#but the movie is show well for them most part although sometimes the camera zooms in slightly just out of nowhere and idk how i feel about | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

rawiswhore · 3 years

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Triple H, Shawn Michaels x Fem Reader- "Working With Meat"

At the beginning of 1998, the World Wrestling Federation was undergoing a makeover, where they now had a rougher, edgier looking logo and a new name, as well as altercate a new beginning to the WWF.

What was once a family friendly, cartoonish and colorful company that seemed like a live action Saturday morning cartoon aimed at kids was now becoming much darker, edgier, much more violent, sexual, boundary pushing and even shocking.

And who helped initiate this new era of the World Wrestling Federation?

Not just Stone Cold Steve Austin, Kane, Mankind and even Brian Pillman, but a wrestling group known as D Generation X, comprised of Shawn Michaels, Chyna, you and who is now known as Triple H.

The former Ravishing Rick Rude was even a member and manager of D Generation X, but he was a completely pointless and unnessesary member who did nothing for this company.

Despite that the WWF's rival company, WCW, has a hugely popular wrestling faction called the NWO increasing WCW's ratings, the WWF now have their own answer to the NWO known as D Generation X.

And while many could argue DX are a rip-off of NWO, the WWF LOVES them already and is eating them up.

D Generation X pretty much personified what was known as the WWF's Attitude era and are even part of the reason it was called that.

They were rebellious, disrespectful, boundary pushing and savage, doing anything that could piss people off, especially the censors.

But...wasn't the Attitude era pretty much like that in general? Hence the name "WWF ATTITUDE"?

In January of 1998, after the entire arena had gone black while the Undertaker's entrance music played, the audience hoping to see the Undertaker, only for the lights to turn on to reveal it's actually Shawn Michaels dressed as the Undertaker whilst he stripped out of that costume...

As D Generation X's Rage Against the Machine-knockoff entrance theme played, Triple H walked to the ring wearing an apron with a rather brash, vulgar quote while holding a huge paper bag in one hand while his other hand was gripping onto a crutch snug under his arm.

You joined in with him, wearing nothing but a short little apron while you rolled and escorted a grill (no, not those diamond covered tooth covers that rappers wear) to the ring.

This got the audience's attention, especially the males, whose eyes were on you wearing nothing but a small little apron, their eyes growing wide.

Women and girls were cheering for Shawn Michaels stripping his outfit off, whereas males were cheering for you dressed in nothing but a short little apron, although you had a thong underneath your apron and some stiletto heels.

Besides males cheering for you, some of them were even making those corny "wolf whistles" at you like how they make at an attractive woman.

Jerry Lawler's eyes, of course, were on you while you walked to the ring wearing nothing but a small apron, he was smiling from ear to ear while his eyes were bugged out.

"Is she wearin' nothin' but an apron?!" Jerry shrieked at the commentary table.

Yes, yes you are.

Your outfit of choice was inspired by Renee Zellwegger's character in the movie "Empire Records", during the scene where she's wearing nothing but a small little apron.

"She's got a barbeque grill!" Jerry shrieked.

"They're gonna have a cookout!" Jim Ross chimmed in on commentary.

When you and Triple H had gotten close to the ring, Shawn was now by the ropes around the ring, where you and Trips both had lifted the barbeque grill up from the floor and handed it to Shawn.

Shawn grabbed that grill and lifted it over the ropes, holding onto that grill and carrying it while he walked to the center of the ring, placing the grill in the middle.

Triple H and you, meanwhile, entered the ring by sliding under the ropes, lifting yourselves up from the ring, whereas Triple H grabbed the paper bag he was previously carrying.

When you and Trips were standing in the ring, you and he walked to the center of the ring where Shawn was, where Triple H pulled out a white chef's hat from the bag he was holding and handed it to Shawn.

Shawn placed that hat on top of his head, trying to fit it around his head, whereas Triple H pulled another chef's hat out and placed it on his head this time.

Trips' chef's hat fell off of his head when he was pointing his index finger to the message on his apron in front of the camera filming him, but your hand grabbed onto the chef's hat that fell off of his head and placed it back on top of his head again, where it thankfully didn't fall off.

What was the message on Triple H's apron?

S*ck the cook, as in, suck the cook, although the letter "u" had to be censored.

Now you know why that apron he wore had an obscene, vulgar quote on it.

Shawn, on the other hand, lifted that Undertaker costume and long haired black wig he was previously wearing on top of the barbeque grill, indicating that you're gonna roast the Undertaker.

Triple H and you were looking down inside that huge paper bag, sticking your hands in that bag and pulling out a bag of marshmallows as well as a little packet of hot dogs, placing those things on top of the grill.

Shawn was holding onto a barbeque fork that was already attached to the grill you brought to the ring.

D Generation X's entrance music faded away and cut off, while Triple H carried a microphone in one of his hands instead of a huge paper bag that he sat down in the ring, Shawn was holding onto and wiggling a hot dog he pulled out of the packet.

"Y'know, Shawn and I both got jumbo weenies!" Triple H stated, pulling another hot dog out of that plastic packet and holding it up. "But y/n, show us what you're bringing to the barbeque, girl!"

While you had an ear to ear shit eating grin plastered on your face and your hands on your hips, you bent your body down and your hand reached down in that plastic bag, pulling out a huge salami, your mouth still grinning while your eyes looked at that huge salami.

You held up that salami with a huge smile on your face like you were presenting this meat like it was something to be proud of.

It was a treat when you bent down, because the audience could see some of your thong underneath your apron.

"That is the BIG stick!" Triple H exclaimed. "Hey Shawn, where'd you get those cool clothes you came out here with? A fire sale?"

"Well y/n, Triple H" Shawn started. "How do you like your Undertaker? Do you like him rare, medium or well done?"

Shawn and Triple H proceeded to cut a promo towards the Undertaker and Owen Hart, stuff you don't give a crap about.

While they were cutting a promo, in particular Triple H, you were staring at Trips with a wide grin on your face like you really wanted him.

You walked closer to him so you could snuggle up right next to him, leaning and pressing your body next to his.

You snuggled yourself next to the opposite part of Triple H's body that didn't have a crutch under his arm.

One of your arms draped across his shoulders, whereas your other hand was on his chest, your index finger drawing circles on his chest.

As you did this to him, your eyes were looking up and down at him while you grinned at him, thirsting over him.

After Triple H was comparing his manhood to Owen's, Triple H offered to show the audience why you stuck with Shawn and Trips instead of the Undertaker and Owen (and anyone else, for the most part, for that matter).

Triple H moved the microphone towards your lips, the camera zoomed in on your face.

"Well, Triple H and Shawn have such big, hot, juicy, delicious meat" you confessed, putting emphasis on the word "delicious". "I can still feel their meat's hot juices in my mouth and running down my throat"

One of your hands moved to your throat and motioned their juices running down your throat, although you didn't choke and strangle yourself.

Men and women got some of the sexual innuendo you were saying, and the women shrieked and squealed when you gushed over Triple H and Shawn's meat, and you're not talking about what they're grilling.

Triple H was grinning whilst you said this about him, his eyes looking at you while you mentioned that.

Shawn, too, was grinning as you gushed over his private parts.

Triple H then moved his microphone back to his mouth.

"Even though I've got her by my side" Triple H stated "For all you California girls out there..."

Women in the audience started cheering and squealing when they heard they were called.

Shawn handed Triple H that huge salami you pulled out of the bag, and as Triple H held that huge meat, he proceeded to make a pun about Ric Flair and then a sexual innuendo, thrusting his crotch while he had that huge salami you pulled out of the plastic bag in front of his crotch.

Speaking of which, while Triple H was holding onto that huge salami, your fingers wrapped around that salami (not his penis) and proceeded to start slowly pumping and cranking your hand up and down that salami like you're masturbating it.

No, you weren't masturbating his penis, but that huge salami you pulled out of a plastic bag.

Sometimes, your fingers rotated around that salami.

As you looked like you were jacking off that salami, the men in the audience loved this, cheering for you, whereas Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler's eyes bugged out of their sockets and were at a loss for words.

You were grinning wickedly from ear to ear as you looked like you were masturbating this huge salami and Shawn was cutting a promo.

Triple H interrupted Shawn's promo sometime, to mention you.

"She's obviously hungry for some of my sausage!" Triple H stated, pointing his thumb to you, to which you nodded your head whilst smiling. "Well, you'll have to wait a while until after this is over"

Your smile then turned into a pout, sticking your bottom lip out and looking disappointed.

"Don't worry" Triple H calmed to you, to which your eyes looked at him. "Shawn and I've got some hot dogs that will fill your buns!"

You smiled from ear to ear, to which the women in the audience shrieked hearing that innuendo, even Shawn cackled a bit hearing that pun.

"She'll have a bite of our hot dogs soon!" Triple H added, thrusting his crotch out while one of his hands made a chopping motion next to his crotch.

The audience got out of their seats and roared in delight, cheering.

"Oh, will you stop that!" Jim Ross said rather angrily.

Shawn proceeded to still cut a promo, you were looking at Shawn or either at Triple H, you looking at Triple H and sometimes Shawn like you wanted to fuck him while you had your mouth grinning at him.

You didn't really like the way Shawn looked with facial hair, Shawn was hotter without it.

_____________________________________________________________

I've always had this fantasy of my female wrestling original character I created being the main female in D Generation X instead of Chyna, as well as this fantasy of my female wrestling OC doing all of this stuff (wearing nothing but an apron, gushing about Triple H and Shawn's meat).

And today is the 4th of July, where people have barbeques!

#triple h #shawn michaels #dx #d generation x #1998 #90s #wwf attitude #attitude era #4th of july #happy 4th of july #fanfiction

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sincerelymarinette · 4 years

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A Recorded Life (31/50) - Miraculous Ladybug

Words: 1960 Chapter Summary: Today is the day of the first song of the Jagged Stone album cover collab! Marinette and the gang are excited, and Jagged has a surprise for them! She finally feels comfortable reading comments again (mostly) and how this collab will work when the album is fully released is explained. Author's Note: This was a lot of fun. I love Uncle Jagged so much. More action next chapter, I promise! Also, I think the story could come to a close pretty soon. I love writing this story, but the main plot could finish up in like the next ten parts or so. I haven't decided yet if that's when I'm finishing it, because I love writing youtube marinette. What do you guys think? I'd love to hear feedback :)

its 11:30 its still sunday ;)

Prev / Next / Masterlist

Lift Up Release with Jagged Stone

---

Friday

"Marinette," The soft, high-pitched voice said. "You need to get up and get ready for school."

"My alarm hasn't gone off yet, Tikki, I've got more time," Marinette mumbled back.

Tikki looked to Plagg, getting no empathy from him. "Marinette," She said. "You've slept through your alarm three times."

Marinette's eyes shot open. "What?" She almost yelled. "How did that happen? I've never slept through them! Turned them off, sure, but never slept through them!" She said.

Tikki shrugged. "I don't know. You and Adrien fell asleep really fast last night, must have been tired from the contest," Tikki said.

Marinette was confused by her statement; then her eyes drifted to the other side of the couch. "Oh yeah," She remembered. "I forgot he was here."

"Clearly," Plagg said. "Kid, get up!" Plagg said as he dropped onto Adrien's head. It was a much different awakening than how Tikki handled it. Adrien wasn't moving, so Marinette stood up and walked over to him.

She put her hand on his shoulder and shook lightly. "Adrien, get up. We have school soon."

Adrien's eyes slowly opened and smiled when he saw Marinette. "W...what? School?" He asked.

"Yeah. We fell asleep watching our movie. My parents probably turned the TV off and just left us alone," She shrugged. "But we have to get ready, or we'll be later, well, later than usual."

Adrien hopped up from the couch once he fully realized what happened. "Oh no," He searched for his phone. "I'm so dead."

"What?" Marinette asked.

Adrien found his phone and swore at himself. "I have eight missed calls from my father, and ten from Nathalie. And a text from Gorilla," Adrien said. "I didn't tell them what was going on; I didn't intend to fall asleep here. God, they probably filed a missing person's report and everything. How did I sleep through all of these? I normally wake up if Plagg breathes too loud," Adrien worried. His mind was moving so fast that he could barely keep up with his thoughts. He put the phone up to his ear to call Nathalie.

Marinette went to her room to grab a change of clothes, giving Adrien some privacy to explain to Nathalie what happened.

"Adrien?" Nathalie answered, sounding worried.

"Hey, I'm okay. I'm so sorry. I was watching a movie with Marinette last night, and we fell asleep. I didn't mean to, I'm sorry for not letting you guys know," Adrien said before she could ask questions.

Nathalie sighed of relief. "You had us so worried, Adrien. We thought something had happened."

"No, I was just with Marinette. I'm sorry, I was just worried about the school thing and being a superhero, and we were talking and lost track of time."

"The school thing?" Nathalie asked. "Didn't your father tell you? He's not pulling you out; he thinks it's better if you stay with your friends and have some freedom. Not that you shouldn't tell us where you are, but enough freedom to have school."

Adrien blinked once to process what she said. "Wait, really?"

---

Marinette and Adrien were...a little late to class. They walked in twenty minutes late and didn't say a word, trying not to cause a distraction.

"Where were you, girl?" Alya whispered.

"I slept through my alarm three times. Tikki had to wake me up," Marinette said.

Alya looked shocked. "You actually slept?"

"The best sleep I've had since the video," Marinette sighed. "Adrien and I fell asleep watching a movie. We must have been exhausted."

"Do you think it was from what the Guardian gave you?" Alya asked.

With a shrug, Marinette pretended to be looking at her book. "Not sure. He said it was supposed to make us more aware, but I slept through my alarm. I was probably just so exhausted from all the not sleeping that my body finally gave up," She said. "Adrien slept through like twenty phone calls."

"That's strange. He never does that," Alya said, and Marinette only replied with another shrug. "Don't tell me you forgot what today is."

Marinette turned her head to look at Alya, confused again. "Come on, girl! Jagged Stone!"

"Oh my god, you're right! His single comes out in a few hours," Marinette said. "And everyone's going to see my artwork. Oh, I'm so nervous," Marinette was going through different stages of emotions. Excitement and nervousness were the two most prominent.

"I'm sure you have nothing to worry about," Alya comforted, and they both went back to looking like they were paying attention.

In the front row, Adrien was still trying to figure out how he slept through all those phone calls. It was one of the best nights of sleep he has ever had, but he couldn't help being confused. He couldn't focus on what the teacher was saying; what changed his father's and Nathalie's minds?

The whole day, while Adrien and Marinette felt much more well-rested, they were distracted. Maybe if they figured out why this was the effect of the cure, it would ease them.

The day zoomed by because of the distractions, and as they were walking out of the school, Adrien and Marinette were telling Alya and Nino about their intense video game battle. Marinette was laughing, but stopped once she saw her name on a sign in front of a car. "Uh, guys?" She pointed at the car.

The door opened quickly. "Marinette!" The familiar voice shouted. "Only an hour until the song and your album art are released! We have to celebrate!" Jagged Stone shouted as he got out of the car. "With all your friends, of course."

Marinette was surprised. "Oh, Jagged, you don't have to-"

"Nonsense! This is a big day for both of us!" He insisted. "Plus, Fang loves ice cream."

Marinette looked at her friends to see if they would agree. "And you can make a video!" Alya suggested. "Get everyone even more excited about this collab by showing our two stars celebrating together. People will be so excited to see us all out together," Alya said.

"Perfect idea!" Jagged Stone pointed at her. "You all in? My treat."

Marinette's friend's all agreed and got into Jagged's limo. Fang sat across from them, next to Jagged, and Penny was making light conversation with the teens. Marinette pulled out her camera. "Do you want me to start now?"

"Go for it," Jagged said, giving her permission.

Marinette turned the camera, so she was in front of it. "Hi! I'm Marinette!" She smiled. "You may be wondering: Marinette, where are you? Well, I am in a limo," She said and started to turn her camera. "With Adrien, Nino, Alya, Penny Rolling, Jagged Stone, and Fang. Everyone say hi!"

All at once, everyone, save for Fang, waved to the camera with big smiles, and Marinette turned the camera back to her. "Today is a very important day. Jagged Stone's single, Lift Up, comes out! It's the first one of our album cover collab, and I'm so excited. I've heard the demos of the song to get inspiration for the cover, and I can't wait to hear the final version. He's even taking us out for ice cream!" Marinette said.

"We have forty-five minutes until it comes out. Why not play it now?" Jagged Stone said.

"Really?" Nino and Alya said at the same time, stoked to hear the song.

Jagged laughed. "She really didn't play the demo for you guys?" He asked. "I assumed she would have for her best friends."

"I would never! I can't make the hype for your music go down if I went around sharing the demo," Marinette defended. "Although, Adrien did hear some of it. He surprised me and walked in while I was working. But he doesn't count."

Jagged grabbed his phone that was already hooked up to his limo. He started the song, as loud as he could make it. It started out slow, but was leading up to the major rockstar that Jagged Stone is. Everyone loved it, a coming of age song about getting back up on your feet after life throws you down.

"That was...glorious," Nino said. "We really got to listen to Jagged Stone's new song...with Jagged Stone!" He said.

Jagged laughed loudly. They had been at the ice cream place for a few minutes now, but listening to the song was much more critical. As they walked into the parlor, Jagged turned to Marinette and her camera. "Do you want to know a secret about the song?"

"Even if she says no," Adrien intervened, "The answer is yes."

Marinette rolled her eyes at Adrien. "I would love to know the secret," She said and pointed the camera at his face.

"It's actually about you," Jagged Stone smiled, making Marinette do a double-take. "I wrote it a while ago, after I found out you were Ladybug and you were going through a rough time. No matter what happened, you always bounced back and were back on your feet. You never gave up," He said.

"Seriously?" She asked, still in shock. "There's no way."

"Way! I'll have to show you the original lyrics with my notes sometime," Jagged said. "Now, let's get some ice cream." Marinette panned the camera to the ice cream shop, showing her friends already getting ice cream and talking amongst themselves. After they all got ice cream, they brought it back to the limo so that Fang could enjoy a treat too, and they continued talking to Jagged and Penny about the album and Marinette's designs. Penny slipped her a bag with a few mockups of how they would look when released hardcopy, and Marinette would definitely be looking at them later.

---

Later that night, in between editing, Marinette took a look at Twitter to see the response to Jagged's song and her design for him.

oh my gosh, Marinette's design for this song fits it so well. I can't wait to see ALL of the covers!!

man yall are really gonna make me buy every version of the album. im gonna go broke because of you.

Lift Up is my new anthem. It's so good. And to know it's based off Marinette is so cool. This new album is going to rock!!

So i'm still a little confused how the covers work- do we really have to buy every album to get all the covers? Like, I'm sure they're gonna be amazing based just of Lift Up alone but like, I don't have enough money to buy twelve albums. Either way, great song!!

im so excited for the album you guys don't even know. when will we have a release date?

I can't wait for the video Marinette and Alya teased on twitter like i am SO HERE for this jagged x marinette collab i love seeing them work together

JAGGED @JaggedStone Awesome feedback on the song and Marinette's design! Thanks all for listening, we are so excited to release the rest of the album. The release date will be out soon!

JAGGED @JaggedStone I noticed some are confused about how the covers will work. There will be a few options. You can buy the album, with just one cover, like normal. Or, you can opt for the deluxe album with two extra songs and all of the covers that you can display or switch out as you please.

JAGGED @JaggedStone We will also be selling merch! Shirts, posters, and maybe some other goodies, with all the covers on it. I've seen some mockups, and it looks incredible. Marinette is still putting final touches on everything, but trust me, you guys are going to love it.

JAGGED @JaggedStone And make sure to follow @MarinetteDC to keep up with her!

---

@lady-of-the-roses-and-lilies @bookishserendipity03 @avatheexceed @gkz10 @coccinellegirl @kat-thatoneweirdo @strawberryblondish @snow-swordswoman @lilgaga98 @evufries

#Miraculous #mlb #ml #miraculous ladybug #ladybug #chat noir #marinette dupain-cheng #adrien agreste #alya cesaire #nino lahiffe #miraculous fanfic #fanfiction #lilly writes #adrien x marinette #adrien agreste x marinette dupain-cheng #marichat #adrienette #ladynoir #ladrien

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letterboxd · 4 years

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Lockdown Lens.

The filmmakers behind found-footage hits Searching and Host share their best tips for making movies in quarantine. Hint: you’ll need to tape your camera to your laptop, move away from the wall, and plump up the post-production budget.

“There is a really opportunistic moment here that you can take advantage of, if you come up with the right thing.” —Aneesh Chaganty, director of Searching

“You should never wait for the ideal circumstance because it doesn’t exist. Look at what you’ve got right now and use that.” —Rob Savage, director of Host

A low-budget thriller starring John Cho as a desperate dad, Aneesh Chaganty’s 2018 debut feature Searching, co-written with Sev Ohanian, shook up the found-footage genre with its seamless blend of content from chat rooms, social platforms, security-camera footage and news coverage. Chaganty and Ohanian’s next film, Run, which also takes place mostly inside one house, will debut on Hulu later this year after its theatrical release was quashed by Covid-19.

Meanwhile, a 56-minute séance horror that appears to take place entirely on a Zoom call became the most popular film on Letterboxd within a week of landing on Shudder in July (our popularity score is based on the amount of activity across our platform for each film, regardless of rating). Host—conceived and completed within just twelve weeks—was written by Gemma Hurley, Rob Savage and Jed Shepherd, and directed by Savage.

Our editor-in-chief Gemma Gracewood asked Chaganty, Hurley, Savage and Shepherd to draw on their expertise in making browser horrors and other limited-setting stories, to inspire other aspiring filmmakers sheltering in place.

Listen to the full interviews on the Lockdown Filmmaking episode of The Letterboxd Show.

Joseph Lee and John Cho in TV news footage from ‘Searching’.

Keep the parameters tight.

“Making a story in a limited setting is a very smart thing to do for an aspiring screenwriter—first and foremost because it’s produceable,” Aneesh Chaganty advises. ”If you’re an unknown entity in the film world, the cheaper your product takes to make is probably a better bet for you to be taking as opposed to writing a kajillion-dollar project. The first project that I wrote was a $90-million movie that Sev and I wrote. ‘Why did we do this?!’”

Chaganty also stresses the need to ensure your project wants to be a limited-setting story. “A lot of times I’ll read a found-footage script and it will often feel like all it wants to be is a not a found-footage script. There’s a lot of times where it feels like the writers don’t want it to be that.”

Explore the whole box.

Chaganty encourages aspiring writers to imagine your limited environment as a box. “You’re writing within this box, all the characters are in this box, I think the best way to examine it is not to ever try leaving the box, but make sure you explore it every which way. The box upside down, the box right side up, the box left, the box right…

“This is an objective that should apply to all films, but it’s easier to objectively analyze whether you’re doing it in a limited setting. With a film like Searching, we have to make sure that every possible iteration of how a narrative can take place on a computer screen is done. Looking at a movie like Buried, they’re doing every possible iteration of how that story can be told underground, in a coffin, before [the location] starts to change.”

(Good news for fans of Searching: with new tech platforms appearing all the time, it turns out there are more parts of the box to explore. A sequel is in the works, but Chaganty won’t be in the director’s chair.)

Give yourselves a deadline.

With no end to the pandemic in sight, it’s easy for one day to melt into the next. Keep your team motivated with a deadline. “I gave us two weeks,” says Rob Savage, Host’s director, who co-wrote the film with Jed Shepherd and Gemma Hurley, after his Twitter prank went viral.

“So we had two weeks, all three of us, to come together,” adds Hurley. “Let’s figure out a structure, let’s figure out these character dynamics, figure out a way to build tension around this idea of a séance and hang a story and a journey for the characters, for where we want the séance to end up. We had a Google doc where we were editing it together. I’d go away and do my pass, Rob would go away and do his pass, and Jed would. And that was it. It was really just like, run and gun, go go go.”

“If things had gone to plan we would have had this out in two months; in the end it took three,” Savage continues. ”It took twelve weeks from when I first called Jed up and said ‘let’s make a feature’, to delivering the movie—roughly breaks up as two weeks of writing, we shot for three weeks, and then a lot of editing and VFX time.”

Know your story inside-out, but don’t labor the script.

“We’ve got some hearts to break, here,” warns Hurley. “There was no official script in the standard way because there just wasn’t time. The whole point was capturing a zeitgeist moment… If we went away and wrote a feature-film script, well, ‘we’ll see you after the pandemic’s over, guys!’. You’d miss that moment. That was the joy of it. You didn’t have time to labor over every syllable.”

Some of Host’s key moments were scripted, Hurley reassures. “We had lines we wanted them to suggest, but more than giving them dialog it was about giving them prompts for every scene.”

Savage adds: “The thing that we did really well, at the end of the two weeks of writing, is every single scene, me, Jed and Gemma, you could quiz us all in separate interrogation rooms, we’d be able to tell you the purpose of every scene and what we wanted to get out of them. We had the movie so clearly in our heads in terms of how we wanted it to feel.”

An advantage of having a treatment rather than a completed script? “A sense of discovery every day,” says Savage. “The actors just brought that amazing spontaneity to it and these incredible performances, because we knew the parameters.”

Aneesh Chaganty and John Cho on the set of ‘Searching’, with a GoPro behind the laptop capturing the webcam view. / Photo by Elizabeth Kitchens

Choosing your camera (spoiler: it’s not your laptop’s).

“John is acting against a black screen,” Chaganty reveals. “There’s nothing on his computer, he’s literally looking at nothing.” To ensure complete control over their footage while preserving authentic eyelines, both sets of filmmakers taped additional cameras to the laptops of their key talent. In Host, each of the Zoom participants had iPhones recording at their highest resolution “so we knew we were getting a clean 1080p,” says Savage. In Searching’s case, it was a GoPro taped to the rear of the various computers used by John Cho.

“Before we started shooting the film,” Chaganty explains, “we had to make [an animatic] version using Adobe Premiere, because much of John’s performance is knowing his eyeline. He needs to know exactly where the iMessages open up—in order for us to know that we almost have to know those decisions already.” Chaganty and his team developed a 100-minute animatic cut, with Chaganty playing every role; “understanding where every window is, where every cursor is, so that by the time we get to set, what I’m doing is showing John ‘okay, this is where that message pops up, and while you’re talking to Deborah, you’re going to look over there, go down there, open Chrome, type in…’ So everything is very specific eyelines. Sometimes my notes after a take would just be ‘John that was great, just move the cursor a little further to the left this time’.”

Haley Bishop as séance host Haley in ‘Host’.

Develop your characters and the genre will take care of itself.

Chaganty and the Host team have the same advice for how to ratchet up the tension in a limited-setting film: it’s all about character. “If you’re going to end up putting these characters through tough times and potentially kill them,” says Shepherd, “develop them as real characters, so that we care about them.”

Although Host’s script was, in fact, only a seventeen-page beat-sheet, the most important part of its structure was the long stretch up front where the characters are dialling into the call and catching up—what Shepherd calls the “getting to know you bit”. “That first part is really important because if it wasn’t for that, the third act wouldn’t work at all. The best thing to do is make your characters real, authentic, believable. Everything else takes care of itself.”

Chaganty agrees: “When you are writing something that is genre, your other decisions don’t have to be genre, and in fact it might elevate it more when you don’t do that, because everything else is already doing that, you know?”

In particular, he advises, trust your talent to lean into their characters, rather than into the genre. “This was my challenge at least, as a totally amateur director: sometimes what I was looking for was the most obvious take as opposed to the most subtle take. “When we left the shoot I was thinking it was take six, or the one where it was most obvious [John] was angry or he was sad or something—and what we ended up using was the most subtle takes. That subtlety, that underneath layer, so much of that was him. He’s so good. He’s so good. I hate to say it, but I didn’t realize how good he was until we edited it together.”

Spend time getting the interface right.

“There’s not a frame of Zoom footage in the actual movie.”—Rob Savage

Found-footage films and browser horrors rely on the believability of the content. Searching and Host work because the footage feels real, even though the reality is there are multiple takes and a lot of post-production. Just as Searching was built around a detailed animatic, Host is, in fact, not a recorded Zoom call, but a result of three weeks of filming every actor in multiple takes, with stunt set-ups, followed by the addition of VFX and Zoom interface details.

“Originally the plan was just to screen-record a Zoom call, but then we realized that we were pumping so much money into doing these crazy stunts and effects that we could blow half the budget in 30 seconds,” says Savage. “You’re basically making five movies. We have to make sure the performances are all tight in every single screen. Radina might be amazing in take one and Jemma might nail it in take three and we have to cut them all together so they work seamlessly.”

Savage praises Host editor Brenna Rangott for pulling it all together, underscoring the importance of post-production in your budget and schedule. “Honestly, what Brenna did with all this footage? It’s her movie as much as it’s anyone else’s movie. She absolutely smashed it.”

The Host crew also relied on fellow filmmaker and designer Dan Hawkins to build the almost 4,000 individual assets in the film, and producer Douglas Cox, who went through the whole movie to type out every single name, label and other Zoom interface detail. “4,000 times he had to do that, and that’s what you see to make it play seamlessly.” (And, yes, they had Zoom’s permission.)

Jed Shepherd, Rob Savage and Gemma Hurley during a Zoom séance for Slashfilm with Chris Evangelista.

Trust your gut.

The Host team were pursued for a feature-length version of Savage’s Twitter prank by a “mind-blowing” number of studios—“it was a really competitive situation,” says Savage—but they went with Shudder for one reason: instinct.

“It was the height of the lockdown and a lot of production companies just started ringing and saying ‘Is there a longer version of this? Because it’s the only thing we can shoot right now’. So we pitched to a bunch of places, and the pitch was basically ‘a Zoom séance, we don’t know if it’s going to be any good, we’re going to use our mates, are you in or not?’ and Shudder [was] like ‘of course we are’.”

It wasn’t about the money. Some companies offered more generous budgets, but wanted to release six to eight months after filming. “We were like, ‘no, this needs to be out this week’.”

Move away from the wall.

Since so much of the movie business—all those endless meetings—has pivoted to video-calls, we asked the filmmakers for specific advice on how to present yourself online, in pitch meetings, table reads and the like.

The very minimum, they all agree, is to have good lighting. “It’s crazy what a difference a desk lamp can make to your environment,” says Chaganty. And move away from the wall. “Rule number one any director of photography will ever say, is don’t shoot at a wall,” he adds. “The further that you can place yourself from that wall, it’s just going to look better.” (It also gives you more protection from any demons that may burst from cupboards during your Zoom, Host’s filmmakers advise.)

Chaganty reveals that the pandemic has actually helped his pitching abilities in video meetings with executives. Chaganty and Ohanian are currently developing a heist movie, while simultaneously pitching a television show. “Right now pitches are all digital. Traditionally when you pitch something, it’s a lot of material and you just memorize it. But now, you can have your script with you—but you can’t make it seem like you’re reading off a screen.” The trick, he says, is to re-size the window of the person you’re pitching to, and re-size the script to the same dimensions, then place them directly over each other.

“So you’re reading and your eyeline is exactly where they are, and then you switch over, and they’ll never know and you’ve just pulled it off perfectly because you’re still looking at the exact same spot. It just kind of feels like an incredible performance where you’ve pulled these great words out of your mind and your heart, without anyone knowing.”

On the other hand, don’t put too much effort into details that nobody will notice. “We were doing a table read for a film,” says Host’s Shepherd, “and I thought it would be fun to change the background to correspond with what scene were were reading. I thought it was really clever but nobody noticed except me.”

Producer Natalie Qasabian, writer-producer Sev Ohanian and writer-director Aneesh Chaganty on the set of their forthcoming feature, ‘Run’.

There’s no time like the present.

“When digital cameras came out, everyone started saying ‘this is a great thing for filmmakers because it really democratizes filmmaking’,” says Chaganty. “We are in a very small bubble where it’s even more democratized than it was before—that’s because everybody has the same resources that we do right now.

“It feels like John Oliver and Hasan Minhaj and Trevor Noah are all making stuff with the same quality that you can make, that I can make, just in our own houses right now. The longer this pandemic goes on, and the longer that it feels that Hollywood can’t make traditional stuff the way it used to, the more likely it is that the demand for content is going to rise.

“If you can make something good in this time, I think you’re in a really good spot as far as getting eyeballs on it. And eyeballs essentially are the things that can propel a career to the next stage.”

Plus, there are mental health benefits to making movies together, at a time when we are all being urged to stay socially connected while physically distant. “What’s been really nice about the whole thing is it just made it so clear how collaborative a process filmmaking is,” says Savage. “Normally people kind of forget about that and you have ‘a film by’, but here you had to put so much trust in everyone. It was just a really fun way of working. I recommend it to everyone.”

‘Host’ is available now on Shudder. ‘Searching’ is available via VOD platforms. ‘Run’ is coming soon to Hulu in the US and will be released theatrically in international markets. (Aneesh Chaganty has been diligently updating his Letterboxd diary, which includes one of our favorite recent reviews of Steve Soderbergh’s ‘Contagion’.)

#filmmaking #filmmaking tips #filmmaking process #horror #thriller #aneesh chaganty #host #shudder #hulu #searching #run #sarah paulson #rob savage #jed shepherd #gemma hurley #browser horror #found footage #found footage film #letterboxd

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verus-veritas · 5 years

Text

Senior Picture

By Cris Kane

Shawn had looks. He had a killer body. He had mad skills on the football field.

What he didn’t have was a lot of money.

So while other members of his class were hiring top-notch photographers to take their senior pictures, Shawn had to search for whoever could do it cheap. Around here, the cheapest shutterbug was “Navajo Joe”.

That’s what all the kids had been calling the short, skinny Native American kid from tenth grade since he and his family moved to town a few years back. Navajo Joe’s real first name was indeed Joseph, although no one knew if he was a Navajo or even bothered to ask what his background was. In general, he was just ignored, although behind his back, many of the jocks referred to him as “Nava-homo”. Not only was he small, thin and frail, sometimes staying out of school for weeks at a time for unspecified illnesses, but raised suspicions by excelling at anything artistic. While he never did anything overtly gay (besides being artistic), he did show up with his still camera at nearly every sporting event held at the high school and he seemed to focus his camera most intensely on the handsomest, hunkiest boys. At every football and basketball game, every swim or track meet, every wrestling match, Joseph could be found, hovering on the periphery, zooming in for the best angles. He used a vintage camera that still took photos on actual film and, after he developed the pictures, he would bring them in to the school newspaper for publication.

Shawn didn’t know much about art – or about much of anything besides football, to be honest – but he did know that, whenever his photo showed up in the school paper credited to Joseph, Shawn looked really cool in it. Not that any photographer could mess up terribly when taking a picture of the well-built senior with his shaggy brown hair, intense eyes, boyish upturned nose, firm lips and strong chin. But Joseph seemed to have a knack for snapping his shutter when Shawn was at peak awesomeness. Shawn’s girlfriend Madison had started keeping a scrapbook of all the photos of Shawn that appeared in the paper, so she could feast her eyes on Shawn during those rare waking moments when she let him out of her sight. Her favorite was probably one of Shawn at quarterback during the homecoming game, his facial features in perfect profile against the stadium lights, his right arm cocked back to throw, revealing just how pumped Shawn’s biceps were. Further down, Shawn’s spandex football pants embraced the bulging curves of his glutes and did nothing to hide the generous endowment lurking behind the laces on the front.

Madison was the one who urged Shawn last week to ask Joseph’s services for his senior portrait. When Joseph returned from one of his frequent absences on Monday, Shawn tracked him down in the hallway between classes. At first, Joseph acted afraid he was going to get beaten up when he saw Shawn walking quickly toward him in the hallway. Shawn grabbed Joseph by the arm so tightly that the skin indented and turned white, not returning to its natural cinnamon brown shade for a full minute after Shawn let him go.

“What do you want?”, Joseph mumbled, casting his worried gray eyes up at Shawn.

“Chill, Nava…Joe.” Shawn grinned disarmingly, but Joseph looked suspicious. “I just wanted to say I liked the pictures of me you’ve been taking for the school paper.”

“Oh. Uh, thanks.” Joseph indicated relief that a jock was actually being civil to him, but he still stood with his limbs tense, ready to bolt if necessary.

“My girlfriend loves the pictures too, and she was wondering…well, I was wondering too…if you’d be willing to take my senior picture for the yearbook.”

Joseph’s body relaxed and he smiled with relief. “Why, sure, I’d be happy to.”

“I can’t afford to pay you much. Both of my folks are out of work right now, and I don’t have much saved up, but…”

Joseph waved off his apologies. “I’ll do it for free. It’d be a great opportunity.”

Shawn’s grin widened, revealing a movie-star smile. “For serious? Awesome! When?”

Joseph started to get excited. “How about after school today?”

Shawn shook his head. “Nuh-uh. I got football practice.”

“We can do it after practice is over. We can go out by my house. There’s some great scenery we could use as a backdrop.”

Joseph’s extreme eagerness was starting to give Shawn second-thoughts. He looked down at what he was wearing: a long-sleeved plaid shirt with jeans and work boots. “I’m not sure I’m dressed right for photos today.”

“Are you kidding? You look fabulous!” Inside his head, Joseph was kicking the shit out of himself. Fabulous? He never said that word, but suddenly it fell out of his mouth as soon as he found himself talking to the school’s number-one stud. He knew the jocks’ secret nickname for him, and knew how accurate it was, but he didn’t want to blow this chance by acting like a cliche. He backpedaled. “What I mean is, you don’t want to be in the yearbook looking like some douchebag in a suit and a tie with your hair all fussed over. You want to look normal. You want to look the way you really look. Like you do right now.”

Shawn couldn’t argue with that. He didn’t want to look like some pretty-boy model posed in a studio. “You promise I’ll look bad-ass?”

“How could you not?” How could you not??? Way to go, Joseph, you’re sounding less and less like a regular guy the more you blather on. Just shut up before it gets any worse. “So, after practice tonight?”

“After practice tonight.”

---

Not wanting to be taunted by the jocks, Joseph didn’t hang around the football field or the locker room, but waited in the parking lot until Shawn was done with practice. When Shawn finally emerged, his hair was tousled, his shirt untucked, its top two buttons undone. As Shawn unlocked his rusty 4x4, he asked Joseph, “I don’t know the way, so I guess I’ll need to follow you.”

Joseph looked sheepish. “I don’t have a car. I take the bus.”

Shawn had forgotten how young Joseph was. He unlocked the passenger door and said, “Okay, hop in.”

Shawn swung by his house to grab a few cans of Bud from his dad’s mini-fridge in the unfinished basement. He offered one to Joseph, who politely declined. Shawn chugged two beers as the truck bounced along the dusty backroad that led to Joseph’s place. Shawn had hoped the beer would loosen him up, since he was self-conscious about the idea of posing for pictures, particularly for someone who was probably a fag. Not that he had a problem with gay people. At least not as much as some of the other jocks. Hey, maybe fags take the best pictures because they like what they’re seeing, Shawn thought. Although if that was the case, then Madison should be able to take the best pictures in the world, because she couldn’t keep her eyes or her hands off Shawn whenever they were together.

Shawn liked Madison a whole lot. With her wavy blond hair, big green eyes and porn-actress lips, she was definitely the hottest of the cheerleaders, and she worked just as hard to keep in good shape as Shawn did. She wore her cheerleading sweater to school as many days as possible because she knew just how spectacular it made her boobs look, and it never failed to get him hard when she would leap in the air and her skirt would fly up to reveal her panties and her great ass. It was true she could get clingy sometimes. For the past couple of weeks, it was like she wanted to be with him 24 hours a day. Fortunately she had mellowed out in the last day or two. Musta been her period or something. But mostly, he was happy to be her boyfriend and he knew how jealous the rest of his teammates were that he was the guy who Madison pursued.

They finally reached the top of the hill, where Joseph said meekly, “This is my place. It doesn’t look like much on the outside, but the outside keeps you from seeing how bad it looks inside.” Poor as his family was, Shawn suddenly felt like a millionaire compared to anyone who had to live in a dump like this. It had a sagging roof, a ramshackle porch, windows repaired with duct tape and a front yard consisting of dirt and rusty car parts.

A haunted scarecrow of a man with long white hair and the skin of a brown elephant opened the squeaky screen door and stepped onto the dilapidated porch. He eyed the strange truck with suspicion until Joseph leapt out of the passenger door and shouted, “It’s okay, this is a friend of mine from school.” Joseph smiled over at Shawn. “That’s my father. He’s scary at first, but when you get to know him…he’s terrifying.” Shawn had no doubt. “I’m gonna run in and get my camera. Be back in a minute.”

Joseph dashed swiftly across the pitiful “lawn” and into the house. Shawn was impressed by Joseph’s speed, especially for someone who’d just been so sick he couldn’t go to school. Maybe he should encourage the kid to join the track team next spring. Clearly he needed something positive in his life, and if Shawn vouched for Joseph, he was sure he could get the other jocks to lay off on the razzing and the mean jokes.

Shawn waved to Joseph’s father and called out, “How you doing today?” The old man merely stared, coolly appraising the young man and his truck. As a wind swept through, creating a cloud of dirt between them, Joseph stepped back outside carrying his camera and a tripod.

He sprinted over to the truck and told Shawn to follow him. “Bring your football.” Shawn jogged back to the truck and grabbed a ball from the cab, then cast a look back at Joseph’s father, who remained stern and unhappy.

Joseph scrambled easily up steep paths, increasing Shawn’s admiration for the wiry kid’s athleticism. He had assumed Joseph was just a wimpy art geek, but get this kid in a weight room and give him a year or two to grow, he might even be football material.

When they reached the top of the hill, Shawn was amazed by the natural beauty of the valley around them. “Shit, it’s awesome up here.”

“Yeah, I like to come up here and stare at the horizon and think about my future. The sunsets up here are spectac…they’re awesome.”

“I bet. So what should I do?”

Joseph pointed Shawn toward a rock outcropping near the edge of a cliff. “Stand over there. I can get all the hills and the trees behind you.”

Shawn set down the football, walked over and stood stiffly, facing directly at Joseph, arms hanging awkwardly at his sides. Joseph placed the camera on a tripod and looked through the eyepiece, then frowned. “No, I need you to relax. Be natural.”

Shawn tried but he was still too self-conscious. He fidgeted with his arms, having no idea where to put his hands. Joseph realized the problem and grabbed the football. “Here!” He gave the ball a wobbly toss more or less in Shawn’s direction. Shawn easily snagged it with one hand, although it sent him slightly off balance. A lesser athlete might have toppled over the edge. “Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!”, Joseph yelled.

“No problem,” Shawn grinned back. Okay, maybe Joseph wasn’t football material.

“I want you to grip your ball and stare at the horizon like you’re looking downfield.” Shawn did as he was told. Giving him a prop to hold had made a world of difference. “Turn a little to your right.” Better still. Joseph risked making another suggestion. “Could you maybe unbutton a couple more buttons of your shirt?”

Shawn hesitated. Was this all part of Joseph’s plan? To get him out here and have him take off his clothes so he could have pictures to jack off to? Wait, he was the one who asked Joseph to take the pictures. Stop bein’ such a dick, Shawn thought. He loosened two more buttons, offering a peek at the pecs he’d spent so much time perfecting in the gym over the summer.

Joseph grinned approvingly. “That looks awesome. You ever thought of being a model, Shawn?” Shawn laughed off the suggestion. “I’m serious. I don’t think you appreciate all you’ve got going for you.”

Shawn was starting to feel uncomfortable again, and the buzz from those beers was really kicking in. He just wanted this over with. “Quit stalling and take the pictures, okay?”

Joseph nodded and looked through the viewfinder. “Did you ever hear that old story about how when the first Native Americans saw cameras, they refused to let anyone take their picture because it would steal their soul?”

“Yeah, I think I heard something about that. I always thought it was just bullshit.”

“Yeah, me too. Funny thing, though. I asked my father about it. And you know what? He told me it was true.”

Joseph snapped the shutter on the camera and the clicking sound reverberated in Shawn’s ears, repeating and repeating like it was caught in a loop. Shawn’s skin tingled all over while his muscles stiffened. Inside, he felt panicked as he realized he couldn’t move any part of his body. It was as if he had become frozen in time at the moment Joseph took the photo. His eyes remained fixed on the horizon and he couldn’t move them in any direction. He suddenly felt an incredible desire to itch his nose, to lick his lips, to scratch his balls, to do ANYTHING physical, but he was powerless. As if that sensation weren’t disturbing enough, he suddenly felt as if he were drifting out of his body – almost as if he were seeping out of his pores and becoming a vapor. Eventually, when he felt his entire being had escaped the confines of his body, he seemed to coalesce, his spirit – his soul – shrinking, becoming denser until it seemed to converge into a single particle that zoomed at light speed toward the lens of Joseph’s camera. He was disoriented as his very being was warped through the heavy glass of the camera’s lens until he was finally trapped inside the camera itself as a shapeless entity.

“Can you hear me, Shawn?” The voice was booming and echoey, like Joseph’s voice but heard from a long distance away in a deep canyon.

Shawn’s trapped being, or whatever you wanted to call it, could somehow hear the voice, and he discovered that he could psychically “speak” back to the voice, despite no longer having a tongue or a mouth. “What did you do to me?”

Joseph’s camera remained on the tripod, while Joseph sat beside it on the ground, eyes closed in a meditative state so he could communicate with Shawn’s trapped soul.

“My father taught me how to capture the souls of others in my camera, then teleport my own soul into their bodies.”

“Are you shitting me?”

“You’re stuck in a camera, Shawn. Does that seem like I’m shitting you?”

Although his soul had no eyes, Shawn could somehow look out through the lens and perceive his body, still standing frozen in position on the cliffside. “Why are you doing this?”

“First of all, because I can. I mean, if you had a choice to be either me or you, wouldn’t you choose you? Second of all, so that I can support my family.”

“Doesn’t look like you’re doing a great job of that so far,” said Shawn’s snide disembodied voice.

“I’m still only learning. But I’ve been on the lookout for a body that I could really do something with.”

“So all those pictures you took at the games, you were stealing people’s souls?”

“No, I have to concentrate to make it happen, so I only steal the souls that I really want. Like Madison’s.”

“What? You did this to Madison?”

“Yeah. A couple of weeks ago. I got her alone after cheerleading practice and asked if I could take her picture. And, zap, she was trapped in the camera just like you are now, while I took over her body.”

If Shawn’s soul had a head, it would be swimming. "So, wait, for the last two weeks, Madison…”

“Has been me, that’s right.” Shawn could hear a wicked smile in Joseph’s voice. “Every time you kissed her, every time she jerked you off, every time she blew you, that was me.”

Holy shit, Shawn thought. He had wondered why Madison had been so eager to give him blow jobs lately. “That’s sick.”

“I got the impression you enjoyed it at the time.”

“You did that just so you could have sex with me?”

“Not exactly. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed being so close to you, but being stuck in a straight girl just felt…icky. No, I had to use her to convince you to let Joseph take your picture. You would never have asked ‘Nava-homo’ to take pictures of you if your girlfriend hadn’t said how hot you looked in his photos. Once I – well, Madison – had planted that idea in your mind, Madison’s soul went back into her body, with no memory that anything unusual had happened to her, and I returned to school in as my dumb old self.”

Joseph’s body began to shake violently, as if something were escaping it at a rapid speed. Instantaneously, Shawn’s body began to vibrate. Joseph felt his spirit overtaking Shawn’s frame, his lifeforce oozing its way through Shawn’s bones, his muscles, his brain. The transition from his own scrawny body into Shawn’s was overwhelming to Joseph. While his training period had allowed him to enter other bodies that were larger than his, including his own father’s, none had previously possessed the strength, the poise and the confidence of Shawn. As Joseph acclimated to his new shape, the body began to move, balancing itself quickly before it could topple over the cliff. He clutched the football in his hands and had a comforting sense that Shawn’s body mechanics and agility were still intact even without Shawn’s soul. He glanced down at the gap in his open shirt and admired the well-honed musculature underneath. He lifted a mighty fist and appreciated how the folds of fabric stretched and strained over the pumped biceps. Taking over Madison was a means to an end. Taking over Shawn was Joseph’s wet dream. Shawn’s cock expanded to a rock-hard eight inches just from Joseph’s thoughts about what he would be able to do in this body.

Joseph looked over and saw his body collapsed on the ground beside the camera on its tripod. He walked over, enjoying the swagger that came automatically with this body, and spoke softly into the camera. “Shawn, I can’t hear you any more, but you should still be able to hear me. I’m not sure how long I’ll be in here, but don’t worry, my father will make sure nothing happens to you until I return. And I promise, I would never let anything bad happen to this body.” Joseph placed one of Shawn’s hands under his shirt and rubbed his smooth tanned skin.

Joseph, as Shawn, easily flung Joseph’s inert body over one shoulder and grabbed the camera and tripod with the other. He walked back to the house and left the camera and his old body with his father, then strode manfully back to the 4x4. He got into the driver’s seat and roared the engine to life. He had driven in enough other bodies by now that he could practically take a driver’s exam if he wanted to. He waved goodbye to his father, who could psychically make out the muffled screams of Shawn’s soul inside the camera.

Shawn did not show up for school the next day, and his parents told the school that he had never come home the night before, although his father did note that some cans of Budweiser had gone missing. No one had seen Shawn when he drove off, and his 4x4 was missing. Shawn’s girlfriend was questioned but she couldn’t think of anything that might have caused him to vanish, although the police found it suspicious that her memories of the past two weeks appeared to be astonishingly vague.

Joseph also did not show up for school the next day, but nobody noticed much. People were so used to him being out sick that this attracted no undue attention. He wasn’t a very memorable kid.

About a week later, Joseph’s father received a letter from California, in which Joseph described his adventures so far. He had ditched the 4x4 fairly quickly, to avoid being spotted, and with the help of family members scattered across the country, had made his way to the coast via various forms of transportation. He had already had meetings for possible representation as a model and hoped to be able to start sending checks back home soon. (There were other things Joseph planned to do with this body to make some extra money – things that Shawn would never have done and which Joseph’s father never needed to hear about.)

Just in case the police ever connected them to Shawn’s disappearance, Joseph’s father burnt the letter as well as a photo that Joseph had enclosed. It showed “Shawn” lying on a California beach in white shorts, hair clipped into a buzz cut and newly bleached to platinum blond, his softball-sized deltoids and biceps practically bursting through his golden skin.

In the photo, he was staring at the horizon, pondering the bright future ahead of him.

Source: “Senior Picture” by Cris Kane on Gay Spiral Stories

#possession #jock #soul #magic #gss

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helencake35-blog · 4 years

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how does anime work?

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Character creative designers generally keep on to advise animation film fans on toon fixes, which must be made for you to stay near their character models (in which circumstance they are normally credited as animation movie director intended for the series). Once typically the tale and drawings can be attracted, the first episode is managed. production: The first step is in order to write down thier script for this episode. Following the synopsis and plans for your episodes, this entire sets can be prepared, both by a single person with regard to the entire series, or perhaps by means of several different writers based on the outlines of the script's normal examiner (staff credit: composition in the Serie). The examples are usually analyzed by means of this movie director, the suppliers, in addition to possibly because of the author of the original get the job done before it is completed (after 3 or maybe 4 drawings, often). The episode movie director, supervised by the CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, takes this backbone on the instance and has in order to plan exactly how it will really look on tv screen. Even though the home has the last word and participates in production gatherings, the particular episode director features the many involvement inside the development of often the tv show. This stage will be expressed as a storyboard (a visual scenario), plus the storyboard marks typically the beginning of actual animation manufacturing. https://www1.gogo-anime.ac/ to draw: Often the script is created by often the director, which means that an event is really that director's perception. But generally, especially around the television anime, separate storyboarders are used to be able to attract them. This can be because the pieces of software usually take around 3 2 or 3 weeks to make a normal duration television anime tv show. Art work meetings and creation appointments are held together with the instance director, collection director, yet others about this specific episode. The circumstances happen to be drawn on A-4 papers (in general) plus incorporate most of the vital obstructions of a anime: lower numbers, movie star activities, digital camera movements, such while zoom or even pan, normal gardening to organic (taken in the stage) together with the span of each one photography (or cut). ) throughout terms of seconds and even glasses (which we will explain later). Because this number of drawings readily available for an episode is frequently determined for the sake regarding budget management, the particular number of frames can be also carefully considered from the storyboard. The cases are usually more or less drawn and are seriously the key to deciding how an cartoons will play. The clippings send to the single picture through the camera, in addition to a good average television cartoons event will generally consist of all around 300 discounts. More cutbacks don't necessarily mean a better quality event, although will generally indicate considerably more work for the home / writer. Illustrations involving storyboards from To Aru Kagaku no Railgun. Anime stories have 5 copy. From left to best: the cut number, the style, the action, the discussion, and ultimately the runtime (in time and frames). Types are drawn nearly since they are managed by different designers in the future production step. factors: Not as much well known is the particular set up process, which grades quick imaginative production. Within simple terms, model enhancement refers to the location with the cylinders to turn out to be used in the slice and the background approach that is required, offering typically the ultimate model of what the final photos can look like. Discounts happen to be made exactly the same size while the computer animation paper and include cell phone location facts, accurate points of digital camera movement, and other options. In relationship with often the director and maybe the manufacturers, the lead animators draw models (or occasionally employees are credited especially with design drawings), and the photos are named where typically the figures / characters will certainly be positioned and the way a cut will stick to... to be framed. The basic structure of the qualifications art (for example, a new shrub here, a good mountain there) is drawn, plus the factors in this storyboard are indicated within the design to support express the cut. Sometimes various stages of often the script could be expressed inside a single drawing, providing it's not too complicated. The pv cells are shaded around hot colors, the backdrops can be dark in nice colors. Once approved by simply the director, these themes are copied and switched in to the record department (receiving originals) plus key animators. The art work director and assistants work towards painting the background works based on the model's rough images, whilst the rest of the production process remains at the same time. Right now the shape of every trim is decided: the roles of the characters, the setup, what they may do and how the photograph will be captured (camera angle, zoom and even panorama). Although one associated with the most expressive plus vital parts of the production continues to be: animation.

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pipepump9-blog · 4 years

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How animation work?

I think it is definitely important and interesting to find out the fundamental elements in the environment that we almost all like, and one regarding the most critical inquiries is: how is cartoons built? For me, mainly recently, it was a using up question and I ended right up doing some detailed research. For the sake connected with other anime lovers together with the same question, We thought about sharing our benefits. So if you want the bullets to fire again the subsequent time you get found way up in a dialogue concerning the merits of cartoons, or you want some sort of new solution to watch cartoons, I hope this article is valuable to you. In the last year possibly even, our growing interest in this kind of side of items actually opened my eyes to be able to the expertise, skill, love, and splendor found around Japanese animation. This content is going to focus on anime-TV creation, but the same general method does apply to videos and OVA. That mentioned, there can be quite a few variations in between studios together with individual stage shows. The approach of making an anime is intricate, with many steps and periods. That graphic from the AIC English web page is a good good visible image connected with what My partner and i will explore:

The anime development course of action. Preproduction: This process depends upon that promotes an concept in addition to who supports that, they can be animation dojos, alongside with vendors, yet quite a few animes are usually manga changes or mild novels, in which case advance building costs (including costs). displayed on television stations). Typically the production firm (eg Aniplex) gathers staff members, sponsors, and looks at ads and even merchandise. While quite a few folks describe the galleries like cheap, only about half of the budget is often the cartoons studio, the majority is passed on by shows and other adding corporations. Streaming costs are interestingly high, according to the cat blogger of about 50 million yen regarding an evening schedule around 5-7 posts for a good 52-episode set. You could see why anime can be an expensive business enterprise. For case in point, Entire Metal Alchemist, which usually acquired a new space about Saturday in 6: 00 p. e., had some sort of total budget regarding 500 million yen (before additional costs). When the primary staff is arranged, they meet and plan their particular anime, work on line composition (how the cartoons will play in each instance as well as throughout the series), and select larger staff members, such as character or perhaps mecha designers.. One of the most crucial employees is the director. To understand the role associated with administrators, you can assume of them as the administrators of a movie, nevertheless instead of dealing with the characters, they cope with the computer animators which make the characters within the movie. Their assistance is generally attending group meetings and doing decisions to manage typically the anime's schedule, budget, plus top quality. After the initial panoramic sessions, models happen to be created (character, espiga, fancy dress costumes, etc. ). Versions will be obviously a essential aspect within generating a good cartoons. Character designers are tasked with simplifying manga as well as illustration designs to get suitable for animation or maybe, in the matter of a great original anime, to be able to create a fresh character arranged based in director / manufacturer descriptions. Character makers frequently proceed to suggest animation administrators on cartoon fixes, which will must be made in order to stay nearly their identity models (in which case they are commonly awarded as animation home with regard to the series). Once often the tale and drawings happen to be sketched, the first event is sorted out. production: This first step is to help write the script for often the episode. Following synopsis / plans for your episodes, typically the entire sets are usually published, either by an individual regarding the entire series, or perhaps by way of several different internet writers based on the facial lines of the script's standard boss (staff credit: make up with the Serie). The situations will be analyzed by simply the particular representative, the makers, in addition to possibly by author of the original get the job done prior to it is completed (after 3 as well as 4 paintings, often). The episode home, supervised by the BOSS, takes this backbone from the show and has to plan just how it will certainly basically look on monitor. While the overseer offers the last word plus participates in production gatherings, the episode director provides the many involvement inside the development of the particular episode. This stage will be expressed as a storyboard (a visual scenario), plus the storyboard marks this beginning of actual movement production. to draw: Often the script is created simply by the particular director, which means that an episode will be really that director's perspective. But generally, especially around the television cartoons, different storyboarders are used to be able to attract them. This will be because the scripts commonly take around several months to make a normal length television anime episode. Fine art meetings and generation appointments are held along with the episode director, sequence director, as well as others about this particular episode. The examples will be drawn on A-4 paper (in general) and incorporate most of the important blocks of a good cartoons: trim numbers, movie star activities, photographic camera movements, such because zoom or perhaps pan, dialogue (taken from stage) and the period of each one image (or cut). ) in terms of seconds together with frames (which we will reveal later). Because often the number of drawings available for an episode is usually determined for the sake associated with budget management, typically the number of support frames is usually also carefully considered in the storyboard. The examples will be more or less drawn and are also really the key to be able to deciding how an cartoons may play. The clippings direct to the single photo from the camera, in addition to a average television anime show will generally include all-around 300 discounts. More slices don't necessarily mean a better quality event, although will generally suggest more work for the home / writer. Examples involving storyboards from To Aru Kagaku no Railgun. Anime stories have 5 posts. From left to right: the cut number, the appearance, the action, the discussion, and ultimately the runtime (in time and frames). Designs are drawn about because they are managed by some other designers in the future production step. aspects: Much less well known is often the design process, which marks the beginning of imaginative production. In simple terms, unit progress refers to the positioning on the cylinders to be used in the cut and the background procedure that is required, offering the defined model of precisely what the final photograph may look like. kiss anime Discounts are usually made the exact same size like the movement report in addition to include mobile location details, accurate explanations of photographic camera movement, and other judgements. In cooperation with this director and possibly the companies, the lead animators pull models (or sometimes staff members are credited particularly with type drawings), and the photographs are named where typically the character types / characters will be located and the way a cut can abide by... to be framed. The essential structure of the history art work (for instance, some sort of sapling here, the hill there) is drawn, in addition to the elements in this storyboard are stated inside the design to guide identify the cut. Occasionally several stages of this script can be expressed in a single drawing, so long as it's not too difficult. The cells are shaded around warm colors, the qualification are dark in awesome colorings. Once approved by way of the home, these layouts are duplicated and changed in to the qualifications department (receiving originals) and even key animators. The art work director and assistants work with painting the background is effective based on the model's rough drawings, even though the rest of the particular production process continues with the same time. Today the shape of each one slice is decided: the positions of the characters, this settings, what they will do and how the particular photograph will be caught (camera angle, zoom and even panorama). Nonetheless one associated with the most expressive plus vital parts of typically the production continues to be: animation.

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wall-krawler · 5 years

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Spidersona Week! Day 2: Equipment (Minor spoilers for upcoming fanfic)

Due to living in a two bedroom apartment Marcus was forced to keep most of his gear in a secretive and secluded “lair.” A safe haven much larger than his closet.

Toni’s bleached curls bounced as she jogged down a hallway while turning on her video camera which was facing her. She studied the lenses before smiling and turning the small device, aiming it right at Marcus. “Video log 15, the spider Caveee! Spooky~” She chuckled behind the camera as Marcus looked up and smiled.

“It’s not a cave, it’s just a chill spot.” Marcus told Toni before giving the camera a glance over. He’d gotten used to this by now, the filming and random questions. Out of the little friend group Toni seemed to be the most curious about Marcus’ new powers and life.

“Mmhm, well cave or not it’s still spooky. Only weird inventors do their hero work in secluded places.” She teased him as she panned out to show off the little room they were in. Various tools were scattered on the table he was working on while sketches and sticky notes filled the rest of the room. It looked like a bunch of teenagers rooms clumped together. Or at least some type of messy work room.

She zooms in close to catch sight of what Marcus was so concentrated on. It looked like a slim steel wrestling belt. “What are you working on?” She asked, getting him to look back up and smile into the camera.

“It’s a spider belt, I wear it underneath the pants.” Marcus explains while showing off the smooth design. He had Peter’s help to designing it but the usage was all up to him. “It has six back up cartridges of web fluid just in case I run out of my own.”

He clips the belt on and does a quick demonstrate of switching out the cartridges without fumbling around too much. But to add a little excitement to the video Marcus fires a few random strands of webbing into the air just to have them splatter all along the ceiling. It was pretty cool to see how the web-shooters worked without being covered.

“Wow that’s so cool.”

🕷🕷🕷🕷(Gadget Headcanons)

- Due to having organic webbing Marcus only wears web-shooters to help direct the web he’s firing into a straight line or into a small pellet. But in a few instances when he’s used up a large amount of webbing at once he has to rely on the Web cartridges until his own organic webbing comes back.

- The spider belt is exactly like Peter’s old one except Marcus ditched the spider light to build a little compartment for breakfast bars. (He’s a growing child, he needs to eat)

- Peter loaned a few spider trackers to Marcus in case the bad guy ever got away. They look like small magnets with clinging legs.

- Besides his cell phone Marcus carries his old PSP around in his book-bag to play around on boring patrols. Sometimes he just ends up rewatching the Spider-Man movie dedicated to Peter. He strongly believes Toby Maguire played a great Ben Riley.

- Now for the important equipment:Suits!

- Marcus has three suits in total.

- Homemade: This suit actually isn’t anything special. It’s just a pair of blue jeans, faded red converse, a $6 Spider-Man T-shirt with a black black long sleeve underneath, and then a very cheap red ski mask with eye holes cut out. People thought he was a bad guy at first.

- Retro: Peter’s younger years as a hero were spent on sowing a lot. Always having a spare costume throughout high school Peter began to upgrade, leaving the old suit behind and never returning to it. Through some interesting events (keep a secret for fanfic) Marcus stumbles upon the old suit and decides to “borrow” it. Although in the end karma did strike when Marcus though the underarm web wings would actually make him glide. Spoilers: They didn’t.

- Unlimited: Marcus needing a real costume goes to Peter to ask for help. He wanted something that stood out so that the two wouldn’t get mixed up as each other. Peter understood this and went through all the suits he’s created or collected over the years as Spider-Man. The one he landed on was the unlimited costume, a dark red, blue, and black futuristic looking suit he unfortunately damaged. The nanotechnology used to retract the suit into a watch were fried in a fight with Electro. Ever since then it’s just be hanging up in one of the displayed vaults. Marcus, without hesitation, chose that one.

- Unlimited benefits: The suit is skintight and still comes into parts which makes it easier to wear underneath clothing while stuffing the rest into a book-bag. The lenses within the mask is extra thick to help from breaking or being blinded by bright lights. There’s a camouflage mode but it only works for about 20 seconds. The web-shooters and belt fits perfectly beneath the suit as well. As for built in communicators, Marcus can link up with Peter and talk through an earpiece designed into their masks. So that Marcus never feels alone when in battle.

🕸🕸🕸🕸

A/N: I’m not the best when it comes to designing costumes and what not, I’m just a writer. But it dawned upon me that Peter from into the spiderverse (Blonde one. The one I’m basing my fanfic Peter from) has like a whole bunch of suits! Heck Miles basically borrowed one from the lair and made it his own. It just makes sense to me that Peter wouldn’t mind giving out older suits to those who would make use of them. The suits he’d never wear again. So that’s why I chose the unlimited costume. It has a great design, totally stylish, and It’s one of my favorite suits of all time.

#spidersona #fanfiction #fanfic #headcanon #peter parker #spidersona week 2k19

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sjnm3217 · 5 years

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Reflections: Assignment 2

While reading the assignment brief, I thought long and hard about what I wanted as the centerpiece for my second work. Before I started, I knew that there were several technical challenges I had to address for the assignment:

1. Difficulties with using human subjects: Was I able to find convenient, yet convincing human actors for the story I wish to narrate?

2. Dificulties with using inanimate subjects: Using toys could prove a more convenient alternative to human subjects, as I could circumvent issues like timetabling, and finding willing subjects (since they were inanimate, I could always bend them to my will, hehe). But they certainly don’t provide the depth of expression that human actors possess, unless I were to find some way to manipulate their facial expressions.

Thus, I decided to make my own characters from scratch, as that would give me greater control over the story and characters I wanted to portray. I eventually drew inspiration from one of my all-time favourite animations, Toy Story.

Movie Stills Database. (2019). Toy Story 4 Publicity Still [Image]. Retrieved from: https://www.moviestillsdb.com/movies/toy-story-4-i1979376

The Toy Story franchise has been met with critical acclaim from children and adults alike; it has a slew of funny, likeable, multi-dimensional cast members. Most recently in Toy Story 4, Forky was introduced:

Tumblr. (2019). Forky [Image]. Retrieved from: https://www.tumblr.com/search/toy%20story%204%20forky

Aww. I feel you Forky.

Made from a disposable spork and other dispensable materials, Forky thinks he’s ‘trash’ and not a toy. All he wants is to disappear into the safe oblivion of the trash bin. Unlike the other Toy Story characters, I think Forky is a refreshing change because he doesn’t exactly embrace his gift of life, and constant faces an absurd existential crisis.

Tapping on to a pre-established character like Forky was a great idea as my audience would probably already be familiar with the background story, and I could spend less time establishing the motivations of the character, and more time fleshing out the key components of my story. To put it in terms of Saussure’s ‘Dyadic’ or Two-part Model of Sign, the signifier of a fork with a face immediately brought up in the minds of my audience the shared signified of Forky from Toy Story, and thus Forky’s associated back story and quirky characteristics.

Critique Session

This was the original storyboard that I came up with:

This was based off the conventional plot outline of an exposition → rising action → climax → falling action → denouement.

These are the shots I took and selected for the critique.

1. I knew I wanted a mid shot – cutting off at the waist – as it was traditionally a good shot size to introduce the titular character. I experimented with several compositions, and decided that instead of situating Forky right smack in the centre, he looked better positioned at the third of the shot instead (aka Rule of Thirds). Surprisingly, aside from being aesthetically pleasing, it gave the impression of a camera panning across the household products to focus on Forky, giving the image more movement.

Too zoomed out and centralised at first. Didn’t like this

2. For the second image, I focused on the trashcan on my phone camera, giving the rest of the image a natural blur. The intention of this frame is to introduce the trashcan as the apple of Forky’s eye.

3. For the third image, I tried using an eye-level shot at first to simulate Forky interacting/coming close to the trashcan. However, I found using a neutral angle too bland eventually, and resorted to using a over-the-shoulder shot from the trash can’s perspective. This (1) made the image more dynamic and (2) led more smoothly to the 4th frame, where...

Example of a neutral, slightly Dutch angled shot that I felt didn’t work as well as a POV shot

4. … An unknown human tries to grab a hold of Forky. The high angle shots employed in frames 3 and 4 also further characterised Forky as small, weak and vulnerable.

5. A neutral shot was employed to show Forky’s distress as the focal point of the image.

6. Forky is left alone in the disposable serving bowl

However, while shooting, I felt that the ending didn’t resonate well with me. It seemed like the story stopped at falling action, without a proper ending or denouement. Or perhaps I just didn’t like the idea of leaving Forky with a bad ending :-( I thought he deserved better.

Since I had 3 frames remaining, I decided to utilize them to provide a better closure to the story. A twist (e.g. unexpected victory or bittersweet return) would also make the narration more compelling, and add tension to the storyline.

7. Thus, frame 7 shows the human user throwing the disposable serving bowl into the trashcan. Again, the image is taken from a top-down angle to show the POV from the human user. It maintains continuity, whilst emphasizing the human user’s position as someone powerful, respected, and threatening. *I realized later a continuity issue with this shot – Forky’s not in the serving bowl…

8. Frame 8 is a reaction shot of Forky in the trashbin. It seizes the moment and puts Forky’s emotion on the mantlepiece. Forky is saddened, because he doesn’t yet realise that he’s…

9. … Actually already in the trash! He’s reunited with his favourite place in the world! Congratulations Forky.

Tumblr. (2019). Forky [Image]. Retrieved from: https://www.tumblr.com/search/toy%20story%204%20forky

I was quite heartened that most people seemed to enjoy the story, although the critique session revealed certain continuity issues. Some of the audience members found it quite jarring that between images 2 and 3, Forky managed to unexplainedly make his way down to ground level. For the last image, it could also be made clearer that Forky has made his way into the trash bin.

In addition, I found certain aspects of the shoot unsatisfying for me. Due to the cluttered environment, I think it drew attention away from the main characters in the narration. I also felt Forky’s expressions could be better varied, since I had the deployment of coloured paper and googly eyes on my hands.

Final Submission

Thus I decided to reshoot the project, utilizing the more or less the same angles/shots as my first try, but incorporating the feedback given by the class, as well as certain improvements I personally felt could be made. Still the same plot and number of frames though.

1. Reduced clutter in the environment and used only disposables in the background to make Forky stand out. Instead of using the Rule of Thirds in this iteration, I found Forky better in the centre, giving the impression of a hard cut at the beginning of the film reel.

2. Forky is now revealed to be on the same level as the trash can, removing sources of continuity issues found in the previous iteration. I also made us of a long shot this time, to bring into clarity the mise en scene/setting of the story.

3. No change in composition. But Forky’s mouth has been changed to a heart shape to symbolize his fervent admiration and weird attachment to the trash can. Lol! I also experimented with other angles, but found the original composition the best at conveying the character dynamics of the story.

4. Not much of a change.

5. Not much of a change.

6. This time, a Dutch angle is used to show the disarray of Forky’s surroundings (quote Big Bang Theory, “a swirling vortex of entropy” – not quite but we are getting there) and the conflicted emotions he is feeling.

7. A tear was added for dramatic effect. *sad saxophone playing in background*

8. A wider shot was used to show Forky in the bin. I think there’s added comical relief once we pan out and see Forky grinning foolishly in the bin.

Overall, I wanted this story to tell a greater moral - that even though sometimes things don’t go our way, despite the many setbacks we face in life, things do work out, eventually.

A behind the scenes was included for all canned shots. And in the spirit of Toy Story, I thought having a bloopers reel would also be quite interesting.

I had lots of fun with this project overall! As it is now Week 9 of school, let me end off with a very appropriate meme I found from Tumblr:

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apdo703 · 7 years

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Assignment 5

Jamie Wiedmann

I recently went with my friend to Manhattan for they day, she just got home from college and I haven't seen her in months. She doesn't go to New York often so it was really exciting for me to be able to show her around some of my favorite places and experience some new things as well.

We took a lot of pictures but I chose the ones I did because they highlighted all of the major events of the day and they came out the best overall. I took viewpoint and focus into consideration for a lot of them. For example the second image, we stumbled upon this tiny art gallery and I was in one section looking at an exhibit and there was a hole in the wall where you could see through to another exhibit, which I thought provided really interesting perspective. For the third image, the light shining on the piece of art created a silhouette of my friend standing in front of it, which looked really cool. For the 4th one I wanted the camera to focus on the dumpling in the front but blur everything else in the back so you could see it but it wasn't’t in focus. I chose the balloon image because it is fun and added a lot of color and texture. The picture of the museum ticket was one of my favorites because of the perspective of the ticket up close and I included the art piece in the back, which I originally wanted to be in focus, but I couldn't get it to come out right. It turned out more interesting this way!

The most challenging part for me was coming up with an interesting story that I could easily photograph given my time and resource constraints. I came up with several ideas prior but did not have access to the right props or people to play parts in the stories, then some of the other ideas I came up with were just not interesting at all, I had to find the right balance.

Visual narratives using still images have pros and cons when compared to things like movies, TV shows, and live shows. I think one good thing is the amount of detail the viewer gets when there is no movement, you can study one frame of a scene for 20 minutes as opposed to watching it flash by you in a second. You can zoom in really close and examine all the details. When watching a movie, there are lines, background music, sound effects also which take away from the image, although they do add a lot and can be very beneficial. One other difference is you don’t always get the full story. The viewer may not arrive at the same conclusion the artist intended, although you can get that with film as well. It can be more fun sometimes to come up with your own story for the images. When I was at the museum in my photo, the New Museum, one floor had an exhibit of paintings of one man in different positions with different facial expressions. The description of the artist and the collection said things like location and clothing were purposefully not detailed so the viewer could form their own personal connections to the man in the paintings, either coming up with a reason for the mans emotion, or recognizing and sharing a feeling depicted. There were multiple other pieces that were videos, short clips without sounds depicting maybe a minute of time, one was of a house, one of a flame. It was a weird cross between the still images we were making in this class and a movie, and I just thought it was a cool connection that tied to this class, it had components of both.

I disagree with the author because one of the very first paragraphs includes a quote that says “a narrative is an account of events occurring over time” which is exactly what visual narratives are. I don’t think that a single photograph qualifies as a narrative, although it does convey a scene or event or person, it does not cover enough time to be a full narrative. However I don’t see why multiple photos can’t fit the description. Visual narratives have a timeline, they go in chronological order, they have a plot, sometimes characters and other objects. I agree that photographs often evoke stories the viewer already knows, and that if the view does not know the story, they most likely won’t develop an understanding of the entire thing just by looking at the photo. I certainly don’t see how storytelling photography is harmful.

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satelliteofmstielove · 7 years

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K18 The Million Eyes of Sumuru

Like Fu Manchu, but with more sexism!

General notes

So, sorry it took me like four months to get this next entry out. School got busy faster than I expected. But last time it was almost a year and a half, so at least there’s that…anyway…

The Million Eyes of Sumuru is a 1967 British spy film about a scary lady and her army of scary ladies. It’s based on a book series by Sax Rohmer, a man whose name sounds like the title of a film-noir western about a jazz musician wandering in the desert. He also wrote the Fu Manchu books, which explains a lot. Also, it was directed by a guy named Lindsey. This movie includes some celebrities (sort of- does Frankie Avalon count as a celebrity?) and was produced by our other Castle of Fu Manchu friend, Harry Alan TOOOOOWEEEEERRRRRRRSSS. Wilfrid Hyde-White is in this, he played Colonel Pickering in the movie version of My Fair Lady. (I only mention that because I somehow didn’t recognize him until most of the way into this movie, even though I’ve seen My Fair Lady several times.) It also stars George Nader, from the famous and hilariously terrible Robot Monster, which we’ll get to watch later on in Season 1.

The main interesting note about this episode is that Tom Servo leaves partway through the movie. Again, it’s a case of Josh needing to be somewhere at the same time they were taping. He’s still in the host segments, because they always taped those before the movie part. Now, let’s get to Sumuru. (I don’t have a link for this one because it’s not on YouTube, but you can find it at Club MST3K.)

Prologue

I don’t know if I ever mentioned that I like the little tentacle things in the KTMA doorway sequence.

Oh man, continuity! That’s unusual for this show in general, not even just KTMA. They did a “previously on…” sketch as the intro for The Deadly Bees [905], but that one purposefully had nothing to do with anything that has ever happened on the S.O.L. They also did general premise recaps fairly often in Season 1 and occasional other times, and some story arc recaps in Season 8 when they were forced to have a story arc. This is the only episode I know of, thought, that has a classic “previously” bit, separate from the rest of the host segment, that recaps with a clip from the previous episode. Neat.

Also, does anyone recognize the voice-over voice? Josh or Kevin are the usual deep-voice go-tos, but this doesn’t sound like either of them. The musical sting comes from Fugitive Alien (I thought it was Time of the Apes at first, which goes to show how well I don’t know my Season 3 episodes).

After the clip, we join the Mads trying to get a look at Joel floating outside the satellite. They confirm for us that he is not floating naked in space, but is actually wearing underwear (which we could kinda tell from that very accurate action-figure Joel model). I had to look up what “BVDs” were, though. I had to look at this so now you do, too:

Whatever camera they’re using to look at Joel must have really good zoom if they can tell his cheeks are blue.

Has he been out there for a whole week? That’s impressive. Much later, in Time Chasers [821], the S.O.L. seemed to maybe have a Tardis-like air bubble-forcefield thing around it when it docked with Pearl’s van, so maybe that’s how Joel managed. Of course, a week in the cold of space with no food or water doesn’t really leave him very well off even if he had air, but those are all science facts. More likely this episode and the last one just take place closer together that that. (My default headcanon assumption is most episodes take place roughly in real time with when they aired, but there’s exceptions to that for sure). But again, I’m more than willing to relax about this kind of thing. I just speculate for fun.

The Mads are 2001-loving dorks, and we love them for it. As characters. As people, they’re jerks.

I think this may the first occurrence of weirdly affectionate Dr. F nicknames for Joel. We’ve had a few weird insults in previous episodes, but I think this is the first of this particular kind.

I didn’t know the Mads could open the S.O.L. doors from down on Earth. But I guess they control all sorts of other things from their lab, so why not the doors? Larry doesn’t actually press any buttons, but Joel gets inside anyway. Maybe he pressed it under the desk.

Joel is putting on his jumpsuit as he comes onto the bridge. The bots must have left it right by the door. Why did Joel take it off to go outside in the first place? Was he in the middle of changing and got sucked out the door? Actually, a random semi-nude spacewalk doesn’t seem too far outside something Joel might do on purpose…

Joel also thanks the Mads for letting him inside. It’s good to be polite to your captors, I suppose. In some episodes, rudeness does result in punishment, so probably a smart idea.

Locked you out again? How many times has this happened, Joel? Maybe you need to get another key. Although if he’s going out into space in only his underwear, he might not have a good place to keep it…this is getting weird, let’s move on.

Trace’s weird expressions in this segment keep making me laugh.

The Mads are really enjoying taunting Joel this week. I like their doofy handshake. I can imagine them doing that in the halls at Gizmonic and other mad scientists just looking at them like they can’t stand them.

Joel’s response is actually much more sarcastic than usual for him (outside the theater). 3-12 weeks? What’s he talking about there? Anyone know? Did KTMA have multiple seasons?

Poor guy, he sounds really done. Being stuck out in the vacuum of space for a while probably does that to you.

The Mads’ movie intros are starting to sound more like they will for the rest of the series. Also, Larry tells Clay to get the movie, and he does. I sometimes forget that Dr. F and Dr. Erhardt were portrayed mostly as equals during KTMA. The junior doctor/henchman thing didn’t really get going until Season 1.

I never know what to make of angry Joel. It happened more often in KTMA, but still not that much. Also, his hand gestures are weird.

We didn’t see the bots in this segment, probably because they’re off hiding from Joel and their impending punishment.

Movie pt. 1

Wow, the Mads were right; this is a really washed-out print.

Joel comes into the theater dancing to the parade music from the movie. He seems to have forgotten about being angry. Maybe the bots got an earful on the way down.

4:32, time and temp: 6:04 and 67°. The episode originally aired in early May, so I’d assume this is sometime around then, if not the exact night. I don’t know if TV23 re-ran these or not.

Crow mispronounces “emperor” at 4:39, and corrects himself, which makes Joel chuckle.

At 4:43, Tom tries to apologize for locking Joel outside, saying they “didn’t really know it was [him].” Joel understandably doesn’t respond.

During the opening credits, they do a lot of “relative of famous person with same last name” jokes. Those became a staple during credits for the rest of the show, especially the Joel seasons.

Servo doesn’t know who the Buddha is at 7:27. Also, Joel’s Wisconsin accent really comes out when he says “Buddha.”

At 7:46, Joel starts a riff that just sort of peters out. Something about the plant in front of the camera, but I’m not sure what he was trying to say.

8:13, Joel makes a pun and asks Crow if he likes it. Crow doesn’t seem overly enthused, but he says it was cool, anyway. Tom then tells him should laugh at it, since Joel’s upset with them. He hasn’t been acting too upset since they got into the theater, but maybe he’s been glowering or something.

Crow and Joel both talk at the same time at 8:31. They’re usually pretty good at not doing that, considering it’s improv.

At 8:35, Joel says “whoops” and looks down. It looks like he was just moving out of the way of the movie, but maybe he hit Crow’s arm or something.

Movie thing: I know it’s not even 10 minutes in yet, but the editing in this is really bad.

At 11:52, Joel tells Crow a terrible joke, which he kinda laughs at, but it seems to make him a little bit sad. Joel laughs, though.

Servo’s Frankie Avalon joke at 12:27- does that come from somewhere or did Josh just make that up on the fly? It’s very clever. Josh always has been the best of the MST alumni at off-the-cuff quips. Crow and Joel groan, though.

At 13:01, I’m not sure what Joel’s laughing at.

Joel bats at the old man at 13:16.

Movie thing: Gosh, 60s white-people dancing is always so second-hand embarrassing. Also, along with being washed out, the sound is really bad in this, too. I’m having a hard time understanding what anyone is saying.

I appreciate their Batman riffs at 15:43.

At 16:36, Tom makes fun of Frankie Avalon for being in the movie, but since Frankie’s hugging a pretty lady on screen at the time, Crow disagrees with his assessment. His enthusiastic follow-up about Frankie’s hand placement makes me laugh, along with Joel.

Josh calls commercial at 17:22, while making fun of Colonel Medika’s line delivery.

The guys are talking over each other a lot this week. I guess they’re just full of riff ideas.

Joel’s delivery at 17:45 is kind of adorable, for some reason.

All their riffs about the van starting at 18:26 are really funny, but what was that, Joel? Freeze him and make him into little bongs? Bombs? Huh?

I’m sorry, but WHAT IS HAPPENING?!

You can’t really see it because the quality is so bad, but at 19:27, Joel and the bots lean along with the car-chase cam.

Terrible pun from Joel at 20:20ish.

Some more of the Crow attitude we know and love at 22:20.

At 22:29, Servo complains to Joel about hearing voices in his head. Joel sounds a little concerned, but then Tom drops it.

Joel starts poking at Frankie’s giant chin at 22:57.

Crow just can’t let the poor framing in this scene go.

Tom’s confused about the number of Sumuru’s eyes at 26:10.

Joel gives the naked woman two thumbs up at 26:52, then stands up to look down at her chest! Unexpected from him. Things are getting awfully blue in here…

Crow starts a game of tag with Joel as they leave the theater, which is cute. Joel takes a huge obvious step over Trace on the floor, and mumbles something. I can’t tell whether he says something to Trace, or say something about “chase”. Either would make sense in context.

Host Segment 1

We go right into the host segment, skipping the doorway sequence. It’s hard to tell with these VHS recordings whether that’s how the episode was made, or if the person just cut it out. It does look like a little bit from the beginning of this segment is cut off.

Joel is still mad about being locked out of the ship, so he’s attached “idioprobes” to the bots. They look like strings, and apparently administer pain while attached. That seems a little harsh to me, but I’ve also never been stuck out in space in my underwear, either. I like the way Crow sidles sideways into frame.

When Joel rips the idioprobes off the bots, you can clearly see the string on Servo, but he just pretends to grab something off of Crow. They didn’t have any extra string for a prop?

After Joel removes them, Servo starts trying to give the “we didn’t know it was you” excuse again, saying they thought it was any of several dead musicians. (All the people in the list are drummers, except for Elvis.)

Joel’s not having it, and threatens the probes again. I’m not really sure why they’re called probes; they’re not really probing anything.

Tom demands a trial by his peers, and Joel says that he’d build them more peers if he could. Interesting- does that mean he’s used up all useful robot building parts on the ship already? That would explain why he stopped at four, besides the fact that four is more than enough to deal with.

Then Joel asks where Gypsy is, and the other two hem and haw and finally admit they left her stuck in the spiral-on-down, which I think is the way to the theater? I know they’ve used the term before, but infrequently. Anyway, Joel’s not happy about that, either. Servo’s defense is pretty reasonable, since his arms don’t work. Crow’s in trouble, though.

Apparently you can unstick Gypsy from the spiral-on-down by pressing a button on the little control panel thing. I wonder if that unsticks her from anywhere in the satellite, or if it’s just for that one spot. Crow calls it a robo-purge button, which kind of makes it sound like the former.

I love Gypsy’s screech when she gets released.

Joel seems so done with the bots and everything by the end of this segment. He can’t do anything but smile and (metaphorically) wave. The cheesy grin isn’t usually his style; that’s more of a Mike thing.

Movie pt. 2

Still 67° at 6:38 (am or pm).

Joel sings a little Sumuru song at 35:48. I’m not sure if the tune comes from somewhere or if he was just making it up on the spot. Anyone recognize it?

At 36:20, Joel and the bots mess with the car dashboard.

37:33- Tom makes another off-color joke. I have a feeling more are on the way, given the content of the movie.

At 44: 20, Servo brings up the slant-6 Swinger car again, the one they mentioned in a few previous episodes.

He also calls commercial at 44:45.

Joel’s sounding extra sleepy in a lot of his lines.

Ah good, it’s time for the movie to dial up the sexism again.

By 51:11, Crow’s lost patience with the kissing scene.

At 52:04, Tom tells Joel he needs to leave, because he needs to go bake brownies for the Pinewood Derby. The real-life reason was mentioned at the top, but I’m thinking in-universe, Servo was just tired of watching this movie. Joel’s fine with him leaving, as long as he agrees to show up for the sketches between the movies segments. Tom promises, and wonders if they have eggs. Just a pointless thought, since it doesn’t matter how they eat (or breathe), but I always assumed either the Mads send them supply shipments, or they have some kind of food synthesizer that makes it for them. They definitely have the latter by the end of the series, since Crow mentions it in Soultaker [1001], but earlier than that, it’s not clear. Maybe both?

Host Segment 2

Joel tries to hold a trial for the bots, but, as usual, everything is a joke to them. They just won’t go along with anything he’s trying to do. The courtroom thing reminds me of Crow’s trial for cheating in Wild World of Batwoman [515].

The bots go off on another word-association tangent, which leads to a game show sketch, while Joel just looks on impatiently.

He uses the button panel as a gavel.

Even Gypsy gets in on making life difficult for Joel. It looks like maybe Josh was throwing his voice to do Gypsy from the other side of the desk. Either that or they recorded that part in post. Either way, Trace or somebody else must have been operating her.

Time and temp comes up on the host segment this time; Still 67° at 7:07. The updates are more frequent this week than last time.

Joel gives up on getting order in the court, and picks up Tom and kisses his head while misquoting Jimi Hendrix. What else can you do but give into the madness?

What is that on the desk besides the papers? It looks like an upside-down mug, maybe?

I like the weird noise Crow makes when Joel calls Movie Sign.

Movie pt. 3

As Servo mentioned, he doesn’t go back into the theater with the others. Joel was holding him as they ended the last segment, so I guess he must have put him down somewhere on the way to the theater.

Joel and Crow try to move away from the spraying champagne at 55:10.

I agree with Crow at 56:27, please stop.

Man, Crow keeps saying what I’m thinking.

At 59:45, Crow calls back to the oceanic opening credits from the Gamera films.

Oh goodness, again with the Brain That Wouldn’t Die-style KPORN saxophone…also, so does security want to like, check her bag or anything before she goes in to the president? No? Yeah, see, that’s exactly why security exists.

Wait, he did get shot? Huh? It would be nice if they would SHOW us what’s happening! And this is the most ineffectual political security ever.

Host Segment 3

As promised, Tom is back for the host segment.

I love Crow’s flowers on his net.

Joel was out in space for five weeks? I guess it was longer between episodes than I thought. That’s what I get for not checking first.

It amuses me that the bots are just now asking about this, even though they obviously thought about before, since Servo did calculations. But Joel’s got a guitar and he’s ignoring their questions, sort of like how they ignored him earlier when he was trying to put them on trial.

Time and temperature again, 7:28 and down to 65°.

Joel and the bots sing us a lovely part of the theme song to remind us to just relax about the eating and breathing thing. I’m guessing they anticipated people calling/writing in with questions about how Joel survived. As much as this episode guide exists to overthink things, that kind of science fact I am quite relaxed about, and I don’t mind being reminded.

I wonder whose guitar that is. It might be Josh’s, since I know he has musical inclinations. It doesn’t look the same as the guitar Larry has during the Clay and Lar’s Flesh Barn song in Women of the Prehistoric Planet [104], but that doesn’t mean it’s not still his. Also, do you think Joel’s really playing the guitar here? It sure looks like he is, but I’ve heard him say in interviews that he doesn’t play the guitar. Maybe he just meant he doesn’t anymore, or very much.

I think Crow is just moving his mouth, not actually singing. Nice harmonies from Tom, though.

Movie pt. 4

Haha, she’s running to her inevitable death, it’s funny! These highly-trained assassins sure jog at a casual pace, don’t they? I guess they’re probably in heels.

At 1:08:21, Joel mentions that he likes a movie with lots of midriff. This one ought to make him happy, then, no midriff shortage here.

Classic “oh wow” from Joel at 1:12:28, and another at 1:12:39. I don’t know if I’m going to note all of them. Maybe I should, and then someday someone can make a pointless compilation video or something.

Wizard of Oz reference #16 at 1:12:46. Maybe someday someone can make a pointless compilation of these, too.

Crow makes Joel laugh at 1:12:53.

The guys have no patience for Frankie’s fourth-wall-breaking joke at 1:13:01.

Wow, what a pointlessly prolonged scene leading up to nothing. They did in two minutes what they could have done in 30 seconds. That’s padding Roger Corman could be proud of.

Also, that cut. This movie can’t decide if it wants to be a comedy or not. Not that it’s succeeding at comedy, but sometimes it’s sure trying.

“I know it’s best” because I’m a man, albeit a wimpy, useless one. Man, just like City on Fire, this movie annoys me so much I can’t leave it alone, even though that’s not what this guide is for. (I also think it’s easy to start filling in riffs yourself in KTMA, when it’s slow.)

I just noticed Joel’s leaned way back in his chair.

He calls commercial at 1:21:07.

Sumuru’s mines are operated by switches? That seems far less effective than normal mines…

Joel keeps talking about midriffs. I guess he really is a fan.

I’m sorry I keep talking about movie things, but why the heck is Frankie here? Isn’t his character just some rich playboy with no actual skills? Did I miss some line near the beginning that explained his extensive military training? I really might have, the sound was terrible.

Joel’s riff attempt at 1:32:26- he pauses to get his sentence in order, then still says “fooms” instead of “films”. I find that way funnier than I should.

Is Joel okay? He’s having a really hard time getting over Trace on the way out, again. Maybe they’re squished closer to the wall than usual?

Conclusion

Apparently Servo’s mouth is broken now, so Joel moves it for him and makes him sing.

Joel mentions they’ve got 900 people in the fan club. That’s extremely impressive for a dinky little puppet show on local UHF. Seems like people could tell from the beginning that MST3K was destined for greatness.

The fan club newsletter is called The Binding Polymer? I wonder why. Just science-y sounding, I guess.

Why does Joel need to move Servo’s mouth to talk when he’s not even onscreen? Maybe he can’t talk at all if his mouth doesn’t move. That seems like an odd design choice for a robot, but then again, so do most aspects of the bots. Speaking of Tom’s mouth, is KTMA Tom’s mouth the same as regular Tom’s mouth, but upside down? I’m probably just crazy.

Crow seems shocked by Joel’s sudden button press.

As he often does, Joel looks offscreen before the camera cuts away. He really does seem tired this week, doesn’t he? Hope he went home after this and slept.

Kevin’s listed under “Puppet Operation” in the credits. Maybe that means he was running Gypsy in the second host segment.

Thoughts on the Movie

Wow. You know, after reading a little bit about it, I had hopes that The Million Eyes of Sumuru would be a little bit higher quality than the past few movies we’ve seen. In some ways, that’s true.

But overall, I have to say…WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS MOVIE?! I have so many questions: Why can’t George Nader and Frankie Avalon stop being smug and sardonic and cutesy for three and a half seconds? Why did they frame shots so half the time you can’t tell what’s going on? And President Boong? First of all, Boong, really? Second of all, Sinonesia? What? Third of all, he is clearly a white guy in eyeliner and all of this is supposed to be remotely acceptable to the audience!? I mean, Fu Manchu was racist, too, but at least they made some attempt to suspend audience disbelief.

And the really big one: how do you think they fit this much misogyny into one film? Remember, even if a woman hates men and has dedicated her whole life to destroying them, she still becomes instantly smitten if touched by a man, no matter how unattractive. Also, even if she is a trained martial-artist-assassin, she will not make any attempt to stop said man from touching her, because she is a woman. Yes, women exist solely as sexual creatures who could never desire anything more than to be dominated by men, no matter what they may try to convince themselves otherwise. In fact, every human being is motivated only by sex at all times! And was that significant glance between Helga and the other chick at the end there supposed to redeem anything? Sax Rohmer, Harry Towers, Kevin Kavanagh (screenwriter on this fine, fine film)- y’all have issues.

This movie has plenty of other stupidity which I’m not going to bother to get into. I think I’ve expressed my feelings adequately. It’s not unwatchable in the way Castle of Fu Manchu is, but it’s plenty more offensive. Let’s just move on with our lives.

Review

This one was okay. As I said before, Josh thrives the most on the improv riffing, and the second part really starts to drag once he leaves. I still laughed out loud at several riffs, (favorite riff- Crow: Does she always make that noise when she walks?) but there’s a lot of dead space in between. Compared to the past few episodes, it definitely has less energy, which also makes it easier to get caught up in the badness of the movie.

Overall, had good parts, wouldn’t put it in my KTMA top five, by any means. Still, with every episode the guys seem to figuring out more and more the feeling they want in the movie and host segments. You can see it moving towards its destination.

#mst3k #KTMA #K18 #The Million Eyes of Sumuru #ACFGEG #Fun fact: this is the longest entry I've written so far #even longer than Gamera vs Zigra #Don't know why

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liptool · 5 years

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Early reviews of Apple’s latest suggest colour, battery and lower price make the iPhone 11 a winner

The early reviews of Apple’s new iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max are in from publications with early access to the three models.

While the iPhone 11 Pro is the technically most impressive, with a new triple camera system catching up to the competition, it was the iPhone 11, the cheapest of the bunch, winning the majority of people over. Although questions remain as to whether it’s worth upgrading at all, if your iPhone is less than five years old.

In our tests, the iPhone 11 easily lasted a full day at a time and then some. It’s possible you could manage to kill this battery in less than a day, but you’d have to really try. The battery life is great, just like the iPhone XR’s battery life was great.

What’s less great is the fact that Apple is still putting its ancient 5W charger in the box, even though the iPhone 11 Pro has an 18W USB-C fast charger. If Apple isn’t going to update the entire line to a fast charger, it should just do the environment a favour and stop putting the 5W charger in the box entirely; there are literally billions of them in the world, and odds are, you have more than one in a drawer already.

In reality, the iPhone 11 has a display that will more than satisfy most users. It’s not as sharp in resolution as the likes of the iPhone 11 Pro, or the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 for example, and it doesn’t offer mobile HDR compatibility like these other devices either, but the iPhone 11 still offers a decent screen with ample brightness and arguably more realistic colours than the Pro models and other OLED smartphones.

The omission of HDR on the iPhone 11 means that while it tries to deliver a HDR-like experience for compatible content, it’s not the real deal. Smart HDR pictures don’t pop as much when viewing on screen as they do on the iPhone 11 Pro, and you can’t see as much detail on a dark TV show or movie that’s available in HDR, as you can on the 11 Pro – but it’s also one of the few compromises the iPhone 11 makes to the Pro models.

The wider-angled front-facing camera is welcome, and digitally zooms in or out to accommodate a wider view that fits in more people and background. The 12-megapixel front-facing camera looks better, and I was happy with the results, but you have to be artful with the wider camera. Sometimes I ended up looking like a little face in a mountain of shirt.

My kids instantly started messing around with slow-motion selfie feature. Yes, that’s the Slofie. It’s not a Live Photo, though. It’s just a video mode. That makes it hard to do much with, because the file sizes get large. I do, however, have a lot of extended 240-fps slow-motion scenes of my kids sticking out their tongues.

This year’s iPhone 11 has two rear lenses, a wide-angle lens and an ultrawide lens with a 120-degree field of view. Last year’s iPhone XR had a single lens, and any depth effects added to photos were done computationally. This means the iPhone 11 now captures enough information to take better photos from the start—and especially portrait photos.

Case in point: Last year’s iPhone XR could capture a portrait photo of a person but not a pet or object. The iPhone 11 now takes portrait photos of my cat, which he is pleased about. Just kidding: He is indifferent, per usual.

Like the XR and 5c series before it, a large part of the iPhone 11’s appeal lies in its range of six shades: red, black, white, yellow, green and purple. This is the first ever purple iPhone, and Apple has chosen the Instagram-baiting shade of lilac popularised by the likes of Ariana Grande and South Korean pop sensations BTS – Generation Z’s equivalent of millennial pink.

It’s pretty – a stylish splash of lavender Apple knows will have aesthetically-minded iPhone owners clamouring to upgrade (as evidenced by its new range of transparent cases). These are phones to be shown off, not hidden behind rubber or leather sheaths, and even if you do cover it up with a case, Apple is banking on the satisfaction of owning phone in a colour you’re attached to.

Overall the iPhone 11 is a triumph for Apple – if, for nothing else, the fact it’s managed to lower the price year-on-year. We feel enough people are going to be won over by the hard-working camera … and the safety that buying a modern smartphone gives you.

You should be able to achieve years of use from this phone, and sure, you could also consider the iPhone 11 Pro or iPhone 11 Pro Max if you want more power and higher spec, but we found the iPhone 11 to be fun to use and often outperformed what we would expect given the price – and that’s a feat some wouldn’t have expected from Apple.

Based on my tests of the iPhone 11, 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max, the answer is no. Don’t get me wrong: The newest models are nice. Apple has made them speedier, improved the cameras and lengthened their battery life. The new lineup also starts at a lower price of $700, down from $750 a year ago, which is a relief in an era of skyrocketing smartphone costs.

But none of this is enough to warrant an immediate upgrade if you have had your smartphone for only two years. The latest iPhones just aren’t a big leap forward from last year’s iPhones or even the iPhone X from 2017.

The iPhone 11 Pro Max I’ve been using every day for a week has consistently run for 12 to 14 hours on a single charge, with over 10 hours of screen-on time reported in the battery settings per 24-hour period.

That’s compared to 8 to 10 hours of battery life at most for my iPhone XS Max, which is a marked improvement. It’s not enough to make me stop charging at my desk throughout the day, and I’ll definitely still carry a battery pack on trips.

Apple has chosen to stick to the same resolution as last year’s handsets but has spruced them up with a new OLED panel with a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio called Super Retina XDR. In practice, this means the displays are both bolder and brighter and display colours more accurately.

I found this was best exemplified when examining skin tones in the same pictures side-by-side with the iPhone XS Max. Caucasian skin on the XS Max appears pinker and more flushed, whereas the same picture looks truer-to-life. Likewise, the 11 Pro Max picks out facial highlights and hair undertones not as apparent in the same picture over on the XS Max. It’s a small difference, but an impressive one.

This year’s most expensive iPhone is the $1,449 (£1,499) iPhone Pro Max with 512GB of storage. Even with 256GB of storage – the minimum you’ll likely want for a high-end phone like this – it will set you back $1,249 (£1,299). There are two main reasons to go for this year’s most extreme iPhone: Either you want that larger OLED display (2,688×1,242 versus 2,436×1,125 for the Pro) or you want that extra hour of battery life.

I wouldn’t want to spend this much. But if you really are using your phone as a professional camera and you want to see every pixel, you want the best viewfinder and editing display you can get. And, well, this would be that phone. It’s also more fun for movies and games, but at these prices, I’d just buy a separate iPad for that.

Overall, the iPhone 11 Pro Max is a real step forward, and the most advanced iPhone yet. However, when thinking about what’s truly new here, we weren’t able to single out much beyond the improved camera (especially Night mode) and the slightly upgraded cinematic experience.

If you want to save some money, we’d suggest checking out the iPhone 11 – while we constantly found little nuggets of impressive performance throughout our testing of the 11 Pro Max, we couldn’t shake the feeling that this is really only a phone for the Apple fan who wants the best of everything, with no compromises.

While Apple says frequently that its integrated hardware and software enable it to do magical things with cameras—and in some cases, that’s true—that doesn’t mean every shot taken on the iPhone 11 Pro phones was the best photo.

In some cases, the photos I took on the iPhone 11 Pro Max were clearly sharper, brighter, and even more (you hate to say it) professional-looking than the iPhone 11 photos of the same scenes or subjects. The iPhone 11 Pro Max captured the best Portrait Mode photo of my colleague Lydia, showing accurate colours, picking up on details like wisps of hair and freckles, and handling highlights and sunlight well. A beach sunset photo captured on the same phone expertly captured the contrast between dark rocks, a glassy ocean, and the sunburnt sky. A photo of yaki onigiri captured in harsh overhead light showed excellent detail, right down to the charred rice.

Best smartphone 2019: iPhone, OnePlus, Samsung and Huawei compared and ranked

from Mobile phones | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/sep/17/iphone-11-and-iphone-11-pro-review-roundup-buy-the-cheapest-one

#iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro review roundup: buy the cheapest one #September 17 #2019 at 10:12PM

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datawiresolutions · 7 years

Text

11 Common Types of Security Cameras

Selecting a security camera is simple, right? If you want a camera that follows people as they move, you want a pan/tilt/zoom or PTZ camera. Otherwise you want a fixed camera. Right?

Well, yes and no. PTZ and fixed cameras used to be the only types of surveillance cameras out there, but today it can get a lot more complicated. There’s a difference between the type of security camera and the type of housing or extra features you can add to it.

Types of Security Cameras:

Fixed

Pan/Tilt/Zoom (PTZ)

Virtual PTZ or 360-Degree

Types of Security Camera Housings:

Outdoor

Dome

Bullet

Discreet

Extra Features:

Resolution

Day/Night

Infrared

Varifocal

Remote Zoom

Auto-focus

Wireless

Thermal Imaging

I often say we’re in the “golden age of cameras.” Cameras are uniformly good at the basics, but by over-simplifying things you may not be making the best choice for your home.

This guide will outline some of the variations on those two themes, and suggest some enhancements that you might want to consider. The chart below shows some common, popular features of security cameras available among the three basic camera types:

Choosing the Right Security Camera

Fixed Camera

At the heart of the matter is the fixed camera. It is positioned to capture an image and can be optimized for the application with different housings and features as we’ll cover later.

With few moving parts, fixed cameras are inherently more reliable than PTZ cameras and they are always pointing in the intended direction.

PTZ Camera

PTZ cameras are revered for their ability to pan, tilt and zoom in on a subject as you control the movement remotely via an app. This is a specially designed fixed camera wrapped in a cocoon of motors and gears which allow an operator to remotely move it.

Higher end cameras may have a greater zoom range, with 32X being fairly common. A higher zoom range is helpful when you are covering a large area, but isn’t always necessary.

While a PTZ camera will follow a person or object through an area, they do have a few disadvantages. A PTZ camera may be set to automatically patrol an area, but they are oftentimes most effective when manually controlled.

Also, the greater the magnification being used, the smaller the area being covered, which means the camera my miss something important.

360-degree Camera

This has led to a third type of camera, the virtual PTZ or 360-degree camera. Comprising this camera are several high resolution fixed cameras in a single (usually dome) housing. The images are stitched together and you can zoom in after the fact, up to the limits of the cameras being used.

Because all of the images are being recorded, it can face in all directions and can be a great surveillance tool. The biggest challenge facing 360-degree camera acceptance is that they are often oversold as a universal solution. Few rooms allow an unobstructed field of view in all directions, so you are generally not utilizing the full field of view.

A standard fixed camera can easily be paired with a lens to give it a 120-degree to 140-degree view, and many rooms are better served with cameras in corners which only require a 90-degree field of view. Still, in the applications where this type of camera is needed, it can really shine.

Choosing the Right Housing

After selecting the type of camera, the next step is choosing a camera housing. With a PTZ camera you are pretty much limited to indoor or outdoor, as they are mostly dome cameras except for a limited number of specialty applications.

Outdoor

Outdoor cameras will be more weather resistant and include heaters and blowers to allow for environmental variances.

Dome

Dome housings are designed to conceal the orientation of the camera, with some doing a better job than others. When someone can’t tell which way the camera is pointing, they often assume it is pointing in all directions. So, a fixed dome camera covering a door at the end of a hallway is assumed to be covering the entire hallway—a good way to deter trespassers.

Bullet

We’ll call the cameras that resemble a box on a post bullet cameras, named for the sleek cylindrical shape that many of them possess. This type of camera clearly show the direction of orientation and generally provide a better picture.

The front of the housing is close to the camera lens, which minimizes reflections and makes it easier to keep clean. They are a deterrent as well, although not as effective as housings that mask the orientation.

Discreet

Sometimes you want to hide the entire camera by using covert or discreet housings. These can be designed to look like something else (smoke detector, motion sensor) or nothing at all, with pinhole lenses or flush mount lenses mounted on a wall or ceiling.

These are not designed to be deterrents but are often preferred by architects seeking to achieve a certain aesthetic within a space.

All types of housings can be made to be vandal resistant, a step up from weather resistant. These types of housings (most commonly the dome type) are designed to withstand unfriendly environments while still providing a usable image.

Choosing the Right Features

Once you’ve selected the camera type and form factor, consider these features:

Resolution

The possibilities are varied, with resolution being the most common upsell. Resolution is measured in millions of pixels, or megapixels. The higher the resolution, the more space required to store the images, and the processing power needed to manipulate those images.

For perspective, an old analog camera is about 1/4 megapixel, your giant HDTV screen is a little over 2 megapixels, and the highest resolution projected image in your local movie theater is called 4K and has 8.8 megapixels.

Higher resolution cameras do not respond as well to low light situations as lower resolution cameras, so, it is possible to buy more resolution than you need and needlessly drive storage costs up and performance down.

Low Light Performance

Cameras with day/night capabilities switch into a different mode in low light situations, with various technologies allowing the camera to see in near total darkness.

Cameras with infrared illuminators provide their own light source, allowing better images in dark areas as well. As previously mentioned, be prepared to sacrifice some resolution to get better low light performance.

Special Lenses

While varifocal lenses have always been popular, allowing an installer to manually adjust the image magnification, many fixed cameras now come with remote zoom and focus. This allows the user to adjust the camera without physically going to the camera site

Advanced Options

Beyond features and functionality, there are other considerations such as wireless signal transition, ultra-high resolution, thermal imaging, explosion proof housings and more.

While the proliferation of available options can make the selection process more difficult, the good news is that no matter what your application is there’s likely the perfect tool for the job — for far less money than you might have thought possible just a few years ago.

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