Studio Berezin Film

A friend of mine started a new show at a local public access TV station ( KMVT ), and I’ve designed the opening and closing titles for her in Apple Motion: The effect is designed as a static 3D model, and the only moving part is the camera. The camera moves are programmed with the camera framing behavior – I specified the locations, and it flies right in. In the closing credits, the final move to the disclaimer is programmed with “null objects” – a couple of invisible rectangles. The camera first frames one null object, showing the cool 3D perspective I wanted, and then proceeds to the other null object with the disclaimer text attached to it, making a nice turn. This is a technique I learned from the MacBreak Studio podcast . The flashing “floor” is another technique from a book. The floor itself is a static rectangle. The flashes are also just a single rectangle with animated gradient fill, replicated a bunch of times with a random start fram...

I had an interesting discovery about Final Cut Studio today (FCS 3, FCP 7). I went and shot something with my HD camera in 1080/60i format with the idea of using it later in the SD NTSC timeline (the NTSC DV, to be exact). My camera shoots HD only, so I didn’t really have another option, and I naively thought, what the heck, it’ll just work. Well, not so fast… First of all, my camera’s real-time downscaled RCA output to NTSC for some reason looked pretty bad compared to that of native DV cameras on the same shoot. Bummer. So I tried to drop my HD footage into the DV timeline to replace the bad looking clips. To my utter disappointment, the HD footage in Final Cut looked horrible, even worse than the RCA feed.WTF? So, after a number of hours and extensive tests, here’s what I finally concluded. First, my RCA output is not that bad after all. Even my horribly outdated DV palmcorder digitized a decent picture from that output. Something must have gone wrong in...

The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son. Netflix , IMDB Director: Francis Ford Coppola STC Genre : Institutionalized “Group” – the Family “Choice” – whether Michael joins family business or not “Sacrifice” – will Michael sacrifice his family or his soul? I don’t think it requires any comments – this is such a classic. One of my takeaways, because the movie is so long, it helps if the setup is actually a bit tighter than the beat sheet suggests, or at least is spiced up by more action. But then, I’m an action junky…

Two men reaching middle age with not much to show but disappointment, embark on a week long road trip through California’s wine country, just as one is about to get married. Netflix , IMDB Director: Alexander Payne STC Genre : Rites of Passage (mid-life crisis) “Life Problem” – Miles can’t get over his divorce “Wrong Way” – lying your way through “Acceptance” – moving ahead the way you really are Somewhat slow starting and gradually gaining pace, this movie definitely hits the mark by the end. Interestingly, many Hollywood movies have a very impressive beginning and a (comparatively) pathetic ending. But not this one – it actually picks up the pace, suspense and overall quality towards the end. My impression was that the filmmakers dragged their feet through the opening and setup and couldn’t wait to get to the meat of the story, which is really in the second half of act 2 and act 3. Overall, a pretty damn goo...

Britain’s King George VI (Colin Firth) struggles with an embarrassing stutter for years until he seeks help from unorthodox Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). Netflix , IMDB Director: Tom Hooper STC Genre : Rites of Passage “Life Problem” – an embarrassing stutter “Wrong Way” – denying the deep psychological roots and trying to solve it mechanically “Acceptance” – literally accepting Lionel as a member of his family The movie is truly remarkable in many ways. First, it is a great modern movie that holds up strong without any crutches like sex or violence. The story itself is simple yet so powerful it keeps you on the edge. Acting is awesome. Score is all classical and absolutely beautiful – who would have thought it can work so well in a 21st century movie? Camera work is bold and I’d say experimental at times. For instance, a great use of “fish eye” lens to show the emotional sta...

In this meditation on the need for passion and human connection — the final film in Krzysztof Kieslowski’s “three colors” trilogy — an accident brings together two very different people: Valentine (Irene Jacob), a model, and Joseph (Jean-Louis Trintignant), a retired judge. Netflix , IMDB Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski STC Genre : Out of the Bottle “Wish” – a wish for connection, true love, something that never happened in the old man’s life “Spell” – in a weird way, he’s reliving his life again in a different way through another man “Lesson” – learning what really matters A classic of sort, this is a slow “savoring the moment” meditative story of love and fate, right and wrong, life and death. It seems, the director tried to use the least amount of action to get the point across, and make you think on your own. Who’s right? What’s really happening? You decide. Take yo...

Ex-con Marv (Mickey Rourke) avenges a hooker’s (Jaime King) death, Detective Dwight (Clive Owen) gets involved with hazardous vixens and a rogue cop (Bruce Willis) becomes hell-bent on saving a stripper (Jessica Alba) from a rapist (Nick Stahl) in interlaced stories adapted from Frank Miller’s graphic novels. Netflix , IMDB Directors: Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez STC Genre : Superhero “Special Power” – virtually everyone is a superman (or a superwoman, for that matter), often in their own unique way “Nemesis” – again, everyone has their own, unique enemy “Curse” – plenty of that stuff. Just read the tittle again 🙂 Very cool modern film noir that is so faithful to the comic book style you have to see it to believe it. The fast-action story line, violence, sex, and other very primal attributes may be debatable for some, and certainly not for kids. However, what impressed me most is the way it is shot and styled. It is la...