History of nonverbal films

I have added a history of nonverbal films to the website. This page shows the progress of the films and genre since Koyaanisqatsi was first devised in 1972.
This page will be updated as the genre and website grow.

Koyaanisqatsi extras

I watched the extras on the Koyaanisqatsi DVD last night. I have decided to add information from these extras as articles on the web site. I believe people will find this information very interesting. It will help to add extra information about each film.

Godfrey Reggio's comments about Ron Fricke and Philip Glass being essential to the creation of Koyaanisqatsi are very interesting. I knew Ron Fricke provided much of the cinematography for Koyaanisqatsi, but it seems that Ron Fricke contributed more than I had thought.

Winged Migration shown on British television

I was surprised and delighted to notice that Winged Migration was shown on British television on 27th December 2005. It was shown on a satellite or digital channel (UKTV History I think). Baraka and Koyaanisqatsi have been shown in the past, but only on a few occasions. I am British and live in Cornwall in England. Until recently we have had only a limited choice of TV channels. The introduction of satellite and digital channels has generated many new channels, which are able to show more underground films such as Winged Migration.

I noticed it was on, but was watching television with my house mate. I switched to the channel whilst checking what was on the other channels. I didn't expect my house mate to be very interested in the film. But whilst I was checking the schedules on the other channels my house mate explained 'that filming is crazy' referring to a shot of the camera actually flying amongst the birds, in a near impossible fashion. I explained that the film was one on this website. We watched the film until the end. That was a bit of a treat for me. All of my close friends know about my passion for these films, and most have seen Baraka and Koyaanisqatsi, as these are the most accessible. However only a few friends, who are keen fans of the genre (Al and Tash), have seen the others. Most people would find watching the more specialist films, such as Winged Migration strange.

Hopefully these films will be shown more on television, allowing more people to view them. Winged Migration is a great film.

Images from Atlantis

I have added images from the film Atlantis. The images do not give a fair representation of the scenes from the film, but sadly there is not much I can do to help that. Hopefully they images will help to inform people of the film Atlantis.

Extracting of the images

You may be interested in the process that allows me to extract the images from the films.

I have worked for many years in the IT industry, primarily as a computer programmer. My skills allowed me to write an application that extracts the images from a DVD. I set the period at which images are extracted (for example, one image every 100 frames) and these images are written to my computers disk.

I then spend a long time choosing which images to use. Once I have done this I create thumbnail versions of each of the images. I also optimise the full size images to ensure the smallest amount of bandwidth is used. This web site uses a lot of bandwidth, mainly because of the high number of high quality images used. I think these images are an integral part of the website, and the effort and cost are worth it.

The use of these images is not officially permitted. I have unofficial permission from the publishers of Baraka. But I am on very good terms with them and believe I could easily get official permission. I use the images from the films in the hope that I will not be asked to remove them, as this website promotes the films.

Atlantis

After a very long delay I have got my DVD of Atlantis, the Luc Besson film shot entirely underwater. It's a great film, which expands the non-verbal genre further. I will extract the images from the movie later today.

New features

I have rounded up all of the DVD's I have for the films listed on the website. I intend to revise the details about each film, adding even the smallest amount of detail.

I recently watch the extras found on the Chronos DVD. This made me realise that there was a considerable amount of information about each film that I could add. This will take a lot of time, but my passion for these films is very great.

Documentaries

I have decided to add several documentaries to the Spirit of Baraka web site. I have done this as there are several documentaries that many fans of the site have expressed a great interest in. Since adding the documentaries other fans have also expressed their appreciation of the documentaries.

It wasn't an easy decision to add the documentaries. Until recently I have kept the Spirit of Baraka website 'pure', by just listing the films the make up the non-verbal genre. However, as the internet continues to expand, other 'super sites', such as the IMDB and Amazon, threaten to achieve better search engine listings than dedicated sites such as this one. I would be very disappointed if that where to happen. I believe dedicated sites such as this one should always out-rank 'general' sites such as the IMDB. To ensure the continued success of this website I must continue to regularly add and update the contents of the website. By adding new films, even if slightly off topic, the success of this site is increased.

March of the Penguins images

I have added some images from the March of the Penguins documentary. I usually extract the images from the films. This allows we to include the scenes I wish, and also allows me to set the quality, size and resolution of the images. The March of the Penguins is a documentary, rather than one of the core films of the website, so the inclusion of images is not important. I have used images that I have found on the internet.

The start

I have decided to keep a blog of the progress of the Spirit of Baraka website.
My passion for this website has grown constantly, just like my passion for the films. Over the last few months I have added lots of new films and other content to the Spirit of Baraka web site. This blog will serve as a series of notes explaining how the site is progressing.