• 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 » World Goes 3D, Indies Unimpressed

World Goes 3D, Indies Unimpressed

The success of the 3D versions of Avatar and now Alice can have only whet the appetite of major TV set manufacturers as they ready a push into a new, untapped home market.

Panasonic begins selling a new series of 3D-enabled HDTVs at Best Buy this Wednesday. According to the Wall St Journal and other reports, the company will discount its 3D TVs as much as 50% in the US compared to Japanese pricing in order to rack up big sales quickly.

Analyst firm DisplaySearch forecasts 3D-ready TVs will grow from 0.2 million units in 2009 to 64 million units in 2018, with the first hurdle already gained: the tech specs for the Blu-ray 3D spec was recently completed.

Progress means different things to different groups in the industry, of course. Take TV set manufacturers. Sure, over the years better technology raises all their boats, but if you make widgets for a living you face a mean reality since technical and manufacturing improvements wipe out any differences among competing products. Thus the flip side of easier and cheaper production consists of living with ever thinning profit margins.

According to industry researcher DisplaySearch average selling prices for TVs in 2009 were expected to fall for the first time since the flat panel TV transition began.

So while the changeover to a new technology standard can be hazardous, it can also raise your bottom line. Building and selling 3D parallels what HDTV gear did for the industry: give reasons to raise money, invest in factories and marketing, all to slake the tech needs of a new batch of consumers who want the some of the buzz that they’ve felt from the latest and greatest movies.

So while we’re only on the cusp of the changeover to 3D in the home, expect to still hear plenty of noise about the technology over the coming months from Panasonic, Sony, Samsung, et.al. Scoring top position early on can be crucial to owning a sector of the market. Or at least that’s what tech companies have come to believe.

Here’s a quick look at some of the most recent news:

PCWorld reports that Sony will begin selling 3D TVs in Japan on June 10 and worldwide at about the same time. A PlayStation 3 firmware upgrade, meanwhile, will add 3D support to that platform.

The Financial Times describes as “ambitious” Sony’s stated target of selling 2.5 million 3D televisions in nine months starting from that June launch. This indicates how important 3D will be to the company’s bottom line, says FT.

Sony’s Mr. Ishida said they aren’t concerned by Panasonic’s head start since there is still so little 3D content available.

Jumping out quickly with new product, however, could backfire, as some standards—such as fully interchangeable 3D glasses among the various makes of 3D TVs, haven’t been set. “For the 3D TV industry, if you want fast adoption, or a nice, seamless, easy consumer experience, you want to work as hard as possible to make sure that everybody’s glasses can be used at a friend’s house,” says DisplaySearch TV analyst Paul Gagnon.

Everybody needs to show they’re studying the 3D situation very intently. ESPN and Sony have set up 3D test facilities. Panasonic, meanwhile, trumpets its 3D Blu-ray authoring facility in Hollywood.

ESPN’s Innovation Lab at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, will be its hub for developing 3D technology. ESPN launches its 3D channel this summer to cover the World Cup. Sony and CBS opened a 3D research center and screening facility in Las Vegas at MGM Grand Hotel & Casino to focus on “consumer perceptions toward 3D programming”, as well as ways to deliver 3D content in and outside the home.

Ending on a more cynical note is Peter Bart in his Variety article Movie biz doing the splits. Bart sees an ever-widening gap between tentpole pics like Avatar and other expensive 3D productions—which continue to suck up more and more of the money that’s out there–and smaller, Indie fare ala Hurt Locker, Precious, and An Education, for which money and distribution keep drying up.

Considering how much of New York film and TV production fall under that latter Indie banner, that doesn’t make for a very heartening glimpse of the future, 3D or not.

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.

U.K. Extends COVID Insurance Scheme; Distributes $21 Million in Cinema Grants

The U.K.’s insurance scheme for film and television has been extended until April.

Known as the Film and TV Production Restart Scheme, the groundbreaking £500 million ($676 million) fund assures productions that they’ll receive financial support in case of COVID-related losses. The program has so far accepted 100 qualifying productions.

To read the full article in Variety, click on this link. 

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