Test weblog2009-01-09T13:26:55-08:00Jim Eldertonhttp://jimelderton.com/index.phpjim@jimelderton.comA sample Pivot weblogtag:jimelderton,2009:testweblogPivotCopyright (c) 2009, Authors of Test weblogLinks2005-03-19T19:02:00-08:002005-03-19T19:02:00-08:002005-03-19T19:02:00-08:00tag:jimelderton,2009:testweblog.10
Links
Vernon Towne Theatre
Okanagan Film Commission
Powerhouse Theatre
Rotary International
Vernon Art Gallery
Sveva Caetani
Flying by Foy
Back to top
Links
]]>eldertonThanks2005-03-19T18:23:00-08:002005-03-19T18:23:00-08:002005-03-19T18:23:00-08:00tag:jimelderton,2009:testweblog.8
Since my arrival in Vernon 4 years ago, these are some of the people who have supported my work:
CATHIE STEWART
my partner and greatest supporter
SUZIE SIMS
my sister, for all kinds of stuff
VAL HEUMAN
marketing expertise
MARSHALL OLIVER
at Cromwell Restoration
sponsor of the Hyderabad film
MURALI and CHOWDARY
at the library in Hyderabad
GERRY SELLARS
was the first in Vernon to screen the movies
VERNON TOWNE CINEMA
production office space
MICHAEL CADE
for encouragement
RANDY ‘BONES’ JONES
always helps when I need it
CAROLINE RAMERSDORFER, sculptor of ENERGY V
collaboration with filming CAROLINE'S ROCK
MARY HUGGINS
letting me film FLYING PETER PAN
FLYING-BY-FOY
allowing me to film their process
ERIC DRAHT
built and maintains this website
VERNON PUBLIC ART GALLERY
access to the Caetani paintings
VERNON MUSEUM & ARCHIVES
access to the Caetani archives
WL SEATON SCHOOL
editing facilities when I first arrived in Vernon
VERNON FILM SOCIETY
funding assistance for SVEVA
KALAMALKA ROTARY CLUB
letting me loose on their videos
RUBY SHARMA
for believing in me
and all my interviewees, including:
JOAN HERIOT
GRACE FUNK
HEDDI LATTEY
VAL HEUMAN
WILLWM ROELL
DEBORAH WILSON
ROB BERNHARDT
SEAN HARVEY
SONNY RHODES
GEORGE GALBRAITH
DALE MACLEAN
CAROLYN GRANT
MARY TINNINGS
plus all the many who are contributing to the Sveva Caetani film.
Thanks
Since my arrival in Vernon 4 years ago, these are some of the people who have supported my work:
CATHIE STEWART
my partner and greatest supporter SUZIE SIMS
my sister, for all kinds of stuff VAL HEUMAN
marketing expertise MARSHALL OLIVER
at Cromwell Restoration
sponsor of the Hyderabad film MURALI and CHOWDARY
at the library in Hyderabad GERRY SELLARS
was the first in Vernon to screen the movies VERNON TOWNE CINEMA
production office space MICHAEL CADE
for encouragement RANDY ‘BONES’ JONES
always helps when I need it CAROLINE RAMERSDORFER, sculptor of ENERGY V
collaboration with filming CAROLINE'S ROCK MARY HUGGINS
letting me film FLYING PETER PAN FLYING-BY-FOY
allowing me to film their process ERIC DRAHT
built and maintains this website VERNON PUBLIC ART GALLERY
access to the Caetani paintings VERNON MUSEUM & ARCHIVES
access to the Caetani archives WL SEATON SCHOOL
editing facilities when I first arrived in Vernon VERNON FILM SOCIETY
funding assistance for SVEVA KALAMALKA ROTARY CLUB
letting me loose on their videos RUBY SHARMA
for believing in me
and all my interviewees, including:
JOAN HERIOT
GRACE FUNK
HEDDI LATTEY
VAL HEUMAN
WILLWM ROELL
DEBORAH WILSON
ROB BERNHARDT
SEAN HARVEY
SONNY RHODES
GEORGE GALBRAITH
DALE MACLEAN
CAROLYN GRANT
MARY TINNINGS
plus all the many who are contributing to the Sveva Caetani film.
]]>eldertonDVD Sales2005-03-19T18:20:00-08:002005-03-19T18:20:00-08:002005-03-19T18:20:00-08:00tag:jimelderton,2009:testweblog.7
DVD copies are available for the films listed below.
Send cheque, return address, and title required, to:
Jim Elderton
#4-2395 Pleasant Valley Road
Armstrong, BC, V0E 1B2
email: jim@jimelderton.com
============================================
WHOSE GRANDMA ARE YOU? $ 23.00
i2i (18 minute version of above) $ 12.50
PASSION FOR FIRE $ 23.00
KINGSMILL, THE MASKS $ 12.50
SVEVA, PRISONER OF VERNON $ 23.00
THE HYDERABAD SOLUTION $ 23.00
(prices include GST and mailing.)
All rights reserved. Films may not be copied or
screened to public audiences without permission.
It comes from a natural sequence of numbers called the Fibonacci series, named after the Italian who discovered it. It is an infinite series of whole numbers, with logic so simple a small child can understand it.
The first number is zero.
The second number is 1.
Then add those together to get the third number:
0 + 1 = 1 . . . . So we have 1 again, starting the series at 0,1,1
Now add the last two numbers to get the fourth number:
1 + 1 = 2 . . . . giving us 0,1,1,2
And to get more numbers keep adding the last two:
1 + 2 = 3, 2 + 3 = 5,
3 + 5 = 8, 5 + 8 = 13 . . . . and so on.
So the series is 0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21, . . . . for ever.
In Dan Brown's novel THE DA VINCI CODE (soon to be a movie) a naked dead man is found with these numbers written in blood.
And from the series the Golden Mean appears: as you go up the series the ratio of ANY two consecutive numbers – the higher divided by the lower - becomes the same! Initially the ratio wobbles between 1 and 2, but by the fifteenth number ( 377) it is stable at 1.618.
So how is this relevant to filmmaking?
Over the years, the cinema industry has had to upgrade itself to compete with TV. Up till the 1950’s all cinema images had a 4:3 ratio, or 1.33:1 (the same as regular TV). Then the new WIDESCREEN format was unveiled. In Europe this was set at 1.66:1 and in North America it is 1.75:1, both very close to the Golden Mean. (Did the cinema business know this, or did they simply choose a shape that was pleasing?)
At any rate it was a success. Every cinema had to widen the screen, yet this was the only major cost involved. The technology change was simple - the aperture plate in the projector was reduced in height, cutting off the top and bottom of the picture. So although the picture looked bigger, we actually saw less. A classic case of “Less Is More”.
(Over time, many film cameras and printers were modified for the reduced image size, but at the theatre we still regularly receive full-aperture prints. The projector simply masks the top and bottom of the image.)
Now of course the TV industry has caught up – frequently programmes and commercials are screened in widescreen (even on normal sets), anyone who can afford it buys a widescreen TV, and DVD’s are routinely issued in widescreen.
To compete with this the film industry has increased its use of Cinemascope, which is wider still – at a ratio of 2.35:1. Almost every major movie we screen is in "Scope". This format cannot fit a widescreen TV unless the top and bottom of the screen is black. And it will surely be many years before the TV industry reinvents itself again.
The technology for Cinemascope is much more sophisticated, and this was a true technology breakthrough when it first appeared in the late 50’s. The camera lens is anamorphic, squeezing the image from 2.35:1 to the normal 35mm frame width. At the same time the thick frameline between regular 35mm iframes was eliminated, so the Scope image on film, by using 100% of the frame height, is significantly taller than the standard 1.33:1 frame - almost square at just over 1:1. In the projector the reverse happens: the anamorphic lens unsqueezes the image back to 2.35:1.
And because of the greatly increased image size on the film, the Scope picture is of much higher quality than regular Widescreen, therefore still a jump ahead of TV. High Definition TV certainly has improved TV quality, but it cannot match the quality or impact of well projected Cinemascope.
DVD Sales
DVD copies are available for the films listed below.
Send cheque, return address, and title required, to:
Jim Elderton
#4-2395 Pleasant Valley Road
Armstrong, BC, V0E 1B2
email: jim@jimelderton.com
============================================
WHOSE GRANDMA ARE YOU? $ 23.00
i2i (18 minute version of above) $ 12.50
PASSION FOR FIRE $ 23.00
KINGSMILL, THE MASKS $ 12.50
SVEVA, PRISONER OF VERNON $ 23.00
THE HYDERABAD SOLUTION $ 23.00
(prices include GST and mailing.)
All rights reserved. Films may not be copied or
screened to public audiences without permission.
It comes from a natural sequence of numbers called the Fibonacci series, named after the Italian who discovered it. It is an infinite series of whole numbers, with logic so simple a small child can understand it.
The first number is zero.
The second number is 1.
Then add those together to get the third number:
0 + 1 = 1 . . . . So we have 1 again, starting the series at 0,1,1
Now add the last two numbers to get the fourth number:
1 + 1 = 2 . . . . giving us 0,1,1,2
And to get more numbers keep adding the last two:
1 + 2 = 3, 2 + 3 = 5,
3 + 5 = 8, 5 + 8 = 13 . . . . and so on.
So the series is 0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21, . . . . for ever.
In Dan Brown's novel THE DA VINCI CODE (soon to be a movie) a naked dead man is found with these numbers written in blood.
And from the series the Golden Mean appears: as you go up the series the ratio of ANY two consecutive numbers – the higher divided by the lower - becomes the same! Initially the ratio wobbles between 1 and 2, but by the fifteenth number ( 377) it is stable at 1.618.
So how is this relevant to filmmaking?
Over the years, the cinema industry has had to upgrade itself to compete with TV. Up till the 1950’s all cinema images had a 4:3 ratio, or 1.33:1 (the same as regular TV). Then the new WIDESCREEN format was unveiled. In Europe this was set at 1.66:1 and in North America it is 1.75:1, both very close to the Golden Mean. (Did the cinema business know this, or did they simply choose a shape that was pleasing?)
At any rate it was a success. Every cinema had to widen the screen, yet this was the only major cost involved. The technology change was simple - the aperture plate in the projector was reduced in height, cutting off the top and bottom of the picture. So although the picture looked bigger, we actually saw less. A classic case of “Less Is More”.
(Over time, many film cameras and printers were modified for the reduced image size, but at the theatre we still regularly receive full-aperture prints. The projector simply masks the top and bottom of the image.)
Now of course the TV industry has caught up – frequently programmes and commercials are screened in widescreen (even on normal sets), anyone who can afford it buys a widescreen TV, and DVD’s are routinely issued in widescreen.
To compete with this the film industry has increased its use of Cinemascope, which is wider still – at a ratio of 2.35:1. Almost every major movie we screen is in "Scope". This format cannot fit a widescreen TV unless the top and bottom of the screen is black. And it will surely be many years before the TV industry reinvents itself again.
The technology for Cinemascope is much more sophisticated, and this was a true technology breakthrough when it first appeared in the late 50’s. The camera lens is anamorphic, squeezing the image from 2.35:1 to the normal 35mm frame width. At the same time the thick frameline between regular 35mm iframes was eliminated, so the Scope image on film, by using 100% of the frame height, is significantly taller than the standard 1.33:1 frame - almost square at just over 1:1. In the projector the reverse happens: the anamorphic lens unsqueezes the image back to 2.35:1.
And because of the greatly increased image size on the film, the Scope picture is of much higher quality than regular Widescreen, therefore still a jump ahead of TV. High Definition TV certainly has improved TV quality, but it cannot match the quality or impact of well projected Cinemascope.
]]>eldertonBiography2005-03-19T18:19:00-08:002005-03-19T18:19:00-08:002005-03-19T18:19:00-08:00tag:jimelderton,2009:testweblog.6
JIM ELDERTON – Filmmaker and writer
Winner of the 2008 Media (Film) award at the Arts Council of the Central Okanagan
In the UK he won two directing awards.
____________________________________________________________________
Jim has been a major player in the film and TV industry, working in England, Hollywood, Europe, Canada and New Zealand.
He cut his film teeth in the UK at the famous Ealing Studios on the BBC’s first season of Dr. Who, as well as Not Only But Also with Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. He also assisted on the BBC’s signature arts programme Monitor, with films directed by Ken Russell.
He rejoined the BBC as drama editor and documentary director, edited TV commercials for JWT and McCann Erickson, also PR documentaries for Esso. He was sound editor for the TV series Catweazle and editor for feature movies Loving Feeling; Terror; Spaced Out; Horror Planet; TV series Grasshopper Island; and drama short The Errand.
For Zoetrope UK he edited music videos for U2, Stray Cats and April Wine. In Hollywood he cut Rocky Mountain Oprey for Capitol Records, featuring Emmy Lou Harris, and edited other feature length videos: Police Round The World; Urgh! a Music War; and Men Without Women with Steven Van Zandt (ex the Bruce Springsteen band).
Jim’s UK documentary directing covered diverse locations: Naval ships, French villages, Northern Spain, the streets of San Francisco, the Bath Festival, and included the award-winning network TV documentary Blind Faith, about blind people sailing.
In Vancouver he edited a two-screen interactive piece for the Canada Pavilion at Expo Barcelona, and in Toronto he cut Emmy-nominated Threads of Hope featuring music by Sting, narrated by Donald Sutherland. He was lead editor on the TV series TAKE-OFF, and in Victoria he cut Gemini-nominated Monarch, Butterfly Beyond Borders.
After moving to Vernon he filmed The Hyderabad Solution, about the restoration in India of 17th Century manuscripts submerged in water and sewage. The film was nominated for the restoration industry’s Phoenix award, was screened at the 2005 Okanagan Film Festival.
Jim’s first show at the Vernon and Distriact Performing Arts Centre was Caroline’s Rock, about the sculpture “Energy-V” created during the 2002 OTISS Sculpture Symposium, screened with the sculptor, Caroline Ramersdorfer from Vienne, attending.
Filming for local clients include Walk-On (disabled people riding horses); Journey to Casa Guatemala (high school students volunteer at an orphanage); Real World 101 (Charles Bloom Forestry Project), a Search-and-Rescue training film for the BC Justice Institute, and a piece enabling Vernon Home Building Centre to win a national industry competition. He has filmed music events at The Vernon Performing Arts Centre, Vernon Towne Theatre, Vernon Jazz Club and the Salmon Arm Roots ‘n Blues Festival.
Three of his own short films were: The Bees (Charlene Woodbury painting a mural for the Agricultural Hall at the IPE) ; Kingsmill – The Bees (Coldstream’s Bob Kingsmill, commissioned to create three bronze masks for placement outside the Vernon Performing Arts Centre); and Conversation with Sonny Rhodes.
And his feature-length documentary Sveva – Prisoner of Vernon (artist Sveva Caetani’s dramatic life and work) has firmly broken the house attendance record at the Vernon Performing Arts Centre after being seen by about 4,500 people.
For the Vancouver-produced movie Fido (the first ever filmed entirely in the Central and North Okanagan) Jim shot the publicity interviews and production footage including the interview with Billy Connolly.
Early in 2007 he took Bob Kingsmill (see above) to New Zealand to visit an artists’ commune run by Barry Brickell, an eccentric potter in the Coromandel: the result was Passion for Fire, screened in Canada and New Zealand. In the same year he completed Whose Grandma Are You, filmed at the Meadows School project with Sharon Mackenzie, with a successful premiere introduced by CBC’s Shelagh Rogers.
He recently completed promotional films for Rotary International, and the Global Education course at Fulton Secondary School, and is planning a second film in New Zealand.
He has staged charity concerts here with Fruit (Australia), Jimmy Bowskill (Toronto) Judy Rose (Vernon), and Sherman Doucette with Henry Piovesan. He volunteers for the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra, the Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre Society, Vernon Jazz Club, He’s on the board of Powerhouse Theatre (as publicity director) and Vernon Film Society, and is a member of Kalamalka Rotary Club.
Januaru 2009
Biography
JIM ELDERTON – Filmmaker and writer
Winner of the 2008 Media (Film) award at the Arts Council of the Central Okanagan
In the UK he won two directing awards.
____________________________________________________________________
Jim has been a major player in the film and TV industry, working in England, Hollywood, Europe, Canada and New Zealand.
He cut his film teeth in the UK at the famous Ealing Studios on the BBC’s first season of Dr. Who, as well as Not Only But Also with Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. He also assisted on the BBC’s signature arts programme Monitor, with films directed by Ken Russell.
He rejoined the BBC as drama editor and documentary director, edited TV commercials for JWT and McCann Erickson, also PR documentaries for Esso. He was sound editor for the TV series Catweazle and editor for feature movies Loving Feeling; Terror; Spaced Out; Horror Planet; TV series Grasshopper Island; and drama short The Errand.
For Zoetrope UK he edited music videos for U2, Stray Cats and April Wine. In Hollywood he cut Rocky Mountain Oprey for Capitol Records, featuring Emmy Lou Harris, and edited other feature length videos: Police Round The World; Urgh! a Music War; and Men Without Women with Steven Van Zandt (ex the Bruce Springsteen band).
Jim’s UK documentary directing covered diverse locations: Naval ships, French villages, Northern Spain, the streets of San Francisco, the Bath Festival, and included the award-winning network TV documentary Blind Faith, about blind people sailing.
In Vancouver he edited a two-screen interactive piece for the Canada Pavilion at Expo Barcelona, and in Toronto he cut Emmy-nominated Threads of Hope featuring music by Sting, narrated by Donald Sutherland. He was lead editor on the TV series TAKE-OFF, and in Victoria he cut Gemini-nominated Monarch, Butterfly Beyond Borders.
After moving to Vernon he filmed The Hyderabad Solution, about the restoration in India of 17th Century manuscripts submerged in water and sewage. The film was nominated for the restoration industry’s Phoenix award, was screened at the 2005 Okanagan Film Festival.
Jim’s first show at the Vernon and Distriact Performing Arts Centre was Caroline’s Rock, about the sculpture “Energy-V” created during the 2002 OTISS Sculpture Symposium, screened with the sculptor, Caroline Ramersdorfer from Vienne, attending.
Filming for local clients include Walk-On (disabled people riding horses); Journey to Casa Guatemala (high school students volunteer at an orphanage); Real World 101 (Charles Bloom Forestry Project), a Search-and-Rescue training film for the BC Justice Institute, and a piece enabling Vernon Home Building Centre to win a national industry competition. He has filmed music events at The Vernon Performing Arts Centre, Vernon Towne Theatre, Vernon Jazz Club and the Salmon Arm Roots ‘n Blues Festival.
Three of his own short films were: The Bees (Charlene Woodbury painting a mural for the Agricultural Hall at the IPE) ; Kingsmill – The Bees (Coldstream’s Bob Kingsmill, commissioned to create three bronze masks for placement outside the Vernon Performing Arts Centre); and Conversation with Sonny Rhodes.
And his feature-length documentary Sveva – Prisoner of Vernon (artist Sveva Caetani’s dramatic life and work) has firmly broken the house attendance record at the Vernon Performing Arts Centre after being seen by about 4,500 people.
For the Vancouver-produced movie Fido (the first ever filmed entirely in the Central and North Okanagan) Jim shot the publicity interviews and production footage including the interview with Billy Connolly.
Early in 2007 he took Bob Kingsmill (see above) to New Zealand to visit an artists’ commune run by Barry Brickell, an eccentric potter in the Coromandel: the result was Passion for Fire, screened in Canada and New Zealand. In the same year he completed Whose Grandma Are You, filmed at the Meadows School project with Sharon Mackenzie, with a successful premiere introduced by CBC’s Shelagh Rogers.
He recently completed promotional films for Rotary International, and the Global Education course at Fulton Secondary School, and is planning a second film in New Zealand.
He has staged charity concerts here with Fruit (Australia), Jimmy Bowskill (Toronto) Judy Rose (Vernon), and Sherman Doucette with Henry Piovesan. He volunteers for the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra, the Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre Society, Vernon Jazz Club, He’s on the board of Powerhouse Theatre (as publicity director) and Vernon Film Society, and is a member of Kalamalka Rotary Club.
Januaru 2009
]]>eldertonNews2005-03-19T18:04:00-08:002005-03-19T18:04:00-08:002005-03-19T18:04:00-08:00tag:jimelderton,2009:testweblog.5
VERNON
British Columbia, Canada
January 10th 2009
NEXT SCREENINGS
SVEVA, Prisoner of Vernon
at the CREEKSIDE THEATRE, Winfield
Saturday February 28th
tickets 250 766 5669
and at the door
www.creeksidetheatre.com
PASSION FOR FIRE and CAROLINE'S ROCK
at the Vernon Community Arts Centre
(at Polson Park)
Friday March 20th
tickets at the door
PASSION FOR FIRE (Two Potters)
Bob Kingsmill, acclaimed potter in Coldstream BC, travels to New Zealand to meet the legendary Barry Brickell - "the mad potter with a railway". Bob worked and lived with the artists for three weeks, built a 14 foot mural, learnt about Barry's extraordinary oil-and-water firing, and rode the railway - a triumph of narrow-gauge engineering. After the Performing Artc Centre screening I took the film to New Zealand's Driving Creek Railway for screening at the Heuraki House Arts Centre, Coromandel. The film also went to the New Zealand Potters Convention in Christchurch.
CAROLINE'S ROCK
photo supplied by Caroline Ramersdorfer
Caroline Ramersdorfer, international sculptor from Vienna, created the sculpture ENERGY-V installed in Vernon in 2002 at the Performing Arts Centre. This story is not just about a piece of art, it's about the drame which ensued when federal government funding failed to materialise.
Caroline came from Austria for the premiere in 2004. More recently she created an incredible piece at Dubai, as part of a huge international symposium competition, and took first prize. The completed sculptures was placed at the site of the world's tallest tower, then under construction.
SVEVA, PRISONER OF VERNON
The film, with the early versions screened from November 2005, now holds the record at the Vernon Performing Arts Centre for highest attendance for a single production. Last year it was updated for the fourth time, and the premiere screening (on Sveva's Birthday, April 27th) featured the first-ever auction of a Caetani painting, thus putting Sveva onto the national fine-arts database.
So now the film ends very differently: she's no longer the Prisoner of Vernon! Having finally resolved the legal issue over film rights I have just submitted the film to the Toronto Hot Docs festival, the first step in obtaining distribution. If shown on TV or in cinemas this might also lead to her work gaining wider recognition.
Sveva Caetani was the legendary artist whose difficult life has become Vernon's greatest story. The 90 minute film uses archive footage and stills, interviews with Sveva's friends, reconstruction, and of course the paintings themselves. John Lent narrates, and Jo Jones (of Powerhouse Theatre) voiced Sveva's texts.
---------------------------
Earlier I did crane shots at Vernon Cemetery and Caetani House, working with Chad Rimmel from Kelowna.
the Caetani graves - Leone, Ofelia, Sveva, and Miss Juul
photo - Eric Draht
Chad built his first camera crane two years ago, and is now using Mark-2.
Caetani House, Vernon, where Mother held Sveva captive for 25 years.
photo - Eric Draht
Eric, one of Vernon's most talented photographers, was with us to take production stills.
WHOSE GRANDMA ARE YOU? - and - i2i
Sharon Mackenzie’s class at Kidston Elementary re-located to Coldstream Meadows Retirement Community for two entire months, with astonishing results. The Meadows School Project is receieving much attention throughout Canada, and funding is now in place to expand the project through Sharon's own intergenerational project. Anyone who wants a DVD copy of this 60-minute film should send a cheue for $23.00 (to cover shipping and GST) to me at #4-2395 Pleasant Valley Road, Armstrong, BC, V0E 1B2, along with the return address.
Sharon commissioned an 18-minute version of the film, concentrating on the educational side of the equation, titled i2i (eye to eye). I can supply copies of this for $12.50.
CHARLES BLOOM FORESTRY
REAL WORLD 101 - a showcase project at Charles Bloom School in Lumby, enabling students to get hands-on experience away from the classroom in logging work and forest management. Backed by local logging and equipment industries, and subject to Ministry of Forests guidelines, this is (as far as we know) the only high school in North America which offers an industrial course providing industry tickets.
Charles Bloom forestry teacher Jack Hockey
with BC Education Minister Tom Christensen
photo - Jim Elderton
In the summer the students studied machines at the ILA Logging Cinvention in Vernon.
photo - Jim Elderton
DVD PRODUCTION.
I now routinely supply DVDs to clients and to the public. Original digital video is uncompressed (and would occupy too much disc space on a DVD), but Mpeg2 compression gives an image almost as good as broadcast TV (around 500 lines, compared with VHS at 250 lines). With short films I can select the highest quality output level, ideal for local corporate work.
However these discs are produced in small quantities, and are not the same as manufactured DVDs. Occasionally a player will refuse to accept a DVD, and the only remedy is to try it on a different player. A research institute recently tested 500 models of DVD players, and only one of these would play every disc they tried. That player cost $3,000.
THE HYDERABAD SOLUTION
photo - SVK Library, Hyderabad
What an extraordinary story - a Canadian restoration company saving 17th century manuscripts in India from mud and sewage for a Chicago university. And in the middle of the project the Canadians were forced to leave India when the Pakistani-India conflict carried a threat of nuclear war.
PAL and NTSC
People are often confused over TV line standards. North America and Japan both use NTSC; England, New Zealand and India use PAL. But I found that PAL users can almost always run our NTSC tapes and DVD's. So if you send these to the UK you probably do not need conversion copies made.
However, PAL DVD's and tapes will not run here, and must be converted on a PAL-to-NTSC system. Broadcast-quality conversion is available in Vancouver but is very expensive. Cheaper domestic-level facilities exist, but quality suffers.
EMAILS
My email address is jim@jimelderton.com
I receive a lot of spam, so please indicate clearly in the subject line what your communication is about, otherwise I might delete it.
News VERNON
British Columbia, Canada
January 10th 2009
NEXT SCREENINGS
SVEVA, Prisoner of Vernon
at the CREEKSIDE THEATRE, Winfield
Saturday February 28th
tickets 250 766 5669
and at the door
www.creeksidetheatre.com
PASSION FOR FIRE and CAROLINE'S ROCK
at the Vernon Community Arts Centre
(at Polson Park)
Friday March 20th
tickets at the door
PASSION FOR FIRE (Two Potters)
Bob Kingsmill, acclaimed potter in Coldstream BC, travels to New Zealand to meet the legendary Barry Brickell - "the mad potter with a railway". Bob worked and lived with the artists for three weeks, built a 14 foot mural, learnt about Barry's extraordinary oil-and-water firing, and rode the railway - a triumph of narrow-gauge engineering. After the Performing Artc Centre screening I took the film to New Zealand's Driving Creek Railway for screening at the Heuraki House Arts Centre, Coromandel. The film also went to the New Zealand Potters Convention in Christchurch.
CAROLINE'S ROCK
photo supplied by Caroline Ramersdorfer
Caroline Ramersdorfer, international sculptor from Vienna, created the sculpture ENERGY-V installed in Vernon in 2002 at the Performing Arts Centre. This story is not just about a piece of art, it's about the drame which ensued when federal government funding failed to materialise.
Caroline came from Austria for the premiere in 2004. More recently she created an incredible piece at Dubai, as part of a huge international symposium competition, and took first prize. The completed sculptures was placed at the site of the world's tallest tower, then under construction.
SVEVA, PRISONER OF VERNON
The film, with the early versions screened from November 2005, now holds the record at the Vernon Performing Arts Centre for highest attendance for a single production. Last year it was updated for the fourth time, and the premiere screening (on Sveva's Birthday, April 27th) featured the first-ever auction of a Caetani painting, thus putting Sveva onto the national fine-arts database.
So now the film ends very differently: she's no longer the Prisoner of Vernon! Having finally resolved the legal issue over film rights I have just submitted the film to the Toronto Hot Docs festival, the first step in obtaining distribution. If shown on TV or in cinemas this might also lead to her work gaining wider recognition.
Sveva Caetani was the legendary artist whose difficult life has become Vernon's greatest story. The 90 minute film uses archive footage and stills, interviews with Sveva's friends, reconstruction, and of course the paintings themselves. John Lent narrates, and Jo Jones (of Powerhouse Theatre) voiced Sveva's texts.
---------------------------
Earlier I did crane shots at Vernon Cemetery and Caetani House, working with Chad Rimmel from Kelowna.
the Caetani graves - Leone, Ofelia, Sveva, and Miss Juul
photo - Eric Draht
Chad built his first camera crane two years ago, and is now using Mark-2.
Caetani House, Vernon, where Mother held Sveva captive for 25 years.
photo - Eric Draht
Eric, one of Vernon's most talented photographers, was with us to take production stills.
WHOSE GRANDMA ARE YOU? - and - i2i
Sharon Mackenzie’s class at Kidston Elementary re-located to Coldstream Meadows Retirement Community for two entire months, with astonishing results. The Meadows School Project is receieving much attention throughout Canada, and funding is now in place to expand the project through Sharon's own intergenerational project. Anyone who wants a DVD copy of this 60-minute film should send a cheue for $23.00 (to cover shipping and GST) to me at #4-2395 Pleasant Valley Road, Armstrong, BC, V0E 1B2, along with the return address.
Sharon commissioned an 18-minute version of the film, concentrating on the educational side of the equation, titled i2i (eye to eye). I can supply copies of this for $12.50.
CHARLES BLOOM FORESTRY
REAL WORLD 101 - a showcase project at Charles Bloom School in Lumby, enabling students to get hands-on experience away from the classroom in logging work and forest management. Backed by local logging and equipment industries, and subject to Ministry of Forests guidelines, this is (as far as we know) the only high school in North America which offers an industrial course providing industry tickets.
Charles Bloom forestry teacher Jack Hockey
with BC Education Minister Tom Christensen
photo - Jim Elderton
In the summer the students studied machines at the ILA Logging Cinvention in Vernon.
photo - Jim Elderton
DVD PRODUCTION.
I now routinely supply DVDs to clients and to the public. Original digital video is uncompressed (and would occupy too much disc space on a DVD), but Mpeg2 compression gives an image almost as good as broadcast TV (around 500 lines, compared with VHS at 250 lines). With short films I can select the highest quality output level, ideal for local corporate work.
However these discs are produced in small quantities, and are not the same as manufactured DVDs. Occasionally a player will refuse to accept a DVD, and the only remedy is to try it on a different player. A research institute recently tested 500 models of DVD players, and only one of these would play every disc they tried. That player cost $3,000.
THE HYDERABAD SOLUTION
photo - SVK Library, Hyderabad
What an extraordinary story - a Canadian restoration company saving 17th century manuscripts in India from mud and sewage for a Chicago university. And in the middle of the project the Canadians were forced to leave India when the Pakistani-India conflict carried a threat of nuclear war.
PAL and NTSC
People are often confused over TV line standards. North America and Japan both use NTSC; England, New Zealand and India use PAL. But I found that PAL users can almost always run our NTSC tapes and DVD's. So if you send these to the UK you probably do not need conversion copies made.
However, PAL DVD's and tapes will not run here, and must be converted on a PAL-to-NTSC system. Broadcast-quality conversion is available in Vancouver but is very expensive. Cheaper domestic-level facilities exist, but quality suffers.
EMAILS
My email address is jim@jimelderton.com
I receive a lot of spam, so please indicate clearly in the subject line what your communication is about, otherwise I might delete it.
]]>elderton
