• About
  • Archives
  • Advertising

NYCPPNEWS

NYC Production & Post News

  • Home
  • Directory Listings
    • The Standby Program
    • Brooklyn College
    • Brooklyn Workforce Innovations
    • Columbia University Film Program
    • Downtown Community Television Center
    • Electronic Arts Intermix
    • Film Biz Recycling
    • Freelancers Union
    • Independent Filmmaker Project
    • Manhattan Edit Workshop
    • Mediakite Training Center
    • New York Film Academy
    • New York Film/Video Council
    • New York Institute of Technology
    • New York Production Alliance
    • New York Video School
    • New York Women in Film & Television
    • NYU Film & Television
    • Post New York Alliance
    • The Independent Film School
    • International Film Institute of New York
    • The New School – Documentary Studies
    • The New School — MA in Media Studies
    • Union Docs
    • Upstate Independents
    • Syracuse Film Office
Home » Snakes & Funerals

Snakes & Funerals

(Image: Still from “Man with a Movie Camera” (1929) Made with little money, Dziga Vertov’s silent documentary film pioneered techniques and a cinema that we’re still exploring.)

The Past Week in Review: For August 15, 2011

We search for the more interesting and provocative news and views of the past week…just so you don’t have to.

This week we hear about how the economy affects Hollywood, why we get more of the same from TV, and a technology ideal for shooting snakes and funerals.

 


Dollar Blues

Entertainment Weekly’s Inside Movies takes on an old chestnut in the article “Is Hollywood recession proof?” Our rapidly fluctuating economy with growing numbers of unemployed are causing some people to point to Hollywood during the Depression, when huge numbers of folks went to relatively inexpensive movies to forget bleak times. But box office analyst Karie Bible says that the reality was that for studios, only MGM was in the black; all the others were “bleeding red.”

In his article on TheWrap, Joshua L. Weinstein says that the “indie film community is jittery” while TV media buyers aren’t yet panicking over the stock markets violent ups and downs.

However over the long term those involved in the media economy are worried since tougher economic times means less investor backing for movies as well as top ad rates for TV. Tightening credit means that deal making could show the earliest problems.

Calling it Hollywood’s dirty secret, Edward Jay Epstein in this Adweek article says that it’s TV that keeps the big six studios in business, not movie profits. (Sony is the only major without a television subsidiary.)

Without ad sales on cable networks and foreign TV, even profitable companies can’t make it by the silver screen alone. For example Time Warner–the largest movie producer among the six—still makes some 87-percent of its earnings from TV.

In his blog on IndieWIRE, Ted Hope opines “Can We Create The Future Of Indie Marketing & Distribution—Or Is It Already Dead?”

The Indie producer notes that it’s the lack of PMDs (Producers of Marketing & Distribution) in the indie film scene that holds back the whole genre. While he had developed a proposal to help develop such an integral part of a films existence, none of the standard groups such as Tribeca, Sundance, or the IFP could fund it.

Hope praises Sundance’s new executive director Keri Putnam for starting up Sundance’s Artist Services as a 1st step towards building a “true Artist/Entrepreneur class.”

On GigaOM, reporter Liz Shannon Miller asks “What happens if your web series doesn’t hit it big?” Miller says that it’s the Web success stories we hear about, and not those who have put in time and money and turned out a great series of shows but still fail.

She tells the tale of Jonathan Nail, who has created and written and even starred in Solo, a sci-fi comedy series. Nail put his own money in the series, some from his parents, other money from crowd sourcing and some sponsorships. While the amounts were not huge, Nail couldn’t recoup even this modest amount.

In this GigaOM article, reporter Janko Roettgers sees a possible return to piracy as consumers start to tighten their belts and cut unnecessary expenses such as entertainment that they can get in other ways. Since Netflix is about to institute a price hike while authentication plans from broadcasters further clamp down on viewing opportunities, it might be a “perfect storm for piracy.”

 


More of the Same

In his AdAge article, Michael Learmonth tells us what we already know, but it’s still entertaining to see it laid out:  television really, truly is not an innovative medium. In his article “Why 500 Channels Means 19 Shows About Pawnshops” the reporter points out that that even as the FCC mulled over plans for new rules that will open up access to the airwaves and presumably allow more divergent voices to be heard, the reality is that networks continue to steal, copy, or clone whichever shows are popular and making money. You needed to hear that spelled out, didn’t you?

While cable networks have unique demographics upon launch as their rationale for being, the reality is that over time only two goals remain: a bigger audience and a younger one.

 


Filmmaker Kevin Knoblock

Doc Talk

You’ll get a sense of what it costs to make feature documentaries and other concerns of directors and producers if you read this interview with documentary director Kevin Knoblock on the Script site. If you are new to documentary production, Knoblock’s personal step-by-step procedure for pitching and producing a documentary will be of interest.

 


Good for Snakes & Funerals

AbelCine’s tech blogger Ian McCausland has a quick overview of ARRI’s Anamorphic De-squeeze for the Alexa. The capability, accessed via a purchased download license, enables the use of widescreen (2.39:1 image) lenses for the 1.78:1 Alexa imager while still allowing the image to appear normal and not squeezed in the viewfinder and for playback. And no snide asides about Fritz Lang’s comment in Godard’s Contempt, who described Cinerama as only good for filming “snakes and funerals.”

If you’ve taken the dive and bought a copy of Final Cut Pro X as I have, you might be enjoying this radical re-written program. But you might also like to know that there is a useful and very inexpensive PDF manual available.

Hollywood composer Edgar Rothermich bests Apple’s online manual too by its extensive use of graphics. Rothermich explains how he has been making his own version of each manual that he might need when using computer-based gear. This basic 62-page manual is just what you might need too, and for the low price of $2, it’s hard to beat.

 


Streaming Along

Google is moving quickly into the streaming video market, says CNET in this article. An update to Google’s Video app allows some users of Android smartphones to screen movie rentals from the Android Market. Users-who must the running the 2.2 Froyo and 2.3 Gingerbread versions of Android–can also manage the movies they’ve rented.

Streaming video service Vudu meanwhile is now available on the iPad, which allows it to keep pace with Netflix, the market leader. Vudu, which just happens to be owned by retail powerhouse Wal-Mart, makes the movies and TV shows available via a browser plug-in for the iPad, rather than as an app in Apple’s App store. That keeps it free not only of Apple’s decisions on what gets him or what doesn’t, but circumvents the Cupertino-based company’s 30-percent cut on such transactions.

Read more at CNET by clicking here.

 


Ezra Pound (1920) Photo credit: E.O. Hoppé

Make It New

Over at the Guardian, reporter Aleks Krotoski writes about storytelling in the digital age. This isn’t another film specific story on how digital technology is enabling new production but rather how breaking up traditional linear storytelling bolstered by digital technology could place is on the verge of an exciting new era of digital storytelling. After all the gloom of our economy, it’s always refreshing to find folks still trying to ‘make it new’ as E.P. would have it.

 

 

About Dan Ochiva

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

Community & Partner Links

How Sony’s New Virtual Sound Technology Can Change How We Hear Films

Kami Asgar and Jessica Parks are post-production heavyweights who work with major studios, namely Sony. As a sound designer (Asgar) and as a post executive (Parks), their collective resume touches on everything from Apocalypto to Grandma’s Boy to Venom.

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.

  • About
  • Archives
  • Advertising
Copyright © 2021 NYCPPNEWS | Site Built with Studio Press Genesis