WHO IS KEN BURNS ?

[Ken Cox]

Yesterday, my copy of Canadian Geographic arrived -- on page 10 a full page ad for his dvd's as gifts for Xmas -- as i have an interest for guys named Ken, I figgered i better have a look at the site that was shown in the ad -- www.pbs.org

http://www.shoppbs.org/family/index.jsp?ca...=lftnav_sbs_txt

He has quite a collection -- looks like one could be amused for a year

I guess i will pass -- i had just bought 4 of Canadian Geographic's dvd's on Canada, and my pockets are empty

ken

[ContaxMan]

So I still wait with bated breath for someone to explain or show me this effect - it must be good, people keep asking for it.

Perhaps Godot knows where it is - but where's he go to?

[Ken Cox]

a quick search with google for ken burns bio revealed this

http://shopping.yahoo.com/p:Ken%20Burns:18...:page=biography

Burns wanted his films to "live," and to that end adopted the technique of cutting rapidly from one still picture to another in a fluid, linear fashion. He then pepped up the visuals with "first hand" narration gleaned from contemporary writings and recited by top stage and screen actors. Burns' first successful venture was the award-winning documentary The Brooklyn Bridge, which ran on public television in 1981. While he was Oscar-nominated for his 1985 theatrical release ~

k

[Danabw]

So I still wait with bated breath for someone to explain or show me this effect - it must be good, people keep asking for it.

Perhaps Godot knows where it is - but where's he go to?

The Ken Burns effect, as it's known from his documentaries, is basically panning on still photos...left, right, up, down, in, out, diagonally, etc. :-) Then you move on seamlessly to the next picture and do it again...gives a sense of motion to still images, allows you to direct focus to a particular point in an image (say when if you zoom in or pan right to left and stop), or "surprise" your audience (say if you zoom out to a full image from a tight shot on just a portion of it.

A very funny example can be seen here, done by Al Franken in jest, but it demonstrates the effect quite well. I watched it the other night and it was pretty funny, while giving a good presentation of the effect.

Go here:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/plus/dme/Photo.asp

and scroll down to near the bottom of the page and locate the "Comedian Al Franken, part 1" entry and click on the med or high link there depending on the speed of your internet connection.