Irish Film & TV Research Online | Trinity College Dublin

Irish Film & TV Research Online is a website designed to bring together the wide diversity of research material relating to Irish-made cinema and television as well as to Irish-themed audio-visual representations produced outside of Ireland. It incorporates three searchable databases: Irish Film & Television Index; Irish Film & Television Biographies; and Irish Film & Television Bibliography; and the Irish Postgraduate Film Research Seminar, an annual conference of film studies’ postgraduate students based in Ireland or engaged in researching Irish material elsewhere. The project is based in the School of Drama, Film and Music, Trinity College Dublin.

The impetus for the Irish Film & Television Index was Kevin Rockett’s The Irish Filmography: Fiction Films 1896 – 1996 (1996), which documented all fiction films made in Ireland and about Ireland and the Irish produced worldwide since the beginnings of cinema. Under the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences’ Major Grant Scheme, 2003-05, funding was awarded to update the original filmography and to document, with the same worldwide remit, all major non-fiction films, including newsreels, and animation, made for cinema and television. In addition to the IRCHSS, the other sponsors of the project are Trinity College Dublin; the Higher Education Authority’s North South Programme for Collaborative Research, 2003-06; and Bord Scannán na héireann/Irish Film Board, 2006.

Since 2003, filmographer and archivist Eugene Finn has been expanding the database which, incorporating the original Irish Filmography, has drawn on the archival and paper records of many of the world’s leading film archives and specialist libraries, including ones in Ireland, Britain, the USA, and Australia. We are especially grateful for the on-going support we receive from the Irish Film Institute’s archive and library. At present the Irish Film & Television Index has almost 40,000 titles, while new entries will be added in an on-going way.

The two complementary databases covering biographies and bibliography which are still in the early stages of development will be expanded over time. In addition, the ambition is to use the website as a publishing outlet for new research, as well as for out-of-print publications and archival documents, including, it is hoped, the extensive records of Ireland’s film censors.

While the website will need on-going editorial maintenance and development, its value for researchers, whether academic, from within the film industry, or the general public, is in its easy packaging of information concerning Irish-made or Irish-themed audio-visual material. In many cases, such information may have been gathered from numerous sources both within Ireland and elsewhere. Using the searchable fields, a researcher can almost instantly find a particular film, its cast list or production personnel, read a synopsis of its content, establish where a copy of it might be held, what has been written about it, identify a list of complementary titles through a keyword search, or, using the biographical database, access further information on cast and crew.

As a living archive, we would encourage feedback and invite online visitors to contribute to the development of the project by sending us information, additions and amendments.

More…Irish Film & TV Research Online – Trinity College Dublin.

Three Point Lighting

Below is a short, introductory tutorial for the documentarian / filmmaker / photographer on three point lighting. Lighting a subject, is often an after thought by many inexperienced media makers but it is an essential element of any production that strives for professional look. It can also be effectively used to elicit a certain style or mood.

I’ve found the setup of studio lighting the most challenging element of media production. And there is a multitude of lighting hardware to choose from, even before you begin. That said with a bit of research, patience and practice, success will be yours.

Try practicing your setup, at home or if you have control of your filming environment, setup and adjust there, beforehand.

Another great source of ideas for lighting along with other media production topics is The Filmmaker’s Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide for the Digital Age by Steven Ascher, Edward Pincus

Why We Love Film | Ken Rockwell | kenrockwell.com

Why We Love Film

by Ken Rockwell

Film versus Digital Capture

“Capture” means how an image or data is acquired.

After it’s caught, either on film or with digital capture, all of them are workable and archivable and printable in a computer, since all my film is scanned at the time of development.

If I capture on film, it all goes into the same digital workflow, archive and backup plan. The only difference is less work, less expense, better-looking files and more fun with film capture.

Film capture also gives me the option of a second, parallel workflow that both gives me a second set of permanent, eternally legible backups (the film itself), as well as the freedom to edit, print and project directly from the film if I so choose.

Dynamic Range?

You want dynamic range? I got your dynamic range right here in this little canister. It’s called film; a write-once, read-many (WORM) medium.

I made this shot on a Contax G2 with a 21mm Zeiss lens at f/8 on Fuji Velvia 50, which was processed and scanned at the same time at NCPS. The dynamic range is so great that the hellacious sunbursts you see are just what’s naturally coming off the diaphragm blade at f/8, as if 1,000 suns were shining in the lens in the two-minute exposure.

Not only that, but the film I shot in a Canon EOS Rebel G film camera, worth about $20 today, was sharper as scanned at NCPS than the file I made with the same lens on a Canon 5D, which is sharper still than anything on earth from Nikon digital.

How about that? A $20 camera with a $5 roll of film and $20 to process and scan the entire roll is sharper than a $5,000 camera. (The Contax cost more, but still loads less than anything in full-frame digital.)

Full Article: Why We Love Film.

Information for Locals | Massachusetts Film Office

As we all know, the growth and vitality of the local filmmaking community is essential to the long-term goal of being a sustainable production center rather than just a distant location. The Massachusetts Film Office is dedicated to finding new ways to support “our own” and welcomes ideas for expanding the already robust industry.

More…http://www.mafilm.org/

Irish Film & TV Research Online | Trinity College Dublin

Irish Film & TV Research Online is a website designed to bring together the wide diversity of research material relating to Irish-made cinema and television as well as to Irish-themed audio-visual representations produced outside of Ireland. It incorporates three searchable databases: Irish Film & Television Index; Irish Film & Television Biographies; and Irish Film & Television Bibliography; and the Irish Postgraduate Film Research Seminar, an annual conference of film studies’ postgraduate students based in Ireland or engaged in researching Irish material elsewhere. The project is based in the School of Drama, Film and Music, Trinity College Dublin.

The impetus for the Irish Film & Television Index was Kevin Rockett’s The Irish Filmography: Fiction Films 1896 – 1996 (1996), which documented all fiction films made in Ireland and about Ireland and the Irish produced worldwide since the beginnings of cinema. Under the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences’ Major Grant Scheme, 2003-05, funding was awarded to update the original filmography and to document, with the same worldwide remit, all major non-fiction films, including newsreels, and animation, made for cinema and television. In addition to the IRCHSS, the other sponsors of the project are Trinity College Dublin; the Higher Education Authority’s North South Programme for Collaborative Research, 2003-06; and Bord Scannán na héireann/Irish Film Board, 2006.

Since 2003, filmographer and archivist Eugene Finn has been expanding the database which, incorporating the original Irish Filmography, has drawn on the archival and paper records of many of the world’s leading film archives and specialist libraries, including ones in Ireland, Britain, the USA, and Australia. We are especially grateful for the on-going support we receive from the Irish Film Institute’s archive and library. At present the Irish Film & Television Index has almost 40,000 titles, while new entries will be added in an on-going way.

The two complementary databases covering biographies and bibliography which are still in the early stages of development will be expanded over time. In addition, the ambition is to use the website as a publishing outlet for new research, as well as for out-of-print publications and archival documents, including, it is hoped, the extensive records of Ireland’s film censors.

While the website will need on-going editorial maintenance and development, its value for researchers, whether academic, from within the film industry, or the general public, is in its easy packaging of information concerning Irish-made or Irish-themed audio-visual material. In many cases, such information may have been gathered from numerous sources both within Ireland and elsewhere. Using the searchable fields, a researcher can almost instantly find a particular film, its cast list or production personnel, read a synopsis of its content, establish where a copy of it might be held, what has been written about it, identify a list of complementary titles through a keyword search, or, using the biographical database, access further information on cast and crew.

As a living archive, we would encourage feedback and invite online visitors to contribute to the development of the project by sending us information, additions and amendments.

More…Irish Film & TV Research Online – Trinity College Dublin.