An Introduction to Filmmaking for the Internetplugincinema.com is a website dedicated to the production, distribution and exhibition of films on the Internet. It was founded over 5 years ago and has been exploring issues surrounding the technology and practice of making and putting films onto the net. It is because of this experience that we feel qualified to help other people make films for the 90 second challenge, run in Bristol summer '05.
Films on the Internet: An Introduction We have determined there to be three basic types of film content on the Internet:
- Traditional Promotional Films
- Films not made for, but distributed via the Internet.
- Films made with the Internet in mind - which we have called 'Web Films' | Traditional Promotion | This form is generally used by the mainstream media to promote new products, especially films. The footage placed on the net generally consists of traditionally acquired footage such as 35mm film footage, compressed down and either streamed as a movie clip or available as a downloadable file. A good example is the 'Appleseed' trailer, it is excellent visually, but to get the full effect you need to download the film, which on a normal modem takes a while.
A good example is the Apple film trailer site:
http://www.apple.com/trailers/ | | Films not made for, but distributed via the Internet | These are films shot using traditional filmmaking techniques that use the Internet, not as the primary viewing medium, but as a way of distributing the work to a wider audience. The footage can be streamed or involves downloading large files. An example here is '405 The Movie', a film that was made using mainstream production equipment and used viral distribution via email.
A good example is 405 The Movie:
http://www.405themovie.com/ | | Web Films | These are films made with the Internet and it's constraints in mind. There are a variety of different types being produced currently for viewing over the Internet on computers. The style of film is often determined by the technology used to produce it, but these boundaries are constantly shifting and often depend on preconceptions and previous practice: we call these web films.
This is the main type of film this discussion will focus on... | Web Films While there are several methods of producing web films. In this introduction, we will focus on two types of web films. The first is the web-animation package Flash. This is Macromedia's low-bandwidth, easy to use software. It is useful for creating web animations and interactive pieces. Many filmmakers, especially animators, have seized upon it as a particularly appropriate filmmaking tool for the Internet. Flash is vector based and works by only sending necessary information, thereby saving on the amount of bandwidth needed. Although often used in quite simple ways for basic games etc. Flash can also be used to create unique and beautiful animations.
Some examples of a flash films include 'Moonstruck' and 'Elves are for Life'.
The second method is to make films using Digital Video (DV). There are examples of filmmakers working within this new form who are choosing to work with more familiar tools such as cameras and DV tape. A good example of this is Dave Mckean's short film 'The Week Before'. Mckean's previous incarnation began with a career in comics. Working on highly critically acclaimed titles such as 'Arkham Asylum' and 'Sandman'. The film is a good example of some of the aspects of filmmaking that need to be born in mind when creating for the net. It has good light and dark contrast, the masks the characters wear are clear and bold harking back to the early days of cinema or ancient Greek Theatre; there is no ambiguity of emotion or expression. There is little fine detail that may be lost in compression. The camera work is fluid and languid, so the compression software works well and the music is gentle and does not suffer a loss of mood if it becomes un-synched by the compression software.
A less poetic, experimental film would be 'Silent Night', a film made by a community group in Montpelier and plugincinema.com as part of Electric December 2002. The film was made using a digital video camera. It uses simple editing techniques and again doesn't have sync sound. When compressing films in post-production for the Internet there is a choice between emphasising sound and emphasising image or putting the emphasis equally on both.
Web Film Issues The major issue with a web film is that (especially in the case of the 90 Second Film Challenge) it will be streamed from a website. That means it will need to be compressed, both to make the file both small enough for this process and of a file type that can be streamed.
- Streaming - enables the user to access a portion of the file before the entire file has been downloaded. While the user is viewing this potion of the file, more data will be downloaded, waiting to be displayed (or listened to) straight after the existing portion has finished.
- Downloaded – where the entire film needs to be placed onto your computer via http or ftp before it is possible to watch it.
- Compression – the name given to the various techniques that are used to make digital files smaller. Compression is necessary in order to make a film suitable for viewing over the Internet.
Common settings options/terms that you will find of most type of editing/encoding software when exporting the file include: | Pre-sets | As the name suggests, a pre-set option with parameters already configured for you. Good starting points for experiments with different encoding methods. | | Codec | The name given to a type of compression module. Common examples include Sorenson, MPEG-4, DivX and Xvid. | | Resolution | The screen size in pixels. A TV is 640 x 480. The smaller this setting the smaller the file size will be. Common options include 320 x 240 and 160 x 120. | | File Type | This is type of file that you end process of exporting will result in. Common examples include AVI (.avi), QuickTime (.mov), Windows Media Player (.wmv) and RealPlayer (.rm or .ram). | | Region | PAL is the European standard while NTSC is the US standard. | | Frame Rate | For PAL the frame rate is 25 frames per second (fps) while NTSC is 30. Often compression will drop the frame rate to 15. | Further Information pluginmanifesto - so more on the ideas behind web films plugincinema.com - films , tutorials & more (all this info will be listed on the site!)
Windows editing & capture (free software)
virtualdub.org - Windows editing & capture (free software)
http://www.virtualdub.org/
videohelp.com - WinDV, Windows based DV capture software (shareware)
http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=WinDV
Kino.schirmacher.de - Linux/GNU editing & capture (free software)
http://www.kinodv.org/
driverguide.com - Good site for drivers (login 'driver2' password 'all')
http://www.driverguide.com/
Adobe.com - for Mac or Windows, offers a 30 day trial version of Premiere
http://www.adobe.com/
Premier
http://www.adobe.com/downloads/#product=98
Flash
http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash&%3BLang=French&%3BP5_Language=French
For flash help also try Flashkit.com
http://www.flashkit.com/ dshed.net/90secondchallenge - Site for 90 Second Challenge
http://www.dshed.net/90secondchallenge/
free-codecs.com - Loads of codecs & other resources
http://www.free-codecs.com/
Xvid.org - for the Xvid codec for Linux/GNU.
http://www.xvid.org/
xvidmovies.com/codec -For windows
http://www.xvidmovies.com/codec/
homepage.mac.com/major4 -For Mac
http://homepage.mac.com/major4/ |
