Comments on: Screening Room: Rating System Lab

By: Peet

Peet — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 18:23:17 +0000

A rough voice-over translation: Here in the Kijkwijzer lab, a group of clever heads works night and day on perfecting the age recommendations. (Scientist to kid: "Say aaah?") It's a task these men take very seriously indeed: all new developments are held against the light. (X-ray shot) Research has shown that the gap between 6 and 12 is rather big... (fall through the hole) and that there's a growing need for an extra age classification. That's why Kijkwijzer has finetuned its recommendations with 9 years and up. Want to know more? Visit kijkwijzer.nl.

By: Peet

Peet — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:59:52 +0000

Thanks, Greg! Your comparison to graphic design makes a lot of sense. My background is in graphics, too. The idea to zoom in on high-res video footage was a no-brainer for me, but it raised a lot of eyebrows.

By: Greg F.

Greg F. — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 02:59:42 +0000

Peet, it’s the blogger formerly known as Jonathan Lapper and now known by my real name, Greg. Long story but anyway, I loved this piece. I would love to work in film professionally soon but for now doing my own amateur works and graphic designs I can see how you would get excited about this:

that meant we’d be able to frame everything in static mastershots – the ideal condition for visual effects – and still have the possibility to zoom in and out, crop and fool around with each take in post-production

When designing a site for someone or a logo or a banner if I can start with an image 10,000 pixels wide all the better. Then you can work on a tiny area of it and still enjoy the same high quality as a professional photo. Resolution size is everything. It allows for details.

The end product is terrific. I don’t know what anyone is saying in it but I’ve watched it three times now anyway. Great work.

By: Peet

Peet — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 10:15:57 +0000

I’d beg to differ that it doesn’t take much to impress you, so I take this as a huge compliment, my friend! Praise should also be directed to my partners-in-crime: D.O.P. Rogier den Boer (one of the best Dutch cameramen around and a close friend), Alexander Fijlstra for his work on the visual effects, my producer Marije Hendriksen and the guys at REC Sound. The “Harmful” commercial was shot by Remko Schnorr.

By: Dennis Cozzalio

Dennis Cozzalio — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 00:50:07 +0000

I mean, really, it doesn’t take much to impress a rube (or a Clarabelle Cow) like me, but really, this is fantastic stuff. I not only love the in-depth look at what you’re doing here, Peet, and the glimpse into how much work goes into an apparently “simple” concept like this, but I also love the lower-tech older spots that you included. On a conceptual level alone, these are nothing short of brilliant.

One evening many years ago my wife and I stumbled into a Piccadilly Circus theater to see Kieslowski’s BLUE and we arrived early because the theater had scheduled a half-hour of “trailers” before the feature. Little did we know that in Europe (or at least in the U.K.) “trailers” doesn’t mean movie previews, but instead 30-second TV ads, of which we saw approximately 50 that night before the film. Once we got over the initial annoyance at our misunderstanding, we actually enjoyed a lot of the spots, which were on the whole so much more interesting and daring (sexually and thematically) than what we were used to seeing in the U.S. And NONE of those were as good as what you’ve just shown us here, Peet. Congratulations. You deserve each and every compliment, perk and new job you get as a result of this work, as well as the many salutes and offers you may not receive. Let us hope that in this instance genius is not overlooked in its time.

I know it’s not quite geographically appropriate, but what the hell– Skoal!