On a given shoot they may be capturing the grueling tension of a 24-hour car race or the adrenaline excitement of a 400-foot motorcycle jump. But veteran extreme action sports cinematographers Mike Mack Dawg McEntire of Mack Dawg Productions and Jay Schweitzer of Powerband Films recently faced an extreme test when they shot the Red Bull: New Year. No Limits jump event for their independent feature documentary on daredevil distance jumps.
McEntire and Schweitzer chose Fujinon’s Premier PL mount zoom lenses the 75–400mm/T2.8 - T3.8 (HK5.3x75) and 24-180 mm/T2.6 (HK7.5x24) for the shoot. Both lenses were mounted to Red Epic cameras in this extremely challenging environment. The shoot occurred at night with dense fog. For the event a snowmobile and a dirt bike jumped in tandem over a section of the San Diego Bay. The snowmobile jumped over 400 feet and the dirt bike soared just shy of 400 feet. In order to capture the jumps in their entirety the two cinematographers needed lenses that were sharp wide open with a long range on the zoom. They found the ideal fit with the Fujinon Premiere PL glass.
McEntire is the owner of Mack Dawg Productions a company known globally as one of the top action sports film companies. Mack Dawg has been producing extreme sports films since 1988. McEntire and fellow extreme sports cinematographer Schweitzer started Powerband Films to collaborate on the On the Pipe series of freestyle motorcycle films 10 years ago. The On the Pipe films have been the definitive films on dirt biking since their collaboration began.
McEntire relied on the versatile 75-400mm again on a Red Epic camera to shoot the Rolex 24 Grand-Am car race in Daytona Beach for Continental Tires. Both events required varied focal lengths ” he said. “I found the 75 to 400mm range to be incredibly useful. It's the longest range PL mount zoom lens available and with unbelievable 4K performance. Even shooting at a wide-open T2.8 aperture for the Red Bull event staged at night with serious fog to contend with images were razor sharp edge to edge. It provided great-looking slow motion footage that we like to use a lot.”
For the Rolex race Continental wanted artsy footage for a one-hour television feature. I was able to shoot all night in marginal light and produce amazing results ” McEntire said. “In the daytime I captured high-speed action employing ND filtration to shoot wide open without any flare problems. My goal was to capture beautiful shallow depth of field material that you don't normally see in a car race. I would’ve had a very hard time trying to do this with any other lens. Having a long zoom that performs like the Fujinon 75-400 in all types of light was a dream come true. This lens made a real difference in my images - at both events.
Many of the events that McEntire and Schweitzer shoot are daredevil jumps stunts and professional sports where the athlete has just one attempt to get it right. They have to nail a perfect shot every time. McEntire said The Fujinon 75-400 mm is absolutely the best lens I’ve ever come across for this type of work. The build quality is fantastic with buttery smooth gearing that makes pulling focus a treat. It delivers a punchy crisp image with black blacks and colors that pop. After such a great experience on these very demanding shoots I'm looking forward to trying out the other two zoom lenses in the Premier series with upcoming productions. ,3370
Cine Gear: One Step Backward Two Steps Forward,2012-06-15,By Valentina I. Valentini West Coast Correspondent At Cine Gear last weekend cinematographers were reminded that the amount of tools to choose from can sometimes feel almost endless but when all is said and done the job is still the same: what kind of story do you want to tell and what tools do you want to tell it with? As Rob Legato the Oscar-winning VFX supervisor said it best during the Local 600-sponsored panel Hyper Reality: Transforming the Art & Craft of Digital Filmmaking. In Legato’s words “Technology takes a leap forward and art takes a leap back.” And he’s right. It happened in the Talkies switching from B&W moving to digital editing and now it’s happening with transitions into 4K and 3D. One of the most straightforward examples is when audiences complain that we’re losing color depth because of low lighting on the screens. But in the wings are laser projectors. “[The color depth] will catch up ” assured Legato. Vincent Pace of the Cameron-Pace Group expressed on the Arri-sponsored panel that the most significant challenge for shooting 3D he can see is the size of the system. “Every director I’ve worked with even Marty on Hugo makes a negative comment about the size of the rigs ” said Pace. “It’s a joke on sets that I feel like they’re calling my children fat. But what you’re seeing with the Alexa M introduction is another technological barrier being broken. This is the power of a very strong foundational camera in a compact approach to stereo cinematography.” Canon’s C300 series is yet another compact system equipped for shooting in stereo 3D. It has a removable handle to place the cameras directly side-by-side and a sync chord for genlocking. Pace referenced the filming of Cirque du Soleil’s Worlds Away which releases in December and was shot by Cameron-Pace and their team on a slew of Alexa Ms. He emphasized how the evolution of the realness of the images is important to how the audience feels instead of getting caught up in the 1s and 0s and the application of the equipment. “That’s when the scientists and the engineers become transparent to the equation and we get down to the craft of what we’re doing ” Pace concluded. ,3375
Enhancing the Helicarrier,2012-06-15, Luma Pictures reunited with a familiar cast of characters on Marvel Studios’ highly anticipated The Avengers. Having previously worked on Captain America and Thor Luma has developed a strong kinship with the Marvel Universe and jumped at the opportunity to add their unique brand of visual effects to the new film. Luma’s work on The Avengers includes the creation and extension of the Helicarrier ship bridge during pivotal scenes tornado effects and donning of Thor’s mystical armor and multiple exterior environments. The bulk of Luma’s work on The Avengers came in extending and enhancing the bridge of the Helicarrier including environmental exteriors seen through the large forward windows. Production built out the first level of a large bridge set complete with traditional monitors and some high-tech semi-transparent glass panel displays. Luma extended this first level upward to a second story of catwalks added a ceiling and continued structural components upwards. For much of the sequence Luma added volumetric clouds and a full CG environment to the exterior seen through the ship’s sweeping glass hull. “For us the most artistically engaging scene was the wide shot of Thor and Coulson on the Helicarrier bridge at night. This shot encompassed every little detail of the bridge and required a lot of rigorous lighting and look development to capture a realistic look. The asset was ‘heavy’ and contained a lot of metallic materials with blurry reflections which are notoriously difficult to render clean ” said Payam Shohadai executive VFX supervisor.
Luma Pictures also worked with Thor’s character directly adding several shots of the manifestation his magical armor in the center of a tornado. These shots required large-scale swirling clouds dust lighting effects and an entire simulated field of plants.
The relationship between Marvel and Luma has been built upon mutual respect and quality of product over the past few years.
“We started our interaction with Marvel with a large sequence on Thor (350 shots) which focused on the Destroyer and the Bifrost arrival effect. They were really happy with our collaborative process and quality of work which led to helping out on a few shots in Captain America which in turn led around 200 shots on The Avengers ” said senior producer Steven Swanson.
Luma’s work with the Marvel Universe spans several studios including work for Twentieth Century FOX for the X-Men franchise and to date they have touched upon: Banshee (Effects) Havok (Effects) Thor (Hammer and Digital Double) Destroyer (Full CG) Darwin (Gills + Carapace + Evolution Effects) Creed (Digital Double) Wolverine (Claws Healing) Cyclops (Effects) Iron Man (Digital Double) and Hawkeye (CG arrows).
Luma Pictures utilizes some workflows that are unique in film VFX and have integrated Arnold rendering software into their everyday processes. “This was the third full show for us using Arnold and we continued to develop our tools and techniques around this exciting renderer ” said Richard Sutherland CG supervisor. “To speed workflow during our look development phase we developed an illumination caching system for preview renders and tweaked the translation of large numbers of objects. For the exterior shots with large-scale volumetric clouds we rebuilt and enhanced a cloud building system based on Maya fluids. There were several shots of Thor summoning a Thor-nado which gave us a chance to brush off and improve some of our FumeFX to Maya pipeline.” Luma Pictures http://www.luma-pictures.com ,3377
Experiencing Earthquakes,2012-06-15,After its landmark involvement with the design and construction of the California Academy of Sciences’ planetarium in 2008 Visual Acuity is proud to announce that it has returned to the San Francisco facility to assist with the design of its latest attraction. Titled simply Earthquake the new attraction occupies the entire west hall of the Academy. Designed to take visitors on a kinetic journey toward understanding super-seismic phenomena and how they fit into the larger story of our ever-changing planet Earthquake comprises a number of installations including a walk-through model of the Earth an interactive space designed to teach earthquake preparedness and a quake simulator resembling an old Victorian house. Prior to entering the simulator visitors enter an immersive ‘mini-dome’ to watch a three-minute introductory film. Produced by the California Academy of Sciences’ Visualization Studio the film links the concepts of geological time (plate movements over millions of years) and human time (earthquake activity specifically in the San Francisco Bay Area). It is this ‘mini-dome’ experience that the Visual Acuity consultancy has made a key contribution to as Blair Parkin company founder and managing director said “The mini-dome is a twenty-foot-diameter hemisphere tilted thirty degrees which represents our planet using immersive video projection and is designed to help visitors understand the science behind seismic shifts and the events they bring about. The film contextualizes earthquakes as a small part of much larger processes while all around them the ‘surface’ of the planet appears to shift in a time-accelerated version of what happens in real life over millions of years.” To create the immersive mini-dome the exhibit uses digital dome technologies from a range of suppliers including immersive audio from Meyer Sound. Projectiondesign FL32 LED-based projectors are seamlessly edge-blended onto a domed projection surface with content being derived from 7thSense Design’s Delta media servers and image processing and calibration from Scalable Display Technologies. Visual Acuity acted as the independent technology consultant for the project effectively reprising the role the company performed in the original design of the Academy’s planetarium. Systems integration was performed by local AV systems company BBI Engineering. “We worked closely with the Academy from an early stage in planning what is their most significant new exhibit since opening four years ago ” said Parkin. “We helped to support the design concept for the mini-dome by proving the technical concept for the film would work and then managed the technology manufacturers for the mini-dome to ensure that the Academy’s requirements were met.” “It is fantastic to be back at this wonderful building working with a fantastic group of professionals and seeing the Academy continue to use projection-based exhibits as a way of bringing science to life ” he said. “Seeing as the Academy is now the world’s largest building to have Double Platinum LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council it is very important for the Academy to deploy technology that is energy-efficient and environmentally responsible.” Coinciding with the opening of Earthquake the Academy is launching a newly programmed 25-minute show on the subject of seismic activity at its Morrison Planetarium. The show has been crafted by a team led by Ryan Wyatt director of Morrison Planetarium and Science Visualization at the Academy and is narrated by Emmy-nominated actor and San Francisco Bay Area native Benjamin Bratt. Photos: © California Academy of Sciences ,3378
Analyzing Theatre Sound,2012-06-15,Meyer Sound NTi Audio AG have announced a new cinema meter option for NTi’s XL2 handheld audio and acoustics analyzer. Developed through a collaborative effort by the two companies the Meyer Sound cinema meter option and test script allows cinema sound technicians to calibrate loudspeaker systems efficiently and to an extremely high degree of precision—beyond what is recommended by basic SMPTE standards—using a small easy-to-use handheld device. The cinema meter was initially created to extend the capabilities of the XL2 analyzer to facilitate efficient and accurate alignment of Meyer Sound EXP cinema systems which are inherently capable of highly linear performance with exceptionally flat phase and amplitude response. The cinema meter option comprises a software package which includes a MeyerSound test script that can be used for tuning any cinema system. Test signals can be sourced through storage in the cinema system or from the NTi MR-PRO generator. “A fundamental goal of EXP cinema audio is to achieve near perfect linearity ” says John Meyer CEO of Meyer Sound. “Final calibration is critical in realizing that goal and with the Meyer Sound XL2 cinema option technicians now have a compact and cost-effective tool for making the extremely precise adjustments required.” The cinema meter project marks Meyer Sound’s first outside collaboration on a test and measurement product; the company’s SIM audio analyzer was developed entirely in-house. “NTi Audio is extremely pleased to have this opportunity to work with Meyer Sound ” says Tom Mintner president of NTI Americas. “The confidence Meyer Sound places in the XL2 is deeply appreciated and underscores NTi’s position as the recognized world leader in handheld audio test instruments.” The Meyer Sound cinema meter development was facilitated by Mintner along with Thomas Hupp and Philipp Schwizer on behalf of NTi Audio with performance specifications and test routines developed by the Meyer Sound engineering department. The cinema meter begins shipping in July and will be available through NTi Audio’s worldwide sales channels either with the purchase of a new XL2 or as an upgrade to an existing unit. It will also be available through Meyer Sound EXP distribution channels. Meyer Sound Laboratories www.meyersound.com ,3379
3D and the Misperception Game
,2012-06-29,By Valentina I. Valentini West Coast Correspondent Steve Schklair wrote the first business plan for 3ality Digital back in 1998. He wasn’t one of those major 3D geeks or an amateur 3D aficionado in one of those homegrown 3D clubs. He just felt that this was the only place visual media could go. “We were in deep into this digital transformation ” recalls Schklair now the CEO of 3ality Technica located in Burbank. “The FCC had mandated digital television and having made a few gains I was really ready to build something for a mandated platform instead of something that might be around for two years and then disappear.” He used his own money and hired some engineers in 2000. They didn’t have any profit revenues until 2006 keeping afloat through Schklair’s other business endeavors and small 3D jobs here and there to keep something coming in. In 2006 he did a project with a company in Germany and was really impressed with their 3D image processing systems. He ended up acquiring them and they became 3ality Digital’s backbone for the image processing side of the business. The most recent change in 3ality’s business history is their acquisition of Element Technica – best known for their 3D camera rigs. Since digital is omnipresent in so many tech/gear companies’ names Schklair kept the branding of Element Technica which he admits was one of the major decisions for acquisition and they changed their name to 3ality Technica. “I’m a believer in growth through acquisition as well as growth through growth ” says Schklair “You can grow a company but you can rapidly grow a company through acquisition. [3ality Digital] was very focused on the image processing software that’s what we’re known for – the [stereo image processor]. Element Technica was very focused on the rigs and the mechanical parts. At the time we acquired them we were outsourcing our rig manufacturer so it became very attractive that we have a hardware component to our company.” Ironically when Schklair first started his company the first guy he tried to hire was Stephen Pizzo – one of the principals of Element Technica. Now they’re all in the same boat and competing in the race with the only other company out there that can really rival their technologies – the Cameron-Pace Group. 3ality Technica’s most recent big feature collaboration is Stalingrad – an almost all-Russian production being filmed in St. Petersburg. Schklair is one of the producers on the film and focuses on overseeing all 3D operations. Fyodor Bonderchuck the director is one of Russia’s most famous actors and directors and he and the Russian producers reached out to 3ality to shoot it stereoscopically. As the money signs make clear India China and Russia are the three biggest growth markets right now for 3D. In the UK 3D television is on the up-and-up with British Sky Broadcasting’s Sky3D channel. “It’s a misperception issue here in the US ” says Schklair when asked why he thinks 3D hasn’t taken off in the states like in these other foreign markets. “It’s the perception by many Americans that if you launch a 3D channel people will just flock to it without any thought as to what kind of content is going to be there to watch – no thought to the endless stream of content that is needed to keep eyes on the channel. When Sky3D launched [in 2010] not only did they seed the market by going into a thousand pubs but they put together three OB [outside broadcasting] trucks that do nothing other than go around shooting 3D content – everything interview shows cooking shows and of course sports.” Schklair believes that another failing of the 3D market in the US is 2D-3D conversion. If it doesn’t add to the story it’s not worth it and he understands why audiences don’t and won’t pay for a premium on something that is a novelty at best. “At the end of the day ” he says “it has to be a more compelling experience. It can’t be the same experience with a veneer on top of it. See what Ridley Scott did with Prometheus or what Baz Luhrmann is doing with The Great Gatsby.” (Both 3ality Technica’s projects.) Lastly and most importantly producers have the misperception that stereoscopic shoots take double the time and double the money a 2D production does. “False ” says Schklair. Sony’s The Amazing Spiderman-Man which decided to shoot in 3D only a few weeks before principal photography was to begin and for which 3ality Technica and Schklair were brought in to oversee it all is a prime example of this. “I’m actually a proponent of hybrid productions ” says Schklair. “Shoot it all in 3D do the visual effects in 2D and convert them because we’ve found that cost before visual effects and heavy post is under $1 million delta. Conversion is going to be way over that.” 3ality’s ability to maintain a 2D schedule while shooting 3D is due in big part to IntelleCal which premiered at this year’s NAB. It’s a self-calibration system that automatically aligns (vertically and horizontally) two cameras on a 3D system at the push of a button which can be completed in less than five minutes compared to 30 to 45 minutes required for a manual setup. IntelleCal automatically creates lens-matching data and automates alignment of 11 degrees of freedom and through the entire zoom range reducing the knowledge required to accurately match cameras enabling camera operators to setup and align their own cameras quickly and with minimal support. It’s a hard misperception to crack – as we can well see since studios are still mucking up the visuals with mediocre-to-bad conversion jobs (i.e. John Carter Wrath of the Titans and Men in Black 3). As Ridley Scott told the blog RealVision Knowledge Base: “Anyone who thinks [shooting with 3D cameras] adds 16 weeks to the shoot doesn’t know what the hell they’re doing. Fuck off.” ,3383
Cinema Libre,2012-06-29, (Editor’s Note: There will be no July 15th edition of Digital Cinema Report. We are in the process of moving our offices. Publication will resume with the August 1st Report.) Independent films and theatres have long been the stepchildren of the movie business. Hundreds – thousands – of independent movies are made each year and only a handful gain widespread attention; the vast majority are left to fight for space on the festival circuit. Many movie lovers crave the chance to see the serious films that Hollywood shows less and less interest in making yet now the theatres that offer them are seriously threatened by the impending end of 35mm releases. In the last few weeks – in three separate events around the world – there have been hopeful signs that this situation can be averted. First on the West Coast Cinedigm CEO Chris McGurk gave the keynote address at the Los Angeles Film Festival and used the occasion to predict that we are on the verge of another renaissance in independent film. Second not long after that the exhibition gathered in Barcelona for CineEurope a conference that featured many announcements targeted at small theatres. Finally this past week the Midwestern-based Independent Theatre Alliance announced a partnership with JVC to offer a low-cost digital system called Cinema Libre for its members and other small exhibitors. Taken together these developments suggest there is reason for guarded optimism about the future of independent films and theatres. As McGurk said in his keynote address “Digital goes way beyond improving the look of films. It will soon be key to delivering a far greater and more vibrant variety of content into theatres. We are fast approaching a time that in important ways is reminiscent of the previous two great flowerings of independent film. The first was in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s when movies like Easy Rider and Five Easy Pieces were being made. Technology was a key enabler of that sea change thanks to smaller more portable equipment that allowed films to be shot inexpensively on location.” This was followed he said by “the second golden era of indie film – the late ‘80s and ‘90s. This too was enabled by technology. But this time growth wasn’t driven by the technology of production but rather the technology of distribution. On the television front instead of just three broadcast networks there were suddenly hundreds of cable channels offering both free and pay services. And of course the very same home video technology that the major studios had once fought entered the market in a big way first with VHS and then DVD and Blu Ray. All of this drove huge demand for high-quality content. And a wealth of wonderful indie films were produced to help meet that demand like sex lies and videotape Roger and Me Clerks Reservoir Dogs My Left Foot and many many others. There was one other big factor underpinning those earlier two eras when indie films flourished: The big studio model was breaking down.” Today McGurk said “The major studios consider $46 million an art house budget. Tentpole film productions routinely run $250-$300 million with marketing costs to match. As a result even major blockbusters are only generating single-digit returns. And when one of those films tanks the write-offs can be devastating and we have seen a couple of instances of that recently.” McGurk then proceeded to list what he calls the Seven Signs of the Renaissance of Independent Film. We’ve posted his entire speech in this Report and I encourage everyone to read it and to keep in mind the fact that Cinedigm has already partnered with independent distributors to acquire independent films and currently has more than 10 000 screens at its disposal. Our coverage of CineEurope is also in this Report with details about several developments aimed at independent theatres including lower-cost DCI-compliant projection systems from both Sony and NEC. For me however the Cinema Libre announcement which came in a press released issue last week is the most interesting of the three in part because of the surprise factor: it seemingly came out of nowhere and with minimal fanfare. One caveat: the press released indicated that the Cinema Libre system includes a DCI-compliant server. At the present time it does not; that is a goal and not a reality. The Independent Theatre Alliance is a Midwest-based association of independent theatre owners and movie industry professionals. It represents close to 100 theatre owners who have nearly 600 screens in theatres and drive-in locations. Bill Dever ITA founder and president said when he considered the reality that studio motion pictures are expected to only be available in digital format in the United States by the end of 2013 he felt someone had to take steps to protect smaller exhibitors from almost certainly having to close their doors. “This was an issue that had to be addressed ” he said. “It will be a financial challenge for a lot of independent theatre owners to implement a digital delivery system.”
“The Cinema Libre system has been tested on a variety of screens and delivers the brightness necessary for movie theatre projection Dever said. “We evaluated several manufacturers but we chose JVC because of cost contrast and ease of use. Plus we felt that JVC really grasped the challenges of independent operators today.”
As far as clarity color resolution and lack of pixelization the JVC 4K projector blew away the competition ” said Buck Kolkmeyer ITA co-founder and owner of Nova Cinemas which has already purchased six Cinema Libre systems. “This could be a real game-changer for independent theatres that must convert to digital by the end of next year.
“Owners are facing a tight deadline for converting their independent film theatres to digital. The Cinema Libre system offers an affordable option that uses our D-ILA technology to deliver stunning images for moviegoers ” said John Havens marketing manager JVC Visual Systems Division. “We look forward to working with the ITA and keeping the tradition of neighborhood movie theatres alive.”
Dave Walton assistant vice president of marketing and communications JVC Professional Products Company stressed that his company’s involvement with the ITA is limited and that the system at the moment does not meet accepted DCI specifications. “Our part of our partnership with them involves the projector ” he said. “We’re not talking about the mainstream theatres.” Dever who is an Indianapolis-based independent filmmaker felt that someone simply had to do something before it really was too late to save small theatre owners from extinction. “What I really hope is that this will jumpstart the conversation ” he said. “There has to be an alternative. We’re doing this because we love movies.” Dever is knowledgeable about all of the complexities this issue presents and while he hopes it could be he doesn’t pretend that Cinema Libre is the final solution. “I don’t think we have many answers ” he said. “We have a lot of questions.” He also knows that the piecemeal efforts of some ITA members aren’t working so well right now and are not long-term alternatives. As examples he knows of one drive-in theatre that is currently operating with a projector made in China; another drive-in is using a small Proxima projector. He hopes that before long the Cinema Libre can be a viable answer for those people. “We’re talking with GDC about working with their servers ” he said. “We’re trying to find a solution. A low-cost DCI solution. This is the first step. Let’s try to make sure these people don’t go out of business.” ,3386
Vancouver First,2012-06-30,Image Engine is the first in Vancouver to offer 4K VFX services. ,3393
Filming The Art of Flight,2012-06-30, Brain Farm Digital Cinema of Jackson Hole Wyoming followed a team of professional snowboarders through remote backcountry terrain from Alaska to Jackson Hole to Patagonia as they conquered uncharted snowboarding territory. The result is their death-defying film The Art of Flight. They chose Fujinon lenses for the shoot including the extreme telephoto HA42x9.7B zoom and the HA14x4.5B wide-angle ENG/EFP lens which were incorporated into Brain Farm’s Cineflex stabilized HD aerial camera system. Brain Farm deploys this system primarily in helicopters for aerial cinematography but also with land and boat based vehicle mounts in other productions.
“What stood out to me the first time I saw footage shot with the Fujinon lenses was the accurate color they produced and the sharpness of the lens ” said Chad Jackson executive producer at Brain Farm. “We often film a subject from a very far distance usually a mountain away. With the Fujinon lenses we captured extremely smooth sharp images.”
In addition other Fujinon lenses used in production of The Art of Flight included the HA25x16.5BERD HA23x7.6BERM and HA14x4.5BERD zooms used on Panasonic VariCam 3700 camcorders. The Fujinon TS-P58A image stabilizer was used with their HA14x HA25x and HA23x lenses on VariCams whenever they needed to stabilize ground-based images.
Brain Farm has used its Fujinon lenses in almost every project including a current Visa Blackcard commercial a series of World of Red Bull commercials National Geographic's critically acclaimed documentary program Great Migrations and Nat Geo Wild’s adventure series Expedition Wild. “The Fujinon 42x9.7 we use in our Cineflex gimbal is very fast with minimal fall off and it has an incredible zoom range ” said Jackson. “We’ve never before been able to shoot so far away and keep the image so sharp.”
Curt Morgan CEO/president/owner of Brain Farm Digital Cinema is the primary DP of the footage they shoot all over the world. “We’re thrilled to be involved with the breathtaking images that Curt and his team produce ” said Chuck Lee technology manager Fujifilm North America Corporation optical devices division. “They really know how maximize the full visual potential of our lenses and given the extreme weather and challenging conditions they are used in Brain Farm’s work is a testament to the true durability and reliability of Fujinon lenses.”
The Art of Flight is now available on Blu-ray DVD and iTunes. The film follows Travis Rice John Jackson and other extreme snowboarding daredevils as they dream up new global adventures and elevate the sport to unimaginable levels. For this film Brain Farm gathered an arsenal of the most advanced and progressive filmmaking technology to capture a snowboarding adventure of epic proportions. ,3395
Expanding Network Operations,2012-06-30, Having established a dominant position in the North American Christie Managed Services is now expanding upon the world stage. Using growing international cinema partnerships it is bringing its Network Operations Center to the global exhibition community.
Initial partnership announcements include Time Antaeus Media Group with whom Christie launched China’s largest commercial digital cinema deployment in 2010; DOR International a Christie certified reseller that designs installs and maintains cinemas and professional audio video systems throughout Mexico; and the Independent Cinema Association of Australia the association of record for Australian independent cinemas.
The Christie NOC is a 24/7/365 facility where Christie technicians remotely monitor clients’ visual display systems. Christie’s new NOC partners will offer the same network operations center services that are currently offered in North America to China Mexico and Australasia. These NOC services include remote monitoring and management of devices along with technical phone support to local exhibitors around the world. Christie will accomplish this by extending the core functionalities of its NOC to support customers and systems in the local languages utilizing Christie’s proven suite of tools.
“As the world goes digital the need for comprehensive technical support becomes more critical ” said Jack Kline president and COO of Christie Digital Systems USA. “The NOC is a Christie innovation that anticipated the needs of the market in the early stages of the digital cinema revolution to ensure that our customers received not just the latest quality products but also expert technical support for those products. Now we are ready to bring it to our customers worldwide.”
“The Christie NOC has been the backbone of service for the exhibition industry in North America ” said Kathryn Cress vice president global and corporate marketing Christie. “With Christie commanding more than 50 percent of the world’s digital cinema installations it is a logical evolution to bring our technical expertise to our customers regardless of location. This includes providing them with the same high standards of service and commitment to our customers that helped us dominate the North American digital cinema market.”
A collaboration that began at the 2008 Beijing Summer Games when Time Antaeus purchased 120 Christie CP2000-ZX models to power the spectacular opening and closing ceremonies the Christie and Time Antaeus relationship has blossomed into a partnership and they are now working together to grow China’s cinema revolution that has seen the market increase dramatically in recent years.
The new Network Operations Center joint venture with Universal Cinema Services will be the country’s first service center modeled upon the North America-based NOC. It will offer hardware software remote monitoring and local parts availability. “Working with a partner you can trust is very important in a rapidly evolving marketplace like digital cinema ” said Zhang Baoquan chairman of the board for Time Antaeus Media Group. “Our relationship with Christie has been a long and highly rewarding one. The introduction of the NOC in China shows they stand behind the products they sell and further proves their loyalty in helping us better serve our digital cinema customers.”
“We are pleased to work with Time Antaeus to introduce China’s first NOC fully modeled on the proven technology of our North American facility. This unique new partnership will further increase the diversity and depth of services we can provide our customers in the Asia/Pacific region ” said Sean James vice president managed services at Christie.
In business for more than 14 years DOR Internacional headquartered in Guadalajara is deeply immersed in design sales installation and maintenance of cinemas and professional audio video systems throughout Mexico. Along with its partners it has installed more than 300 Christie digital cinema systems. Now through its partnership with Christie DOR Internacional will develop a Network Operations Center in Mexico City following the North American model.
“Christie has provided us with the equipment and conducted training and now we are completing the installation of permanent connectivity in order to open the facility and provide the full range of tools technical support and functionality to current customers as well as all the new ones ” said Jacques Dornbierer Hogan director general and chief executive officer DOR Internacional SA DE C.V.
ICAA members toured the Christie NOC in Los Angeles during CinemaCon entering into the final phase to establish a node of the facility in Australia to support its members’ digital cinemas installations in Australia and New Zealand.
As part of the partnership Christie has provided ICAA with training and additional services through Christie Managed Services.
“The Christie NOC is a cutting edge facility that allows Christie technicians to spot potential trouble and solve it with the utmost speed and competency ” said ICAA chief executive officer Adrianne Pecotic. “We are pleased to join in partnership with Christie because their cinema expertise is essential in helping our members make the transition to digital as seamless and painless as possible.”
“ICAA is a visionary organization whose digital cinema solutions embrace all independent exhibitors in Australia seeking to transition from 35mm film to digital cinema technology ” said James. “It is a testament to their commitment to their members that they have now stepped up to address the critical need of making the digital transition as efficiently and as cost effectively as possible and to be ready to support that transition with the highest level of service available anywhere.”
James said “We are looking forward to creating many new partnerships and to working with the tens of thousands of exhibitors across the globe that recognize the importance of having a rock-solid foundation of technical support beneath them as they launch their next phase of service to moviegoers in the digital cinema frontier.” ,3403
Margin Call,2012-06-30, Chris McGurk CEO Cinedigm (Editor’s Note: Chris McGurk gave the keynote speech at last month’s Los Angles Film Festival and in it he used the experience of the independent feature film Margin Call to make a strong case that a renaissance in independent filmmaking is at hand. That movie was released on just 199 screens. That same day it was also released on VOD allowing in-home viewing for about $8. Two months later it was put out on DVD. The movie cost $3.5 million to make and took in $4 million on VOD $5 million in domestic theaters and another $5 million internationally a success by any definition. With Chris’s permission we are pleased to offer his entire speech here. I encourage everyone interested in the future of the movie business to read it.) Good morning. I want to especially thank Sean McManus and Josh Welsh the co-presidents of Film Independent for inviting me to speak here today. I want to thank Sean and Josh … but I really don’t know if I can. You see in preparing for this talk I read through the keynotes that were delivered at the last few Festivals. When I was done I felt like I wanted to shoot myself. Virtually all of those keynotes were so depressing that to cheer myself up I threw on a DVD of Cries and Whispers. Each of the previous speakers pretty much said that the world of independent film was coming to an end. One noted indie producer who keynoted a couple of years ago literally stated and I quote: “The sky really is falling.” He went on to say: “The accumulation of bad news is kind of awe-inspiring.” So Sean and Josh I’m not really so sure I can thank you for inviting me to speak at this historically rather glum keynote session. Of course the LA Film Festival is hardly unique in hearing such messages of doom about the film industry. If you listen to a lot of the so-called experts you will be convinced the end is nigh. In this regard these negativists are actually following in one of the grand traditions of the movie business. For 100 years Hollywood has thrived to such an extent that today Entertainment is America’s second greatest export. But throughout this century of success the only thing Hollywood has done better than building an industry is predicting its imminent demise. Back in the 1920s Mary Pickford prophesized that “Adding sound to movies would be like putting lipstick on the Venus de Milo.” In the 1950s film executives were certain that television was going to destroy motion pictures. Two decades later in one of history’s great ironies Disney and Universal sued Sony Electronics in an attempt to stop home video from becoming a reality. Luckily for the studios the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Sony. The resistance to home video was still so great that by 1989 Disney was planning to put The Little Mermaid back into the vault for seven years before ever releasing it onto VHS. Talk about a long window! I was Disney’s CFO at the time and had to argue long and hard to put Mermaid on video the following year. This decision helped fuel a complete resurrection of the art and commerce of animation with Beauty & the Beast Aladdin The Lion King Toy Story and so many more great animated titles that followed. And now the naysayers are again foreseeing disaster. They list a wide range of disturbing trends such as: The competition from entertainment in the home and on mobile devices The drastic reduction in the number of independent studios because many have gone out of business while at the same time the big studios have shuttered their indie units And most troubling of all there’s the decline in the DVD business which has hurt indie films particularly hard Like the prophets of old these [doomsayers] seem to be proclaiming the Seven Signs of the coming Indie Apocalypse. To be sure the issues they raise are legitimate. But just as industry observers have done so many times before I believe they are letting some recently overturned trees obscure the view of a cinematic forest that is filled with opportunities. So today I’m not going to be another speaker who talks about the ruination of the independent film business. Rather I’m going to talk about what I see as the Seven Signs of its Renaissance. With this in mind if you’re one of those people who has the latest Mayan Calendar app on your smart phone and believe it’s all over this December 21st then it might be more to your liking to head around the corner and take in a screening of Chernobyl Diaries. But before I deliver this message of hope I should give you some of my background. I believe it will help assure you that while I may be up here interpreting signs I’m a pretty grounded guy. Indeed no one would ever mistake me for a Pollyanna. I’ve spent the last 25 years in virtually every aspect of the entertainment business. I’ve been involved in financing marketing and globally releasing entertainment projects as diverse as big budget blockbusters low-budget films social action documentaries horror pictures and network and syndicated TV series. In doing all this I’ve had a pretty unusual career since I’ve seen the film business from both the big budget studio side and the indie side. I was President of Walt Disney Studios President and COO of Universal Pictures Vice Chairman of the Board and COO of MGM. And I’ve also run or been responsible for overseeing Miramax October Films the indie version of United Artists Overture and Anchor Bay. In all these roles I do admit I’m a tailor-made candidate for what you might call a corporate suit with a pretty cold eye toward the bottom line. That’s certainly my reputation. Just look at how Peter Biskin described me in Doen and Dirty Pictures his 2004 treatise on the indie film business. Quote: “McGurk had been an executive at Pepsico before coming to Disney and he was a numbers guy almost the definition of a suit with a Grant Wood face long and narrow thin lips. He looked like he belonged behind the counter of a dry goods store in Nebraska at the turn of the century.” Let’s just say that those two sentences wiped out years of effort on my part to convince my three kids that their Dad was cool. Well Biskind and others may consider me a suit but I think I’ve actually become somewhat of a softie in regard to at least one aspect of the film business. Somewhere along my corporate ride in Hollywood I fell in love with independent film. Looking back a personal turning point was when I oversaw Disney’s acquisition of Miramax in 1993. This exposed me to those two mad movie men – Harvey and Bob Weinstein – and the passionate world of independent production. This was what you might call my “sugar water moment.” Let me explain. It is part of Silicon Valley lore that Steve Jobs persuaded my old boss John Sculley in 1983 to leave Pepsico and come to Apple by saying “Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life? Or do you want to come with me and change the world? Well I also sold sugar water at Pepsico and I left for Disney because at the end of the day hawking Pepsi was indeed not very satisfying. By the way if there are any sugar water salesmen out there please don’t take this personally. During my first five years at Disney we released an almost unprecedented string of profitable comedies. These were all fine light entertainment from Down and Out in Beverly Hills to Honey I Shrunk the Kids to Three Men and a Baby to Pretty Woman. A bit like sugar water. When I started working with Harvey and Bob I was introduced to the more nutritious side of the business. Independent films challenge us they make us think … and sometimes they change the world. Just consider these titles: Farenheit 9/11 Brokeback Mountain The Passion of the Christ sex lies and videotape THX 1138 Supersize Me The Terminator Drugstore Cowboy Sideways An Inconvenient Truth The King’s Speech Bowling For Columbine City of God Precious. These are all important varied distinct thoughtful films. Independent films meet a tremendous need for the film going public and society at large. But in the end I believe no one needs them more than the major studios. Like all large organizations the majors suffer from a great deal of inertia. They gravitate toward what they feel is safe and predictable. Fortunately this inertia keeps getting pricked by indie films. After a Reservoir Dogs comes along it’s hard for a studio to ever again make a heist film in the same old tired way. Independent films also provide the majors with a steady supply of premium talent. People like Matt Damon Paul Giamatti Vince Vaughn Jon Favreau Christopher Nolan and yes Woody Allen all got their starts in independent film. Indie films remain the creative lifeblood of the business and without regular infusions the entire industry’s health and vitality will suffer terribly. So after working with Harvey and Bob I stopped drinking the sugar water and directed my career whenever possible toward the indie market. Over the years I’ve been very proudly involved with scores of indie films including Pulp Fiction The Apostle Shakespeare in Love Bowling for Columbine No Man’s Land The Visitor Sunshine Cleaning 24-hour Party People Ghost World Hotel Rwanda Saved City Island and Capote. My current role again has me highly focused on independent film as chairman and CEO of Cinedigm an end-to-end digital distribution company for indie content. OK I realize I’m talking to a dedicated film audience and to many of you the term digital distribution represents another world from if not an outright enemy to the theater-going experience. Digital distribution is associated with the Internet and DVD and cell phones and tablets and any day now chips embedded in our ears and retinas so we can be cyber-connected 24/7. These are some of the trends that previous years’ speakers have cited to support their dire scenarios about the imminent death of the film business. Well what they missed is that digital distribution now includes cinema. It is estimated that by the end of this year over 80 percent of theaters in the U.S. and over 60 percent of theaters in the world will be digital. For you the audience the big advantage of digital theaters is that every print is as pristine as the ones that studio executives see in their screening rooms. And those digital prints will always remain that way. No more movie experiences where the images are so scratched the entire movie looks like the climactic scene in The Shawshank Redemption. But digital goes way beyond improving the look of films. It will soon be key to delivering a far greater and more vibrant variety of content into theaters. We are fast approaching a time that in important ways is reminiscent of the previous two great flowerings of independent film. The first was in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s when movies like Easy Rider and Five Easy Pieces were being made. Technology was a key enabler of that sea change thanks to smaller more portable equipment that allowed films to be shot inexpensively on location. Then came the second golden era of indie film – the late ‘80s and ‘90s. This too was enabled by technology. But this time growth wasn’t driven by the technology of production but rather the technology of distribution. On the television front instead of just three broadcast networks there were suddenly hundreds of cable channels offering both free and pay services. And of course the very same home video technology that the major studios had once fought entered the market in a big way first with VHS and then DVD and Blu Ray. All of this drove huge demand for high-quality content. And a wealth of wonderful indie films were produced to help meet that demand like sex lies and videotape Roger and Me Clerks Reservoir Dogs My Left Foot and many many others. There was one other big factor underpinning those earlier two eras when indie films flourished: The big studio model was breaking down. In the ‘60s the huge overhead of backlot filmmaking was making movies prohibitively expensive resulting in almost every film backlot being sold off. My own office in Century City was once the site of Fox’s giant lot. Then in the early ‘90’s the cost of studio filmmaking was again getting out of hand. As some of you may remember in 1991 it prompted my then-boss Jeffrey Katzenberg to write the famous Katzenberg Memo which cautioned against what he called the Blockbuster Mentality that was driving runaway production costs. He was motivated to write the memo because of the enormous budget of the Disney film Dick Tracy which cost a grand total of … $46 million. Now 21 years later the major studios consider $46 million an arthouse budget. Tentpole film productions routinely run $250-$300 million with marketing costs to match. As a result even major blockbusters are only generating single-digit returns. And when one of those films tanks the write-offs can be devastating and we have seen a couple of instances of that recently. Plus of course as Jeffrey critiqued in his memo many of these event films tend to be very limited creatively with most of them being action movies and/or remakes and sequels. And so I believe in 2012 this business cycle is once again repeating itself setting the stage for the Seven Signs of the Renaissance of Independent Film which I would now like to share with you. Sign Number One: The Production Revolution. One of the great oddities about the film industry today is that as production costs of major studio films have skyrocketed the actual threshold cost to make a theatrical-quality movie has plummeted. It used to be that to make a studio-quality film you needed a studio. Today equipped with a Red camera and a computer any filmmaker can cheaply and quickly produce a motion picture suitable for theatrical release. So in this regard the coming Indy Film Renaissance is like the one of the ‘60s and ‘70s which was driven by lower production costs. However also powering this Renaissance is Sign Number Two: The Distribution Revolution. Just like the indie boom of the ‘80s and ‘90s new forms of distribution are central to the coming resurgence. As I said digital is the friend and not the enemy of the film going experience. It has done much more than give you scratch-free prints. It is also the enabler of Sign Number One – the drop in production costs. And it is underpinning Sign Number Two which is completely transforming distribution. This transformation is taking many forms. First of all there is digital distribution into theaters. In the old days studios had to manufacture a massive number of film prints in a very short timeframe and physically ship them to theaters across the country and around the world. This could cost in excess of $1200 to get a single print made and into a theater. Now this expensive and involved process has been replaced by satellite and hard-drive delivery at less than one-tenth the cost. And this change has happened almost overnight. In 2008 there were fewer than 6 000 digital cinema installations in North America – that’s less than 15 percent of the total 40 000 screens. Now we expect over 90 percent of North American theatres to be digital by the end of next year. Our industry is certainly known for hyperbole but when you look at the incredible speed of the changeover to digital you can see why the term “revolution” is not an overstatement. But of course the impact of digital distribution goes far beyond the theaters … and into the home and mobile platforms. There is cable and satellite Video on Demand Amazon iTunes Xbox Hulu Vudu Netflix TVOD AVOD FVOD SVOD regular VOD all those VOD acronyms that everyone talks about and very few understand what they really mean. And just as there are more ways to distribute content there are more ways to view it. Hard as it is to believe the iPhone is just five years old and the first iPad came out only two years ago. Yes we are indeed in the midst of a digital revolution that is touching every one of us. All of this means that just as happened in the ‘80s there is an exploding demand for filmed entertainment. There is huge competition now going on between all of these digital retailers. It’s an “arms race” to ensure that each one has a high quantity of high quality content to drive viewership whether ad-supported subscription-driven or transactional. This dramatically increases the demand for content including indie film. And this time because this demand is driven by digital we are seeing the rise of distribution strategies that are as creative as the content. Just look at the film Margin Call which was released last October 21 on just 199 screens. That same day it was also released on VOD allowing in-home viewing for about $8. Two months later it was put out on DVD. The movie cost $3.5 million to make and took in $4 million on VOD $5 million in domestic theaters and another $5 million internationally. So it was solidly profitable before it even went into other ancillary markets… something that rarely happens with major studio releases. Margin Call provides a glimpse of the kinds of distribution opportunities that are now available for independent films. As you can see from Sign Number One and Sign Number Two the coming renaissance of indie film will be advanced by the same driver that propelled the first one in the ‘60s – lower production costs – and also the same driver behind the second one in the ‘80s – expanded distribution platforms. That’s an incredibly powerful combination. On to the third sign: Big Talent is Into Small Films. There’s been a very interesting phenomenon underway recently. Bigger and bigger stars are willing to make smaller and smaller films. Just look again at Margin Call which starred Kevin Spacey Demi Moore and Jeremy Irons. Or Bernie with Jack Black Shirley MacLaine and Matthew McConaughey or Hysteria with Maggie Gyllenhaal or A Dangerous Method with Keira Knightley and Viggo Mortensen or Melancholia with Kirsten Dunst or the upcoming 360 with Jude Law and Anthony Hopkins or The Paperboy with Nicole Kidman John Cusack Zac Efron and Matthew McConaughey. The list goes on and on. And the same has been true for major talent behind the camera. In recent years independent films have attracted such top directors as Ron Howard Paul Thomas Anderson and Darren Aranofsky and screenwriters like Scott Frank Mark Boal and Peter Morgan. There are a number of reasons for this. The first which may surprise you is the dramatic drop in the total number of theatrical films released over the last few years. In 2010 about 100 fewer movies with budgets above $1 million were produced than in 2008. This is almost a 25 percent decline. Unavoidably fewer movies result in fewer jobs. Talent at all levels has to look beyond the major studios for work. Secondly the emphasis on big budget comic book films has actually reduced the demand for big name actors. When you’re counting on Thor to open a movie you don’t need Tom Cruise. Third actors want to well act. So even if they get a high-profile part playing a Marvel character they often still want to take on the challenge of something less … muscular. So many are willing to take serious pay cuts for the chance to play a more complex challenging and less mainstream role. All of this increases the viability of independent films. Then there is the Fourth Sign of the Indie Renaissance: Exhibitors want independent films … desperately. Recently the heads of two of the top five North American theater chains told me “We need more independent film and alternative content like we need air.” And there’s a good reason they’re having trouble breathing. Less than 5 percent of seats are occupied in theaters Monday through Thursday … and only about 15 percent on an annualized basis. Yes over a 12-month period movie theaters are 85 percent empty! I can just imagine how an exhibitor feels on a Tuesday looking at a state-of-the-art 300-seat stadium theater with four people in it. That’s a lot of empty cup holders and unsold popcorn! Exhibitors are so eager for independent films to address their capacity problem that last year the two largest theater chains – AMC and Regal – jointly created a new indie studio called Open Road Films. But if exhibitors want to really fill their lungs with the fresh air of independent film I believe they’re going to have to consider revising some of their policies. Until now exhibitors have uniformly opposed narrowing the window between the time movies are first released in theaters and the time they go out on DVD. I agree that this window should stay firm for wide-release studio movies. However it is actually in the interests of exhibitors to now allow shorter windows for those indie films that are released on only say 250 screens. These films need quicker transition to ancillary markets in order to survive. So exhibitors have a choice: They can either stick to their current policies and as a result not get these smaller films at all because most will go straight to DVD … or they can adopt a more flexible approach and open up their doors to a whole new stream of independent content. Which brings me to the Fifth Sign of the Indie Renaissance: Narrowcasting. The fact is that for the right program and the right price those empty seats can be filled and that popcorn can be sold. Everyone’s talking about the record-breaking performance of The Avengers. An incredible 22 million people in the U.S. and Canada saw the film during its first week. But that leaves 323 million people who didn’t! I saw it. It’s a great film and it deserves all of its success. But there are a whole lot of people who aren’t so excited about watching highly pain-tolerant men save the world. They are instead interested in a wide variety of other subjects that they’d like to see up on the big screen. For example look at the success of live digitally delivered productions of the Metropolitan Opera which have been booked into targeted theaters near where opera-lovers live. Or at the other end of the branding spectrum there is the Kidtoons series which our company distributes that are targeted to children and their families and play exclusively at weekend matinees. The creative possibilities are endless: Action sports series comedy nights educational extension programs during the day ballet Broadway and other cultural programming and so on. The idea is to fill seats by precisely aligning content with avid audiences in a communal setting. In essence the strategy is to program a targeted digital theater footprint by day and daypart almost like a TV network. And it doesn’t have to be top-down programming. There are innovative new services like Tugg Gathr and Cinedigm’s own crowd-sourcing platform that allow people to vote online for content they’d like to see in theaters. Once enough people sign on the movie is booked and seats get filled. All of this will require a modification of expectations on the part of filmmakers. They have been conditioned to believe that getting “validation” for their films requires a release into more than 500 screens. That model rarely works anymore because it’s very unlikely there will be a financial return on the cost of the big national TV media buy that’s required to support such a wide release. The new narrowcast release strategy combined with the kind of creative windowing we saw with Margin Call will get filmmakers access to more eyeballs under an economic model that is more likely to generate real rewards. Of course narrowcasting won’t replace blockbuster filmmaking. The 20 million people who want to see Avengers 10 during opening week can still get their fix. But there are millions more who want something else. And they want to see it together in a theater. We can give it to them. The Sixth Sign of the Indie Renaissance complements the Fifth: Targeted Marketing Once you narrowcast into a theater it is invaluable to then use targeted marketing to make the right people aware that the right programming for them is in their local theater. And the best tool for doing this is social media. Or let me put it this way – Those of you who bought the Facebook IPO hold on to your stock. Social media is still the future. And movie marketers have a big advantage in this space. Just consider old-fashioned TV commercials. Nowadays millions of people speed through them on DVRs. However there’s one kind of commercial for which viewers regularly hit the stop button on their DVR – ads for upcoming movies. This is because everybody hates commercials but everybody loves movies. That’s why people stop to watch the spots for upcoming films. And that’s why people will also stop what they’re doing on a computer or mobile device to click on an appealing piece of movie marketing. For distributors instead of spending millions on blanket TV ads and billboards we can target our messages much more efficiently so that every marketing dollar has a high probability of putting a butt in a seat or a download in the cloud. And that brings me to the Seventh Sign of the Indie Renaissance: More dollars … and by the way more euros and yen and pounds and pesos and rubles. Because make no mistake about it the same hopeful signs that we are now seeing at work in this country are at work around the world. I’m sure you’ve all heard the truism that cinema exists at the intersection of commerce and art. Well I’m originally a numbers guy and in our business there’s a foolproof equation: More commerce equals more art. Now I realize that there are those who think that the business side of the movie industry is crass and that auteurs should just be free to do their thing. But even with today’s reduced production costs film is still the most expensive art form on the planet … unless you count the $10 million being spent to lift a big rock into the air at LACMA but that’s another story. Other artists just need to afford the cost of their canvas or clay and then they can go create their art in solitude. By contrast independent filmmakers need hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars along with the collaboration of many other talented people in order to express their art. So if you like the art of film you should like anything that helps the commerce of film. And that’s what all of the other six signs of the Indie Renaissance do: They help generate more of the money filmmakers need to make films. The first sign makes it cheaper to shoot a film the second makes it easier and more efficient to distribute a film on multiple platforms the third brings in bigger stars to act in a film and better writers and directors to create it the fourth addresses exhibitor demand for independent film the fifth makes it possible to narrowcast a film into high-yield theaters and the sixth allows for targeted marketing directly to the people most likely to go see a film. All of these add up to a more profitable business which inevitably adds up to a more productive and expanded business. Which means that as in the first golden age of independent film that started in the late ‘60s and in the second one that started in the late ‘80s all of you movie lovers will have more movies to love at the multiplex … or on your TV or your computer or your iPad … or other devices yet to come that will provide even more digital canvasses for today’s cinematic artists. Because we’re dealing with a bright Renaissance and not a dark Armageddon I’m going to depart from apocalyptic tradition and add an eighth sign. It’s really nothing new and that’s why it’s so important. I hinted at it when I was talking about marketing and it’s simply this: People love the movies. I know I know … time and again we’re told by the Sky is Falling folks that film is an antiquated experience that’s being crowded out by all the new entertainment options that keep emerging. But think about it: When you see someone and are looking for a conversation topic what do you typically ask – “Have you seen any movies lately?” Invariably you get one of three answers: I saw The Avengers and loved it. Or – I saw The Artist and hated it. Or – No there’s nothing in the theaters I want to see. I maintain that all three answers are positive for our business because all three embody the emotion we feel for movies. We either love them or hate them or we wish there was a film in release that would draw us into the theater so we could either love it or hate it. Yes people love the movies. This is why the Oscar broadcast is still one of the highest-rated shows every year. This is why magazine covers still feature movie stars. This is why even with our big-screen high-def surround-sound TVs we still want to go out to watch a movie in the dark with a bunch of strangers who bond with us over the film… laughing crying being scared together … in a social experience that is almost tribal in nature. So I will confidently predict that we are about to see cinema history repeat itself yet again. In the past whether it was the arrival of sound or TV or home video each time new technology came on the scene it was initially viewed as the enemy. Instead each time it led to new paradigms of success. I am confident that the same will be true of digital technology … and the sky will continue to remain right up there where it belongs. As all eight signs are predicting … an Indie Renaissance is indeed on the horizon.
Powerband Films Rises to the Occasion
