The Promise of Open Source Video

Three things about online video become increasingly clear:

(1) with over 17 Billion videos watched in December 2008 in the U.S. alone (according to comScore) and steady month-over-month growth, Internet video is undeniably here to stay;

(2) video exhibits classic long-tail distribution—while YouTube remains the dominant player, video is rapidly moving from destination sites to the rest of the web, with millions of sites streaming video as the new mode of communication; and

(3) the conversation at all levels is shifting from the technological aspects to the value aspects: not how to build a player or convert between formats but, rather, how to foster audience engagement and monetize on these billions of streams.

These observations are underwritten by the trends that became apparent in the past several years, namely, the rapid reduction in the cost of delivery and the abundance of companies in this ecosystem.

Anyone who is part of the video universe knows that the key question that remains is what drives value in this brave new world. How can publishers, advertisers, and technology enablers make money in a world in which delivery (CDN) is commoditized, display opportunities are abundant (driving CPMs for video advertising down), and audiences expect to get everything for free?

Is the short answer to focus on innovation—of formats, user experience, content, and/or delivery?

READ ALL - http://www.streamingmedia.com/article.asp?id=11085

Copyright © 1998–2009 - StreamingMedia.com, an Information Today Inc. company. All rights reserved.

Two Brilliant Discoveries and I’m Not Woody

This is David Heidelberger's fantastic award-winning video essay about coins and the binary number system.

SEE THE FILM - http://www.davidheidelberger.com/player.php?name=movies/brilliant&exte=mov&xdim=384&ydim=288&title=Two Brilliant Discoveries

Below is David Heidelberger's award-winning film about how he is not, in fact, Woody Allen. Apologies for the poor quality. It's NYU's budget telecine from the 16mm. David swears that this was once a cinematographic masterpiece. Also starring Johnny Pomatto and Yuri Namkung.

SEE THE FILM - http://www.davidheidelberger.com/player.php?name=movies/woody&exte=mov&xdim=384&ydim=288&title=I’m Not Woody
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Watch “Sita Sings the Blues” online

After working on it for over five years and spending over $100,000.00, NY animator, Nina Paley, has made her award-winning animated film, SITA SINGS THE BLUES, available for free download.

Sita is a goddess separated from her beloved Lord and husband Rama. Nina is an animator whose husband moves to India, then dumps her by e-mail. Three hilarious shadow puppets narrate both ancient tragedy and modern comedy in this beautifully animated interpretation of the Indian epic Ramayana. Set to the 1920’s jazz vocals of Annette Hanshaw, Sita Sings the Blues earns its tagline as “The Greatest Break-Up Story Ever Told.”

SEE THE FILM - http://www.thirteen.org/sites/reel13/blog/watch-sita-sings-the-blues-online/347/

Without a doubt, this is one of the best 2D animated films ever made.

Harlan Ellison -- Pay the Writer

A memorable (and timely) rant from the upcoming feature documentary on Harlan Ellison, "DREAMS WITH SHARP TEETH".

CLICK HERE to go to http://www.creatvdiff.com/harlan_ellison.php for more excerpts!

Unconventional Media and Interactive Cinema

Interview with Unconventional Media about Interactive Cinema

Do you think that TV and Theatrical releases are your only form of distribution?

It's time to think again. The guys from Unconventional Media are shooting big productions for interactive video games. That’s right, big budgets and cool special effects just for video games!

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE - http://www.pixelheadsnetwork.com/2009/02/17/cinners-2009-04-interview-with-unconventional-media-about-interactive-cinema/

© Copyright 2009 - ProMAX Systems - All Rights Reserved.

African Cinemas Go Dark

The FESPACO film festival was increasingly rare chance for cinema buffs in Africa to see works made by fellow Africans. Across the continent, movie theatres are going dark, victims to the flood of cheap DVDs. In Senegal's capital there are almost no movie theatres left.

How to Turn TEN MILLION into ONE

This is an easy trick that anyone can learn to do.

Many large companies are already becoming experts at performing this trick. All you need to start with is Ten Million and an idea.

Your idea could be something original or perhaps you might want to create a remake or another film in a series of films. Last year, the Weinstein Company (who had ten million) decided to make George Romero's "Diary of the Dead".

The budget for this film was reported at $10 million -- lower than the budget for "Land of the Dead" but not that much lower. In his first independently produced zombie film in over twenty years, George A. Romero returned to ground zero in the history of the living dead series.

TOTAL DOMESTIC GROSS: $958,961.00
http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=diaryofthedead.htm

This trick is easy to do again and again. Many companies can attest to this fact. And yes, today you can also do it (but probably on a smaller scale) with any camcorder you might have lying around the house.

But remember, it's always more fun and certainly a lot more professional to have ten million since you can then hire large crews to help you out. And this will surely cut down on your workload.

"NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD" EXCLUSIVE:
Night of the Living Dead - Exclusive


The official trailer for George A. Romero's "DIARY OF THE DEAD":


For those who are still mystified, many people are now conducting classes and offering books, videos, recordings and courses on how to perform this trick. Or, you can learn evertything you need to know right here by reading www.myfilm.com every day! Let's hope we all can work together to get through these tough times!

© 2009 Stanley N. Lozowski, All Rights Reserved.

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Pitching to Get Started; Pitching to Sell

A writer needs to pitch twice.

The first time is when you’re thinking about an idea and may want to try it out on fellow writers and friends to assess their interest.

The second time is when you are ready to sell a storyline and hope that it has the pizazz necessary to create interest in your script.

There are good ideas and not-so-good ideas, and usually the best way to test an idea is to see what kind of interest you get with a simple pitch.

“Two teen-agers meet at summer camp and fall in love”. Ho-hum. It sounds like a million other ideas and there’s nothing special or compelling. If you pitched this to a few friends and you saw their eyes glaze over, you’d know it needs some work.

So, how to change the pitch? A good unique pitch will imply conflict, give a sense of the action of the storyline, suggest character and give a feeling for the context if the context is unusual or particularly cinematic.

CLICK HERE to read more by Dr. Linda Seger - http://www.inktip.com/sa_article_page.php?cat=sa&sub=resources&pg=48

©1998-2008 InkTip. All rights reserved.

COMICS into MOVIES and MOVIES into COMICS?

Why is it O.K. to do a film version of the SIN CITY graphic novel, but not a graphic novel of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD…that moves?

This is the question posed by Christopher Panzner, director at Re:Naissance.

LEARN MORE - http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PBgt-jz5oEM/Sb6KJTOrwWI/AAAAAAAAPeI/9sZMb6E_gYU/s1600-h/FILMINK+%28April+2009%29.jpg

READ THE INTERVIEW - http://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/feature.php?id=612

1.3 million movies at your fingertips...

Col Needham, from Manchester, England, is the current managing director and one of four founding partners of the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) and he has envisaged a time when all of the 1.3 million titles that are indexed on the site -- movies and TV shows -- can be streamed to its users with the click of a mouse.

CNET News reported that in a speech delivered to the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, TX, Needham acknowledged that the task will be formidable (and in some instances impossible, since prints of some of the films listed on the website no longer exist).

Developing a relationship with rights owners also could prove to be challenging, he said, but it has already begun, with IMDb currently providing access to 14,000 TV episodes and about 2,000 movies, as well as 120,000 videos including trailers, interviews and featurettes.

© 2009, Associated Press.

STARTING YOUR NEW MEDIA COMPANY WITH A FRIEND

Starting up a business with a close friend seemed like a fool-proof plan. It's hard to imagine, "What could possibly go wrong?"

You’ll get along (obviously), and you’ll get to share the exciting, fantastic, scary experience of starting up when someone you care about. It’s not a bad idea, but there are a few caveats that you should be aware of before you proceed1.

When I started my first company with one of my closest friends, I expected things would go very well between us. We understood each other in ways that would take years to build up (it took ten years).

MOST IMPORTANTLY: we knew each other well, and we knew we could rely on each other. We were prepared to have many surprises along the way.

READ MORE - http://danieltenner.com/posts/0005-starting-up-with-a-friend.html

THE BANNEN WAY

The Bannen Way is a high-octane fueled original web series that happens to have a lot of substance. The ever-present ADD Generation will be easily hooked by the visual, fast-paced nature of the show, and the faithful viewers will be rewarded by rich characters who are ever-evolving and surprising us at every turn.

Targeting the male 18-35 demographic, this show has everything they could possibly dream of and more. Fast Cars, Beautiful Women, comedy, sex, violence, heists, etc: it is every male’s wet dream encompassed in one series.

Coincidentally, this high-speed fantasy is also about something. This is a story of a flawed guy who wants to turn his life around. In a world where every corner lures us into danger, Neal Bannen is trying to do the right thing.

Viewers will feel like they’re actually learning something every week when they’re presented with one of the “Family Principles” and watch how Bannen deals with his everyday problems using his grandfather’s suggestions. An example would be…
“Principle #18: Set a Goal. When You Reach it… Stop.”



LEARN MORE: http://www.thebannenway.com/INDEX.html

MAKE A "FOUND VIDEO" MOVIE!

Independent "FOUND VIDEO" movies (also known as "REALITY" films) are easy to make and they can cost very little.

Some teams are making plans to film their "found video" horror film when they go on vacation, travel or have a few days or a week free to do something "different".

In any event, what makes them popular is that such films require things that are NEVER seen in professional productions. No script (just an idea or an outline), no acting (just walk through, react and improvise), no lighting (available light and the less the better), no sets (just shoot somewhere spooky), bad camera work (no tripod), poor editing (to look like anyone could have filmed it) and of course, little investment in terms of money.

And the number one advantage: YOU CAN FILM IT WITH ANY OLD LOW-RESOLUTION CAMERA. There is no need to run out and purchase a new camera with high definition and all the bells and whistles. Poor quality actually makes the film more believable!

What's amazing is that Hollywood is copying this formula. Look at QUARANTINE where a news crew is assigned to do a human feature on a firehouse and suddenly finds themselves trapped in the middle of a nightmare. There is a disease running amok in an apartment building and the disease turns ordinary people into killers. And it's contagious...

© 2009 Stanley N. Lozowski, All Rights Reserved.

A self distribution model

For all those who want to directly reach your niche audience, you might be interested in this...

I'm using a web marketing model for a promotion of my DVD for my indiefilm "Schooled"
www.SchooledTheFilm.com

The guy who created the marketing model, Marc Rosenbush, has a film called "Zen Noir" that has no stars and only played at minor fests, but he generated $250K selling his DVD this way.

If you want to follow along in my adventure of trying to launch this promotion for my film or ask me questions about how you might be able to apply the model to your projects, jump on to our free mailing list here: http://visitor.constantcontact.com/email.jsp?m=1101985643907

All the best,
Brooks Elms

What Does a Content Delivery Network Need?

A Content Delivery Network needs to do more than just deliver content

The Internet has changed and the World Wide Web (as we knew it) only a few years ago has added video and the possibility for interactivity with customers and potential customers.

Video can effectively present information including education, product demonstrations, entertainment, and advertising. But as the amount of video assets and content continues to grow, how do you track and monitor this content?

Integrated Digital Asset Management Solutions from Internap is one company that allows you to manage your entire video asset library including video content and advertising content through one easy-to-use interface.

LEARN MORE - http://www.internap.com/promo/look2/

LOW PAY; NO PAY; DEFERRED PAY

As the economic downturn continues to worsen, fewer Hollywood productions are being funded while independent digital production has greatly increased. It appears as if there very well might be up to ten thousand independent features made this year.

Most new media films usually have very low budgets and this of course, means more and more postings for casts and crews willing to work for no-lo-micro-zero or deferred pay.

I believe that people should be paid something for their work even if the producers cannot afford to pay professional wages. In addition, workers should be well fed and treated with respect on the set.

Most filmmakers (cast and crew) paid their dues when they were young or when they were just starting out by working for nothing or next to nothing on several projects in order to build up their resumes and make connections. The reality, for better or worse, is that there will always be people willing to work for low, no or deferred pay just for the opportunity to get see themselves or their work on a movie or TV screen.

Low pay, no pay or deferred pay; thank your workers for their contributions to your project, and hire them in the future for real pay whenever you can. If you sell your film, pay your help.

Let's hope we all can work together to get through these tough times!

© 2009 Stanley N. Lozowski, All Rights Reserved.

Filmmaker plans to have camera installed in his eye

A Filmmaker plans to have an "Eyeborg" eye-socket camera installed in his prosthetic eye!


EYEBORG-- The Two Week Trial from eyeborg on Vimeo.

Take a one-eyed film maker, an unemployed engineer, and a vision for something that's never been done before and you have yourself the "EyeBorg" Project. Rob Spence, Kosta Grammatis and a team of others are trying to make history by embedding a video camera and a transmitter in a prosthetic eye. That eye is going in Robs eye socket, and will record the world from a perspective that's never been seen before.

READ THE BLOG - http://www.eyeborgblog.com

Read the news release - http://tech.yahoo.com/news/nm/20090305/tc_nm/us_eyeborg

All content © 2009 by EyeBorg Blog

24x

STARLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT LLC is the producer of 24x, a dark comedic parody that’s based on the premise of what would happen if Mulder and Scully were kicked off the X-Files and transferred to the show, 24.

And here, they share their knowledge about how to make a webisode:
1.) Have a brilliant idea.
2.) Write a 3-5 minute script
3.) Have some friends come over, read and rehearse the script and act the show out.
4.) Film it with props and scenery.
5.) You can get away with so little on a small screen
6.) Film it in a way that just gives a hint that it has higher quality.

It's High Noon in outer space...

A writer hoping to interest a decision maker in the film, television, or publishing industries in his story faces a formidable challenge.

The target of his pitch is an extraordinarily busy person and will likely only be able to give the writer fifteen minutes of his or her time, tops. This person's job also requires that they listen to a large number of story ideas that are inappropriate and sometimes flat-out bad.

The writer must be able to sum up the whole essence of his story in a painfully short summary. The ideal is to be able to convey the entire concept in one short sentence.

Probably the more famous example of this was the pitch for the 1981 movie OUTLAND: "It's High Noon in outer space."

High concept indeed --- take a classic Western that almost everyone knows the story of even if they've never seen the movie (forsaken by the craven, cowardly townspeople, the sheriff of a Wild West town must stand alone in a showdown against the bad guys) and recycle it as a science-fiction movie.

LEARN MORE - by Quizro - http://everything2.com/title/It%2527s%2520High%2520Noon%2520in%2520outer%2520space

All content copyright © original author unless stated otherwise.

Mark Cuban Forecasts Live 3-D Telecasts

Mark Cuban, the co-owner of the Landmark Theatres chain, said that he foresees the day when live sports events will be presented in movie theaters in digital 3-D.

At a hearing on "Broadband and the Digital Future" Cuban said that he presented a live 3-D broadcast of a Dallas Mavericks basketball game at a local Landmark theater in Dallas (Cuban is the owner of the Mavericks).

"It was a huge success. Fans loved it, 3-D glasses and all, and have asked for more," he told the panel. He remarked that what is holding back similar live telecasts is the virtual nonexistence of any production trucks dedicated to 3-D live programming.

READ MORE - http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/cuban%20forecasts%20live%203-d%20telecasts%20to%20theaters_1075169

©2009 Contactmusic.com Ltd, all rights reserved

Choosing Your DP / Cinematographer

The DP's job is to deliver excellent and cost­-effective shots.

It's the director's job to consider these shots as part of a whole. No matter how beautiful or stunning the shot, in editing the director evaluates whether it will fit into the overall vision.

There is a unique relationship between the director and cinematographer and this article attempts to codify the most effective language for these two positions. To demonstrate the esteem in which most directors hold their DPs, the "director of photography" is the only job title in the business where someone other than the film's overall "director" is allowed to be called a "director of" something.

You must choose your DP wisely. If you do, you can achieve a creative partnership that approaches the level of intimacy and shared vision of a fine marriage.

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE by Eric Sherman - http://www.moviemaker.com/editing/article/casting_your_cinematographer_3317/

© 1999, 2009, MovieMaker Magazine