First video test

On Thursday I filmed the first video tests.

Unfortunately I was appalled by the quality of the video that the E-Media studio produced. Nevertheless its provided me with material to work with so I must use it because this may be the best video I get to work with. On the other hand I may be fortunate enough to find a higher quality method of video recording.

Here's a simple test involving a white shelves with a dusk sky composited in the background.




This is only a rushed effort and I haven't adjusted the compositing plugin as the video progressing. What I dislike most is the black matte lines around the shelf but I'm especially pleased that the bottle retained its transparency.

A Menagerie of Monoliths

Today I thought I'd have a closer look at monoliths which have similarties with megaliths.

Wikipedia definies a monolith as:
A monolith is a geological feature such as a mountain, consisting of a single massive stone or rock, or a single piece of rock placed as, or within, a monument. Erosion usually exposes the geological formations, which are most often made of very hard and solid metamorphic rock.


Now lets take a look at the various types of monliths...

Obelisk

An obelisk (Greek obeliskos, diminutive of obelos, "needle") is a tall, thin, four-sided, tapering monument which ends in a pyramidal top. Ancient obelisks were made of a single piece of stone (a monolith). The term stele (plural: stelae) is generally used for other monumental standing inscribed sculpted stones not of classic obelisk form.

Stele

A stele (from Greek: στήλη, stēlē, IPA: [ˈstili]; plural: stelae, στῆλαι, stēlai, IPA: [ˈstilaɪ]; also found: Latinised singular stela and Anglicised plural steles) is a stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected for funerary or commemorative purposes, most usually decorated with the names and titles of the deceased or living—inscribed, carved in relief (bas-relief, sunken-relief, high-relief, etc), or painted onto the slab.

Rune stone

Rune stones are stones with runic inscriptions dating from the early Middle Ages but are found to have been used most prominently during the Viking Age. Compared to western Europe, Scandinavia has poor written evidence for its early medieval history in favor of an oral skaldic tradition.

I think monoliths are a bit more interesting than megaliths...

Megalith Sketches

Today I made some rough sketches for a potential megalith... Not really happy with any of them though...

The flavours of megalith

Yesterday during my research of megaliths I discovered they had been categorised depending on their structure, so today I thought I'd examine the different types.

Dolmen

A free standing chamber, consisting of standing stones covered by a capstone as a lid. Dolmens were used for burial and were covered by mounds.

Menhir

A large, single upright standing stone.

Orthostat

An upright slab forming part of a larger structure.

Cromlech

A stone circle

Stone row

A linear arrangement of upright, parallel standing stones.

Stone ship

Built from tighly or loosely fit slabs or stones. Sometimes they are of monumental proportions.

Taula

A straight standing stone, topped with another forming a 'T' shape

Trilithon

Two parallel upright stones with a horizontal stone (called a lintel) placed on top, e.g. Stonehenge.

Looking at megaliths

Before I begin my megalith sketches I've decided to have a look at some existing megaliths to gain some inspiration and a visual reference of what they actually look like.

Cromlech of Okabe (Basque Country in Spain)



Megalithic tomb, Mane Braz, Brittany


Megalithic tomb in Khakasiya, Russian Federation


The stone circle at the centre of the Standing Stones of Callanish


Wales's finest hilltop megalith

I think tomorrow I shall do some research into the different types of megaliths.