St. Patrick’s Day brings out the Irish in all of us, but with these flicks, you can celebrate the Wearing of the Green all year long.

1. The Departed (2006): To many Americans, ‘Irish-American’ brings to mind rough-and-tumble working poor, dive bars, thuggish violence and the mean streets of Boston. This crime drama staring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson and Matt Damon alongside many other top-notch actors examines the criminal underbelly of the Capital of New England through the eyes of two cops – one undercover and one crooked – who must each hide their true identity to stay alive.

2. The Crying Game (1992): Years before M. Night Shyamalan brought Bruce Willis back from the dead, this Oscar-winning thriller shocked the world with a big reveal that’s more-or-less come to define it in pop culture. Beyond the twist though, it’s a revealing look at racism, the radical politics of the IRA and personal identity.

3. Gangs of New York (2002): Although its historical fiction of the more fictitious variety, this epic thriller paints a vibrantly squalid portrait of the mid-19th century world many Irish immigrants lived in and fought for after coming to America. Leo DiCaprio stars again as a young man out for revenge and Daniel Day-Lewis gives a wickedly unhinged performance as his target-come-father-figure.

4. The Secret of Kells (2009): The term ‘Celtic’ may be synonymous with ‘Irish’ nowadays, but this gorgeously-drawn animated film examines the tensions between the Celt’s pagan deities and the Christianity that would eventually replace them. Told through the eyes of a bookish child who befriends a forest spirit, it’s a story of family and survival that all ages can enjoy.

5. The Town (2010): How bad is Boston? According to this film, the neighborhood of Charlestown has produced more bank robbers and armored car thieves than anywhere else on earth. Of course, it also produced Ben Affleck’s tortured and reluctant career criminal in this ace thriller helmed by Affleck himself, so it can’t be all bad. As the leader of a hard-scrabble crew of larcenists, Affleck walks the line between self-destructive loyalty to his predominantly Irish American neighborhood and a desire to break away for a fresh start, as have many before him in less action-packed contexts.

In this month’s Client Spotlight, we’ll be discussing a commercial that we produced just a few weeks ago. We had the pleasure of working with Dave White and Walt Ali from Kitchen Encounters/Paragon Design and Construction. The commercial that we filmed with them was based on the idea that a newscast has just cut to a commercial and we the audience "catch" the anchors talking behind the scenes. While loosening his tie, the Male anchor (Ryan Shank) asks his female counterpart (Joell Ketcham) how her kitchen renovation was going. She goes on to discuss that it went so well, that they hired Kitchen Encounters to build them a family room addition. Not knowing that they did work beyond the kitchen, the male anchor is surprised to hear that Kitchen Encounters would be building this addition. Our female anchor then tells the male anchor that Kitchen Encounters has launched a new division of the company called Paragon Design and Construction. Next, from off camera, we hear the cameraman say "action and the anchor breaks in with this new information about Kitchen Encounters/Paragon Design and Construction. As the graphic screen comes on, we realize that this is a produced commercial and not a conversation "caught" on air.

This commercial was one of my favorites to edit, the reason being… Graphics. I love working with graphics because they make projects more challenging and interesting, not to mention more visually stimulating to the audience. For those of you in the "know", you realize that this entire commercial was filmed on a green screen. For the sake of letting everyone else know how we did this, lets get into the green screen process a bit. When we film on a green screen, we have the ability in post-production to "key" out the green or remove the green from the shot, which will leave us with what is called an "alpha channel." This alpha channel is basically a transparent layer that we can use to composite graphics behind our main subject(s). Essentially, with this method we could throw our subjects right into the middle of a tropical beach scene or show them broadcasting "live" from the Eiffel Tower without ever leaving the comfort of our studio. Why green?? Well, allow me…green and dark blue are the two most popular colors used in this process because they are the two colors that are the furthest from skin tone. Could you "key out" red or yellow or orange??? Yes, you can… but if you think about the colors of skin tone, clothing, hair…etc., you would realize that if we set the program to take out one of those colors, not only would we be taking out the background, but we would also be taking out parts of peoples faces and clothing. Sounds fun… but not exactly what we were going for here. So, that’s why we use green or blue.

So what we did was keyed out the green screen and in its place we put in a virtual news set. The only things that are physically "real" on this set are the anchors, desk, chairs, and the anchors papers. The rest are graphics that we have composited onto the screen. When all is said and done, we’re left with an ultra-realistic looking commercial that leaves you wondering what exactly you just saw… was it an error by the station where they forgot to cut?? Or was it just an awesome commercial that was made to grab your attention?? See for yourself! The Kitchen Encounters/Paragon Design and Construction spot can be seen airing on WGAL.

Everyone enjoys watching a great video, but what makes it so great? Is it the story? Is it the cinematography, or the editing? Its probably all of the above with one addition, that being good sound. You may be watching a great video, but if the sound quality is poor you will not think its such a great video. Sound is one of those things that is usually taken for granted and thats the way it SHOULD be. If the actors or protagonists are whispering, we expect to hear the whispering. If there is a cut to a bee flying around, we expect to hear the buzzing of the bee.

Watching a video and/or film only involves two of our five senses, i.e. seeing and hearing. A truly great video will stimulate both, but I digress as I am only concerned with pristine audio in the field and in the final mix of the video. Being a sound man, I am of course prejudiced on the importance of good audio. After all, I believe hearing what you watch is just as important as seeing it. We at Aidem have a plethora of microphones unequaled by any production facility in the area. Having the equipment is one thing. Knowing how and when to use it is a book of information. The next time you watch a video, I encourage you to listen to what you are hearing.

It may be cold outside, but our resident screenwriter has found 5 movies sure to warm your heart all month long. Since true love never dies, he’s selected each film from a different decade. So pop some popcorn, turn down the lights and check one of these out with your special somebody.

1. Doctor Zhivago (1965): Epic in scope, historical in subject and nearly 4 hours in length, Doctor Zhivago stands in stark contrast to the compact, modern-day rom-coms that fill up most romance sections. At its heart though, its a timeless story of one mans struggle to find love in the face of sweeping political changes that threaten to tear him away from everything he holds dear.

2. Harold and Maude (1971): The quirky, off-beat comedy to end all quirky, off-beat comedies, this coming-of-age yarn revolves around a suicidal teenager whose world gets turned upside down by a free-spirited woman who happens to be about six decades his senior. As Harold and Maude grow closer, the film makes a whimsical, yet heartfelt, case that youre never too old or young to enjoy life to the fullest.

3. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988): Another love story with strong political undertones, this tale of a philandering doctor, played by the incomparable Daniel Day-Lewis, who falls in love with two very different women examines decidedly adult themes such as honor, fidelity and the capacity for personal change in a decidedly unsentimental manner.

4. Shakespeare in Love (1998): An Oscar favorite with enough wit and spirit to do The Bard proud, this period-piece romantic comedy facetiously uses William Shakespeares own private life as a stage for Romeo and Juliet. Heady meta-fiction twists aside, Joseph Fiennes and Gwyneth Paltrow shine as a doomed couple and lift the film into one-for-the-ages territory.

5. Punch-Drunk Love (2002): Given that his resume includes lip-synching to opera and punching Bob Barker, sensitive male lead sounds like the last phrase a casting director might use to describe Adam Sandler. Yet his all-or-nothing performance as a misfit loner who falls for a fellow loner stands as one of the most astounding creative reinventions ever to hit the big screen and proves once again that passion and longing can stir in the most unlikeliest of hearts, both on and off-screen.