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Home » Kodak Denies the End is Near

Kodak Denies the End is Near

Steven Sasson, credited with developing the first digital camera, holds the prototype he built in 1975. Photo credit: /Associated Press / AP

In a press release sent out late last week, a senior Kodak executive made a point to address the “speculation about the fate of Kodak Motion Picture Film over the last few weeks.” Kim Snyder, president of the company’s Entertainment Imaging Division and a VP at Eastman Kodak Company, went on to say that rumors and the volatility of the market wouldn’t distract the company from providing the “highest-quality tools to tell your stories.”

Well, let’s hope so.

We’ve noted before some of the particular problems facing Kodak.

For anyone involved in production who still appreciates the qualities of the chemical/mechanical manipulation of light, this is a troubling time. In a conference call last week, the company warned that its survival over the next year is contingent upon money raised from selling some of its famed digital imaging patents or raising money by selling debt. The latter is becoming an increasingly expensive proposition as the company’s future looks ever more problematic.

Kodak’s share price hit its high water mark in the mid-1990s at $90. Similar to a few other iconic American companies such as GE, at that point the company enjoyed a “safe buy” reputation, delivering to investors high and steady dividend yields. But that was the top, after which there began a market decline from which Kodak hasn’t recovered. Scratched in 2004 from its role as part of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the stock now trades at $1.19/share (at press time).

The company, however, has weathered prophecies of doom before. A headline in a 2002 business journal warned about “Kodak’s Incredible Shrinking Film Business.” A Businessweek article in 2005, meanwhile, warned that “Low-margin digital sales aren’t picking up the slack of disappearing film profits.”

But a wider than expected loss of $222 million for the third quarter led to the most recent bleak prophecies. A turnaround to create its place in the digital future has been a long time coming. The company stakes its bet mainly on an innovative series of inkjet printers for consumers and businesses, which had a recent sales surge. (The company is also betting on packaging and work-force software.)

But slumping sales of digital cameras and lower revenue from its film operation offset that good news.

An added concern: while Kodak makes simpler digital cameras which benefit from the company’s image science to deliver more natural handling of colors, that market is now losing out to cellphones that offer comparable or better features.

An article by AP’s Ben Dobbin said that Kodak was planning to sell 1,100 digital-imaging inventions to raise enough money to stave off bankruptcy.

Dobbin went on to say that the company stayed “firmly focused” on its moneymaking film sales for too long and failed to “capitalize quickly on its new-wave know-how in digital photography.” That’s the shame, since the company had long been a leader in imaging with a core strength in R&D and wealth of digital patents. Steven Sasson, one of the company’s engineers, has a credit as the inventor of one of the first digital cameras in 1975. Kodak didn’t sell digital cameras for the mass market until 2001.

While the company soon pushed to the top in sales for digital still cameras by 2005, the profit margin was never as lucrative as film.

Kodak has come back from seeming disaster before. The move into high-speed printers and other markets may yet turn the company around towards a renewed future of growth. Patents will bring in money that just might keep investors betting on the company. IMAX, for example, recently licensed some of Kodak’s innovative laser technology which will enable it to augment its trademark film projection and instead fill 80-foot screens with high rez computer-based imagery. DPs have are promised a new VISION3 color negative stock.

Although one analyst quoted in a recent Times article by Andrew Martin likened Kodak to a juggler sitting on a unicycle in the dark, the article ended on a more upbeat note by broker Ulysses Yannas. Talk of Kodak’s demise was premature, Yannas said, since the company was spending their money on areas of the economy that are making money.

For those who still love the unique look and qualities of film, we certainly hope so.

About Dan Ochiva

New York City-based journalist and NYCPPNEWS founder Dan Ochiva writes and consults on film, video, and digital media technology.

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Parks has recently shifted her focus from supervisor to hands-on sound design, and we talk about how it’s never too late to pivot on your career path and find the thing you love doing wherever you are in life.

Click on this link to read the rest of the article on No Film School’s site.

NJ – Governor Murphy signs $14B Incentive Program Bill – the NJ Economic Recovery Act of 2020

 Film tax credits — amending existing programs to include provisions for so-called New Jersey film partners and New Jersey film-lease partners and allowing an additional $200 million of tax credits annually over 13 years.

Click this link if you want to read the full article on the Lexology site. http://bit.ly/35NtDx6

Film Commish announces date for production restart

In her December 18, 2020 news update, MOME Commissioner Anne del Castillo announced that the Film Office is now accepting permit applications for production activity that begins on July 27th.

She also announced awards now (Awkwafina) and more. To read all of the Film Commish’s bloggy sort of news column, click here.

Stimulus Offers $15 Billion in Relief for Struggling Arts Venues

The coronavirus relief package that Congressional leaders agreed to this week includes grant money that many small proprietors described as a last hope for survival.

For the music venue owners, theater producers and cultural institutions that have suffered through the pandemic with no business, the coronavirus relief package that Congress passed on Monday night offers the prospect of aid at last.

To read the full article on The New York Times’ site, click here.

If you want to start production, here’s the latest news from the Mayor’s Office

Phase 4 production guidance is available on the Film Permit website. All production activity, whether it requires a Film Permit or not, must comply with New York Forward Industry Guidance.

For more information see, please refer to the State Department of Health’s Interim Guidance for Media Production During the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. Please review the guidelines and FAQ before submitting permit applications. The Film Office is operating remotely, so please allow additional time for Film Permit processing.

The above paragraphs contain links to the various FAQ – just mouse over the relevant words.

Nikon to Stop Making Cameras in Japan

Nikon has fallen on hard times as of late as its camera sales have cratered, and now there’s a new indicator of how dire its financial situation is: the company is reportedly pulling the plug on making cameras in Japan after over 70 years of doing so.

To read the full article on Petapixel’s site, click here.

NVIDIA Uses AI to Slash Bandwidth on Video Calls

NVIDIA Research has invented a way to use AI to dramatically reduce video call bandwidth while simultaneously improving quality

What the researchers have achieved has remarkable results: by replacing the traditional h.264 video codec with a neural network, they have managed to reduce the required bandwidth for a video call by an order of magnitude. In one example, the required data rate fell from 97.28 KB/frame to a measly 0.1165 KB/frame – a reduction to 0.1% of required bandwidth.

To read the rest of this article on Petapixel, click this link.

 

 

 

Union Health Plan Dodges Film Workers’ Suit Over Virus Relief

Law360 (October 9, 2020, 5:22 PM EDT) — The Motion Picture Industry Health Plan’s board can’t be sued under ERISA for allegedly flouting its duties when it relaxed plan rules in response to COVID-19, a California federal judge has ruled, nixing a proposed class action filed by two cinematographers who still couldn’t qualify for benefits.

In an order entered Thursday, U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner granted the board of directors’ motion to dismiss Greg Endries and Dee Nichols’ Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit accusing board members of breaching their duty to treat all plan participants fairly.

Endries and Nichols, members of Local 600 of the International Cinematographers Guild, said in July that the board left them and others “out in the cold” in its attempts to address the problems COVID-19 caused for plan participants.

But Judge Klausner agreed with the board’s contention that the case, which alleged a fiduciary breach, should be tossed because plan administrators don’t act as fiduciaries when they amend health care plans.

Read the full article on the Law360 site by clicking here.

Russo Brothers Received Close to $50 Million From Saudi Bank

Anthony Russo and Joseph Russo photographed at the PMC Studio in Los Angeles for the Variety Playback Podcast.

The Russo brothers, directors of the all-time top grossing film “Avengers: Endgame,” quietly secured a roughly $50 million cash infusion for their production company AGBO from Saudi Arabia earlier this year, multiple sources tell Variety.

In a deal brokered and closed at the beginning of the pandemic, the Russos received the investment from an undisclosed Saudi bank in exchange for a minority stake in the brothers’ Los Angeles-based shop.

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