Posts in the Film Making category

Damn you, Peter Jackson!

Let’s end this debate once and for all. Humans can see frame rates greater than 24fps (although plenty of people will argue that they can’t on the internet). I’ll explain more in a future post if necessary, but let’s take that as read.

Once you’ve accepted that fact, the next question is why do movies at 48fps look “videoy”, and why do movies at 24fps look “dreamy” and “cinematic”. Why are games more realistic at 60Hz than 30Hz?

The answer to all of this lies in two things – ocular microtremor, and center-surround receptive fields in the retina. And it predicts where the cut-off lies as well.

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This post is about designing cameras for video games, and for anyone who wants to shoot a movie. I think I’ve finally figured out why spirit levels are placed on tripods, why some people hate shaky-cam, why you need up to be up, and why dutch angles feel… well… off-kilter.

The reason has to do with your vestibulo-ocular reflex.

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So I’m happy to say that I’ve finished writing the first draft of the pilot episode of my reality mockumentary comedy tv pilot (wow, that’s a mouthful), Brixton vs Compton. It’s in the hands of my read-through crew now, which is a nice place in the process to be in.

Of course, it’s also only episode 1 of 12. (Which means I need to get my skates on and write at least another 3 episodes sharpish).

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Back in 1986, Paramount decided that on the back of its wonderfully successful set of Star Trek movies, it was time to revive the franchise as a series - partly because the original actors were demanding a huge slice of the action. But how on earth did we end up with the characters we ended up with?

I'm going to bet that it went down a little like this...

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So this one is mainly off the shelf bits and pieces, unlike Darci's way more awesome WPC costume (which she'd probably be arrested for wearing in the UK for impersonating a police officer). (more...)