DVD Aspect Ratios.

Something is rotten in the state of demark. Actually this topic has nothing to do with the state of denmark whatsoever but I always wanted to use that quote in an article an this is the closest I have yet come to putting it in.

DVDs have a resolution of 720x576(PAL) or 720x480(NTSC). As you can work out if we used square pixels both images would be a mess. PAL would be 1.25:1 and NTSC would be 1.5:1. That's why we PAL uses slightly wider than square pixels and NTSC uses slightly taller than square pixels for 4:3 video.

Anywho DVD can support two aspect ratios, 4:3 and 16:9, both at the same resolution (Both use even wider still pixels to get this aspect ratio but we're sick of the wideness of pixels so will try not to mention it again) When movies have an aspect ratio equal to or great than 16:9 they should be shown in anamorphic widescreen rather than letterbox as this gives a higher quality picture on widescreen TVs while looking the same on 4:3 TVs. To learn more about Anamorphic DVDs go here.

The problem is this only works out properly if the DVD player AND the TV is set up properly, which half the time aren't because consumers have no idea what the hell they're doing, which is a shame as images really look better when they aren't squished or stretched. There are three problems that can show up.

4:3 TV set to widescreen.

This is when the DVD player isn't set up to properly change the image for the TV so the image looks stretched on the TV when anamorphic DVDs are played. Usually people don't know any better but doesn't it annoy anyone else. Occasionally done on purpose to reduce the dreaded “Black Bars”

16:9 TV set for everything.

Just as irritating are those people that insist on watching everything in Widescreen. Not everything is widescreen, why in the hell would you want to watch everything in widescreen? It just looks stretched. Trying to avoid the black bars again? Once more of course there are those consumers who simply don't know any better

And the worst one

16:9 TV set set for everything with DVD player set to 4:3

I've seen it happen. Everything looks stretched, even the widescreen stuff. It's screwed whichever way you go. I know someone with a setup like this.

Now supposedly in these rants I'm supposed to suggest possible solutions. I don't like this part and have no idea on these solutions. Better educate the public I guess but they're not very good at it. My vote is down to Make DVD players that interact with TVs, and, like computer monitors, simply know what aspect ratio they are. Not that that's likely to happen anytime in the future.

This is the good thing about watching movies on a computer. Some people can't abide it but at least the aspect ratio is pretty much always right. Now if you'll excuse me I have to go and make sure 'American Werewolf in London' is being shown in the correct aspect ratio.

Actually I'm not going to do that and that would be way to convenient, but wouldn't that have made a cool ending... damnit.

Done and Done

So I'm finally done for the year and figured I should write some stuff up about things. The movie itself I'm fairly happy with, even if it is disjointed, makes no sense whatsoever, and has parts which are totally nonsensical unless you know the back story. It does have some pretty cool gore effects, and they are always nice. Mostly actual fake blood but a couple CG gunshots created by someone with the time, ability, and inclination to do it for me which was pretty cool. As expected Jack completly stole the show, whether he actually had much to do with the plot or not, but all the cast played their parts well enough, I even believe some of them understood their characters better than I did and I actually learned about their characters from them. So yeah, movies are a team effort, treat your cast and crew well, they are what makes the movie.

The night itself wasn't great, but it wasn't that bad. Photographer didn't show up so I have no photos. We actually had to start clapping to remind the audience they should clap. It's just something you should know to do y'know, but in a way, it's every single person's fault. Only one person needs to start.

The day of the screening was actually pretty insane as well just before the screening. I was finished the actual movie but I was still trying to do a thousand things at once before I finally broke down and went insane. That'll teach me to trust no-one else to do the compilation tape and insist on fixing all the weird technical problems myself.


Incidentally I finally decided to create that damn myspace account I've been putting off doing. The reason I've been putting off doing it is because everything I've experienced of myspace leads me to believe it's a poorly coded piece of crap of a website that consists mostly of large amounts of bloat, in fact pieces of bloat trying to outbloat each other. Actually signing up for an account has led me to realise that it's not that bad, it's actually much much worse. The interface is crap, the friends system is buggy, the extended network makes no sense, it's nigh on impossible to hide certain pieces of information, the search system is impossible to use, the date of birth system is screwed to hell, the music is a bloody nuiscance to turn on and off, and most of the themes, including the deafault one, are utter crap, especially when mixed in with all the adds. It also allows users to customise stuff and add their own html, and most of them don't know what they are doing and make the site into an even bigger mess. I also believe it may be a security risk but I don't know much about that so I'll let it off on that count. In short it's one of the the most poorly designed websites I have ever had the mispleasure of visiting, but people insist on using it so I guess I'm going back. Bebo is one hell of a lot better, and I could never really be bothered with that either. I forsee much pain in my future.

More Interesting Stuff

Screening got postponed like the day before we were due to screen it for six more days. Plus side, six more days to work on it. Minus side, working on it for six more days.

It's for the best though as if I showed it yesterday it would have had some major sound problems and now it's a lot better. I've actually got two other editors working on it now who have finished their own projects and want to help make mine better. They're actually members of my cast and crew (which ended up largely of the same people in the end) so they have a vested interest in it. Sound should be a hell of a lot better now. I really recommend showing up on Monday even if you are in Invercargill and have to astrally project yourself.

In other non film news, I somehow managed to cut my head open by jumping into a door frame (don't even ask). After a couple hours I finally decided I should probably go to the hospital. Ah the joys of waiting in the room for ninety minutes with nothing to do but read crappy magazines or watch the crap shows that are playing on TV with the volume turned down so long you could barely make out what they are doing. Staff are really good there though. Got some stictches and I'd post a pic but I hate posting pics of me so instead I'll post a pic of Frankenstein's monster, as portrayed by Boris Karloff. (I actually prefer the Christopher Lee version but I like the Karloff imagery. Never actually seen the one with De Niro as the monster, but I want to.)

Calvin Island Poster

With Calvin Island drawing to a finish, I think I'll continue my posting marathon thing. Haven't got a lot to say here so I'll stick up a poster made by my brother Callum. He's better at Photoshop than me since I've forgotten most of what I know about it. Jack is the only character on it because Callum couldn't find any other photo he was happy with.

Calvin Island Status

More on my running commentary on the state of Calvin Island, which will be most of what I think about until the screening comes around. The movie does not actually have the character of Frank Calvin anymore, giving the name somewhat less point. I've never come up with a better name though so that's the name it stays with. It's like Isolation, which was a place holder name that never got changed.

The last few days we've spent a large amount of time getting the damn music sorted out for it. Getting music for a movie is not the easiest task in the world. Luckily I had some really knowledgeable people helping get the music to work properly. It's either find music or make it in Garage Band or Soundtrack, and unless you are really good, that music sounds like crap. I'm still in the process of deciding whether Jack's rendition of 'Up Where we Belong' or the equally brilliant 'Why are there so many songs about rainbows?' should go in.

Also, John, who played Frank in Calvin Island may actually have his movie done for this year's film screening, which is pretty cool since I remember shooting it about this time last year, and it's cost him a couple thousand dollars. It's about twenty minutes long so it should be pretty cool.

I put in a few more making of photos here. Still camera photos look a lot better than DV even at the same resolution. The last one is during post production during the music decision making process. Getting closer and closer to the screening it is. Hopefully there are no or at least few overly painful moments left in the movie come judgement day, or screening day, same thing really.

Who creates the character?

Characters themselves are created by three people, the writer, the director (often, especially in student films, the same person) and the actor. Often the way the actor portrays the character is pivotal to how well the character ends up working. It's not just a matter of good actors or bad actors, it's more what the actors turns the character into, and it's almost always a completly different idea than you, as the writer, had in your head. Frank, for example, in Isolation, was never intended to be as big as he was, but he became famous simply because John played him so creepily. Jack, as another one of my favourite examples, was a joint creation between me and Dylan, the actor who plays him. Neither of us could honestly tell you who's creation he was because he's both. We just kept adding to the character until he became a character weird, wonderful, and screwed up enough to develop his own cult following and blog. (I've actually locked myself out of that blog and it has no posts, but I'll set up a new one soon) We actually put a lot of work into the main character of Johnny as well, but his character is far less over the top so it's not so obvious. Bit of a shame really.

Now I think about it I could probably write a book about this damn movie, going into details on the characters, the actors, the experiences, what worked, what didn't. Maybe I should.

The writing process.

Writing, as has been said many times in the past, is a journey of self discovery. It's a journey that can start out with something vague, or something sort of there, a merge into something far different than you could ever imagine. Characters take on lives of their own, and you learn things about them that you sure as hell didn't know when you started writing them. Events change drastically and you realise that things you really wanted to do simply shouldn't be done if it helps the story. A lot of what you know about the characters simply doesn't end up on the page or on the screen, because there's no room for it, or it simply doesn't serve the story. I am for example the only one who knows who Frank really is, what his full name is, and what his backstory is. I'd really have liked to put it in a movie somewhere but I haven't found the room for it. I also know more about Claire from Calvin Island than the movie reveals, and some things that she doesn't even know about herself, I know what really killed Sarah's parents, and what happened to Johnny's brother and what the guy in the Hawaiian shirt has to do with anything. None of it really serves to help the story along though so it gets cut out and I just hope sometime I can fit it in somewhere. For the record, unless otherwise stated, all my stuff takes place in the same universe unless otherwise stated.

For the record, possibly my favourite character I have created, and certainly the favourite character of most people who've seen the stuff, overtaking even Frank, is Jack, the crazed groundskeeper who wants to be a pirate. It works so well, you can fit it all together. It's like having a pirate except you can be as unauthentic and rediculous as you want. His accent is really bad? It's put on, he only thinks he is a pirate. His eye patch looks like it came from a $2 shop? It does, he only thinks he is a pirate. His mannerisms are way over the top? Again he only thinks he is a pirate. He's also like Captain Ahab, who is always looking for the whale. Jack is always looking for the Giant Squid. The exception being that the whale actually exists and Ahab is hunting the sea for it, wearas the existence of the squid is pretty doubtful and Jack seems to look everywhere for it, including wandering through the forest calling out for it. Good times.

Calvin Island

Last year I made a movie called 'Isolation' which was a story about a girl who wakes up in a deserted house, in an almost deserted town, and encounters almost no-one till she encounters two people and then some zombies. As plots go it was fairly simple but the movie turned out pretty well and I was, and still am, fairly happy with it.

This year I decided to do something I bit more complex and wrote something called 'Calvin Island' which was a convoluted script that came to 34 pages, had about 13 characters, had more sub plots than you can really keep track of, and a body count of pretty much everyone involved in the movie. Needless to say I realised it was too complicated, something I should have worked out earlier. I attempted to shoot it anyway, and have since shot bits that were in the original script, realised it was too long, then tried to join other bits to make it simpler. Whether it works or not is something I'll leave to the viewer but it is a project that took far longer to make than it really should have since it'll probably end up at about 10 minutes, the same length as Isolation.

The number of characters has been drastically reduced, now their are about five with a couple small roles thrown in when I need be. For anyone interested the movie is about a young man by the name of Johnny, who goes to 'Calvin Island' to search for his brother. For your viewing enjoyment I've thrown in four screenshots from the movie. Will they be at all color corrected or fixed or changed or deleted anytime before the movie is finished? Only time will tell.

On the stupidness of the name 'DV'

DV is currently the most common consumer Standard Definition video codec. It has many uses, everything from home videos to weddings to some hollywood movies. I will however, in this short post, not be discussing it's pros and cons, but rather the stupidity of it's name.

DV basically stands for 'Digital Video'. DV is video and it is digital. Digital video however is not DV. Therefore although DV stands for Digital Video, it does not in fact mean Digital Video. You frequently get people confused by this and also mixing it up with DVD. They aren't similar in the slightest. The High Definition version of DV is known as HDV which is possibly an even stupider name. Couldn't the companies behind DV have given it a decent name in the first place?

On Student Films and also Pirates.

Student films come in two varieties, the good ones and the bad ones. (Which are which is a matter of opinion and a complicated thing altogether) When you go with the good ones there are again two basic varieties, the ones that you really enjoy watching, and would happily sit and watch again, and the technically good but otherwise uninteresting ones. You know, the ones where you kind of sit there staring at the screen thinking 'Nice cinematography, a very deep message here, god I wish this thing would be over'. They don't even need to be sleep inducing, they can merely be thoroughly uninteresting. It's for this reason that I've always tried to make my films interesting to watch, and my favorite student films are the ones that are interesting to watch. I'm sorry people but student films can't honestly be that good and I'll take zombies and serial killers over deep stories of dead family members any day. Unless of course that is, if the family members come back from the dead and start eating the living, that I'll take.

First post, gotta have that first post.

It all came to me in a dream, a voice said to me 'You need a blog man, it's the best place to publish your nonsensical rants, poorly worded film reviews, and completly irrelevant from every possible angle essays.' I said 'Is that you Steve Buscemi' and changed the subject to discussing the fate of his character in 'Reservior Dogs' at which point he shot me point blank in the head and then went on to direct a movie about nothing, or something. I forget.

You'll find me posting here often, or perhaps seldom, depending on the mood I'm in and whether I care enough to continue. Sloths sadly will probably not appear in this blog much.