Green Screens: Buying guide

This is just a small continuation of the last post. If you’re looking to buy a green screen, try going to Henry’s and they’ll give you some advice. It’s a good idea to get lights, software and a stand with a green screen, and it’s a good idea to get a real one, and don’t go to FabricLand and buy a piece of green cloth. Go online to these sites, and look at what they have to offer. It’s probably the best choice to buy a green screen from a US company, as their prices are cheaper.

www.fjwestcott.com

www.bhphotovideo.com

One last thing, it’s cheaper to buy a kit than buy things separately.

Good luck!

Green Screens: What are they?

So, you’re watching the weather network, and there you see Chris St. Clair, pointing to spots on a map, with moving symbols, but he’s not moving. You’re thinking, well this is odd. It must cost a lot of money to make new moving maps each day. Other people may think that there is a giant TV behind the weather man. What is the culprit? It’s not a giant TV, nor a electronic moving map, but it’s a piece of a special neon green fabric, known to people as either a “Chroma-Key Screen” or a green screen. How it works is that the video editing software senses the green and changes every single object in the video that is the selected colour, which in this case is green. This technology helps us broadcast the weather information locally continuously, so you don’t have to wait for the meteorologist to say what your town should be expecting. Now, it only takes a second to check the weather! You turn the TV on, then you turn it off, a second later! Amazing, isn’t it? Now you’re probably wondering, “Sure, but how do they know that they’re pointing at my town on the green screen?”. Well, in order to do this, it takes patience and practice. When the broadcaster is pointing at the map while looking at the camera, he/she is also looking at a screen, below the camera. The TV screen below the camera is showing the animation of the green screen and the broadcaster, so he/she will know where to move to and from, and where to point or show. At certain points, you will notice that they’re doing a look over of the country’s weather, so the animation is panning across the map of the country, but what the broadcaster doing? Nothing. He’s standing still in front of the screen! During the forecast, you’ll also notice the little bar displaying your region’s weather at the bottom of the screen. The bar is also green screened, same with the “desk” that the forecasters sit at. There really isn’t a window behind them either. It’s green screen! Look at what possibilities this technology opens up to us! Post your thoughts and questions in the comments section, and I’ll try to answer them.

Oscars: Technology is involved a lot more than you think

Many people across North America watch the academy awards each year. Most people think that it’s just a TV show, and technology has nothing to do with it, right? Wrong. The Oscars involve much more technology than other TV shows that involve just a camera, lights and other common things used in cinematography. Have you ever wondered how the hosts nearly never mess up while they’re talking? Well, they use a machine called a teleprompter, located under the camera. The host reads off of the teleprompter, which in this case is on the podium or in the stands, and it looks like they memorized the whole show, but they didn’t. Moving on, have you ever wondered how they did the opening theme or the animation after the commercial break? Whoops, I just gave it away. Animation, made to look real is used to do this, but how does the Oscar award trophy look so real? The truth is, it is sometimes. Sometimes, they will take a picture of the trophy, and use software to animate it. Otherwise, they [the animators] will build a realistic version with a program like Google sketch up. So there you have it, the Oscars use a lot more technology than you think.

Oscar Winner Predictions

 

As you may know, the nominations for the Oscars have recently been announced. I am going to name my predications for the winners:

Actor in a Leading Role

• Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”
• Jeff Bridges in “True Grit”
• Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network”
• Colin Firth in “The King’s Speech”
• James Franco in “127 Hours”

 

My predicted winner: Jesse Eisenberg for “The Social Network”

Animated Feature Film

• “How to Train Your Dragon” Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
• “The Illusionist” Sylvain Chomet
• “Toy Story 3” Lee Unkrich

My predicted winner: Toy Story 3, hands down.

Art Direction

• “Alice in Wonderland”
  Production Design: Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Karen O’Hara
• “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1”
  Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
• “Inception”
  Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat
• “The King’s Speech”
  Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr
• “True Grit”
  Production Design: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh

My predicted winner: Inception, DUH!

Cinematography

• “Black Swan” Matthew Libatique
• “Inception” Wally Pfister
• “The King’s Speech” Danny Cohen
• “The Social Network” Jeff Cronenweth
• “True Grit” Roger Deakins

My predicted winner: Inception

Directing

• “Black Swan” Darren Aronofsky
• “The Fighter” David O. Russell
• “The King’s Speech” Tom Hooper
• “The Social Network” David Fincher
• “True Grit” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

My predicted winner: David Fincher for “The Social Network”

Music (Original Score)

• “How to Train Your Dragon” John Powell
• “Inception” Hans Zimmer
• “The King’s Speech” Alexandre Desplat
• “127 Hours” A.R. Rahman
• “The Social Network” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

My predicted winner: Hans Zimmer for “Inception”

Sound Editing

• “Inception” Richard King
• “Toy Story 3” Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
• “Tron: Legacy” Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
• “True Grit” Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
• “Unstoppable” Mark P. Stoeckinger

My predicted winner: Richard King for “Inception”

Sound Mixing

• “Inception” Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
• “The King’s Speech” Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
• “Salt” Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
• “The Social Network” Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
• “True Grit” Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

My predicted winner: Inception

Visual Effects

• “Alice in Wonderland” Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
• “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1” Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
• “Hereafter” Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojansky and Joe Farrell
• “Inception” Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
• “Iron Man 2” Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

My predicted winner: Inception, again

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

• “127 Hours” Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
• “The Social Network” Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
• “Toy Story 3” Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
• “True Grit” Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
• “Winter’s Bone” Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

My predicted winner: Aaron Sorkin for “The Social Network”

Writing (Original Screenplay)

• “Another Year” Written by Mike Leigh
• “The Fighter” Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson;
  Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
• “Inception” Written by Christopher Nolan
• “The Kids Are All Right” Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
• “The King’s Speech” Screenplay by David Seidler

My predicted winner: Christopher Nolan for “Inception”

Best Picture

• “Black Swan” Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers
• “The Fighter” David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers
• “Inception” Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers
• “The Kids Are All Right” Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers
• “The King’s Speech” Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers
• “127 Hours” Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers
• “The Social Network” Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
• “Toy Story 3” Darla K. Anderson, Producer
• “True Grit” Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
• “Winter’s Bone” Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers

My predicted winner: Inception, it’s so good!

 

So those are my predictions for Oscar winners. Obviously, Inception was my favorite on that list, but if you have a different opinion, put it in the comments.