HD to 35

Moved Blog

2011-07-14T12:27:00.001Z

I have moved my blog.
It can now be found at
www.paulschleicher.com/post-blog/
and my main site is paulschleicher.com

Broadcast Shows Hot on the Heals of Summer Tent Poles

2007-07-11T08:32:00.000Z

So, what cinematic feasts will we be gorgeing on for Orange Wednesdays this summer? Having read much of the hype, the only real thing that had me excited about this summer's movie season was Transformers', until I read the reviews.
Nerve delicately phrased:

About forty of its 145 minutes contain both robots and explosions, and those forty minutes comprise some of the most impressive special effects that have ever graced a screen. The Transformers really do look like tangible objects, and they're exciting to watch. But the other hundred-plus minutes aren't really about anything at all.

Even so, poor reviews that describe fluff, effects and no story, may not be enough to keep me away. Most time yes, but for some reason I am intrigued by Transformers. Maybe its nostalgia. I was never into comics as a kid, but cartoons like G.I. Joe and Thundercats and Transformers had me engrossed.

Combined with the praise for the visual effects work might get my £8 from my pocket and into the box office.

I didn't see Spidy 3 and to be honest, am not won over by the current onslaught of franchises (Pirates, Die Hard, Rocky). I image some are credible, but the ideas aren't new. I wont feel like i am discovering something. I will feel like the companies that own the studios are wringing out all the cash they can from a single concept. Maybe that's cynical

Spidy had similar hype to Transformers as to the originality of the effects work, but why combine this with a tired story. This story from a few months ago on Wired, praised the work done to develop the character of the Sandman.

Perhaps directors are getting too consumed with the effects over the story.

But making the villain wasn't easy (nor was it cheap). It all started with director Sam Raimi peering through a microscope to study the molecular structure of sand, and led to two-and-a-half years of visual-effects R&D and a crew of 30 special-effects technicians.

"I had people bring in 12 different kinds of sand -- this is where people think the movie industry is insane -- so I could look at it," says Raimi. "I saw California beach sand, Mojave desert sand. We ended up picking Arizona sand because it looks exactly like ground corncobs. The reason that's important is that when you bury people alive in hundreds and hundreds of pounds of sand, they'll be squished. You need something lightweight like corncobs, so air can get through and the actors and stuntmen won't be crushed."

Raimi conducted "screen tests" on a Culver City soundstage to observe the sands' "behavior." Visual-effects supervisor Scott Stokdyk elaborated: "We shot footage of sand every way we would need it -- thrown up, thrown against blue screen, over black screen. John Frazier, the special-effects supervisor, shot it out of an aero can at a stuntman. Anything we could imagine sand doing in the film, we shot."

Same on Transformers: (viaPopular Mechanics)

Michael Bay's $150 million adaptation of the legendary 1980s cartoon and toy series will include nearly 50 so-called transformations. Hand-rendered metallic uncorkings of real-life cars, trucks and helicopters represented uncharted territory for the gooey-alien experts at ILM, each transformation taking six months to imagine and each re-engineering the way digital Hollywood does computer graphics imagery (CGI).

Perhaps that is whats important for films now. Studio's only need the trailer to be good, the effects to seem unmissable on the big screen to get the cash. The same can't be said for Television which has seen a rise in high production value programming which uses quality visual effects until now exclusive to the big screen. Yet given the necessity for series to establish a following that continues throughout and sustain interesst week in week out which I think supports the fact that high budget TV shows like Lost and 24 have stronger character development and story lines than the majority of the tent pole films produced since the turn of the century. The most clear example of this is Heroes. One of the few breakout shows of last year. The soon to air on BBC2 show is brilliant. Top effects and good solid story telling. Perhaps a recent Wired article about show creator Tim Kring can shed some light on the winning formula. It starts...

Tim Kring doesn't know Magneto from Wolverine. You'd never know it from watching Heroes, his hit show about everyday people with extraordinary powers.

Kring creates balance in the show as the top tier in Production he fulfills the need to bring the supernatural back down to earth.

Kring's approach was counterintuitive to someone from a comics background, says Greg Beeman, another Smallville vet who came to Heroes as an executive producer. "I'd think, 'We need an ice guy! We need a fire guy! We need a guy who shoots rays out of his eyes!'" Beeman says. "Tim thought in terms of distinct characters." He started with a character's personal struggles and predicaments and assigned special abilities to suit. A harried single mom gets superstrength. A clock-watching Dilbert type learns to control time. A prison escapee is suddenly able to walk through walls. And when Kring's protagonists develop their powers, they don't strap on spandex and capes - they grapple with these strange developments like believable human beings.

I had thought a good exclusion to this argument of TV taking over film in terms of quality, might be Harry Potter, but as Heroes likens to cinema in quality and effects, Harry Potter has 7 features to ensure they get bums on seats for. 14 hours of "programming" of which the studio needs to inspire people to pay for. This must be inspiring Universal to look after story quality and character development. Anne Thompson's new Blog has an early review of the latest installment and concurs.

I suspect that this Harry Potter installment may experience a slight boxoffice dip. But the one I'd be worried about, if I were Warners, is the next one. Yates will be back; he did just fine with Order of the Phoenix. I have no problem with the darker, scarier Potter. That's where it has to go. But in movie terms, it does feel like we're stretching this out over a very long haul.

Finally, I have been meaning to mention a Past Deadine article from back in Feburary titled; Television -- Better Than the Movies? Deal With It? In it, Ray Richmond cites a Newsweek article tracking the evolution of TV, the HBO effect and growth in film stars eager to get seen on the small screen, an action which used to signify the steep slope of a career in decline.

Short summary; I am more excited about season premiers than summer films and I think that trend is not likely to change. What keeps me going to the cinema are the gems that TV has yet to produce, for me, the most recent example was Volver as close to a perfect film as I have every seen.

Diesel Do Hologram Cat Walk

2007-07-04T08:39:00.000Z

I found this lovely tidbit on the Creative Review Blog. This is pushing the envelop of how video can interact with live action events. The designers have created 3D cgi elements that were projected in HD from the ceiling onto "plastic foils placed at 45 degree angles so that the projected light from the ceiling goes onto a foil, is reflected on to another and then into the air".

This created dramatic effect.

Props to Danish video design agency Visoo who used their patented Free Format technology.

"As a medium, Free Format™ has been created to astound and astonish and make things happen right in front of people. A free-floating hologram which looks absolutely true to life - reminding many people of the Star Wars series. Created by projecting a specially produced film onto a see-through screen, the results are incredibly realistic, despite being an illusion. The film merges with the foreground and background to create an illusion in a real-life setting."

The most prominent example of this kind of thing is the Gorillaz Concerts, seen here with with Madonna:

There has been a lot of this going on. It was two years ago that I briefly worked on some tests for Motorola where they wanted to have triggered shop windows that had holograms walk up to passers by and introduce products. I remember the crowds outside a Nike store on Broadway in NYC where 3D holograms of product floated in the window.

I wonder why hologram is so intriguing for people. Perhaps it is more down to Star Wars than we may give credit. Is it that we feel it is the Future coming ever closer to our grasp. Regardless of our nostalgia for this image of the future, the truth is that technology and creativity are paving the way for some amazing visual productions.

Where i've been

2007-07-04T08:16:00.000Z

Again, it has been ages. so I don't expect too many people to be picking this up. Firstly, I have been changing jobs, left the BBC and now back in Soho. Doing more agency stuff. The new facility uses Smokes, Flames, DS and 3D (Maya). Fun toys to be honest. In the machine room, we've got an SR deck and StreamZ Digital Rapids encoder as well as FCP, which is a bit under-utilized for my liking, but when you have a Flame in the next room, you probably aren't going to push the FCP too hard.

So, new home and perhaps a new twist on these ramblings. Will try to keep this Blog going as i find it rather therapeutic and keeps me abreast of the things I find interesting.

Here we go again.

Apple Makes Moves Under Pressure from Greenpeace

2007-05-09T16:47:00.000Z

In an announcement last week, Apple came clean about their green policies and addressed concerns of Greenpeace lobbying as follows:

Apple completely eliminated the use of CRTs in mid-2006.

Apple products met both the spirit and letter of the RoHS restrictions on cadmium, hexavalent chromium and brominated flame retardants years before RoHS went into effect.

Apple plans to completely eliminate the use of arsenic in all of its displays by the end of 2008.

Apple plans to reduce and eventually eliminate the use of mercury by transitioning to LED backlighting for all displays when technically and economically feasible.

Apple plans to completely eliminate the use of PVC and BFRs in its products by the end of 2008.

By 2010, Apple may be recycling significantly more than either Dell or HP as a percentage of past sales weight.

All the e-waste we collect in North America is processed in the U.S., and nothing is shipped overseas for disposal.

Apple products are designed using high quality materials that are in high demand from recyclers.

Steve concluded with the following statement:

Today is the first time we have openly discussed our plans to become a greener Apple. It will not be the last. We will be providing updates of our efforts and accomplishments at least annually, most likely around this time of the year. And we plan to bring other environmental issues to the table as well, such as the energy efficiency of the products in our industry. We are also beginning to explore the overall carbon “footprint” of our products, and may have some interesting data and issues to share later this year.

I hope you are as delighted as I was when I first learned how far along Apple actually is in removing toxic chemicals from its products and recycling its older products. We apologize for leaving you in the dark for this long. Apple is already a leader in innovation and engineering, and we are applying these same talents to become an environmental leader. Based on our tangible actions and results over time, hopefully our customers, employees, shareholders and professional colleagues will all feel proud of our ongoing efforts to become a greener Apple.

Greepeace were quick to respond with plaudits, but tempered them with a call to further action in respect to their US focused recycling programme.

Those of us working with Apple products for some time will know that it usually takes them a while to think beyond the Cupertino shores. PAL anyone?

High Definition Magazine Revamps Site With Lots of Goodies

2007-05-04T09:23:00.000Z

High Definition Magazine has had a web-makeover.

You may remember me mentioning their blog with is a pretty good resource of the haps in the HD world: http://www.definitionmagazine.com/blogger.html.

Now, on their main site, they have added video content with Veoh www.veoh.com/channels/hdtv.

The video content should support the articles from the mag and case studies.

Final cut Studio 2 Date for Your Calendar

2007-05-04T09:18:00.000Z

No, I am not going to cover old ground. Lots of good new toys from Apple have been fully talked about and it will be fun to see how they all work. If you didn't get out to NAB in Vegas and are in London you can register for a free demo day on the 22nd of May at the Riverbank Park Plaza.

Register Here!

Final Cut Pro 6 in Depth. See the power of the open format timeline and the new ProRes 422 format.

Motion 3 in Depth. Discover how to quickly add depth and realism to your motion graphics for video and film. Watch us build a broadcast promo piece from scratch — all in 3D, all in real time.

Soundtrack Pro in Depth. Experience Soundtrack Pro 2 as we move through audio post-production, sound design and surround mixing.

Introducing Color. Learn how colour, like sound and music, is a critical “character” in your video productions. See how the all-new Color application can be used to dramatically improve the quality of your footage — from DV to 2K.

Compressor 3 in Depth. Find out how to deliver your content in the multitude of formats available today.

Distribution in the UK

2007-02-27T11:58:00.000Z

In reading recent interviews with David Lynch in the run-up to the UK release of his latest film Inland Empire, a lot has been made of the difficulty Lynch faces getting distribution deals. I hope this really means he struggles to get wide release and lucrative deals, because if the director of such great works as Twin Peaks, Dune, Blue Velvet and Eraserhead struggles, than we have no hope.

If you need a bit of insight into how things work, Launching films has this 20 page introduction to how distribution works in the UK.

Highlights include this summary of the distribution cycle:

Connecting every film with its audience immerses distributors in a great deal of activity before and during a cinema release. For any given title, some of the phases listed below may overlap or be combined.

Producer/studio acquires rights to film a story or treatment
Screenplay is developed
Production finance and cast and crew are confirmed
Principal photography takes place, in studios and/or on agreed locations,followed by some months of post-production, editing and scoring
Master print of finished film is delivered to local distributor
Distributor determines release strategy and release date
Distributor presents the film to exhibitors and negotiates bilateral agreements to have the film shown in cinemas
Distributor’s marketing campaign creates a ‘want to see’ buzz among the target audience and launches the film
Prints are delivered to cinemas a few days before opening
Film’s run extends any number of weeks subject to demand, which may be augmented by additional marketing activity

After its final playdate, the film print is returned or transported securely to another cinema. Ultimately, most prints are destroyed under supervised conditions, with a small number retained in archives, and the distributor’s rights in respect of the theatrical release expire.

Run-up To NAB

2007-02-27T09:59:00.000Z

Here we go again. It's nearing March and with it comes all the speculation about April. Here are a couple of the key rumors and announcements circulating.

Final Cut Pro 6 - Think Secret leading the charge with claims of a "real time video editing engine". Does this mean mixed resolution timelines without rendering? Or stacking HD and effects with real time playback. Or will we finally be able to edit HDV? C'mon, you all know HDV is shit to edit with.
Along with this rumor comes the hope of a beast of an app in Final Cut Extreme. This is a rehash from last year, but my assumption would be that FCP 6 could be powerful enough to muster the industry's praise.

Brightcove - Added features allows users to create their own channels hosted by Brightcove comprised of free/submitted content. Kind of like a favorites list that they can then promote to other users.

Sony - has lots of product announcements for NAB, including HD Studio Cameras and HD Xchange

Colonel Blimp Gives Props To New Lily Allen Video

2007-02-22T09:02:00.000Z

She may not have won a Brit. But she has a fun new video. Colonel Blip gives us a nice little sneak preview of her new video featuring a very rude little muppet.

Have a look at the video HERE.

Scratch - A Robust DI Solution On An Indie Budget

2007-02-20T08:39:00.000Z

Last night I went to the very swanky Groucho Club in Soho. I would normally not be cool enough to get in, but last night I had an invitation. After clearing the barricades at reception, I sauntered past the smattering of celebs and headed upstairs to the Mary Lou Room.

I had been very invited to checkout Assismilate's DI conform and grading solution, Scratch. I had heard a fair bit about Scratch on various sites including HDforIndies and there is a good case study at Studio Daly as well . But I had yet to see it for myself in action.

Like many, I have been more and more involved with FCP as an NLE over the past few years, so I naturally focused my attention on what looked to be the wholly grail of affordable DI and NLG (non-linear grading) solutions. Running on a mac, Final Touch, provided a XML based, tapeless workflow with a UI that wowed many experienced colourists. Having assumed the price you pay for Final Touch is a direct reflection of an intention to work with a company as they develop a product that has tremendous potential, I have regarded the acquisition of Silicon Color (the product's manufacturer) by Apple with trepidation. Will there be further development of the product that many companies have invested time and money in, or will Apple use the R&D to further their product line to match their wider pro-sumer strategy? Ultimately, if no further development is done on Final Touch, the customer's who purchased the product will have been royally shafted. The product has great features, but lets the user down greatly in the workflow it promised.

It is from this skeptic place, that I ventured out to look at a similar offering in Scratch. What I learnt though, pleasantly surprised me. Assimilate have not tried to promise more than what is feasible and realistic. Scratch is a cost effective, data centric, grading solution much like Final Touch, however, the product is focused and asks the user to work its way to achieve the best results. It also goes beyond grading and offers a balanced solution to meet the needs of Data Conforming for film based productions.

Scratch really is a film tool. It works predominantly with DPX files and has been optimized to use them well. It now offers Quicktime support. Here, Mike at HDforIndies breaks that down, along with issues involved like the need for comprehensive file support and workarounds for unsupported codecs. During my demo, there was a QT rendered out from the offline with BITC that was used to frame match the conform. The system seemed quite happy with both the QT and the DPX.

Scratch as a product is modular and sold as a multi tiered license. The facets include:
1) Project
Data management
2) Process
Image processing and rendering including plugins
3) Edit
Conform and simple editing tools
4)Extensions
Additional Tools
5) Media Layer
Quicktime export etc.
6) Color
Grading
7) Scaffolds
Secondaries

For me, seven modules is overkill for this product, but I am sure there is reasoning behind it. One nice thing is that because it is modular you buy separate licenses and do conforms in a back room, while saving your plush client suite for grades.

Scratch is file based, optimized for DPX (handles 2k DPX in real time) and resolution independent (HD, 2k, 4K).
Includes a DPX player as a stand alone app which lets you preview scans.

Project
With DPX files, scans are individual frames or images, like a tiff sequence. In Scratch, groups of frames are called 'shots'. Demo loaded a good size group of shots into project from directory very fast and allowed navigation, playback and work on shots seemlessly as you would expect from an NLE. But these are 2K. As Scratch can handle various sources, to avoid processing issues you can, for example, 'soft load' jpegs and converts it to DPX. The way is manages the robustness of power needed is by offloading much of the processing work onto the graphics card. I think a lot of products are doing more and more of this because the power is there to be taken advantage of. As a result, a better gfx card equals better performance.

I believe scans are done in a way resulting in metadata associating takes of shots, which are grouped by staking them in the project viewer.

In order to conform, the op would create a "Construct" and an "EDL Load". There is some XML functionality in the product, but my demo didn't cover this at all. I think customers are building there own XML based workflows by writing their own code, much like with Shake. The workflow utilises the tried and tested route of applying EDLs to the shots and woop, your done! 55 shots were conformed in less than one second. You can then import your BITC (burnt in time code) quicktime and frame match the newly conformed 2k material to your offline quicktime. These two nicely stack in the timeline and we can generate timecode and clip details on screen against our conform sequence as well. We can also view in split screen and slip shots as needed to fix discrepancies in the EDL. The media is loaded rather than imported which apparently makes a difference in how fast it runs, but to me this seems like semantics and just take it as read that it works fast. And finally, there is sound!!! unlike Final Touch, Scratch supports sound sync. Not as you might hope however, they're working on it. At the moment you can render out an AIFF or WAV and slip it into position on the timeline. Soon to come, BWAV with metadata and quicktime Audio Support. In my demo, the sound didn't actually work, but I will take their word for it.

Grading
Within the primary grading room there is a side bar for stackable versions. For example, there could be multiple versions of the grade, multiple takes from the the shot that need to be looked at, the rendered QT, or variations of VFX. This is very handy.
Along the bottom of the grading screen lives a tray for the shots which quickly allows you to apply grades across a selection or indeed all of the shots.
There are lots of other groovy features, but I think they are pretty much in line with the rest of the markets' offerings.

Scaffolds
Secondaries can be stacked so they apply on top of other vignettes or can be set to cut through other grades to the source image. This seemed like a sort of compositing feature in the grading. Tracking is similar to Final Touch, but the track button was missing from the demo system. Key point: know what you want to do and buy a license that allows you to do it.
As for performance we had 3 secondaries and a primary on 2k and had real time playback. What Scratch does cleverly is use the GPU to process on the fly as grades are applied, they are in effect rendered. When finished all that needs to happen is write the final files as the processing has been done. Simple test I saw laid a single primary across 2268 frames and was processed in under a min. 2268 frames = 1.5 min. So, basic processing will happen faster than real time. This is impressive, but I wouldn't be sold until I saw a real life project put the system through its paces.

Extensions
Can use full range of Foundry plug-ins, Ultimatte, etc. I didn't see this in action, but I gather most of this stuff is better left to other applications like Shake or similar.

Hardware
Hardware wasn’t really covered in the session, so I have copied this from the Assimilate site.

The performance requirements listed below are based on a file-size of approximately 12MB per frame, which equals a 10bit log DPX file at 2048x1556 pixels resolution (referred to from now on in as 2k):

a) For 25fps playback of 2k 10bit DPX files the technical minimums are:

25 guaranteed I/O transactions per second for a total request size of 12MB per transaction

Minimum latency per I/O better than 40ms

Sustained read bandwidth across array, minimum of 301MB/s

This is the absolute minimum that MUST BE sustained at all times.

b) For dual stream 24fps playback of 2k 10bit DPX files:

48 guaranteed I/O transactions per second for a total request size of 8.4 to 12MB per transaction

Minimum latency per I/O better than 20ms

Sustained bandwidth across array for dual stream operation at 24fps per stream, minimum of 577MB/s

The performance of suitable direct-attached arrays for SCRATCH will usually lie somewhere in between these two boundaries [of a) and b)], whereas SANs may often exceed this performance envelope. The smaller request size of 8.4MB is roughly the size of a Super2k DPX frame (2048x1080 at 10 bit log). While Super2k will be easier on the bandwidth requirements; it will still require full I/O transaction performance. Sustaining these I/O transactions tends to be more of a problem for SATA arrays at this point.

Globalstor ExtemeStor DI Station

HP xw8200 Workstation* (dual Xeon)
HP xw9300 Workstation* (dual Opteron)

IBM IntelliStation A Pro* (dual Opteron)

* Requires external storage

Color Management
Assimilate Scratch currently supports 3D look up tables (3D LUTS) for a range of color management solutions, ensuring a calibrated and truthful color manipulation throughout the DI chain.

Arri CMS Color Management System
Imagica GALETTE Color Management System
Kodak Display Manager System
Pandora Pogle Color Correction Systems (Supported LUT formats a3d, m3d)
Rising Sun Research cineSpace Colour Management

Bottom Line
Software packages run from £10 - £20 K. I should have more details emailed through to me and will update soon.

They have 5 systems working in London and 'loads' in the States.

Final Thoughts
Good stuff in all. I really liked the interface, it straight away reminded me of a Discreet product (Flame or Smoke). Really slick, but usable. I felt that with a bit of poking around, I could get to grips with the functionality of it. This is important as it would need to be used by Technical Assistants in order to conform, but also needs to meet the demands of highly skilled Colorists. Most functions ran smoothly on the demo system and in all I could see it fitting nicely in a number of setups.

The proof is in the pudding. Mike Curtis recently said about new tech solutions "the sales pitch sounds the same whether it works great or is a clusterf*cked, non-functional cripple of an app." I think there are those of us who are a bit more skeptical having suffered with technology that hasn't met expectation. Final Touch was/is a great app, I work with Pogle Colorists who are really eager to jump on the Final Touch. But it's detractions were not apparent at any demo I attended. The problems are all in the workflow.

I get the feeling those who have moved from Final Touch to Scratch have been happy with the decision. I also think Scratch is not built on a promise. It does what several other products do (Nucoda, Baselight, Final Touch, Lustre) . Like those other products, Scratch has it's strengths and weaknesses. I was told Baselight is a better grading tool, not surprising when you look at the Blackboard it comes with. Scratch has tried to be more evenhanded devoting much effort to the strength of its conforming tools similar to the way the Nucoda system does.

Baselight Blackboard

Ultimately, this is a film product. The broadcast market and HD markets are getting largely ignored by products at the moment. Perhaps it is down to confusion about the fact that in video work there is no need for a digital intermediate. There is no intermediate stage in video post. There is however a real desire for the types of tools and potential workflows that non-linear grading can offer. Scratch I don't think is really answering this call. They are staying true to form, rather than repackaging to meet extended market share. So, if you are shooting a good bit on film, or mixing film and video, then this could really be a useful addition. If you are a facility looking to develop the DI side of things this may be a cost effective solution. But traditional HD conforms are probably better done in a FCP, Smoke or Avid. That still leaves the colour side of the system, within which there are really strong tools that most Colorists would be happy to work with. The system is fast and robust and with further video file integration it could be a strong offering for video post houses as well as those moving into film /DI post.

Finally, thanks to everyone at Assimilate for taking the time to show me the product.

Boobies

2007-02-14T17:16:00.000Z

Ok, I have been off the radar for a bit and thought i would come back with a interest peaking title. Sorry, but have been searching for meaning in my life. There are a few interesting things to write about. First, Boobies.

My wife(this is all coming out wrong!) My wife works for a Breast Cancer charity. During my tumbling around online this week, i noticed a couple of stories. The first is from Shots. For those who don't know, Shots is a mag, focused primarily on the commercials industry. I think its great, but far too expensive. Priced for ad execs. (£655 per year includes mag and dvd)

Anyways, they throw us normal folks a bone on the website with some bits and pieces, including Hot Shots. The Hot Shot of the moment is a spot for Breast Cancer Charity ABC. Have a look HERE.

For the production breakdown:
Here's the story!

I think charities struggle with the use of shock tactics. But in this case i think it is used to good effect, relying on strong visual style a good use of music and pace. Oh, and it's still very sexy.

Following this is the story in Canada where the “Exotic Dancers for Cancer” event is held in memory of Jocelyn a former dancer who died from the disease and features live shows, entertainment and a silent auction.

The dancers raised $3,000 for the Breast Cancer Society of Canada last year through an annual fundraising event.

But this year the Society has turned down their donation, saying some major donors don't want to be associated with exotic dancing.

On the event's website they quote a letter received from one of the charity's directors:

“Unfortunately we will have to decline your kind offer as we have certain major donors that are not in favour of this connection,” wrote Rany Xanthopoulo, Executive Director of the BCSC. “This decision came as a result of donor disgruntlement and together with the Board of Directors we have decided not to accept any donations from what donors consider controversial sources.”

I some how think with all of this press, the $10 event will be sold out this year!

David Borwell's Blog

2007-01-23T14:29:00.000Z

Ok, I may be a bit of a sado film geek, but what a priceless gem to have someone like David Bordwell and indeed Kristen Thompson, blogging. It is a real insight into some of the world's afore most film history and theory professor's daily musings. In a recent post, David Bordwell briefly (for him, detailed for bloggers) tracks the use of "planimetric" or "mug shot" framing through several generations of European, American and Asian filmmakers. The reason I really like reading his blog is that it breaks up the brief reads that we bloggers often post in fleeting moments. Brodwell inspires you to take time and read, think and in this case, be more shot conscious!

Who Wants To See Razor Burn In HD?

2007-01-23T11:06:00.000Z

There is an faction in the film industry that has long been tauted as both pioneers in new technology and those lowering the bar for producers. They proliferated the use of video tape recording, multiplied the use of miniDv shooting and now are ushering in the widespread (pardon the pun) use of HD. Of course, it is out beloved cousins in the Valley, the pornographers!

Bringing an element of validation to this, my first post in ages, I am citing a recent New York Times article: In Raw World of Sex Movies, High Definition Could Be a View Too Real

The NYT isnt the first to take up the issue of how the sex film industry is driving this new technology, but I found the article candidly open. Matt Richtel interviewed a cross section of people including women actors and male producer/directors. The obvious benefit is greater image clarity, but is that what people want from their porn. The answer seems to be: Sometimes. If the film is well made and enough attention to detail is paid, especially in post production image retouching, then the benefits for the viewer can be there. But the challenges outweigh the potential for many.

Other female actors say they generally like working with high-definition — except for the cosmetic-surgery part.
Jesse Jane, one of the industry’s biggest stars, plans to go under the knife next month to deal with one side effect of high-definition. The images are so clear that Ms. Jane’s breast implants, from an operation six years ago, can be seen bulging oddly on screen.
“I’m having my breasts redone because of HD,” she said.

Less extreme measures are also being taken, such as extra make-up, spray tanning and laser treatment. Never the less the biggest and most unrelenting problem is 'Razor burn'

Aside from the producing aspect, there are other issues like media production and distribution. Sony has decided to keep firm to its policy to not 'not mass-produce pornographic videos'. This has driven adult film producers to adopt HD DVD more widely and use third party Blu-Ray producers as needed.

Macworld has a more detailed analysis about the potential impact the porn industry could have on the HD DVD vs BluRay battle.

Reflections on Borat; 2006's Biggest Coup

2007-01-08T10:42:00.000Z

Reflecting on Borat's invasion of our theatres last year here is a new interview with Sasha Baron Cohen for NPR's Open Air. (Via Zigzigger)

And if that isn't enough, here is a rather interesting take on the impact of the Borat Film within the Balkan Countries.

Given that Borat plays off ricocheting notions of national and cultural identity among Americans and non-Americans, watching the Borat phenomenon from another country provides the opportunity to explore one region's take on Americans and transnational interactions.

Daniel Marcus dissects how the jokes are directed at, perceived by and reacted to both in America and beyond. He argues that in Slovenia, arguably more Integrated in the European culture than most of the Balkan States, cinema-goers were more able to appreciate the racist, sexist and anti-semitic humour, while the anti-Gypsy humour he worried might have been a bit too in line with popular sentiment.

Baron Cohen straddles that tenuous line between exposing racism and sexism through humor and using racist and sexist attitudes to make his jokes work. Slovenian fans stated that they felt confident that Slovenian audiences would laugh at the anti-Semitism displayed in the film, rather than with it, because anti-Semitism is not particularly active in the national culture (and perhaps because some may know Baron Cohen is Jewish). They also asserted that they laughed at the anti-Gypsy attitudes, but could not be so confident that other audience members were laughing at those remarks rather than with them.

Figuring out who should be most offended by Borat is a tough task indeed. Marcus suggests it may be fat people who are the only ones not getting a tongue in cheek lashing. The hotel room wrestle is an eye opening experience into fat people naked from all angles. Although Cohen in the buff is no pretty sight either. Even the hooker, draws sympathy as a tragic clown figure. The main target of the film is of course the isolationism of American societies from the rest of the world. You may be a country of racist, sexist, homophobic, red-necks, but that all could be forgiven. The fact that you would take this person who is blatantly off the wall bigotted as an educated journalist from a foreign country with his backwater manners (not knowing how to wipe his arse) as real, or indeed, that the audience is left doubting the farcical character's reality, is the

In the Slovenian context, however, the true target of the film's ire is the American people in the Age of Bush, while the film is also useful in furthering Slovenian feelings of belonging to the advanced civilization of Western and Central Europe (a civilization that has produced, in Baron Cohen's act, the British dimwit Ali G and Austrian fashion slave Bruno). Do American Blue State viewers (a recently expanded category!) exhibit the same attitude toward the Southerners and Westerners in the film as Slovenians do to representations of Kazakhstan?

If so many people were so offended by the film. How come it was such a success? Kristen Thompson is discussing how Borat has made such a splash by capitalizing on the power of the net. She compares the success of Borat with the modest failure of Snakes on a Plane. Where Borat Producers utilized Youtube to the best of its ability, Snakes gained a great deal of press through parodies and homages to its daft name.

Snakes was a deemed a failure. New Line said that its opening gross was typical for a low-budget genre film. Snakes cost a reported $33 million. million in the domestic market and a total of just under $60 million internationally.Ultimately it took $34 I suspect that New Line spent a great deal more on advertising that it ordinarily would have, hoping in vain to expand the enthusiasm. The film’s box office takings would certainly not bring in a profit, but doubtless New Line hopes for better things on DVD.

Where Snakes faltered, Borat soared; from the modest budget of $18 Mil it amassed $126 million domestically and $241 million worldwide.

This brings forward a debate around why people would put so much effort into online interaction and not head out to the cinema. My argument would be that people like to interact with lots of popular culture, but aren't necessarily interested in spending money on consumption. I also think that people still probably use traditional thought processes in deciding whether to see a film. They have trusted review sources, traditional media and friends. Perhaps, new methods of online interaction will take time to influence consumer action at the cinema. If you look at the big examples, Blair Witch and Borat, both films used web buzz to get known but perhaps benefited greatly from traditional promotion through strong reviews. But, perhaps Borat in its nature is better suited as a film for audience's to watch, where Snakes lends itself better to viewer adaptation for enjoyment. Thompson states;

Borat’s full, unwieldy title was also an attention-getter, but no one could possibly predict much about the film from it, let alone parody it. Here the focus was primarily on how funny Cohen was as Borat and how funny the film was going to be. What circulated were samples that seemed to prove exactly that. People would go to this film and have more fun than they could possibly make for themselves by messing around on the internet with its title. The words “snakes on a plane” could inspire just about anybody with a creative bone in their body, but only Cohen could do Borat.

It seems the fervor the internet can produce does not a blockbuster make. A film must have content that can sustain huge amounts of exposure and analysis and remain inspiring for people to purchase tickets. Snake's and others before it have blown their wad before reeling in the punters, while Borat had the substance that demanded people see the antics for themselves.

Gifts for the filmatic

2007-01-04T10:53:00.000Z

Via Nerve: Screengrab

Masters of cinema designs! Pick your fav master and go for a T-shirt, Mug or even a thong!
I say bring on Eisenstien, Godard, Rossellini, Renoir!!!

Hollywood is Progressively Greener

2007-01-04T09:28:00.000Z

I have had this article in my favorites for ages now (Nov 30th is when it was written). I have been meaning to cover it on the blog ever since. With the New Year, it seems as good a time as any to mention one way the Studios have been trying to clean up there act. Variety's Web Exclusive: Hollywood Goes Carbon Neutral states that the entertainment biz in LA is second only to the petroleum industry in terms of pollution (no that is not a dig at the people that work for the networks). Basically, Office work, Shoots, Travel, Distribution, Post etc. causes mother earth more grief than nearly everything else in LA. Not so hard to believe if you have ever lived there. Everything in LA is Film and TV. You cant walk(sorry, drive) around town without bumping into a shoot of some description. It always makes me smile when i hear London wanting to become a 'Film City'. The implications of such a move are vast. I lived for six months just off Hollywood Blvd. and during that time the city closed the main bit of Hollywood Blvd. 3 times, plus often had numerous traffic diversions for shoots. I can't really imagine this happening on Oxford Street and riots not ensuing... So, it doesn't surprise me that the largest industry in LA with the most money flying around and the most power should cause so much environmental harm. But, what are they doing about it?

Well, Celebs are notorious for being pro this and that and the environment is a hot topic. Star power leads the way with Clooney, DiCaprio, Ford and Blanchett. Funnily enough the ones that follow closest behind are the Talent Agencies who will sacrifice babes for a nod of approval from their clients. If we are too believe they are anything like Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) in Entourage. Ultimately, studios are about making money and the pros and cons add up on this one. Good PR, keeping favor with stars, save planet vs save a few short term bucks. When I say a few, I really don't know how much it costs to offset the carbon footprint of a studio film. The only example the Variety aritcle gives is the $15,000, "The Nativity Story's" producer Marty Bowen and director Catherine Hardwicke paid out of pocket for that film. But what about "The Day After Tomorrow" or Syriana, or any others that are offsetting their carbon. £15K is the cost of a one pager add in Variety, this way the money can generate multiple articles. Well spent I say. In the end, Hollywood is noticing the benefits of going greener. I think more companies and industries will happily follow if they can spin the move to generate positive PR.

New Year Full Of New Ideas...

2007-01-04T08:22:00.000Z

I'm back. both of you that read this blog fear not, I have returned for the new year. So Xmas was nice and relaxed. I saw some good flicks; Bond (finally), Amores Perros (Check spelling?) History of Violence (first time i have seen a 69 that wasn't in a porno. Ranks up there on my all time graphic sex scenes list with the Harvey Keitel wack off when he pulls over the underage girls in Bad Luitenent and the time i was 14 and my mom rented Blue Velvet. Ugh.) Looking forward to this year. Plans for the new year include:
1) Rewriting an old screenplay of mine (procrastinating because and reading a 'how to write book first which has been put to the side because I got a 3in1 book of Ian Flemings From Russia With Love, Dr. No and Gold Finger) So, Not off to a good start. Also, if anyone knows a good book on screenplay dialogue, i would love a recommendation.
2) Apply for MBA Programme. Was gonna do this last year, but am thinking May 08 gives me enough time to prep. But must apply by the end of 2007!
3) Get married again. Same woman, but we eloped in vegas 5 years ago and fancy doing it properly this summer.
4) All the mundine plebian resolutions like Diet, Gym, Go Greener, Pay rise/Promotion (Quite smoking last year, so this year will annoy smoker friends and pester them to quit).
5) Buy a mac. been meaning to for ages, cant be bothered as pc laptop works fine.
6) Develop a more interesting Blog that people really want to read.
Thats my list. It is more for me to look back at next year and sulk about how little i have achieved. Best wished to everyone trying to do new/better/different things this year.

I leave you with a crappy youtube of what are some of the most amazing fireworks i have ever seen. This NYE in London. Keep an eye on BBC HD Trial channel to them in High Def Glory!!!

Branding The Web: How Advertisers Are Coming To Terms With Their New Platform and How This Is Liberating Creative Agencies

2006-12-21T11:23:00.000Z

The internet has quickly entrenched itself in the debates of future of media delivery and audience segmentation. Advertising is no different. I have seen a rash of companies specializing in viral production popping up in London and as I am an old fogey often dismissed them as under achieving ad agencies. Scott Kirsner, whose Cinema Tech blog I often read, has given Variety an exclusive except from his recently release book: The Future of Web Video: New Opportunities for Producers, Entrepreneurs, Media Companies and Advertisers. In it, Scott discusses the implications and cultural shift in media agencies resulting from the rise and rise of vial advertising with Jamie Tedford of Arnold Worldwide.

Arnold argues that advertisers are begrudgingly awakening to the reality that they can't just slap their existing TV ads on the net and expect them to spread. Because there is no audience guarantee or even inclination based around 'real' programming, the ad needs to stand alone as 'surprising, funny, new, comical, sexy or provocative'. More often, for security of investment, advertisers are producing a viral version of a TV campaign. This reversioning aims to hook the discerning web viewers and inspire them to forward it on.

Moving on from the demands of this emerging market, are the benefits of working with virals, for example, working on the web provides 'much greater leeway' to be more 'outlandish and controversial'. He provides the example of Smirnoff's hit "Tea Partay" Agency: Bartle Bogle Hegarty URL: http://www.teapartay.com

The internet also provides opportunity to create and control buzz. Expamples that spring to my mind are Apple and The Blair Witch Project. Apple use rumor sites to create 'groundswell' around nearly all of their products. They can leak information when they want to create a buzz or in the lead-up to an event like Macworld or NAB. When the mills get too powerful or don't play the way Apple likes they can curtail the use of acquired NDA info through lawsuits like that with Think Secret. Blair Witch was the phenomenon that spurred movie buzz on the web that inevitably has lead us here. The realism of the film, the amateurism the scariness all conspired as web rumors to catapult the film into the charts and put millions into New Line's pockets. Kirshner and Tedford use the examples of King Kong and VW, but I like mine better.

The final topic of discussion surrounds whether there is an effective way to advertise around short web films including pre and post roll. They argue no. Media buyers are starved for content to place ads on the the 'rates are going through the roof'. Note to self: Make online films and sell advertising space around them. BUT people hate them. they compare the modest rise of iFilm compared to the shear dominance of th market by YouTube. What the don't address is banners , or more cleverly, product placement. If you can establish a relationship with advertisers as a producer of online content, you could generate revenue through product placement not just branded viral film making. Perhaps a good business would be to work within the web film community generating rev for content through facilitating the placement of products in the films themselves. who cares if it is a coke or pepsi or red bull the character drinks on redbull if you leave the film makers to it as much as poss. and the cost to place a product in a web film is way less than a proper film/commercial/tv show, or indeed producing your own viral. My mate Nick was after a business model for us to make millions the other day in the pub. Well, there you go.

They suggest a different approach by trying to figure out how a brand can give you content free of advertising. For example: Pepsi let you have a free song on iTunes when you bought a bottle. I have also seen Cobra beer sponsoring a lot of web based indie film.

As for the future, i concur that it is a bright one, with limitless possibility where one can blur the lines between content and revenue stream, where aggregators abound and the tail seems very long....

I leave you with the idea that branded films can come with the message to do some good as well.

Scrub Up Charlie Brown

2006-12-18T17:01:00.000Z

I must say, Zach Braff is just cool.
I give Scrubs way more props than Grey's Anatomy.
From Zach's Blog, here the cast of scrubs adr Charlie Brown Christmas, a yule tide classic:

Red Giant Release Colorista

2006-12-18T16:19:00.000Z

Can't afford Final Touch or similar to grade your masterpiece? Fear not, Stu Maschwitz and Red Giant to the rescue.

The folks you brought you Magic Bullet, have now released Colorista:

What makes Colorista different?

Precise Color Balance
Colorista make your whites look white and your talent look their best with controls for modifying shadows, mid-tones and highlights. The familiar Lift, Gamma, Gain color wheels allow for easy adjustment of color balance and luminance with ultrasensitive control for precise results. Additional, Saturation and Exposure options let you makes flesh tones look natural, plus set the highlight and shadow levels exactly.

Real time DeepColor RT
Maximize your performance with the power of the DeepColor RT engine inside Colorista. Playback SD and HD (720p) projects in real-time by efficiently using your system’s graphics processing power. The next-generation DeepColor RT engine preserves quality in every application host so that 10-bit projects remain 10-bit.

Mask with Ease
Apply the correction just where you need it. With Colorista you can create a simple circular or rectangular shape to isolate a specific zone. No longer is it necessary to pre-mask a shot to deepen the color of a sky or redefine the actionable area of the shot. The animatable controls for area and feather let you work right in the canvas or composer window.

Benefits to using Colorista over the built-in host application tools

The easiest and fastest 3-way color corrector for After Effects with full support for 8, 16, and 32-bit per channel projects
Colorista performs like Premiere Pro's standard three way color corrector, but delivers results up to 5x faster with a fast graphics card, now that's productivity
With Colorista you can finally do full 32-bit color correction at all times, with no shift in shadow colors and area masking directly in the Canvas window in Final Cut Pro. Plus, the exposure settings make it easy to work with common f-stop settings like plus or minus one-half stop
If you like Motion but yearn for more powerful color correction tools then Colorista delivers with full support for fast GPU rendering and support for 8, 16, and 32-bit float projects
You can get all the platforms in one package which means no matter what tool you use, you will have a familiar color correction plug-in at hand

Storytelling: Bambi vs Godzilla and BBC's Born Equal

2006-12-18T15:30:00.000Z

Last night I was really looking forward to the all-star 90 min premier of Born Equal on BBC 1. Dominic Savage's new offering featured the likes of Colin Firth, Robert Carlyle, David Oyelowo and Anne-Marie Duff. Dominic Savage offers the follow about the film:

Born Equal started life as a film about homelessness but, as the director Dominic Savage embarked upon his research, a markedly different film began to take shape.

"When I began to look into the problem of homelessness, my sense was that there was a really big issue around people living in temporary accommodation for long periods of time."

They're known as the 'hidden homeless' because, although they've got a roof over their heads, it's far from being a home."

Savage visited a number of these hostels and met many different people who generously shared their stories with him - stories he says he'll never forget.

"The film shows huge contrasts between people and how they live, their ideas, what they've got and what they haven't got," says Savage, who points out that although the film is set in London, the same contrasts can be seen all over Britain.

"In the end, what the film aspires to achieve is to encourage people to think more about others, care about the less fortunate and be more aware of what's going on around them."

The strength of the cast and the quality of the trailers looked really enticing. Indeed the film was really good. I was however a bit put of by the comment in the Guide(guardian) that said something to the effect that the film is such a downer, it makes you wonder what's the point. A little off put and a little intrigued because at the moment I am gearing up to write a tragedy, I sat on the couch and was also struck by the continued, unrelenting bad luck suffered by all of the characters. Plot-spoiler: no one wins. Not only that, no one ever looks like they are going to win, with the exception of the day at the beach Carlyle and Duff spend together which only acts to foreshadow the inevitable.

At the moment, I am reading a book on plot(Elements of Fiction Writing, by Ansen Dibell) and early on it forewarns of what I feel this film suffers from. Dibell describes the short satire film in which Bambi hops along and then is promptly squashed by Godzilla's foot. End of film. funny as a one liner short, but a feature would be dreadful.

Anytime you're tempted to write a pure-victim story, in which the protagonist(s) doesn't have a chance, think about Bambi Meets Godzilla and try something else.

An Even Battle is More Fun to Watch

Whether the ending is happy or unhappy in the traditional sense, any story needs to be founded on an effective and strongly-felt conflict, in which opposing forces - whether people, ideas, additudes, or a mix - are at least fairly evenly matched, enough so that the final outcome is in doubt... not an utter mismatch.

Oedipus was doomed from the beginning; but he didn't know it, and he was fighting all the way. The emphasis was on the fighting, not the doom. That's what makes the fighting, the wrestling, become engrossing narrative.

Maybe it is here where Savage loses the way. Because the message is in the doom rather than the fight. All of the characters suffer from their their position in life the lot they were given through fate. Be they rich or poor, the suffering through societies structures of inequality effects everyone and everyone will suffer because of it. This message is the point of the film, but is inextricably linked to the doom more than the fight. The fight by every character moves the action, but the film is ultimately about the doom.

In all a superbly acted and crafted film, but I, like the Guardian critic was left wondering why I watched 90 minutes just to see Bambi, squashed.

Spike Lee's Doc Air's on BBC4

2006-12-18T12:12:00.000Z

A few months back, I covered the chat about the Spike Lee - Katrina Doc 'When the Leeves Broke'. Since then the Films have aired on HBO in the States and gone on to win the Horizons Documentary Prize at Venice and now it is due to make its UK premier with parts 1 and 2 tonight on BBC 4 at 9PM as part of the Storyville series. Sometimes I wish I had the Sky+ or a PVR, as it doesn't finish until 1130 and that is so past my bedtime! I would have thought the film would have found its way on to BBC2, but never mind, I am always pleased to see the multichannels land good acquisitions.

So for those who do have a PVR, Sky+ or even a good old VHS, pop it on record tonight.

Chris Anderson Laments Additudes About The Niche Consumer Products

2006-12-13T13:04:00.000Z

In a brief post, Chris Anderson defends the Long Tail theory arguing the NYT critic John Pareles is wrong with the following statement pulled from the NYT here:

"The open question is whether those new, quirky, homemade filters will find better art than the old, crassly commercial ones. The most-played songs from unsigned bands on MySpace — some played two million or three million times — tend to be as sappy as anything on the radio; the most-viewed videos on YouTube are novelty bits, and proudly dorky. Mouse-clicking individuals can be as tasteless, in the aggregate, as entertainment professionals."

Anderson argues, quite poignantly, that people's individual interests are refined and have great quality but differ widely. When a majority of people find a similar interest, it is usually a tame one and equates to the 'lowest common denominator that is mass culture'. He argues there is inherently more value in niche interest and therefore the rise of internet proliferated (long Tail) consumption will lead to a better quality of media, art, music etc.

It end's with a rather scathing quote directed at the common likes and dislikes of TV audiences from David Foster Wallace:

"TV is not vulgar and prurient and dumb because the people who compose the audience are vulgar and dumb. Television is the way it is simply because people tend to be extremely similar in their vulgar and prurient and dumb interests and wildly different in their refined and aesthetic and noble interests."

Brightcove's Jeremy Allaire Keynote At The Video On The Net Conference

2006-12-13T10:07:00.000Z

I found this via DV Guru and it makes for a very interesting watch. I have said several times that Brightcove has the right idea to help indies, producers and niche topic video makers reach broad audiences. In a Keynote speech at the 2006 Video on the Net Conference, Brightcove's CEO, Jeremy Allaire prostrates on the future of rich media communications, internet television distribution and content revenue management.

Some of the key things I picked up on were:

50% of all revenue from video comes from direct consumer purchase rather than commercial sponsorship. I thought this was surprising as just this morning I was wonder whether TV is just a vehicle of advertising messages with content sprinkled throughout to keep the viewer watching the ads.

This shows consumers have a strong interest in high quality ad free content. They also have a desire for niche content as well as a desire to own media and experience different forms of media entertainment eg. cinema, HD TV.

The internet in general is used for video distribution in three main fashions:
1) Retail Bucket - iTunes, Amazon.
2) Niche Subscription - Wrestling, MLB.
3) Branded download stores - CBS, Fox eg Survivor.
This is a focused brand - not aggregated.

He would like to see more "mixed mode" where consumer can pay for no commercials or view with commercials for free.

He also sees a need for an open seller platform for consumers and content creators to mingle, share and sell media.

This all is a precursor to mass adoption of consumer video communication.

He then goes into the details of Brightcove's offerings. Have a look. and checkout Brightcove Here

What's Your Fav Celeb Story

2006-12-12T16:28:00.001Z

Nerve, the topical resource for the perverted, which I obviously check religiously (for the film reviews), has come out with a tepid read of the 40 best celebrity rumors ever.

The golden age of celebrity rumors may be coming to an end. As Britney Spears spreads her legs to the world and Nicole Richie gets arrested driving north in the southbound lane, truth may at last have outstripped semi-fiction.

Here are my fav’s from the countdown:

29. Angelina Jolie and her brother had an incestuous relationship
At the 2000 Oscars, Angelina Jolie raved, “I’m so in love with my brother right now,” and the siblings shared a long kiss on the lips. Many viewers claimed to have seen tongue, igniting the rumor that the actress and her brother, James Haven, were sleeping with each other

26. Courteney Cox bleaches her . . .
In these heady times, bleaching your anus for aesthetic reasons is totally normal. But way back in the mists of the early 2000s, anus-bleaching was still ever so slightly unusual.

22. Michael Jackson slept in a hyberbaric chamber
In September 1986, the National Enquirer ran a page-one photo of the King of Pop sleeping in a large glass tube over the headline, “Michael Jackson’s Bizarre Plan to Live to 150.”

17. Marilyn Manson, sitcom star
Did Marilyn Manson have a rib removed so he could auto-fellate? Did he play nerdy Paul Pfeiffer on late-‘80s sitcom The Wonder Years?

1. Richard Gere and the gerbil
Throughout the ‘80s, accusations of gerbiling (i.e. “coaxing a live gerbil into your rectum for the purposes of sexual pleasure”) haunted several D-listers, including a news anchor in Philly and a Cleveland Browns linebacker, before permanently latching onto Gere, who was allegedly rushed to the hospital for emergency rodent removal. Hearsay ballooned into the most famous celebrity rumor in history when someone faxed dozens of Hollywood offices a fake ASPCA press release claiming that Gere had “abused” a gerbil.

Check out the rest of the list here.

What's Your Fav Celeb Story

2006-12-12T16:28:00.000Z

Nerve, the topical resource for the perverted, which I obviously check religiously (for the film reviews), has come out with a tepid read of the 40 best celebrity rumors ever.

The golden age of celebrity rumors may be coming to an end. As Britney Spears spreads her legs to the world and Nicole Richie gets arrested driving north in the southbound lane, truth may at last have outstripped semi-fiction.

Here are my fav’s from the countdown:

17. Marilyn Manson, sitcom star
Did Marilyn Manson have a rib removed so he could auto-fellate? Did he play nerdy Paul Pfeiffer on late-‘80s sitcom The Wonder Years?

Check out the rest of the list here.

Offline - Losing the Creative Out of the Editor

2006-12-08T14:14:00.000Z

I think this may come off like a generalization, but I was in a little drinking hole last night with some friends, 2 editors and a flame Op and we were chatting about work.

Here at the Beeb, I am quite grateful to be free from corporate films as they can be quite soul destroying. However, corporates are a very lucrative industry and many post houses who employ great talent and are responsible for quality broadcast and film work wouldn't survive were it not for the income of corporate films.

My Editor Friends were just coming off a stint on the corporates and going into some series work, they too were near the end of their tether with this onslaught of corporate productions and the self important posers that produce them (again a sweeping generalization, I know some really lovely people that produce corporates, we were just a wee bit drunk and bitter). Anyways, they were desperately pleased to be back on the broadcast side.

My other friend , the VFX Guy, lamented the tedium that goes into effects work on longform shows and is quite well placed in a company that now produces commercials, but even then has suffered through week long rotoscoping jobs that made him go a bit cross eyed.

Sometimes it just seems like a lot of the creativity in Post Production has gone. The editor is too often a functional role, realizing the producer's vision rather than using his/her understanding of cadence, juxtaposition and general experience as a craftsman. The restraints of every shrinking budgets means that time and kit suffer. You may have to use crappy software based conversion tools or text/graphic effects plugins. You may have to cram an hour long project into a few week edit. The editor then just has to do what production want, with perhaps only minor exceptions.

I think the VFX artist still retains some mystery about his/her work as most dir/prods just know what they want and have very little clue how to achieve it. But the VFX artists' smoke and mirrors are hiding less and less as the technology (like in editing) becomes more accessible.

On the flipside, I have recently come across a lot of editors who are 'non-technical' offliners, that just cut films together and don't really care to know about the immensely important geeky side of post work. This is a growing trend with the proliferation of freelance Final Cut Pro. Don't get me wrong I am a huge fan of FCP. I love using it, but it is dramatically impacting the post production landscape. The effects are both good and bad. Such editors lack the fundimental post production knowledge to aid their productions into the finishing stages and often leave their Producers in the lurch several stages later in post.

I think the editors who feel as though they make a difference to the majority of their productions and have been able to develop collaborative relationships with prod/dir over a series of projects should feel rather fortunate.

As well as being attacked by lack of money, bedroom guru's and producers going at it alone, the offline editor's craft and creativity is under threat by the changing way films are made. I have been holding on to a studio daily piece that I wanted to highlight as some great work coming out of London, but reading it again today has made me look at it in a new light.

The piece is on the edit of the Killer's new video, Directed by Tim Burton. Have a read and a watch of the video here.

Basically, great opportunity to cut a video with one of a few contemporary auteurs. Amanda James also got he opportunity to use her expertise in benefit of the project.

With music videos it’s important to establish a performance bed and I felt this especially so on this project as Tim had never shot band performance before. His main concern, given his background was naturally the narrative element, so I had to fairly quickly assemble a rough structure so that he would be able to envisage how the performance and narrative would function together throughout the video.

But, what strikes me now is the increasing trend of editors assembling green screen shots. I imagine it is very difficult to do such an edit and feel this again is a place where the editor loses out in the creative process.

Other than a couple of location setups the entire film was shot against green screen, so we had to imagine when and where the skeletons would be... There was no real back and fourth between us as give or take a scene or two, I pretty much had to lock the whole thing down before they could begin.

But in the end Amanda felt she could add to the creative process both through her understanding of music video construction, but also with 'the level of finesse I applied to the effect shots, I guess he’s not used to that being done to such a degree at the offline stage'.

That last statement backs up my point. With the increasing level of vfx work in productions offline editing is again reduced to a functional task rather than a creative one.

I am just lamenting the fact that a once highly regarded creative role is evolving into a 2 class system where the undereducated, underpaid and undervalued are outnumbering the elite. The industry is turning out more and more functional editors and fewer craftsmen. What do you think?

Evolutions in Techology Owe There Development to Indies

2006-12-07T14:11:00.000Z

Scott Kirshner has written a piece for Film Art Mag - Release Print which is also copied in his blog Cinema Tech where he argues, developments in film technology have been predominately a direct result of independent producers pioneering new ways of working. This is discongruent to Indie's position of opponents to the Studio system. Yet, without these 'mavericks' some of the inventions and conventions that have made Hollywood what it is today might never have been. He also surmises that the future is no different. Digital content is changing the playing field following the footsteps of early adopters.

His points of discussion include...
The Past: Sound, 3-D, Widescreen, Home Video, Animated Films, Digital Cinematography.

The Future: New Distribution Options, Promotion and Marketing, File(Movie) Sharing, Re-mixes and Mash-ups, 3-D (neuvo), Fan-base Cultivation, Finance, Cheap Kit.
This is worth a read.

Scorsese Does DI With a Dash of HD

2006-12-06T12:02:00.000Z

Digital Content Producer has a lovely story on Scorsese's process in The Departed. For The Departed, Scorsese built off the workflow he used on The Aviator, also covered by Digital Content Producer HERE. But for this post I will concentrate on the former article.

Background:

The Departed weaves through a contemporary film, tones harking back to classic Noir tradition. Scorsese is at home in the past having made exclusively period films for the past 20 years. Utilising references to John Altman classics like signifies connects this film with the gangster genre that he admires so much. The most blatant signifier is lifted from the Howard Hugh original 'Scarface' in which victims are signified my an X in the screen. Some of these are hidden in the light and shadows. Scorsese fondly reflects on the film technique...

...in the most famous case, if you know the picture, when Boris Karloff, playing the gangster, is bowling, hiding out, and gets shot off camera, you just see the ball drop in the runner of the bowling alley. You never see his body. Then, you see somebody put an ‘X’ up on the scoreboard for a strike in bowling.

Scorsese recreates this reference in The Departed with the title sequence in which the main characters are X'd out highlighting their impending doom.

It is with this loving care to detail Scorsese so deftly constructs a world blending both the old and new, in this, his first non-period film in over 20 years...

The Technology:

Classic filmmakers commonly struggle with or rebuff technological advancements. John Ford was so against releasing editorial control to the cutting room, he is remember to have filmed shot for shot as he wanted it put together. I can understand the desire to maintain a wining formula and today technology can easily cloud the aim and art of storytelling. Some directors even regress. I have heard M Knight Shflksotighodsvn edits on a Steinbeck!

Scorsese is none of these...

Very willingly he has ventured into new ways of working and his collaborative nature allows those who are experts in what they do, to make his film better. Visual Effects Supervisor Rob Legato and a bi-coastal effort by Technicolor provided this film with a unique workflow using HDCam SR, DI and DaVinci grading system.

It was a process built upon extensive work done during the HD dailies process at Technicolor New York, when film shot by Ballhaus was transferred to HDCAM-SR tape and given a detailed color pass by Technicolor dailies editor Sam Daley. The HD dailies process gave filmmakers a strong template to follow in finalizing the imagery during the DI, since Scorsese and his team were able to make decisions during production by viewing 1080p 4:4:4 imagery through an NEC iS8 digital projector — almost as good as viewing 2K imagery for all intents and purposes, according to Legato.

At Legato's behest and under the direction of Nakamura's digital intermediate producer, Devin Sterling, and color scientist/Technicolor Digital Intermediate VP of research and development Josh Pines, along with support from the company's New York operation, Technicolor fashioned an exact technical replica of Nakamura's Da Vinci suite in Burbank, Calif., at Technicolor New York, leading to a bi-coastal DI process. As part of that process, Nakamura first did an initial color pass and pre-trims in Burbank, Calif., while Fire editor Ron Barr handled the digital conform and opticals. All imagery was stored as data in a DVS Clipster system.
During that period, Legato and Technicolor engineers came up with a method of transferring the entire HD preview version of the movie to Cineon color space for viewing on the big screen through the same projector as the evolving DI version. This gave Nakamura, as he prepared to bring the movie to Scorsese for final color correction, a chance to more accurately compare the HD version with the 2K version than if he continued viewing preview imagery in HD color space.
The movie was then transferred to HDCAM-SR (4:4:4 1080p) from the uncorrected original 2K data, and that imagery, along with an eight-reel segmented EDL timeline, was transported to New York.

There, in Technicolor's flagship digital color-timing theater, the HDCAM-SR reels were ingested into that room's Clipster system, converting the media back to data at 1920×1080. Viewing the movie on the NEC iS8 projector loaded with the same LUTs written by Pines and used in Burbank, Calif., (with a Christie 2K CP 2000i digital projector), Nakamura then finalized the color correction choices under the watchful eyes of Scorsese, Ballhaus, and Schoonmaker.

With so much preliminary work done during the dailies and preview processes, and with all the primary collaborators gathered in Technicolor's suite in New York, filmmakers say the final color-timing work took just 10 hours over the course of two days.

I think it is so wonderful how much opportunity we now have to gain insight into the working style of master craftsmen. Thank god for the internet.

Why Did John Hughes Stop Directing?

2006-12-06T09:22:00.000Z

Is a question me and my colleague were pondering this morning as we suffered through the post Christmas party blues whilst turning on the PC to start another day. A quick glance at imdb and one sees a laundry list of children's and family films that Hugh's has been writing and is still writing with great prolificness. But a glance further down sees a skyrocket of successful directorial exploits that we all know an love, brought to an abrupt end with the 1991 Curly Sue:

Curly Sue (1991)
Uncle Buck (1989)
She's Having a Baby (1988)
Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
Weird Science (1985)
The Breakfast Club (1985)
Sixteen Candles (1984)

So, what happened. A quick search later I stumbled on this hypothesis by FilmFreakCentral.net:

While the "rich" and the "poor" always learn to get along in Hughes' films, there's no question that his allegiance lies with the latter. Consider the quietly devastating passage from Uncle Buck wherein the slovenly, unemployed Buck, flipping through an album at the suburban mansion of his wealthy brother, notices a wedding photo that has been folded to crop Buck out of the picture: Hughes keeps the scene subjective by lingering on the photograph instead of on Buck's reaction, effectively turning sympathy into empathy. But even at that point, his identification with the underclass was starting to seem a little disingenuous, and once you get to Curly Sue, the last film with Hughes at the helm, his portrayal of poverty is downright paternalistic. I firmly believe that a fear of looking like a hypocrite drove him out of the director's chair--you can be Ken Loach or you can be a multi-millionaire (as Hughes had become by crassly exploiting his ability to churn out a screenplay a week).

See the rest of their piece on John Hughes HERE.

Reel Pop Discusses What Might Have Been...

2006-12-05T15:09:00.000Z

Steve at Reel Pop has a very amusing collection of alternative endings of some of cinemas classics. I think we don't appreciate generally how different films might have been. Some for the better most for the worse. Taken out of context I really paused while going through these to think about how we piece together stories and the direction we go with the films we make is really our own to tell. Well, that is the romantic. Truth be told the ending that makes the final cut in most movies are generally the one thought best by exec producers.

I particularly like the Little Shop of Horrors more bleak ending. So I copied it in here. But have a look at the rest of Steve's list.

I also like the commentary on how retailers could save DVD sales:

The studios hit upon a great idea when they included deleted scenes and alternate endings to DVDs. Those extras were incentives for people to buy movies they'd already seen, and it worked. Retailers like Wal-Mart should hew to that formula with digital downloads. Instead, they're asking customers to buy the DVD and then pay extra for the download. But if Wal-Mart offered those downloads for free, it would give consumers incentives to continue buying DVDs, and allow Wal-Mart to continue making money on DVDs, which will only lose market share as digital downloads become common practice. Help the consumer, don't make it harder.

Plugins! -What's Out There.

2006-12-05T14:27:00.000Z

Studio Daily has a comprehensive wrap-up of the latest and greatest available to stretch, melt, ramp, grade, filmise your masterpiece.
Here are some excerpts which rank high on my list:

Automatic Duck
Products: Pro Import AE 3.0 (for AE 7), Pro Import FCP 2.01, Pro Export FCP 3.04, Pro Import CMB
Summary: Import timelines and compositions from a variety of editing and compositing packages into AE, Avid, FCP, Combustion; export comps from FCP into Avid Platforms: Mac OS X; Mac Universal (Pro Import/Pro Export FCP only)
Hosts: AE, FCP, AVX, CMB
www.automaticduck.com
Click here for a Quick Tip on How to Complete A High-Res Conform in AE From Offline Proxies in FCP Or Avid

Belle Nuit
Products: Mimikri, Subtitler, MacMediaSift
Summary: Conform, in HD, color corrections made in SD (Mimikri)
Platforms: Mac OS X
Host: AE, FCP
www.belle-nuit.com; www.mimikri.ch

Boris FX, Inc.
Products: Boris FX 9.0, Continuum Basics, Continuum Complete, Final Effects Complete, Graffiti 5.0, RED 4, BLUE, Title Toolkit
Summary: Compositing, titling and effects plug-ins for multiple NLEs and compositing packages; RED 4 also available for Avid Liquid and Media 100
Platforms: Mac OS X, Mac Universal (Continuum Complete), Windows XP
Hosts: AE, FCP, AVX, SV
www.borisfx.com
Click Here for a Quick Tip on Navigating The New UI in Boris Red 4.0

Digital Anarchy
Products: 3D Assistants, 3D Layer, Anarchy Toolbox, Color Theory, Data Animator 1.1, Geomany, Gradient!, Knoll Spark Pack 3.0, Microcosm 1.2, Psunami Water 1.2, ReSizer 2.1, Text Anarchy
Summary: Broad range of AE plugs that create effects but also offer quick fixes to common problems like animating charts and graphs
Platforms: Mac OS 9/X, Mac Universal, Windows 98 ME/XP, SGI IRIX
Hosts: AE, PPro, FCP, PS (also advanced Autodesk systems)
www.digitalanarchy.com
Click here for a Quick Tip on Transforming SD Video To HD With Scaling And De-Interlacing with Digital Anarchy ReSizer

Digital Heaven
Products: AutoMotion, BigTime, EDL Mirror, Final Cut Plug-ins (DH_Box, DH_Counter, DH_Dropout, DH_Fade, DH_FieldTrans, DH_Grid, DH_Guides, DH_LegalText, DH_Reincarnation, DH_Subtitle, DH_WhipPan, DH_WideSafe)
Summary: Titling and transition for FCP editing and auto tools for Motion
Platform: Mac OS X, Mac Universal
Hosts: FCP, MTN
www.digital-heaven.co.uk

eyeon
Product: AE Plug-in Adapter
Summary: Connects a range of AE plug-ins, including Knoll Light Factory and Trapcode Shine, to Digital Fusion and DFX+
Platforms: Windows, Linux
Hosts: DF, DFX+
www.eyeonline.com

The Foundry
Products: Furnace, Keylight, Tinderbox 1 – 4, Anvil, Tinder
Summary: Sophisticated tools to remove camera shake, create keys and add sky, light rays, fire, sparks, glows and more
Platforms: Mac OS X, Windows
Hosts: AE, SHK, AVX, DST
www.thefoundry.co.uk; www.toolfarm.com (US sales of Tinderbox 1 – 4)

GenArts
Products: Sapphire Plug-ins
Summary: Deep and varied range of lighting, glow, paint, blur, warp and film effects (175+) Platforms: Mac, Mac Universal
Hosts: AE, PPro, FCP, SHK, AVX, CMB, DST, DF
www.genarts.com

Joe’s Filters
Product: Joe’s Filters
Summary: Alpha effects, blurs, adjustment filters and much more (some still in beta), all built with FXScript
Platforms: Mac, Mac Universal
Host: FCP
www.joesfilters.com

Nattress Productions, Inc.
Products: Nattress Film Effects, Nattress Standards Conversion, Nattress Sets 1 + 2
Summary: Create film looks, special effects or convert between PAL and NTSC
Platforms: Mac OS X, Mac Universal
Host: FCP
www.nattress.com

The Orphanage
Product: OprhEXR
Summary: Import ILM’s HDR format for working with High Dynamic Range images; also see Red Giant Software for Orphanage-inspired products
Platforms: Mac OS X, Windows
Host: AE
www.toolfarm.com

Pixel Farm
Products: PFBarrel, PRStable, PFPlate, PFBlur, PFRetime
Summary: Tools to eliminate lens distortions, shaky camera moves, add blur and stitch and retime footage
Platforms: Mac OS X, Mac Universal
Hosts: AE, SHK, AVX, DF
www.thepixelfarm.co.uk

RealViz
Products: Retimer SD, Retimer HD, MatchMover HD 4
Summary: Time-warping, image stitching, panoramas, 3D tracking tools
Platforms: Mac, Windows
Hosts: AE, FCP, CMB
www.realviz.com

Red Giant Software
Products: eLin 1.0, Composite Wizard 1.2, Film Fix 1.0. Image Lounge 1.2, Instant HD 1.0, Key Correct Pro 1.0, Magic Bullet for Editors 2.0, Magic Bullet Suite 2.1, Knoll Light Factory 2.5, Knoll Unmult, Primatte Keyer 3.0, Primatte Plug-In Pack;Trapcode (3D Stroke, Echospace, Lux, Particular, Shine, Sound Keys, Starglow)
Summary: Range of filters and workflow plug-ins from the famous Knoll flares to Trapcode, now exclusively distributed by Red Giant
Platforms: Mac, Mac Universal (Knoll, Magic Bullet for Editors), Windows
Hosts: AE, PPro, FCP, AVX
www.redgiantsoftware.com

RE:Vision Effects
Products: FieldsKit, RE:Fill, RE:Flex, RE:Map, ReelSmart Motion Blur, Shape/Shade, SmoothKit, Twixtor, Video Gogh
Summary: Morphs and mapping tools
Platforms: Mac OS X, Mac Universal, Windows 95/98/NT/ME/2000/XP
Hosts: AE, PPro, FCP, SHK, AVX (supported on some products through Elastic Gasket), CMB, DF
www.revisionfx.com

Synthetic Aperture
Products: Echo Fire, Color Finesse 2.1, Test Gear 1.1, Test Pattern Maker
Summary: Tools for finely manipulating color beyond most built-in color correction and getting accurate video previews
Platforms: Mac, Windows
Host: AE
www.synthetic-ap.com
Click here for a Quick Tip on Tweaking Colors in AE With Vectorscope Precision

Ultimatte
Product: AvantEdge
Summary: Lets you pull keys from your greenscreen footage
Platforms: Mac, Windows
Hosts: AE, PPro, FCP, SHK, AVX, CMB, DF
www.ultimatte.com

Sundance Announced Line-up

2006-11-30T11:23:00.000Z

Sundance has announced the class of 2007. It includes122 films, 82 of them will be world premieres. Have a look at the selections here.

Also, have a look at the Sundance site where you can check out the 'Meet the Artist' section for some invaluable insights into the world of today's hottest filmmakers.

Bit Torrent May Be Able To Challenge iTunes Movie Store

2006-11-30T09:57:00.000Z

I caught this on Wired:

San Francisco company BitTorrent, creator of the file sharing application and protocol of the same name, have announced content distribution partnerships with some of Hollywood's major media houses, including 20th Century Fox, MTV Networks, Paramount Pictures, Palm Pictures and video game industry news channel G4. The company sent out a press release this morning.

The story goes on to say that TV and Short Films will be able to rent or buy for as little as $1. This falls in line with iTMS, but the more genuine competitors to the market (WalMart, Xbox) the more pressure on price flexibly. Basically with minimal overheads in distribution of digitial content, there is plenty of room to shift the price bar.

From The Press Release:

Designed in 2001, BitTorrent has become the most efficient means of distributing large, high-quality files on the Internet. With many millions of users, BitTorrent traffic accounts for as much as 40 percent of all worldwide Internet traffic. BitTorrent continues to work with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) to remove copyright infringing content from its search results and, as evidenced by today’s announcement, is working with studios to replace that content with a high-quality, legal option that aspires to compete with piracy. With integrated monetization for paid and ad-supported content, the forthcoming BitTorrent service will be an ideal platform for the digital distribution of online entertainment. The service will offer not only video, but also music and games. BitTorrent will disclose pricing details closer to the time of the launch of the online retail marketplace, which is set for February 2007.

“BitTorrent has fundamentally changed the Internet architecture by enabling high-speed and high-quality content distribution on the Web. Today we have announced the role BitTorrent.com will play as a hub for consumers to enjoy their favorite entertainment, but we see a future that involves BitTorrent’s content delivery platform powering thousands of websites including those of content creators themselves, offering them the profound benefits of our technology,” said Navin.

Wired also questions whether any of the recent foray of content deals will effect the rash of piracy on the net given through the proliferation of of high speed broadband.

Alan Carr Dies of Lung Cancer

2006-11-29T11:49:00.000Z

Off topic:

I owe a lot to Alan Carr as it was through his book that I quit smoking exactly one year ago. His book really changed my life for ever.

If anyone is trying unsuccessfully to quit the fags, I highly recommend his book.

Since quitting smoking he has spent 20 years in smoke filled rooms helping others kick the habit. This time combined with his 40+ year addiction to smoking surely lead to the disease. But not bad going at 73. I hope I am so lucky.

From the BBC News Site.

Allen Carr, 73, quit his 100-a-day habit 23 years ago, before going on to become a millionaire by advising people on how to stop smoking.
His books have become international bestsellers and he runs clinics all over the world.
Mr Carr says he sees his illness as a way to encourage more people to quit.
"Since I stopped smoking more than 23 years ago I have been the happiest man in the world. I still feel the same way," he added.
A spokesman said it was not possible to tell if the diagnosis was linked to his previous cigarette addiction.
"Allen has spent many years in smoke-filled rooms since he quit, whilst treating smokers for their addiction," the spokesman said.
"He is certain that, had he not quit, he would have been dead 20 years ago.
"He remains in high spirits and sees this latest stage in his remarkable life as an opportunity to make his method even more recognised and widely available."
Mr Carr gave up accountancy to set up his first clinic in south-west London in 1983.
He has since set up 70 clinics in 30 countries treating 45,000 people last year.
Celebrities to have benefited from Mr Carr's methods include Sir Anthony Hopkins and Sir Richard Branson.

What's going on at the Beeb

2006-11-28T09:38:00.000Z

Well, I am back from a restful (hah) holiday in the States. Truth be told it was a lot of Shopping, drinking, family and of course eating!

Flew in last night and was wondering what I would post about now that I am back. I gathered the energy to scan the net in search of what was going on and truth be told I needn't of looked any further than BBC News with the big story today that Michael Grade has defected.

Maybe it has something to do with the pay hike in base rate from £140K at the Beeb to £850K at ITV, or the shares, or the bonuses. Or maybe the answer lies in the email he sent to everyone at the BBC.

I would like everyone to understand this is a career decision. What it is NOT is a reaction to anything, internal or external. I was faced with the choice of getting back into programming or ‘governing’ the BBC from a distance...

ITV is a competitor to the BBC, yes. BUT the BBC does need ITV to be strong, both for competitive reasons and to maintain the balance of power within British public service broadcasting. So I leave with the feeling that I have done the best I can to secure the future of the institution about which I will always care so deeply, I leave with some sadness because of all the friends old and new who have been my support over the past two and a half years.

Apple Xmas Dicounts

2006-11-20T11:29:00.000Z

Probably the best time of year to buy a Mac, unless you are a Student or Teacher. This Friday Apple will be having it's annual Friday Sale. So, if you are in the States and are tempted to stock up on some core 2 duo goodness, now is the time.

Clear Channel Launch Music and Video Streaming

2006-11-17T10:44:00.000Z

In an effort to promote artists, Clear Channel are streaming music and videos from their site. I seem to remember Clear Channel being a bit shitty on the whole freedom of expression thing. I found this on Wikipedia:

Following the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., a list of songs apparently recommended to be removed from airplay as inappropriate during a time of national mourning was generated and circulated. A small list was initially generated by the Clear Channel office, though individual program directors added many of their own songs. A list containing about 150 songs was soon circulating on the Internet. The criteria for choosing the songs seemed to be unreasonable to many. A number of songs were apparently placed on the list because they had specific words such as "plane", "fly", and "falling" in their titles. Many people found it particularly ludicrous that John Lennon's "Imagine" was one of the songs listed.

There are also movements within the music industry to assist artists in looking out for the likes of Clear Channel such as the website www.clearchannelsucks.net, on their site it states:

ClearChannelSucks.net was created to provide specific information about the radio and music industry to musicians and artists from around the globe. The more knowledge you have about the industry, the less likely you will run into the same problems other artists have encountered

Now, if your not completely turned off by all of this. You can listen to the entire, yet unreleased, Jay Z Album HERE.
Thanks to Perez Hilton for that link...

I Have Been Busy

2006-11-17T10:41:00.000Z

Ok, I am a dick for not posting in like a week. I have been swamped at work and am traveling to LA next week, so have been trying to hit the Gym in order to not look like a fat git poolside at The Standard. So, I am back in full effect. Today is going to be a 20 hour day as Children in Need appeal is tonight and although I would like to say that I have a very important position in the production, I must admit to being a lowly volunteer. But this is one of the big perks of working at the Beeb; getting to participate in things you normally would not get the chance to. My studio TV experience extends merely to working as an Audience member when I lived in LA after University. But those 12 hours days clapping to Donny Osmond host the $100,000 Pyramid rest fondly in my memory. So, I am really looking forward to this great opportunity to experience a big production from behind the scenes.

Life is Busy Outside Hollywood

2006-11-08T15:10:00.000Z

I have been meaning to mention a running blow by blow that Issac Botkin has been writing over on Outside Hollywood about a quirky Lego animated film. There are lots of step by steps and really sexy flash stills that allow you to click through each stage of certain shots.

Also, during the modeling stage Issac uploaded a GooTube:

This is very much a work in progress, but with the storyboard poping up occasionally throughout gives it a sense of evolution.

Thanks for the thorough breakdown....

UPDATE:
Just found the finished short on GooTube

Sample DVCPro Graded on FCP 3 Way.

2006-11-08T14:49:00.000Z

Over on DVX user is a thread on an upcoming film called Illegal which was shot using a HVX DVCProHD camera with M2 35mm lens attachment and was then graded using FCP 3 way Color Corrector. This is a great example of someone who knows what they are doing, using affordable kit to get results as good as what is achieved on much more costly equipment.
Have a look at the trailer here.

There are also more post grade pics here.

All this is via Pro Lost

BBC is Entering the Online TV Realm and the Impact of Free Content Anywhere, Anytime.

2006-11-08T12:58:00.000Z

Internally at the BBC, we have a fantastic new trial which allows us to listen to a massive catalogue of backdated radio as well as view the last week’s broadcasts from BBC 1, 2, World and News 24. This is a great help in the work environment, but better than that it allows us to catch the episode of Spooks we missed on Monday, cuz we were in the pub too late!

Seriously, last night I missed the Imagine that I was most looking forward to. The one about modern film auteurs aired and now I have a week to watch. In case you missed it, here is the brief:

The Movie Brats: Take Two
Something interesting seems to be happening in American Cinema with a new group of maverick American directors led by Steven Soderbergh and Quentin Tarantino who have emerged to revitalise Hollywood. They include directors such as Wes Anderson, Alexander Payne and David O Russell. Alan Yentob meets them and asks how they managed to radicalise American cinema with Hollywood backing. [S]

I mention Imagine, because I am currently managing post for a few in the current series on TV Pioneers and Guitars.

Why is this of interest to you?

Well, the BBC, like pretty much every other media company/content owner is trying to figure out how they are going to deliver content to people over the internet.
The BBC has the additional concern that their funding, unlike commercial competitors, comes from the licence fee paid by 90%+ of the population who own televisions. If, and I stress if, the population abandons TV’s in favour of computers, there is the possibility that the BBC will need to rethink how it comes by its charging demographic. At the moment you can use the BBC’s website and radio while avoiding licence fee.
When the BBC allows content to stream over the net it will need to rethink this approach. The answer may not be too clear and whether this becomes a problem is still to be determined. I think most people, as HD and home theatres gains wider adoption, will still fancy the TV as the centre of the living room. This should be the case, even if most of their consumption comes from the net.

I digress…

The BBC is piloting the method it intends to use to get its content to consumers. The BBC iPlayer is moving into the patent stage.

UKFree.tv has a breakdown of what the player is going to look like. The five tabbed layout includes Home, Guide, Search, Your Downloads and Player.
Below the post is quite an interesting comment exchange about DRM issues. Again DRM affects the BBC differently than commercial companies as is stated. We have all already paid for the content via the licence fee!

What the BBC Site Says:

iMP is an application in development offering UK viewers the chance to catch up on TV and radio programmes they may have missed for up to seven days after they have been broadcast, using the internet to legally download programmes to their home computers. iMP uses peer to peer distribution technology (P2P) to legally distribute these programmes.Seven days after the programme transmission date the programme file expires (using Digital Rights Management - DRM - software) and users will no longer be able to watch it. DRM also prevents users emailing the files to other computer users or sharing it via disc.

Now, if you are interested in DRM issues and indeed the commercial issues involved with the BBC iPlayer check out this article from UKFree.tv as well. It reads…
Ofcom is asking anyone who feels that the BBC iPlayer (due to start in April 2007), that will provide a free internet (plus Homechoice and cable TV) seven day TV catch up service, a podcast of each BBC radio show, plus live versions of the BBC television and radio stations over the internet will effect their revenues and profits to complain to Ofcom before 13 October 2006.
It remains to see which organization claim that the BBC, by making the services that the British public have already paid to produce available 'any time, any place, anywhere' are causing problems. The consumption of BBC services is "non zero-sum", which means that no matter how many (or how few) people watch or listen, the cost to the BBC (and hence the licence fee payer) remains the same.

This is a very interesting and unique dilemma. On the one hand, as I have stated above, we have all already paid for the content, but alternatively does this ‘tax’ model hold up in the business realm of internet television distribution?

Report that Microsoft is to Start TV and Film Downloads

2006-11-07T11:19:00.000Z

The Zune may be a turkey. But the Xbox is huge. And if you were looking for an Apple Challenger. Microsoft is no shrinking violet. That said, they lack the cult following Apple has. People's passion for Apple will take things so far, thereafter, techy fanboys can be lured away by a superior service.

Reel Pop Blog reported Monday of the announcement that Microsoft XBox will allow content download over the net.
Movies will be 24 hour rentals, TV shows are for keeps, some content will be in HD. Shows are largely sci-fi content like Star Trek, CSI, Adult Swim and Ultimate Fighting Championship. Shows can not be burned to DVD, but you can login to the service and watch your shows from any Xbox. A two-hour HD movie is about 6 gigs, the standard Xbox 360 hard drive is 20 gigs. Content partners include CBS, MTV, Paramount, Warner Bros., and Turner.

I would like to pick up Steve's second point. This is huge, because it is HD. We have all been waiting for iTunes to sell HD content. This brings a service to market that Sony and Apple have been gagging to get to the home. Basically, whether we get HD DVD's, Blu Ray Discs, download from Apple or Amazon or Microsoft is a big issue at the moment. Being first to market on HD Content Downloads and bringing the cheaper HD Disc variant puts Microsoft in a great place to overtake Apple in the media download market. It makes me wonder how Brightcove and similar content streaming services will navigate this evolving market over the next few years.

Dixie Chicks v Death of a President

2006-11-07T11:00:00.000Z

Right,
I discussed the Dixie Chicks ordeal about a week ago with the right wing US Networks Banning the commercial because the film is critical of our Commander in Chief. I cant stay in exile for another 2 years. This term has seemed like an eternity. I digress. More 4, here in the UK, screened Death of a President, which if i can say so, is a bit close to the bone. I dutifully watched with my pen and paper, taking notes, should the opportunity arise. I must say, the film is not that good. The acting is bad, strangely fantastical and over dramatic. The film was expensive and well constructed, but the content overshadowed the desire to make a good film.

The Dixie Chicks Film, I have only watched the trailers, but it looks worth a gander. Especially after all the additional censorship hype.

Anne Thompson plays two very different films, both anti Bush against each other in her blog.
referencing a NYT article questioning the the validity of controversy as a marketing tool.

I forgot to add the Dixie Chicks film in my last post

And here is the trailer from the C4 Assassination Film...

The Real Borat

2006-11-07T10:42:00.000Z

Most American's Missed Ali G in Da House, and the Ali G Show, unless you caught it on HBO. Truth be told, I was much more of a fan of Ali G's taking the piss out of unwitting politicians than Borat's antics, which have grown on me now. During his Ali G days, Cambridge educated Sasha Baron Cohen was less secretive about his true self. This clip has been making its way around the net from a Comedy Central appearance. Beware, According to Cinematical some of these clips have been pulled by Com Cen.

US Will Miss Out On Perverts

2006-11-07T10:38:00.000Z

Scott Macaulay at Filmmaker Magazine is lamenting the fate of one of the big hits at Toronto. No it’s not Borat! The Pervert's Guide to Cinema was one of the big hits at this years festival. For those of you that caught it over the summer on More4, lucky you. It was recently nominated for the British Independent Film Awards as Best Doc. You can still catch it at select UK screenings.

Back to the point. Scott stresses that this quizzical investigation into the darker side of the mind that makes and views cinema, will be lost to most Americans due to studios being unwilling to release copywriters to their classics.

Here are some clips and by all means, if you get a chance to catch it. Go check it out...

On Neutrality:

At TFF

Dixie issues

2006-10-30T17:46:00.000Z

Last week The Dixie Chicks scored big on the PR front as Producers, The Weinstein Co. claimed NBC and CW refused to airs an ad campaign for the upcoming documentary ‘Shut Up and Sing’. You may remember last year, when the Dixie Chicks received a universal panning for making a saying they were ‘Embarrassed’ Bush was from Texas. CW refutes the fact saying that TWC didn’t put in an order for ad space. This was seemingly confirmed by NBC. The Backlash saw their core fan base within the country listening community, a population with whom they have always had a tenuous relationship, all but vanish amidst a campaign run by the Free Republic Group.

Variety broke the story last week saying that in addition to NBC, “they hadn’t heard back yet from the commercial clearance departments at ABC, CBS and Fox”.
The Variety article continues…
According to the Weinstein Co., NBC's commercial clearance department said in writing that it "cannot accept these spots as they are disparaging to President Bush."
TWC also quoted a rep from the CW as saying it had concerns that "we do not have appropriate programming in which to schedule this spot."

Matt Drudge Chimed in early on with a quote from Harvey himself:

“It’s a sad commentary about the level of fear in our society that a movie about a group of courageous entertainers who were blacklisted for exercising their right of free speech is now itself being blacklisted by corporate America. The idea that anyone should be penalized for criticizing the president is sad and profoundly un-American.”

TWC is apparently also considering legal action. I somehow think that after this publicity they should be thanking NBC!

If you’re a fan of the Chick bookmark the fan blog site from the film Shut Up and Post.

My take is the Weinstein’s are absolute PR scholars. Need to make hype? Make the most of a controversial film? There’s no one better….

Brightcove embedded content

2006-10-30T10:37:00.000Z

How to Blue Screen Properly

2006-10-28T08:03:00.000Z

HD4Indies and FresHDV have already covered this article from General Specialist, but it is a good run down of how to do blue screen and green screen shoots properly! Give this a read and keep it as reference because it is a pain in the ass reshooting anything let alone in a studio.

UCSB Faculty Makes For An Interesting Read

2006-10-27T18:14:00.000Z

Speaking of Books…
At the moment I am debating going back to school part time.
This made me think about my undergrad, which was at UCSB in what I think is a great place for film theory, history and analysis. One of the best around in fact. They have no real production side although Dana Driskel does what he can with limited resources. If your after the why rather than the how, UCSB is great. I thought I might take a moment to list some of the interesting work that has come from my teachers at Uni.

Constance Penley
Professor of Film and Media Studies, Director of the Center for Film, Television and New Media
Specializations: Film History & Theory, Media Studies, Feminist Theory, Science & Technology Studies, and Contemporary Art
Books
NASA/Trek: Popular Science and Sex in America

Lisa Parks
Associate Professor of Film and Media Studies
Specializations: Global Media, Broadcast History, Cultural Studies
Books
Planet TV: A Global Television Reader
Cultures in Orbit: Satellites and the Televisual (Console-ing Passions)

Anna Everett
Professor of Film and Media Studies, Chair of Film and Media Studies
Specializations: Film and Television History and Theory, Black Film, Digital Media Technologies.
Returning the Gaze: A Genealogy of Black Film Criticism, 1909-1949
New Media: Practices of Digitextuality (AFI Film Readers)
New Media: Practices of Digitextuality (AFI Film Readers)

Edward Branigan
Professor of Film and Media Studies,
Director of Graduate Studies,
Graduate Advisor
Specializations: Classical Film Theory, Aesthetics, Narrative, Point-of-View
Narrative Comprehension and Film (Sightlines)
Projecting a Camera

HDto35 Store Launch!

2006-10-27T13:59:00.000Z

Finally,

If you fancy supporting this site, I have started the HDto35 Store! It is UK based and I have to look into how to set one up in the States as well. But if you want to get anything like film books, have a look. I also have featured recommendations!

David Bordwell's Blog

2006-10-27T13:57:00.000Z

Today I stumbled across David Bordwell and Kristen Thompson’s blog which started up recently. Back in my Film Studies Days Thompson and Bordwell were a staple. Both teach out of the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Generally regarded as the Don’s of Film Studies, I hope this blog will prove a great insight into two of the foremost scholars in film analysis.

P.S. Narration in the Fiction Film still looms over me from the shelf in my lounge!

Greenpeace Get The Boot From Apple Expo London

2006-10-27T13:29:00.000Z

Lots of things waiting to be written about….

Apple Insider and MacNN are reporting on the Mac expo here in London, where Greenpeace have been forced to close their stand after complaints. MacNN takes the comments from Greenpeace:

"This reaction is totally over-the-top" said Iza Kruszewska, Greenpeace International campaigner at the expo. "Apple refuses to address our criticisms on their products, both for the recycling and for the use of harmful chemicals. Instead of hiding their head in the sand, Apple should be a world leader in the greening of the electronics industry, not lagging behind," Kruszewska added.

Green peace are not know for their restraint. Macworld takes Apples’ perspective:
According to Bob Denton, Event Director, the removal of Greenpeace had nothing to do its message or the materials being handed out. Bob said: “They paid money and had the right to be at the show.”The problem started when a group of 12 Greenpeace activists gathered outside the show entrance and started handing out flyers and apples to attendees. Bob Denton said: “We want people to be cool and calm as they enter the show”.
He explained to the Greenpeace organisers that it would be acceptable for two activists to stand by the stairs inside the show and hand out flyers, but the event management would not allow a gathering outside the main door.
There then followed a number of complaints about the behaviour of Greenpeace activists from four visitors and five exhibitors, one of which was Apple. Allegedly, Greenpeace attendees were invading other stands for mock photo shoots and replacing other exhibitors’ promotional material with their own.
The problem came to a head when one woman complained that they had placed an apple in her child’s pram and were taking photographs of him without her permission.
Bob Denton told Macworld: “I explained to them that I had the right to eject them but that wouldn’t happen if they showed reason.” However, later in the day, “two more visitors and two more exhibitors complained” and he ejected the activists under clause 13 of the terms and conditions that Greenpeace signed.

From the Greenpeace site:
We love Apple. Apple knows more about "clean" design than anybody, right? So why do Macs, iPods, iBooks and the rest of their product range contain hazardous substances that other companies have abandoned? A cutting edge company shouldn't be cutting lives short by exposing children in China and India to dangerous chemicals. That's why we Apple fans need to demand a new, cool product: a greener Apple.

No More Star Wars!

2006-10-24T14:09:00.000Z

High Definition Magazine and TV Predictions have picked up a story from Variety where Geoegey Boy has broken a long love hate relationship with the movie industry. George says the future is TV!!! Film is dead. The industry is too risk heavy and really with HD you can now create high quality content for the home market.
"... film's future will be small budget movies distributed over the Internet and viewed in Home Theaters equipped with high-def sets"."We don't want to make movies. We're about to get into television. As far as Lucasfilm is concerned, we've moved away from the feature-film thing because it's too expensive and it's too risky," Lucas said.

For me, Lucas is a poser. The evolution of the industry is integration mass consumption through a variety of mediums and a long tail. People will continue to enjoy collective viewing, but with handhelds, PVRs, Internet TV distribution, mass adoption of home cinemas and HDTV, there is an ever increasing blurring of the lines. True, fewer Big Budget Pictures will be made, and studios are scaling back production operations, however, Hollywood still spends 30 Million on marketing a film properly. Clever companies are looking at multifaceted approaches.

World Bank Investing In Content Creation

2006-10-24T13:49:00.000Z

According to a Digit article the world bank is gearing up to invest heavily in content creation and the creative industry as this in their view is the next boom sector. This news follows on from stories of increasing interests on the part of hedge funds in film producing and cutting deals with producers rather than studios. Brightcove. Youtube. Apple iTunes Store selling movies. We are truly in an age where technical innovation is driving consumer/viewer habit and inturn market investment. I good time to be in content creation finance!
Cha…….. Ching

Final Touch Prediction

2006-10-24T12:53:00.000Z

Ok here are my predictions now that the dust has settled on the Silicon Color thing. Still no news from anyone.

I had originally thought that Apple will combine Shake and FT. I think this idea has a lot of promise, but maybe that is too much to ask by NAB. Instead I think we will see the following:

Final Touch Ver. 2.1.7 or whichever the next is, will be release in November and support Intel Macs. Apple doesn’t want to stifle its intel switch in any way. This will be a quiet switch and the product will be branded Apple Final Touch.

Final Touch Ver 3 will be released at NAB with Full Fan Fare as Apple Final Touch Pro. A stand alone application for grading. There will be one app that does all resolutions SD to 2K. It will be priced between $6 - $10K. They will take out the shake node bit, and depending on Shake-like product releases will have send to options for FCP and Other Apps. The FCP integration will unfortunately be based on xml rather than native project files.

This is rumour, but I am putting my neck out with this scenario….
We shall wait and see ay!

Apple Are Having a Rare London Info/Training Day

2006-10-24T12:23:00.000Z

Apple is running a free day session in west London to learn about Photos Film and Music editing on a mac. Check it out here!

Friday November 17thLondon Hilton Metropole225 Edgware RoadLondonW2 1JU

Photography Session
Join us for an in-depth look at Aperture 1.5, the first all-in-one post-production tool for photographers. Built from the ground up for serious photographers, Aperture 1.5 offers an advanced RAW workflow, powerful compare and select tools, non-destructive image processing, and versatile printing and publishing.
Join the Apple photography team as they share their favourite supercharged tips, tricks and hidden secrets. Learn how to push Aperture 1.5 to the limits, discover how it integrates with the latest offerings from Canon, and pick up a few fun tidbits along the way.
This session is aimed at professional photographers as well as students, teachers and advanced hobbyists.
Video Session
This free seminar offers a unique opportunity to elevate your knowledge on some of the latest production tools in the video industry, including the new Mac Pro and Apple’s Final Cut Studio software suite.
Join us and discover how Apple’s pro digital production software gives you the power to create and deliver more effectively. Experience the connectivity between a wide range of video cameras, and find out how easily you can integrate graphics, audio and special effects — all from within the timeline.
Whether you’re a major league broadcaster looking for more creative agility or a small house seeking to elevate production values, discover how Final Cut Studio can play a leading role in your production.
Music Session
Audio professionals demand a solution that offers advanced features capable of handling any job. Logic Pro 7 — the industry-leading application for music creation and audio production — is that solution.
Logic Pro 7 provides a comprehensive collection of music creation tools — world class sequencing, real-time MIDI support, advanced notation, Apple Loop and QuickTime support, comprehensive audio editing, complete support for native audio hardware, and a vast array of sound generation instruments as well as over 70 plug-ins that meet every need from tracking to editing to mixing to mastering.
This session is aimed at audio programmers, producers, musicians, engineers and mixers.

BBC Audience Festival: Dumbing Up For Younger Audiences

2006-10-23T13:57:00.000Z

Working at the BBC has some definite advantages. The other week I got to attend one of the sessions from the first ever audience festival intended to examine the role and importance of audiences in programme making. The session was Dumbing up for Younger Audiences. The panel of speakers included
Moderator Julian Bellamy (JB) -Controller BBC 3
Susan Hickson (SH) –writer/creator 2 Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps
Jamie Isaacs (JI) -Creative Director of 20/20 makers of Brat Camp and Bad Lads Army
Tim Hinks (TH) -Chief Creative Officer Endemol, makers of Big Brother, 9 out of 10 Cats etc.

Here are my paraphrased notes from the session:
JB - Context – What are the characteristics of younger audiences?
SH – We never looked directly at audiences, but rather I relied on personal experiences to build characters
JH – Brat Camp required high octane action and attitude, the youth audience demends you grab them quickly.
TH – Demographics are more for broadcasters, as a programme maker if you like the show, that will come off in it and to the audience.
SH – Two Pints has gotten faster with each series.

JB – How do you make an idea?
TH – We use an advertising model which is market lead
TH – We use interns who watch TV all day and think of ideas, but they burn out quickly and funnel off to other aspects of the business. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn’t. I would like now to publicly apologies for Space Cadets!
SH- I use writers who know nothing about TV
JB- It seems rather than research audiences, you employ them.
TH – when you see programme makers doing mass audience research, it usually means the wolves are at the door and it’s about whether to cancel.
JI – We employ TV Professionals. Our development team takes ideas from the execs. It is very top down through exec collaboration with commissioners.

Casting and Characters:
TH – Big Brother who knew George Galloway was going to act as he did?
JB – Is there a secret to great casting?
TH – Big Pockets buys big casts.
TH – For Big Bro 1 we just wanted to make sure the people would talk in an empty room, they were social. But then the group seemed too wild, so we needed a person to bring calm. Enter Nick Bateman.
JI – for Brat Camp and Bad Lads we are looking for people with risk and excitement. Those up against the edge of what is acceptable, but not showboaters. But there is always a danger of going too far, so we spend 5x as long casting as shooting. Use multiple interviews and trust your gut.
We also were looking for characters we could instantly brand (label) Brat Camp has 6 characters w/ different problems. The individual stories need to be latched onto the audience quicker.
SN – Good looking people = Good casting. The audience must be pleased by what they see.
JI – Funny enough, Bad Lads is the same way. Some guys just had too bad teeth to be let on TV.
JI – Also, casting young people. People see young people and root for them to change. Old people are at fault if they haven’t sorted themselves out by now. They should be old enough to look after themselves.
TH –Although young people can enjoy characters of all ages. The storytelling has to be strong.
People like instant gratification. Deal or no Deal is good because of the drama throughout.
Originally Big Brother show was based on the style of Pet Rescue, with A&B Stories running throughout each show.

JB How could the BBC do better with its younger audiences.
TH- BBC is the only place I would never take Big Brother. They would muck it up, by being too afraid. The show is still very cutting edge. The BBC is obsessed with 360 Commissioning to gain a younger audience, but this interest in the young comes off as creepy.
BBC3 is like your dad throwing you a party! Some fun things but in a grown up stuffy way. The BBC sits oddly with young people.
JB – Does the BBC Adopt a parental tone?
JI –Wouldn’t stop us from bringing a show to the Beeb.
TH –Fame Academy was a popular show, but the BBC was embarrassed of it, and that ultimately killed it.

Youtube threat & Web
SN –It is a big threat.
JI – It can inform TV
TH – The worst thing is for TV to just say hmmm maybe we should use loads of UGC in our shows.
SN - Broadcasters need to get more interactivity
TH –Big brother has seen success from video and mobile downloads

KEY POINTS:
Trust you instinct when making a show for a younger audience.
Leave the audience analysis to the commissioners.
Both models work. Top down and relying on young peoples ideas.
It is easier to hire the audience.
The best characters come as a surprise. Today’s characters need to be able to establish themselves quickly and be good looking.
The BBC hasn’t figured out how to address young audiences.
New Media is both an opportunity and a threat.

MY 2 Cents:

The session was good and I was happy to hear some of the top British talent in domestic TV. I think that audience connection does have to be organic, but there are too many formulaic shows on the box. Regardless of whether programme makers do audience research, they sure pay attention when there is a success, and copy it to death. It is the same in the movie business. This I think is where a big threat by the internet comes in. Producers of internet TV will, for the foreseeable future be able to experiment and TV producers will follow the internet successes. Perhaps this will open the door to new formats.

With audiences it is nice to hear that the professionals get surprised by character successes. You cant always predict what people will respond to.

The bit about the BBC makes sense. CBebees is great for kids, but the corporation loses the plot when trying to do teen & 20’s. Probably a direct result of the culture in the halls. It is much more grad school than high school.

All in all it was a great day and I am looking forward to future events.

Apple Aquires Silicon Color. We Nervously Wait to Hear What Is Planned

2006-10-20T09:34:00.000Z

Ok Again, I have been bogged down by other work. Why I insist on earning money I will never know. So I had three days off the blog, but like that hit that keeps calling you back for more I have been lured back to posting. I will start with what I think is one of the most interesting developments lately, the acquisition by Apple of Silicon Color. Mike Curtis has the most comprehensive coverage of the matter with Fresh DV picking the story up too.
So, I will try to refrain from covering similar ground.

Basically, what I will say is that I will be hugely disappointed if Apple doesn’t turn this around into a positive. If the product is abandoned and all the effort I have seen various companies put into integrating a product with such potential, will be for nothing. I am not going to speculate. I will just hope that an effective solution is brought forward that meets the growing needs of such facilities.

Producers Team Up With Fund Managers and Leave Studios With Distribution In A Win Win Win Businesss Model

2006-10-16T15:51:00.000Z

Over the weekend, the NY Times ran an article covering the growing trend in Film Producers soliciting financing through Hedge Funds rather than Studios. Apparently this is a business model which suits all parties, but is shifting the balance of power in content direction. Producers make lots more cash and have more creative control. Hedge funds get increased control and choice of projects they want to finance. Studios lose creative control and some revenue channels, but due to a shifting market they can only afford to make a certain amount of films but their distribution network demands higher volume, so this model fits their needs if not desires.

This style of movie financing has been driven by necessity. Studios have been forced to trim their slates because of higher costs, but they still need a steady stream of movies to distribute. In turn, producers need financing, because the studios are backing fewer films. And cash-rich financial institutions are looking for places to invest, hoping to earn double-digit returns while limiting their exposure to the fluctuations of the stock market.

Instant Karma Response

2006-10-16T08:58:00.000Z

UPDATE: From the posting: "Saving The Environment Or How To Buy Off Your Guilt"
The folks at Instant Karma Films responded with the following:

Glad to see someone is paying attention. Our motivation on a conscious level is purely genuine and comes from a lifetime of conservation efforts. Being involved in environmental and social issues has always been an important and driving factor in my personal and business life. The ideals we have incorporated into Instant Karma Films are simply an extension of our daily lives and how we try to make a difference. From driving a hybrid vehicle, to minimizing use of electrical appliances, to recycling everything, and soon going totally solar powered at home and hopefully at the office in the future. On a subconscious level you may be right about the guilt. But that only comes from living in a world where the choices are not always easy or available to make them the right choices. So while there is probably a certain percentage of guilt involved in our donations to offset our carbon, it doesn't involve the level of guilt you describe in relation to slave labour. We are committed to environmental and social responsibility and hope that our efforts will help shape a new and more climate friendly approach to the production industry. I only wish that the TV commercial trade publications such as Shoot Magazine would find our issues more newsworthy and help bring an awareness to the production community here in the US.

My 2 cents:
I still feel we live in a world where little is done compared to what is warranted. However, I give Instant Karma Props for a first step in proliferating the practice of carbon offset productions. Our industry is disappointing on the whole and my employer is as bad as they come. Here at BBC Resources we have thousands of staff and clients all dinking individual bottles and cans of various drinks every day and not a single one is recycled. Whats worse all coffees are served in paper cups! Paper cups with plastic lids at work. Fuck off. That is just wrong. In my new house I started a really good effort to recycle anything I can and my god it is cringe worthy to watch the stuff be chucked here at work.
Perhaps I was a bit ‘extremist’ in my comments likening environmental damage to slave labour, but the point was made that it is not enough to offset our wrongs but rather change the practises that create them. Instant Karma’s comments illuminate some of the practises business can easily introduce to be more economical with our impact on the planet.
I challenge facilities as well to look at ways post production can be done in an environmentally friendly way.

Tapeless work environment

Video files for producers rather than DVD’s & VHS’s

Paperless environment (why do we still need paper job sheets)

Solar energy Panels (Most facilities have roofs

Insulation measures

There are loads of others feel free to leave comments with your ideas. Again props to Instant Karma for moving things in the right direction. We could all use a bit of the guilt that moves them to action.

You Cant Help But Smirk

2006-10-12T12:03:00.000Z

Even in times of International crisis World of Wonder can bring a smile to my face with the likes of this pic of a certain hotel heiress with her new bit of the moment.

BBC Gov's Plans For Interactivity

2006-10-12T11:04:00.000Z

BBC Governors have announced today their decision to restart the period for representations on the BBC's application for approval of new on-demand services, including BBC iPlayer, and published supplementary information about the proposition.

All this is according to a press release on the BBC’s site. For further information, you can see the interactive plans the directors have put forth.

Over the last eighteen months the BBC has conducted a number of trials to assess audience demand for new on-demand offerings. Trial initiatives included the Integrated Media Player, TV+1, radio downloads, video on demand on cable and Homechoice and mobile coverage of major events. Having analysed the consumer research from these trials, BBC Management wishes to launch a number of new, complementary on-demand propositions. These proposals involve a substantial broadening of the current scope of existing offerings and an enhancement of their functionality. BBC Management believes this package represents an appropriate response to current and projected audience demand and fits with the BBC’s strategy to deliver public value in the transition to digital.

The main interactivity features are:

· Seven day TV catch-up over the internet
· Seven day TV catch-up over cable
· Simulcast TV over the internet
· Non-DRM audio downloads over the internet

Saving The Environment Or How To Buy Off Your Guilt

2006-10-12T10:01:00.000Z

Shots is reporting that Instant Karma Films have produced the first ever carbon neutral commercial. The spot is for Maybelline New York and stars Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon actress Zhang Ziyi. The shoot was done in Shanghai and the production company dontated to carbon fund.org and ‘sponsored the planting of 1000 trees across America the carbon produced during filming’.

CSR Wire’s coverage continues the story saying, ‘The trees are planted through American Forests, the nation's oldest nonprofit citizens' conservation organization and a world leader in planting trees for environmental restoration.’

"We think it is about making the right choices were you can and when you can't you offset our carbon output by donating to organizations such as Carbonfund.org and American Forests who are working to reduce climate change through their environmental programs" said Tanya Farkas, Instant Karma Films' president. She continued "So, if we can encourage others in the industry to start with the first step and offset their carbon output that is a great start."

What do I think? I am torn. There are great advantages to this approach. Obviously, there are a lot of benefits to offsetting carbon and planting trees, but I can’t for the life of me think of why there aren’t more efforts to change the way we operate our businesses. It is a very, do what you like, just donate money and it will be fine. Lets say Apple computers uses slave labour in Asia to produce its computers (not too unbelievable) but if they offset the impact by donating large corporate sized sums of cash to Unicef it surely makes it ok. Right? This is a dangerous philosophy that allows companies to continue their business practices whether they are destructive or not and buy pro-planet PR as well as a clear conscience. I don’t know anything about the practices of Instant Karma Films. From their site, they do appear to be a very conscientious company. What I would look to see in an article about an environmentally friendly production is not that they gave back to a charity, but rather the practises employed by the company to limit the impact on the environment. I have been thinking about this in terms of post facilities and am eagerly awaiting a one to take the plunge. Tapeless workflow, paperless production flow, energy saving initiatives (god knows we use enough of it in the industry). These combined with efforts to be carbon neutral are the stories that would wow me.

Tony & David Sitting In A Tree

2006-10-10T12:53:00.000Z

Great piece from BBC2 Time Trumpet which shows how similar are two parties have become. This is a skilful example of editorial pace and cadence.

Guess What: Google Bought YouTube

2006-10-10T11:59:00.000Z

In case you are under a rock Google bought YouTube for a few bob. If your Mark Cuban, your laughing your arse off. If you’re a share holder, you should probably be a bit weary of a lead balloon. The NY Times starts by saying “A profitless Web site started by three 20-somethings after a late-night dinner party is sold for more than a billion dollars, instantly turning dozens of its employees into paper millionaires. It sounds like a tale from the late 1990’s dot-com bubble, but it happened yesterday.” Cuban laments the impact this may have on DRM an issue discussed in the last post about Brightcove. And with Apple in bed with Google it all seems a bit more interesting for the consumer, and not necessarily in a good way. Cuban finishes by saying rather bluntly, “Am I surprised, by the Google YT deal. Yes. Does it open up a whole new world if they go liability free? You have no idea.”

Brightcove Slags off iTV In Favor Of XBox 360

2006-10-10T11:35:00.000Z

Following Apple’s announcement of iTV, Brightcove Chairman JeremyAllaire wrote a rather scathing review of the product. Brightcove is very much an advocate of open source competition in the internet video distribution market. In his blog he wrote:

It's great to see Apple starting to focus on the living room, emulating some of Microsoft's work over the past two years. It will be interesting to see whether consumers are willing to spend $299 for a wireless media bridge, while they could also spend $299 and get a game/home entertainment platform, DVD player, and wireless media bridge all in one with the XBox 360.
This, of course, begs the much larger question of whether open platforms for digital media will win over the closed platform approach that Apple has taken. Apple tightly controls their device, media formats / DRM, and retail distribution. No one can create their own web-based services to target the device, the DRM format is closed, and to get monetized distribution through iTunes you need to directly negotiate a deal with Apple.
On the other hand, Microsoft has offered up a dramatically more open strategy -- anyone can make a device compatible with their formats and DRM (the DRM format can be licensed cheap and there are C and Linux implementations), anyone can build a media service that works with both. And they offer up best of breed devices that have a shot at transforming the living room -- I like the XBox 360 as a living-room hub more than the 'iTV', which feels to me more like the various wireless media extenders that have languished in retail outlets.

I personally feel there is to date no product that really offers an effective internet to TV bridge. Similarly, video content is not of a standard suitable to send over to the TV. I don’t care what people say. It is just not good enough yet. There is still all to play for in this game. I hope Brightcove do well as they have a really decent business philosophy and a good service/product. But history shows that doesn’t always lead to product success. Brand proliferation is by and large the biggest factor.

Little Frog Plays With New Features In The Kona 3, And I Rant About Producers Doing Post Work In-House

2006-10-10T09:38:00.000Z

Shane Ross (little frog in high def) has written a decent blow by blow of editing DVCPro HD over firewire and via the Kona 3 and Kona 2. The Kona 3 has added features of up converting and cross converting HD for multiple delivery requirements. This is of huge importance as more and more HD productions are co-productions Jane Eyre on BBC 1 at the moment is a co production with WGBH Boston. Similarly Rome sees BBC and HBO in bed together. At the moment at work I too am looking at BBC and Discovery co-productions. Not too long ago Nuremburg aired on BBC 2. For Nuremburg the producers were required to deliver 18 masters for the 3 part series. That is 6 different versions of each film. These included Textless and Texted UK TX, Discovery and Worldwide versions. This is an ever-growing issue, one which Post houses need to brace themselves for. In the end, Shane uses a workflow that I have seen a number of times: rendering an uncompressed 10 bit 1080 QT for colour correcting and vfx. I imagine Aja do better conversions than FCP, so choosing to export via the Kona 3 at 1080 is probably a good move.  Had the original workflow been adopted to use the Kona to do a frame rate conversion, I would begin to worry. Their tests seem to have been a success but I wonder if it really will hold up in real world practise.

BBC Post in London is buying the New £90K Snell and Wilcox Alchemist Platinum as it is ‘the only HD cross converter worth using’. According to the folks here, there is no converter on the market which utilises comparative motion estimation technology. Frame rates conversions can look so dire we have them a lot in the UK for US commercials and they are bloody awful. I would like to hear first hand what people think about the quality of ‘bang for your buck’ conversion hardware is.  It is great that we have these tools, but is it wiser to use the best available in certain situations?

Now for my rant about in house editing:

Continuing on from my statement above about ever increasingly complicated delivery requirements, at the moment there is a culture which is moving the editorial onus onto the producers.  I fear for the poor sod sitting on an FCP trying to get out a broadcast master with no broadcast technical experience and no engineers to help when it all goes tits up. Producers must be asking if this is what they signed on for!? Yeah, the concept is great. Save money and have the flexibility to make the film they want. But the technical aggravation combined with the lack of support makes the savings hardly worth it. Cleaver Producers will utilise this new responsibility with an air of caution. They can use this to their benefit as well, but only by knowing their limitations and how to shift responsibility. Post houses can benefit too. A clever producer in today’s market would look seriously at the following workflow:

Consult post house.

Shoot.

Deliver rushes to post house for digitising.

Take away firewire drive with formatted rushes and project file.

Offline in house.

Deliver cut film to post house .

Post house does Conform, Online, Grade and Dub.

This may seem straight forward or perhaps not really saving money. Whatever. In my mind this is the clearest and best way as a producer to eliminate blame from yourself, satisfy the cost saving requirement (thousands by offlining in house), and ensure the best is achieved for the production technically and creatively. The post house will be pleased as well because the finishing is where the lion share of profit against time is. Post houses lose money on offline editing. They make up for it on digitising and creative staff. Offline suites are a loss leader. Take it away. Do it yourself. It saves production money and help your post house be more cost effective in their operations which may save you money as well.

Now, producers may say ‘I pretty much do that anyway’. You don’t do it though. Most of you fuck up on the important bit. You go off and digitise yourself. What happens is you fuck up your file structure and poorly manage your media and the conform takes twice as long, eating up half the money you save not to mention causing aggravation to all those involved and delaying the rest of your final post. Some producers even go one step further and try to playout their own masters and suffer the cost of failing tech review repeatedly.

I will say there are producers out there who can manage DIY post. But from where I sit the majority of producers I work with should not be lumbered with this responsibility.

Martin Scorsese's student film

2006-10-09T14:23:00.001Z

I saw this linked on Nerve. I am reserving judgement, please tell me what you think:

Where I've Been + Robin Hood & Volver

2006-10-09T14:23:00.000Z

Sorry for not Blogging last week much. I have been laaaazy. Not true. Been busy I finally got a chance to see Volver at the Curzon Soho on Sun. Love the theatre, overpriced at £9.50. But the café and the film made up for it, not to mention they had the England game projected on to the wall in the foyer.

Back to Volver, I have rarely watched a film and come away feeling it was perfect. I am uber critical of films. Not because I am high and mighty, it was a combination of a chef father (Picture a German Gordon Ramsey), studying acting, but abandoning it because actors suck, and a film Studies degree that cumulatively gave me a critical eye. I digress. Volver, in my opinion is perfect. Bad Education and Almodovar’s other films have similar themes (abuse, relationships, sexual identity, figures of authority), but here he has captured a truth within a highly stylized story with eccentric characters that few of his contemporaries could achieve. For me, it is how Almodovar deals with his task the weight he uses to paint each stroke of characterisation. I can’t dwell, must move on because I can’t poss do the film justice with out properly dissecting it.

I thought I wouldn’t like it so much, while watching it I thought I would be annoyed by the man hating. I was not. I thought I would be annoyed by Penelope’s bulging tit’s, I was not.(not what you think, it was the occasional piss take in the banter between the sisters that made the it ok). Loads of other obstacles were perfectly addressed by Almodovar which made the film such a success for me.

Unfortunately, I went from this to Robin Hood on Sunday. I say unfortunately because BBC1’s Robin Hood is good, but would never hold a candle to what I think is the best film of the year. Never the less, it was an achievement. My wife, Charlie, was pleased to see the beeb continuing in the vein of Doctor Who, creating high quality, high budget family shows. Johnathon Ross, in his documentary about the history of Robin productions praised the production for creating an engrossing version of Robin for a new generation.

Technically, the production is good. High standards in filming and post work (all HD). I cant help but say it was a bit self indulgent, with the jump zooms, whip pans and similar.

Cinema Tech's Scott Kirsner interviews Jonathan Rothbart and Stu Maschwitz

2006-10-03T11:24:00.000Z

Scott Kirsner has a great conversation with Stu Maschwitz and Jonathan Rothbart, two of the three that started the SF based effects company The Orphanage. Stu writes Pro Lost, a blog with great, if infrequent tid bits of knowledge. He has also been busy writing a book: The DV Rebel's Guide: An All-Digital Approach to Making Killer Action Movies on the Cheap.

I read this long but engrossing interview on the train home last night, and would recommend it to anyone. Scott is a strong interviewer and really gets a lot from these passionate guys at the peak of the industry. Key themes I found interesting are: (Italics have been paraphrased from the interview)

On The VFX / Animation Industry
Orphanage are looking to develop a Feature Animation side to the industry and discuss the convergence and differences between VFX and Animation. One key difference is the way animation relies on similar detail levels as the very realistic needs in VFX, but implores a stylization to take it way from ‘the real’. Stu refers to the ‘Uncanny Valley’ where in Animation the more realistic the better up to a certain point after which it becomes ‘really creepy’.

Jurassic Park: 35 CG Shots
Superman: 1500 CG Shots
Things are continually pushing creative and computer boundaries.
This is right across the board from big houses to small ones. People are expecting a laptop to do amazing things in Motion or FCP. In Post we play a game of offering more service and are constantly on the edge of the technology released.

There is an emerging trend of trading cityscapes. Superman Sydney >NYC. XMan 3 in SF with no shoots in the city, only plates.

On the impact of You Tube, Tivo on the Commercials Industry
Scott asked if Tivo has manifested a culture whereby if the commercial is not big and flash to grab the viewer, they just fast forward.
Stu answered that the goal at the moment is to create commercials that ‘people will want to point it out on You Tube’.

On Circumventing the Distribution industry
See Four Eyed Monsters
Which screened at Slamdance, where I did my post university internship!

Here is an interesting business model:
Screen the film in free 10 min chunks with the option to pay to get ahead in the story.
A good example of similar tactics here in Britain, channel 4 has ‘First Look’ and BBC does the same. To explain by example, last night I was watch Spooks. When it finished, they promoted seeing the next episode shortly after on BBC3. C4 does this with Hollyoaks on E4. What this does is not only get people to continue watching the show, but drives post prime time traffic to multichannels (Increasing ratings in this fragile market) and maximises opportunity to see.

HD DVD v Blu Ray
Both have missed the boat. Netflix over ip will win. Why? People cant be bothered to buy a new format. HD Content over ip is just around the corner.

One of my fav stories:
“We get a reminder sometimes that we can kind of outsmart ourselves. With “Sin City,” we had a bunch of splattering blood we were trying to do. After two weeks of fluid dynamics development of splattering blood, the guy who was putting the final shot together and the CG supervisor said, “We just need some reference for what this should look like.” They went out in the parking lot with a bowl of milk, and started splashing it. The milk was white enough that they could get a good key off of it, so the compositor put that in the shot, just to see how it might play. He put it in dailies, and we all said, “That’s the best fluid simulation we’ve ever seen.” That afternoon, we were out in the parking lot with a bowl full of eggnog – this was around Christmas -- and a hockey puck. Throwing a hockey puck into a bowl of eggnog became how we splattered the Yellow Bastard’s blood all over the barn at the end of “Sin City.”

Other discussions included:
UGC/Remix Culture. How much is the audience affecting the content they watch.

The manner in which the Studios try to mould video games often unsuccessfully around feature films. These are very different cultural pieces that require different modes of viewer interaction and therefore demand different development practises if they are to be successful.

The importance of Previz. How to use it to pitch.

And much more!
Go have a read, but remember, there is a lot of reading!

BBC's New Idents

2006-10-02T12:15:00.000Z

The BBC rebrands around the idea of the circle.
7 New idents.
international shoot including Mexico City and Coatia
Budget 1.2Million.
Red Bee is laughign all thw way to the bank.

Setting Up a High-Definition TV Isn't for Sissies

2006-10-02T09:54:00.000Z

Quite funny article in the vein of flat pack furniture building. It takes a real man to purchase and set up an HD TV!
The images coming through TiVo looked horrendous. I quickly figured out how to change the aspect ratio from the native 16:9 to a standard TV-friendly 4:3.
That introduced two huge gray bars on either side of the image and improved the image a bit, but not much. My children sat on the couch behind me, aghast.
"It's official: I hate this TV," my son deadpanned.
My wife looked at the image and then at me, then back at the image. I stared down at the manual I had just flipped open.
"I'm working on it," I said tersely.
I tried switching inputs to the direct cable connection to see if that helped. Initially it did nothing — I couldn't even get a signal — but it turns out that was my fault.

TV Room uses Metadata to Assist in Programme selection

2006-10-02T09:26:00.000Z

An Aussie research company has developed T-Visionarium II, a room which is surrounded by 360 degree video screens standing 11 feet high. Displayed by 12 projectors, split to the right and left eyes, the viewer can choose between 22,000 programmes by pointing and clicking on the desired image with a ‘high tech remote control’. The really interesting thing is the use of meta data which lines up other programmes in the background based on the viewers selection behaviour. Perhaps this more than the room, will evolve to be incorporated in the ever-growing expanse of multichannel and Internet TV.

AOL Commissions Jamie and GE invests in Brightcove

2006-09-29T12:07:00.000Z

The front of this week’s Broadcast boasts the AOL is going into content commissioning following a deal with Fresh One productions to produce a high budget OB of Jamie Oliver Cooking. AOL found success following last years Live 8, with downloadable/streaming clips from the event. This is one of a series of recent moves connecting the internet with original video content. I seam to remember worries that the likelihood of Broadcasters becoming Web Giants through acquisition, was much less likely than the likes of AOL, Yahoo or Google becoming Broadcasters. Regardless nothing like that is going to happen this year…

Additionally in the news, it was reported earlier this week that Brightcove has received financial backing from GE Commercial Finance Group. There is a lot of cash in this industry, it is set to be huge!

ITV2's viewing relies heavily on XFactor and Films, but is This Really Challanging the Main 5?

2006-09-29T11:37:00.000Z

Entourage has yet to break into ITV 2’s Top Ten. The Top Ten marker sits about 500,000. I am waiting for the day! At the moment the only thing keeping the Ailing channel afloat is bloody XFactor!

ITV2 Individuals 4+ Viewing (Including Timeshift) - w/e 17/09/2006
Programme 000's
1 THE X FACTOR (Sun 2000) 1590
2 XTRA FACTOR (Sun 2104) 906
3 XTRA FACTOR (Sat 2114) 892
4 FILM: THE MUMMY RETURNS (Sat 2310) 804
5 FILM: THE MUMMY RETURNS (Sat 2219) 658
6 ENTERTAINMENT NEWS UPDATE (Sat 2309) 626
7 FILM: DOUBLE JEOPARDY (1999) (Wed 2153) 590
8 FILM: UNBREAKABLE (Fri 2105) 575
9 FILM: THE MUMMY RETURNS (Sun 1452) 549
10 FILM: UNBREAKABLE (Fri 2157) 515

Now when you look at the Terrestrial Top 30 Shows all but Channel 5 have all 30 shows in excess of 1 Million viewers, the highest # 30 show for the week was on the Beeb with nearly 4 Million. These sorts of numbers lead me to think although the viewers are spreading thinner across the multi channels, the real numbers in terms of reach still lie with the main networks.

Apple FCP Update Clarified

2006-09-29T11:24:00.000Z

So, I am quoting Panasonic here on workflow.
FCP can mix 1080p25 from P2 cards and 1080i/50 from DVCPro tapes on the same timeline. Maybe this is a bit duh. But with FCP’s new updates, p2 ingest of 25p (pn) is now supported.

Pacino Inside the Actors Studio

2006-09-29T11:18:00.000Z

Bravo will be interviewing Al Pacino on ‘Inside the Actors Studio’ to be aired Oct 2, in the US. I don’t think Actors Studio Airs on Bravo over here, which is a shame because the interviews are quite candid and insightful. The last one I watched was with Dave Chapelle. During the show he bemoaned the outcome of ‘Half Baked’ describing his frustrations at not being able to make the film he wanted. He also discussed the cataclysmic success of the Chapelle show, which never lived up to the hype, and the tribulations of ‘Block Party’, all the while chain smoking like you don’t see famous people these days.

Back on to Pacino, in the interview he discusses;
How close he felt to being sacked on the set of ‘The Godfather’
“I was sure I was going to be replaced…and I finally just wanted to be replaced. I thought, 'What am I doing here? This is not working. I don't feel wanted (by Paramount).' An actor needs comforting and a certain amount of feeling that people want you there."
His Adoration for Robin Williams
I always try to be like Robin Williams, and be funny. He's my idol! And the one film I do with him is not funny ('Insomnia')."
His post Oscar winning experiences
"I won the Oscar. I was in shock and overwhelmed by the whole thing. I get in the elevator and I'm going down with a lot of people, we're packed like sardines. And I had my Oscar. A very well known actress is standing in front of me and she starts to squirm a little bit. And I realize the head of my Oscar is touching her behind. And I thought, "oh man, this is so weird." I pick the Oscar up and I leaned over in her ear and said, 'Oh pardon me, that wasn't me, it was my Oscar.'"
HA!

New Apple FCP update. My key points.

2006-09-27T15:55:00.000Z

Apple has released downloads of its newest FCP 5.1.2 along with other Pro Apps, available here. I was just chatting with the Panasonic guys and among other features, the update allows you to ingest off p2 cards at 25p and 25pn (Panasonics native). In the update notes on Apples site, they had the following to say:

DVCPRO HD 720p25:

This Easy Setup is used for native editing of DVCPRO HD 720p25 footage imported from Panasonic P2 cards. Final Cut Pro does not support DVCPRO HD 720p25 capture from or output to tape.

DVCPRO HD 1080pA24:

This Easy Setup is used to capture and output DVCPRO HD
1080p24 footage with advanced pulldown (2:3:3:2) to and from tape. This format uses the same advanced pulldown technique as NTSC 24p. The footage on tape is actually recorded at 29.97 interlaced frames per second (fps), but Final Cut Pro removes redundant fields, resulting in a 23.98 fps progressive scan QuickTime movie on your scratch disk.

So, when looking at a production/post workflows in 25 fps on DVCPro, be advised, you can shoot 25p and ingest over firewire 1080i 50, or if shooting on P2, you can import 25p from P2 cards. My reservations are whether you can mix p2 and DVCPro tape footage on the same timeline. I will have a look at this and report back. But I remember when we at Pogo were doing our first FCP HD project on Varicam. Mostly at 25 + variable frame rates and at that time we were bemoaning the fact there was no 25fps support. This is nearly 2 ½ years on and we’re still not there.

Also, following on from an HD4Indies discussion on colour calibration, the new FCP has addressed the following issues:

Not every line of video was analyzed.

Video scopes did not update in real time during playback.

Video scopes updated slowly while the playhead was scrubbing.

Ever-growing Internet TV Production.

2006-09-25T11:42:00.000Z

They guys that kicked off Digg, the tech site gone world news is branching out into video producing. Their new company Revision3 is focused on using a blend of UGC ala youtube and purpose made professional video content and series for the web. The Times is reporting that the San Fran duo have secured $1m in financing from Silicon Valley and the city. I feel this is just the beginning. 2007 will prove to be a year of successes and failures and in this game you can’t bet on big outlays to bring returns. Small distribution channels are just as likely to hit it big in this emerging market. I was reading Broadcast last week where the UK players are hedging their bets as to how consumers are going to behave. A popular theory is people like choice, but they also like to be given a stream of well selected content when they can’t be bothered to pick and choose. So at the moment I think people will have their main streaming channels supported by major networks for vegging on the sofa (BBC, CNN, ABC, HBO), and more niche interactive options for when they are feeling more choosy. These niche channels will succeed by balancing the ease of interactivity with targeting untapped niches with broad appeal.

Espionage at Red.

2006-09-25T08:25:00.000Z

So, could Sony, Cannon or Panasonic stoop to Sopranos style roughing up of the competition? Mike is back at work from the Dam and is reporting that the Red office has been broken into. What was taken was entirely related to the camera Red 1. Red are not lying down, offering a $100K reward, raised from $50K. I have nothing bad to interject about any of the big camera companies or their dubious business ethics.

On a completely unrelated note I will say that Thompson was reported in last weeks Broadcast to have lost nearly $100 Million in the first half of 2006 and are now scaling back their UK operations. Buggers offered me a job last summer. Had I taken it, would be out on my ear 3 months later.

Sluggish start for Entourage

2006-09-25T08:04:00.000Z

Well, it started with a bit of a disappointment. Entourage pulled in a mere 168,000 viewers (off memory, so give or take) on opening night. Wonder how these figures stack up against the States percentage-wise before people cottoned on. Now a full TV ad campaign is in swing I imagine the figures to increase, but 10pm is maybe a bit late on a Sunday to reach the half million target I would set as peak for season 1. We shall see.

Avid Release Interplay

2006-09-19T16:49:00.000Z

Now we’re getting into seriously cool shite. Avid, as you may know have been working on a showstopper. In post, we can do such cool stuff now with networked storage multi-seat edit & effects stations, but what lacks is integrated workflow systems. This is what I have been so excited about when I talk about how Electronic Farm extends their scheduling software into the machine room with Barn. Now, after previewing at NAB, Avid have released interplay. In the press release, the stats break down like this:

Avid Interplay Engine
The Avid Interplay Engine forms the backbone of the Interplay solution, working hand in hand with Avid Unity media networks and Avid archive solutions to provide access to active and archived media assets. It offers centralized, standards-based user administration, flexible storage allocation, and a rich, customizable database—all within an infrastructure built to deliver unmatched scalability, performance, and security.

Avid Interplay Access
The Avid Interplay Access user tool brings integrated media management, secure file check-out/check-in, and tight revision control to standard desktops and laptops on the network. A diverse range of team members can easily navigate project files such as clips, scripts, spreadsheets, graphics files, and more, in user- or group-customized views.
Options

Avid Interplay Assist
The optional Avid Interplay Assist user tool lets assistants, producers, managers, and interns review and play video, select shots, and add markers with comments using ordinary desktops and laptops on the network. Annotations and locators are automatically visible to editors, eliminating time-consuming information searches before work begins.

Avid Interplay Transcode
The Avid Interplay Transcode network service option automatically, transparently converts source media to whatever production format is needed to match the user’s resolution requirements and system capability—without the need to manually create, find, or link to the required format.

Avid Interplay Low-Res Encode
The optional Avid Interplay Low-Res Encode network service lets facilities capture low-resolution material from any tape or feed, and even dual-capture simultaneously with the high-res version. The result is a production process open to even more users and to innovative Interplay multi-resolution workflows.

Avid Interplay Archive
The Avid Interplay Archive network service option extends the Interplay environment to intelligent tracking of archived material, so editors can work with low-resolution proxies of archived media, archiving and restoring only the material needed—all from within the editing interface or automatically, using the Interplay Access tool.

Avid Interplay Transfer
The optional Avid Interplay Transfer network service lets you transfer media to and from another workgroup, send finished sequences to a playback device, or ingest media from an ingest device. No redundant files are created, and Interplay tracks where everything is at all times.

A Couple of News Pieces That May Be of Interest

2006-09-19T15:34:00.000Z

China is launching Terrestrial HDTV in 2008.

Google might be teaming up with Apple to provide IPTV video via the newly released iTV.

Apple got complaints in the first stage with iTunes 7.

Apple’s Movie Store reviewed.

Stephen Colbert: Bringing Back The Good Ol Times!!!

2006-09-19T14:27:00.000Z

This is quiet funny from a few weeks back now. Chris Anderson (The Long Tail) picked up on how poignant a Stephen Colbert piece lamenting contemporary pop culture with its fractioning consumption. We lack unification, hegemony, top down culture… Have a look!

Cuban Bets on Youtube Downfall

2006-09-19T14:15:00.000Z

Mark Cuban has a pretty interesting post about the decline of Youtube, where he argues there are 2 main reasons for the site’s success free hosting of video content for third party sites (like this one!) and Copyrighted video content. And just like Napster with music, Youtube will fold under the ever-growing pressure of content rights owners and major media companies.
Cuban claims, “Take away all the copyrighted material and you take away most of Youtube's traffic. Youtube turns into a hosting company with a limited video portal. Like any number of competitors out there that decided to follow copyright law”

Nerve Interviews Larry Clark

2006-09-18T14:06:00.000Z

Nerve, has quite a good interview with Larry Clark. Never one to pull a punch, I think that Nerve is one of the few forums where such a controversial filmmaker can let fly with his inspiration, take on content and views on society.

Starting with, Destricted a compilation of explicit short films, where Clark’s offering tracks a ‘win a chance to shag a porn star’ contest. In the film, he questions how sex has evolved through the extensive proliferation of pornography, especially on the net. Practices of men shaving down stairs and creating a porn style cum shot (pulling out), baffle Clark who blames porn for teaching kids how to do it.

Clark defends his content by arguing he is creating a body of work. His theme of teenage sexuality would change if there was someone out there doing it better.

“I'm a visual artist. I'm going to make my work visually exciting. That's what I do. Look at Bully visually. When I started filming those scenes, I said, "You just don't see movies like this." Watch a Hollywood movie and then watch Bully — you're not going to find any movie even close to being as visually exciting as Bully, and that's the truth of that. If you're going to show naked kids fucking, well let's see 'em! I'm a visual fucking artist.”

As for what’s next, Clark has a contemporised Peter Pan set in NYC which has Peter and Wendy involved and all the other characters up to tongue in cheek shenanigans.

Entourage Ep 3 - Start watching now!

2006-09-18T13:30:00.000Z

I promise not to bang on about Entourage, too much. Ep 3 was on ITV 2 last night and having seen series one and two on HBO, I can honestly say it looses something with the commercials. I love not having commercials when viewing HBO and the same applies to the BBC, especially in the States where they have breaks every two minutes. Perhaps it grates during Entourage because of the truly lame Britney Spears Perfume graphics the lead in and out of each section.

If you haven’t gotten into Entourage yet, spend 10 minutes watching why Jeremy Piven won an Emmy for his character Ari Gold. Beware, very laddish content!

Robin Hood Reinvented

2006-09-18T13:22:00.000Z

BBC is about to launch a new drama, Robin Hood 2006, is touted as a new reworking of the classic. Loosing the tights and adding contemporary sharp tongued dialogue should see this series live up to the standard BBC 1 should be producing. The cast is strong and not overrun by the typical BBC Drama faces. I really hope that after the chaos of having the rushes stolen, this production can turn their fortunes around and Jonas Armstrong (Teachers, The Ghost Squad) should prove a wise casting as the new Robin.

On a side note, what does bug me, is that for all the cash the Beeb plows into their multimedia friendly site, why are they still using Real player for the distribution of their online video content?!? If you can suffer through it, the Robin trailers are here.

WOW TV!

2006-09-14T14:38:00.000Z

Ok, so internet TV is really kicking off. Full steam ahead! The latest offering will be coming from shit hot LA/London prod co World of Wonder. In addition to making TV & Film classics like:
Camp Michael Jackson
Power Lesbians
Tammy Faye: Death Defying
Angelina: Saint or Sinner?

They also produce the infamous WOW Report. And now are turning to IPTV. Here’s the trailer for WOW TV!

Revolutionising the DVR?

2006-09-14T10:47:00.000Z

I will only briefly discuss Apple’s new offerings as there are plenty of other forums with loads of conjecture. I will say that iTv is the key new hardware product that relates to the topics discussed here. Apple has always focused its consumer products on lifestyle, but has been cautious in moving too far away from what it does best: computers. The idea that a computer is an integral part of lifestyle is being publicly adopted more and more. Similarly, Apple is moving to meet the consumer half way by introducing a greater variety of lifestyle products, including phones, stereos and set top boxes. But how much Mac is too much?
There are die hard apple fans who will thoroughly kit themselves out with anything the great Steve releases, but maybe by diversifying their product line as well, they can meet broader demand.
As for the set top box, the key for the success of this product is usability and cross-platform integration. They said that the box will work with all PC’s (A result of the Intel transition) but I wonder how far Apple will go to support multiple formats and how fast they will push for HD over HDMI. Will we be able to play, DIVX, AVI. How will we rip and store DVD’s, Blu-Ray, HDDVD’s? In terms of HD and how networks can deal with Apple stealing viewers, Mark Cuban raises the point that with the limitations of HD content over IP, Networks can win the temporary battle by raising the bar on image quality. “In fact, the best way to beat Apple in this game is for cable and satellite companies to push as much content as possible to HD. The greater the expectation for HD content from consumers, the less value to consumers for downloading movies.” I would include viewing TV shows at sub broadcast resolution. The most important factor for Apple winning the race to facilitating content delivery en mass, is how soon they can provide better quality images and really take advantage of the HDMI port.
There are a lot of questions raised by this uncustomary pre-release announcement of iTv, but Apple were under pressure to let rip with their home invasion plans. Following the less than happy reception of the iPod HiFi and Nano leather cases (Why did this require a special event?), had Apple simply recovered the Nano in aluminium (necessitated by the plastic ones scratching), launched Disney films on iTunes (expected with Steve on the Board), plus other small additions, I think the reception would be underwhelming. Ultimately everything else is about the iPod. So, the inclusion of iTv marks a new era of Apple’s strategy and indeed a significant step forward in user defined content viewing.

BBC News Team Does Spoof Causes Complaints

2006-09-14T08:39:00.000Z

As you may know, some of the BBC News folks made a leaving video for their collegue who was leaving to join the ever-expanding Al Jazeera. The video parodies the parodie 'This is the way to Amarillo'.

"Several of the reporters are dressed in Arab-style headdresses, and footage of soldiers in gas masks and missiles being launched can be seen in the background."

I think it is all in good fun as do most i am sure, but it has caused a bit of a fuss/stink. Production value is not bad considering. Go Matt Barbet!

iTunes To Offer Movies

2006-09-12T15:07:00.000Z

iTunes music store is down, so it looks like all of the fanfare/rumours were right! Movies on iTunes. But, how many studios have inked deals? Only a couple of hours to find out…

UPDATE:
The Apple Store is now down too...
and i can hear a distant drumroll

New Technology Bringing Communities Together

2006-09-12T14:27:00.000Z

HERE is a heart-warming story of pirate exhibition!!! Somehow I don’t think these guys are going to get locked up for community screenings of children’s films. None the less, given the big music businesses reactions’ to illegal downloads I would be surprised. Regardless of this, with the proliferation of affordable projectors comes the increase of public screenings on a community level. I have often thought after reading Mark Cubans rants on how to get bums in seats at theatres, that what may be missing is a variety of exhibition venues to meet the needs of an ever more discerning viewer. With our TIVO's, PVR's, IPTV we are starting to get what we want, when we want it. This is another step of consuming content where we want it.

BA Use Google Earth In New Campaign

2006-09-12T12:56:00.000Z

BA and Google have penned a deal which will see Google Earth technology within the BA site and including extra layers with tourist information. Additionally, BA will use Google Earth as an integral part of a TV Campaign. Shots reported that Obi Felton, head of consumer marketing at Google said “It's… interesting to see an online tool being creatively adapted for advertising." Check out the spot here.

IBC Red 1 5k DCinema Screening & Q&A

2006-09-11T14:11:00.000Z

I suppose it defeats the purpose a bit to have a youtube of the Red Camera's 5k test clips. But there you go. Have a look or check it here on Youtube.

As for the images, Risky Biz says Red

"didn't seem to display test footage that was all that revealing. Camera tests that are more resolution and contrast intensive would be a good next step"

Mike @ HDforindies had the following to say: Excerpts, for the full whammie check Mike's site

Shot 1:
What: an Oakley Time Tank watch, shot macro style

What makes it tough - it is an extremely shallow depth of field, it has some contrast challenges - shiny metal, detailed black surface of watch face, fine details in watch face and watch hands, shiny highlights.

What works: the extremely shallow depth of field shows off what is difficult/impossible for a smaller sensored camera to do - get this extreme depth of field. The dynamic range is broad but not impossible, but I personally watched Graeme Nattress abuse the crap out of it in post before I saw ANY noise AT ALL in the blacks. The watch face was totally blown to white at that point, the blacks were lifted very high, and THEN, FINALLY I started to see some noise in the blacks. Insanely clean as compared to other digital images I've seen.

Shot 2: Joanne blows a bubble, Ted pops it

Joanne (Red employee) is blowing a bubblegum bubble against black, Ted is in background and leans up to pop it.

What makes it interesting: Ted is in background, so get proof of 35mm depth of field - he's out of focus. Good skin tone demo on Joanne. She has dark hair, so the black on black demo of shadow detail is good. Good detail in the bubble - you can see texture and thickness inconsistencies in the bubblegum. Ted leans in to pop it and travels in/out of focal plane. Smooth contone on bubble highlight. I defy anyone to call this a "plastic fantastic" digital image.

Shot 8: Porsche 959

What makes it interesting, other than that it's a 959: It's a white 959 with lights shining on it, but including one practical light in the shot. Smoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooth gradations of white across the car, nice shadow detail while not blowing out the highlights. Subtle shadow details in background - a crewmember noticed an orange extension cable in the dim background that he figured would never show on camera....oops. The dynamic range in the shot is the big story here - the hood of the car has bright lights on it, but the underexposed lower portions of the car have good detail as well. The REAL kicker is that there is a practical light on set. Asking folks what they thought of the footage in general when they left the 4K auditorium, multiple DoPs (who are NOT affiliated with Red) pointed out that shot, and volunteered that it looked like anywhere from 12-15 stops of lattitude (their guessed range of numbers not mine let me stress) represented in that shot. I'm not a shooter so I can't vouch or give opinion on that, but these were qualified guys, and that's an impressive figure coming from their lips.

And again, for those that didn't read it earlier, the footage was NOT noise reduced - just some very, very simple color correcting - as Lucas from Assimilate put it (and he was techincal supervisor on the color correction) -

Something important for everyone to know - from the final 5K RGB images pre-color to the rendered images at IBC - with the exception of one shot (the girl blowing the bubble at the beginning of the sequence) the only color processes we did to the images were Lift (master) down, Gain (master) up, Saturation up, Lift (Blue) down. That's it. No shapes, keys, or secondaries. The RED team has done a very nice job with their debayer/matrix algorithms.

Also, here is the Red Q&A. I need a quiet place to listen to it so, will have my comments soon.

Entourage Premier on ITV 2

2006-09-11T09:33:00.000Z

So, last night it happened. The UK launch of the Emmy Award wining and much heralded Entourage. Having watched the first two seasons in the states, it was funny to see the way ep1 struggles to find its feet. There were flashes of greatness, such as Ari Gold shaking his phone as he drives telling Eric that Collin Farrell has gone for Matterhorn, while Vince procrastinated over the $4mil offer, or Ari and Eric’s dinner at Koi. Much more to come from this laddish fantasy land. Keep tuning in. On another note, on the cover, last week’s Broadcast reported ITV2 was beating C4 and 5 while screening X Factor. The UK is finally adopting multi-channel viewing which is challenging the tentpole channels. In fairness, 5’s CSI Miami beat ITV1’s Bourne Identity (but no one even stops on ITV1 long enough to see what’s on) and C4 is up 11% of 16-34’s while ITV is down 5%. Can Entourage sway this tide in the other direction?

Digital Rapids Includes Flash 8 Encoding

2006-09-08T14:58:00.000Z

When researching encoding solutions for Pogo Films last year, the one I was probably most impressed with was Digital Rapids Stream HD. Apart from not offering a mac based card. Stream seemed the most easy to use and with really pleasing results. Now they offer Flash encoding based on On2 Technologies VP6 Codec. Flash 8, as I have discussed is key to the development on IPTV and companies such as Brightcove base their encoding around On2 Flash Codec. If I were to set up an encoding suite this is one of the first places I would look. Also, in terms of connecting the logistical and technical. I heard a rumour that Electronic Farm were hoping to incorporate Digital Rapids Encoding in their Barn (Server based output system) which attaches to Farmers Wife scheduling software.

IBC Top Picks

2006-09-08T14:05:00.000Z

High Def Magazine have listed their top picks for this years IBC.
They include:
Red Camera: www.red.com
Cannon ½ Inch Lens: www.cannon.co.uk
Avid, Media Composer in a box ala FCP. www.avid.co.uk
Christie 1080 projectors: www.Christiedigital.com
Cannon HV10: Handheld HDV camcorder www.cannon.co.uk