Category Archives: Movies

Movies

Things in movies that bug me

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Will add more

I love movies, but somethings bug the hell out of me.

I often see movie mistakes, but when those mistakes are not too obvious, i can live with it.

Glasses being flat

Reflection makes it worse
There is no need for a modern movie to do this!

They could have used glasses which are a little curved, so it isn’t too obviously flat.

But a better solution is :

Dustin Hoffman had to wear contact lenses so that he could see correctly through the thick glasses he had to wear.

The Wilhelm scream

I know it’s a running gag, but it’s not funny anymore.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_scream

People not really tied up, or pinned down

I hate seeing people tied up badly in movies, so easy to escape. Sometimes the actor has to hold the rope in place to keep it from falling off.
Rope, zipties and chains. (I will add some examples)
In some older movies you can see straining on wrists or neck. So it was really secure and tight! (real)

Bad example i know, but first one i found
Update 20230808 .. Oh no! I can’t escape!
Oh no, i can’t get my hand out of this
Let’s use some big padding in those arm shackles
O no, my feet!
Hover foot

American unrealistic events

Not talking about sci-fi or adventure movies.
Over the top movies. That’s why i like murder mysteries from Iceland, Scandinavia more than American.
There are many movies, in which the main character is the average joe, but he can fall off buildings, hit by cars, and run all day without getting tired. And escapes after that in the most improbable way.

Same category as Wilhelm Scream, the squeaky gate/door

We’ve been using the same sound in our student place 25 years ago.
I even recorded new and better examples for people to use.

Xfiles, sparatacus blood & sand, Supernatural, Shawshank Redemption, Reign of Fire, Final Destination, Quantum Leap, Fringe, etc etc

UPDATE: 20230716 The sound ..

My recording

One of my recordings (Scotland 2022)

Not consulting an expert

Movies about science, computers or even general laws of physics are more believable when asking an expert for advice to portray something.

Lights in diving masks/space helmets

When doing this the diver can’t see sh*t

Spaceships are alway the same orientation, on the same plane, when they meet.

There is no up / down whatever in space. Directors are always thinking of one plane.
Therefore you need to have at least 4 to be “surrounded” in space. 🙂

Not finishing drinks

Maybe i’m cheap. I won’t leave a glass untouched.

Hanging up on phone calls without saying anything like goodbye

Just rude.

People driving looking for minutes at the passenger, not looking at the road

Even worse, moving the steering wheel left right left .. even on a straight road.

Every 555 number has been used 100’s of times

All persons have a number in the range 555-0100 till 555-9999

Rain only being in the place of the actor.

The houses up the street are dry and in the sun

Generic stuff

  • Daylight when needed is in full swing in 2 minutes.
  • Hero’s are still looking at the end-battle scene when officials arrive
  • Bomb are always in the last 10 seconds defused.
  • Hero has to fight lots of people before ending up at the boss, who is stronger than all his minions!
  • People destroying their phone to avoid tracking.
    Take out simcard and destroy, take out battery and destroy then stamp on the phone and throw in the sea.
    Take out the battery if possible, dunk in water else
  • Bombs falling using the wrong sound.
    People on the ground would hear the pitch increasing as it falls, not decreasing, due to the Doppler effect.
  • Swallowing pills without something to drink
  • Car race/chase on public road. Every other car is driving left, right, left, right.
BBQ / Smoker / Food, Movies, Photography

Two minute timelapse of oyster mushrooms growing.

Leave a comment 
#!/bin/bash
# capture images from Foscam ( 5 minute interval )
while true; do
wget -q "http://IP-WEBCAM:88/cgi-bin/CGIProxy.fcgi?cmd=snapPicture2&usr=adminuser&pwd=adminpass" -O $(date +%Y%m%d%H%M).jpg
sleep 300
done

# from jpg to mp4
ffmpeg -f image2 -r 24 -pattern_type glob -i '*.jpg'   -vcodec libx264 -profile:v high444 -refs 16 -crf 0 -preset ultrafast -vf scale=1920:1080 paddo.mp4

If your ipcam can’t add timestamps, use below part to add text (replace in above script)

...
...
wget -q "http://IP-WEBCAM:88/cgi-bin/CGIProxy.fcgi?cmd=snapPicture2&usr=adminuser&pwd=adminpass" -O /tmp/1.jpg
convert -fill white -pointsize 30 -draw "text 10,30 '$(date)'" /tmp/1.jpg $(date +%Y%m%d%H%M).jpg
rm -f /tmp/1.jpg 
...
...
Computer, Movies

Movie to txt in dutch

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In the past i’ve converted some VHS movies speech to text, using all kinds of tools.
Lets use some opensource tools!

pip install moviepy
pip install SpeechRecognition

Create a python script with the following:
(Called mine wav2txt.py)

import math, contextlib
import speech_recognition as sr
from moviepy.editor import AudioFileClip
movie_audio_file_name = "movieadiofile.wav"
with contextlib.closing(wave.open(movie_audio_file_name,'r')) as f:
    frames = f.getnframes()
    rate = f.getframerate()
    duration = frames / float(rate)
total_duration = math.ceil(duration / 60)
r = sr.Recognizer()
for i in range(0, total_duration):
    with sr.AudioFile(movie_audio_file_name) as source:
        audio = r.record(source, offset=i*60, duration=60)
    f = open("transcription.txt", "a")
    f.write(r.recognize_google(audio, language="nl-NL"))
    f.write(" ")
f.close()

Now convert a movie to wav using below.

ffmpeg -i /fileserver/path/koolhoven.mkv movieaudiofile.wav

run python3 wav2txt.py

output
(Note .. these are not timestamped for subtitles)
I only needed the things being said in the home movie recordings as text.

Ik zit hier in de film The James Dean aan de
wereld voorstelde en daarmee de tienerfilm ingeleverd introduceren zelden werden onrustige 10 asiel zo mooi blootgelegd als ik deze film van Nicolas bij en dat wordt dan meteen toevallig even de mooiste
titels ooit wel eens autocross vanavond kijken we naar de kom ik nog even veel zomer dat je voor het eerste meisje Zoem de eerste baantje
etc..

Art, Movies, Music

I admire people who excel at things they do

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These are my lists, but i’m open for discussions/questions
Work in progress

Actors

  • Tom Hanks
  • John Lithgow
  • Dennis Lee Hopper
  • Jack Nicholson
  • Clint Eastwood
  • Dustin Hoffman
  • Rutger Hauer (RIP) .. see “De kijk van Koolhoven” why

Art

  • H.R. Giger
  • M.C. Escher
  • César Manrique
  • Chris Foss
  • Comics ( Details from  André Franquin, Dark Humor Koen Hottentot,  Don Lawrence, Don Martin ) to name a few, they are spot on
One of my comic collections – Don Martin

Classical Music

  • Paganini
  • Ludovico Einaudi

Composers

  • Ennio Morricone
  • Hans Zimmer
  • John Williams ( with a remark )
    Some of the Starwars Suite was taken from already existing music
    ( See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN3vl-JnUF8 ! )
    Gustav Holst – The Planets Suite – Mars part for example

Folk/pipers (composers)

  • Gordon Duncan (RIP)
  • Fred Morrison
  • RS MacDonald
  • Paddy Keenan

A (bad) comic i drew about Gordon Duncan in 2012

Opera

Bands (non folk)

Rammstein – I know, seems like a obvious populair choice.
But hear me out.

I like classical till metal. But it has to be musically interesting.

Most (non-german) people don’t listen to the lyrics, i did not either.
I found the music okay. Then i started to listen to the lyrics.

The lyrics are surprisingly deep.
Layers in the text, word jokes like:
Du… (you)
Du hast… (you have, but sounds like hasst .. You hate)
Du hast mich… ( You have me, or sounds like you hate me)
Du hast mich…
Du hast mich gefragt… (You have asked me)

Although people think they are fascists or far-right. Coming from the punk scene, they are kind of the opposite.

Everything they do has a meaning, but sometimes you can “paste” different stories about the song.

Listen to Ohne Dich, and then see the Music Video.

Have a good listen to Germany, and Man gegen man.
There are others better in explaining .. see:

And a AI generated Music Video .. perfectly matching the Lyrics

Bonus:
Check out this YT channel, all kinds of musicians .. transcripted (is this a word?) by this dude.

https://www.youtube.com/@GeorgeCollier

Movies, Music, Pipes / Folk / Instruments

Avond van de filmmuziek

After 3 times being cancelled due to Covid, it finally happened.

We got to get to the “Evening of the film music”

We held on to our tickets, as apparently 90% of the people!

We love film music, but it is a treat when there is a live orchestra.
(And special effects .. like a stuntman hanging from the roof, fire (not like Rammstein haha), and big displays)

If you get the chance .. go!
Wicked good musicians and singers.
Tania Kross was amazing!

Previous concerts we went to: Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds. The star wars suite, and an evening with Hans ZImmer.

  • Richard Strauss – “Also Sprach Zarathustra”
  • The Cinematic Orchestra – “Arrival of the Birds” from Theory of Everything
  • John Williams – “Hedwig’s Theme” from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
  • Ennio Morricone – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
    • Main title
    • The Ecstasy of Gold
  • Ennio Morricone – Once Upon a Time in the West 
    • Man with a Harmonica
    • Once Upon a Time in the West
  • Hans Zimmer – “Maestro” from The Holiday
  • Thomas Newman – “The Night Window” from 1917
  • Ludovico Einaudi – “Oltremare” from Nomadland
  • Ludovico Einaudi – “Fly” from Intouchables
  • John Williams – “Duel of the Fates” from Star Wars:The Phantom Menace
  • John Williams –  “Main Title” from Star Wars: A New Hope

Intermission

  • Lalo Schifrin and Lorne Balfe – “Fallout” from Mission: Impossible – Fallout
  • Alexandre Desplat – “The Shape of Water” from The Shape of Water
  • Alan Silvestri – “Portals” from Avengers: Endgame
  • Hans Zimmer, Elton John and Lebo M – The Lion King
    • Circle of Life
    • King of the Pride Rock
  • Don Davis and Juno Reactor – “Navras” from The Matrix Revolutions
  • Jerry Goldsmith – Theme from Basic Instinct
  • 60 Years of James Bond
    • James Bond Theme
    • “No Time To Die” from No Time To Die
    • “Skyfall” from Skyfall
    • “A View to a Kill” from A View to a Kill
    • “Goldfinger” from Goldfinger
    • “Live and Let Die” from Live and Let Die
  • John Williams – “The Raiders March” from Raiders of the Lost Ark (encore)
Computer, Movies

Streaming, recording, videocall and more

I use a bunch of different tools to create video’s or stream stuff.
Below is some info about those tools.

Software:

  • Kdenlive – Linear video editor (Adding text, transitions, etc)
  • VLC media player – For example to embed video in OBS
  • OBS – Opensource Broadcast software, i use this also to record my screen – You can use this as a virtual webcam, so you can fool around with the image.
  • Audacity – For editing audio
  • QPrompt – Teleprompter

For OBS i made a shortcut/macro keyboard thingy. Based on an arduino pro mini. (Which can connect to a computer acting like a HID, for example a keyboard or mouse)
I use this one to emulate keystrokes which i’ve configured in OBS to do:

  • Switch to scene 1
  • Switch to scene 2
  • Transition from scene to scene
  • Start streaming
  • Start recording
  • Mute
  • [empty] – sometimes used as “start virtual webcam”
  • Slow transition
  • Blank screen
  • Display overlay text

(Originally i planned to do this with a Nextion Display)

Mobile Phone holder, like a third hand

Sometimes a Nikon on a tripod is better.

Chromakey / Green screen
Portable version
Green screens .. loads of fun
Video grabbers

I don’t have a dedicated webcam for my battlestation. So i mainly use a Actioncam (4k) which can be connected via USB. Or i use a Nikon together with the Camlink.

So i record using my mobile, webcam, screen record
Edit using Audacity and Kdenlive.

When recording with OBS i use MP4 as a container, this is a no-brainer to embed in websites. Use mkv when recording long shots, or when connections can break. (A mp4 will be corrupted)

ffmpeg -i streamrecord.mkv -codec copy putinmp4container.mp4

I’ve played around with StreamFX which gives you some nice extra tools.
(There are loads of plugins to download)
Using websockets is on my todolist.

A little OBS trick without green screen

StreamFX example

Working on a blender animation.
Realtime screen grab, which gets 3D placed in a scene.

Computer, Movies

Kdenlive and credit scroller

For a video project iḿ working on, i needed a vertical credit scroller.
I’ve put together a little howto.

Tools used:

  • OBS – Recording the howto
  • Kdenlive – generating the Credit scroller, and recording voiceover howto clip
  • Vlc

And this is the result

Movies

Movies and more.

We love movies, and watch anything.

I’ve posted about genres:
https://www.henriaanstoot.nl/2021/03/23/movie-genres/

And we are watching the whole top 250 of imdb.

Now i wanted to have a list of movies by Actor or Director.
So i could see if there are more movies i have to watch
So today i started to figure out how.

So i made a Google Sheet and scraped websites with the needed information.

  • Create a new sheet
  • Make a tab for top-dutch, actor or director
  • Do a search of things you want to display
  • A search of actor and filmography will probably work (imdb of wikipedia)
  • copy the url and make a note of which table it is, first second or more.
  • Paste in the sheet the following at A1
=IMPORTHTML("https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutger_Hauer_filmography","table",1)

Where the last number (this case 1) is the number of table in the page.

Now you can color code those entries.