying lengths will show up in the Subtitle 1 track.

Adding Subtitles to Slideshows
You can add subtitles to slideshows on an individual slide basis. Here's how it works:

1. Select a slide.


2. On the Basic tab of the Properties panel, click Create Subtitle and select Name, Description, or both.


3. Type your subtitles in the Name or Description fields at the top of the Basic tab.


4. Do this for as many slides as you choose.



Note

Unlike Timeline subtitles, you cannot select slideshow subtitle text or bounding boxes. But you can adjust slideshow subtitle text attributes in the Character panel. To do that, click on a slide with a subtitle, view it in the Monitor, open the Character panel, make adjustments, and note that they show up immediately in the Monitor. You can set different character attributes for each slide's subtitle or select all the slides and apply character attributes to them all at once.

Alfred Hitchcock

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980)[1] was a British filmmaker and producer who pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in his native United Kingdom in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood. In 1956 he became an American citizen while retaining his British citizenship.

Hitchcock directed more than fifty feature films in a career spanning six decades. He remains one of the most popular and most recognised filmmakers of all time and his works are still popular today. His image has endured partly due to cameo appearances in his own films and the series of television dramas he hosted, the eponymous Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

VERTIGO

Smoke FX by Bernard Wilkie

What's wrong with this scene: three kids frolic around the brie (an African barbecue) against a charming background of tall pines. They hold the long sausages wrapped in fresh bread in their eager little hands, moving the hot food from hand to hand and pretending it's too hot to eat.

It should be interesting, lively and full of fun, but somehow the scene looks dead.

What's missing?

Smoke. Here's a scene played out mere feet from a sizzling charcoal fire--and not a smidgen of smoke anywhere. The close-ups should include at least the odd wisp; wide shots should show smoke drifting through the trees.

Smoke is the most common special effect of all--and with good reason. Without it, a scene is like a hot dog without mustard.

Smoke may be the last thing on your mind when planning a shoot, but without it you could miss one of the most important stylistic aids to videomaking.

You're Smokin' Now

Say you open with a scene in a small-town square. It's snowing and people wrap up warm against the biting cold. You can tell it's cold by the actors' make-up and the occasional snowflakes settling on their clothing. But it's the smoke that brings the scene to life. You position a large brazier in the middle of the square; smoke blows around in eddies.

What if you left out the smoke? Picture the scene now. Artificial snow covers the set; the actors move along their rehearsed routes as the camera, on tracks, follows them. But without the smoke, the atmosphere--the space between the characters--is lost.

Of course, you could use falling snow to enhance the scene, but this creates coverage and continuity problems.

Coverage concerns the size of the set--and the town square is a big one. You must determine how many snow-dispensing machines you need, a factor that could severely affect the budget.

Then there's the time factor. Snow-machines hang above the set; you must recharge them with snow every so often. To replenish the hoppers, you must halt the action while you lower the machines, re-fill them and run them back up. Then, you must test them before resuming the action--while the clock ticks and the cash register runs.

The second problem is continuity. As everyone knows, action of this kind comprises many different shots, each one individually recorded and edited into the final sequence. The editor faced with this task will go mad if each shot shows differing amounts of snow on the actors' costumes. It would be as plain as a disappearing mustache; even the least critical viewer would notice the blatantly changing conditions.

Continuity is a particular problem where falling snow scenes involve close-ups with dialogue--or indeed, any sequences that take time to shoot. It is even more troublesome where you must mix or match scenes with ones recorded earlier.

There's always the blizzard ploy; but your scene in the square is a peaceful one, unsuitable for a blizzard.

So smoke is your answer; still, your problems aren't over yet.

Smoke is flexible, but it, too, can present continuity problems. Fortunately, however, it is transient; as one wisp of smoke looks much like another, you can usually mix and match without difficulty.

In the town square scene, you can occasionally toss small flakes of snow into the gentle flow of a wind machine. This will enhance the effect and also move the smoke around. Without a wind machine, the smoke will go straight up--an effect more appropriate to a summer's day--our scene around the African brie.

Give Me Atmosphere

A certain director--celebrated as much for his enfant terrible persona as the films he makes--produced some evocative and memorable sequences of composers and artists over the years. A study of his work shows how often these scenes depend on smoke for atmosphere.

Typical are sequences in which the principal character rides a horse through woods dappled with sunlight, or where characters in small boats drift romantically on mirrored lakes. In all such scenes, his carefully-controlled use of smoke turns video sequences into paintings.

Beams of sunlight through trees are invisible--unless a convenient mist happens to roll in. Artificially-created smoke is much more reliable.

You can simulate the effect of a low-lying, early morning mist on a lake by laying cooled smoke (pump it first across a bed of dry ice) onto the water. Wind conditions play a vital part in such effects; continuity is sometimes difficult to achieve in inclement weather.

Evocative scenes in beer halls and period theaters often depend on a smoke-laden atmosphere. One videomaker made smoke appear to rise from the footlights at the front of an old-time vaudeville stage, implying that behind their reflectors were kerosene-oil lamps. In reality they were simply electric floods, with tiny smoke devices set in front of each one.

In scenes depicting workshops or industrial complexes, smoke is a necessary clich�. It says that all sorts of busy things are going on and that the place is humming with activity. On some locations smoke will be a natural by-product of the process, but in others you may have to make it yourself.

In industrial or workshop scenes, continuity may not be a problem--but there's always the problem of build-up. Pump smoke continually into an area with insufficient ventilation, and it will eventually create a fog which will ruin the effect. Before including smoke in an indoor scene, make sure you can clear it by opening doors and windows or by switching on some sort of extract equipment. Smoke only looks crisp in clear air.

But the reverse applies when a build-up of smoke is exactly what you need. On these occasions you may have considerable difficulty trying to sustain the smokiness without revealing the source of the smoke.

Scenes that benefit from a build-up of smoke naturally include mist or fog sequences; this is an obvious necessity, most likely covered in the original shooting plan and equipment list.

What you may not anticipate is the benefit of using sustained smoke to 1) highlight the vastness of a scene or 2) depict menace. Typical of such scenes are empty factories, warehouses and old barns, which look so much better when beams of light from shattered windows or holes in the roof reveal thin smoke. A recent TV drama employed a thin misty smoke to provide a sunny atmosphere in a large modern office. When you use smoke in this context, keep it to a minimum; otherwise, it gives the impression that the characters are working in a cigarette smoke-filled atmosphere.

The fact that smoke picks up light is the principal reason for using it--neatly exemplified in another TV drama in which two characters hide in a tunnel. Cautiously, the actors make their way to the tunnel mouth and freedom. Despite the fact that it's the middle of the day, the tunnel mouth appears undramatic. The problem: the tunnel mouth opens out to a high-sided culvert of overhanging trees and thick shadowy vegetation reflecting little light. Worse, the sun's in the wrong position. However, the sequence, which could have been a nonevent, is saved by a few puffs of smoke squirted around the tunnel entrance. When the sun hits the smoke, it transforms the scene.

Examine each scene you intend to shoot to judge whether smoke, in any of its variations, can enhance the atmospheric effects. Have the means to provide it should an emergency arise.

While the use of smoke to create an idyllic situation serves dramatic scenes, it can also benefit more prosaic scenes. One example: a commentator stands on a busy street, microphone in hand. While autos and trucks thunder past, wisps of smoke between camera and speaker heighten the message of pollution.

"Why are we fouling up our atmosphere?" asks the commentator, coughing. We see smoke curling around him; the cough looks natural. Without smoke, the cough appears contrived.

Let There Be Light

Once considered dangerous for studio use, low-power laser beams now frequently grace sci-fi productions, dramas and technical/scientific demonstrations. (Often, they often depict the path of security beams.) Without smoke, the laser beams would be ineffectual; a thin, smoke-laden atmosphere enables them to show up clearly.

You can also make smoke look like rain or powdery snow for studio blizzard sequences. Here, it augments the rain drops blown by the wind or bulks out the artificial snow. But smoke not only saves on material, it also picks up the light and improves the effect. Without it, a rain blizzard appears thin and unconvincing.

A further bonus: you can arrange scenes in which water blows around so that there's a smoke-only area where actors remain relatively dry. Seen from the camera's POV, there's a frontal area of smoke and rain; behind this area you use smoke alone. If the sequence involves a close-up, you can blow another layer of smoke and rain behind the action.

Where to Get Smoke

Safe and simple to use, smoke machines are available for lease from production companies. Some, for outdoor use, are large and powerful; others, small and portable, work for close-ups or scenes needing a light misting. Typically, they operate by heating a specially formulated smoke fluid; gas or electricity powers them.

Chemical or pyrotechnic smokes work well for both indoor and outdoor use; unlike smoke guns that switch on and off, pyrotechnics are more difficult to handle.

There are other types of smoke makers, one of the most convenient being the apiarist's bee smoker. This little device is cheap--and if you take it out onto a shoot you can use it within a few minutes of ignition. They burn a variety of materials and provide enough smoke to fog up a small area. They are particularly useful for scenes like the commentator-in-heavy-traffic sequence mentioned above.

Smoke, being smoke, may affect some people who have to work with it. However, most--except the pyrotechnic variety--are regarded as harmless. The smoke oils sold for use in approved machines have been tested for adverse health effects and, provided you use them in accordance with supplier's directions, should cause little discomfort. Bee smokers using an approved material are also regarded as non-toxic; always check to make sure your talent and crew will suffer no ill effects.

Certain scenes require the making of smoke by the actual props. For example: a close-up of someone using a soldering iron to do a repair job. The tip of a hot iron pressed onto a tiny pad of cloth impregnated with lubricating oil will produce a trace of smoke that says something is actually happening; without such a plume the action would appear lifeless, or even false.

Other, similar operations can benefit from the use of smoke. Counterfeiters, engravers, model-makers and hobbyists may work in an entirely smoke-free environment, but a wisp of smoke during the action proves that they really are doing something--and not just miming in front of the camera.

The Mystery of Smoke

One final example: visualize an empty farm yard. We see only a barn, some broken fencing and a rusty plough. If that's all we see, then we can believe what the director is telling us--the farm is deserted.

But what if a pile of straw lying out in the yard is smoking vigorously?

Now we believe there's someone around. Short of showing that someone, no other device can make the point so simply.

That's the point of smoke.

Videomaker contributing editor Bernard Wilkie designed special effects for the BBC for over 25 years.

Fogger Machines