film

Filmmaking at the atomic level? IBM nets Guinness world record

If you're looking to attract attention, setting a Guinness World Record is probably a good way to start.

That was the goal -- attracting attention, that is -- for a group of IBM Research scientists who recently set out to make what turned out be the Guinness World Record-certified smallest stop-motion film ever.

Called "A Boy and His Atom," the animated film features a small boy having a good old time as he bounces around, playing catch, and dancing. The twist? The film was shot at the atomic level and features 130 atoms that were painstakingly placed, atom by atom, as the researchers shot 250 individual frames. The images were created at a temperature of negative 268 degrees Celsius and were magnified 100 million times. … Read more

Tribeca Vine film contest winners are delightful, disturbing

When Twitter first released the 6-second Vine video format, a lot of people wondered just how much information you could convey in such a short amount of time. It turns out the answer is a lot, if you do it right.

A Tribeca Film Festival competition has brought a sense of legitimacy to the new realm of Vine filmmaking. Some of the winners are wild, wacky, and just a little bit worrying.

The "Genre" category welcomed everything from Westerns to sci-fi to LOLcats. The winner, however, is definitely in the horror genre. "LazerAndDonald Close Shave" crams a lot of creepy into just 6 seconds. Juror and famous filmmaker Penny Marshall says, "The use of lighting is amazingly set for this 6 second Vine."… Read more

Plan, shoot, and cut your own video shorts with Directr

Many developers are wisely taking advantage of the powerful cameras in today's smartphones and trying to replicate the success of photo sharing apps with video apps. Apps like Viddy, Klip, and Socialcam compete to let users make clips and add quick effects before publishing and sharing. But no developers have really taken that a step further to include the all-important creation component.

Directr and its creators want to distance themselves as far as possible from the new Video-Instagram crowd. The brainchild of a former Microsoft Software Engineer, Directr is a little video app that aims to help the average … Read more

'Brave' nets Pixar its seventh best animated feature Oscar

Although it didn't earn the critical acclaim of "Toy Story 3," "Up," or "Ratatouille," Pixar's 2012 film "Brave" joined those three hits, as well as three other Pixar predecessors, in winning the Oscar for best animated feature.

Beating out fellow nominees "Wreck-it Ralph," "Frankenweenie," "ParaNorman," and "The Pirates! Band of Misfits," "Brave" became the seventh Pixar film to nab the Oscar since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences began awarding the honor in 2002. No other studio has … Read more

Turn a 35mm film canister into a greeting card

Instead of throwing away spent film canisters, a resourceful San Francisco nerd who goes by the moniker Doctor Popular managed to transform one into an interactive greeting card for his Valentine.

The idea is a simple: The greeting card -- made from paper -- mimics a strip of 35mm film with a personal greeting written on it alongside a little bit of creative decorating. The "film" is then inserted into the canister and can be read with a pull of a tab. … Read more

Walk the plank: Pirate Bay documentary now online

The names Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Peter Sunde, and Fredrik Neij might not mean much to the average person, but in the annals of Internet history, they will always be known as the co-founders of The Pirate Bay -- one of the most popular file-sharing hubs of all time.

Now you can view an 82-minute documentary titled "TPB AFK" (The Pirate Bay Away From Keyboard), a film that chronicles the people behind the Pirate Bay attempting -- and failing -- to navigate past Swedish authorities who accused them of numerous copyright infringement charges.

The movie, released under a Creative Commons license and directed by Simon Klose, officially debuted for free today online and at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival. Here's the official synopsis from the "TPB AFK" Web site:… Read more

Receive reminders, watch trailers with Movie Cron

Ah, I remember going to the movies. I recall those years fondly, before I had kids and an HDTV and a Whirley Pop.

If, unlike me, you go to a theater to consume movies and popcorn, you might want to check out Movie Cron. At this site, you can watch trailers and should you provide an e-mail and create an account, you can have the site e-mail or text you reminders for movie premieres. The site needs a little work, but the important tool of transmitting reminders does work.

The site lets you browse by Top Movies (for the week, … Read more

Make old film negatives digital with your smartphone

The Lomography Smartphone Film Scanner lets you conveniently scan your negatives with a smartphone so you can easily share those '70s summer camp pics on Twitter. Created by the same people behind Lomography, this portable scanner can scan a variety of 35mm film -- color slides, color negatives, black and white film.

Besides the scanner, all you need is a smartphone and the included free Lomoscanner app (compatible with iOS and Android). The app not only scans your film, but lets you stitch images together (for panoramas, for example), as well as animate 35mm analog movies shot using the Lomography … Read more

The 404 at CES 2013: Where we pay tribute to Danny DeVito (podcast)

We've had some awesome guests on The 404 Show before, but nothing could have prepared us for Danny DeVito. Well, except for all the preshow preparation we did. None of that mattered though, because Mr. DeVito stole the show with a wiggle of a toe on his #trollfoot.

At the CES 2013 CNET stage, Mr. DeVito joined us to talk about filmmaking, Twitter, social media, and the story behind his Twitter profile picture. The iconic star has appeared in countless legendary films and currently plays Frank Reynolds on "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."… Read more