The Ghost Of Pasqua Past

On Good Friday 1989, I had the great privilege of attending the Addolorata Procession in the Southern Italian city of Taranto. The venerated statue of the Madonna-In-Tears was carried through the Old City of Taranto in a procession which "ran", so to speak, from midnight, I believe it was, until dawn. I remember it was both a cheerful and a solemn occassion. The slow pace of the procession's progress was truly mesmerizing. The calm chatter of people was interrupted every now and then by the cries of individuals cheering the revered statue on. And I clearly recall at least two occasions on which an older woman suddenly rushed forward to touch the statue in a loud act of religious frenzy. Quite impressive. But the most remarkable aspect of the evening was the warmth shared by the friendly crowd. I thank my dear friend Patrizia for inviting me along that night! These reminiscences are triggered by her phonecall. I just heard she's attended both the Addolorata and Gesù Morto processions this year and that the rituals still remain unchanged. As they are of course supposed to be.

I Can Only Think Of Spring

I am not trying to be overly artistic here, but I had to use the Median filter because I simply could not get the "vermaledijde" (="darned") flowers in focus - and these models were standing perfectly still at that. Yes, I know, I am a poor photographer!

"I survived the age of VHS!"

These images from the late 1960s or early 1970s have been transferred, first, from Super 8 to VHS towards the turn of the century by my dad – who used a periscope-like contraption with mirrors which he built himself - and, secondly, to Betacam SP by myself a few years later. Today, in this exciting age of digital wonders, you are watching them in JPG.

Though my dear older brother has clearly lost his colours in the intervening 30 years, he summat survived the rough transfers to and from VHS and still looks focused (albeit not exactly in focus). See the previous post for another such snippet of film that made it to the digital age as, in its turn, an Mpeg4 QuickTime movie.

Snippertje Lirb

Laad hier een Mpeg4 af van een snippertje film uit het familiearchief (van Pa's VHS kopieën). Let op: het snippertje zal mensen die niet bekend zijn met mijn familie totaal onverschillig laten.

"Il Fait Beau Diddly"

More WIP (for another project, though, than the "lucky stars" thing below, d.d. Feb 25th). In the present C4D movie, I wanted the actual letters to not move at all but rather just have the camera movement suggest that they did. Which, of course, they didn't. Because the camera did. "Oh, did you really?", "I think I did, I must have done. Didn't I?" You did.

The Lady Is A Tram

Het wagentje kwam voorrijden.

En de Combino werd afgevoerd.

"Was jij een Portugeesje?"

Mijn moeder had altijd een zwak voor de kleintjes. Het ezeltje op de foto stond heel fier tussen enorme Poitevins. Moeder vroeg waarom i anders was. Ik zei dat hij gewoon van een ander, kleiner ras was dan de Poitevins. Een Portugees. Moeder liep er naar toe. Aaide 't beestje zacht en zei toen: "Ach, was jij een Portugéésje?"

A Fundamentalist Jazz Buff

"Run for cover. It sings, too!"

Crew Souvenir (Sneak Preview)

Er is alvast een diavertoning van de shoot van afgelopen weekend.

"Joep Dooi, De Mazzel"

Haarlemmermeer Station
Maart 2005
Originally uploaded by Luepp.

We zouden bijna zijn vergeten het de familie in het buitenland te vertellen. Het is inmiddels weer gaan dooien. Met dit bericht ben ik eigenlijk alweer een dagje of twee te laat. En je had het kunnen zien aan de foto's met de tram, maar goed. Ik klets hier toch alleen maar de kolom een beetje vol omdat ik aan het testen ben of ik vanuit Flickr inderdaad kan posten op mijn Blogspot. Daar gaat i dan...

Big Yellow Taxi

En toen we alles dachten te hebben gezien vanmiddag - van achter de geraniums vandaan - en dus zeer tevreden na deze vermoeiende werkdag de deur achter ons dicht wilden trekken bleken wij plotsklaps toch weer op een set te zijn beland! Willen de vakbroeders die deze taxi vanavond aan het filmen waren zich morgen bij ons melden? We hebben, zoals u kunt zien in het lemma "Home Suite Home", deze week een leuke korting op de montage :-)

(Kruispost Workstation Weblog)

Home Suite Home

Zolang de voorraad strekt!

(Cross-Posted From Workstation Weblog.)

And...Action! (A Preliminary Report d.d. 07-03-05 (Updated 090305)

This is a preliminary report. Check back soon for a first batch of photos taken by Huib Lirb, a poor photographer who only made some snapshots which were almost invariably out of focus (thank you, thank you). Please note that these photographs are in no way a precursor to the proper photographs which were taken by the proper photographer Rob van der Vet, whom we proudly welcomed aboard last sunday. For now, then, inofficial kiekjes!

Meanwhile, we can give you an updated preview of the video content, so to speak, in the shape of a collage which is vaguely reminiscent of the C4D simulations-collage posted earlier. Call this a "Four Cams" view - it's an export from the 844/X suite without colour correction. (The originals are obviously crisp.) These images were shot by, starting from the upper left and listing clockwise, (1) Maarten Verstraete, (2) Max Rauch, (3) Marco Nauta (dolly grip André Plug), and (4) Tom Driesen (crane grip Onno Perdijk). These people have truly done a great job - their work is being edited as we speak. See the intended preview below.

P.S. Of course, many others have contributed to the shoot. Thus, Lieke Scholman and Vera van de Sandt helped to eliminate the unwanted austerity of the room, creating greater variations in depth and colour, and of course physically "masked" off voids and problem spots caused by the scatter and clutter of equipment, using furniture, carpets, plants and members of the audience. Gerard Stam lit the set beautifully and effectively. Seren Senel (Make-Up and Hair) made sure the cameras would love the musicians. They, too, have done a very good job. As did the others at production (Joeri Visser, Hugo van Woerden, Shyam Vreeswijk, Stef Brandenburg), sound (Frank Burks and Rob Aarden), direction (John Twigt, Jesse Faber and, if the present author is allowed to include himself to exhaust the crew list, Huib Lirb), and audiovisual documentation (Rob van der Vet and Wilfred Evers). But we will have more to say about the production at a later stage.


Oh, and of course, we would have absolutely nothing to show if it were not for the musicians: Marc van Roon (piano), Frans van der Hoeven (bass), and Roy Dackus (drums). We thank them for a great performance. You'll find them at their website (http://www.europeanjazztrio.com/). Here's another still frame exported from the 844/X - you'll note that it now seems that I mistook Frans for a left-handed bassplayer when I produced the C4D simulations. Ha!


(Cross-Posted from the Workstation Weblog.)

En John zag dat het goed was.

"Observeren is heel belangrijk in onze branche", zegt John Twigt, CEO van de Workstation. "Je moet continu scherp blijven. Net als je beeld." Hij zegt ware woorden. "Daarom kijken wij van de Workstation graag lang naar buiten." Hij zegt ware woorden. Hij is dan ook de baas.

"En vergeet de glashandel niet!"

Nee, de Glashandelaar vergeten we niet. Hij heeft inmiddels ook al zijn veiligheidsjekkie aan. (Antwoord op een commentaar op het vorige lemma.)

News Update!

Consternatie! Allemaal helpen. Alle hens van het GVB, de Stadsreiniging, de algemene dienst, de Gemeentelijke Service Diensten. Help Politie! De Sleepdienst. De Stadswachten ook. Hellup! (Foto: John)

Het spoor bijster

Twintig minuten geleden is deze Combino ontspoord - dat kon ook niet uitblijven met die zwiepende miskoop van het GVB - en nu al staat de foto op mijn Weblog. IK VOEL ME JOURNALISTIEK VANDAAG.


(De zaak wordt vervolgd.)

Camera! Lights!

The Workstation has made extensive use of Cinema4D in the development of a creative camera plan for the registration of the European Jazz Trio concert this weekend. We have prepared a set of simulations for the combined purpose of determining (a) the positioning and movement of all remaining cameras; (b) the requirements of rigs and tracks; (c) the distribution of props and, of course, members of the audience.

The configuration of the musicians in this specific location was predesigned to ensure optimal sound and performance results. Lighting concerns were likewise taken into account in the development of the camera plan from the outset. We have tested various dolly-and-crane combinations and worked out the best position of the fixed main and secundary cameras. These four cameras will shoot to Digibeta tape. A fifth camera has a free-roaming assignment. It will record on DVCam. A photographer will supply additional footage for multimedial coverage. The sound will be recorded in surround. We will keep you posted. For now, I will leave you with a sample movie of a basic camera movement test (which ignores appropriate framing), and a decorative collage of six such movies.

Waterkoud

"En voor het weer schakelen we over naar Indira." Want zij heeft deze foto gemaakt.