• THE HOBBIT Shooting At 48 Frames Per Second!

    // Gradly // blog, LOTR, Movies, News, Rants & Raves, Tech. 2 Responses

    James Cameron recently talked about how the future of filmmaking will be shooting films at a higher frame rate, which will up the visual presentation of the film. This is something he plans on doing with Avatar 2 and 3. He talked about how Peter Jackson was thinking of doing it for The Hobbit and now it looks like he’s actually going to move forward with it. It was recently discovered that the director is currently shooting The Hobbit at a higher frame rate of 48 frames per second. The industry standard has always been 24 frames per second, but it looks like that is all going to change.

    All of this come from The Hobbit‘s cinematographer Andrew Lesnie:

    – Being shot on 30 RED EPIC cameras
    – Using Zeiss Ultra Primes, Master Primes and Optimo zoom lenses (would expect no less)
    – Shooting at 47.96 frames per second
    – Using 3ality Digital rigs.

    So why 48 fps and not 60? Cameron had said that one of the reasons why Jackson didn’t choose the higher frame rate was because he didn’t want to select the wrong frame rate if the industry went to the alternative. So it looks like the industry is going to move forward with 48 fps, which mean Cameron will most likely be shooting Avatar 2 and 3 in 48 fps as well. The fact of the matter is “60 fps would be significantly more expensive to implement for the modest visual gains.”

  • Harry Potter Finale To Get Four Different Endings For Malfoy Family

    // Gradly // blog, Movies, News, Rants & Raves 1 Response

    It looks like the second part of the final installment in the Harry Potter saga will turn out to be more surprising than we thought, even for the actors themselves.

    Four different endings have been shot for the Malfoy family, as revealed to MTV by Helen McCrory, who plays Narcissa, mother of Draco and wife of Lucius Malfoy (Harry’s biggest antagonists after Lord Voldemort).

    Spoilers Ahead

    Whoever has read the final book knows: the story is complicated, there’s quite a lot going on, and we can only guess that the producers must be having a tough time trying to piece everything together and make it look as striking as the audience expects it to be. It’s the last of seven hugely successful movies; it has to be perfect.

    However, Harry Potter fans will be chewing their nails with worry after these news (well, at least the hardcore ones will) thinking what “four different finals – and three different battles!” could imply. Slightly modified lines? Different outfits? Harry screaming “levio-ssa” instead of “levio-sa” (yes, we know, we never got that either)?

    In truth, they know that something much worse lurks behind those words, in the form of the ominous fairy of literary adaptations who could end up changing the ending of the story – or any other part of it. It has happened before, and it didn’t leave fans particularly impressed.

    The movie is out in July this year, and the anticipation is growing exponentially. Helen McCrory remains quite tight lipped, and swears she doesn’t know which ending will eventually make it onto the big screen -and far from wanting to spread rumours, we don’t know either.

    Bonnie “Ginny Weasley” Wright says it’s “really weird”. Let’s just hope the only shock we have will be due to seeing Harry, Ron and Hermione made to look like they’re 40.

    Report by Margherita Pellegrino

  • iPad 2 Expected 2.6 Million Units Shipped in March?

    // Gradly // Apple, blog, Gadgets, iPad, Rants & Raves, Rumors No Responses

    According to Digitimes, Apple shipped between 2.4 and 2.6 million iPads during the month of March. Shipments are set to nearly double during the second quarter, according to a conservative estimate by a source:

    Sales of iPad 2 are running at a rate faster than its predecessor, and Apple took delivery of 2.4-2.6 million units in March. Apple is likely to take delivery of 4-4.3 million units a month, or a total of over 12 million units, of iPad 2 tablets in the second quarter, said the sources.

    Apple is likely to take delivery of 4-4.3 million units a month, or a total of over 12 million units, of iPad 2 tablets in the second quarter, said the sources.

    Taiwan-based TPK Touch Solutions, G-Tech Optoelectronics, HannStar Display, Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT), Wintek and other touch panel makers are all expanding or looking to expand their manufacturing capacities in the wake of strong iPad 2 sales.

  • Run Android Apps on Windows PC With BlueStacks

    // Gradly // blog, Download, google, Microsoft, Rants & Raves, Tech. No Responses

    Ever thought to try out an Android app without the need to buy a device? Or an iOS user and often wondered how the other guys live? The BlueStacks is to meet your needs.

    It’s basically virtualization for Android. Install BlueStacks on your Windows machine and the software allows you to run an instance of Android right inside the app. From here the experience is just like having an Android device – except the phone calling thing.

    Virtualization is nothing new, Its there for years with VMware or Parallels but this is the first time a mobile operating system has been invited to the party. Head over to the BlueStacks website for more updates.