Thanks for a Great Year

So that bring us to the end of another year of CAT/SOC.  Thanks, guys, for a great year.

And thanks for a quality year when it came to final projects.  There were some GREAT films! We have posted several of them for posterity.  Go to the tab above or just click here to view.

Have a great summer and keep in touch!

Mr. Janu & Mr. Miks

And here's something we did back in December 2012:

"Moneyball" Discussion

If you missed class on Monday, you will need to do a make-up assignment fro missing Moneyball.  The assignment involves watching the following video and answering the questions in paragraph form.  This is worth 100 points and will go on the discussion for both classes.

The video is from DP/30 and in it the director, cinematographer, editor and sound designer discuss the film, Moneyball.

Must See Videos for Monday's Discussion

On Monday, we will be having a  discussion over Blade Runner and Waking Life.  This discussion will focus on themes found in both movies and postmodernism in general.  Below, you will find Walking Life and "On the Edge of Blade Runner," a short documentary about the making of the film.  It has some necessary background information.  (If you want to watch Blade Runner, it is available on a foreign site.)



Waking Life from GODS•TECH on Vimeo.

Songs for Film Music

My friend, Tom Flannery, who was one of the composers for Facing Sudan and Crayons and Paper, has made available for us all of the music that he has made over the years.  I know many of you want to use songs with lyrics and may be having a difficult time obtaining those rights.

Tom has a wide variety of music available.  His has an album of great American rock and roll entitled, Teen Angst and the Green Flannel.  He also just released an album entitled Love and Streets.

He has other albums available at his website, too.  Most of his music can be labeled as "Americana."  That is, solo acoustic.  But he covers a wide variety of topics and emotions.

Here's the thing:  if you download any of the songs from his website (or iTunes, Amazon, GooglePlay, etc) he will let you use that music in your film for free.  He's very cool about you being able to use his music, if you want.

For a long time, Tom ran a website (along with Lorne Clarke, who also has music available) that put out a song-a-week.  That is actually how I discovered Tom and Lorne and they ended up creating the entire soundtracks to my films.

Although that website is no longer available, the songs and an archived version of the website is available here.  There are some 200 songs available for download on that site.

Lorne Clarke's latest album, Moonlight and Cider, is also available.  Likewise, if you have a song you want, download it and Lorne will let you use it in your film.

Also, don't forget, I also have available production music at VideoBlocks---if there is a song you want, just let me know and I will download it for you.  There are thousands of instrumental pieces there available for download as well.  And you can browse the music by category or emotion.

Editing Software

You should be in the editing stage of your movie project.  If you don't want to use iMovie, there are some option without having to spend money.  You can download a number of different editing programs in a "trial" basis.  The trial versions are usually fully functional and will work for 30 days after installation.  Below are some links to the more popular programs and most are available for Mac or PC.  Make sure you select the right one for your system:

AVID:  Avid creates the programs that are often used in Hollywood.  Their basic versions would be good for this project:  AVID DS or AVID Media Composer.

ADOBE PREMIERE PRO CS6:  This is a very powerful program; big learning curve though.  This is a free trial.

VEGAS MOVIE STUDIO:  Sony has several versions of its movie-making software--all available for a free trial.

PINNACLE STUDIO

AVS VIDEO EDITOR:  Basic program

POWER DIRECTOR 11:  A basic video editing program.


Here is a FREE program (shareware) that can be used as well:

Wondershare Video Editor


Also, checkout CNET for more programs.