The digital revolution has given way to exposing the world to many great things. But there has also been various negative events exposed to the light of day thanks to the growing number of devices that can capture digital video. For instance, the Abu Ghraib prison scandal was exposed due to personal digital cameras. The only footage of the 2004 Asian tsunami was captured by tourists via home video cameras and the London train bombings were documented via cell phones.
The convenience of digital video has even spawned a new human rights group called Witness, which is based in New York. Gillian Caldwell, executive director of the group says, "images have more resonance" which explains the group's motto: "See it. Film it. Change it." Right now they have over 3,000 hours of footage of human rights abuses and they are hoping to create a YouTube like site for human rights. Caldwell said rights groups are increasingly harnessing the "power of images and human stories to motivate change." All thanks to the democratization of digital video.
MacBreak continues in the world of movie magic with some more tricks from Conversations with Other Women. Episode 61 shows how After Effects was used to create a ballroom dancing scene from different pieces of video. There's not a lot of how-to detail (I want the nitty gritty stuff) but it's still an interesting discussion and proof of what today's tools and imagination can produce.
As a videoblogger, I had initially hosted all my content on my own web server. I did this so because I could control how the content was viewed, build an audience around my site and keep the rights to the content. But with the diverging media platforms, the task quickly became a nuisance. Some people didn't have Quicktime, iTunes didn't like Flash, then there is the Windows Media Center. Yikes! After a while, I decided to share the hosting responsibilities with blip.tv.
It was a pretty easy decision to choose blip.tv. You uploaded one file and it did the rest. The Blip Flash conversion was as good as Sorenson's awesome Flash conversion. They offered Windows Media Center compatibility. Like Revver, they offered ads but with added options. They offered raw statistics. Upcoming features promised even more flexibility and power. For a filmmaker or videoblogger, there is not a better hosting site than blip.tv.
Mike Hudack is the CEO of blip.tv. He is a big presence within the videoblogging Yahoo forum group and by far the most accessible CEO I have ever met. In my interview with him, we covered a range of topics that I think every videoblogger should be thinking about: content rights, advertising, mobile distribution and upcoming features on blip.tv.
We might be guilty of associating successful distribution to landing films in major cities and established venues. But it doesn't necessarily have to be this way. Filmmaker Magazine has a great article detailing Jay Craven's experiences self-distributing his film, Where the Rivers Flow North in rural Vermont and applying his strategies and successes to his second DIY film release, Disappearances. "...I decided to launch a 100 Town Tour of the state. We needed cash, so while we waited for movie theaters to clear their schedules, we started playing town halls, granges and old opera houses. You can rent most of them for $50 and set up the show in less than an hour. And you take home all the cash at the end of the night."
Definitely an interesting look at alternative distribution strategies.
To the right is a screen grab from the credits of Children of Men which used a sample from the Free Sound Project. The sample is "male loud scream" and is probably the first time a major motion picture used Creative Commons content with proper accreditation. So what is the Free Sound Project? Only the biggest database of free snippits, samples, and remixes available to anyone to download and reuse as they see fit. Go Children of Men. And if you want to see more behind the scenes stuff about the movie, check out our previous post.
As DV Gurus it is only natural to thirst for a behind the scene look behind a shoot. Flickr has an On the Set Film/Video group with over 1,900 photos for your "how'd they do that?" cravings. Ok some of them aren't that relevant/interesting but just look at all of those sweetset-ups. And if you have some behind the scenes photos from your latest production, add them to the pool.
They say you should wear your heart on your sleeve, but what about your whole upper body? Film Tees produces shirts especially for filmmakers out of Paul Zadie's (founder of Film Tees) frustration for lack of quality filmmaking clothing. Tell the world you are the boss with a director t-shirt. Why do you make movies? Because it is all about the story. Or throw most people off with a picture of a C47 clip for you lighting gurus. Whatever your message any one of these shirts would make a good Valentines Day gift for any filmmaker you know, and it is good to find someone producing specific clothing for a specific audience.
Lance Weiler of the Workbook Project sat down for an interview with Arin Crumley and Susan Buice of Four-Eyed Monsters in the latest installment of 'this conference is being recorded'. The duo discusses everything from the inspiration behind their film, to of course their area of biggest innovation, film promotion through the web. The team is undoubtedly responsible for a lot of innovations in DIY promotion through their use of everything from MySpace and social networking, to videoblogging, to using Google Maps to track geographic interest in film screenings. It's a very lengthy interview, but the details and information provided by Arin and Susan about their approach to distribution is extremely informative.
"You don't find as much originality in Sundance films these days, and for a simple reason. In the beginning, the festival was a home for the homeless, for a rambunctious outlaw take on filmmaking. There was no need to be cautious, since indie films were rarely hits. But as Sundance became the showcase for a form of movie gaining marketplace pull, young directors naturally made films to fit the new mold.... Trying to get your intellectual fill with Sundance films is like choosing homemade popcorn over the concession-stand variety: higher quality, little nourishment."
Harsh words from Richard Corliss in Time Magazine regarding the state of Sundance, yes. Rather than regurgitating his sentiments, I will simply point out a very enlightening book I read a few years ago, Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance, and the Rise of Independent Film. If you think this article is being too harsh and unfair, the book very informatively strengthens a similar argument.
Shooting good footage can be a challenge under normal circumstances. Add the elements of shooting underwater, big ol' spearguns and the occasional shark and I won't be signing up for your project. But the crew of Speargun Hunter, a 13 episode series airing on The Outdoor Channel, had to deal with all these issues. They shot the series with a Sony XDCAM HD PDW-F350 and used a Sony Z1 for all the underwater footage. For more details check out this article on the series, plus this interview with the creators.
New York Times article on Hollywood's uneasiness about YouTube. Even though, Hollywood for the most part has been embracing the YouTube phenomenon lately. Part of the problem now (and has always been) is that many of their movies land up on YouTube, even if it is broken up in several pieces (Youtube has a time restriction).
On my personal blog, I'd linked to a very important television series that I found in its entirety on YouTube. It ended up being the most popular post of 2006. Mind you, the content owners in question were not interested in bringing it to DVD or even releasing it (at the time) and it was too important to be shelved. Like many other movies, the television series was taken down to be only found at another hosting site.
I find many movies on YouTube, I am not really comfortable with this. Not because it is illegal but because I can't watch something for that long on my computer, when I can easily get it on Netflix. This annoys most people. But I'm sure Hollywood will spend a lot of money addressing this issue, especially when they get their numbers wrong: "No one knows exactly how much Hollywood-derived content is uploaded to the site without the studios' consent, but academics and media executives estimate it could be anywhere from 30 percent to 70 percent." I laughed when I read this.
The article also has many instances of compromise, for example, 8 Mile was found and then taken down from YouTube except for the songs. The article also shows Hollywood's uneasiness towards user-generated content which at times means "Hollywood-recycled" content. "Brian Grazer, a producer of '8 Mile,' said some of the mashups he had seen were 'pretty hip.' But he said he, too, viewed them as a form of piracy: 'It bothers me artistically. Here's this thing where you have no control; they are chopping it up and putting your memories in a blender.'"
Long tail theorist Chris Anderson talks movie production and applies it to small scale, low budget filmmaking in a new blog entry which lifts from the recent DV Rebel's Guide for some examples and inspiration. The claim is that when costs of production and distribution decrease (as in, what is happening right now), new long tail markets emerge. (Read up on long tail for a clear understanding of the concept.) Anyway, it's a fresh perspective to see this theory applied to filmmaking. Plus, the low budget production ideas and tips from DV Rebel's Guide and very smart, and some are pretty surprising, too. Recommended read.
Dovetail, the unique video sharing website that specializes in offering high quality HD and DVD format user-generated videos, has recently announced that it will start to make monthly payments to creators based on the number of generated downloads. That means each individual download will now net the original creator $0.10 a pop. Unlike traditional video sharing websites like YouTube and Revver, Dovetail uses a unique peer-to-peer download system for distributing the available high quality content. Dovetail currently remains in Beta mode.
YouTube is considering creating a television show and/or a TV channel. The content will consist of user-generated clips that are handpicked from the millions of clips it currently hosts. This is a nice idea, it will quickly replace the TV viral shows and compete against programs like "America's Funniest Home Videos." But you have to wonder if the creators will be compensated in any way. And if the answer is no, why not? It is one thing to put it on the web, it is another to put it on TV. Though I remember reading that Youtube license did indicate that Youtube could in a sense play the videos on any platform. Meaning they covered their bases.
Gorilla 4 was released today at Macworld by Jungle Software. In case you haven't heard of Gorilla (I hadn't), it is software that allows you to manage information during a film production like budgeting, scheduling, crew, cast, editing notes and film festival submissions. New features in version 4 include a new interface, element linking, element blackout, colored shot list and automatic email. It was also announced that Gorilla will be available in Apple stores nationwide. A new copy will cost you $399 (pro), $299 (standard) or $199 (student). Version 4 is available now. Any Gorilla users out there?
The digital revolution has given way to exposing the world to many great things. But there has also been various negative events exposed to the light of day thanks to the growing number of devices that can capture digital video. For instance, the Abu Ghraib prison scandal was exposed due to personal digital cameras. The only footage of the 2004 Asian tsunami was captured by tourists via home video cameras and the London train bombings were documented via cell phones. 
As a videoblogger, I had initially hosted all my content on my own web server. I did this so because I could control how the content was viewed, build an audience around my site and keep the rights to the content. But with the diverging media platforms, the task quickly became a nuisance. Some people didn't have Quicktime, iTunes didn't like Flash, then there is the Windows Media Center. Yikes! After a while, I decided to share the hosting responsibilities with blip.tv.
We might be guilty of associating successful distribution to landing films in major cities and established venues. But it doesn't necessarily have to be this way. Filmmaker Magazine has a great 
To the right is a screen grab from the credits of Children of Men which used a sample from the 
As DV Gurus it is only natural to thirst for a behind the scene look behind a shoot. Flickr has an 
Lance Weiler of the Workbook Project sat down for an interview with Arin Crumley and Susan Buice of Four-Eyed Monsters in the latest installment of '
"You don't find as much originality in Sundance films these days, and for a simple reason. In the beginning, the festival was a home for the homeless, for a rambunctious outlaw take on filmmaking. There was no need to be cautious, since indie films were rarely hits. But as Sundance became the showcase for a form of movie gaining marketplace pull, young directors naturally made films to fit the new mold.... Trying to get your intellectual fill with Sundance films is like choosing homemade popcorn over the concession-stand variety: higher quality, little nourishment."
Shooting good footage can be a challenge under normal circumstances. Add the elements of shooting underwater, big ol' spearguns and the occasional shark and I won't be signing up for your project. But the crew of 
New York Times 
YouTube is 
Gorilla 4 was 
