Gizmodo has two long writeups on the Blu-ray and HD-DVD competing disc formats, summarizing where the two camps stand currently and what we can expect from them in the near future. Read The State of HD-DVD and The State of Blu-ray.

Excerpts on HD-DVD:
“…there’s growing disarray among Blu-ray’s hardware makers and confusion about hardware versions and player capabilities. HD DVD has by contrast proven to be surprisingly elegant—at the moment best demonstrated by comparing both versions of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. There’s far less confusion and potential backstabbing, but that is to be expected: There are only two household names leading the charge on the hardware side, Toshiba and Microsoft, and they are not engaged in any sort of infighting…”

HD DVD has three things going for it that Blu-ray doesn’t:
1. Players at lower prices
2. A finished spec with fully compatible players
3. Coalition members who are not in direct competition

Continue reading ‘The State of HD-DVD and Blu-ray’

Slashfilm reports that the annual Black List was released last week, containing a ranking of the hot screenplays of 2007 that are making the rounds and stirring up buzz in Hollywood.

Fuji will introduce fully-licensed and compatible P2 cards for Panasonic cameras in Spring 2008. I seriously doubt they will be come at a significant price break, but perhaps it will help with demand (which would indirectly affect pricing). The other solid state format that is spreading it’s wings is CompactFlash…CF cards are being used by Red camera shooters, and can be used in the forthcoming HVR-Z7U and HVR-S270U HDV cameras from Sony. And if you’re concerned that CF isn’t suited for the rigors of production, here’s a interesting anecdote that may set your mind at ease…it seems that a lost CF card was recovered after two years exposure to the outdoor elements, and it remained functional. If only the hard drives that will ultimately hold your footage were as hardy.

Here’s a quick tutorial that will show you how to create a drum sequence in Apple Garageband using nothing but your keyboard.

The Veterans History Project has been collecting interviews and first-hand service accounts from veterans since 2000. Now in a partnership with PBS and Ken Burns, they have expanded the project and are requesting audio and video interviews from the community at large. They have broken the process down into 5 relatively simple steps, and offer a kit to get you started. So if you know a vet or civilian with a wartime story to tell, here’s your opportunity to preserve their account of history before it is lost forever.

Despite what seem like endless negotiation meetings, the WGA and studios have not yet reached an agreement. Writers Guild of America members are still striking, and the whole mess is hitting the entire TV and Film industry hard. At the center of this argument is the question of what content is worth to the Studios, and ultimately the writers creating the content. It is unfortunate that so many other production positions are affected by the strike. Consider the following e-mail to the LA Times from Dale Alexander, a grip on the set of “The Office” (which shut down after only 5 days into the strike):

“…On my show we had 14 writers. There were also 2 cameramen, 2 camera assistants, 4 hair stylists, 4 makeup artists, 7 wardrobe people, 4 grips, 4 electricians, 2 craft service, 4 props people, 6 construction, 1 medic, 3 art department, 5 set dressers, 3 sound men, 3 stand-ins, 2 set PAs, 4 assistant directors, 1 DGA trainee, 1 unit manager, 6 production office personnel, 3 casting people, 4 writers assistants, 1 script supervisor, 2 editors, 2 editors assistants, 3 post production personnel, 1 facilities manager, 8 drivers, 2 location managers, 3 accountants, 4 caterers and a producer who’s not a writer. All 102 of us are now out of work.”
“Everyone should be paid their fair share, but does it have to be at the expense of the other 90% of the crewmembers. Nobody ever recoups from a strike, lost wages are just that, lost. We all know that the strike will be resolved. Eventually both sides will return to the bargaining table and make a deal. The only uncertainty is how many of our houses, livelihoods, college educations and retirement funds will pay for it.”

Continue reading ‘Where the WGA Strike Stands’

LATimes has a nice analysis of the finances behind the film Sahara, widely generally regarded as major budget bomb after it recorded a $105M loss. It’s hard to grasp the scale of a production that required over $100,000 for “walkie-talkies”, $81,375 worth of camels, and $1.6M for boats (sadly, many of the boats perished in the film). No wonder they had to write in script changes to accommodate sponsors. Perhaps they should have re-dubbed it $ahara while they were making revisions.

The director of The Tracey Fragments has Creative-Commons licensed the film’s raw footage and music score and made it all available for download in multiple 4GB+ Bittorrent packages. Re-edits can be submitted in a contest to win a “Final Cut Pro Prize Pack”. Note that the contest rules state you must be a resident of Canada to enter. But regardless of eligibility, this could be a valuable learning experience for new editors with big ideas but no feature footage to work with. Here’s your chance.

(Via Studio Daily)

New technologies go through several distinct stages or inflection points in their growth; price, mass or market adoption, and commoditization. For DVD, the tipping point in cost came in the late 90’s when DVD players finally dropped below $400. Shortly thereafter, the critical mass factor kicked in…20% of homes had a DVD player. And now we have commoditization in that players can be had for $25-$50. And it all snowballed once the price inflection point was hit. I said all that to say this…iTunes movie pricing has been a thorn in the side of major studios for a while now, and it seems they’ve finally gotten Apple to back down.

“…studios such as 20th Century Fox have been successful in convincing Apple to pay a higher wholesale price of $15 per movie—just $3 less than the average price of a brick-and-mortar DVD. What this means for the actual selling price of a movie in the iTunes Store remains to be seen, but this deal apparently secures more studio support for doing things like including an iTunes-optimized copy of the movie on store-bought Enhanced DVDs.”

The good news is you’ll probably have greater selection of digital movies, as it is more attractive for studios to come to the party.. The bad news is that this will make the decision to buy online less clear cut from a monetary standpoint, and quite possibly will limit adoption.

Spotted during a live ESPN broadcast: “This is the main text box where you can put up to 3 lines of information for your lower-third bio graphic.” I’m actually kind of surprised we don’t see slipups like this more often.

Seam Carving for images got a lot of giddy press when it was demonstrated recently. As it should…the technology represents a paradigm shift (yes, I said it!) in the way images are cropped and resized. Researchers have now shown Seam Carving tech working on video footage. Sweet.

I discovered the Filmschool podcast some time ago, and have been slowly catching up on old episodes. In one episode back in December of 2006 Nathan and Mike interviewed reknown documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman. I was struck by the sheer amount of useful tips and knowledge dispensed by the director, and it dawned on me that this single podcast is more than just an intriguing interview…it is in fact an excellent tutorial on the basics of what it takes to be a documentary filmmaker. Wiseman is a wealth of insight and experience, and he shares freely. If you have a documentary bent, this particular podcast episode should be required listening. You can download the MP3 directly via this link, and I recommend subscribing to their podcast feed for more great content. A description of the episode follows:
Continue reading ‘How To Be a Documentary Filmmaker’

We mentioned The West Side several months back. Since then I had a chance to meet one of the filmmakers behind the project in NYC, Ryan Bilsborrow-Koo. Ryan is a motivated guy with a strong indie sensibility; I suspect he’s destined for filmmaking greatness. And after watching this second in the series of West Side online episodes, you might agree.

UK DP Philip Bloom took his new XDCAM EX1 on a test shoot with the Letus Extreme 35mm adapter. He’s shared his thoughts on the combo and a short video clip as well. The footage looks amazing…

“The first three shots are adaptor free and there is one shot near the end that comes after a similar shot that is also adaptor free. Initially I was going to shoot loads on non letus stuff but once I had it on I didn’t want to take it off. All I can say is the camera shoot cracking pictures with or without the Letus that blow the HVX 200 clean out of the water!”

 "Picadilly Furs" by Philip Bloom [2:56m]: Download

As spotted over at HD For Indies, the innovators of Hydra and Andromeda uncompressed capture modifications for Panasonic DVX and HVX camcorders have announced that the technology will no longer be available for purchase by the general public. Juan says on the forum: “As some of you already know, the Hydra/Andromeda technology is indeed being sold/licensed and thus Reel-Stream will no longer be installing units to individual users. At this time I can’t post more details about the future of the technology, but it seems likely that it will not be marketed to the public. I have a feeling that if there is enough interest there is a possibility this could change, but it is not their plan at this time.” In response, a petition was started by Andromeda users to urge the licensor to sell to the general public.