Dimanche 22 Novembre 2009 avait lieu à Quelneuc une partie d’airsoft (loisir semblable au paintball).  La journée avait pour thème le post-apocalyptique.

–> (définition du post-apocalyptique dans wikipédia).

Afin de plonger les joueurs dans cet univers, j’ai réalisé divers éléments :

- Un livret leur rappelant les règles de jeu et les différents aspects de la journée.

- Divers objets utilisés pour le jeu (râtelier, stimpaks…)

- Un décors de BAR style post-apocalyptique.

- Des retouches sur les photos de la journée.

Si avui és dijous… toca tertúlia en el programa 446 d’El crepuscle encén estels · IB3 Ràdio, 21:00 · que estarà “Orbitant” sobre EL PLAER DE LA CONVERSA. Aquí els dijous, apart d’endinsar-nos dins el Forat Negre, ens agrada conversar, parlar sense restriccions. Els qui són aficionats a xerrar amb familiars, amics i coneguts, han tengut una nova forma de comunicació amb el desenvolupament de la telefonia mòbil. Emperò els qui no volen saber res de quotes fixes, contractes, tarifa plana… compten amb una altra possibilitat: conversar amb els més propers, com a molt lluny a uns 5 kms, amb l’ajut dels anomenats “walkie-talkies sense llicència” de distintes marques, coneguts també com PMR-446, perquè utilitzen la banda de freqüències …446-446,1 MegaHertz

I just saw an article that brings back so many memories! Its about the good old days about how when we were kids would tie two cups together with a string to talk to your best friend. NOW, someone wants to relive those days and brought that concept back to the 21st century! Thats pretty cool… I remember telling my best friend we should make a string long enough for us to talk to each other at night. our houses were a block away. It uses Wireless Networking, sounds like it will be set up through wifi. I can only imagine the kids these days having fun outside with the cups in different bushes. Heck, i used to just be around the corner. I never dreamed cups would advance in the 21st century!

I apologize for being gone; my trip ran far longer than expected. It will be a few days before I post any more photos (I still have much to sort out) but wanted to allow that I was yet alive and intent on posting again. Thank you for your patience. I will try to make it worth your while.

Walkie Talkie: What took you so long?

El Idioto: I actually came few hours early. Even dropped of earlier than plan to meet you.

Bye Bye

Walkie Talkie: Better.

El Idioto: [Simles]

Walkie Talkie: You coming to drop me off, right?

El Idioto: yes. But wont be able to talk much thanks to your aunt!

Walkie Talkie: Well, I know. [imitates her , we both laughed a bit] So what now?

El Idioto: A walk, a lil snack and may be something good to drink.

Walkie Talkie: [ignoring my cliche] I read your blog.

[El Idioto gives surprised look]

Walkie Talkie: About you trying to stay away from me.

El Idioto: So…

Walkie Talkie: It was cute of you. [A pause] You are really a sweet heart but you did not need to do that

El Idioto: Huh?

Walkie Talkie: I’m a adult. I know my limits. I knew this was a temporary fling.

El Idioto: you did?

Walkie Talkie: Yes, I did and in a way, you’re perfect for me too. Those small cute moments were nice. But

El Idioto: I hate buts… except yours

Walkie Talkie: [Smiles , blushes a lil but continues on] Butt, we have separate paths to walk on. We’d be canceling each others future’s. You don’t want that and neither do I.

El Idioto: Still…

Walkie Talkie: Will you just shut up and kiss me for once.

El Idioto: [in a very bad cowbody-cum-desi accent] Always a pleasure ma’am

She’s gone now, away with the wind

Left me with memories of a lifetime

As I relish them till my eyes refuse to open

The urge to be with her arises

Only to be saddened by the truth that say

“she’s gone now, with every second that passes away.”

Recap

Last time we looked at the inventions that made film and motion pictures possible. Many people had a part in perfecting the medium and many small steps combined resulted in something that would change the world and how we see it.

Only a few years after the birth of the medium films were now printed on celluloid strips and shown to crowds of paying viewers.

Business

The icons of early film definitely include the Lumiere brothers. After their first screening of a motion picture for a paying audience December 28th 1895 they were unstoppable. Within the first four months of 1896 they had opened Cinématographe theatres in London, Brussels, Belgium and New York.
The company grew and other operators shot films for them. In 1900 they

decided to stop the screenings and focused on selling their technical inventions, which include equipment for one of the first partially colored photographic processes.

Last time I mentioned a man by the name of Robert W. Paul. He suggested that films should be shown to crowds instead of viewing them individually through peep-hole machines. One might think this is funny coming from him, knowing that peep holes is where his career began.

In 1894 two greek entrepreneurs asked Paul to build a copy of Edisons Kinetoscope, the peep-hole viewer for a single person viewing.

This was only possible because Edison did not have a patent on the kinetoscope for England, by mistake. Paul built a whole string of machines and sold them not only to the greek gentlemen. Edison was a smart man and stopped Paul from putting him out of business by only selling the films to licensed operators of his original kinetoscope.

The only way Paul could remain on the market was to build a camera of his own that could produce films to be played on his copy-viewer. He soon started working with the photographer, Birt Acres and together they developed a working camera. Acres wanted to patent the camera in his name and this resulted in a feud that split up the team.

Paul later developed a projector, the Theatrograph, so that the larger audience could simultaneously enjoy film art.

He also became a successful producer. After making huge amounts of money on selling the equipment, he constructed film studios in northern London and made 80 short film in the summer of 1898 alone. He kept on working until 1910 where he suddenly decided that the industry war to risky, closed the firm and burnt all the negatives.

Acres also developed a projector, the Cinematoscope, but is more famous for creating the first amateur cine camera, the Birtac in 1898. He kept on working in this field untill his death in 1918.

One company that did have a longer lasting success was Pathé.

Charles Pathé and his brothers Émile, Théophile and Jacques started the Pathé Frères company. At first they sold phonographs. After 1901 they start producing films, with Ferdinand Zecca in charge of the creative process. Their success was of yet unseen proportion. By 1905, Pathé was the largest film company in the world, a position it retained until World War I. The first expansion of the company brought them to London and from thereon to Moscow, Berlin and St. Petersburg. The company logo was and is the distinctive rooster of Gaul. Number two on the list of companies was Léon Gaumont’s company, easy to recognize by the logo flower, a marguerite, after Gaumont’s mother.

The brothers started by selling the equipment for cinemas and then began producing in 1897. The big success came to Gaumont through the creative people behind their film. The first female director, Alice Guy, was one of them and so was Louis Feulliade.

Below you’ll find the link to one of Louis Feulliade’s films from 1915, Les Vampires.

It’s a series of 10 episodes, 40 minutes each. This is the first part – “The Severed Head.”

The serial is set in Paris and follows the exploits of a gang of master criminals who call themselves “Les Vampires.”

http://www.archive.org/details/lesVampires1915Episode1-theSeveredHead

If you liked it and want to see more, please go to:

http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=Louis%20Feuillade%20AND%20mediatype%3Amovies

Alice Guy’s short film La Glu can be seen here

http://www.archive.org/details/LaGlu1907

While most of the produced films showed so-called actualities, documenting life, some people took the new medium into the world of drama and fiction. One of my favorite icons of film history is Georges Méliès. He had worked as a stage magician in Paris during the late 1880’s when he had the opportunity to attend the Lumiere premiere. As a master of illusions he saw a new potential within the medium. He combined the techniques of stage performance with the visual possibilities of film. The camera would be fixed and the actors would perform their show before it.

My adoration of Méliès is not only due to the fact that he and his crew produced 531 films in the years between 1896 and 1914. It is also based on his absolute ingenuity. Others were trying to document the everyday life while Méliès

invented genres like science fiction or horror and executed them through his knowledge of magic tricks.
In late 1896 an accidental jamming of the camera sparked Méliès’ imagination.

Méliès was filming and the camera jammed. It took him a few minutes to get it working again. After processing the material he saw magic happen. Things moved across the screen, jumping from one side to the other, appearing, disappearing, changing shape. Stop motion was born and many other tricks with it.

I have included the link to a film that I believe you need to see. It is not the first film by Méliès, but it is one of the most beautiful ones. The film is called “Le Voyage dans la Lune” and was produced 1902. It’s a crazy little tale of a trip to the moon.

http://www.archive.org/details/Levoyagedanslalune

Another icon of the silent era who took motion pictures to another level was D.W. Griffith. The unsuccessful young playwright from Kentucky left his home for New York with the intention of selling a script to Edwin Porter who at the time worked for Edison at the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company. Porter rejected the script but hired Griffith as an actor instead. After years of acting jobs an opportunity appeared. The main director of AMBC was ill and his son not able to run the company. The position was given to Griffith. Griffith became famous for producing films that blew their budgets. In 1915 Griffith’s most famous film hit the market. The original budget was 40.000$ but at the end of production cost 121.000$

The film was originally called The Clansman, after the book upon which it was based, but was renamed Birth of a Nation. It was a very controversial film due to it’s glorification of the Ku Klux Klan.

The next film, Intolerance, was even larger. It included over 3000 extras and a scene depicting a Babylonian orgy alone cost over 200.000$

As a Dane I feel obliged to have my country represented here.
In 1906, Ole Olsen, a fairground showman, founded Nordisk Film.
Asta Nielsen is the most famous actress from the golden age of Nordisk Film.

Other innovations

Back in the monochrome days one had quite a task ahead when wanting to display different light settings, for example night. The film wasn’t sensitive enough to shoot at night so you had to find another way of telling you viewers which scenes were night scenes.

Tinting was the way to go. The entire film strip was dipped in a colored solution that would leave the strip transparent but tinted. These tints had codes for what they were depicting. Blue meant night, yellow ment indoor light, red  suggested a romantic sometimes promiscuous atmosphere.

Close to tinting but much more difficult was the process of hand colouring the film strips. Frame by frame films would be coloured by painting areas inside the frames with translucent paints. Sometimes thousands of frames would be painted.

Here is a link to a fantastic example of a film that was coloured by hand.
http://www.europafilmtreasures.eu/PY/249/see-the-film-butterflies

As you may have noticed intertitles were the vehicle to getting the details of a story across. One country, although, had a different approach.

The japanese film audience had extra help. The so-called Benshi (speech person) were live narrators of the films. They would explain the film as it was shown. To this day the Benshi tradition lives on.

Sound-on…
From the start people were not satisfied with the soundless illusion.
And right from the start engineers tried to include sound into the film experience.

Some recorded the sound and put it on records to be played simultaneously with the films, the so-called sound-on-disc. But if the film broke, the sound would be out of synch. Eugene Lauste, a former Edison employee had a great idea. He put the sound of the film on the same strip, only as photographic information.

This way visuals and sound would run together, a first sound-on-film.

In the 1920’s sound became more sophisticated and finally resulted in the first (part-)talkie “The Jazz Singer” from 1927.

Phew… that was a big bite. My head is smoking. If you should be an aficionado of silent films and the whole era you will probably find many things and details missing here. Please don’t take it personally if your hero wasn’t mentioned. I’m merely trying to condense these years and years of pioneer work and innovations down to a readable version.
I really hope that you enjoy this blog. I’d love comments.

In case you were wondering…

Next time I’ll go back just a step to the likes of Eisenstein to tell you about how you can depict emotions via a smart cutting technique.

Kinophile

Walkie Talkie called me up on my phone,

Walkie Talkie: Where r u?

Me: In hell

Walkie Talkie: How is it?

Me: It’s okay, good for summer but the winters are not expected to be cold enough. Global warming you see

Walkie Talkie: [long pause, probably calming herself down] Where r u?

Me: Just left college. On my way.

Walkie Talkie:is this the way we’re gonna spent our possibly last day

Me: Huh?

Walkie Talkie: You know it’s probably our last day.

Me: Its not!

Walkie Talkie: What?

Me: I’ll bug you forever baby.

Walkie Talkie: That’s a bit of stretch, don’t you think?

Me: Yep, but it’s better than that last day crap you’re talking about.

Walkie Talkie: So I’m crap?

Me: [now wishes the phone shuts up for good] I never said that [gulp!]

Walkie Talkie: But you meant it.

Me: [time for change baby!] is this the way we’re gonna spent our possibly last day?

[Rest was history. she calmed down. few more mins and the whole night was planned. sitting besides each other, finalizing the best possible portrait shot that I took of her. It was nice and if plans go well, I'll have few more hours with her when I come from my trip. finger's crossed.]

Me and Walkie Talkie, on a serious note

Walkie Talkie: You do know I’m leaving on 12th

El Idioto: Yep. So?

Walkie Talkie: And ur going with ur friends on a trip?

El Idioto: Yep. So?

Walkie Talkie: [angry stares]

The truth is that she’s too perfect, too beautiful. If i spend too much time with her, I’ll miss her too much. I’m trying to be as detached with her so that when she leaves, I do not end up suffering.

Sure there could be a long distance relationship and may be she’s even worth it but I’m not. I’m not even ready for it.

I’ll miss her. No matter how detached I am, I’ll miss dear. She is just too good for me. But sadly, some are not destined for happiness… only for stupid blogging trips.

*sigh*

I'll Miss You

J’ai pris contact ces derniers jours avec la “Communauté Raider de Vendée” par e-mail.

En effet cela l’intriguait de trouver dans leur catalogue scout, outre un magnifique blouson d’aviateur que je pense acheter sous peu -et bien d’autres objets tous plus utiles les uns que les autres- des références de CB.

La CB (prononcer Cibi) pour Cityzen Band est une sorte de Talkie-Walkie en plus perfectionné.

J’ai donc demandé par e-mail et voila ce que ma répondu Emmanuel :

Me and Walkie Talkie on the sofa…

Me: This net isn’t working. Its getting on my nerves

Walkie Talkie: I thought only i did.

Me: Things change, people change, why doesn’t this modem lights change??

Walkie Talkie: Well, whatever? thought u went to gym

Me: Yeah, had no other option.

Walkie Talkie: So anything cool you did?

Me: Yep, i flirted with this beautiful chick.

Walkie Talkie: hmmm, how beautiful was she?

(folks this is a tricky question, never screw it up like i did)

Me: dunno, i only looked at her eyes

(safe… for now)

Walkie Talkie: Do you always look at the eyes only?

Me: that’s only thing that matters for me dear.

Walkie Talkie: What if you see someone with extremely beautiful eyes, i mean like very very beautiful, and then she has the ugliest of faces filled with pimples, black heads and scars and she’s got ugly hair and worst clothes and she doesn’t even have a decent body, will you still flirt with her just because of her beautiful eyes?

(DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME)