Category: General

Categories
Item of Interest The Business of Production

Open Source Animated Movie Show what can be done

Open Source Animated Movie Shows What Can Be Done Today http://tinyurl.com/2d3ajjf

For years, one of the points we’ve raised in answering the movie industry’s $200 million challenge to us (i.e., “how do you keep making $200 million movies?”) is that, in part, it’s asking the wrong question. No one asks “how do we keep making $10,000 computers?” Instead, they look for ways to make them cheaper (and better, at the same time). But in the world of Hollywood accounting, there’s little incentive to make cheaper movies (sometimes the incentive goes the other way). And, we keep showing how the world is reaching a place where it’s cheaper and cheaper to make good movies. We’ve pointed out nice examples of people making high quality movies for next to nothing. The idea is not that movies should be made for nothing, but that the technology is making it so that movies can be made for less. In fact, with two of the examples of cheap movie making we’ve highlighted, the makers later went on to score deals to do higher end movies for more reasonable budgets.

Categories
Item of Interest Media Consumption

The Other Shoe Drops For Radio and Cable

The Other Shoe Drops For Radio & Cable http://bit.ly/aFNkE1

New research shows that people are abandoning old media by the millions for Internet media. And if they aren’t abandoning it, they are cutting way back on the time the spend with it.

The article then goes on to detail the bad news for cable companies with people cutting basic cable or cutting back to less expensive cable, then it goes on to show how much audience radio is losing among younger people. Interesting background statistics.

Categories
Distribution Item of Interest Monetizing

Distribution U., coming to NY and LA

Distribution U., coming to NY and LA http://bit.ly/cVEsfV

Very few events get my unqualified endorsement but I attended Distribution U last year and learnt a lot and thoroughly recommend it to anyone that is even considering doing independent distribution.

In fact, go to any Conference or Seminar where either Scott Kirsner or Peter Broderick are speaking: they’re always interesting.

The event has a couple objectives:

    – Let filmmakers connect, find new ways to collaborate, and help one another succeed.

    – Talk about what’s changing in terms of funding, distribution, and audience-building, with actual examples and case studies, rather than theoretical predictions.

    – Hear directly from filmmakers about what they’ve done successfully with their most recent films to get them seen by a large audience, and earn a solid return. (We also talk about what didn’t work, and wasn’t worth the time or investment.) 

    – Enable participants to sit down with industry experts for small group lunch conversations on very specific topics, like working with the media and bloggers… understanding the way VOD deals work… organizing theatrical screenings that make money… and more.

    – Provide ideas and strategies to several filmmakers in the audience, as part of an on-stage brainstorming session.

    – Get participants charged up and excited about new possibilities, as opposed to depressed about how things are changing.

Categories
Distribution Item of Interest

Optimization Tips for Google TV

Optimization Tips for Google TV http://bit.ly/alUtTf

Since there are currently no available Google TV devices, this advice is somewhat premature, but you might as well file it away for the day you’ll need it.

Personally I’m not sure about where Google TV fits with Apple TV: nerds vs normals?

My friend Carey Dissmore commented on Twitter today:

AppleTV represents a ‘new model only’ (internet+local content streaming), Google TV attempts to skin old tech. That old tech being traditional cable and satellite. It’s middleware to bring legacy tech together.

Categories
Distribution Item of Interest

Independent Film’s Path To A Viable New Business Model

Independent Film’s Path To A Viable New Business Model http://bit.ly/d6CMtj

A longish, but great take on where we are now in independent distribution. Covers topics:

  • The Landscape
  • Where we stand
  • What’s ahead
  • The New Ground Rules

On licensing in the new ground rules, he’s a realist:

On licensing, if anyone can get your film for free, the only sensible licensing scheme is to distribute with no restrictions on copying and reuse. I realize this rubs some people the wrong way (it used to rub me the wrong way), but in the new era, attempting to enforce all-rights-reserved copyright is a business disadvantage for anyone without a team of lawyers. With no feasible technical approach to stop reproduction and sharing, the only option is to attack legally. That takes lawyers and they are not cheap. Which approach is cost efficient – a market with profits that depend on copyright enforcement via legal channels or the venue that makes money despite unrestricted distribution? If you want to understand the future for copyright licensing, Lawrence Lessig is required reading. He lays it out far better than I ever could, plus his work is of the rare sort that is equally genius, entertaining, and inspiring. Specifically, hit up Remix and Free Culture – pretty sure a couple chapters will convince most anyone. You can buy the books or (Lessig puts his money where is mouth is) download them legally for free here and here.

Categories
HTML5 Item of Interest

HTML5 not ready for prime time says W3

HTML5 not ready for prime time, says W3: http://bit.ly/blTwrj.

The World Wide Web Consortium, the body that regulates and publishes the specifications of the HTML standard, is warning web content producers that the HTML5 is “not yet ready for production” and that the W3C will likely make further significant changes to the specification to increase interoperability. Philippe Le Hegaret, interaction domain leader responsible for the HTML and SVG spec, added that they expect it to be feature-complete in mid-2011.

This hasn’t stopped a lot of people already making the move to HTML5 where it makes sense as a Flash (or Silverlight) replacement.

In the meantime where there’s a showcase of  “15 Excellent HTML5 Techniques and demonstrations“

Categories
Item of Interest

The Terence and Philip Show Episode 11

The Terence and Philip Show Episode 11! At last. http://bit.ly/aHnmOQ

What would the production industry be like if we had no existing industry: no established production business, no guilds, no agreements, no contracts, no established workflows. How would we go about establishing something like broadcast television so people could still make decent middle class salaries, be creative and do what they love to do.

Our longest show ever, with Howard Brock.

Categories
Item of Interest Monetizing New Media

The real cost of Free

The real cost of Free http://bit.ly/cd8njl

I read responses like these and I really wonder why anyone cares about mainstream media, with their lack of research, wholesale publication of press releases (without disclosure) and the tendency to push headlines (and page views).

Apart from Guardian columnist Helienne Lindvall publishing material with zero research, making claims that were simply not true about Doctorow’s speaking fees, but manages to completely misunderstand that no-one has ever said that “content wants to be free”. Many business models include free content: commercial radio, broadcast Television and newspapers have long used free content as part of their business model.

Doctorow makes the point:

The topic I leave my family and my desk to talk to people all over the world about is the risks to freedom arising from the failure of copyright giants to adapt to a world where it’s impossible to prevent copying. Because it is impossible. Despite 15 long years of the copyright wars, despite draconian laws and savage penalties, despite secret treaties and widespread censorship, despite millions spent on ill-advised copy-prevention tools, more copying takes place today than ever before.

As I’ve written here before, copying isn’t going to get harder, ever. Hard drives won’t magically get bulkier but hold fewer bits and cost more.

Networks won’t be harder to use. PCs won’t be slower. People won’t stop learning to type “Toy Story 3 bittorrent” into Google (NSDQ: GOOG). Anyone who claims otherwise is selling something – generally some kind of unworkable magic anti-copying beans that they swear, this time, will really work.

So, assuming that copyright holders will never be able to stop or even slow down copying, what is to be done?

What is to be done are that new business models must be created around free content and there have been any number of success stories, particularly in film and music. Remember that all Corey Doctorow’s books are available free under a non-commercail Creative Commons license. He has had two books on the New York Times bestseller list for the past two years. He knows what he’s talking about from his own experience.

Read the whole article, it’s well worth it.

Categories
Distribution Item of Interest Monetizing

For Independent Films, Piracy is a Red Herring

For Independent Films, Piracy Is A Red Herring http://bit.ly/bpLA5Y & http://bit.ly/dkXHqq

To date no-one has actually been able to prove a single penny of lost revenue due to unauthorized distribution. The RIAA/MPAA surveys on the subject are great works of fiction, completely without factual basis (or even rational discourse).

So when the LA Times published an article with filmmaker Greg Carter claiming that he had lost “hundreds of thousands” of dollars due to unauthorized distribution. Unfortunately, like all these type of articles, any fact, substantiation or – dare I say – proof, is completely lacking. The article is a fact-free zone supporting the assertion.

Well, both Techdirt.com and some other independent filmmakers take on the assertion and dismiss it.

From Techdirt:

Reader jjmsan was the first of a few of you to send over this silly piece in the LA Times claiming thatindependent filmmakers are being hurt by unauthorized file sharing, but it’s completely devoid of any actual evidence. It kicks off with the story of one indie film director who released a movie and insists that he’s been harmed. But what’s the evidence? Well, a lot of people have downloaded his film. Ok. So? When other movie makers saw that, they put in place smart business models toencourage people to buy something, and they did quite well because of it. By embracing file sharingand combining it with smart business models, tons of filmmakers who never would have been able to do anything with their film have now been able to build an audience and make a living.

But probably more relevant is the response on incitecinema.com from other independent filmmakers :

It’s undeniable that piracy has substantial impact on studio films. The higher profile the film, the more ‘leakage’. For independent films, though, it’s extremely rare for piracy to noticeably affect revenue. The independent film audience by and large has no interest in stealing content. They just don’t. The fact that a film is out there on file sharing sites doesn’t prove that a single person has downloaded the film and watched it. In fact, some of the most visible file sharing sites aren’t file sharing sites at all. They’re fishing sites that use every film title under the sun as bait to lure unsuspecting users into thinking they’re downloading a film or other content only to have their machine infected by a virus and/or taken over by a bot.

I think they’re wrong in the (again unsubstantiated) assertion that “piracy has substantial impact on studio films. Once again, no-one has provided evidence that would support that assertion. High profile “leaked” films have gone on to set box office records and do great business with no apparent harm.

Categories
Item of Interest Presentations

Grow an Audience for your Indie Production: Boston

Grow an Audience for your Indie Production http://bit.ly/cjASZ9

Unfortunately Rich Harrington is unable to make the Boston Final Cut Pro User Group meeting this week due to back problems. I’ve been there and wish Rich all the best.

Good news is that I’ll be pitching in to help. I lack Rich’s understanding of iPod apps for production, so the subject has shifted a little to “Grow an Audience for your Indie Production”, a subject I know well.

Distribution Time: Can You Succeed?
Join Philip Hodgetts, digital media strategist and author of “The New Now: How to grow your production or postproduction business in a changed and changing world“ as he shares how to market your independent project and grow an audience you can monetize. Since the advent of low cost production equipment almost any project can find a suitable budget. However distribution has not been democratized to the same degree. Learn how others have built substantial and profitable audiences for their independent film and video projects and successfully monetized the audience.

Learn the common themes and how you can apply them to any independent production.

“On this occasion his topic was “Growing An Audience for your Indy Production.” Phillip pointed out that a major paradigm shift has taken place. Where once distribution (as well as advertising, promotion and building an audience for that distribution) was the job of a distributor or a network, it now falls to the filmmaker or content creator. Hodgetts presented case histories of creative and successful self-distribution, talked about piracy, blogging, using the internet and tribal marketing, among others.” – John Coleman at MediaBootCamp, San Diego