September 2019 - Films trailers blog

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Monday, 16 September 2019

The misleading images of the CIA in Hollywood movies

Monday, September 16, 2019 0
The misleading images of the CIA in Hollywood movies
The misleading images of the CIA in Hollywood movies
The misleading images of the CIA in Hollywood movies


Hollywood has produced incredibly entertaining pictures of the CIA officers' lives. The mystery veil that surrounds the work of real-life intelligence operators lends itself to speculation and gaps are filled with fiction. These fictitious representations often lead to the solidification of the CIA's inaccurate points of view for most people.



In our exertion to remain as straightforward as conceivable, we dispel 10 of the more common misconceptions people have about the CIA. He often plays on the stupendous screen.



Myth 1: The CIA spies on US citizens

The mission of the CIA is to collect information relating to foreign intelligence and foreign counterintelligence. In accordance with the standard guidelines given by the President in Executive Decree 12333 of 1981 and in accordance with the standard approved procedures of the Attorney General, the CIA is limited to the collection of intelligence information directed against US citizens. The collection is permitted only at authorized intelligence scales; For example, if there is a reason to believe that a person is involved in espionage or international terrorist activities. CIA procedures require prior approval of any type of research that may be required and may apply to the collection system. The execution of the National Intelligence Director and Attorney General may be required. These limitations have been in effect since the 1970s.



In the United States, the FBI is the head of intelligence addresses, especially those directed against US citizens. The CIA does not collect information on domestic activities of US citizens in the country, but on information from foreign sources.



Myth 2: The men and women who work for the CIA are spies and the operators

Citizens who work for the CIA are officers - not the operators or spies. All employees, from operations officers to analysts, to standard librarians and public affairs are considered CIA officers.
So who is a CIA specialist? Our operations specialists recruit well-placed human resources with access to information. These are brooches are specialists. They provide information studies about their country to help America. Operations officers are CIA employees who recruit, recruit and manipulate foreign operators. They are specialists in the understanding of human nature, emotions, desires and inspirations.
Foreign specialists/spies are invaluable. Develop and implement the US National and Foreign Security Policy. Spies risk imprisonment, loss of work, reputation, family and friends. Some may even be executed if they take textual style.

Myth 3: All CIA Officers Recruit and Handle Specialists

Some people who work for the CIA recruit and handle specialists, which is the job of an operations officer. Although the number of employees at the CIA is ranked, we can hope that the diversity of careers here is similar to that of a large company. CIA officers work as analysts, scientists, engineers, economists, linguists, mathematicians, secretaries, accountants, computer scientists, targeting specialists, inventors, developers, cartographers, digital operators, architects, computer engineers, computer scientists, resources human resources, auditors, environmental psychologists, nurses, physicians, psychiatrists, cybersecurity operators, security specialists, polygraph examiners, lawyers, paralegals, logistics operators, researchers, call operators, expert gourmet writers, graphic designers, videographers, instructors, auto mechanics, librarians, historians, museum curators, and more!

Myth 4: All CIA officers are calm, mysterious, clandestine, live and wherever they work

Some officers live undercover, but not all. And while some of us may be able to confirm that we are working for the CIA, we may have to refuse you information. In fact, for the majority of our officers, working at the CIA accomplishes every other job from nine to five in terms of logistics and style of living. The work we do can be a mystery, but our skills are not. CIA officers conduct typical competitions: we have children and pets, we train in the gym, watch movies, eat eatery, spend time with friends, and volunteer. We come from a variety of backgrounds and an enormous range of educational skills.
The interests of US national security: we are ordinary people with professional responsibility.

Myth 5: The CIA has repressive powers and all its officers are armed.

The open often confuses the responsibilities of the FBI with those of the CIA. Both agencies work in a close joint effort, but their roles in America's insurance are very different. The CIA is not a law enforcement agency. The responsibility of the CIA is to collect information and information abroad. During our mission abroad, we take steps to secure this information. The FBI is the government agency charged with investigating wrongdoings on US soil directed against US citizens abroad. The FBI is therefore responsible for intelligence addresses in the United States, especially those directed against US citizens.
The vast majority of CIA officers do not have weapons. CIA officers never want to be a gun.

Myth 6: The Agency operates independently and is not accountable to anyone
The CIA is responsible for the American people. We operate under the control of the elected representatives of the United States. In the executive branch, the National Security Council (NSC), which includes the president, the bad habit president, the secretary of state and the secretary of defense, provides leadership and a bearing for foreign intelligence and intelligence activities. against espionage. In Congress, the Senate Special Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) and the House Special Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), as well as other committees, closely monitor the affinities and programs of the Agency.
Internally, the Office of the Inspector General of the CIA conducts independent reviews, reviews, investigations and reviews of CIA programs and operations, in order to detect and deter fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement.
The Office of Management and Expenditure Plan, the SSCI, the HPSCI and the Defense Subcommittees of the House and Senate Credits Committees scrutinize the spending of the CIA. Resources allocated to the CIA are subject to the same rigorous review and approval process that applies to all other government associations.

Myth 7: Working at the CIA wants to make you known and recognized

Men and women who selflessly serve their standard country through a secret insight do textual style not for fame or surveillance. They are standard deep love and attached to their country. CIA officers are guided by a professional ethic that includes the administration - putting our country first, our agency before us and our stewardship. By adhering to these principles, there is no spot for fame or observation.

Myth 8: The CIA does foreign policy

The CIA does not do politics; it is an independent source of foreign intelligence information for those who textual style. The main mission of the CIA is to collect, evaluate and disseminate foreign intelligence to the President and decision-makers of the US Government. The CIA works in the US intelligence and intelligence field with non-state actors, US policymakers, the US military, and other key members of the intelligence community.

Myth 9: All CIA officers are fluent in several languages.

Speaking a foreign language is not a prerequisite for working at the CIA and not all Agency employees are bilingual. However, the ability to speak, translate and interpret foreign languages ​​is essential to the CIA's mission. ICA values ​​foreign language skills. The CIA has one of the famous teaching laboratories in the world.

Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA and the Secret History of the Sixties 



How the CIA's Crack-Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb by Nick Schou (2014-09-09) 

Friday, 13 September 2019

The silent cinema. Birth of an art

Friday, September 13, 2019 0
The silent cinema. Birth of an art
The silent cinema. Birth of an art

The silent cinema. Birth of an art
The silent cinema. Birth of an art




The pioneers of engineering
The Lumière brothers, Louis (1864-1948) and Auguste (1862-1954), made the first public cinematographic projection on December 28, 1895; it takes place in the "Salon Indien", in the basement of the Grand Café in Paris, in front of 33 paying spectators. The program then includes films of about a minute (the output of the Lumière factories in Lyon, the exit of the port, the baby lunch, the part of spread). If the arrival of a train station in La Ciotat triggers the first strong emotions, Sprinkler watered amuses the public, which is gradually becoming numerous.
During the year 1896, the Lumière brothers sent representatives, operators and projectionists to some twenty countries, where they made the cinematograph known while filming the famous places and monuments themselves. In the United States, the first paid cinematographic session, made with Thomas Edison's Vitascope, takes place in New York on April 23, 1896.
However, the first creator to truly realize the possibilities offered by cinema in the field of fiction is the illusionist Georges Méliès (1861-1938). Between 1896 and 1913, he directed nearly 500 films, for which he invented a number of rigs (the Voyage dans la Lune, 1902, To the conquest of the pole, 1912). For their part, the British George Albert Smith (1864-1959) and James Williamson (1855-1933) develop the division of scenes in shots.


The founding work of Griffith
The American director David Wark Griffith (1875-1948) is the first to make cinema an art in its own right: for this, he takes advantage of camera movements, natural settings as well as sets in studio with artificial light, montage and subtitle resources to make his films accessible to the general public. Above all, he becomes aware of the interest of feature film for cinema: if Judith of Bethulie (1914) is 45 minutes, the Birth of a nation (1915) will last 2 h 40 min and Intolerance (1916), 3 h 20 min. The visual language that Griffith discovers will feed the inspiration of filmmakers around the world for decades.

The beginnings of Hollywood
The primitive period ends with the transition from short film to feature film. This era is also that of the change in the ratio of forces between French production, until then economically dominant, and American production. It is also the moment when firms begin to settle in Hollywood, which will develop very quickly during the 1914-1918 war.
In its early days, American cinema is the subject of rivalries. Thomas Edison, in particular, is trying to eliminate competition by patenting Vitascope. The creation of the Motion Pictures Patents Company (MPPC) in 1908 temporarily put an end to this situation by guaranteeing its members - including Edison and the French Pathé and Méliès - a monopoly on the production and distribution of films. . But a group of independents ranks under the banner of Carl Laemmle (1867-1939), Adolph Zukor (1873-1976) and William Fox (1879-1952): they decide to produce their own films and their install in California, far from the MPPC studios - which will soon be declared illegal under antitrust law. Their choice is fixed on Hollywood, which is then a small city with strong sunshine.
During the First World War, film production in Europe was almost halted. That's when Hollywood becomes the film capital of the world. A series of mergers and acquisitions led to the founding of major studios (the majors), which will dominate the American film industry for about forty years. Following the path opened by filmmaker and producer Thomas Harper Ince (1882-1924), the studios add their power to the number of films produced, the choice of scenarios that flatter the taste of the public and advertising campaigns orchestrated around the stars of the screen, the stars.


The advent of the star system
Unlike the credits of today's movies, which list hundreds of names, those of early film films are succinct. All prefer a certain anonymity: the producers because they fear that the stardom does not force them to pay higher fees; the actors themselves, because they do not yet believe in the prestige of cinema. Carl Laemmle is one of the first to realize the importance of actors in the power of attraction of a film on the public: in 1910, he decides to reveal the name of one of the most famous actresses of the moment Florence Lawrence (1886-1938), known only under the nickname of Biograph Girl - from the name of the studio that employs it. The first big movie stars will be Mary Pickford (1893-1979) and Douglas Fairbanks (1883-1939).
Having become indispensable to the commercial success of the films, the actors are then shaped by the studios in the image of the heroes that the public is supposed to venerate. Magazines such as Photoplay maintain the myth of the star by exposing their readers to the lavish lifestyle of their favorite stars or by publishing revelations about their sentimental adventures. In the early 1920s, however, the Hollywood image was tarnished by a series of scandals and suspicious deaths that pushed producers to implement the "Hays Code" - named after its instigator, William H. Hays, former Minister of President Harding. This code sets out strict rules that scriptwriters and directors must follow to ensure that their films do not offend the good morals, religion, morals or fundamental values of the American nation. This code is neither more nor less than censorship.

The first successful genres

The serials (serials) are a huge success in the United States - as in France, where the first films of this type are produced - by conforming to a double imperative: simplicity and readability; the films that content the adventures of the heroine embodied by Pearl White (1889-1938) are the perfect examples.


Burlesque comedies, borrowing elements from the clown numbers of the traditional circus, are also among the most popular films. The "King of Comedy" is Mack Sennett (1880-1960). He reveals himself the talent of dozens of comedians, some of whom will acquire international fame: this is the case of Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977), creator of the character of Charlot and, as director, of several of the great chefs. cinematographic art (the Gold Rush, 1925, the Circus, 1928, the Enlightenment of the City, 1931, the Modern Times, 1936).


Stan Laurel (1890-1965) and Oliver Hardy (1892-1957), whose duet was formed in 1927, rivaled Charlie Chaplin's popularity. Buster Keaton's comic (1895-1966) is admirably built and timed, so that the gags are linked, he says, "with the same precision as the wheels of a watch." Harold Lloyd (1893-1971) satirizes the modern world.


The exceptions of Mille and von Stroheim

The hindrances to the freedom of creation imposed by the studios, then by the code Hays leave to the film-makers a small margin of maneuver to find their style. Two of them, however, try to defend their independence with tenacity: Cecil Blount De Mille (1881-1959) and Erich von Stroheim (1885-1957).


Cecil B. De Mille becomes a master of the blockbuster, where violence and eroticism are unveiled; but the filmmaker takes care, at the end of his films, to stigmatize vice and to exalt virtue so that, for censorship, morality is saved. He succeeds in all genres: the western (the Indian Husband, 1914), the melodrama (Forfaiture, 1915), the comedy (the Admirable Crichton, 1919), the biblical epic (The Ten Commandments, the first version, 1923), the historical film (The King of Kings, 1927).

Von Stroheim is the filmmaker of all excesses, aesthetic and financial. He explores daring subjects, which serve him to make a cruel satire of society (blind husbands or the law of the mountains, 1919, women's folly, 1922), and, taking no account of filming deadlines, he carries out with the Raptors (1925) an epic whose first version, lasting nearly nine hours, will undergo large cuts.


The first successful genres
The serials (serials) are a huge success in the United States - as in France, where the first films of this type are produced - by conforming to a double imperative: simplicity and readability; the films that content the adventures of the heroine embodied by Pearl White (1889-1938) are the perfect examples.


Burlesque comedies, borrowing elements from the clown numbers of the traditional circus, are also among the most popular films. The "King of Comedy" is Mack Sennett (1880-1960). He reveals himself the talent of dozens of comedians, some of whom will acquire international fame: this is the case of Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977), creator of the character of Charlot and, as director, of several of the great chefs. cinematographic art (the Gold Rush, 1925, the Circus, 1928, the Enlightenment of the City, 1931, the Modern Times, 1936).

Stan Laurel (1890-1965) and Oliver Hardy (1892-1957), whose duet was formed in 1927, rivaled Charlie Chaplin's popularity. Buster Keaton's comic (1895-1966) is admirably built and timed, so that the gags are linked, he says, "with the same precision as the wheels of a watch." Harold Lloyd (1893-1971) satirizes the modern world.

The exceptions of Mille and von Stroheim
The hindrances to the freedom of creation imposed by the studios, then by the code Hays leave to the film-makers a small margin of maneuver to find their style. Two of them, however, try to defend their independence with tenacity: Cecil Blount De Mille (1881-1959) and Erich von Stroheim (1885-1957).


Cecil B. De Mille becomes a master of the blockbuster, where violence and eroticism are unveiled; but the filmmaker takes care, at the end of his films, to stigmatize vice and to exalt virtue so that, for censorship, morality is saved. He succeeds in all genres: the western (the Indian Husband, 1914), the melodrama (Forfaiture, 1915), the comedy (the Admirable Crichton, 1919), the biblical epic (The Ten Commandments, the first version, 1923), the historical film (The King of Kings, 1927).


Von Stroheim is the filmmaker of all excesses, aesthetic and financial. He explores daring subjects, which serve him to make a cruel satire of society (blind husbands or the law of the mountains, 1919, women's folly, 1922), and, taking no account of filming deadlines, he carries out with the Raptors (1925) an epic whose first version, lasting nearly nine hours, will undergo large cuts.



Bond: Behind the Scenes



Accelerated and slowed cinema

Friday, September 13, 2019 0
Accelerated and slowed cinema
Accelerated and slowed cinema 

Accelerated and slowed cinema
Accelerated and slowed cinema 

The projection of the films is always done at a frequency of 24 frames per second (im/s), without it being possible to modify it because of the presence of the soundtrack. Indeed, the fidelity of the sound depends on the constancy of the scrolling of this track on the read head.
When shooting, however, other frequencies can be used because the sound is recorded independently, with a tape recorder. Only in the draw will it be postponed on the track of the film. This possibility of varying frequency allows the realization of rigging.
When the frame rate differs from the projection rate of 24 fps, the movement is either accelerated or slowed down. Let's take two examples. By filming a snail at 4 fps, its displacement will be accelerated 6 times when the projection will present it at 24 fps. Conversely, by filming the gallop of a horse at 144 fps, its movement will be slowed down 6 times. These techniques are widely used in cinema.

Animation and rigging cinema 
The subject is, this time, recorded single-shot, knowing that it will take 24 views to make a second projection. Between each of them, the filmmaker composes himself a moment of movement by slightly modifying the position of the subject. The cartoon makes application of this technique. A multitude of drawings representing the phases of the movement are recorded in registration, one after the other. The 24-im / projection will then synthesize this movement.
All special effects (processes that change the appearance of the image and sound) do not come from the shooting frequency. Since Georges Méliès, filmmakers have learned to use many other techniques, such as the substitution of subjects during the shooting, the superimposition (superposition of two shots), the optical effects by mirrors and lenses, the effects of perspective, the differences of scales of the elements of the decoration or models. All effects are not done with the camera. Today, most of these, such as the hide-and-seek (which is based on the principle of double exposure by alternating film-cache and film against-cache), are obtained in the laboratory by printing copies on special films. More and more, the movements of the camera are computer-assisted: as complex as it is, the movement recorded a first time by electronic chips is restored as such during a second shot. Computer-generated computer-generated images make it possible to renew the range of special effects. With the high-definition video image, it is the universe of the possible that will push its limits to infinity.

The realization
Federico Fellini, the definition of cinema
The making of a film is dependent on a key man, the producer, who assumes financial responsibility for all stages of its production. It is he who decides to start filming on the basis of the synopsis submitted to him.
The director or director appears above all as a conductor with multiple talents: the scriptwriter, who ensures the division of the narrative into sequences and plans; the chief operator (or director of photography), who composes the image, the lights and the colors; the actors, who embody the characters; the decorator, who, together with the interior designer, arranges the spatial framework in which the action is located; the composer, who writes the musical score; the sound engineer, who produces the soundtrack; the editor, who gives form to the story by assembling shots in any order. By guiding and coordinating the work of each, the director gives the film its unity and its breath. His collaborators are a script, which is the memory of every moment of the film, and, if necessary, an assistant director.
Filming, during which shots and sound are taken, often brings together important means in equipment, technicians, and actors under the direction of the director. It is done sometimes outdoors, sometimes in the studio in reconstructed sets and powerfully illuminated by arcs, batteries of lamps and spots.
The editing, the last phase of film making, is essential because it synthesizes the visual and sound components of the film. The editor determines, with the director, the length of the plans, their succession, their connections, and their sound elements. The rhythm of each scene and each sequence depends on it. The strength of the work, ultimately, is as much of this editing as the quality of shots and the play of actors.

Projector
The commercial exploitation of a film begins with the drawing of the projection copies. It is usually provided by the distributor, in agreement with the producer: after having negotiated with the owners of cinemas (the operators) the date of release of a film, the distributor decides indeed the number of necessary copies and the circuits of projection (the sales area); it also organizes the media promotion of the film by all advertising means and presides over the distribution of revenue.
The most modern projection rooms are equipped with sophisticated devices, often automated. Generally, the projector is connected to a rewinder, where the film is slabbed on a horizontal tray. The program thus goes on continuously, the operations being linked automatically, including the extinction of the room. Various processes (Sensurround, Dolby Stereo) broadcast stereophonic sound indoors and make the film a total spectacle.
The generalization of digital in the film industry induces eventually a new mutation: that of digital projection, which will end the era of the filmstrip and therefore the drawing of copies of films. A unique digital master will be used for broadcasting, which will be carried out by satellite link. Such an evolution is anticipated by the proliferation of multiplexes (theaters complex).

The image and the sound. Principle of CinemaScope

Friday, September 13, 2019 0
The image and the sound. Principle of CinemaScope
The image and the sound

Principle of CinemaScope

The image and the sound
The image and the sound

The silver film was created in 1889 in 35 mm width with two rows of lateral perforations. Today, the 35 mm remains the standard format, but others are born, narrower like 8 mm and 16 mm, or wider like 70 mm. The panoramic image is not necessarily obtained with a wide film. The Vistavision, for example, only uses 35mm film, but the image is inscribed in its length. The Cinemascope also uses the 35 mm: when shooting, a vast field is filmed and a special objective, called "anamorphic", compresses the image between the perforations; at projection, the same lens renders the image on a widescreen.

Film films are essentially negatives, intermediate films then allowing the drawing of positive projection copies. Moreover, today's shootings are almost exclusively in color. All the processes (Technicolor, Eastmancolor, Fujicolor, Gevacolor) are based on the same principle as the photo: the superposition of three layers of emulsions respectively sensitive to red, green and blue.

Sound reproduction
Since the birth of the talking cinema, the sound is recorded photographically on the film. To understand the process, remember that, in a microphone, the sound intensities are transformed into proportional electrical intensities forming a modulated current, the audio signal. In cinema, this current, in turn, serves to modulate the width of a luminous brush, which impresses the film on a track of variable width. Inside the projector, the reverse process is performed to recreate the audio signal.
With widescreen films, the optical track is most often replaced by several magnetic tracks; these allow stereophony as well as special sound effects.

Shooting and projection
Camera

The camera, called a camera, is directly derived from the camera. Like him, he has a lens, a viewfinder and sometimes a photocell. The camera further includes a motor driving the film according to a technique for photographing a continuous series of images on a film running at 24 frames per second.
The scrolling movement is jerky: the film is stopped during the shutter opening time and shifts an image during its closing phase. The film is developed in the laboratory, then projected transparently on a screen in cameras that reproduce the jerky motion of the cameras; their shutter hides the projection during the displacement phases and makes it possible only when the film is stopped. The retinal persistence erasing the periods of occultation (completely obscure screen), it is the deciphering of the optical information by the brain which restores the continuity of the movement of the subjects (this one is thus pure illusion).
Two processes, Imax for flat screen and Omnimax for spherical screen, allow to project a film on a screen of 1000 m2 or more, exceeding the limits of the human field of vision; For example, the Geode Omnimax system uses a film with horizontal scrolling of 69 × 48 flat images (more than 6 km of film for one hour of projection).

Writing with moving images and sounds

Friday, September 13, 2019 0
Writing with moving images and sounds
Writing with moving images and sounds

Writing with moving images and sounds
Writing with moving images and sounds



The cinema, said Robert Bresson, "is writing with moving images and sounds". It is also an audiovisual technique, the oldest of all, whose essential links could only be assembled after more than a century of research.

First came the idea of ​​a reconstitution of the movement through the image by exploiting a physiological phenomenon, the persistence of luminous impressions on the retina of the eye, a phenomenon that gave birth to thaumatrope in 1825: by rapidly rotating on its diameter a disc with the drawing of a bird on one side and that of a cage on the other, we saw the bird in the cage, because, on the retina, each image persisted a fraction of a second, ensuring the continuity of visual sensations. In 1832, it is on this basis that the Belgian physicist Joseph Plateau reconstituted the movement with his Phenakistiscope.

In 1816, Nicéphore Niépce invented photography, which in 1895 would form the second link in the cinema. In fact, photography enabled the Lumière brothers to create the cinematograph, a camera recording on film about fifteen images per second of a moving subject, thus breaking down this movement. This same camera was then used to project the images at the same frequency. The eye perceived on the screen a moving subject and not a succession of fixed views.

More than thirty years were still needed to give voice to the cinema by sound recording on the film. The 7th art was born. Now this art has become an industry which requires large capital and means of production.