Monday, October 27, 2008

4K HD Technology Used in My Bloody Valentine 3D Movie

We all thought that high definition movies are just that- high definition. But apparently, there are different levels of high definition. They typical is 2000 pixels. But the remake of the 1981 horror flick, My Bloody Valentine, uses 4000 pixels.

This means the new My Bloody Valentine is very, very sharp and with more detail captured. Such a level of definition is ideal for 3D and indeed, this version of My Bloody Valentine is in 3D. You'll get to see every small detail of faces of stars like Jensen Ackles and Jamie King.

“Lionsgate’s doing a great job of being involved with these films that are really taking it to the next level, so I’m really excited about that,” says King, who adds that it's (My Bloody Valentine 3D) not the typical gore, horror film because it's character-oriented.

Trailer of My Bloody Valentine 3D

Unlimited movie downloads

Watch TV on your PC

Thursday, October 23, 2008

J.J. Abrams's "Kelvin" Signature Appears in Star Trek 9

Did you know that director J.J. Abrams (Alias, Lost) uses the name "Kelvin" in his movies? In fact, he kind of "drops" it in all his projects. You think it's strange? It's a common practice - Disney has its Mickey Mouses, Marvel has its Stan Lees - Abrams has his Kelvins. In Mission Impossible 3 for instance, there's a scene where a letter is seen addressed to a certain H. Kelvin. In Star Trek 9, there's a starship called the U.S.S. Kelvin (top).

But who is this Kelvin, anyway? Abrams reveals that it's his maternal grandfather, Henry Kelvin, who was a big influence on him as a child, and had owned an electronics company. No doubt Kelvin inspired the future director in many ways and sent his imagination soaring - a characteristic befitting of a successful director.

Unlimited movie downloads

Watch TV on your PC

Thursday, October 9, 2008

How to Summon a Ghost to Scare People Using Visual Effects

What's a good thing to do for Halloween? Make something scary of course. Here's a trick that's been used by stage magicians and movie makers for decades to produce an illusion of ghosts. Mind you, this trick has scared audiences due to it's convincing effect and some of the magicians have been jailed for practicing black magic - even though it's simple movie special effects magic!

In old magical stage shows, there used to be this trick in which a ghost is summoned in a box (sometimes it's a coffin). Sometimes, this ghost changes form, it's flesh seemingly dissolving until only the skeleton is left.

Other times, the ghost transforms into a monster with fangs and all! It's a trick that has scared young and old alike and is indeed very convincing if there is a crowd that reacts to it. How is this done?

It doesn't take much to do this as long as you have a digital camera, a computer, a slide projector, some way to generate flameless dry ice smoke (or a large sheet of transparent plastic), and the slide of your "ghost." What you do is to take a picture of a really scary ghost with a dark, plain background (you can paint it yourself if you have the talent, otherwise, get one from an obscure book).

Take your computer and projector and pick a nice, scary place for your ghost to appear at night (preferably beside a private but scary-looking private "haunted" house). Make some dry ice smoke (or set up your plastic sheet), turn on your projector, and make the image of the ghost appear on your improvised smoke or plastic screen!

Note that the dry ice smoke generator should be set up at an elevated place since the curtain of smoke will flow down to the ground and not upwards.

Now that you know how to do the trick, you'd probably like to know how you can make things convincing. That's simple. Just perform your scary trick when people least expect it. That makes it more believable. Just don't do anything that can get you shot for being mistaken as something dangerous!

Unlimited movie downloads

Watch TV on your PC