Archive for the 'Web Of Movies' Category

3D TV

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010

To fathom how 3D TV technology works, one must find out how our eyes work. Our eyes are several centimeters apart from each other and therefore receive the input image from different positions. Our brain uses that information and is smart enough to mesh the two different images into one single view, creating depth, and making what we see 3 dimensional or 3D.

3D TV sets work in somewhat theewhat the way, one way or another they transmit two separate images to your eyes in a very precise way that it knows your brain will alter the incoming image into 3D after processing it.

Tricking the brain in this way is no easy assignment, and for for some time now the simple and cheap technology was to use colored glasses that had a large drawback of limiting the number of colors that you could enjoy a movie in.

Today, bigger TV manufactures such as Sony have improved on the process that with shutter glasses the full spectrum of colors can be enjoyed. Panasonic is one of the manufactures that has now developed an auto stereoscope system that will make it possibleke it possible make 3D viewing possible without the need of uncomfortable glasses at all.

All in all, the 3D TV industry is still in its initial stages, but many leading companies are investing strongly into it in hopes that it will be the next big fad. If movies such as Avatar are anything to go by, the chances of success are pretty superior. Now it is up to the industry to improve technology and make it less of a burden, reduce prices, and generate enough content through 3D games, 3D movies, 3D episodes of popular series, and 3D TV channels.

Clock Tower Review

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

Clock Tower was a horror game produced by Capcom in 1997. It takes survival horror one step further from the combat games. There is little attention payed to violence. The game requires players to evade monsters using stealth. This was designed to increase the “fear” experience in the game. Winning the game requires puzzle solving.

The story involves unlocking the secrets of the Scissorman, who committed a number of murders in the town’s clock tower. Scissorman proves to be Bobby Barrows. Scissorman is so called because he uses a giant pair of scissors to perform his grisly business. The protagonist must travel to the Barrows Mansion to solve the crime, and inevitably encounters Bobby.

In Clock Tower 3, Lord Burroughs is the villain. He was a noble cheated of immortality, and later killed by the gears of his castle’s clock tower. His descendant is Alyssa, the main protagonist in the game.

This game was not as popular as Resident Evil, but it did spawn several sequels. Many consider its story elements to be stronger than the play features. There is also a Clock Tower movie in development. Clock Tower is now only a footnote in the history of horror games.

Animal Actors

Tuesday, June 24th, 2008

Remember the cute little doggie in the movie “As Good as it Gets”, or the monkey in the television series, “Friends”? These are some of the most sought after actors there areanimal talent is out therebut much more scarce. After all, at what point in his or her life does a monkey or a cat or a bird or a cute little doggie say “I want to be an actor, mommy. Can you take me to some classes, find me a manager or get me an audition?” Honestly, it is likely the filmmakers who worry most about trained animal talent. But sometimes, the animal role in a film, television series or play can be absolutely vital to the success of it.

For example, in the film “Arachnophobia” there are more spiders than you can countso how did the directors get spiders trained to move the right way, to come down from the shower curtain into the drain. I assume that in some cases there had to be many takes. The filmmakers also had to choose a type of spider that looked dangerous and scary but that would not actually harm the cast if anything got out of hand. I know that in many scenes when the spiders were supposed to run or move in a certain direction, the filmmakers used hotplates under the sets where the spiders were walking. The spiders would walk away from the hotplates in the direction that the script called for them to go. Animal talent of this sort is not as necessary anymore, at least as far as spiders are concerned. If you might recall, the spiders, and most of the other animals used in the Harry Potter movies are all computer generated.

As far as the cute little doggie with the cute little face in “As Good as it Gets” goesthat precious little guy should have gotten an award as best supporting actor! He had been trained to walk over cracks in the sidewalk, to look as if he were about to cry, and became one of the most pivotal and dimensional characters in the whole movie. This puppy was able to convey human emotion to the point where the audience got choked up over it.

I am sure there are schools to train for animal talent in such detail that these types of four-legged stars are possible. And I’m sure that there are some pet owners who envision their own pets on the silver screen one day. However, I would venture to guess that the ratio of animal talent versus the human talent out there is little (in animals) to too much (in humans). For human actors the casting directors question iswho will be best for the part. Far animal talent, the question that casting directors will be asking isis there an animal out there that can do what we need it to do? The answer is not always yesand animals like the dog in “As Good as it Gets” can’t be computer generated. They need to be genuine and interactive. Plainly put a good animal actor is quite hard to find.

Anne Clarke writes numerous articles for websites on gardening, parenting, fashion, and home decor. Her background includes teaching and gardening. For more of her articles on fur boots and fashion please visit Acting Talent.