Category Archives: Film

Dear Hollywood, nostalgia is not a business model – Ideas@Innovations – The Washington Post

Posted on by

Post-Oscars blog post from the Washington Post about the state of Hollywood and the internet.

The problem with the entertainment industry is not the Internet or overseas foreign pirates — it’s a nostalgia for a past that will never return. Unfortunately, nostalgia is not a business model. The relentless pace of business in today’s digital world means that you either innovate or get out of the way.

And

It’s clear that the business model of Hollywood is built around scarcity, while the business model of Web-based companies is built around abundance. How the leaders of these two industries handle the vast dichotomy between these two models will tell you a lot about the future of video entertainment. During last night’s Academy Awards, the Hollywood message was distinctly one of scarcity, and it went something like this: It is only a few unique individuals, trained for generations, who can create this magic on a consistent basis. Anyone who has spent more than a few hours on the Internet knows otherwise – that the world is full of uniquely talented people, crowdfunding their ideas, embracing off-the-shelf digital tools and experimenting with innovative new formats for film.

via Dear Hollywood, nostalgia is not a business model – Ideas@Innovations – The Washington Post.

Right versus pragmatic – Marco.org

Posted on by

This piece by Marco Ament is another good contribution to the debate on piracy triggered by last week’s The Oatmeal comic.

Not all piracy represents lost sales: many pirates would never have paid, and would rather go without whatever they can’t easily pirate. That’s not a market worth worrying too much about, because there’s not much anyone can do to stop it, and any attempts to slow it down usually just limit, inconvenience, frustrate, and anger the paying customers.

And

Relying solely on yelling about what’s right isn’t a pragmatic approach for the media industry to take. And it’s not working. It’s unrealistic and naïve to expect everyone to do the “right” thing when the alternative is so much easier, faster, cheaper, and better for so many of them.

The pragmatic approach is to address the demand.

Right versus pragmatic – Marco.org.

Piracy roundup

Posted on by

There have been several interesting contributions to the piracy debate recently, too many to give each one an individual post. This Oatmeal cartoon has been circulating widely on Twitter and elsewhere, encapsulating the commonly held view that piracy is worsened by the fact that it can be very difficult to legally buy digital content in some cases, an argument also recently expressed by Matt Gemmell. An older Boing Boing post is also relevant here, about how much more frustrating it is to watch a legal DVD copy than a pirate one due to unskippable anti-piracy messages and trailers.

Reasoned responses have come from Andy Ihnatko and Craig Grannell who both make a similar point – that difficulty in buying something doesn’t mean we are entitled to steal it – whilst acknowledging the point The Oatmeal post makes.

The essence of the argument is as follows:

  • Pirates – media institutions make it too hard to buy digital content, by making it more expensive than DVDs, not available in all regions at the same time, not compatible with a wide range of devices, or simply not available at all. Piracy would be reduced if it was easier to be a legal consumer.
  • Non-pirates (if we are sticking with the established nautical metaphor, is this the navy?) – we are talking about entertainment products here, not food or medicine required to save lives. Difficulties in easily obtaining a media product legally does not mean that we are therefore entitled to steal it instead. It is possible to simply wait until it is available, buy a DVD copy or just go without.

Finally, reports yesterday also said that The Pirate Bay may well soon be blocked in the UK, much as Newzbin2 was, as attempts to censor the internet in order to protect the interests of media institutions continue.

iPhone brings cinematography to masses – Entertainment News, Technology News, Media – Variety

Posted on by

This Variety article looks at the impact of the iPhone 4S camera on film production:

The introduction of video recording options on Digital SLR cameras opened a lot of doors for budding auteurs on a budget, but advances to the camera quality of the latest iPhone could bring a flood of new offerings from people who haven’t previously been able to afford quality video equipment.

Apple put a heavy emphasis on the iPhone 4S camera, adding high-def 1080p recording capabilities (the iPhone 4 had 720p), updating the maximum aperture and improving the auto-white balance, while also offering image stabilization and temporal noise reduction. The result is a handheld video camera that shoots nearly as well as Canon’s EOS 5D Mark II at certain settings. And that’s already encouraging people to see what they can coax from the $200 device (not including two-year phone service contract).

“I foresee a lot more people experimenting with short film,” says Dmitry Kozko, CEO of OpenFilm, an online community for independent filmmakers whose advisory board includes actors James Caan, Robert Duvall and Scott Caan, along with director Mark Rydell. “I see it growing online, and I see a lot of festivals coming up that will cater to (the 4S), if only because of the ‘cool factor.’ “

via iPhone brings cinematography to masses – Entertainment News, Technology News, Media – Variety.

Hang The Pirates — But Start With The Movie Moguls And Record Execs « Nosey Parker

Posted on by

This piece by Al Parker of the Toronto Sun is well worth a read for anyone interested in the MegaUpload shutdown:

Law enforcement agents smash their way into a private building with sledgehammers and crowbars as part of a broad organized crackdown on “pirates” and “outlaws” who are brazenly flouting U.S. copyright and patent law, supposedly costing the legitimate copyright and patent holders a fortune in lost — “stolen” — revenue.

The legally mandated enforcers cause extensive, malicious damage and confiscate equipment, files, material and money that are the legal property of the building’s owner, who is charged with a variety of offences related to the alleged theft of intellectual property in the form of motion-picture films and technology.

Having shut down the business of the building without the necessity of a guilty verdict in court and having appropriated private property, again without a court finding of guilt, the enforcers leave the victim of their legally sanctioned invasion to pick up the broken pieces of his life.

Sounds a lot like Kim Dotcom (nee Schmitz), the Internet tycoon currently sitting in a New Zealand jail waiting for the U.S. government and its Hollywood backers to finally, slowly (the U.S. won’t actually produce documents for another month) get around to filing a formal extradition request on copyright infringement conspiracy charges.

But it’s not.

The victim could have been Carl Laemmle or William Fox or one of the dozen other independent producers who were later glorified as the founders of Hollywood. The legal enforcers were hired thugs representing Thomas Edison’s motion picture trust, a monopoly combine that controlled almost all aspects of movie technology, production and distribution in the U.S. before World War I. And the time was 1910 — more than 100 years ago.

Hang The Pirates — But Start With The Movie Moguls And Record Execs « Nosey Parker.

Observations on film art : Pandora’s digital box: Art house, smart house

Posted on by

Another fascinating, lengthy article about the impact the move towards digital projection is having on independent and arthouse cinemas. As larger cinemas move towards digital-only projection systems, fewer films will be released on 35mm. Whilst chains can afford to convert to the latest tech, it’s often prohibitively expensive for arthouse cinemas which may be forced to project from Blu-Ray or even DVD:

Theatres’ conversion from 35mm film to digital presentation was designed by and for an industry that deals in mass output, saturation releases, and quick turnover. A movie comes out on Friday, fills as many as 4,000 screens around the country, makes most of its money within a month or less, and then shows up on VoD, PPV, DVD, or some other acronym. The ancillary outlets yield much more revenue to the studios, but the theatrical release is crucial in establishing awareness of the film.

Given this shock-and-awe business plan, movies on film stock look wasteful. You make, ship, and store several thousand 35mm prints that will be worthless in a few months. (I’ve seen trash bags stuffed with Harry Potter reels destined for destruction.) Pushing a movie in and out of multiplexes on digital files makes more sense.

And on the subject of Video on Demand:

Ancillary income from DVD has declined steeply, and VoD pays well. According to Josh Dickey’s Variety article and Daniel Miller’s Hollywood Reporter piece on the rise of VoD deals, Margin Call, which attracted $5.3 million theatrically, took in an estimated $4-$5 million on VoD. Another advantage is that streaming provides fast returns, while any DVD income won’t show up for many months. Moreover, VoD can reach audiences in areas of the country that don’t have art houses. And some distributors believe that the theatrical and VoD audiences don’t significantly overlap. For Margin Call, it’s claimed, most people who saw it in the theatre didn’t know that it was on VoD, and many who caught it on VoD would not have gone to a theatre.

There don’t seem to be any firm conclusions about how much day-and-date or early release on VoD can harm a film’s theatrical release. In the absence of detailed evidence about VoD grosses, exhibitors are understandably nervous.

via Observations on film art : Pandora’s digital box: Art house, smart house.

UK box office passes the magic £1bn mark thanks to Harry Potter | Film | guardian.co.uk

Posted on by

This Guardian article looks at the UK box office for 2011 and includes a top ten for the year. Unusually, the three best performing films were all British – the final Harry Potter, The King’s Speech and The Inbetweeners Movie.

The UK box office hit £1bn for the first time in 2011 following a year which saw successes for the final film in the Harry Potter series and independent blockbusters such as The King’s Speech and The Inbetweeners.

The British Film Institute revealed yesterday that total earnings were up 5% to £1.04bn, while total admissions rose 1.4 % for a total of 171.6m tickets sold, despite the nation’s continuing economic woes. British-made independent films had a particularly good year, winning a market share of 13.5%, while films either made in Britain or financed here managed an impressive 36.2% share – up from 24% in 2010.

via UK box office passes the magic £1bn mark thanks to Harry Potter | Film | guardian.co.uk.

The Sky is Rising: report shows that entertainment industry is thriving; anti-piracy laws are about profit-maximization, not survival – Boing Boing

Posted on by

Whilst we face a radically changed internet in order to try and limit piracy, this Cory Doctorow post links to a report showing how entertainment revenue has risen during the period it is supposed to have been harmed.

The Sky is Rising: report shows that entertainment industry is thriving; anti-piracy laws are about profit-maximization, not survival – Boing Boing.