Tag: Article

3 Essential Tools For Video Editing

There are over 1 billion unique users on Youtube who collectively watch more than 6 billion hours of video each month! Moreover, 100 hours of footage is uploaded to the video-sharing website every minute. Smartphones and cheap video cameras have turned most Americans into amateur videographers. Whether you shoot footage for fun or for pay, these three tools can make any footage look professionally edited.

iDealShare VideoGo

There are several editing platforms to choose from, each having its own unique compatibility standards. Final Cut Pro, Apple’s capstone video editing software, is temperamental about allowing .mp4 and .mov files to be imported and added to timelines. This is because it only supports “unfinished” videos with H.264 codecs.

iDealShare allows you to convert .mp4 videos, such as those you shoot with an Android smartphone, to a Final Cut Pro-friendly format like Apple ProRes or DV. It also allows you to reap the benefits of adding visual interest with slow motion stock videos or things downloaded from Hulu because it also converts file types like .mov and .avi.

The free trial of IdealShare for Mac is somewhat useless, as it only allows you to convert a portion of any given video. It will, however, get you familiar enough with the software to determine whether the $30 per year or $50 lifetime license is worth it.

Youtube Video Editor

Sometimes your footage simply needs a minor trim here and small stabilization there to make it ready for publishing. There’s no reason to fire up your editing studio when Youtube has an editor built right in that many people have simply overlooked or ignored.

Keep in mind, you will not be adding special effects with this tool. But what you can do is add soundtracks and simple transitions. Anybody with a little video editing experience will quickly pick up on its functionality. Timelines are very similar to that of Windows Movie Maker and Apple iMovie, and the editor includes 15 different segue options. Remember, Youtube video editor will not help you create Oscar-worthy movies. But reporters and bloggers especially can use it to upload and edit quickly to beat out competition.

GoAnimate

Sometimes you simply cannot naturally capture specific human interactions necessary to convey your intended message. That is where animated characters can complete your project.

GoAnimate is the best option for people who lack drawing skills. It allows you to visualize a scene and the audience you envision watching it. You then utilize the program’s simple drag-and-drop features, along with pre-drawn templates, to turn just about anyone into the next Walt Disney.

There are hundreds of different fully customizable characters. Skin tone, hair styles, clothing and body types can all be manipulated to fit your project. GoAnimate also includes a vast array of settings, props and actions to work with. You can then record voices for the dialogue and the characters will automatically lip sync with what you’ve programmed them to say.

GoAnimate is a neat, useful program, but also a bit pricey. The premium plan, which allows you to remove the default watermarks and transfer commercial rights to your finished videos, starts at $600 per year. You can also do it monthly for $79.

From The Jazz Singer To Glee: A Broadway History in the Making

Infographic courtesy of Telecharge

The Best Amusement Parks On Film

Amusement parks have been featured in films since the early days of Hollywood, like “Tire Trouble,” released way back on January 13, 1924. The highlight of this “Our Gang” comedy was the kids’ dizzying rollercoaster ride as well as their visit to the funhouse, filmed at the Venice Amusement Pier in Southern California.

Since then, many movies have featured theme parks, and some parks have even served as center stage of the entire film. An amusement park has just about every type of storytelling device needed for a great movie such as great imagery as well as plenty of people and lots of action.

Adventureland

2009’s “Adventureland” is one of the more recent films that may come to mind. Director Greg Mottola, who also directed “Superbad,” worked at an amusement park with the same name in Long Island back in his younger years and was said to have written the movie loosely based on his experience as a park employee. It was shot at Kennywood in Pittsburgh, Pa., which was grimed up a bit to make it appear more like a decrepit suburban carnival park from the 80s.

There are quick glances of Kennywood’s classic rides like the Thunderbolt, Racer and Jack Rabbit, although most is filmed in the games area where two of the main characters, James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) and Em Lewin (Kristen Stewart) are working.

Lost Boys

The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is a classic as one of the last of its kind on the west coast, and made a great central location for the 1980s film “Lost Boys.” The park was established over a century ago during the Golden Age of amusement parks; the Giant Dipper Roller Coaster seen in the film is one of the oldest wooden coasters still running in the U.S. having opened back in 1924.

The park serves as the fictional town of Santa Carla’s social center and helps to inspire fear as well as thrills, and a bit of a creepiness factor, particularly when the vampires are seen flying over it.

National Lampoon’s Vacation

“Wally World” is the fictional name of Six Flag’s Magic Mountain just outside Los Angeles, the destination for the Griswold’s family vacation in 1983’s “National Lampoon’s Vacation.” You can even take a ride on the “Whipper Snapper,” the coaster that flips the family around while they’re being held hostage at the park. Its real name is “The Revolution,” one of the most famous and historic rollers coasters in the world. The coaster is the very first made from tubular steel track with a 360 degree vertical loop.

Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure

Part of the 1989 film “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure” included a scene at a water park where the stars catch up with French Emperor Napoleon. This was Golfland-Sunsplash Waterpark in Mesa, Arizona, where visitors can still go to cool off and have fun like the actors did in the movie, minus the experience of going to a water park with someone who doesn’t even know they exist.

Where to Go For Your Own Amusement Park Adventure

If you want to get the feeling you’re in one of the movies but don’t live in close proximity to Southern California, Arizona or Pennsylvania, the odds are there’s an amusement park within a day’s drive of where you live where you can do just that.

A few of the best include Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio; Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Va.; Disney theme parks in Orlando, Fla.; Six Flags Great America in Chicago; Schlitterbahn in New Braufels, Texas, the 11th most visited waterpark in the world; and Wilderness Territory Waterpark at Wisconsin Dells.

Budget Travel named the Wilderness Territory Waterpark as one of the top 10 indoor water parks in the U.S. It’s actually four different parks that make up a massive 600-acre resort including an incredible raft ride that drops 58 feet before spinning into a funnel that mimics a hurricane with lightning and fog included. This is also a great place for a budget-friendly family vacation with lots of Wisconsin Dells hotel deals that can help you enjoy a great time without breaking the bank. Some even include free passes to area attractions and waterparks.

Guest article by: Michelle Ramone

Some popular casino scenes in movies

There have been popular casino film scenes throughout much of cinema history, with a notable one from the Hollywood golden age coming in the 1942 Michael Curtiz classic Casablanca. Roulette is the game but, beyond the money, it is the destiny of Rick (Humphrey Bogart) that is at stake. When he decided to fix the game at his own club to help the young couple attempting to escape from Casablanca, he overcomes his own cynicism – which ultimately leads him to join the fight against the Nazis.

Moving forward to the 1960s and the first movie in the James Bond franchise – Dr No (1962) uses a casino scene to introduce the character of 007 to us. The setting is the baccarat tables at Le Cercle, and Bond (Sean Connery) announces himself to Miss Trench – and the audience – with the legendary line: “my name is Bond – James Bond.” As a scene it also serves to introduce us to the whole Bond world of high roller casino glamour, making it the perfect piece of scene setting. The 1980s saw Rain Man hit cinemas, and added another very famous casino scene to celluloid history. When Raymond (Dustin Hoffman) and Charlie (Tom Cruise) hit Vegas to play blackjack, we get an insight into Raymond autism (through his card counting skills and hatred of the noise and flashing lights) and Charlie’s greed and selfishness.

Movies released in more recent times have also produced their fair share of popular casino scenes, such as the famous blackjack scene from the remake of Ocean’s Eleven by Stephen Soderbergh released in 2001. Featuring Matt Damon pretending to be a casino regulator and Bernie Mac as a furious blackjack dealer accused of rigging the game, Mac delivers the line: “might as well call it whitejack”, which is one of the most memorable lines in the sharp script of the film. If you want to play the games seen in these films, visit an online casino and play now.

Guest article by: Tom Shannon

Coming from Sheffield, Tom’s hobbies include writing and recording music, and creating video games. He also runs events to do with video games where people come to watch tournaments. Tom is currently studying in his final year at university.

Nature’s Biggest Stars are Threatened by Extinction

Leonardo DiCaprio or Angelina Jolie are some of the biggest stars in Hollywood, but some of the biggest stars of a different kind have been elephants. Elephants have been popular in movies for decades, but unfortunately the numbers of these beloved creatures is dwindling. Elephant poachers kill about 8 percent of the total population each year, slaughtering them for their ivory tusks. Since elephants can’t reproduce fast enough to replace their killed numbers, if nothing is done the only thing left will be their images on the movie screen.

‘Dumbo’

Children have been charmed by “Dumbo,” the story of a little elephant who proves that being different isn’t bad, for decades. What seems to be a disability (his oversized ears) turns out to be a wonderful gift, allowing him to fly. Instead of being an outcast, Dumbo becomes the star of the circus, the world’s first flying elephant. This film has been so popular over the years that it was the highest grossing Disney movie in the 1940s, and the first one they ever released on video.

‘Horton Hears a Who’

Proving once again that elephants are grand and intelligent creatures, Horton hears a small sound and will not be moved from what he knows to be the right thing. “Horton Hears a Who” is a Dr. Seuss story turned into a movie, about an elephant who saves a very tiny civilization. No one believes him when he talks about it, and he’s scorned by everyone around him, but Horton prevails when at last everyone else can hear the Whos. This film may be one of the more disturbing Seuss movies with an angry mob wanting to boil Horton’s Whos, but all but the smallest will understand the message in the end.

‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom’

Elephants were one of the major modes of transportation in this film, and occupied a good number of film minutes. It wasn’t well advertised that Harrison Ford was not happy about this. To him, riding on elephants was a very painful experience, and he compared it to being stretched on a Medieval rack. The elephants on the set of must have been a mischievous bunch, as one even ate Kate Capshaw’s red dress.

‘Water for Elephants’

An article about elephant films wouldn’t be complete without this aptly named movie. It’s about a Depression-era drifter who joins a circus as an animal caretaker, with watering the elephants being one of his many daily tasks. It’s a love story, a murder mystery, and a well-written tale for any genre. What’s significant about this movie, though, is that it depicts elephants being mistreated. Later, video evidence appeared that the same elephants in the movie had been mistreated in real life before being filmed. Although horrendous, it served to raise awareness of the plight of mistreated animals in general and elephants in particular.

Guest article by: Mike Brooks

12Page 2 of 2