free help and advice to film-makers and creatives

PAL to NTSC conversion

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:03:41 +0100

Europe and America have different video systems - Europe has the PAL system, America has the NTSC system. Before High Definition, the image sizes were also different, but now the NTSC and PAL image sizes for HD are standardised. However, they still have different frame rates. PAL records at 25 frames per second, whereas NTSC records at 30 frames per second. This means that when you convert form PAL to NTSC you have to increase your number of frames to 30.

How do you do this? Well, there are two methods, the traditional method and the Slow PAL method.

The traditional method involves your editing software creating the extra frames and slotting them in. This is done in a variety of ways, some software simply repeats a frame so that it appears twice in a row, giving an extra 5 frames per second. This naturally creates a sometimes noticeable jerky effect, so other software plugins such as Natress, will use some sophisticated averaging algorithms to reconstruct all the frames including the extra 5 that are needed.

You can get some great looking results this way, although you should be aware that you can get some artefacts that reveal there has been some processing.

Poster advertising - using interaction

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 22:15:33 +0200

Posters using interaction help to draw an audience in. It’s done in many ways - see later - but here is a clever example of text being used as a double meaning.

“You could be here” means that you could be sitting in the Sun on holiday - the advert is for a holiday company. Or it means you could be sitting in this particular empty deck chair.

If you were in this deck chair, not only would you be in a sunny holiday destination, but you’d also be between this hunky guy on the right, and you’d be the one chatting to the two friendly and attractive women on the left.

Lucky Strike use a similar routine in many of their adverts. Here we have a woman who is not sure about whether to kiss another woman or not. She’s looking directly at you and she’s telling you “I choose Lucky Strike”. If you’re interested in her, all you need to is grab the packet of Lucky Strike and offer her a cigarette to get her attention. The poster puts you in competition with the blond woman and makes you think that you have the edge because the dark haired woman is not quite responding to the kiss and is looking at you.

Poster advertising

Tue, 8 Sep 2009 23:07:24 +0200

Poster advertising at its best involves a great deal of thought, planning - and money.
All advertising involves grabbing attention, delivering a message in order to sell a product, service or idea. Learning how good posters can tell a story and convey a message in just one image is invaluable for other media such as film production.

This poster for Erste Bank (a major Austrian bank) looks like it’s just a snapshot taken at the end of a race, but on closer inspection you can see that it is very cleverly crafted in terms of positioning of the elements - people and objects - and the use of colours and text.

What are the elements? The man from Erste bank is centre - not of the picture, but centre of the crowd in the foreground. How do we know he’s from Erste bank? Wearing a suit is a dead give away, but he’s also wearing the Erste bank colours - blue shirt and red tie - same colours as the Erste Bank logo in the foreground.
He is the central character in the same way that Erste bank is central in supporting the race - you can see the logos everywhere.

But not only is he centre of the picture, he’s also centre of finishing line structure. This large inflatable in the background coloured blue - the colour of Erste bank - he’s centre of the of this arching structure and it does two things.
Firstly it makes him more central, more important in the picture - like a priest with a giant church arch behind him.
And secondly, this arch encompasses everything and everyone - like huge arms holding everything in place.

Next are the people. The people on the right are fit and healthy. The man in the foreground, right, is upright and laughing. He’s using Erste bank for support - literally leaning on the man from Erste bank - and this is the man that Erste bank are helping - with the drink.

The people on the left are not doing so well. Bent double after a hard race, they’re trying to support themselves and they look pretty knackered.

Finally, who is interacting with us? The man from Erste bank, and the man bend double. These two are looking at us.
The man from Erste bank is looking at us, saying “I can support you too; come bank with me.” He smart, he’s attractive. He looks trustworthy.
But if you don’t trust the man from Erste bank, trust the man on the left. He’s not from the bank, he’s a real person just like you and me. He’s looking at us saying come on, shall we stop trying to support ourselves and get help from Erste bank.

The text says. “A good bank supports Sport. The best lives it.”

If you think that all of the information above seems like reading too much into the image, have a look at what happens when some of the elements are changed around.

What is the feeling now?

By swapping over the people right and left, we have a very different picture.

This time, it looks like the man on the left is laughing at the man on the right. And because the man left is pals with the man from Erste Bank, this makes it look like the man from Erste bank is also laughing at the man on the right.

The man from Erste bank is helping the man on the right by offering him a drink, but this time it looks patronising.

What’s interesting is that man’s face on the right looks more pained than it did before, whereas before he looked like he was smiling.

With this second example I have made the man from Erste bank shorter.

This time, the dominant character is the man on the right.

The little gap above the head of the man from Erste bank means that he is no longer associated with the arch.

This time it’s the man on the right whose head is touching the arch who gets the benefit. It’s like he is encompassing the the picture.

In fact the man in the middle looks rather subservient.

Philip Moran
FFAB:UK
philmoran@ffab.co.uk