Dear Hollywood: It’s Time To Realize Artificial Scarcity Is Gone… And That’s A Good Thing
The economics of physical goods followed a supply and demand curve, as you no doubt learnt in high school: the larger the supply of something, the lower the cost; conversely the tighter the supply (a.k.a. scarcity) lead to higher costs. But classic economics doesn’t deal happily with “goods” that are effectively infinite, such as digital copies of media are.
Why ‘Big Media’ Was Just a Historical Blip http://tinyurl.com/68wq5o7
The question isn’t so much that Big Media is giving way to New Media, but rather that the era of Big Media – i.e. mass media, is a historical anomaly.
Before mass media all media was small, serving local audiences or (with books) very slowly distributed over wider territories. Then came an era of mass capital and limited airwaves that allowed broadcasters to build mass audiences, up to the 130 million Americans that saw “Roots” during its first broadcast.
The movie studios once owned all the production technology, talent and distribution channel – the movie theaters. That structure was forcibly broken apart, but the broadcast industry has fragmented due to the proliferation of cable channels, and now direct Internet distribution.
This will be my 14th consecutive NAB, starting in 1998 when I travelled from Australia for the conference. (And again in 1999 and 2000 before moving to the US in 2001.) Needless to say, I find it worthwhile both professionally and socially.
You absolutely need an Exhibits pass – going to NAB without one will make the trip much less worthwhile. Good news is I can offer you a code to get a free one:
Simply register at http://bit.ly/NABSM08 to get the discount automatically, or at http://www.nabshow/register using the code SM08
Even better, that code will also give you a $100 discount off any education package, including:
Semantic Text Startup for: Cliff notes, keywords, key points and important facts derived from raw text. http://tinyurl.com/5sr5myk
One of the technologies I’ve been following, because I think it’s relevant to my goals with Assisted Editing (to take the boring out of postproduction). One piece of the “boring” is deriving keywords and concepts from spoken word (transcribed, of course).
Technologies like this, and others developed for the Library and Archivist industries, are becoming very sophisticated.
In an Assisted Editing context, the extraction of keywords (particularly) from a “chunk” of transcribed spoken word (let’s say an interview for a documentary), removes the need for a human to enter the keywords.
Having keywords is valuable because you can search for all instances of the keyword (to find common themes), which is something prEdit really does well, whether you’re going to build the initial outline manually in a tool like prEdit or Final Cut Pro, or use an Assisted Editing tool to get to a rough first assemble.
Professionalism is for Amateurs http://tinyurl.com/45doktd
After making the case that “professionals” rejected the founders of Google, the founders of Apple and that amateurs created the “much bigger than the pro encyclopedia” Wikipedia, the article finishes with this clincher:
My reluctance to work with so called ‘professionals’ goes so far that whenever someone says “Lets do this the professional way†or “But that doesn’t seems professional†I can’t help but instinctively move in the other direction. If it seems professional to me it sounds boring and unoriginal.
Its the awkward people, the creative thinkers and the unconventional innovators that rule the world. Not the people who act ‘professional’ and follow the beaten path.
Re-invent the world; act unprofessionally!
But what really is a professional?
Want a truly horrible customer experience? Buy from Wildform. The product is fine and does the job, but the experience of buying it, doesn’t measure up.
The Next 9 Jobs That Will Be Replaced By Robots http://tinyurl.com/4c66w5b
I thought this article was interesting because I’m always looking at the cutting edge of what can be automated. For me the interest is in thinking about how the cutting edge of technology will move into even more “creative” roles.
The jobs supposedly “on the line” (and they don’t mean tomorrow, but rather a little ‘down the line’):
FUJIFILM to feature facial recognition, precision focus, telephoto lenses http://tinyurl.com/4jfyz9a
The TRACE facial recognition system enables a camera operator to set automatic focus parameters on one person’s face in a frame. When a subject walks into the frame, a box appears around that person’s face, and if the operator touches that person’s box, the lens automatically focuses on that face throughout the scene. The TRACE system will be shown as a technology demonstration with estimated availability at the end of 2011.
So, here’s my question. There are people who criticize the use of tools like First Cuts, Finisher and prEdit because they in some way diminish the role of the editor (from their perspective). Isn’t this much the same thing? Shouldn’t the camera operator be able to follow focus on a face? Isn’t that part of the job? If we have facial detection like that, couldn’t we add in a pan/tilt head and really follow?
The Terence and Philip Show, Episode 22 – Thunderbolt. http://tinyurl.com/4g9wkqy
You’ve likely heard about the new interconnect technology called Thunderbolt now that it is released, but Lightpeak during development at Intel. With two 10 Gbit/sec channels this has some interconnect power, at budget pricing. It’ll make a big difference when momentum gathers.
We also talk about the implications for hardware design, and whether or not there will be need for a “tower” configuration in the future.
Netflix To Enter Original Programming With Mega Deal For David Fincher-Kevin Spacey Series ‘House Of Cards’ http://bit.ly/ewSQgH
In yet another sign that modern distributors don’t feel like waiting around for the legacy industry (with the good content) any more. In a move that presages what could happen more widely, particularly if Apple and Google started into production.
There’s zero reason why any of the new content aggregators or distributors couldn’t go to the exact same producers and production companies that produce for the network and cable outlets, for exclusive content for their distribution.
EXCLUSIVE: Video streaming juggernaut Netflix is becoming an original programming player. In what is probably the biggest gamble in its 14-year history, I hear Netflix has outbid several major cable networks, including HBO and AMC, for  Media Rights Capital’s drama series House of Cards, executive produced and directed by David Fincher and exec produced by and starring Kevin Spacey.
Negotiations are still going on, but I hear Netflix landed the drama project by offering a staggering commitment of two seasons, or 26 episodes. Given that the price tag for a high-end drama is in the $4 million-$6 million an episode range and that a launch of a big original series commands tens of millions of dollars for promotion, the deal is believed to be worth more than $100 million.