The Venice film festival marked its 75th anniversary Wednesday with a sparkling opening gala and world premiere of British psychological drama "Atonement" starring Keira Knightley.

An evening of pomp and fireworks saw Knightley take to the red carpet along with co-stars James McAvoy and Vanessa Redgrave, plus their youthful director Joe White.

Also on hand were compatriot Kenneth Branagh and the stars of his detective thriller "Sleuth," Michael Caine and Jude Law.

Tony Gilroy, director of the legal drama "Michael Clayton" starring George Clooney, was there, but Clooney himself was not expected to make his entrance until Thursday.

"Atonement," based on the best-selling novel by Ian McEwan, follows the consequences of an impressionable girl's tragic misreading of events at an upper-class English home in the years leading up to World War II.

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It’s common knowledge that iMovie has fullscreen playback capabilities, but what about Final Cut Pro. This Tip will show you, (in 3 easy steps) how to go into fullscreen playback in FCP.

Step 1: First of all you will want to make sure that you’re selected on the timeline.

Step 2: Then go to View, Video Playback, and click on your designated display, (either a camera, internal or external display).


Step 3: Next, go back up to View, External Video, and click on All Frames (?F12). That’s it. You should now automatically be launched into fullscreen mode. To get out of fullscreen, just press the escape key.

We know our video editing applications for Windows (read Adobe Premiere, AVID, Ulead Video studio etc) and Mac (Final Cut Pro!), but what about video editing on a Linux powered system? Well here's a list of video editing applications for your Linux PC:

1. Kdenlive: Kdenlive is a non linear video editor for the KDE environment running on Linux. It is based on the MLT video framework which relies on the FFMPEG project.
   
   The project was initially started by Jason Wood in 2002, and is now maintained by a small team of developers. Kdenlive is available in English, French, German, Dutch, Turkish, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Hungarian and Catalan.
   
   
   
2. OpenMovieEditor: Open Movie Editor is designed to be a simple video editor, that provides basic movie making capabilities. It aims to be powerful enough for the amateur movie artist, yet easy to use. The downside with OpenMovieEditor is that it only supports PAL at this point.
   
   
3. Blender: Blender is an all-in-one 3D modelling and animation suite. It can be used to produce computer-generated images and movies. It is open source freeware, so it costs nothing to use. It is available for all major operating systems under the GNU General Public License.
   
   
4. Cinelerra: Cinelerra does primarily 3 main things: capturing, compositing, and editing audio and video with sample level accuracy. It's a seamless integration of audio, video, and still photos rarely experienced on a web server.
   
   Its crash prone, resource hungry, and really weirdly put together, but if when it works, it does a good job.
   
   
5. Pitivi: PiTIVi provides several ways of creating and modifying a timeline. Ranging from a simple synopsis view (a-la iMovie) to the full-blown editing view (aka Complex View) which puts you in complete control of your editing.
   
   Other interfaces can be added via the plugin system, aimed at more specific uses like a SlideShow creator or a subtitling editor. It is even possible to use pitivi without a user interface in order to do batch rendering.
   

But open source video editing software still have a long way to go when compared with their Windows and Mac counterparts in terms of video resolution, additional features and program crashes.

Film School by Phone - Next class Tuesday August 28th at 7:00pmPST.

Back in Session!

Hope you all had a nice summer break. Well, it’s time to go back to school. The next series of calls will be primarily interviews with film Industry Pros. From Directors to DP’s, Art Directors to Make Up Artists, Writers to Producers. We’ll learn what they do and how they do it.

If you have signed up before you are on the invite list and willl get all the call information. If you want to get on the calls and haven’t signed up, please fill out the form below. Once you sign up, you will get all the info you need to get on these calls.

Hope to see (hear) you on the call.

Fill The following form for class info. First Name: Last Name: E-mail Address:

Pinnacle Systems Inc, a wholly owned subsidiary of Avid Technology Inc and video editing solutions provider, is set to launch an educational tool for schools in India. The company will introduce a customized programme in video editing and filmmaking called the Studio Academic Programme.

With technology including mobiles and cameras becoming an increasing part of kids lives, the programme will teach students to capture videos or still photographs and edit them to make their own home movies and albums.

In the first phase of its launch, the Academic programme will be introduced to schools in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Bangalore and will be launched in other cities in phase II. A special curriculum has been formulated to help students learn all nuances and become proficient in the art of video editing and filmmaking, informs an official release.

Using the Pinnacle Studio editing software, students can now add sound effects, put labels and re-arrange the order of the pictures or video to make their own Harry Potter movies or special birthday videos and upload them on the net to share with their friends and relatives.

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Buying a digital camera to get started in the world of digital photography or to replace your old camera? Read tips on getting the best digital camera for your money.

#1: Set a Budget Before Buying
Budget yourself when purchasing a digital camera.

#2: Ignore Digital Zoom
When buying digital cameras, concentrate on optical zoom, not digital zoom.

#3: Small Doesn't Mean Underpowered
Small digital cameras may be exactly what you need. Small cameras may not have as many features as digital SLRs and high-end prosumer digital cameras, but their megapixel resolutions are matching, and sometimes beating, their higher-priced alternatives! Plus, they are easier to transport long distances, less bulky to carry with you on trips, and less conspicuous.

#4: Be Careful When Buying Package Deals
Digital camera package deals may be too good to be true - or a real bargain!

#5: Get a Camera with Magnified Photo Previews
Magnified photo previews can help determine the sharpness of a digital photo.

#6: Don't Expect a Camera to Come with Enough Media
When you purchase a digital camera, unless it happens to be a package deal, don't expect the camera to come with enough media to handle your photography needs. Nowadays, most digital cameras, if they come with any media at all, will only be packaged with a 32MB 128 MB card. Though that used to be enough memory for a couple dozen pictures, high megapixel photos in fine, very fine, or raw detail can eat up that memory in just one or two photos. Prepare to spend money on at least one extra media card.

#7: What to Look for to Take Night Photography
Helpful features some digital cameras provide to take better night photos.

#8: Don't Get Caught Up in Megapixels
More megapixels do not always equal clearer photos. Not just the number of megapixels, but the quality of the megapixels matter as well. For example, most digital camera image sensor pixels can only detect just a particular area's redness, blueness, or greenness, but not all three.

#9: Consider the Total Cost of Ownership
You won't just be purchasing a digital camera - you may need to buy accessories.

#10: Pre-Programmed Scene Modes May Help
Scene modes make it easier to take digital camera photos in tough lighting conditions.

#11: Does Flash Come with an SLR?
Consider the total cost of ownership when purchasing a digital SLR.

#12: How Much Optical Zoom is Needed?
Do you require a digital camera with 6x optical zoom, or is 2x or 3x enough?

#13: Where is the Tripod Socket?
Make sure when purchasing a digital camera that it fits well on a tripod.

#14: Digital Camera Reviews
Links to websites offering reviews of specific digital cameras. You might want to compare between a Canon PowerShot A530 and a Nikon COOLPIX L4. You can easily read reviews online and compare between the two.

#15: More Control May Cost You
To set manual exposure, you might need a more-expensive camera.

#16: Look for ISO 50 Support
Look for digital cameras with ISO 50 support for crisper, cleaner images.