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.

DEAD STARS TO STAR AGAIN IN MOVIES?

We all know that every independent filmmaker who can afford $399.00 for Canon's HV 30 1080i camera is planning to shoot their feature film with a very low budget. The HV30 is turbocharged with 30P mode in addition to 60i and 24P. For the best in high definition at this low price (and even at higher prices), right now you just can't beat the HV 30. CLICK HERE FOR CANON SPECS - http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/Canon-HV30-Camcorder-Review-34401.htm#

There are great implications in today's news for independent filmmakers because most indy films are shot with low/no/micro budgets and that always means that the producers usually have little or no money and cannot afford to employ big name stars unless the stars agree to work for deferred pay or no pay. All this might change very fast especially if you're willing to work with dead stars...

According to Neil Dessau, chief marketing officer for Advanced Micro Devices, it is now possible to produce a new movie starring Marlon Brando with a "virtual" Marlon Brando. Of course, you would have to license Brando's personna and image from his estate (but this might not be as expensive as one might think early on in this crazy game).

Unveiling the company's new ATI Radeon graphics card here in New York Tuesday, Dessau said that the card will permit directors to control not only the lighting, staging, and dialog of movies digitally but also create virtual actors and easily manipulate their facial expressions.

The online edition of Advertising Age quoted Jules Urbach, founder of a firm developing high-quality animation as saying that it is now "possible to bring back actors from the past and realistically put them in new films."

Imagine a new film starring Bruce Lee, Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe with John Wayne thrown in for good measure! This has been possible for many years (but with lesser quality results by today's standards) since the program VIRTUAL MARILYN first sought to reproduce the image of Marilyn Monroe in films many years ago. The fact is that today's processors make the portrayals a lot more realistic and lifelike. CLICK HERE TO SEE a Demonstration of virtual Marilyn Monroe Footage (Miralab) from one decade ago - http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/specialfx2/marilyn.html

In the past, we have been treated to TV commercials using digitized and edited versions of Louie Armstrong, Humphrey Bogart, W. C. Fields, Marilyn Monroe, Groucho Marks and Abraham Lincoln, to name just a few of the deceased celebrities who have been used in films. Producers sought to put Marlon Brando in 2006 movie "Superman Returns" this way and they ended up with some amazing scenes that appropriately incorporated footage and Brando's old voice tracks with his reflection in the crystals.

© 2008, Stanley N. Lozowski. All Rights Reserved.
portions © 2008 Contactmusic.com Ltd, all rights reserved