Videocracy Blog

So our the OnYourMark Studio purchased a new toy this week, we picked up the Nikon D-40, Digital SLR camera.

I’ve been taking pictures my whole life I started working with an SLR (Single Lens Reflex) camera when I was in high school, and I never looked back…all other cameras to me were just junk, I liked the manual control and the interchangeable lenses, to me that’s what photography was all about.

Up until this weekend I’ve always been a film user, I love film, I love the mystery behind what photos will work and what photos might fail.  Of course after years of taking pictures I have come to find that most of my pictures work, and very few fail.  But still…I have been wanting to upgrade to a Digital Camera for years, my sisters and my friends all get digital cameras for Christmas and birthdays, but I want nothing less then my SLR camera…so I wait, and wait, and wait…

I am thankful that we got this DSLR here, because it’s like I now have a DSLR at my disposal…and albeit it isn’t mine, it’s still nice to have it and use it…I went out today to take some pictures with it around Milwauee…Miller Park, Downtown, the River…I wanted to do more but I ran out of time.  Although a film camera comes with that element of mystery, it’s digital counterpart comes with much more freedom.  With one 2 Gb memory card set on Raw shooting, I have the equivalent of  270 photographs, that’s 12 rolls of 24 exposure film…and at 5 dollars a roll for developing costs, I’m looking at 60 dollars to develop…that gets pretty expensive aftewhile.  With the digital shooting, I can take 12 rolls of film, and basically it’s free (if you don’t print your pictures or burn them to a CD).  There really is much more freedom…and the pictures are stunning.

So yes I will probably phase out my Film SLR in the next 6 months…but my trusty friend won’t leave me anytime soon.

As for the Nikon D-40, if any of you are wondering…it’s a pretty decent camera.  I know the price was right on it, it’s a 6 megapixel camera.  I’ve had the opportunity to work with two higher model Nikon cameras, and although they are more robust, and faster.  I think the Nikon D-40 takes some really nice shots, and it’s a great camera for someone who is looking to get a start into the world of the Digital SLR…

Well the results are in, a few of my chums and I went to see Beowulf (In my previous blog entry I spelled it Beowolf, my apologizes to all diehard Beowulf fans…).

We went to see this film in New Berlin where they were showing it on the Digital Projector, in stunning Digital 3D which is the newest advances in 3D technology.  At first I was a little worried that this might detract from my opinion on Motion Capture but it didn’t, in some ways it help to further understand Motion Capture.

Before the movie started there were two trailers, one for a U2 movie concert experience, and one for  Journey to the Center of the earth, both of these movies are going to be show in digital 3D, so it was nice to be able to see what our 3D glasses can do with live action.  Journey is the first digital live action 3D movie…and the picture quality was just stunning, I am going to see the U2 film, just to experience it, despite not liking U2.

Anyhow, onto Beowulf…my first reaction within the first few minutes was that the effect that the Motion Capture created was very restrictive and limiting, and by that I mean, all the action felt as though it was shot entirely underwater…every limb, and mouth and movement seemed to be at half it’s normal speed, this is one of the drawbacks of rotoscoping as well…there is no sense of resistance or gravity…at least from my own experience of rotoscoping.

So as a whole I thought the technique had it’s purpose, the character design of Grandal was amazing, and as a whole it was an enjoyable moviegoing experience…and as I stated above I enjoyed the 3D, however the novelty of it wore of rather quickly…but that doesn’t deter me from liking it more…

I am listening to a podcast which delves into the topic of “MoCap” which is the art of Motion Capture, this is a hot topic, at least between me and my circle of film buddies, (which is two people).

Motion capture is an interesting technology that was used in such things as Lord of the Rings and King Kong…and now the topic of the podcast is the new motion picture Beowolf…which is used with all motion capture.

Motion capture is basically a process where an actor will act out the motions and movements of the character the are portraying, using sophisticated technology and cameras, to capture the movement made by the person. One of the more interesting things about this, as the podcast states is that you can then make the actor look like themselves or however they want.

The reason this is a hot topic is because with the new film Beowolf, the entire film is shot using motion capture, the advantage here is that the actors can be put into whatever CG world they want to…without having to leave the comforts of a studio, and without having to build elaborate sets. The one thing that intrigues and confuses me then is, they make the actors look like themselves…and to me, if you are going to go through the trouble of doing it that way, then you might as well stick the actors in costume, and put them in front of an elaborate green screen set up (ala Sin City).

The arguments for Motion Capture is that you can make your actor be whatever age you want them to be, put them in any environment seamlessly, give them whatever costume you want. And another interesting argument for this process is, you have unlimited possibilities for camera angles and shot composition because it takes video all around the actor, giving more mobility to cameras.

Now I saw a preview for Beowolf and I was immediately turned off, because to me, the actors looking like themselves but a realistic animated version of themselves made me squirm a bit. The podcast referred to an article where a robot scientist in Japan stated that a robot that is slightly realistic is cute, but one that is completely realistic, perfectly flawless, is repulsive. And to see the characters in Beowolf, you are seeing an animation, but the characters are so real that the audience is turned off by them. Another movie that used this same process was The Polar Express, (same director; Robert Zemeckis)…the difference I think between that movie and this movie, is if you compare the MoCap look to the original book, it looks like an animated version of the book with that soft, saturated color. But the characters were still a bit disorienting.

I also feel there is a new trend with Rotoscoping, this is the process of drawing frame by frame over the characters, a director who uses this process is Richard Linklater, he did A Scanner Darkly and Waking Life. It’s a similar thing to Motion Capture, except the movie is made from start to finish, and then they go through and draw over each thing frame by frame. I’ve always been a bit against this process, mostly because it is disorienting, but furthermore, I am one for practicality…and if you go through the process of making the film once, why go through and make it again by animating what already exists. Yes it is an aesthetic choice by the director, and I got it in Scanner Darkly cause it is based on a graphic novel…but I don’t always feel it’s necessary.

I’ll be curious to see Beowolf, I know it’s a good story…and I want to see if this MoCap process works or not.

Who knows…

I’ve been reading a lot and watching a lot of different things pertaining to the writers strike that is currently going on in Los Angeles and New York City…This is a story I plan on following extra closely…it’s a strike that is in the public eye more then a strike at a local factory might be.  Americans love their entertainment, and this is an interesting turn of events to see what will happen if the writers aren’t willing to work.

In one podcast I was listening to, I heard that they will in fact hire non-union scab writers, who are willing to write under a false  name or give no name at all.  They are saying that the biggest entertainment that is being halted are soap operas, and I had heard that they are thinking about bringing in people close to the show, such as receptionists and camera crews to help with the writing, somebody who is more then just an avid fan…but they also have jobs working for the show as well.

I just read a short article pertaining to some of the other sitcoms that will then be forced to go into hiatus because of this writers strike.

I dont’ have the full details on what they are exactly  demanding, one thing I  heard is that they would like to be compensated for shows that are displayed on the internet…shows online are growing faster and faster, and more and more shows are being shown on iTunes, and shown directly on the stations website…it would make sense that they would get a piece of the pie when it comes to iTunes sales…

It’ll be interesting to see what will come of this, and quite frankly…we could all take a break from sitcoms, they just plaque our society….(that’s a whole different topic…)…and furthermore, I hope we don’t see a resurgence in reality TV either….

We’ll see