Through the LCD clearly

Smashing magazine has a page of 50 Beautifl Movie Posters. Check out The Unforgiven poster it was my wallpaper for a bit. We sometimes under estimate the power of posters many movie-goers (including myself) have shown up to a theater and picked a movie that we may have heard nothing about simply off of the poster. Speaking of posters Warner Bros. released the poster for Gran Torino. Slash film has a good post on the movie. Eastwood as a salty old dog usually equates to a good movie.

Radiohead’s In Rainbows pay what you want download model was revolutionary. NME has an article on it’s profitiablity.

Maybe a bit old hat but Nikon and Canon have finally jumped on the CMOS/Video bandwagon. The announcement is a bit dated but the article does contain some points of interest. If it was big enough news to force a redesign/rethinking of the Red Scarlet it’s worth keeping any eye on.

A page on ten ways social media can change the world.

And finally IO9 has an small piece (Which could really use some expansion) on how Webisodes are the new direct to DVD. I can’t say I agree fully with the assessment, in terms of it being a good way to be noticed and the latest in aspirations for low budget content producers sure.. Direct to DVD though is another beast.

Edit: Gran Torino trailer has now been released, click on the image for link.

Juard Van Dijkhorst

A little while back I was able to go to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Science HQ in Beverly Hills and see the Akira Kurosawa: Film Artist exhibit.  I’ve often made the less not so prudent decision to grab a criterion collection Kurosawa film over filling up my gas tank. Which of course was something I could get away with in Springfield, not so in La. So needless to say the experience was close to sacred.

I highly recommend the exhibit, it’s free and runs into December check it out. I don’t have photos to post because like everywhere else amazing in this town, photography es verboten! I assure you though it is well worth seeing.

Juard Van Dijkhorst

I’m looking forward to 2009, 2008 was not the most opportune time to strike my claim here as:

1. The economy is in a bit of a slump, likely it will recover within the next two or three years but companies are currently cutting positions not filling void ones. I could name examples but well that wouldn’t help the companies and therefore endanger more employees.

2. There are talks that SAG may strike, no one I’ve talked to here thinks it will go through. No one needs or wants another work stoppage now.  Regardless there have been less projects greenlit in the last few months due to that fear than would have been otherwise. No one wants to deal with crew and cast carry issues. Hopefully for everyone concerned the issue will be resolved soon. Aside from the abhorrent lack of negotiating days on SAG’s part the core conflict is over … surprise the New Media and payment options.  Honestly I don’t think the Unions know how to handle the New Media, it’s (so far) lighter and more streamlined than normal productions. A great deal of the studio material (Watchmen tie ins or H+ through Warner Premiere ) for instance will likely be done in a much more independent manner. I think a lot of it has to do with being uncertain of how the New Media is going to grow. The feeling i get from SAG members is that feel they dropped the ball when it came to DVD profit percentages and don’t want to give this one up. This doesn’t help anyone right now, fight a stalling action or agree to renegcitions at a later point but public support is not going to be in favor of this.

Variety now reports that SAG East and West are battling over the strike authorization. An emergency meeting has been called Friday. Making the East board members fly out for the meeting does not bode well. Public internal division.. nice one guys. nice.

3. Hiring budgets are filled at the moment come the fiscal new year maybe they’ll be a little more keen to hire. The entertainment industry at least during the depression was largely sheltered, people still and will always need a way to escape from their lives if only for a moment. The majors are owned in large parts by major conglomerates with other interests and are therefore subject to tides in the economy. Hopefully their bottom lines are not too dependent on parent company’s fortunes. People will still go to the theater, if they don’t buy popcorn exhibitors might hurt a bit, but other distribution is still going to keep the fires stoked. We all need the occasional escape from our worries.

It’s not an exciting time to be job hunting, but it is a terribly historical and exciting time to be an observer. Interactive media, and alternate content distribution have the potential to open markets or to converge in ways no one could imagine 60 years ago.

So what exactly is the purpose of this site and what direction do I want to take it?

Well the primary purpose is to study, analyze and then adapt for use; the history, trends, and evolution of the new media and digital content distribution.

The last few months have been as much an introductory period for me as they have been a trail period if you’d like. Their seems to be more than enough content out there and developments in how it is presented to give us ample material to digest. It will take me a little while to get the hang of site administration but all in good time.

The next steps are in some semblance of intended order; fine tune the design, layout, and logo.
Here are some additional changes I think are needed:
1. More tailored content, I’d like to move away from the I write, you read and sometimes comment manner in which these things seem to be conducted and utilize interactivity to it’s full extent.
That being said I’d like to get the following underway relatively soon:
(a.) Post video or audio entries rather than simply text.
(b.) Engage in some collaborative activities – perhaps fake marketing campaigns, metric exercises,          distanced film making, live chats and so forth.
(c.) In person meetings for those of you nearby – on occasion it would be nice to grab a pint and             chat without the tether of a keyboard.

2.  Generate more original content, dissecting other works is grand but I think we can probably learn more by putting those theories and observations into practice. Be it creating fake spots, getting together and producing web/episodic content, or writing tutorials for software and production techniques.

3. Hear from the horses mouth – Gather interviews, publish guest pieces, hold discussions with a variety of content producers, experts, and whoever I can get my hands on.

There are more tangible long term plans but at the moment those will have to remain a matter for private discussions.

If you have any suggestions or would like to see more focus on a specific focus or industry now is the time to make your voice heard.

Juard Van Dijkhorst

Yes I have yet another round of applicable/interesting links:

News on the possible SAG strike: I sincerely hope a strike can be avoided and the issue can be resolved promptly, I of course say that because I’m job hunting and really would like some greenlit productions to start crewing up now.. SAG has updates on their site as well.

Citizen’s take on recent news,  via digg

Most disappointing tv cancellations, via digg  – No mention of firefly!

Top Five post apocalyptic  movies

Michael Moore on Slacker’s uprising  and piracy

Huge Compilation of Photoshop tutorials – I play around with Photoshop whenever I can and will be working my way through these as time permits.

Sony is now offering cheap DRM free music – This is a far cry from the rootkit scandal a while back.. Nice to see they’ve moved away from the “hey let’s make it that as soon as the customer puts in one of our cds their computer explodes!”. It also looks between Wal-mart and news like this Digital Rights Management is going to take a bit of a dive.

Honesty in advertising, Humorous.

Weta workshop is selling a limited edition Steampunk raygun, I love steam punk in fact it’s the theme I’m planning on doing my room up in when I can afford the glory that is home depot! I don’t think I’d pay that much for a steam punk raygun it would be far more fun to build one.

Ridley Scott making brave new world! Ridley Scott is my favorite living Director and I can walk into one his films knowing that it will 9 out of 10 times be excellent – Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, KOH, Alien!, and of course Blade Runner!

My Room mate Ryan is a whiz kid when it comes to the game industry, business, and entrepreneurship. A few weeks ago he mentioned Eve Online and how it’s virtual economy was so complex and revolutionary that economists were studying it. Business Week via io9 has a pod cast on Eve and Economy.

IO9 has a short entry on the BBC  preparing a massive amount of Science Fiction material for the Radio. After my time at the University of  Stirling I’m very enthusiastic about the BBC and its charter to: inform, educate, and entertain.

Basic technology helped  Jonathan Liebesman actually land a pretty sweet gig. I’m hoping for a reference or two to X-com as well.

Sons of Anarchy has been picked up for a second season, I’m excited as I like the show. I’m a little weary though as well. The first two episodes were great, and the others have had moments that highlight potential but maybe the time constraint is hurting the show. If it were an hour long perhaps they could squeeze a bit more depth in. I can see what they’re trying to do in each episode but somehow it’s falling a bit short. Great actors, premise, and storyline just seems to be under reaching. Regardless I’m happy to hear there are more episodes in the can.  [Edit: Just saw Episode 5 and it was great! Hope that continues]

All for now,

Juard Van Dijkhorst

Quick links of interest round up. (Mainly via Digg)

Five best media encoders/converters – via life hacker

X-box game store being revamped – Microsoft has really been ahead of the curve with content on demand, and the grapevine has a great many interesting  rumors about the 360 and Zune floating about.

Article on perceived expense of video games – Keep in mind though that the retail stores in the UK such as Game, or Gamestop here are not covering their overhead, employees and so forth out of new game sales. It is in fact used game sales where they make the bulk of their profit, and thus would highly encourage us to have about a 75% used sales rate. Simply buy the game back for pennies on the dollar (remember paying 1.50 for something and putting it on the shelf later that day for 29.99), and of course the latest trend is to try and tack on at least 50% of trade ins a refurbishment fee.. (So that 1.50 could very easily turn into a .75).  I worked on and off at Eb-games (and for Gamestop for a bit after the merger) for at least three years, I should probaly do a write up on those experiences and how the business model works.
30 Word Press Tips, Tricks, and Hacks I should take a closer look at this as time allows.

MPLC breeches Irish Law – in effort to collect royalties from Kindergartners. Failing to register with a patent office seems like a pretty large oversight on their part. Also royalties are nice, Irish tax laws when it comes to film making are excellent hopefully this doesn’t turn into an issue of the moment that could affect foreign eligibility of such.

Juard Van Dikhorst

When the courts decided that the majors practicing  “forward vertical integration” was just fancy business speak for “Carnigie-esque monopoly” each had to choose whether they wanted to get rid of (a). production, (b). distribution, or (c). exhibition. Today much production is done under contract but when forced to,  the wisest of the lot chose to dump exhibition. Leading to chaos, closures, and financial debacles for countless movie theaters.

The way we view movies has changed a great deal. In the course of my generation (Y/Millennials) we’ve seen wide spread embrace of video on demand, internet distribution, and all manner of new technologies. The Rio pmp 300 I purchased in 1998  may have only had a 32mb capacity but it played .mp3s and had the first digital music service provider (Rioport) paving the way for the many services we use today. BBS mutated into the internet, AOL installation discs are no longer mass mailed to every home in America,   Netscape has died as a browser, but the movie theater remains. In what incarnation movie theaters pass on to our spawn descendants is only a matter of time.

I’m not sure how well the meglo-theater chains are doing. But judging from the price having gone up in St. Louis from 5.50 to on average 8.50 a ticket, and at latest glance here in LA about $11.50 they’ve abandoned the volume business model in favor of outright vampirism.  Video stores are in even more dire straights (As perhaps dare I say video game stores may be in a few years?) with automated rental kiosks, direct post DVD subscriptions, and VoD all taking off.

For every teenager trying to use crutches,  work a register and navigate a deluge of popcorn oil at some 18 screen temple to the concession stand (been there) exists a drive-in or independent theater that’s thriving.
Aside from using enough qualifiers to obfuscate the lack of statistics to back up my point I’ll provide an analysis of a few independent theaters in an upcoming post. Most likely I’ll cover the Moxie Cinema in Springfield Missouri, the MacRobert’s in Stirling Scotland, and the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin.

It’s relatively late at moment and it’s back to the resume mines for me in a few hours.
Juard Van Dijkhorst