Video Production Schools

Viral Video: Soldier Face Plant

admin — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 20:49:55 +0000

You have to give this guy credit: It works in cartoons, so why not real life? A group of soldiers decided to have some fun and ride a giant electric mop, thinking that by standing on the head, the rider could flip the switch and spin around. It goes well for about two seconds, then catastrophe sets in, which is when it gets awesome. I’m amazed this guy didn’t snap his neck on impact.

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Selecting an Online Film School

admin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 13:22:19 +0000

Filmmaking is not only an interesting, enjoyable and fulfilling career but very lucrative as well. Unfortunately, realizing the big Hollywood dream entails hard work, commitment and great amount of skill, right attitude, guts and some luck, too. While it is true that you’re not in full control of your fate, the initial steps toward being a successful filmmaker depend on you. Choosing the right or the best film school where you would hone your talents, develop more interest and learn more knowledge in filmmaking is your first step. Your decision to choose a particular film school is very crucial to your success as a filmmaker since that film school shall equip you with or shall help you gain more knowledge, skills, techniques and experiences, which are essential to a filmmaker. Those are his tools in filmmaking that cannot be bought but are earned and cultivated through time.

1. Know What You Want

First of all, you have to know what you want. Ask yourself what realm of filmmaking do you want to venture in or what kind of films do you want to work on in the future? Do you want to be an independent filmmaker or a simple film artist? There are so many film schools in the country as well as in other parts of the globe and each has its own expertise. Knowing what you want in the first place would allow you to focus your research and thus refine your choices for good film schools. Also, this would help you save time and effort in searching for schools as you have already eliminated those that may not fit your interest and criteria.

2. What Are Your Considerations?

After deciding on what area you want to concentrate, you should also identify your major considerations in choosing a particular film school.

- the affordability of film courses
- the facilities of the film school
- the accessibility and proximity of the school
- the film school’s reputation and quality of education

3. Don’t Skimp On Your Education

Remember that a good film education is really expensive so do not just choose a film school that offers the cheapest film courses. It is important to consider the quality of education and the reputation of the school above all else. Remember that with that school, you are building a career that is supposed to be a life-long profession. Short-term film courses, say a 2-yr filmmaking course may be a lot cheaper than a 4-yr course and is quite helpful as most provide hands on training and a lot of project work. If you want to really excel in this field, however, you might opt for a longer course as it is more comprehensive.

3. Identify Where You Want To Study

Knowing where you want to cultivate your skills and intensify your interest in filmmaking is essential in selecting the right film school for you. This would refine your search as well since you would have to concentrate in looking for film schools only in one particular area or locality. New York is one of the best places to study film. It has the most developed art scenes for film and a number of reputable film schools. If affordability of the film course is one of your major considerations, you can choose a film school in Chicago and Milwaukee, which are known for having the most affordable film schools in the country. If you want to make it to Hollywood, better start your search for the best film school there in Los Angeles and nearby cities. There are lots of renowned film schools there that offer short and long term film courses.

4. Explore Colleges and Universities

Now that you have refined your criteria: the area in filmmaking you want to concentrate in, your major considerations such as the affordability of the courses, the school’s reputation and the place, you can now do some research. As you explore your options, consider the things you have identified earlier. It would be better if you list down every film school’s advantages and disadvantages so you can easily compare and contrast them. Also, as you examine the school’s film courses and their special attributes, you can add some more considerations to your list and see which of the film schools you have considered meet the most of your requirements.

5. Narrow Your List

After going through several colleges and universities, narrow now your list by eliminating those that do not meet your criteria. With your short but well researched list of the best film schools, you can be more confident now of making a right decision. But before you finally select the film school, seek for other people’s advice and recommendations, especially those who are well familiar with filmmaking.

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Advancements in Video Production

admin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 13:22:14 +0000

In the past it used to be a cumbersome problem when you wanted to shoot with video equipment, the equipment was big and bulky and very expensive, there was no digital edited it was all done by analog edited, which when done you would loose the quality after each generation of copying the film. Digital revolution paved the way for film editing, it is highly flexible, the technology allows digital editing to create wondrous special effects, there is no loss of quality or the damaging effect of the original footage.

When the film is shot the footage which is called the initial footage is transferred to broadcast quality tape, it is then edited and give to the customer as a draft copy.

Videos are produced for fun and other videos are produced for commercial purposes, like advertisements, movies and music vids. When we are talking about a music video we are talking about a video clip which has music and give a visual interpretation of the song. Though music videos made specifically for television first appeared in the 1950s, the strong association between music and the video presentation of it started in the 1980s, with the launch of cable channels like MTV. A good producer will be able to choose the right music for your production.

With the advances in technologies in video equipment and the production sets it has given rise to many new film makers and has made it possible for many more people to get into this field and become a directory overnight and help their career move in a positive direction. The process of video production differs from one company to the next, there are certain procedures and stages that video production takes on. The actual place where filming takes place is the production stage, the pre-production stage can have a huge effect with the entire process of the video and film production.

Video production companies are firms that are engaged in the commercial production of video. In the post-production stage, video production companies are engaged in editing and duplication. Trade show videos suit companies that have complicated products where people need to see to see how it works and in what situations.

Before a production company films the must take into account and calculate how long or how many days the filming will require, the reason for this is because they need to calculate the cost to create a budget. Many time people are looking for companies that can do everything from A-Z, but many companies cannot offer this, there are only a handful of companies that have this capability.

It may be possible to schedule some quick media training or suggest other ways to enhance their performance. Schools offer programs that introduce students to the world of digital video or media productions and the commercial technology on how to do this, the school helps the students create their vision for filming, animation, interactive tools or audio. When attending a video or media school they have the ability to provide environments for recording, creating and producing music.

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15 Tips for Choosing a Film School

admin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 13:22:09 +0000

1. Infrastructure – The first thing that separates a good film school from run of the mill film schools is the infrastructure. The classrooms, the studios, editing rooms, sound mixing studios, outdoor shooting facilities, library, computer labs and film screening facilities are the primary requisites of a film school.
2. Faculty – Of course the quality and experience of the faculty members are important for any educational institution and there is no exception in case of the film schools. Efficient faculties will always make the difference as you will be learning the art and science of film making from them.
3. Equipment – Film making is a craft where you need hands on training for effective learning. That is why the equipment like camera, sound systems, editing machines, everything should be available with a film school.
4. Comprehensive Course – The courses at the film school should take care of every aspect that is important for film making. It is not that the acting schools will teach only acting for the aspiring actors and camera techniques to those who are studying cinematography. The course should cover all the areas of film making that will give the students a comprehensive idea.
5. Options of Courses – The film school should have different courses for different functions of film making. The courses should include film direction, film acting, film editing, sound engineering, art direction, cinematography, script writing and so on.
6. Contemporary Curriculum – The curriculum of the institute should be in tune with the best film schools around the world. The courses should incorporate contemporary style of film making and latest techniques that are being used globally.
7. Association with Industry – The institutes should have close ties with the film industry. Thereby the students will get the chance to learn from the people who have the first hand experience of making film.
8. Diploma Films – The diploma films produced by the film schools is another deciding factor of the quality of education that the institute provides. So before selecting a film school one should carefully study the diploma films and the chances of making films at the institute after successfully completing the course.
9. Alumni – The alumni of any institute speaks a lot about the standard of learning facilities at the institute. So, you should try and find out how the past students have done after leaving the institute.
10. Film Archive – The film archive of the film schools are very important as that will give you a chance of seeing as many films as possible. When you enroll with a film school that has well stocked film archive you get a comprehensive idea of the world cinema.
11. Production Facility – The production facility of the film school should be of professional standard equipped with latest and finest machinery. It will let you learn the fine points of film making right at the school and you will ready to work professionally right from the first day after you leave the institute.
12. Short Films – The institute should have proper infrastructure and ambience for making short films and should promote the films at different film festivals that will eventually help you showcase your work.
13. Further Studies – The institute should have scope of further studies in the fields of film making and acting. The acting schools should have the advanced courses like master degree and PhD courses that will eventually help you make it big in the field of film making.
14. Student Exchange Programs – The scope of student exchange program with other acting schools and international film schools will give you the much needed exposure to international film education and technologies.
15. Career Opportunities – The institute should have proper infrastructure and network to help the students in their career. Whether it is promoting the diploma films of the students or arranging campus interviews, the film school should provide a platform to launch the new talents.

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Movie Piracy Facts

admin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 13:21:28 +0000

With the swift advancement of technology, most of the business fields are frequently threatened by an evil called piracy. Piracy is rampant in many creative and technology based industries. Here we will be discussing the movie industry, which is very badly hit by piracy.

Movie piracy has become a rampant and flourishing business for a large number of people. And even the general masses accept the evil as it is helping them to save a lot of money. The easy availability and pocket friendly street price tags have made the music piracy and movie piracy industry a million dollar industry throughout the world.

The movie piracy industry has become so widespread that it is causing great loss for the film producers and as well as the distributors who invest a huge sum of money for the making of each film. Movie piracy alone has cost the United States economy $20.5 billion per year in loss of business, jobs, wages and taxes, according to a recent market study.

The film industry for years has fought a war against movie piracy. The scenario has reached such an alarming stage that illegal copies of new films are easily available through street DVD sales or Internet download within days, or in some cases, before a movie’s hall release. The recent study also shows that a growing number of illegal sites are offering new movies for a free download. Though the authenticity of these downloadable movies is surely questionable, the movie buffs and those who want free entertainment are profusely downloading these movies from such illegal sites.

Many organizations all around the world had tried different ways to tackle movie piracy but nothing effective could be done till now. In the United States of America the organization named Motion Picture Association of America warned against a growing global epidemic of movie piracy. The organization also conducted a study on the Internet where it showed that nearly one fourth of the Internet users have illegally downloaded movies from the Internet.

It is quite an astonishing and disturbing fact that most of the people who buy pirated DVDs or CDs or download pirated movies from the Internet do not know that they are committing a crime or an offence. They are also unaware of the fact that they are the cause for the loss of jobs to a lot of people.

The study was conducted by an organization that queried three thousand and six hundred Internet users in eight countries about online movie piracy. The study was performed in France, Germany, Australia, Italy, Korea, Japan, the U.K., and the USA. The survey showed that online movie piracy is growing too fast and most of the users are not even aware of the offence.

The increasing simplicity of downloading movies through a fast and efficient broadband connection, and the invention of compression technologies and extensive availability of new releases as well as the old classics online, are some of the main factors which attract consumers to download without giving it a second thought. The very high movie ticket prices also tempt people to buy pirated DVDs from the street shops.

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All About Digital Video Production

admin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 13:20:26 +0000

Legendarily successful filmmaker George Lucas forecast years ago that digital methods of movie making will come to supplant, if not altogether replace, traditional film-based methods. During the course of the first decade of the 21st century he has been proven correct. The low cost, predictability, and ease of video production editing made possible with digital movies has been an invaluable asset to the independent and low-budget filmmaker. At the same time, its many new possibilities for creative special effects have earned digital video respect and wide use in Hollywood.

During the last decade, a number of respected directors have experimented with digital film-making. From Spike Lee’s Bamboozled, to David Lynch’s slow-paced yet harrowing Inland Empire, these experiments have been largely successful. At this point, digital techniques are taught in almost any film making school–from the community college, to the prestigious Chicago arts school. Whether you aspire to be an independent film maker, or merely a specialist in video production, digital techniques are going to be a key component of video production training.

Advantages of Digital Video Production

One of the main technical advantages of digital video production is its predictability. If you’re using traditional 16 or 35mm film stock to shoot your movie, you’re not going to be able to see what the scenes you shoot look like until you get the film developed. This is a process that requires access to a specialized lab and can take many days, depending on how easy it is to acquire this access.

Plus, with traditional camera film, every kind of stock is different. To be even remotely to control the final product, a film maker needs to have intimate knowledge of what kind of stock he or she is using. While some film makers find it fascinating to think about the chemical composition and light-sensitivity of different types of stock, others want to skip the preliminaries and start telling their story.

With digital video, trained cinematographers can see what they’re filming as they’re filming it. High-end digital equipment can display the scene being filmed, in addition to important statistics about light and color balance in the shot, as well as any focusing tools that are being used. This makes digital video production significantly easier, and, often, less costly.

However, perhaps the most celebrated advantage of digital video among artists is the immense amount of control it offers during the editing process. Computers make ordinarily complicated tasks of video production editing easy and fast. Although it’s possible to convert a 35mm or 16mm film into a digital format to allow for computer-aided editing, the process is expensive. With digital video, the powerful editing tools once available only to large studios enter the hands of individual artists.

Digital Video Skills You’ll Learn In Film Making School

At any digital film production training program, you’ll learn to use digital video equipment in conjunction with the most up-to-date industry-standard video production editing software. Many of your classes will be taught from within actual digital production labs.

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