Tag: media

time lapse video film Canada Photo Production

The Stunning Beauty of Timelapses

Posted on by Tristan

If you have ever seen a timelapse before, there’s a high chance that you were captivated by it or found it somewhat satisfying to look at. It lets us see the impossible or the very hard things to see in the real world. Timelapses are there to make us appreciate various aspects of movement from something as complicated and slow as construction of a building to the slow movements of a plant. 

Timelapse of 2 buildings being built!

How is a timelapse different from a regular video

A timelapse is very different from a video even though it’s just a very sped up video. It gives off a different mood and feeling when sped up. It can make the viewer feel a sense of dread if used in the right way, or perhaps it can be used to feel happy and excited. Timelapses should be used in specific scenarios, but when used correctly, can be an emotional rollercoaster. Timelapses let people see things they have never seen before. A still plant looks normal while a plant moving with purpose and a style can be interesting yet unfamiliar.

What is an appropriate timelapse

There are specific scenarios and times where a timelapse will really work. For a time lapse to be effective, something must be in constant motion. For example, a sunrise or sunset looks really good on a timelapse with the constant motion of the sun and the transition from day to night with natural and manmade lights. Another great example are plants growing. We never see how plants truly move since it’s so slow which is why it’s so fascinating to watch at high speed. 

Here is a good example of a timelapse about a plant growing over 1.5 years!

 

The amount of planning on one timelapse

To first film a timelapse, a lot of planning needs to be done such as the place and time of the shoot. Planning can be more difficult than you might think. First, you will need equipment. Batteries, a tripod, and a camera to get started. With the tripod, it has to be heavy and stabilized. Even a slight gust of wind and a slight shift in the angle would be enough to mess with the timelaps. At least one extra battery will be needed since there is a high chance that the current battery will die due to the amount of energy the camera will take up.

A timelapse also needs planning for the time it will take to film. Depending on the frames per second and how long you want your timelapse to be, it would take hours to film one. Some timelapses can even take a few days or months to get the footage. This is why it’s so important to bring extra batteries if the other battery dies.

 

What makes a timelapse so powerful

When watching a timelapse, you might think or feel something related to the subject of the timelapse. Specifically in story telling, the rapid visualization of things can give the feeling of dread or happiness. It feels familiar yet different. Take clouds for example, we see them in our everyday lives but only when they are moving slowly across the sky. In a timelapse, we get to see the transformation of the cloud and the direction of which it is headed. Another excellent example is construction. Even when our eyes can see a big building, we can only truly see the massive scale through the progress. It opens our eyes to see the big picture in anything and appreciating how beautiful something as simple as movement can be.


Watch as these clouds grow, shrink, and morph into different shapes!

 

 

Here is a great product for creating time lapse panorama videos:

 

360 Degree Panning Rotating Panorama Time Lapse Timer

Top 5 Lighting Techniques

Posted on by Jane Good

One of the most important tools in staging a scene is lighting. Lighting develops the mood and setting in any production. It captures the audience and draws them into the storyline just by looking at the scene and the lighting techniques that are used.

This post will highlight the top 5 lighting techniques used in film production and their purposes for a scene.

Number 1: Soft Lighting

Soft lighting is commonly used for its aesthetically pleasing effect. It eliminates shadows and recreates subtle shades of light that has no strict definition of a light source. The purpose is to make the subject or object look less harsh. An example of this technique would be in the movie Restless (2011) where you can notice the soft light with no clear distinction between light and shadows, and has a calming effect.

Number 2: Hard Lighting

Hard lighting uses a direct beam from a light source or from the sunlight. This lighting creates shadows and harsh lines. It can also create silhouettes and highlights. An example would be in the movie The Dark Knight (2008) with the harsh tones of the subjects faces and the overlapping shadows to add to the mood of the scene and the intensity of the character.

Number 3: Ambient Lighting

Ambient lighting, also known as “practical” lighting, consists of the lights that are present and natural, so this could be sunlight, lamplight, or an overhead light. Ambient lighting can add depth and dimension to a scene if used cleverly. It can also add a sense of realism to the scene that draws the viewers attention. You need to account for ambient light, especially when shooting outside.

Number 4: Three Point Lighting

Three point lighting is a media standard form of lighting, as in it is highly used in all forms of media such as film, video, and photography. Three point lighting includes key light, fill light, and a back light.

The key light is the primary light source. It is the most intense and direct light in the scene. The key light will illuminate the form of the object or actor. Secondly, the fill light cancels out the shadows created by the ket light. It adds softness to the shadows. Lastly, the back light hits an actor or object from behind. This is used to separate the object or actor from the background.

3 point film lighting Toronto canada Scarborough tutorial

Number 5: Motivated Lighting

Motivated light seeks to imitate natural light sources, such as sunlight, moonlight, street lights, head lights and more. This technique is used to emphasize the natural lights effect to help set the story or scene. It allows the audience to believe the world that is being presented.

Lighting as a whole is complex and broad. There is so much terminology and techniques that even choosing the top most common techniques was difficult because everyone has their own interpretation. This post was a simple introductory article about the diverse world of lighting in media, specifically in film.

The BEST Folding Phone Available Now

Posted on by George Mikhaiel

We are living in a brand new era. Phones have been the same box like shape for the last 10 years. The idea of a phone being able to fold into a mini tablet has always been a fantasy. Well this year that fantasy is becoming a reality with the Huawei Mate X. The first foldable phone where the display bends too, revealing a nice looking mini tablet for your media consumption needs.

 

 

Picking up the phone you will find a bar along the side. That contains the cameras, finger print sensors and internal chips / hardware. The phone is running Huawei’s flagship mobile processor, the Kirin 980, as well as 8GB of RAM and a 512GB storage drive. Storage is also expandable with Huawei’s Nano Memory, up to 256GBs. This phone also has 5G cellular connection antenna in that side bar, giving it the title of “World’s Fastest 5G phone.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Huawei Mate X has two main screens (or two main halves) – a bezeless display on the front, and a smaller display that fits next to the sidebar on the back. The former measures 6.6-inches with a 19.5:9 aspect ratio and 2,480 x 1148 pixel resolution, while the rear-facing screen is 6.38-inches with a 25:9 aspect ratio and 2,480 x 892 pixel resolution. When opened completely it has a 8:7.1 aspect ratio and 2,480 x 2,200 pixel resolution.

 

 

 

In terms of battery this phone packs a lot. It has a 4,500mAh unit, which is split between the two halves of the displays. It also has Huawei’s 55W SuperCharge tech which allows it to be recharged from zero per cent to 85 per cent capacity in just 30 minutes.

One thing to not look forward to about this phone is the price. The Huawei Mate X goes for $3425 CAD, which is almost three time the price of a very premium flagship smart phone.

 

 

 

Listening to and Maintaining your Community and Following

Posted on by Big City

Having a community and following is something that most companies and people desire. It can be hard to maintain and expand that community but there are steps that can be taken to ensure the community is happy and lasts for a long time. The three simple steps listed will be targeting the right audience, maintaining and focusing on the needs of the community and growth & expansion. The examples listed will include big name companies to small groups. No matter how big your community is, there is always room for expansion and things that will bring everyone together.

Having a community and following means you need to treat the people who are in the community with some respect and carefulness. Many people join these communities and followings because they all share a common interest or belief. Keeping your focus on these core beliefs and values can ensure the community stays together and focused on goals and tasks. It is also important to listen to feedback and general comments. They can provide a lot of ways to improve and grow communities and followings.

Thousands attend Blizzcon each year. It is a convention created by Blizzard Entertainment. The majority are fans who share the passion and interest of Blizzard’s games

A good example comes from an online video game. Overwatch is an online video game where changes happen a lot in their game. Characters and new things being added to the game influences a lot inside. The game has a player base of over 35 million players monthly and many of these players have their own opinions to changes in the game and the overall state of the game. The developers at Blizzard Entertainment do a great job of listening to the community and fitting their needs. The development team and support team are always active on forums and social media to inform and assist others. They also release monthly update videos to give the player base an update on what they are doing with the game and what they want to know from the community about these changes etc. Blizzard shows a great example on how to create and maintain a large community and keep them active and happy in where they are.

Having a community and following shouldn’t be focused on profit and general gain for yourself or your company. A lot of people can rely on these communities and believe it progresses people’s lives and other aspects. A community’s voice can even have a large impact on companies and other products. For example if you are making a change to your website that many members of the community dislike, you may want to change the plan or ask the community how they would like it. It seems like a simple concept except many large companies can sometimes fail to suit their community’s needs.

Battlefront 2 by EA had the record lowest user rating of any triple A studio

This is an example of a game publisher focusing on economical gain and not listening to their community. Electronic Arts (EA) published the video game Star Wars Battlefront 2 which was hit hard with negative reviews and feedback from the community. A lot of the issues were profit orientated and didn’t work well with the large player base. Issues included loot boxes which you have to pay for, paying for in game bonuses which is unfair and other features that made the game almost unplayable. EA’s response is the current most down voted (disliked) comment on Reddit with over 600,000 down votes. Their response to the situation and lack of care for their community resulted in negative sales for the game and a stock decline in an already declining company. EA’s response was listed as one of the worst company decisions of 2017. EA has also been nominated as the worst company in the U.S of 2017 and almost won that award as a result of this backlash. All they had to do was listen to the community and make the appropriate changes and maybe they wouldn’t have lost millions of dollars and decreases in stock prices.

Growing and expanding your community is a future goal that most people look forward to. It allows the community to grow even more and allows for a wider range of ideas from going outside the target interest to even creating live events to becoming a company. There are many success stories of companies and communities doing these things.

E-sports is very popular with students.

For example, many universities across North America have been creating varsity level Esports teams and clubs across campuses. Scholarships and other programs are now being offered for playing video games at a high level. This started as a simple idea. For example, the University of Toronto had a Facebook page for all of their students who enjoyed playing video games. It slowly kept on growing and other universities did the same. As popularity of these groups became more popular, they expanded and reached out to other universities about hosting friendly tournaments etc. Eventually over 30 universities signed up for the first tournament and this started what is now known as the University Esports League. Now there are over hundreds of universities, colleges and even high schools doing the same thing in North America. This all started as a small Facebook group talking about video games to a multi-million dollar investment.

UC Irvine’s Esports arena was built to cater the growing trend

All the examples listed showcase the large impact that a community can have and ways a company or leader can turn things around. Some of the most important steps are to keep a maintained focus on what the community enjoys and what they want out of being in a community. Making changes or doing things that will upset the community will lead to problems occurring and can go downhill. The most important step is making sure everyone in your community is doing well and truly caring for them.

– Benson Lam

 

How Diversification and Inclusion Effects Films

Posted on by Big City

Social issues and many other problems change overtime. All of these changes can affect all aspects of the world. From policies, work ethic codes and much more. These changes can directly many parts of the media industry. Within the past 10 years, many films plan to make their films more inclusive and diverse to fit these social issues. From Marvel’s Black Panther having a large African American cast to Crazy Rich Asians displaying how Asian actors and film producers have what it takes. Many films now are breaking away from the norm and are trying to find ways to create film without causing controversy over social issues. Once films implement the changes, the fans do not always accept them.

Crazy Rich Asians featured a large Asian production team and cast which attracted international attention

Many issues that have been a problem within the past century are slowly being brought to light through many forms of media. Some may argue that the real life depiction of these issues should be shown fully while some believe it is too harsh to show it and should be winded down a bit. The most recent example was the biopic Bohemian Rhapsody which has gone through criticisms of its showing of lead singer Freddie Mercury. Some critics wanted to have a no filtered biopic regarding the singer’s relationship as a bisexual and his struggle with AIDS. Former bandmates of Mercury made the decision to have the film as a tribute rather than a controversial discussion about Mercury’s life. Fans of the band have supported the decision of the band. The large majority are open to the idea of bringing light to these social issues that wouldn’t have been acceptable back then.

Freddie Mercury and Queen’s featured film covers issues that the band faced whilst climbing up the music charts at the same time!

Diversity is a word being used much more frequently in the current generation. Through the past decade it is believed that diversity and inclusion in films has increased over that time. This change was not decided upon but conformed upon. Society has always been changing and most things will change along with it. Calling for more inclusive and diverse films won’t really make a difference. It can be very obvious if a show or film just places something there just for the sake of diversity. That kind of change should come naturally as society evolves. The recent surge isn’t because directors and producers have been putting diversity into play but just because it should be there naturally. Thats how the public should react as well. Romesh Ranganathan from The Guardian said for example Black Panther, should not be remembered as a step for diversity and change – but should be remembered as a great blockbuster Marvel film.

Black Panther featured a large African American cast and production team. It is also one of Marvel’s highest grossing films

There are various points to the argument on how the film industry is changing based on these social issues. USC Annenberg released a paper showing the “change” in film based on cultural and gender representation. The document shows that no or very little progress has been made in diversifying the film industry. For example, the information they gathered show that close to 70% of all actors in films are caucasian. The 30% remaining are groups such as asian, african american or latino. These numbers haven’t changed too much in the past decade. Another statistic claims that women only make around 30% of the film industry workforce. The same Annenberg paper showed that there was only 1 female music composer in over 1,400 productions. All these statistics are a lot to take in. It does show that change is required if we want to make the film industry equal. These changes will be hard to implement and there is no clear solution. All these statistics will change a little bit due to new films being released which showcase more diversity and inclusion. The only thing we can hope for is these changes will happen naturally and the rest of the world will conform to it.

 

Image graphic source – http://assets.uscannenberg.org/docs/inequality-in-1100-popular-films.pdf

 

Overall change is something we need to acknowledge but not overdo. These social issues involving diversity and inclusion should come naturally and not be forced. It’s good that people are pushing for that change but that change shouldn’t come forced. As we keep seeing new films and productions which include non majority characters, hopefully that will be the norm in the future where we don’t acknowledge those characters being there.

– Benson Lam