Video File Formats

The following is a brief explanation of the different video file formats:

Flash Video Format (.flv)

Flash video is playable within Flash movies files, which are supported by practically every browser on every platform. It has become extremely popular because of that.

AVI Format (.avi)

The AVI format was developed by Microsoft.

The AVI format usually uses less compression than some similar formats and is a very popular format.

AVI files most commonly contain M-JPEG, or DivX codecs, but can also contain almost any format.

The AVI format is supported by almost all computers using Windows, and can be played on various players.

Some of the most common players that support the avi format are:

• Apple QuickTime Player (windows & Mac)
• Microsoft Windows Media Player (Windows & Mac)
• VideoLAN VLC media player (Windows & Mac)

Quicktime Format (.mov)

The QuickTime format was developed by Apple and is a very common one. It is often used on the internet, and for saving movie and video files.

It is compatible with both Mac and Windows platforms, and can be played on an Apple Quicktime player.

MP4 Format (.mp4)

This format is mostly used to store audio and visual streams online, most commonly those defined by MPEG.

The mp4 can most commonly be played on the Apple QuickTime Player or other movie players. Devices that play p4 are also known as mp4 players.

Windows Media Video Format (.wmv)

WMV format, short for Windows Media Video was developed by Microsoft.

Videos stored in the Windows Media format have the extension .wmv.

Flash Movie Format (.swf )

The Flash movie format was developed my Macromedia.

This format can include text, graphics and animation. In order to play in Web Browsers, they must have the Flash Plug-In Installed. The flash plug in comes preinstalled in the latest version of many popular Web Browsers.

Compressing Files

The compression system is very useful for Web users, because it lets them reduce the overall number of bits and bytes in a file so it can be transmitted faster over slower Internet connections, or take up less space on a disk.

Most types of computer files are fairly redundant. They have the same information listed over and over again. File-compression programs simply get rid of the unneeded bits. Instead of listing a piece of information over and over again, a file-compression program lists that information once and then refers back to it whenever it appears in the original program.

Lossy and Lossless Compressions

Lossless compression lets you recreate the original file exactly. All lossless compression is based on the idea of breaking a file into a "smaller" form for transmission or storage and then putting it back together on the other end so it can be used again.

Lossy compression simply eliminate "unnecessary" bits of information, tailoring the file so that it is smaller. This type of compression is used a lot for reducing the file size of bitmap pictures, which tend to be fairly bulky.

Principles Of Photography

SHUTTER-SPEED

In photography and digital photography the shutter speed is the unit of measurement which determines how long shutter remains open as the picture is taken. The slower the shutter speed, the longer the exposure time. The shutter speed and aperture  together control the total amount of light reaching the sensor. Shutter speeds are expressed in seconds or fractions of a second. For example 2, 1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000, 1/2000, 1/4000, 1/8000. Each speed increment halves the amount of light.

ISO

ISO - is used to measure the sensitivity of digital imagining system. 

Some Famous People

D.W. GRIFFITH 

       He was a premier pioneering American film director. He is best known as the director of the epic 1915 film The Birth Of The Nation andIntolerance. He was first who used advanced camera and narrative techniques. 

LEV KULESHOV

        
  He was a Soviet filmmaker and film theorist who taught at and helped establish the world’s first film school, the Moscow film school. He did a lot of theoretical work. For example Kuleshov Effect.This footage is the the first demonstration of montage. It changed the meaning of cinema and established editing as an art form and a key tool in the creation of the film.

SERGEI EISENSTEIN

He was a pioneering Soviet Russian film director and film theorist, often considered to be the "Father of Montage". He is noted in particular for his silent films Strike (1924), Battleship Potemkin (1925) and October (1927), as well as the historical epics Alexander Nevsky (1938) and Ivan the Terrible (1944, 1958).

Classical Hollywood Cinema

      

   Classical Hollywood Cinema - is a term that has been coined by David Bordwell, Janet Staiger and Kristin Thompson in their seminal study of the same name. In this study the authors performed formalist analysis on a random selection of 100 Hollywood films from 1917 to 1960. They came to the conclusion that during this period a distinctive cinematic style developed that they called classical Hollywood style. Furthermore the authors claimed that this style has become paradigmatic because of the global dominance of Hollywood cinema. The most controversial claim of the authors has been that filmmakers anywhere basically face a choice between two alternatives. Either they succumb to the classical Hollywood style and follow its example, or they revolt against it and try to consciously subvert the norms of that style.

The important elements of this style are :

- Narrative ( follows building blocks that are part and parcel of most Western narratives such as events, actors and agents, linear chains of cause and effect, main point and secondary points. The narrative is clearly structured with discernible beginning middle and end. The narrative generally provides comprehensive resolution at the end. The characters goals are usually psychologically rather than socially motivated)

- Editing (maybe the single most important and most influential element of cinematic form that characterises classical Hollywood cinema is continuity editing. The most important goal of continuity editing is to make the cut invisible. This is achieved by devices such as the shot / reverse-shot or the eye line match. The editing is subservient to the flow of the narrative and is usually constructed in a way that it does not draw attention onto itself)

- Cinematic Space and Time ( both space and time are constructed in cinema. In the classical Hollywood style space and time are unified, continuous and linear. They appear as a unified whole to match our perception of time and space in reality)

APERTURE

Aperture -  device that controls the amount of light admitted through an opening. In photography and digital photography , aperture is the unit of measurement that defines the size of the opening in the lens that can be adjusted to control the amount of light reaching the film or digital sensor. The size of the aperture is measured in F-Stop.

Different Shots

         While I was doing this video sequence, I was supposed to learn about different tipes of shots. So now I want to tell you more about those shots: 

• Pan
• Tilt 
• Low angle
• High angle
• Following shot 
• Zoom
• Dolly 
• Extreme and medium close-up
• Over the shoulder shot
• Reaction and long shot.

Pan

First shot was "Pan". This shot represents the movement of the camera, in which it turns to right or left on a horizontal axis.

Tilt

Second shot was "Tilt". This shot represents the movement of the camera, by which the camera moves up or down while its support remains fixed.

Low Angle

The next shot was "Low Angle". This is when the camera points upwards, usually making the subject or setting seem grand or threatening.

Hight Angle

The fourth shot was a Hight Angle Shot. This shot is making by putting the camera in the position when it looks down, what makes the subject look vulnerable or insignificant.

Following Shot
After High Angle Shot we were learning what is the Following Shot. The following shot combines movement like panning, tracking, tilting or craning, with the specific function of directing our attention to character or object as he/she/it moves inside the frame.

Zoom shot

After the Following Shot we were doing Zoom shot. Zoom is the effect of rapid movement either towards or away from subject being photographed. The video below represents good examples of a pan shot, a tilt shot and a zoom shot.

Dolly
A dolly is a cart which travels along tracks. The camera is mounted on the dolly and records the shot as it moves. Dolly shots have a number of applications and can provide very dramatic footage.

Unfortunately, we failed it because we couldn't film it properly. Dolly shot is the technique in which the camera moves closer or further from the subject while simultaneously adjusting the zoom angle to keep the subject the same size in frame. Below is shown the example of Dolly shot.

Extreme and medium close-up

• Medium close up

Medium Close Up shot is when the object is shown from chest to head. This is a combination of a MS & CU. It is mostly used when a little more intimacy than the MS is required, but not quite so much intimacy of the CU.

• Extreme close up

This is from just above the eyebrows to just below the mouth, or even closer. 

Over the shoulder shot

Over the shoulder shot  is a shot of someone or something taken from the perspective or camera angle from the shoulder of another person. The back of the shoulder and head of this person is used to frame the image of whatever (or whomever) the camera is pointing toward.

Reaction and long shot.

• Reaction shot

Reaction shot is a term used in motion picture film production, cinematography and video production referring to a basic unit of film grammar. It is a shot which cuts away from the main scene in order to show the reaction of a character to it.

• Long shot 

In photography, filmmaking and video production, a long shot (sometimes referred to as a full shot or a wide shot) typically shows the entire object or human figure and is usually intended to place it in some relation to its surroundings.

This is our example of every shot I have mentioned above. 

Editing/Cut/Continuity editing

Editing

"Editing - is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible and film media used to convey information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, and many other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate and complete work." ( Wikipedia ) 

Editing - how the individual shots are put together. 

Cutting 

"In the post-production process of film editing and video editing, a cut is an abrupt, but usually trivial film transition from one sequence to another. It is synonymous with the term edit, though "edit" can imply any number of transitions or effects. The cut, dissolve and wipe serve as the three primary transitions. The term refers to the physical action of cutting film or videotape, but also refers to a similar edit performed in software; it has also become associated with the resulting visual "break" ".

( Wikipedia )

Cutting - one image is suddenly replaced by another, without a visible transition.

• Montage

Montage - style of editing involving rapid cutting so that one image is juxtaposed with another or one scene quickly dissolves into the next. 

• Cross-cutting

Cross-cutting - swiftly cutting backwards and forwards between more then one scene. 

• Overlapping Edit

Overlapping Edit is used to show one scene from different angles. Usually 4-5 cameras are used.

Continuity editing

"Continuity editing is the predominant style of film editing and video editing in the post-production process of filmmaking of narrative films and television programs.The purpose of continuity editing is to smooth over the inherent discontinuity of the editing process and to establish a logical coherence between shots." ( Wikipedia ) 

Example of Continuity editing.

Continuity editing / Shot reverse shot / match cut

Continuity editing is the predominant style of film editing and video editing in the post-production process of filmmaking of narrative films and television programs. The purpose of continuity editing is to smooth over the inherent discontinuity of the editing process and to establish a logical coherence between shots.

In most films, logical coherence is achieved by cutting to continuity, which emphasizes smooth transition of time and space. However, some films incorporate cutting to continuity into a more complex classical cutting technique, one which also tries to show psychological continuity of shots. The montage technique relies on symbolic association of ideas between shots rather than association of simple physical action for its continuity.

Shot reverse shot (or shot/countershot) is a film technique where one character is shown looking at another character (often off-screen), and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer assumes that they are looking at each other

A match cut, also called a graphic match (or, in the French term, raccord), is a cut in film editing between either two different objects, two different spaces, or two different compositions in which an object in the two shots graphically match, often helping to establish a strong continuity of action and linking the two shots metaphorically.

Classical Hollywood cinema or the classical Hollywood narrative, are terms used in film history which designate both a visual and sound style for making motion pictures and a mode of production used in the American film industry between 1927 and 1963. This period is often referred to as the "golden age of Hollywood." An identifiable cinematic form emerged during this period called classical Hollywood style.

Introduction!

Hello Mrs Joy.

This is my new blog!!!