What I’m Reading
Shareworthy articles and content syndicated from other sites. These aren’t things I’ve written or necessarily endorse, for the record.
Commodore USA’s all new C64 finds a friend in Tron on the road to availability
Been a bit skeptical of Commodore USA’s promise to bring back the venerable Commodore 64 with some up-to-date PC specs? We can’t blame you, but the company is now working to change some minds, and is finally proving that it is in fact the real deal. In addition to revealing some pictures of an early prototype a little while back (pictured after the break), the company has also somehow managed to team up with Disney, and it will be promoting the new C64s with an ad included with every copy of Tron: Legacy (pictured above). Still no word of an actual release date, unfortunately, but Commodore USA will apparently be launching a new website tomorrow to coincide with the DVD and Blu-ray release, so hopefully it will have a few more details to share then. In the meantime, you can check out more prototype shots at the link below.
Continue reading Commodore USA’s all new C64 finds a friend in Tron on the road to availability
Commodore USA’s all new C64 finds a friend in Tron on the road to availability originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 10:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
How “The Fighter” shot 35 days worth of fight scenes in only three days
Experts go with what they know. And they’ll often insist something needs to take a long time. But when you don’t have tons of resources, you need to ask if there’s a simpler, judo way to get the impact you desire. Sometimes there’s a better way than the “best” way.
I thought of this while watching “The Fighter” over the weekend. There’s a making of extra on the DVD where Mark Wahlberg, who starred in and produced the film, talks about how all the fight scenes were filmed with an actual HBO fight crew. He mentions that going this route allowed them to shoot these scenes in a fraction of the time it usually takes.
Every filmmaker that we talked to about directing this movie was like you can’t shoot the fights in 20 days, you need 35 days. And I said, “Well, we’re going to shoot the whole movie in 33 days and we’re going to shoot all the fights in three days.” And they said, “How are you going to do that? It’s never going to work.” And I said, “Because we’re going to film them like actual fights.”
So we literally did every fight from the actual beginning, coming out of the dressing room into the arena, into the ring, first bell, introductions, to the last bell, and everything. And we just did it over and over and over again.
And what I kept telling everybody is that HBO does it in one take and they don’t know what’s going to happen and they never miss a thing. We have the luxury of showing them what we’re going to do in the morning before we shoot it and doing it over and over and over again. So why do you need 20 days? For what? To jerk each other off? To touch up your makeup? To go in the trailer and take a nap?
We’re not talking about putting the camera in there and saying, “OK, we’re going to do a stunt punch here.” No, we’re going in there and beat the shit out of each other and we’re going to make it real.
Judging by the film’s success at The Oscars and the box office, the plan worked. And it’s a great example of reframing the problem and asking the right questions.
All these filmmakers insisted on a month+ to film the scenes because conventional wisdom says that’s the “right” way to do it. But sometimes conventional wisdom is more convention, less wisdom. And that’s when it pays off to take a questioning attitude and challenge assumptions.
Would taking the extra time with these scenes really add significant value? Sure, there’d be more slow motion, spit-flying, macro closeups. But would those shots really have made it a better film?
It ties in with another great question to ask: What problem are you solving? The goal was to make the fights seem real. Not to make them look good. To seem real. Focusing on that changes the requirements.
And that leads to another good question you should always come back to: Is there an easier way? The HBO fight crew is made up of experts at filming fights. They don’t need to be taught how to make it look real. They’re used to capturing a fight in one take — and that’s without knowing what will happen beforehand. Shooting this way is a piece of cake for them.
And maybe the most important question: What’s the opportunity cost? The whole film had a shooting calendar of 33 days. Filming it the HBO way means the movie gets made. A longer, pricier approach might have doomed the film and prevented it from ever being shot in the first place.
Most of us aren’t filming fight scenes. But the way Wahlberg and his team challenged assumptions and questioned traditional “best practices” is something that can be applied to all kinds of arenas, not just boxing ones.
Below: (Spoiler Alert! Don’t watch if you don’t want to know the outcome of a fight in the film.) This video compares Micky Ward vs. Shea Neary in “The Fighter” with the real fight.
HOW TO: Master Smartphone Photography [PICS]
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Flickr currently hosts more than five million photos taken on a Sony Ericsson K800i, more than seven million snapped on a Nokia N95 and in excess of 45 million captured with an Apple iPhone. These phenomenal figures show just how much we’re shooting on our smartphones.
In most cases, the phone has become our primary camera, but despite tech developments that can see high-end options, most of us have 5-megapixel or less snappers with limited functionality. But this doesn’t mean you can’t take great photos — it just means you have to be smart about getting the right shot.
If you’re interested in taking better photos with your phone, then have a look through the gallery for some hints, tips, tricks and ideas for shooting success with your camera phone. Let us know your tips in the comments below.
1. Manage Light
Camera phones often struggle with extremes of light. Although these shortcomings can sometimes be used to create special effects, for the average snap you want to manage the available light as well as possible. If you can, position your subject so that the light hits differently to see which angle gives the best result. Alternatively, use the manual settings on your camera phone to try pics with and without flash. For example using flash as a fill-in effect on a sunny day can create a sharp photo with little shadow. Turning off a harsh flash and shooting with available light can also be effective for portraits.
2. Ace the Capture
It’s essential you get to know your camera phone’s characteristics in order to take the best photos possible. One feature that’s worth spending some time testing is the camera’s capture — does your phone snap a pic at the press of a button or when you release the button? How much lag is there from when you hit the button and the photo being captured? Once you get familiar with these characteristics, then you’re more likely to take the exact photo you want — rather than what happened two seconds later.
3. Reduce Camera Shake
One of the biggest challenges for smartphone photographers is camera shake. Although occasionally this can help make a stunning image, more often than not it’s an unwanted result. Try and keep your phone as stable as possible. You can improvise “tripods” from objects around you (tables, fences, mailboxes, etc.). If there’s nothing you can use to help stabilize your shot, you can crouch down and use your knee, or hold your phone in two hands and tuck your arms into your body.
4. Fill the Frame
Don’t ever use the digital zoom on your cameraphone. All this does is zoom in on the existing pixels, which snaps a less sharp image. If your camera boasts optical zoom then fine, but if not, get close to your subject and fill the frame. If you have to crop a photo down afterwards, then you’ll lose size and quality.
5. Consider Composition
Familiarize yourself with the principles of good composition, even if it’s only to break those rules to create interesting images. The rule of thirds, center of interest and dynamic symmetry are all worth exploring. Understanding of good composition will help improve any image, whether it’s a giant oil painting or a smartphone snap.
6. Use Motion
You have your camera phone on you when you’re on the go, so why not make the most of motion to create some amazing photos? Panning — moving the camera at a similar speed as the subject — can create great motion blur. Alternatively if you’re standing still, a phone’s (typically) slow capture can make for great action shots of moving objects around you.
7. Go Monotone
In certain situations, such as ones with richly textured subjects, an image can look more striking in black and white. If your camera has a monotone mode, then you can experiment. Otherwise try stripping the color and upping the contrast levels of suitable images in your desktop photo-editing software afterwards.
8. Try Different Angles
Add interest to your photos by shooting from unusual angles. Get low, shoot from above, the side, backwards, inside-out — you get the picture. The great thing about digital photography is that you’ll never run out of film. Take ten shots from different angles and be prepared to delete nine of them. The best images are born from creative experimentation. Now, go create!
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More Photography Resources from Mashable:
– iPhotography: 10 Pro Tips for Snapping Perfect iPhone Photos
– 15 Incredible iPhone Dog Photographs
– 7 Superb Short Films Shot With Cellphones
– 10 Essential Websites for iPhone Photographers
– 10 Incredible iPhone Portrait Photographs
Images courtesy of Flickr, Dirk Dallas, Tom Rolfe, Roland Tanglao, Xerones, Nico Hogg, Lorenzo Tomada, John Williams and Kris Krug
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