Awkward/Juxtaposition

The Gang's All Here: The Muppets Movie

2011-12-23T12:33:00.000-05:00

The other night I took a walk down memory lane. The vehicle was The Muppets, a surprisingly good movie musical about the things that get left behind in our rush to be grownups. The gang was all there –Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie and Animal. And by the time I heard the bom bom bom of The Muppet Show theme song, I had already been transported well back into my childhood. How many movies these days allow us to live out our nostalgia intact, without ruining the very essence of the thing we miss? These muppets haven’t been dumbed down or tampered with or coaxed into playing some saccharine version of themselves. They may be a little older, a little banged up, but as soon they appear on screen its clear they have the same charming presence and quirky personalities as they did in their heyday.

The power of seeing your childhood victorious on screen can be an easy thrill, but it doesn’t have to come cheap, and with this film it sure doesn’t. Witty and at times venturing into the absurd, this muppets film is pure theatrical showmanship with a tinge of mania and desperation. What if Kermit doesn't succeed and the muppets lose their theater? The same fear is present for the filmmakers, who have been given the burden of one last chance to see if there’s still any love (or money) left in these characters. Fortunately, in Nicholas Stoller and Jason Segal’s deft hands, there appears to be life after death. They take a risk with Chris Cooper rapping, and with the chorus of chickens singing a G-rated version of Cee-lo Green's Fuck You, but both gambles turn out to integrate seamlessly into the fabric of what Muppetdom and this film are all about. The muppets live for the pure joy of entertaining and their happiness is infectious. I found myself wiping many tears of laughter and delight from my eyes and already making promises to myself to come back to see it again.

Cartier: "Painted Love"

2011-12-05T22:07:00.001-05:00

Elegant execution. Sometimes, Art + Commerce do play nice.

Phantom Tollbooth Documentary!

2011-11-04T14:26:00.002-04:00

I can't even begin to express how excited I am for this. This book made me fall in love with language and fantasy in equal parts, and has taught me that being curious is always way more fun than feigning boredom.

First thoughts on Amor Towles "Rules of Civility"

2011-10-30T11:45:00.000-04:00

Like all good writing, Amor Towles Rules of Civility deftly transports you into its intended environment. Here, it’s the chink chink of glasses, the heavy stench of cigarette smoke, and the bright baubles of the well-heeled classes of late 1930s New York. The mysterious but plucky Katey Kontent is our guide, and her fondness for Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations is no accident. Even from 140 pages in, the comparisons to Pip are evident, but what keeps this from traveling toward an expected and unsurprising conclusion is the lack of idealism and naiveté with which Katey confronts her world. This doesn’t appear to be a bildungsroman. Not too far into the novel, it becomes clear that Katey has already reinvented herself once when she moved from the Russian ghetto of Brighton Beach to the prim but poor Mrs Martingale’s boarding house. The opportunity comes again for her and her friend Eve on New Years Eve in 1937, when they come across a wide-eyed, deep-pocketed New York blueblood. A series of events follow that bring Katey and Eve out of the Lower East Side and up Fifth Avenue, altering the course of their lives forever.

Only half way through the novel, I’m still in the dark as to where they end up (though we know from the Preface that Katey has made it to 1969 with a husband in tow), what’s lost in the journey, and whether it’s for better or worse. But the thrill of the era is captured so resplendently in each paragraph that it seemed a shame not to jot my thoughts down on impulse. Whether it turns into a great novel or is merely the best-written pitch for a film I’ve ever come across remains to be seen. Either way, it makes me thirsty for a dry martini and an extra hundred pages. I doubt I’ll be ready to leave the party by the time I get to the end.

Outside of Time and Space in Bombay Beach

2011-10-18T23:47:00.000-04:00

Thinking of a series of dreams
Where the time and the tempo drag,
And there's no exit in any direction
'Cept the one that you can't see with your eyes.
Wasn't making any great connections,
Wasn't falling for any intricate schemes.
Nothing that would pass inspection,
Just thinking of a series of dreams.
--Bob Dylan "Series of Dreams"

What defines a well-lived life? What makes a man rich? Or happy? Some version of these questions lies at the root of most cinematic endeavors, and Bombay Beach is no exception. The film takes place in an insular, dying, desert seascape outside of time, populated by atypical individuals who seem like they were plucked from the negatives of Diane Arbus and Walker Evans. The lives of this band of eccentrics have been written off by society as bleak and hopeless, but this very isolation and abandonment has cultivated a different, no less vibrant and loving community.

In the neighborhoods in and around Bombay Beach there is no Obama or Romney or Bachmann talk. There is no anxiety about “the future of things”. There is no media or marketing or malls.There is no constantly updating Facebook stream, or Linkedin profile, or rss feed. There is a dying sea and the sun and long stretches of road and sand. There are tin roofs and trailers. There is garbage and wire and flea-bitten mutts that snuggle with empty beer cans and restless children. But through the eyes of director Alma Har’el’s camera, Bombay Beach also contains magic and innocence and whimsy. There is deeply felt emotion and friendship. There are games of pretend and large group potlucks. Here, in this surreal place where time does not rush ceaselessly into the future, a moment is felt for its full weight. It's not a means to an end but is the end itself. While the lives of these economically marginalized folks are captured for what they are, Har’el finds a romantic spirit embedded. The film’s folksy and dreamy score complement a shooting style in which her subjects appear like mythical beings, entering shots larger than life, captured in the soft light of the magic hour, or up so close that every wrinkle and freckle is heavy with reverence.

And then there is the dancing. The choreographed moments dispersed throughout the film bring the already alien landscape of the Salton Sea further out of time, essentially constructing an alternate post-apocalyptic version of America that is breathtaking in its strangeness. We see the shadow of a large man and wife spin against the siding of house, and a group of children clasp hands in a choreographed dance of the game red rover. One of my favorite moments is a masked dance between two teen lovers in a gazebo lit up by Christmas lights. Somehow it doesn’t feel forced. Somehow it feels honest and beautiful.

Har’el’s Bombay Beach is graceful in its decrepitude and wise in its ignorance. Whether the residents profiled feel the same warm glow and magic she projects onto them and their lives is another story. Regardless, it is a strange and intriguing landscape so distant from the America I know. One I would very much like to visit, even if only in a dream.

Bombay Beach // Trailer from Alma Har'el on Vimeo.

The Eyes of Michael Shannon

2011-10-14T22:53:00.001-04:00

There’s a scene in Jeff Nichol’s disquieting new film Take Shelter in which Michael Shannon pulls his car over to the side of the road. We are beside him, looking through his windshield. The road ahead is blown out by the white emptiness of overexposed daylight. The rear view mirror floats there, hanging on nothing. On it’s own, its already a jarring shot. The reflective surface lying in wait against the oppressive glare of the afternoon sun. This is in contrast to the crackle of thunder heard moments earlier. The sound of a storm brewing. A storm that no one but Shannon’s character Curtis can hear or feel.

We return to the mirror. In its reflection are Curtis’ eyes. They are panicked and wild and frightened, but they are also intelligent and piercing. They are eyes that bore holes into you and burn indelible marks into your subconscious, leaving you unsettled and ill at ease. Is this man crazy, or does he know something? You are nervous. Maybe even a little scared. With just his eyes against the bright light of day, the anxiety of the narrative—of this man—becomes more than just moving images, but a palpable sensation that surrounds you and locks you in. There is something unearthly about them. Set low on the forehead, they look out at you from the mirror with an unnatural cerulean blue. With nothing else in the frame, you can only concentrate on the intensity with which these eyes are emitting its message:

Something is coming. There is reason to fear. Why doesn’t anyone see?

I went to Take Shelter this evening on a whim. It had been awhile since I went to the movies by myself—one of my favorite things to do in NYC. Fortunately, the crappy weather and lack of appealing plans presented me with this rare opportunity and I checked to see what was at the Angelika. I'd seen the trailer for Take Shelter months back and had been hooked by a scene in which Michael Shannon's character is confronted by a flock of swarming CGI birds. But even more than the birds I was intrigued to see Shannon take on a leading man role. Over the past ten years he has appeared in a number of supporting parts to extreme effect, stealing the show from the lead every time. Here again, he doesn't disappoint. The film itself is already impressive—a taut, moody discourse on the generally unsettling and anxiety ridden state of the country. But Shannon takes the film's ethereal and saturnine canvas and grounds it convincingly in the character of Curtis. He is a man on the edge, but of insanity or an awful truth? The answer is left unclear. And we are left with the impression of Shannon’s intense eyes, daring us to wonder what is coming next.

Bringing VOD to the Dinner Table.

2011-09-21T16:50:00.000-04:00

VOD won’t kill the theatrical release, but it may just help save independent filmmaking.

For the last decade, VOD has been the bastard cousin of theatrical and DVD distribution. Before the much-buzzed about HDNet day-and-date release of Soderbergh’s Bubble, the idea of on-demand television viewing was associated primarily with porn and boxing. Initially, the Bubble experiment put a bad aftertaste in the mouths of most theater owners and directors alike. Theater owners felt that a simultaneous release on pay-per-view and in theaters would be bad for their business, eroding revenues and further commoditizing the theatrical experience. Directors, blinded by the bright lights and spurious prestige of a theatrical release, saw VOD releases as dirty; a dumping ground for second-rate films from hack filmmakers. No one took it seriously as a viable distribution outlet capable of wide viewership and a real rate of return.

Fast forward to 2011. VOD hasn’t completely lost its sleazy finish, but it getting close. It’s picked up a number of supporters in the indie distribution world, and it may be their open armed embrace of the technology that has led to their survival. The two most well known companies, Magnolia Pictures and IFC Entertainment, have partnerships with cable providers like Comcast allowing them to offer movies on branded V.O.D. channels on the same day they were released in theaters. These companies believe that this strategy gives films a wider audience (and as a result, more opportunity for profit) than it would have with just a theatrical and DVD release. According to Geoff Gilmore, chief creative officer of Tribeca Enterprises: “Independent films are failing in the theatrical box office all over America right now — 80 per cent of them don’t make $100,000,” he said. “We have to find new ways of marketing this work that involves a range of different things that are not just the traditional theatrical system.”

This past year, Magnolia Pictures took things even further with its release of All Good Things. Using what has been termed an Ultra VOD strategy; the film played on VOD first, and then rolled into theaters. While the $20 million Ryan Gosling/Kristen Dunst thriller only made a paltry $644,535 theatrically worldwide, it performed spectacularly on V.O.D., selling over $5 million in rentals priced at about $10.99. Even some of the more mainstream “art house” distribs have taken note. Seven months ago, Focus Features launched its own VOD label, Focus World. If a more conservative operation such as this is willing to take a chance it’s probably because they see some real potential to diversify their offerings with minimal risk.

Continuing this trend, Filmmaker magazine has started a VOD calendar that curates the top independent VOD releases each month.

So what does this mean? Well, if you’re a progressive filmmaker not wedded to a traditional release strategy, it means you now have more opportunity to make money doing what you love to do. The days of getting a wide theatrical release and a $20 million P&A commitment are over. But imagine any Comcast or Verizon FIOs subscriber being just one click away (and perhaps $10.99) from your film. It’s much easier to sell a customer on an impulse purchase from the safety of their couch. They don’t have to go anywhere. And as more and more people get comfortable making purchases via their internet-enabled tv, potential profit margins will grow and grow.

Now I’m not suggesting that filmmaking should be all about the bottom line. But it’s naïve to think that quality non-mainstream films will continue to get funded if they can’t offer any potential for profit. Art is a business just like any other and to be apathetic to that fact is just plain dumb. As technology continues to make the home viewing environment both more theatrical and more connected, the opportunity for a film to reach its audience at the quality in which it was intended is becoming a greater reality.

Content vs. Context - who's king?

2011-09-13T17:45:00.001-04:00

The tagline “content is king” has been shouted from the rooftops by every internet entrepreneur from a prescient Bill Gates in ‘96 to desperate digital content houses in today’s saturated market trying to justify their product. For years, content was supposed to be the great white hype of the internet, providing a rich and fertile soil for publishers and media moguls to raise huge profits by way of hungry advertisers looking for new venues to reach customers. Corporations like Microsoft and AOL saw that it wasn’t enough to own the hose or the portal, they needed to own the content to send through it. Some believed a certain level of quality was necessary (hence the birth of video portals like Hulu) while others believed the answer just came down to quantity (Google’s purchase of Youtube).

However, the best and most trying characteristic about the internet is its inherent democracy. Sure, you can own SOME content, but you can’t own it all. Content went from being relatively scarce to being ubiquitous. Bloggers make content. Flickr photographers make content. Facebook posts are content. Tumblr publishers make content. It turns out content isn’t king because it isn't scarce. With over 234 million websites, over 133 million blogs, and over 64 million tweets per day, content is everywhere, it's overwhelming, and it's gone from quality to shitty white noise.

For most consumers like me, this “content din” has reached such a crescendo that I’ve lost my faith in Search. Yes, I said it. Search, which was once critical for helping me find content that was interesting and relevant, now pulls up results that just seem, well, too obtuse. And I find navigating content dumping grounds like Youtube too exhausting (that’s not to say I don’t view embedded or shared youtube videos. I just don’t search the site).

So what are people like me doing on the internet these days if we’re not actively searching for new media and content? We know from networking giant Cisco Systems that the amount of Internet traffic will quadruple by 2015, so it’s not that people have unplugged. It’s just that there has been a paradigm shift in the way internet users find and consume their media. Rather than go out and look for media, we’re waiting for the media to come to us.

In a nutshell: The period of exploration on the internet is over. We’ve moved into a period of contextual discovery. Put aptly by Ashkan Karbasfrooshan in TechCrunch: “The context—Facebook, Twitter, email—in which people are introduced to media and consume it is becoming more important than the content itself. Content is no longer king, context is.”

Using myself as an example—I no longer find myself brazenly entering random search strings into Google, hoping relevant and interesting links pop up. I rarely even visit curated niche sites like Funny or Die. I find that I now wait and see what my various networks—from Facebook to Digg to LinkedIn to Flixster--bring me first. Each of these provides me with socially contextual content about things I care about. It’s how I find the best videos to watch, articles to read, and products to purchase.

What that means for independent web content producers, I’m still not quite sure. This sentiment of search malaise will be pervasive and problematic for smaller content publishers who have seen a marked decline in ad revenue. Without the considerable resources of portals managed by IAC, NBC, or AOL it’s getting harder and harder for them to be found and attract advertisers. Saying “social media is the answer” is like saying the sky is blue. So what? I can’t remember the last time someone recommended that I watch a web series. Social media means nothing if people aren’t sharing and I don’t think anyone (not even Michael Eisner) has figured out how to push the contextual discovery of these products. Maybe the key is creating incentives and reinforcements, or creating more links back to the content in the real world via live events or merchandising. But continuing to assert that having content—regardless of whether its quality, fills a niche, or is in mass—is enough will lead to continued disappointment in viewership.

Time Warner FTW, Again.

2011-05-26T10:59:00.001-04:00

Jeff Bewkes may be guilty of double talk sometimes, but that doesn't mean he isn't a smart guy. Warner's acquisition of Flixster proves it. The next phase of Flixster's service will provide a user-friendly interface for people who want to manage their home video collections in the digital cloud, the company's CFO John Martin told an investor conference sponsored by Barclays Capital. Consumers will be able to "upload your existing physical DVDs, have the ability access them across multiple devices anywhere you want, have the ability to manage your collections with social aspects as well, go in, have friends see what movie collections they have, (and) see who has been watching those films," he says.

On Deadline, there are a few negative comments on how DVDs are dead, and no one is going to want to spend the time to convert their physical DVDs and upload them to the cloud. While that may be true, I still don't think this is a "lame idea" (sorry, GornCaptain). The true value in purchasing this service is the access to the mountains of data generated by the sharing, liking, commenting on and posting of films, television shows, trailers, clips, and web series.

For all Hollywood's recent embrace of "social", they've yet to advance beyond a campaign model. Social efforts and data-collection are film-focused, and the insights learned from each process are thrown out after the film is released on DVD and other platforms. With each new movie, marketing departments are essentially reinventing the wheel. Dan Scheinman notes in a post on Cisco's blog a conversation he had with one startup that "said it was fascinating to watch studio CFOs scrutinize the ROI on every campaign as measured by impressions, click through rates, etc, but then walk away from the most valuable assets–the data and the relationship with the consumer–that the social app was generating."

Time Warner's purchase of Flixster gives the company access to the type of rich social media that can be mined to determine future interests. Flixster is the #1 social movie site on the iOS, Android and Blackberry mobile platforms with 35 million downloads to date. Its sister site, review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, attracts 12 million monthly visitors. With a targeted consumer base of this size and access to all of its activity, analyst will be able to utilize predictive modelling with frightening accuracy. And then marketing--freely--to this same rapt audience? I don't have to be a math genius to see there's huge profits to be made.

The Dangers of Employment

2011-05-17T00:01:00.005-04:00

What they don't tell you about getting a job is how much it can get in the way of your plans. Sure, being poor also tends to do that, but at least it's a little easier on your time. I can't remember the last time I had the energy to think long and hard about my web project, let alone compose a blogpost. With poverty came hunger and creativity, and with employment, complacency and a certain drabness. While my job has taught me new skills, brought me to my dream apartment, introduced me to exciting and interesting folks, and nudged me forward on my path to being an adult, I can't help but mourn my freedom a bit. It's true, I now have freedom from worry about bills, credit card debt, and dining out, but I've lost the freedom to think, be creative and develop new stories.

Every morning I wake up and tell myself "Today is the day where you'll save a little energy to work on your projects". Cut to - evening. Me in bed watching other people's projects, completely spent from my day. Creative energy exists in finite amounts, and when the well is tapped by other sources, it takes more than sleep alone to refill it.

Does this mean I don't want it enough? Sometimes I worry. There are so many who have navigated these waters before me with greater dexterity. Like them, I've talked for so long about how much I want to tell stories--mine or otherwise--but I'm worried that it's become lip service in my case. Yet when I finally do get those few moments in my week or month, when I have both time and energy to think and dream and create, I'm surprised and reassured by the amount of passion I still have for my ideas.

Its unfortunate my employment has had to coincide with the crescendo of so many of my personal goals. I guess in the scheme of things, having too much to do is always better than too little. I just hope I can figure out a way to better balance my plans for Rodshire, USA with my job so that one day, I may be lucky enough to have my employment and side projects be one and the same.

A Content Strategy For Audience Engagement

2010-08-15T15:10:00.001-04:00

Indispensable advice from Robert Pratten, Transmedia Storyteller.

A Content Strategy For Audience Engagement

Facebook Fan Page Design

2010-08-08T15:10:00.002-04:00

Sounds easy, but until I had to design one I had no idea that I would have to get comfy using Facebook Markup Language (FBML) to make it happen. FBML enables you to build Facebook applications that deeply integrate into a user's Facebook experience, such as the photobucket slideshow I added this morning. Thanks to FanPage101 for the great instructional video!

What the #@!!% is my Social Media Strategy

2010-08-03T17:01:00.002-04:00

Found this witty and topical resource modeled after the popular internet meme What The Fuck Should I Make For Dinner. Created by a social media & engagement planner, "what the fuck is my social media strategy" provides simple, easy-to-digest suggestions for how to run a social media campaign (read: no long-winded theoretical discourses). I've already tried to incorporate some of their directives into the social media campaign I'm planning for John Sayles' new film, AMIGO, which you should--if you haven't done so already--follow this link and become a fan on Facebook immediately.

Check out What The Fuck Is My Social Media Strategy

Real Women Walking And Talking

2010-07-20T15:00:00.003-04:00

I came across Allison Bechdel's "Bechdel test" while reading one of Ted Hope's blogs. First popping up in 1985 in her comic Dykes to Watch Out For, the Bechdel test has since become somewhat of a cultural touchstone among females in the business (and those sensitive to the portrayal of women on film), representing the sad truth about the female role in American cinema: that very few films on the marquee are able to pass 3 very simple rules:

1-The film has to have at least two women in it
2- Who talk to each other
3-About something besides a man

Now I'm not a feminist, but I was shocked to see that of the 1145 movies in the database, only about 50% passed all 3 parts of the test. And these were movies that were self-reported!

Studios still don't believe that their audiences want to see anything but white, straight, male leads. And if women are involved, they sure don't want them talking to each other about anything other than love, men and babies. It's hard to say if this widely held opinion has actually been proven right or not because so few movies have been given the marketing and P&A budget to test it. Sure, there may be a greater variety of fare outside of Hollywood, but its a shame that the mainstream has so little faith in the interests of their audience that they continue to perpetuate stereotypes on screen that for the most part have been done away with in real life.

Check out what films pass The Bechdel Test.

Fake Imax is Wack.

2010-07-16T16:35:00.002-04:00

I'm sure this has been circulating for a while, but I just stumbled across Aziz Ansari's awesome rant about the weak shit IMAX has been pulling on us. In AMC theaters around the country, the IMAX brand has been slapped onto theaters that have large screen digital projections, but not that true awe-inspiring mammoth projection we know from watching shark, train and planet movies at museums and other institutions. This wouldn't be such a big deal if AMC wasn't charging upwards of $5 more for this label. It costs five extra dollars (and sometimes more) to see a film in NYC's AMC Empire 25 IMAX digital theater, with its 28x58-foot (8.5x18 meter) screen. Audiences see the IMAX name on the theater and have no idea until after their ticket has been torn and they walk into the auditorium that that screen is about the same size as the one in the adjacent 35mm auditorium, and less than a quarter the size of the one in the AMC Lincoln Square IMAX 15/70 theater, 26 blocks away.

Don't let them pull the wool over your eyes! Read Aziz's rant for his highly entertaining take on things:

Aziz gets mad at Imax and blogs about it

The Other Foot Drops: Hulu Subscription Service Launches

2010-06-29T16:27:00.001-04:00

I wonder how popular this will be and how these subscription fees will be divvied on the back end? And there's still the issue of telcos being boxed out...

Hulu Launches Subscription Service

No Degree? Then No Film School is for you!

2010-06-27T16:33:00.002-04:00

For those of us who are committed to film-making but don't have the money for fancy (and in my opinion, worthless) advanced degrees, there is the expertly written DIY filmmaking blog No Film School, run by one of the smartest and hardest working filmmakers I've ever met. Ryan Koo not only has a prolific knowledge and keen understanding of both the technical and business sides of content production, he also possesses something twice as valuable: the ability to convey his knowledge in a clear, easy to understand writing style. He also actively solicits suggestions from his readership, which ensures that the information he provides is both topical and useful. Check out his article on Zacuto's Camera shootout below, which compares footage from a number of DSLRs against two 35mm film stocks. Although Ryan wasn't involved in this particular test, I would have never come across such a useful video without checking his site.

Download and watch Zacuto’s Camera Shootout in high quality

Castle in the Sky: Jeff Bewkes' Time Warner

2010-06-27T16:05:00.002-04:00

I must say, I've got to hand it to his guy. Of all the media moguls out there right now, Bewkes seems to be the only one who's walking the talk. Since 2009 he has seen Time Warner grow in quarterly profits while companies like NBC Universal and Viacom continue to falter. Sitting behind News Corp, Time Warner is the second largest media company and, thanks to Bewkes' decision to streamline his company and spin off Time Warner Cable and money drain AOL, he's in the enviable position of operating from a strong base, with modest debt and a war chest of $5 billion in cash.

What does he know that other moguls don't? For one, he sees dollar signs in the union of film and tv programming and video games. Video games have been the one sector of the entertainment industry that has seen steady growth since the beginning of the decade, and, as reported by Ars Technica, the industry is expected to hit $70 billion by 2015. For Bewkes, that number is too big to ignore. Rather than scoop up large unwieldy content generators like NBC Universal, Bewkes has quietly focused on acquiring videogame publishers and developers. And while some critics have been snarking at Bewkes' feet dragging in picking up the MGM library (TW already owns the the studio's pre-1986 vault), Time Warner's has seen its revenue from vidgames rise from $100 million in 2007 to $510 million in 2009, according to the company. Let's be honest--it's unlikely that the Lion is going to be roaring to the tune of that kind of cash. And by controlling the ability to produce content in publishing, film, tv and now videogames, they have the ability to create properties that can completely pervade the marketplace, such as with The Green Lantern reboot.

TV Everywhere? While Bewkes' TV Everywhere strategy has a lot of critics, I must say i'm impressed with his inventiveness when it comes to preserving the bottom line. TV Everywhere will offer viewers online on demand programming so long as they are already paying customers of cable, satellite or telco TV services. This preserves the hefty monthly fees that cable service providers rely on, and the fees collected from these providers by the cable channels. These fees can reach up to $3.65 per subscriber per month for a channel like ESPN, so its clear why either side would be loathe to give these up. This arrangement also makes it less likely that the cable, satellite and telcos will block access to your favorite shows, which it might have considered had you and all your friends canceled your cable TV subscription in favor of streaming everything on Hulu. Although its still unclear what the business model will look like, or how advertising will factor in, its clear from their supporting partners that the idea is being taken VERY seriously (TWC and Comcast have solicited the support of big TV broadcasters including NBCU, Viacom’s MTV Networks and CBS--the only one of the four nationwide free-to-air networks not to have put its programming on Hulu). Comcast began a nationwide test of the system at the end of last year.

I'm interested to see if Bewke's bets prove to be intelligent and lucrative, or if the moves he's made were solely the product of well-timed luck. While his caution Hollywood-wise has produced a slew of tent pole yawn-fests, as a businessman, he seems to be doing what is best for his empire.

Twitter for Marketing Basics with Dan Zarrella

2010-06-09T23:24:00.001-04:00

As I'm getting deeper and deeper into the development of my web series, I'm starting to think more and more about online marketing strategies and social media tools that will help me to increase awareness quickly and efficiently. I found this video during one particularly long session trolling the internet on a website called http://www.searchengineoptimizationjournal.com/. The tips Dan gives are fast and easy to integrate for any DIY marketer. Take a look!

I'm not a businessman but it's a business, man.

2010-05-09T18:27:00.004-04:00

As I've mentioned on this blog before, I'm in the process of (sloooowly) developing a multimedia project entitled "The Rodshire Archives" about a community of indeterminate location prone to odd occurrences and strange happenstance. Unfortunately, as is the case with most endeavors, a major part of getting this project off the ground will be fund-raising. Being a first-time entrepreneur and a skilled googler, I immediately took to the internet in search of answers as to how to set up an entity through which I could raise money for my project. I figured it would be much easier to get people to donate to a legitimate business entity rather than Julia's second checking account. I googled various search strings such as "incorporating film production company" "starting a production company" and "production company operating agreement". I found a lot of people looking for help, but not a lot of answers. The information I found on NOLO and the Citizen Media Law Project was helpful, but again, it was too general and didn't answer my production company-specific questions, like whether I should form an S-Corp or an LLC, if I formed an LLC whether my company would qualify for the publishing exemption in New York, what other permits or licenses would be needed, how donations are taxed, etc. I couldn't believe that with all the free advice, tutorials, how-to's and helpful hunts out there, there was no DIY guru out there sharing his experience forming an entity to raise capital and produce content!

I'd love for any readers or DIY-ers out there who have experience forming an entity (whether in NY or elsewhere) for a single film or for multiple projects to leave some free advice here, or shoot me an email at julia@rodshire.com with some advice as to who to contact or where to look. Any information I get I'd be happy to put into an online guide to help others who are deciding 1) whether they need to incorporate, and if so, 2)how to navigate the rough legal and bureaucratic waters.

What Disney Can Teach us About Copyright

2010-04-29T19:31:00.007-04:00

So I may be a little late to the party (about 9,640,708 views late) but I thought I'd share this fairly ingenious video with anyone who might also be missing out.

Biggest takeaways? Ideas can't be copyrighted. You can only copyright the form an idea takes. Hence the billion versions of Romeo & Juliet.

A free Santa is a happy Santa.

Copyright lasts for a fixed amount of time. However, that fixed amount of time has grown since the 1970s to be virtually endless, preventing characters like Mickey Mouse from entering the public domain as he should have in 2004(see Copyright Term Extension Act). Can you imagine if the iconic image of Santa Claus was created under current copyright law? It would definitely make me think twice before putting out christmas decorations, lest having to pay heavy royalty fees.

One of the main arguments for copyright is that it protects the value of the work from dilution. However, I feel that a work (in some cases) becomes MORE popular and MORE valuable in the public domain, such as is the case with our friend Santa and the Easter Bunny. Proliferation can be power. By giving everyone ownership, we can ensure the protection and advancement of our favorite books, musical works, films and characters for years to come.

Kelly Chapman Speaks Transmedia

2010-04-22T17:56:00.002-04:00

Just finished watching Aussie Kelly Chapman talk about creating ancillary methods of engagement (web video, ARGs, social networks) for television shows (Lost most notably) and films. She walks through a number of well-known examples such as Paranormal Activity and 2012 and discusses her own experiences with the Find 815 ARG and the upcoming feature Jucy. Not only is she a pioneering transmedia producer --a title I hope to hold one day!--but she's also clearly a smart, take charge, kickass chick.

The best part of this presentation is the behind-the-scenes clip she shows of the Jucy crew playing a crass game the characters in the movie play. It starts around 28:30. What a great idea for creating additional material that's not your run of the mill "making of". I'd love to hear what some other non-traditional ideas filmmakers are employing to keep up with their audiences.

Kelly Chapman keynote SPAA Fringe 2009 from KCDC on Vimeo.

FCC Plays Ball with Comcast/GE/NBCU

2010-04-17T11:35:00.001-04:00

It's about damn time the government woke up on this thing. After the courts screwed up royally with the ruling on net neutrality, it's good to see the FCC assert some more oversight in regards to this potential monopoly. Comcast subscribers may find in the future that they'll have to pay for internet access to non-NBC material because of the high prices that will be charged to other content producers, like CBS. Or worse, not being able to access certain content because of blocked ISPs.

FINALLY, BIG MEDIA OVERSIGHT! FCC Stops Clock On Comcast/GE/NBCU Review

The Rodshire Archives: Believe Everything You're Told

2010-03-24T17:57:00.003-04:00

The Rodshire Blog is now active! Click the picture below to enter. Also follow us on twitter at http://twitter.com/rodshire.

The Age of Media Curation

2010-03-10T13:41:00.000-05:00

Great post by Aina Abiodun who runs the Film Futurist blog on the future of social media.

The Age of Entertainment Curation is Now

DIY Days NYC: Please Help

2010-03-10T11:32:00.004-05:00

Prisons in the Mind and in Queens: Some Thoughts on The Visitor

2010-02-26T14:21:00.008-05:00

Last night I settled into bed with The Visitor, Tom McCarthy’s critically lauded film that touches on among other things, immigration in a post-9-11 world. The film follows economics professor Walter Vale as he breaks free from his self-imposed prison of decorum, and the bored, fuddy-duddy identity he has cultivated for himself, presumably since the death of his wife, a well-known classical pianist. Early on we see him struggle at a piano lesson—an attempt to shake off the shackles of boredom. However, his teacher is concerned more with form than with music, and Walter ends the lesson, frustrated. The twin jailors Form and Tedium follow him even in this halfhearted venture to hold on to his connection with his wife.
It’s only when a forced trip to NYC takes him back to his small apartment in the East Village do we begin to see the prison walls break down. Walter finds that the Manhattan apartment he keeps but rarely visits has been surreptitiously rented to Tarek, a drummer from Syria, and Zainab, his Senegalese girlfriend, who sells handmade jewelry at flea markets. Seeing them thrown out on the street stirs a hint of compassion in him, and he invites them to back into his apartment and unwittingly, into his life.
Tarek, warm, open and compassionate, strikes up a friendship with Walter and soon is giving him drum lessons. For what turns out to be Walter’s final lesson, Tarek takes him to a drum circle in Central Park. The documentary-like camera work of Oliver Bokelberg gracefully captures the unbridled joy and love of the characters and drummers for the spontaneous feel of the music. The energy flows off the screen and strikes a similar emotional note with the audience--much in the same way as the wedding procession in Rachel Getting Married. Both are similar in their shedding of form and traditional visual narration in favor of emotion and spirit. In this moment, in both films, the characters are free of the constraints, responsibilities, emotions and failures of life. However, this utopia can’t last forever. Minutes later, Tarek is wrongfully accused by the police of jumping a turnstile in the subway and is taken to a detention center in Queen. It turns out that Walter’s new friends are in the country illegally.
In the second half of the movie, Walter’s metaphorical prison walls are succeeded by the physical prison keeping Tarek from the life he once lived, and loved, in New York. And here is where the film’s smallness, its subtleness in storytelling and its deflection of big phony displays of emotion, shed light on the larger issue: immigration in a post 9-11 world. The quiet beauty and tragedy is that as one man’s life begins again, another’s is cut short. More so than any news story I’ve read, this, for me, has put a human face on the immigration issue. Granted, it’s a story that is biased, but it never becomes obvious or sentimental. In its lack of melodrama and the near complete absence of crying, yelling, and histrionics, The Visitor has made an issue that tends to be addressed in black and white by the media much more honest and complex. In the end, the audience is left with mixed emotions; a warmth and affinity for the freed Walter Vale, and a feeling of guilt and melancholy for the visitors who helped free him, and who are repaid with loss and exile.

The Sundance/Youtube Experiment Post Mortem

2010-02-14T16:21:00.009-05:00

Over the past few weeks, many blog sites and journalists have been quick to declare the day-and-date Sundance/YouTube rental experiment a failure. With just a little over $11K in revenue split between the 5 titles, and only about 300 views per film, it certainly seems that way on the surface. However, it took very little digging to reveal another frustrating, yet also more optimistic story. This is what I discovered:

1-Poor Accessibility. When I first read about the Sundance/YouTube deal, I was really excited that I would be able to watch The Cove and Children of Invention, two films that I'd read a lot about. However, I had a very maddening experience trying to find these films on YouTube, one that mirrors the experience Brian Newman had while at Sundance (well, minus the partying...), and that of many of the commenters on the YouTube blog. My cursory search on YouTube site yielded no links to the films' rental page, and my Google search for "YouTube Rental" was also for naught. I also couldn't find any readily apparent links on the Sundance page. After about 5 or 6min of this my patience was maxed out. For an experiment that had received so much press leading up to the launch, I was baffled that it was taking me so long to access the films. Why it wasn't more clearly advertised on the Sundance or YouTube homepages, I'm not sure. Why the Sundance PR dept didn't make more of an effort to include it in every press mention is also unclear. It's no secret that people's attention spans have grown shorter in this era of entertainment on demand. If content is not easy to access, then it is going to suffer limited viewership, no matter how many places its been publicized.

Another big frustration was the lack of accessibility to The Cove documentary by foreign audiences. For the lucky few who successfully navigated to YouTube's rental page for The Cove, those with non-US IPs were rewarded with this message: "Video contains content from Lionsgate who has decided to block it in your country". Why would Lionsgate draft an exclusive contract for the US? Did they think the rentals were going to negatively impact other foreign revenue streams? For all the comments on The Cove's Facebook page, on the YouTube blog, and other websites, I was unable to find an answer from Sundance, Lionsgate, YouTube or Google (the corporation nor the search engine).

2-Rental window WAY too brief. The rental window was only open from January 22-January 31. As pretty much any independent filmmaker knows (or will soon discover), profit never (if ever!) comes quickly. And it certainly doesn't come in just 10 days. These movies aren't Avatar or Batman; they require a lot more time than 10 days to successfully pervade the psyche of the film-going public. The fact that these movies made ANY money in such a short period with so many accessibility issues is a pretty impressive feat. Think--with clearer advertising, improved accessibility and a longer rental release window, these films could have made four or five times what's been quoted.

So the good news in all this frustration and disappointment is that the problems are not insurmountable. Like Brian Newman says in the end of his post on the same subject, "Kudos to Sundance and YouTube for trying an experiment, and to the filmmakers that went along for the ride, but next time, put some more resources into implementation and marketing - you know, like good distributors do."

Monetizing Content: Social Media Numbers

2010-02-03T16:27:00.001-05:00

I recently revisited this video while doing some research for the web series I'm trying to get off the ground (more on that later!). The video's creators at Socialnomics.net have hit the nail on the head by focusing on how fast the social networking space is changing. While it's true that trying to follow every new development is bound to give you whiplash, the takeaway is that the vastness of the space makes it possible for every savvy content creator to find an audience that can in turn advertise a project via their individual network. For my project, I've decided to bypass traditional approaches to storytelling and plug straight into this network and actively seek my audiences' participation and input in the development process. Due to my project's broad theme, episode ideas collected from a geographically diverse audience will actually help to dynamically define and transform the world depicted within the series as it goes along. By submitting ideas that adhere to a series of narrative guidelines, my viewers can help shape the series' development. In turn, they will be motivated to share their involvement via the social network of their choice, hopefully doubling and tripling the audience.

Transmedia Goes To Hollywood: Blacklight Transmedia

2010-01-22T16:18:00.002-05:00

Just read on Deadline that Brian Grazer's Imagine Entertainment has doled out it's first ever first-look deal in the company's history to...drumroll please....Blacklight Transmedia. Blacklight, started by former execs from Fox Atomic and in partnership with video game production company Zombie Studios, has about 20 IP creations in the pipeline.

This is the first transmedia-branded partnership in Hollywood that I'm aware of. It differs from efforts surrounding known brands such as Pirates of the Carribean in that its does not focus on a product or franchise. The concepts--such as Blacklight and Kingpin--have been built from the ground up. It will be interesting to see how this well-funded enterprise will differ from other independent and pioneering efforts from creators like Lance Weiler and Douglas Rushkoff. How deeply will the stories infiltrate the population-at-large? Will it attract more than just fanboys and fangirls? Which projects will Imagine elect to pick up? Will each title be able to sustain itself monetarily? Will they feel as organic as other transmedia efforts or will they come off as trite, like most other Hollywood products? If this deal goes well, it could mean the birth of endless opportunities for content creators, producers, graphic artists, engineers, developers, actors, etc. My only fear is that the transmedia industry will end up much the same way as the American independent film industry--an overflow of creativity and new talent that, with the appropriation of the Indie brand by Hollywood, slowed to a dribble.

Overheard in the Office...

2010-01-15T14:20:00.002-05:00

--"So what are we calling these videos...virals?

--"Only if they're successful!"

Damn The Man: The Coco Show

2010-01-15T12:02:00.009-05:00

I usually don't use this blog to comment on the nastier parts of this business, such as the current late-night war of the worlds going on at NBC. However, Conan's handling of Jeff Zucker's brainless bulldozing has been so hilariously feisty (and effective!) that it would be a shame not to post Conan's craigslist ad. I've attached a screen shot because I can't imagine the powers-that-be at NBC will allow this to stay up much longer. Go Conan go Conan go!

New Year, New MEdia

2010-01-13T14:04:00.007-05:00

Happy New Year Readers!

This is my first post of 2010, and what I hope will turn out to be a banner year, both personally and professionally. My two main resolutions for "Twenty-Ten" are to get the media project I've been developing over the last couple months off the ground (stay tuned for more!) and to work with and learn from as many different projects, producers, directors, executives, technicians, programmers, developers as I can. Here's to hoping this is the year when both the entertainment industry and my career start to see some real gains!

In other news, here is something awesome from 2009 I just stumbled upon: Joss Whedon's $10K bid to bankrupt owners of Terminator franchise:

An Open Letter to the Terminator Owners. From a Very Important Hollywood Mogul

Dear Sirs/Ma'ams,

I am Joss Whedon, the mastermind behind Titan A.E., Parenthood (not the movie) (or the new series) (or the one where 'hood' was capitalized 'cause it was a pun), and myriad other legendary tales. I have heard through the 'grapevine' that the Terminator franchise is for sale, and I am prepared to make a pre-emptive bid RIGHT NOW to wrap this dealio up. This is not a joke, this is not a scam, this is not available on TV. I will write a check TODAY for $10,000, and viola! Terminator off your hands.

No, you didn't miscount. That's four -- FOUR! -- zeroes after that one. That's to show you I mean business. And I mean show business. Nikki Finke says the Terminator concept is played. Well, here's what I have to say to Nikki Finke: you are a fine journalist and please don't ever notice me. The Terminator story is as formative and important in our culture -- and my pretend play -- as any I can think of. It's far from over. And before you Terminator-Owners (I have trouble remembering names) rush to cash that sweet cheque, let me give you a taste of what I could do with that franchise:

1) Terminator... of the Rings! Yeah, what if he time-travelled TOO far... back to when there was dragons and wizards? (I think it was the Dark Ages.) Hasta La Vista, Boramir! Cool, huh? "Now you gonna be Gandalf the Red!" RRRRIP! But then he totally helps, because he's a cyborg and he doesn't give a s#&% about the ring -- it has no power over him! And he can carry it AND Frodo AND Sam AND f@%& up some orcs while he's doing it. This stuff just comes to me. I mean it. (I will also offer $10,000 for the Lord of the Rings franchise).

2) More Glau. Hey. There's a reason they're called "Summer" movies.

3) Can you say... musical? Well don't. Even I know that's an awful idea.

4) Christian Bale's John Connor will get a throat lozenge. This will also help his Batwork (ten grand for that franchise too, btw.)

5) More porn. John Connor never told Kyle Reese this, but his main objective in going to the past was to get some. What if there's a lot of future-babies that have to be made? Cue wah-wah pedal guitar -- and dollar signs!

6) The movies will stop getting less cool.

Okay. There's more -- this brain don't quit! (though it has occasionally been fired) -- but I think you get my drift. I really believe the Terminator franchise has only begun to plumb the depths of questioning the human condition during awesome stunts, and I'd like to shepherd it through the next phase. The money is there, but more importantly, the heart is there. But more importantly, money. Think about it. End this bloody bidding war before it begins, and put the Terminator in the hands of someone who watched the first one more than any other movie in college, including "Song of Norway" (no current franchise offer).

Sincerely, Joss Whedon.

Rebranding Short Form Content

2009-12-17T15:52:00.007-05:00

I think most people who are interested and/or involved in short form video content creation can agree that there is a general lack of cohesion and identity for projects produced for mobile and web platforms. This can be partially attributed to the fact that the space is relatively new and lacking in rules, definition and models. However, I think another large part of it has to do with the stigma that exists against short form content. A large part of the entertainment community still view short films and online content as inferior to the feature, or as merely a means to an end, which is again, the feature. Few people have embraced the idea of the short as an end in itself, and as a result, I think there is a lot of room for someone to take control of the concept and really define what digital short form content is. There are a few scattered story architects out there producing stunning and engaging content for web and mobile platforms--Laurent Tartour for one--who really seem to get it. However, they're concerned with the individual work, and not the overall identity. Until someone steps up and successfully tackles this ambitious branding crisis, I think web content will continue to be viewed as the bastard child of the feature, and never live up to its inherent populist qualities or commercial potential.

I'm not saying that any of the suggestions listed below are the right answer, or even the best answer, but I wanted to get the conversation started. What do YOU think the answer is? Leave your comments, please!

What Should Web and Mobile Platform Video Content Be Branded As?

Shorts You Should See: Part 1

2009-12-15T14:27:00.008-05:00

With all the recent activity surrounding short films such as ALIVE IN JOBURG and PANIC ATTACK, and their subsequent deals, the film industry seems to be abuzz about high quality shorts as of late. I plan to try and use this column to highlight shorts that are currently out (on the fest circuit or on youtube) which are particularly good examples of their craft.

First up is SINKHOLE by Eric Scherbarth.

This film has been making the rounds at highly lauded fests such as Telluride and Fantastic Fest this year. I was able to catch this film few weeks ago, while attending the NYC Horror Film Festival and it was the by far the best received short of the night. It went on to win best short film for that particular festival. Here is the synopsis taken from the official site: "A salesman approaches a mysterious landowner with an offer to buy the man’s smoldering abandoned coalmines but finds that there is more at stake than the land."

They shot this film on location in Centralia, PA where an actual coal fire has been burning underground for the past fifty or so years. Having been there myself, I can attest to the eeriness that makes this the perfect locale for a horror short. The story is straightforward and manages to draw you into it's world quickly while scaring you in the process. After viewing this film I can't wait to see more from the creative team behind it. Unfortunately the film is not available for viewing online; but if it is playing at a festival near you, I highly recommend going to check it out. Go to the website below to learn more about the film and view the teaser trailer:

Sinkhole by Eric Scherbarth

Role Models: Jan Chapman

2009-12-15T14:05:00.001-05:00

There are a number of female producers out there whose careers I've followed and admired for some time: Kathleen Kennedy, Mary Jane Skalski, Christine Vachon to name just a few. Although the type and scale of projects these women produce differ, they all have one thing in common--their nationality. Rarely do I hear about the producing efforts of women in other countries, so it was great to see Aussie Jan Chapman spotlighted in the Huffington Post. Checking her out on imdb, it turns out her filmography includes some of the best indie films of the past decade (three of which were in collaboration with Jane Campion), including The Piano, Lantana, Bright Star, Holy Smoke and The Last Days of Chez Nous. You can read all about her at the link below. Who are some of your role models?

Jan Chapman: The Woman Behind So Many Great Films

The Pendulum Swings: Paramount to produce microbudgeted films?

2009-12-11T10:44:00.002-05:00

This morning, Variety announced that Paramount is launching an initiative that will spend $1 million annually to develop and produce microbudget films. Wasn't it just two years ago that studios, betting against indie film, shut down their independent subsidiaries? How quickly the past is forgotten. True, $1 million is a relatively low investment for a big Hollywood studio, but if history means anything, I can see this number creeping up as other studios jump on the bandwagon. Fingers crossed that this is more than just a blip on the radar, and that opportunities for inventive independent filmmakers are really on the rise.

Help Lilith & Thatch Come Alive

2009-12-10T10:24:00.002-05:00

I know I've talked a lot about Kickstarter in my last couple of posts, but now I want to turn the spotlight onto this awesome project I recently discovered on the site: "Lilith & Thatch" A CGi Short Film. The initial models are amazing, and as someone who geeks out over fantasy and sci-fi, I feel it's my job to let other people know about interesting independent projects being developed in the genre. If you've got 5 bucks laying around, please support them!

PopCultTart: Unconditional Love for Rom Coms

2009-12-09T20:49:00.006-05:00

Hey guys! This is my first post on the site. Hope you enjoy my random rants on the film industry. Thanks for reading!

Girl meets boy. Girl hates boy. Boy hates girl. Girl and boy suddenly realize they are in love. Insert "happily ever after" here. Since the beginning of film, most romantic comedies have stuck pretty closely to this formula. The reason? Because it works. From Breakfast at Tiffany's to When Harry Met Sally to this year's unexpected hit The Proposal, the chick flick has proven that it's not going anywhere. Most girls love them and guys are (deniably) entertained by them. They offer a simple escape from reality, generate a few cheap laughs (and occasionally some tears) along the way, and occasionally it's fun to watch two people fall in "Hollywood" love. Romantic comedies can even help revamp actors' careers. Just ask Sandra Bullock, whose role in The Proposal helped make 2009 her most successful year yet after earning $164 million at the box office. We'll just ignore her bomb of a rom com All About Steve.... Check out this trailer from The Proposal-

Watching "A Serious Man"

2009-12-09T14:25:00.008-05:00

Rewatching A Serious Man last night two things struck me:

1- A Serious Man is a serious allegory with the underlying meaning being that...nothing has meaning.

The films opens with a reenactment of a Yiddish fable, in which a married couple is confronted with a dybbuk, a spirit of a local villager. The rational husband refuses to believe that the old man standing before him is a spirit, while the seriously superstitious wife stabs the old man with an ice pick to prove to her husband that he's a ghost. The old man laughs, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he has an icepick in his chest, but the mood changes as blood appears on the old man's clothing. The old man stumbles back out into the cold snowy landscape, and disappears, leaving the audience feeling uneasy and confused. Was he alive or was he a dybbuk? Like most things Jewish, the end is inconclusive: a perfect introduction for the parable that follows. Similar to Goldilocks in the children's fairy tale, the film's protagonist Larry Gopnik visits three different rabbis looking for answers. But unlike in the Goldilocks story, the rabbis all fail to answer his questions. As unfortunate events pile up Larry's quest for meaning grows increasingly frantic. By the end, some of the events have reached conclusions, while others remain ambiguous. In the final scene, a hurricane sweeps into town, but the screen cuts to black before the results are known. So what's the moral of this story? Like the story of the dybbuk, it's indeterminate. Larry's struggle is representative of man's general struggle against the chaotic forces of the universe and the hapless search--through religion, science, mysticism, what have you---for meaning in the chaos.

2-A Serious Man is a comedy dressed as a horror movie.

Coen humor always centers around the quotidian lives of its grotesque characters. In A Serious Man, this comedy becomes a serious, anxiety-ridden affair. The Coen Bros imbue the gestures of each character with enormous portent, from the son's fingers drumming as he listens to music to Larry's hands fiddling with the antenna on his roof. Every movement seems so deliberate and well thought out, increasing the tension with the skill and grace of a well-timed anxiety attack and leaving the audience on the edge of its seat, hands to chest in suspense. But every time, this pent-up anxiety is for naught. Just like Larry, the audience is fooled into thinking that the film's style will lead to substance--an attack, a surprise. But these ultra-controlled movements, accentuated by the film's eerie and mysterious 4-note theme only lead to a big question mark. And the audience, who have been waiting for answers to their anxiety and fear-laden questions--Will the son’s Walkman be discovered? What will the Larry's ear-test results be? Who was trying to sabotage his tenure hearings? Will his brother get caught?--are left in the dark. The mysteries of the universe are unknowable and uncontrollable, and the unfortunate series of events that causes Larry to try to uncover them is quintessential Coen humor.

What do you think? Do you agree that the film is this cynical? I'd be interested to hear how people felt that religion and general jewishness was portrayed--endearingly, knowingly, derisively, etc. Comments, critiques welcome!

Update: Kickstarter Invite Received!

2009-12-07T14:09:00.004-05:00

Thanks to a reader's generosity, I can kick off phase one of my project! Many more details to come...

In the meantime, I'll leave you with this image of a watermelon I found via a creative commons search. "A watermelon?" you ask. Yes, a watermelon. One that will shake the beliefs of a family to their core and fundamentally alter the life of a little boy. Stay tuned to find out more about this story and its two companions, part of my forthcoming urban legends project!

Wanted: Kickstarter Invite

2009-12-06T16:05:00.006-05:00

Over the last few weeks I have been passively seeking invites to Kickstarter, an amazing crowdfunding website for creatives. I learned about it when I saw a message from Arin Crumley on facebook asking for backers for his OpenIndie project. I was struck by the site's straightforward layout and easy to navigate menus, and how simple it was for me to donate to his project. I especially liked that project creators could choose to implement incentives to motivate people to donate at different dollar amounts, which can both generate more donations and increase people's level of investment in your work (read: free publicity later on). I backed him, and found myself poking around for other projects to back, too. Turns out giving is addicting, especially online. Now that I've decided to plow ahead with my personal film project, I've kicked my search into high gear. I think my project--a triptych of twisted urban legends told via film, interactive graphic novel and original art hosted on a website that will allow users to upload their own orignal stories and videos--is well suited for the site and will have lots of opportunities for people to become more involved than just financially if they choose to. Right now, the only way to join Kickstarter is through invites, so I'm hoping I'll be able to track one down from a project creator or from the site's founders. If anyone out there has an extra invite or knows of someone who does, please keep me in mind!

Lessons From Jane Campion

2009-12-04T13:08:00.006-05:00

Thanks to Ted Hope's blog /Hammer to Nail I stumbled across Jane Campion's website for her excellent film Bright Star. This intimate and revealing website should be what filmmakers aspire to build for their films. Designed as a digital scrapbook, it's interactive, informative, and with a unique whimsical style that complements the film's style and subject. I spent an hour devouring everything from Jane's notes on her children's acting workshop (to cast for the role of Fanny Brawne's little sister) to DP Greig Fraser's breathtaking light studies (see photo below) to the art department's entry on how they decided to fold the love letters. What an excellent companion piece to the film and a great inspiration to young producers like myself looking for ideas as to how to creatively bring their films to life and connect with audiences on the web.

Truly Free Film: Jon Reiss on The New Way To Think Of Theatrical

2009-11-30T13:32:00.003-05:00

First thing I'm going to do when I get home from work today is watch this video. I hadn't heard of Jon Reiss until about a month ago, when everyone started spreading the gospel of Think Outside The Box Office, his new book. Turns out he had a very sucessful DIY release of his film "Bomb It", which went on to become a big seller for Docurama Films, New Video's independent documentary arm. Another one for the pile!

Truly Free Film: Jon Reiss on The New Way To Think Of Theatrical

The Celluloid Ceiling: Thoughts From Five Women Who Broke Through

2009-11-18T13:33:00.003-05:00

Excellent article from IndieWire about female directors. While I don't agree with all the points put forth by the panel (i.e. Finola Dwyer's comments about women and action films), they did confirm my point from my Women And Directing post about the female reaction to the burden of initial commercial success.

The Celluloid Ceiling: Thoughts From Five Women Who Broke Through

Dish Network to Pick Up Epix?

2009-11-15T10:52:00.002-05:00

Showtime gets rattled by an Epix show of force.

Showtime Rattled By Rival EPIX Arrival

That's A Kill Shot

2009-11-12T10:06:00.001-05:00

Tina Fey might be selling out a bit, but I wouldn't have her sell out any other way...

http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/datenight/medium.html

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The Problem with Microbudget Filmmaking is...

2009-11-12T09:31:00.006-05:00

...how do you adequately compensate your crew? Recently I've been learning a lot about the guilds and how their different tiers of wages help their members to make a living and to receive health care for themselves and their families. With a non-union microbudget shoot, how is my grip or best boy going to be able to afford to pay for his kid's medical bills? The obvious answer is that he should probably look for a better budgeted job. But with the current shifts in the industry marketplace razing cushy straight-to-dvd productions and causing indies to shutter their doors and majors to slash the number of films shot per year, that might be easier said then done.

Lately I think that there's been entirely too much praise bestowed upon filmmakers in their race to the bottom. While I've seen beautiful features produced for only $15-$20K, I can't help thinking about all the technical people who sacrificed a living wage only to reap nothing in return. How can these folks pay for health insurance, let alone rent, when they're only making $200/day, and have to hide their guild membership to prevent getting punished or kicked out for taking on these labors of love?

I'd love to hear about more filmmakers sharing the rewards from their films with their whole crews, from drivers to PAs to production designers and DPs. Filmmaking is both an artistic and business pursuit. I hope directors and producers continue to fight, beg and bleed for art and for adequate financing.

Google Video: La Jetee: Inspiration for 12 Monkeys

2009-11-08T15:26:00.011-05:00

Haven't yet watched this, but considering 12 Monkeys is one of my top ten favorite movies, I figured it was about time I sit down and give this film the attention it deserves.

Interesting chart of newspaper circulation over the past twenty years

2009-11-08T12:40:00.002-05:00

Practicing posting w/Posterous

2009-11-08T12:25:00.003-05:00

A friend wants to share some music with you.

"Ryan Adams Radio"

Pandora is a free music service that helps you
listen to and discover new music.

copyright 2008, Pandora Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
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This is a one-time email sent from A friend, a Pandora listener.
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Posted via email from filmflam's posterous

Epix Invite

2009-11-06T13:24:00.002-05:00

So this morning I found an invitation for a 72hour weekend pass for EPIX HD waiting in my inbox. EpixHD.com is an offshoot of the recently launched Epix TV channel, a 24 hour on demand channel available only to Verizon FiOS subscribers (for an added charge of $10/month) that allows subscribers to stream an unlimited amount of movies. The service is brought to you by movie studios Lionsgate, Paramount, and MGM, and has been described as the film equivalent to Hulu. Where Epix differs from Hulu is that its bundled into the cable package, giving it the added benefit of FiOS broadband connection and the ability to successfully stream full-length movies. According to Ars Technica:

"The video is offered through Flash and is multi-bitrate enabled; the player checks the available bandwidth every ten seconds to see if a larger or smaller stream is required. Epix currently creates six different encodings of each film which range from full HD support all the way down to 500Kbps (cell phone quality). Pushing out that sort of data is bandwidth-intensive, and Epix would love to avoid streaming HD content across the public Internet wherever possible. One way to make that happen, which the company is currently pursuing, is to install caching servers directly in the data centers of ISPs with whom Epix has a relationship. "

As a Time Warner subscriber (still waiting on that TV Everywhere...) I won't be able to take advantage of EpixHD after this weekend, but I'm intrigued to see if their claims of HD quality and uninterrupted streaming are true. Jason Bergman brings up some good points in his "Epix Fail" article, but I'm interested in seeing for myself. I don't think the idea of a subscription service is bad, as along as it allows for tiered pricing, strong support, and an attractive interface. One of the things that EpixHD is offering is an online screening room feature which enables consumers to invite up to four friends anywhere to watch movies while they chat online in real time. These friends don't have to be Verizon or Epix subscribers, which I think is just the sort of unique cable concession that could make Epix a success. It will be interesting to see if EpixHD catches on in the next few months and convinces other telco subscribers to pick it up. I don't know enough about this stuff to know what the downsides are to Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications, Cable One, Charter Communications, AT&T U-Verse, and Dish Network carrying the channel. But if Epix isn't able to make carriage deals with any other providers, it won't matter how much content they have on their site--only 2.5 million people will be able to watch it (less, considering many will balk at the $10/month price tag).

Big Brother is Watching: Schamus' Speech @ LFF

2009-10-30T14:17:00.014-04:00

Bucking current trends in industry keynote addresses, James Schamus, studio head of one of the sole surviving indie labels, Focus Features, delivered a speech entitled "Lessons in Storytelling From the Department of Homeland Security: An Anti-keynote Speech" in which he highlighted the government's use (or abuse) of information collected during online purchases. While I'm sure the speech raised a few attendees' eyebrows, it's an interesting and worrisome topic that I hope people like Schamus will continue to report on.

The technological shifts of the last decade have only made it easier for our government to track and follow our every move. How long will it be until any purchase of questionable literature or video is followed by a call from a Homeland Security officer? The intersection between art and government can sometimes produce great work (see Europe's various film funds) but more often than not is a negative force of censorship, manipulation and control. The thought of using someone's artistic predilections as a weapon is frightening at best and a legitimate and pertinent concern as more and more content is purchased and consumed via the web.

#LFF: Schamus Delivers Lessons in Redacted Storytelling

Paranormal Activity's Amazing Hot Streak

2009-10-26T14:09:00.003-04:00

I know, I've been terrible about writing. But I've been swamped preparing for this viral comedy short I produced last weekend. Now that it's (mostly!) over, I hope to get back to the nitty gritty. In the meantime, check out the excerpt below from Nikki Finke today about Paranormal. The numbers are incredible and speak to what its possible for filmmakers to achieve. True $10 million in P&A doesn't hurt, but what impressed me most was that a slow build through digital word of mouth, when done correctly, can be highly successful. Turns out the industry is cyclical, after all. For the most part, it had seemed that the roll-out release strategy had been nixed for not generating enough buzz around a film to be financially viable. But now its back, and proving to be very successful with niche films like Paranormal Activity, or even A Serious Man.

On the other hand, Paramount's Paranormal Activity received its "R" rating for language. The pic scored $7.5M Friday and is looking to be close to $8.6 million for Saturday and a weekend of $22 million. The cume should zoom to $62.4M. I can report that, as it expands for next Halloween weekend, the studio is starting to think the thriller has a shot at $100M. Which would make this the most profitable pic in modern Paramount history. After all, the project was acquired for a mere $300K, and the studio spent under $10M total on prints and advertising, "so this will be the best return Paramount has ever had," an insider tells me. Amazing, since Paramount had been playing the movie mostly at midnight shows and in just a 100 or so dates. Then again, the hype has been so successful -- right down to the claim that Steven Spielberg screened it and returned it in a trash bag.

Shouts and Murmurs: Subject: Our Marketing Plan: newyorker.com

2009-10-13T13:40:00.005-04:00

Some webby humor for your Tuesday morning. Still moving in, so no time for long posts. Stay tuned!

Shouts & Murmurs: Subject: Our Marketing Plan: newyorker.com Shared via AddThis

New Models of Distribution: DIY Theatrical

2009-10-07T14:52:00.002-04:00

Arin Crumley, Indie film whizkid, is in the process of funding a new venture entitled OpenIndie, which aims to build theatrical demand for movies via social networking (think Paramount's campaign for Paranormal Activity, but on the indie level). They're trying to raise $10K by Oct 29th. I became a backer (for a mere $10), and you can too! See below:

Index of Video Embedding Sites

2009-10-06T09:59:00.001-04:00

Discovered this great resource this morning that gives the facts and figures on most major video hosting sites. Using the same quicktime file, Karel has embedded his video into multiple sites, comparing and contrasting the results.

http://kareltests.co.uk/

Paranormal Activity Set For Oct. 9 Normal Release After It Gets Freakishly Good Gross Playing Only After Midnight

2009-10-06T09:42:00.006-04:00

Sorry I've been MIA lately...moving in to a new apartment has taken up all my time. Be back next week with more raves and rants. In the meantime, check out Nikki Finke's post about Paramount's rollout for Paranormal Activity. In a ballsy and unexpected move, Paramount Pictures has adopted an unorthodox release strategy for its new horror film Paranormal Activity. In addition to the typical marketing campaign, they've started an Eventful page for the film, and are asking fans to demand screenings in their area. The areas with the most demands will be the first to get future screenings. The result? Well, just read the title of this post.

UPDATE: 'Paranormal Activity' Set For Oct. 9 Normal Release After It Gets Freakishly Good Gross Playing Only After Midnight

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HBO Adopts a Transmedia Approach

2009-09-26T16:55:00.007-04:00

I found out about this project via the excellent website of Screenwriter, Producer, Director, Editor and cinema business Blogger Miles Maker. Leave it to HBO to be the first mainstream entertainment outlet to embrace Transmedia Storytelling as a method of content creation and proliferation. It will be interesting to see how successful they are with this campaign and how widely they roll it out. I've yet to see it pop up on HBO primetime.

Unlike current television forays into multiplatform storytelling (see Lost and Heroes) HBO Imagine "sets out to prove that there are many sides to every story and a change in perspective changes everything." On television shows currently employing some multi modality, the story offshoots are typically one-dimensional, and rarely if ever influence the primary narrative. These secondary stories take place within the same world as the primary, but aren't crucial to an audience's understanding of the main characters or the events taking place. According to World Screen.com:

"HBOimagine.com offers 41 pieces of content, including short- and long-form video, audio files, news stories, letters and images that are connected to each other. There is also an outdoor installation, The Cube, which HBO calls a "storytelling device" that offers four different perspectives on the same scene simultaneously, telling the same story from four points of view."

TV Everywhere...For A Price

2009-09-24T11:40:00.006-04:00

Jeff Bewkes (left) announced this summer the start of a new pilot program called TV Everywhere that would give subscribers access to their favorite content across multiple platforms. Sure, this sounds great to subscribers, but what does it mean for the currently democratized internet space? What will happen to alternate content distributors if material is suddenly yanked from their sites? They may lose the advertising dollars necessary to turn a profit as consumers are forced to watch their favorite shows through their service provider's pay site . In return, it could become harder for independent content providers to find a foothold . If alternate online distributors start to disappear, and the independent content providers' material isn't being carried by a major subscription service outlet, how will this content find an audience? Will every independent creator have to become their own distributor as well?

Service providers are so scared about losing revenue from the traditional source (subscribers) that they fail to see the merits of diversifying (ad supported streaming). The way we consume media today is fundamentally different from the way we consumed media just five years ago. Society is used to viewing content for 'free' in an ad supported model. I can see TV Everywhere potentially working as a premium service, allowing subscribers to access content from their archives, see episodes before they premiere, watch content without commercials, etc. However I can't see people embracing it in the form Bewkes is currently proposing.

Back to School / Women and Directing

2009-09-23T11:54:00.021-04:00

Last night was my first "Producing Fundamentals" class through NYU's School of Continuing and Professional Studies. From what I can tell, the class is going to be really engaging; an even mix of personal stories from our instructor and practical information. Our instructor Jamin O'Brien (Boynton Beach Bereavement Club, Lymelife, Handsome Harry) seems genuinely interested in us and in teaching us what he knows (or at least did a good job pretending!) which, based on his credits, is quite a bit. However the most interesting aspect of the class was its gender breakdown. In a class of about 16 people, only 1/4 were men. This seems to follow through to the actual industry. What is it about producing that attracts so many women? Why are there so many more female producers than directors or writers?
Yes, I realize there are a number of strong female voices out there: Kelly Reichardt, Jane Campion, and Kathryn Bigelow to name only a few. But this number doesn't even begin to compete with the legions of male directors all around the world who've forced their projects into being. And when one narrows the scope to include just Hollywood films, the number of female voices shrinks even more. In the history of the Academy Awards, only 3 female directors have ever been nominated for an Oscar, and none have won.
Perhaps many would-be female directors lack the confidence in their own vision or story to commence the behemoth task of finding supporters, time and money to see it through the pipeline. Being a director is about constantly making creative decisions that affect everything from budget, to start and wrap times, to lighting and design setups. The stress of not only having this whole production machine waiting for you to make a decision, but also having the artistic responsibility of making a film that will find critical and commercial success is a burden that may prove too heavy for most women to carry. Men seem to have an easier time throwing off the opinion of others and plowing through with their vision. Women tend to feel more responsible for their decisions. As a result, they take on supporting positions that allow them to shepherd others' work along without having to bear the brunt of the creative responsibility. This might be why it's easier to find female directors in the independent world. Here, the crews are smaller and there are no frantic production execs waiting for you to prove your worth. The failures tend to hit softer and are forgotten quicker.

Buzzkill!

2009-09-16T13:10:00.001-04:00

This was a short film my friend and Margaret and I submitted for the TriggerStreet/Stella Artois Film Competition. Triggerstreet.com is the interactive arm of Kevin Spacey's media company dedicated to discovering and showcasing emerging filmmaking and writing talent. I keep meaning to become more active in the TriggerStreet community, as I believe that it has the potential to be a really valuable tool to producers (like myself) looking for potential content and creators looking for feedback. I'll report back my thoughts once I've test driven their site a bit more. Anyway, here's "Buzzkill"! The credits aren't correct (my "Story By" credit is missing) but other than that, it's in pretty decent shape. We were able to pull it together for a little under $2K and in only a months time, which, considering most of the people involved work full time, was quite a feat. Enjoy!

Buzz Kill from Larry on Vimeo.

DIY: Music Videos

2009-09-13T16:17:00.007-04:00

I was blown away by the quality of this music video, shot entirely on the iPhone. Sure, the video's concept was simple to execute and the resulting picture may not have a lot of depth, but the image is crisp and the colors pop, which for a simple low budget web video like the one here, is all that you really need.

Music Video Shot on iPhone from Kenny Mosher on Vimeo.

Making A Movie? First You'll Need A Website

2009-09-10T12:04:00.003-04:00

In today's DIY world, it's important to plan how you're going to market and distribute your film before you even get your first shot in the can. One of the most effective ways to do that is to establish a web presence for your film or company where you can post messages, images and video detailing your progress. I found this great website that compares the top web hosting sites. Screen shot below. Enjoy!

'Gamer' Gave Me Epilepsy

2009-09-09T15:10:00.049-04:00

I was looking for some mindless popcorn fare to cap off my Labor Day weekend and figured watching Gerard Butler blow things up was as good a choice as any. And the trailer was set to Marilyn Manson's "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)" which, I hate to admit, would even pump me up to read the most boring book ever written.
However, the icing on the cake was probably this NYTimes article on the directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, who made their names directing the high octane, (relatively) low budget 'Crank' movies. 'Gamer', like '12 Monkeys' or 'Videodrome', is a dystopian film, one of my favorite genres of movies(see previous post). The best examples of dystopian filmmaking are able to synthesize a political or societal warning or message and an entertaining plot that features some sort of journey, adventure or mystery in a highly stylized or innovative manner. 'Gamer' takes place in a future in which reality TV and video games have merged, allowing players to manipulate real people via a home console in such games as Society (think the Sims, except with real people) and Slayers, where death-row inmates compete in a gory tournament not unlike the ones seen in video games today. Shot to resemble games like Call of Duty or Halo, Neveldine claims that the film's high contrast, handheld, frenetic style serves to bring in an audience--the film's underhand objective is to criticize the volume of trashy content output by today's entertainment market.
But Neveldine and Taylor go too far to mimic the style they claim to mock. At times I had to close my eyes just to give myself a break from the contstant cutting. I thought I was going to be ill, and not from the boobs, blood, and bruisings (of which there are plenty). In the end, the visual virtuosos can't cover up what is a generally amateur entry into the genre. While there are flourishes of genius, like the Michael C. Hall dance number, the film generally remains bogged down by poor dialogue, worse acting, and a plot that's so lean, few of the supporting characters are given names, let alone motivations.The directors claim they want to criticize the type of trash they see on TV today, but the film never really feels like it succeeds in rising above.
On another note, it's these same "weaknesses" that could potentially lead this film to do robust business overseas. Video game playing teens all over the globe will probably respond much more positively than I to Neveldine and Taylor's epilepsy inducing visual style. And the sparse dialogue and lack of plot will make it easy to translate. Plus, Gerard Butler and Ludacris (in a small but highly marketed role) have decent international appeal. It will be interesting to track how this film does in ancillary markets as well. I can see it potentially having a long and lucrative career as a cult favorite.

'Carriers' Dumped by Shuttered Paramount Vantage

2009-09-04T15:13:00.009-04:00

Like bulls in a china shop, studios always seem to mishandle lower budget genre fare. A movie like this could have benefitted from a well-planned viral campaign culminating in a November or December release as counter-programming for Oscar season. Instead, it was dumped into the veritable B.O. wasteland that is Labor Day weekend, only one week after the dual release of "Halloween II" and "The Final Destination".
'Carriers' Review Shared via AddThis

Cooking With Cormac McCarthy

2009-09-03T14:56:00.005-04:00

This parody of Mr. McCarthy is from an old issue of Vanity Fair but my friend reminded me of it today and I just had to repost:

Cooking with Cormac McCarthy as told to Craig Brown

Pasta. Plain. But Good.

INGREDIENTS:
Pasta.
And salt.
And water.
And Fire.

DIRECTIONS:
Place the pasta in the water and the salt in the water and the water in the pot and the pot on the fire.
In the pot? The fire in the pot?
No. The water in the pot. The pot on the fire.
The pasta in the water?
Yes, in the water.
And the salt in the fire?
No. The salt in the water.
And the water on the fire?
No. The water in the pot and the pot on the fire. Not the water on the fire. For then the fire will die and dying be dead.
Nor will the water boil and the pasta will drain dry and not cooked and hard to the teeth.

The salt falls nor does it cease to fall.
The water boils. So be it.
Cease from placing your hand in the boiling water. Place your hand in the boiling water and it will cause you pain.
Much pain?
Very much pain.

In the pot the bubbles bubble up and bubble some more. The bubbles are bubbly. Never more bubbly bubbles bubbling bubbliest. And having bubbled the bubbles still bubbly.
Or bubblier?
Or bubblier.
Across the kitchen a board intended for chopping. Here. Take it. Chop.
What will I chop? There are no ingredients to chop.
Just chop. Don’t cease from chopping. To chop is to become a man.

After 10 minutes. The pasta stiff and dry and upright no more. The pasta lank and wet and soft. In the eternal damp of water.
Pour water free like some ancient anointing. The pasta left alone in the pot. Alone and naked.
The salt? Where’s the salt?
The salt is gone. Lost to the water and gone forever.
I grieve for the salt.
It is the salt for which I grieve.

Tip the pasta out.
The pasta?
Yes. Tip it out. Onto.
A plate?
Yes. And stop.
Finishing your sentences?
Yes.
Why?
Because it's so.
Irritating?

Nothing in your memory anywhere of anything so good. Now the pasta is eaten. Disappeared. The pasta disappeared as everything disappeared. As the comma disappears and the semicolon disappears and the inverted comma disappears and the apostrophe disappears and the adjectives and the pronouns all disappear.
Leaving just full stops and And.
And And?
And And.
And And.

Sundance Evolves! (Finally)

2009-09-02T17:16:00.023-04:00

I just read on Variety that Sundance Institute has added a new section called "Next" to the festival to showcase six to eight microbudget films. For a festival that is known (and criticized) for premiering Hollywood's nominally independent fare or films made by a small cadre of Sundance alumni, this decision is a real departure from the past. As funding and distribution options are disappearing for indie productions in the 5-10 million dollar range, lower budget, alternatively financed features are finding success by harnessing the power of the internet (see Arin Crumley's "Four Eyed Monsters" and Franny Armstrong's "The Age of Stupid" ). DIY filmmaking is no longer being looked at as the ugly ducking in a pond full of swans. The fact that Sundance has come calling shows that the swans are now looking for ways to be more like the duckling. Not so ugly anymore!
All of this just goes to further prove that there is enough room for films of all types (and budgets) to coexist. You can find the Variety article here.

Why Hollywood Still Matters

2009-09-01T09:18:00.021-04:00

From the articles criticizing the engorged budgets of films like "GI Joe" and "Land of the Lost" to the plunging prices of media stock chronicled in salacious detail by media analysts, one would think that the buzzards were already circling the Sony, Paramount, Universal, Warner Bros and Fox lots. While some see the downfall of this corporatized system as the dawn of a new era of a more democratized system of filmmaking, I think Hollywood is needed now more than ever.

Take a look at the countrywide efforts by lawmakers to add filmmaking tax incentives to their budgets. Much attention has been given to "Gran Torino", one of the first movies (if not the first) to be made in Michigan since lawmakers enacted a 42% tax credit for film productions with budgets over $50,000. On Kim Masters The Business, Gran Torino producer Bill Gerber cited the incentive as the main reason they decided set the film in the suburbs of Detroit rather than Minneapolis as the writer Nick Schenk, had originally envisioned.

Michigan is only one of a dozen to do so. Massachusetts, Lousiana, and New York are other states that have publicized their hefty rebates in an effort to woo producers fat with studio money. Just last Thursday, North Carolina signed legislation that will give production companies a 25 percent tax credit for film projects in North Carolina. That’s a boost from the previous credit of 15 percent.

Critics of these programs want lawmakers to roll back the incentives, questioning their wisdom in the face of high state budget deficits. Massachusetts State Representative Steve D'Amico claims productions don't employ enough local labor and don't invest in putting down roots in order to chase higher subsidiaries in other states. But with the high number of new films and television series going into production each year, the incentive programs seem to be worth the risk. The numbers provided in an online ABC News story about the Michigan incentive show how much the film industry has done to create jobs and sustain small businesses:

In 2007, before Michigan offered the credit, two films were shot there. In 2008, after the credit was enacted, 35 films were, according to the Michigan Film Office. In 2009, there are already 85 movies made or with production applications filed with the state. In 2007, moviemakers spent $2 million producing in the Great Lakes state. In 2008, that soared to $125 million.

And its not only Michigan thats profiting. A study published by the New Mexico film office found that in 2007 local governments earned approximately $1.50 for each $1.00 of state credit. In addition, 2007 productions activities created 2,200 direct jobs. When factoring in film related capital spending, the number rises to 3,769.+/-

To take a another contemporary example, the recently enhanced incentives offered by New York allowed Ang Lee to shoot "Taking Woodstock" in Lebanon, New York rather than on an LA film set. “’Taking Woodstock’ is a New York story, but without the enhanced tax credit incentive we never could’ve filmed in New York,” says executive producer Celia Costas. The benefits proved to be twofold. According to the popular production newsletter "Resource 411", the production ‘Taking Woodstock’ generated an estimated $8 million to boost the local economy and spent nearly $25 million throughout New York State. In an article about the film published in the NYTimes on August 23rd, locals couldn't say enough positive things about the effects of the shoot on their community. Mr. Lee remembers how one woman stopped him and said: "All the events are on the other side of the border, in Massachusetts. Finally [the residents of Lebanon] have got a cultural event here." Restaurant owner Michael DeBella told the Times reporter "Without the movie, I doubt we would have made it through last winter. That's how close to closing we were."

While its easy to decry the excesses and waste of corporate Hollywood, its these same corporations that are helping (in no small part) to bring new jobs and renewed pride to economically depressed areas. Does this mean I think Jeff Bewkes deserves a Distinguished Service Award? No, but just as there's a need for small independent productions to push the boundaries of storytelling and distribution, I think there's also a need for the big, bloated productions of Spiderman and the like to keep pumping a little movie magic into areas that could use it.

More Food For Thought: Improving VOD

2009-08-27T18:03:00.020-04:00

Check out this open letter to VOD services by the NYTimes Engadget blog, advocating increased information sharing during live film streaming. More so than the recommended films feature on the Netflix website, a plug-in that would allow viewers to rent other films by a director, or with a specific castmember while watching the initial film would give VOD companies (and subsequently, the films' distributors) the ability to profit from a movie watcher's ADD and generate new revenue. This may raise the question, "why don't I just pull out my laptop and find out what else the director has done?". Although it would take a minimal amount of effort to do so, what happens once you find what you're looking for on IMDB? Is there a big shiny "WATCH NOW" button to push? No, I have to waste more time and go through more steps to decide which of the director's movies to rent, and then decide the best way to view it. This is where VOD services has the upperhand. Not only does it let you watch Arnold on your big Panasonic TC-PV10 instead of your little MacBook Pro, but the plug-in would also tell you which films to watch next and give you the way to watch them. For a film nerd/lazy bum like me, this is a dream come true. Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon anyone?

Food for Thought: More on Transmedia Storytelling

2009-08-27T11:49:00.014-04:00

Reading Ted Hope's blog this morning I came across a really interesting article on Transmedia Storytelling by David Bordwell, the well known film academic out of the Univ. of Wisconsin. I used to refer to Bordwell's website from time to time in college, but haven't really looked at it since, so it was really fortuitous that Ted Hope linked to it, and even more fortuitous that it was to an article on my new favorite trend in filmmaking. Among other things, Bordwell does an excellent job differentiating transmedia storytelling from your typical franchise:

Some transmedia narratives create a more complex overall experience than that provided by any text alone. This can be accomplished by spreading characters and plot twists among the different texts. If you haven’t tracked the story world on different platforms, you have an imperfect grasp of it...In most film franchises, the same characters play out their fixed roles in different movies, or comic books, or TV shows. You need not consume all to understand one.

While I don't really agree with his assertion that transmedia storytelling is more difficult to realize with a film as opposed to a serialized form of entertainment like television, generally I found his observations to be dead on. To read the rest of this essay, click here.

He Lived To Comb Grey Hair: Senator Ted Kennedy Dies

2009-08-26T10:06:00.006-04:00

Although it was expected, it's no less shocking. The last prince of Camelot is gone. Rest in peace. I hope with your passing we begin to heed your sage voice on healthcare.

From Around The Internet: Mickey Rooney Staying Relevant

2009-08-25T18:16:00.006-04:00

Haven't had a chance to watch this yet (damn the no headphone policy at work) but I plan to when I get home. Hope it's funny.

Say What? Transmedia Storytelling

2009-08-21T10:56:00.016-04:00

Ever since DIY Days Philadelphia I've been thinking a lot about Transmedia Storytelling and how when employed skillfully, it can generate a constant and varied stream of revenue for the players involved. For those of you new to this buzz word, Transmedia Storytelling is "storytelling across multiple forms of media with each medium making distinctive contributions to the audience's understanding of the story" (thanks Wikipedia!). Pioneered by indie mavericks like Lance Weiler and the Blair Witch team, the Transmedia approach has slowly been entering our collective consciousness, evolving in tandem with the way we receive and perceive information in the digital age. Unlike in traditional unidirectional storytelling, where the audience receives the given information for a fixed period of time, this new media process is multi-directional, with multiple authors and architects helping to build the new fictional reality in which dynamic new narratives can play out over an indefinite period of time.

And with multiple points of entry (read: distribution outlets), there are multiple points to eke out a couple bucks. With the potential to create revenue streams through providing premium content, early access to new story developments, events and merchandise (to name only a few), transmedia allows a single product--whether a movie, a toy, a novel or a song--to be profitable long after the intial buzz has died down. Or in the case of television, keep viewers tuning in season after season.

Take the Star Wars franchise. The feature films alone have generated a cumulative worldwide box office of more than $4 billion. That doesn't even begin to factor in the novels, videogames, and toys that provide a constant stream of ancillary revenue. Then there's the Clone Wars cartoon feature and subsequent TV series. I know it's taken a beating in the press, but when viewed within a transmedia context, it takes on new significance. The Clone Wars reintroduces that original product from 1977 to a new Y2K audience. To the middle-aged geeks who grew up with the original trilogy, this new venture may seem abhorrent. But to the generation of pre-teens who were born after Al Gore invented the internet, The Clone Wars represents an exciting new world of sci-fi lore that started on the big screen and continues on multiple smaller screens.

This exciting new approach to storytelling is the wave of the future. Born out of the internet and a growing tech-savvy population, transmedia storytelling provides an alternate digital reality for people to connect with each other. It replicates in the online space the shared cinematic experience of a packed movie theater, or that of a story being told around a campfire and sustains the audience's interest long after the intial content has been consumed. Hopefully, opportunities to build these new complex alternate realities will continue to grow and when the time comes for me to look for my next career move (only 6 months from now!) a job working for a company like Starlight Runner will be waiting for me.

Back in the Saddle Again

2009-08-20T16:10:00.017-04:00

It's been a long time since I've written a post and frankly, I'm feeling a little hesitant starting back up. The blog world is cluttered with chatty cathys gabbing about everything from what they ate to where they shit. So how do you get heard in a room with no walls and a million people shouting? Most likely, you don't. And frankly, that's okay. Long tail theory be damned, no one is going to read this. But if nothing else, its a place for me to clear my mind, hone my skill, and document my thought process.

Last night I went to a packed screening of Blade Runner at the MOMA and I'm really glad I did. Seeing that movie on the "big screen" was a completely revelatory experience. A lot of the film's mood and tone is lost when watched on a television or worse, a computer screen. Blade Runner is a slow, deliberate, thoughtful science fiction film with details that are easy to lose when watching at home with distractions such as phones, computers, friends, food, etc. It's a movie that demands concentration for proper digestion. To give it less than that is to lose some of the subtle details of the marketplace where some of the film's best scenes occur, the elaborate noir costumes, and even the plot. The images and their aural counterpart are designed to overwhelm the viewer, and its power to do so is greatly diminished when consumed incorrectly.

With the visceral power of the four-wall experience, I think its important for filmmakers to not to just harness the power of the internet, but harness the power of the theater as well. Sure, this isn't cheap and it's a headache to figure out on your own. But isn't this part of the reason why we make movies? Otherwise, what's to distinguish film from the larger more amorphous label "content"? I like to think of the content/film distinction as being similar to a rectangle and a square. Film is content, but content is not film. Look at your average Youtube video, webseries, or comedy short. While these can all be well-written, funny, brash, true, articulate and the like, they're not "Blade Runner", and for the most part, they don't aim to be. While internet distribution is a key tool to gain awareness, funding, and fans--it's all still second to a true theatrical experience. This is why I want to make movies. This is what I am striving for. The opportunity not only to share my work democratically, as the internet allows, but also to experience the joy of seeing film projected as it should be -- on a 50ft screen in Dolby 5.1.

It's Coming...DIY DAYS Philly

2009-07-07T18:33:00.004-04:00

Tonights Reading: James D. Stern: 'Making Smarter Movies' or 'I Need the Eggs!' - Now What?

2009-07-06T18:40:00.003-04:00

James D. Stern: 'Making Smarter Movies' or 'I Need the Eggs!' - Now What? Shared via AddThis

Another Reason To <3 James Franco

2009-03-08T11:51:00.001-04:00

Acting with James Franco Episode 3: Scene Work from James Franco

Chance Encounters of the Close Kind

2009-02-16T20:36:00.010-05:00

So I ran into someone the other day who I pretty much assumed I'd never see again. Least of all in the area of Manhattan where I bumped into him. Of course, I was in my sweats, hair pulled back, on my way to dance class. Of course, he looked great. I hadn't seen this person for probably about 6 months, and a lot has changed in my life from when I last saw him, as I'm sure has been the case for him. Needless to say, it was a really jarring experience. In the past, I always sort of half had my guard up when I was in his neighborhood, knowing a run-in wouldn't be that out of the ordinary. But I guess after all this time, as I've slowly grown to forget him, my guard had disappeared. So imagine my surprise when I see him on the exact opposite end of the island! We couldn't have talked for more than a couple minutes and I doubt our encounter left much of an impression on him. He was stressed from work and in a rush. I tried to say goodbye as casually as I could, but as I walked away the full effects of our interaction came over me. My heart was pounding against my ribcage and my body felt like it had been hit with a case of Vertigo. I turned the corner to my dance studio and leaned up against the side of a building to catch my breath and let my mind calm itself. This wasn't easy--I was so mad at myself! I could NOT believe that after all this time he could still have such a visceral effect on me. As much as I know its over, as much as I've moved on, I still feel like all it would take is a single glass of wine to fall back into that same pattern of lust, longing and disappointment all over again. I really thought I was above it, but I guess some people will always be your achilles heel.

Oscar Predictions

2009-02-15T14:59:00.012-05:00

First, I'd like to say that I applaud Oscar's attempt to become "hip" this year with a set overhaul and a People Magazine-mandated sexy host. But lets be honest. Hugh Jackman only appeals to the 50+ broadway crowd and a small (ok, small and rabid) army of comic geeks. And how is a 60's throwback stage really gonna reel in the youth of today? Prediction: numbers may be higher than last year (Watching No Country for Old Men battle There Will Be Blood was like watching paint dry. Doom and gloom vs more doom and gloom? I'd rather watch House reruns.), but it'll be the same old dog and pony show. All. Four. Hours. Of. It.

Ok, here are my predictions: +/-

BEST ACTOR
Sean Penn, because he actually smiles.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Heath Ledger. Morbid, quasi inappropriate sidebar: If he weren't dead, would he win? My guess is probably not...the academy doesn't really have a history of bestowing marquis awards on comic book films, no matter how good the performance.

BEST ACTRESS
While my vote's for Melissa Leo, we all know it's the year of Kate. Hopefully she'll win so people can shut up about her already.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
This is tough. It's a toss-up between Penelope Cruz and Viola Davis. Either way a minority walks away with the little gold man, which is just the sort of PC shit the Academy is trying to embrace.

BEST ANIMATED FILM
That cute little robot.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
I'm torn between The Dark Knightand Slumdog Millionaire. However, since Christopher Nolan was cheated out of a nomination for Best Director, I feel like The Dark Knight should be recognized here.

BEST DIRECTOR
My knee jerk reaction is Danny Boyle, but I wonder if all the recent bad press about Slumdog will hurt his chances. Makes me want to choose David Fincher, although the academy hasn't been kind to him in the past. Final answer: Stickin with the Brit.

BEST DOCUMENTARY
MAN ON WIRE!!(kudos, Magnolia)

BEST FOREIGN FILM
My friend Dan made a good case for Waltz with Bashir, but I think I'm going to go with The Class. Although I haven't seen either, The Class strikes me as the film most in line with Oscar precedent. It would be pretty sweet if Bashir won, though. Israeli filmmaking deserves some more press and accolades.

BEST PICTURE
Slumdog Millionaire. Jai Ho!

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME?!

2009-02-09T20:59:00.005-05:00

Poor David. He goes to the dentist for a couple of stitches and gets hit with an existential crisis. I empathize.

Super Trailers for the Super Bowl

2009-02-02T20:34:00.010-05:00

Dudes, I know I'm not a 12-yr old boy, but how can I NOT be excited for GI Joe: The Rise of the Cobra after this kickass trailer?

Nikki Finke rounds out the rest of the super movie trailers here, but really, I think its no comparison...sorry Trans 2, your shit looks weak in comparison.

Required Viewing: Duplass Bros.

2009-01-26T20:50:00.006-05:00

Haven't watched this yet, but heard it's a winner. From before they were crowned the Next Big Thing in Film.

VOTE FOR REENA!

2009-01-14T19:39:00.005-05:00

VOTE HERE!

New Discovery!

2009-01-11T19:35:00.020-05:00

Okay, so I know some of my other posts made me sound like an internet hating crazy Luddite, but I SWEAR I'm not. I offer UBUWEB as proof. UBU is a repository for visual, concrete and sound poetry and essays and articles ranging from Robert Creeley to Jean Baudrillard. As print becomes more and more obsolete, it's comforting to know that there are still knights of the written word working hard to make these historical and important works available to new audiences.

"UbuWeb functions as a distribution center for hard-to-find, out-of-print and obscure materials, transferred digitally to the web. Our scanning, say, an historical concrete poem in no way detracts from the physical value of that object in the real world; in fact, it probably enhances it. Should something return to print, we will remove it from our site immediately. Also, should an artist find their material posted on UbuWeb without permission and wants it removed, please let us know. However, most of the time, we find artists are thrilled to find their work cared for and displayed in a sympathetic context. As always, we welcome more work from existing artists on site."

Bresson's Movies by Robert Creeley

How Not To Save BWay, SNL Style

2009-01-11T19:16:00.001-05:00

I love that SNL got funny again.

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

New Year Blues

2009-01-04T16:57:00.012-05:00

Every January 1st the fallen nettles of the christmas tree littering the floor of my living room make me a little depressed about the coming year. The holidays rouse such a surge of emotion and excessive behavior that by New Years Day, I'm worn out and dreading the dreary January days that stretch out like a wasteland in front of me. The excitement of the first snow and the cold weather that reddened my cheeks and made my eyes sparkle has developed into bitterness and chapped skin. Not long after, the doubt and pessimism seep in: How will this year be any different from the last?...Will I be stuck in career limbo yet again?...Will I manage to keep a single new years resolution?! (Survey says--probably not). Although work and routine have usually pushed these feelings of ennui and malaise out of my mind by MLK Day, that doesn't make them any less warranted or worrisome. I want every year to present new opportunities that bring me to new heights. I want to be challenged and I want to possess the fearlessness to rise to it. Its too simple to get trapped in the tedium of every day and lose sight of the goals and ambition that drive life. I hope I can get outside myself more this year, do some of the things that I envy about others, take risks, say yes, all that stereotypical bullshit that's so easy to talk about but so hard to do.

It's easy to be arrested by complacency; its much harder to break free. I don't want these New Year Blues comin' down on me anymore.

No Man's An Island, Until There's An Earthquake

2008-12-29T23:45:00.013-05:00

Watching Persepolis tonight was a nice coda to Milan Kundera’s Ignorance, which I had finished reading last week. Since finishing that book, I’d been thinking a lot about the concepts of exile and return, and feeling like a stranger in one’s own homeland. In the film, the protagonist and narrator, Marjane, flees Tehran as a young girl for Vienna. While Tehran is rocked by putative reactionary dogma, mortar shells, and tragedy, Marjane’s life is a whirlwind of love, loss, and lots of moving. With each day, her experiences and encounters drag her further and further away from her family and friends, who won’t ever know what it means to be Marjane, Iranian and in Austria, in 1982. Marjane, indelibly altered abroad, returns home to discover that she is no longer the Iranian who left her parents arms four years prior, but an Iranian-European hybrid, searching desperately through the eyeglasses of nostalgia for the world that she once knew that no longer exists. Marjane is there, but Marjane’s Iran is not. Unsurprisingly, the film ends with Marjane sitting in an airport in Paris, her final departure from Tehran. Will Marjane find peace and fulfillment in this second adopted homeland? If Kundera’s book is any sort of guide, it would seem that the answer is no. Once the homeland is lost, so is hope for a life not haunted by loneliness and the pangs of nostalgia.

Persepolis addresses these feelings of social alienation, depression, nostalgia, and anger through simple yet expressive cartoon, backgrounds that are expressionistic and highly emotive, and a beautiful score that enhances the power of the image without feeling obtrusive. It leaves its audience with the question: how do we define ourselves? Are we beholden to our bloodlines, nation or memories? Perhaps with the exception of our brothers and sisters in arms, few Americans have to face this crisis of identity that comes with a forced divorce from the homeland. Upon return, the people that were left behind are no longer the same people whose smiles are frozen in old photos and videos. If the ties that bind us are our shared experiences, what happens when those experiences are replaced by new ones? Does the thread remain strong; does it start to unravel or does it break? When an earthquake shifts the plates, they don’t go back together. Is it the same for people? According to both Persepolis and Ignorance, it is. Both works are endowed with a profound sense of isolation—especially Ignorance. Milan Kundera attacks the 'No Man is an Island' philosophy head on by providing the reader twin case studies of loneliness. In the novella, two exiled Czechs—one man entering the twilight of life, one woman firmly in middle age—return to their home country only to find that their roots have been dug up. Unable to reconnect emotionally or in memory with their former brothers, mothers, lovers and friends, these orphans float like those two ships passing in the night, “reaching out, seeking one another”, and find nothing but water and abyss.

Musical Interlude

2008-12-27T11:38:00.009-05:00

As I prepare my next angry installment of the Death of Gutenberg, I thought I'd take this moment to share my current iTunes top 10 (no the irony is not lost upon me), in no particular order:
1. "The Funeral" - Band of Horses
2. "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" - Beyonce
3. "Cold White Christmas" - Casiotone for the Painfully Alone
4. "Love Connection" - Casiotone for the Painfully Alone
5. "No Wow" - The Kills
6. "Sinnerman(Felix Da Housecat Remix)" - Nina Simone & Felix da Housecat
7. "How Soon is Now" - The Smiths
8. "Jai Ho" - AR Rahman, Sukhvinder Singh, Tanvi Shah & Mahalaxmi Iyer
9. "Love Story" - Taylor Swift
10. "Straight Lines" - Silverchair

Death of Gutenberg Pt. I

2008-12-26T11:36:00.006-05:00

I disagree with Kevin Kelly’s myopic exultation of visual media in his Idea Lab article "Becoming Screen Literate" in the NYTimes Magazine’s recent Screens issue. While he makes some keen comparisons between print media and visual media, he ignores the glaring differences that make visual media a more distrustful mistress. While the manipulation of information can be accomplished both in text and on screen, the ease at which it can be accomplished varies greatly, and usually to the detriment of historical truth.

Kelly suggests in his article that visual manipulation should be seen as a creative past time, a sport that can bring together people across distances and timezones. He views the subjective recreations, paraphrases and reimaginings of video to be on par with similar practices in text, saying “In fact, the habits of the mashup are borrowed from textual literacy. You cut and paste words on a page. You quote verbatim from an expert. You paraphrase a lovely expression. You add a layer of detail found elsewhere. You borrow the structure from one work to use as your own. You move frames around as if they were phrases”. In Kelly's logic, what could possibly be the ethical repercussions of a practice that can be connected to something as rich in tradition as our literary cannon? It’s easy to point to examples of art and creativity in visual editing and pat ourselves on the back for our inventiveness. But what effect does this harmless new sport have on our larger collective conscious & memory?

What Kelly fails to address is the dark underbelly of our progression toward screen dominance—the blurring of the lines between what is real and what is not real. . .Kelly speaks of a future in which visuals will be annotated much like books. The many textual devices that allow for tangential information and borrowed ideas to be cited within the narrative will never exist for visual media the way they do for text. Textual citations don't disrupt the narrative and don't create a false reality in which borrowed information is mistaken for originality, or objectivity. How will this be done in the lazy, fast paced world of visual imaging where the focus is on appearances and not on accuracy? Unlike in books the video editor's job is output. He is disconnected with the visual authenticity of what he is creating, whereas in books and newspapers, the editor is expected to check and double check that what is being put out is real...

Moving toward emptiness.

2008-11-27T20:43:00.009-05:00

Sitting here at my desk, trying to come up with something to post, I start to look around my room for inspiration. My room is a time capsule of me from middle school and early high school. It's almost as if the room has been vacuum sealed since Y2K;a paean to the po-mo,pre-9/11 teen on the verge of the digital revolution, preserved for whoever the beneficiaries of our fucked up world will be. I glance over at my CDs--Green Day, Matchbox Twenty, New Found Glory--all pop giants of a bygone era of physical media, when packaging and track order still meant something. In fact, I don't think I've paid for a single CD since my first year in college, when I, like the rest of my peers, discovered the joys of pirated media. While napster may have risen and fallen in a day, its wildly successful (and highly illegal) model ripped down the wall for its successors and phlebotomized the coffers of the big music machines. It's only a matter of time until all physical media disappears, and then what will litter the rooms of teens? Digital frames and posters? Laptop screens and Kindle readers? Xbox 360 and Nintendo DS? Iphones and Ipods? Teen rooms will lose the dust and clutter that scream life and personality and presence.

My room is the blueprint to my current incarnation and eventual, final form. It's weighty, tactile and odoriferous. It's a symphony of color and pattern. It sings the opus Julia. Without all the scraps of paper, the CD cases, the piles and piles of dusty books and games and dolls and figurines and doohickeys, the room becomes nothing but a room in the linguistic sense, lacking all the nostalgic weight that differs it from any other room dating from the time that rooms were rooms. When the day comes that techonology has completed its lobotomy of the physical history of humanity (and I'm becoming more bitterly convinced it will), I hope I'll have been buried deep in the dirtiest dirt in the most cedar of cedar coffins, keeping company with the earthworms and slugs and beetles whose little lives stretch longer than the span of human memory.

"The planet's turning but I cant stand still..."

2008-11-19T17:19:00.010-05:00

After House last night, I start flipping channels, halfheartedly looking for something mindless to zone out to. Instead, I came across a "great couples on film" marathon on TMC. The film on deck was Adam's Rib (1949), AFI's 22nd Greatest Comedy of All Time. Being that I had hours of sleepless night ahead of me, I decided that it would be in my best interest to broaden my cinematic horizons. I was surprised at how sharp and modern the film still felt. Spencer and Tracy are absolutely electric, and their acid tongues cut through the tongue twisting dialogue with the ease of a champion fencer. However what surprised me most was how difficult it was for me to pay my full attention to the film. Unlike most of the product pumped out by studios and minimajors today, the films from the old school hollywood system relied heavily on dialogue and character to advance the story. More cutting meant more time in the editing room and more chance for mistake. There were no CGI effects, no cheap laughs and very few sight gags. To find the laugh you needed to follow the roadmap of dialogue.

The amount of concentration and single minded focus needed to enjoy this film meant that I couldnt be on my computer, the phone, or reading a book as I watched. I couldnt flip channels or grab a snack. In other words, I couldn't multi-task the film, a common occurrence for me and many of my peers these days, whether in the theater or at home. Consumption models have changed so drastically that its become nearly impossible for our minds to digest a single flow of information. Instead, we get fidgety, and mistaken this physical reaction for boredom.

Hopefully with practice this affliction will be reversible. It would be a shame to lose out on the beauty and charm of old celluloid hollywood because I can't sit still.

Ch-Ch-Changes

2008-11-19T15:48:00.007-05:00

Turn and face the strain/ Ch-ch-changes/ Pretty soon now youre gonna get a little older/ Time may change me/ But I cant trace time

Sooo...Its been a while since I've paid any mind to Awkward Juxtaposition, but I plan to be back now, and better than ever! Nothing much has changed since you last heard from me. Ditched the fickle older man child, still living at home, still crashing in the city on weekends, still in need of money. However, I'm about to start interning at a company I've followed and admired since High School! Unlike the rest of the lethargic, slow to change industry, this company has remained on the cutting edge of distribution and sales tactics, all the while maintaining high standards and impeccable taste. I'll be working for both their sales team and their digital rights divisions--I think! They've expanded pretty rapidly in the last 6-8months, and I'm afraid that means there will be no job at the end of the rainbow for me. The state of the economy doesn't exactly help. All I can hope is that maybe their gamble on internet distribution will pay off and they'll make some serious cheddar. And that will coincide with people leaving/people being promoted. And the company will love me so much that they'll be begging me to take one of their open positions. Well that last part probably won't happen, but I can dream can't I?

VOTE FOR ME!

2008-08-04T23:11:00.002-04:00

Win a date with Vanity Fair and the Waverly Inn!

2008-06-24T22:02:00.008-04:00

I found this line from a Salvatore Quasimodo poem reprinted in the NYTimes Magazine and it really caught me off guard. I've got to remember to look up the rest. Pretty arresting, isn't it?

Ognuno sta solo sul cuor della terra

trafitto da un raggio di sole:

ed é subito sera.

(Everyone stands alone on the heart of the earth

transfixed by a sun ray:

and suddenly it is evening.)

The Future of Indies?

2008-06-16T23:35:00.008-04:00

"The Future is here. It's just not widely distributed yet."

--William Gibson

I've always admired John Sloss for his uniquely successful business helping indies find financing (see Little Miss Sunshine for details...), and for the most part I believe he's always been on the cutting edge of taste, trends and technology. However, after reading this, I can't help but feel he and the NYTimes are living in a fantasy world.

While "delivery is changing rapidly", I wonder if the ADD-afflicted majority of computer users will have the attention span to purchase and watch unidirectional content over 8min long. So far, the internet content revolution has been mostly hype; few have seen any payoff, including the nominally successful web series like Eisner's Prom Queen or Edward Zwick's quarterlife. Even with interest in television waning, there's been no proof that they've defected in favor of high quality internet content. For the most part, people use the internet to communicate and build community, not to isolate themselves, which is essentially the effect of watching a television show or film. The most successful online ventures--facebook, secondlife, myspace, and nerve to name a few--all revolve around interaction and bidirectional avenues of information. The user is both the consumer and the distributor, evaluating and sharing content with the community through his or her own platform. At first glance, some may think the success of viral videos like "I'm Fucking Matt Damon" or the Evolution of Dance seem to point to a growing desire for content, but keep in mind that these videos are short, free to watch, and usually lose their appeal after a few weeks, thus possessing little potential for serialization, licensing or most importantly, advertising revenue.

In my opinion, the Lost creators have come closest to successfully merging content with community. The Lost Experience was an ARG(alternate reality game) designed by the creators to engage fans and expand the story line. The experience included new content, viral marketing websites such as oceanic-air.com, and puzzles whose solutions would reveal new information about the Lost world. These interactive applications built an alternate Lost community in which its members could share clues, videos, theories and more, which in turn created new lucrative advertising opportunities. Unlike with unidirectional content, the Lost world offers advertisers multiple opportunities for product tie-ins and high viewership through user word-of-mouth. A case study by WOMMA found that after Sprite teamed up with Lost on an ARG that cost less than $150,000 to produce, Sprite web traffic increased 400% and average visit time increased 275%. I'd like to hope that Sloss is right and advertising dollars will exist for high quality indie content on-line, but in reality, no one is going to watch a 90min mumblecore film on a distributor's pay-to-watch website when they can watch and share Will Ferrell's Pearl the Landlady with their friends on their own pages for free.

Sex And The City Among Other Things

2008-06-15T19:42:00.015-04:00

So a weekend that I thought was going to be full of action, adventures and romance turned out to be one full of rain, frustration, and reflection on the 1 train at 2am. Its Sunday night and I’ve just gotten back from the Sex and the City movie with my mom—the coda to her 60th birthday celebration. I had a lot of misgivings and apprehensions going into the film. It’s been a victim of bad reviews by both angry feminists and misogynists (probably the first and last time those two groups will ever hold common ground!) so I was wary of watching anything that would “dumb” down the original series. Fortunately, my doubts disappeared not long after the opening credit sequence. The movie, like the show, was pure eye candy and escapist entertainment, perfect for the start of summer. However, what I wasn’t expecting, and was pleasantly surprised to get, was a film that reinforced the special friendship of the four characters without any of the sensationalized cattiness you usually see between female characters on most series today. +/-

What made the original SATC a success was the strong bond between Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha. Their fights didn’t revolve around boyfriend stealing, backstabbing, or gossip. When they got mad at each other, it was for real reasons, like being too honest or harsh, or not being there when their friendship was most needed. And while they got mad, they never got even. They talked their problems out like adults, and always made amends in the end because for these women, friendship was always the bottom line, and nothing could compromise that—especially no man. And as I watched the fabulous foursome toast their cosmos for the final time in the heart of the greatest city in the world, I found myself crying out of the simple, sublime joy of watching their allegiance, and out of my own joy for the great allegiances of my own. And whether I find any truly great loves—and I wish on every fallen eyelash and shooting star that I do—I know like Carrie my friends will be there for it all.

Now that I’ve gotten this embarrassingly gooey ode to friendship off my chest, I’ll move on, and back. Saturday started off on the right foot. I met my friend who I haven’t seen since Bike and Build and since hes been back from the Peace Corps, who is now living 3 blocks from me and getting his masters in Social Work at Columbia. After that, I met my mom downtown to go see Avenue Q for her birthday. She was in a great mood, which, after all she’s been through, made me cry. Yes, the first of three times this weekend. And its not even “that time of the month”. After the show, I had plans with the guy that I’m “seeing” to do a bunch of fun summer-in-the-city things, but the flash thunderstorm ended all that. It also added a weird atmosphere that I couldn’t seem to shake all night. Usually, I’m very comfortable with him, and I have tons to say that I only end up saying half of it before we part. However last night, our chemistry was all off. Kind of strained and almost uncomfortable. I don’t know if it was because it was the first time he took me over to where he lives, which, if you know the situation was HUGE, or if it was because I was exhausted, or something else that was going on with him. I just know I left feeling down and nervous that he had lost interest. The cab ride was a long teary-eyed reflection to 120th street, ending with me hoping that he was missing me and HATING myself for hoping it with such ardor. I really like him and like how I feel when I'm around him, but whenever I'm not, I get worried that I might have done something to jeopardize our whatever-it-is. I was so frustrated that I—a strong, confident woman—had devolved into such an anxious wreck over a silly boy. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt strongly for someone, but I’m so worried about giving myself up or getting hurt in the process. I want it to work terribly, and most of the time I feel hopeful that it will and will be wonderful, but those times when I start to second-guess his feelings I crumple into a jumble of melancholy and self-loathing, albeit only privately. We’re in a weird in-between state of trying to figure things out, and I hope that once we leave limbo, for better or worse, a lot of these emotions will leave as well, or atleast I’ll be in a better place to share them with him. Then I’ll have recaptured my strong confident femininity and move on with him (hopefully!) both together and as the Me that I’ve always loved. If not, well, there’s always a trip to Mexico with my friends!

The Raconteurs...

2008-06-01T12:22:00.033-04:00

...rocked out at Terminal 5 friday night. Jack White, unsurprisingly, was sicknasty on the guitar. It's funny, his stage presence w/ the Raconteurs was totally different from the White Stripes. Much more hard rock. Here, he was just "one of the boys" and seemed more at ease on stage. The band played pretty much everything in their ouevre which made my partner in crime Shiff a very happy man. I think my favorite song is probably Rich Kid Blues--like all their songs the lyrics are beautiful in their simplicity and honesty. It's hard to believe that these guys are so young. Check it out below.

Best discovery of the night: Turns out Terminal 5 is the old club Exit! Oh, memories of high school "teen nights", fake 18 year old IDs, the Hip Hop room, and pretending to be lezzie to escape creepy older men. Maybe not the best concert venue but worth the trek to the hudson if for no other reason than to relive my (in retrospect not-so-cool) underage clubbing forays.

"Love's just a story, a story without words Words are almost never seen and never even heard"

12 Rich Kid Blues - Raconteurs

It Really Hurts...To Look This Good

2008-05-28T16:20:00.004-04:00

Okay, okay, his movie may have been crap but I will never forsake Harrison Ford. He's stripping (literally 2x!) for the environment!

Z-Listed Sighting

2008-05-27T20:38:00.011-04:00

More reality tv musings from Allison Metz via m gmail inbox this morning... Celebrity Sightings at 24 Hour Fitness By Allison Metz

Last night, in the ongoing battle to make my buttocks less mushy, I spotted a Z-list celebrity, if there is such a thing. Allow me to paint the scene for you. I was wearing excessively tight spandex, rocking some frizzy hair and jamming out to quality music. Specifically, Just The Two Of Us by Will Smith, a personal pleasure of mine because lets be honest, who doesn't love big Willie? Miami. Men in Black. So many classics. Anyway,as I sauntered over to the make-your-butt-less-mushy machine, I spotted a key member in the Rock of Love II season. No, it wasn't Bret Michaels. I'm pretty sure he's never exercised in his life. No, it wasn't Ambre, the winner of the show. No, it wasn't the chick with the weird lips named Daisy. Even better. It was Daisy's ex-boyfriend!!!! When he came on the show Daisy confessed to Bret that she was still living with him and all this drama ensued. O man, it made for great television. I was so excited. As I was doing squats and simultaneously staring at him in the mirror, I contemplated whether or not I should say something to him like, "you're better off without that bitch." Or maybe, "so what was it like to be on reality television?' I think he noticed me staring at him because he whispered something and walked away in disgust. O man. That was seriously so exciting for me.