Indie Film Changing

In the past month the world of independent film has seen some significant changes that should change things for years to come. In the last two to three years, the film industry has seen a revolution due to the DSLR cameras that were released. Canon's series including the T2i, 7D, and 5D has resulted in the average consumer being able to shoot video with the quality of the industry standards. Independent feature films like the Sundance hit Bellflower and established television shows like Fox's House shot on these cameras, giving it credibility within the industry. Suddenly the average person could save a reasonable amount of money, and shoot something that could end up looking like a theatrical release.

This has furthered the digital revolution, that cameras like the RED started. And it's appropriate that RED has taken the next step in the digital revolution. They announced their new RED Scarlet, their newest and most cost effective camera. It shoots 4K video and takes 5K images, all for under ten thousand dollars. Preorders have opened up, and they plan on shipping them out early next year hopefully. And the biggest question is how this new affordable tool will be utilized by indie film makers. It'll be interesting to see who will be the first of the Hollywood elite to shoot on it, Peter Jackson and David Fincher have long been advocates of RED's other cameras. Jackson's hobbit sequels are shooting entirely on the RED, as is David Fincher's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. And on the other end of the spectrum it will be interesting to see what up and coming film makers will be the next to make a big splash with the new format, and launch the new style that will be emulated, and how Canon will follow suit after being dethroned.


Sources:
http://www.theverge.com/photography/2011/11/19/2573414/red-scarlet-x-camera-shipping-now

Canon vs. RED

On November 3, 2011 Canon announced its latest professional camera, the EOS C300. It features a S35 sensor, and films at 1080p. Lately, the race in the digital film world has been to get the highest resolution. The RED camera has had a 5K camera already, but Canon took a different approach and aimed more at perfecting the currently mainstream standard of 1080p. The price tag for the camera is $20,000, however...

RED finally announced the long-awaited RED Scarlet-X 4K video camera. The finer details are making their way out to the public, but it’s already known that this will be yet another big step in the digital realm of filmmaking.

RED initially released its first flagship camera a few years ago, but the most important part was its price point compared to what the industry was used to paying for. Now you have a variety of prosumer cameras that independent filmmakers use that don’t necessarily have the multi-million dollar budgets.

But back to the Scarlet-X.. It broke another price barrier, but being available initially for under $10,000. It has a superior S35mm sensor, and can film in slow motion up to 120fps at 1K. It also works with all the accessories the RED family has had for the last couple years.

So now you have a choice of two really good cameras, but both taking different approaches to what they feel is more important. I feel most independent filmmakers will opt for the RED equipment, given its already existing elite and cool status and a lower price point. But for those who already work in Canon workflows, they may opt to pay a little more money to have the convenience of not having to change things around.

In the end, it all works out for the end user, and audiences around the world will reap the benefits of seeing storytelling from people who once couldn’t afford to get their vision out there.

References:

http://www.theverge.com/products/eos-c300/3768

http://www.theverge.com/2011/11/3/2536818/red-scarlet-x-camera-announced-to-take-on-canon-c300-ships-november

Bettering Business Plans

Thanks to all the research into other production companies, I’ve been lucky enough to learn a good amount of what not to do, as well as things that I, and my company, probably should be doing. I think the biggest one that we’ve learned from is in the marketing aspect, and how to promote ourselves. A lot of the companies I’ve researched and looked into have had unorthodox forms of advertising for themselves as well as unique ways of getting their name out there. For long we only utilized social media advertising and some print/flyers for advertising. Instead we’ve started building a strong word of mouth campaign that has attracted us many clients. We have also taken to doing spec commercials as well as contests to build more of a reel as well as having commercials for larger brands.

I think our approach to how we produce videos is what is most appealing to the potential investors. We have a simplified work flow, and it is our unique factor. An investor reading our business plan will see that we optimize and make the most use out of what we are given. I think that our practicality will show any potential investors that all of their investment will be utilized and not wasted. We pride ourselves in our work flow and synergy between us, and we can and have turned out quality projects on a dime, and in a timely and professional fashion. We honestly feel that a guarantee of a quality project for little to nothing will entice investors to see what we can do with a budget and a greater means to produce something. We’ve worked below our means for a while now, and we have been working towards taking that next step, and we’ve always felt that as long as we put in the time and work, that future clients and investors would notice and give us the chance we are looking for.


References:

http://bpexpertviews.blogspot.com/
http://www.unknownmedia.net/
http://www.videoworksproduction.com/blog.html

Business Plans

For an investor, a business plan gives a sense of direction and focus for the company.

Donald Trump mentions that with a business plan you will know where you are going, what you are doing, and how you will get where you want to be. Donald Trump started off in a military academy at the age of 13, and graduated with a degree in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania. From there, he went into the real estate industry where his father was and began his career there. Now he is a billionaire and even has a television show about the workings of a business.

Oprah Winfrey notes that it makes you recognize the the tiny things that are usually overlooked and the what-if scenarios. Oprah Winfrey made her fame with “The Oprah Show” and in its first year had a profit of $125 million. She took over the show from ABC with her own production company, Harpo.

Some of key components investors are looking for in a business plan are:

The Executive Summary- Who will be running the company? A person with a Master’s background in the same field will look more appealing than a person who is just jumping into the field that he has no credibility in.

The Product- What is it that the company is selling exactly? It should be something that stands out and can be marketable, as well as not to offend any persons of any specific group.

Financials- You must be able to show how the business should do financially, because in the end, investors really only care about making money. If you’re in a field where 99% of the companies don’t make money, you have to be able to show why your company is capable of making the money.

Presentation- The business plan should be free of any errors. This includes spelling and grammatical mistakes, as well as information. The last thing you would need is a statistic in your business plan be wrong that you thought made your business look successful. You also want to keep the business plan relatively short, because investors are busy people and shouldn’t have to deal with a 100+ page document. A good length is around 20, and it shows you put some thought into your plan.


Sources:
http://bpexpertviews.blogspot.com/
http://help.bplans.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oprah_winfrey

Slaves to the Audience

One of the more exciting things about the entertainment industry is that despite all the work, dedication, time, and effort that all facets of the industry puts into their craft and their product, we will still always be slave to the audience. We live and die by them. Labors of love and art house films crash and burn at the box office, while Alvin and the Chipmunks becomes a billion dollar guaranteed cash cow. The industry has always catered to the masses, giving them what they know and hope the people will show up for. The same goes for television and music, there is a constant evolution that’s entirely guided by what the viewer is asking for.

I thought this would make for an interesting discussion when I took a look at the weekend box office for this weekend (September 16-18). This weekend something unexpected happened. In a weekend where there were three new releases featuring bona fide movie stars appealing to multiple demographics, it was a rerelease of a film from 1994 that trumped them all and won out at the box office. The Lion King saw a rerelease by Walt Disney Studios, hoping to advertise for the upcoming Blu Ray release. This isn’t by any mean new as Disney did this in 2009 where they rereleased Toy Story 1 and 2 as a double feature. With projections in line with the Toy Story rerelase, they were hoping for a 10 million dollar weekend. What happened instead was a 30 million dollar number one opening.

What makes this interesting is that despite this being one of the lowest attended years in history, mostly blamed on inflated ticket prices, and bad 3D gimmicks, people came out in droves to see a film that not only was released almost 10 years ago, but that over 90% of the audience had no problem paying for the 3D premium priced tickets.

This is to me one of those examples of the audience guiding the next trends. It is not uncommon for older films to get a rerelease, but to have audiences respond to one with this amount of enthusiasm shows what may be lacking in the current offerings. It will be interesting to see what the next slate of upcoming films looks like, and how it will continue to perform over the next few weeks. It’s to note that the rerelease was scheduled for a limited 2 week engagement, but based of this weekend’s success, it will likely be extended.

3D

In the past 3 years there has been no bigger boom in mainstream film quite like 3D. Unlike the big digital vs. film debate, 3D is seen mostly as a financial bump for the studios. While there are some film makers who are attempting to implement this tool in as an earnest storytelling tool, the general public seems to have grown weary of poor post conversions and cheap attempts to increase box office numbers.

In the beginning of the summer, Marvel’s Thor had an opening weekend gross with 60% of which was for 3D screens. In the coming months, the summer blockbuster season was in full swing, with over a dozen 3D films released, sometimes more than one each weekend. By the end of summer, Marvel’s other release Captain America: The First Avenger was released in similar fashion to Thor as well as catering to the same audience, yet its 3D take that accounted for about 40% of its audience. This shows that there was a definite over-saturation of the market. I have included a chart from Box Office Mojo to show how many 3D movies have been released, and how many have been just this summer alone. Though there seems to be a dip in interest, some film makers and studio executives are hoping to reverse this trend before it no longer becomes a viable option.

One of 3D’s pioneers James Cameron, whose Avatar grossed over $700 million most of which was from 3D tickets, will on hand at the 4th annual 3D Entertainment Summit to talk about how the public’s perception of 3D can change so that it can stay around for years to come. Some plans are to lower the price of 3D tickets, and make cheaper more wieldy 3D rigs to shoot on, to counter the post conversion craze. Cameron has been quoted by saying “This is a good moment for Hollywood to acknowledge that they have to try harder to maintain the idea that 3D is a premium experience. We can’t take cheap routes to offer a 3D title in the marketplace.”

Also on hand for the Summit will be Fox chairman Tom Rothman, and many other studio big wigs with the best intentions, and here’s hoping that the weekend of the 20th they can make strides towards making 3D something that sticks around and doesn’t turn into a trend like horror remakes or Dane Cook movies.

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/2011/09/02/3d_summit_-_speakers_james_cameron_vince_pace_tom_rothman_gene_simmons/

http://boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=3d.htm

Industry Liabilities

http://www.slashfilm.com/christopher-nolan-jon-favreau-quentin-tarantino-join-battle-premium-video-demand/
One of the biggest controversies brewing in the film industry at the moment is the video on demand fiasco. Companies like DirectTV are attempting to get the jump on the already crowded home video market, and as a result are closing the window between theatrical and video release. Many film makers feel this is killing the theatrical experience and have lobbied against this practice.
While I can agree with the financial benefit this could make to someone with a home entertainment system, I can’t agree with something that can cause such a detriment to the theatrical experience, which at the end of the day is the dream and goal of every feature film produced. The video market is already terribly crowded, and it is only fair to all those who spent months and years laboring over these films for them to be exhibited the way they were intended, and not rushed off to TV, so one company can make their dollar before the others.

http://www.slashfilm.com/michael-bay-personally-begging-theater-chains-properly-project-transformers-dark-moon/
The 3D craze has also been a buzz in the entertainment industry. With jacked up ticket prices, poor post-production conversions, and a flooded market trying to cash in, this is quickly becoming a trend and is burning out.
One of the recent outcries is over the bad projection in theaters. To save money on expensive bulbs, theaters are projecting their films at a lower wattage, which affects 3D films even more so, as they are already darkened because of the tinted 3D glasses. Studios like Paramount have taken precautions outlined in the article I posted, but I fear it may be too late, and we probably won’t be seeing digital 3D as much over the next few years. It isn’t being used as a tool as much as it should, and instead is just a trend to cash in, and the audience who is paying those prices are finally starting to realize that.

The last bit I’m posting is a little bit less serious. This is a viral video posted by the Alamo Drafthouse and is an angry voicemail from a woman who was ejected for texting during the movie.
Here is the censored version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVz-fO7kxcQ
While this is a funny video, it’s good to see a chain like Alamo not tolerating such distractions. This may not be a huge problem plaguing the industry, but it’s a bother to everyone who goes to enjoy the fruits of the film industry, and has sparked much debate over whether or not they should have ejected her. Personally I got much joy from listening to this voicemail, and maybe it can serve as a warning to others who aren’t thinking about those around them.

Spec Scripts

In my last blog entry, I focused on managers and agents in a general sense. I had mentioned some actor friends of mine, who had some experiences dealing with different agencies and managers. However, since then I’ve been lucky enough to have my eyes opened to one aspect that I had not thought of. And I met someone willing to shed a little light on the world of writers for film and TV and the road they take to find some kind of representation or management.

I had previously stated that to earn their 15% the agent has to do all of their work before you even do yours. This fact is true of artist managers. And in the case of acquiring the management, they usually need to have done some work prior that would move the agent to want to sign said person, either that or they have to audition in person. The process is much different for a writer. One could say that this process of acquiring a manager is much more of an uphill struggle.

My writer friend clued me in to the process. You need to have at least three spec scripts to turn in. Our fine friends at Wikipedia define a spec script as scripts by writers who hope to have a script optioned and eventually purchased by producers or studios or by amateur writers hoping to convince a literary agent to represent them or a producer to hire them.

And if you want to write TV and film? You need to have three spec scripts in each format. This of course makes sense, because an actor can act on the spot in an audition, but the writer needs something to stand by. Quick wit and clever spoken quips are not enough. So unlike actors, you find yourself doing all of your work up front, and even then there’s a very good chance that they will not like your work or style. And then you’re left with a handful of scripts and no agent or manager. Let’s thank the skies that we are not all writers.

For more information you should all check out "Tales From the Script" available streaming instantly on Netflix!

Management and Representation

Management and representation in the entertainment has become a necessity. It has become a sign of making it, or getting your foot in the door, especially in the film industry. From an actor’s stand point, most casting offices will not even look at you if you do not have some form of representation. Larger scale productions do not even have open casting calls, rather they send out casting notices to specific agencies. For the same reason why actors work hard and strive for an agent or manager, studios looking to cast their movies or TV shows are looking for quality and a certain caliber. Agents and managers represent a certain assurance that no one is wasting their time.

But I don’t mean to paint a negative light on managers and agents. Their standard 10 to 15 percent does not come with out its benefits. Once under the guise of management, you have an extra set of eyes and ears on the look out for you. Because after all, they don’t make their 15% if you don’t make your 85. Essentially you don’t do any work until they’ve done most of theirs.

Owning part of my own production company, my relationship with a prospective client or actor’s management and representation comes down to negotiation. They want what’s best for their clients, and to some extent for themselves. This negotiation process ensures everyone is taken care of.

My network, here in Orlando, has led me to have many conversations of the pros and cons of managers and agents. Mostly coming form up and coming actors who are at the mercy of their agent’s willingness to send them on top tier auditions. Agents with a smaller scale of clients will often be sending many young actors out for the same role, hoping that something sticks, and this is the part where it becomes a little tricky, when your benefits aren’t being weighed as much as your manager’s.

Interview - Christian Silva

What is your name, and what experience do you have within the film industry?

My name’s Christian Silva, and I am an independent film maker first and foremost, my background primarily in writing and producing. I helped start a production company a little while back, and have mostly been freelancing since then, trying to get contract work, things like that.

Has your role always been that of a producer?

With me anyways, and the group I work with we all end up wearing many hats. I produce for us mostly out of necessity. (laughs) But on set I direct, usually from a script I write or the team comes together on. But the lines and positions are typically blurred when shooting.

Are you saying that the roles do not matter?

No, they do. Its actually very important that you know your place on set and where you are needed most. What happens when you work with a very good group and you get that shorthand communication is that it becomes less about specific roles and positions and more about the over all product. You become one well oiled machine with all these intricate gears and parts all working towards the greater good, but make no mistakes every person on that set has their set position and are expected to pull their weight.

Do you think people make mistakes by taking on too many roles? And as a result fail?

At first when you are starting off that happens. Mostly because you want what ever it is you are doing to be of quality. So you tend to over compensate and you try to do too much. Really the key to it all is stressing less and trusting more. If you trust the person on camera knows what they’re doing, knows how to pull focus, or frame up a shot correctly, then you wont bother yourself with worrying about doing it. And like wise the people around you learn to trust that you have their best interests in mind. It’s all about working together. The big machine I talked about.

Do you see yourself taking on any other roles in the future?

In production I can see myself becoming more of a producer, in the sense that I would like to help others get projects off the ground and help them find the right gears and parts to make their own perfect little machines (laughs)

Thanks again for your time and honesty, Christian.

Christian Silva is located in Orlando FL, and can be reached at slackhoundflicks@yahoo.com

Pro Bono Music Video

Yesterday, we shot a music video for a local heavy metal band, Catalepsy. We took on the project pro boon for the hope of their label liking it and having it aired on MTV2. We know that most local bands, that aren't big, won't have a lot of money to put into the creation of a music video, but it's something essential for the promotion of the band that can significantly boost recognition and sales.

We shot the video at Club H2O, which is a church as well. They are very heavy metal friendly. The venue was a good size and has a pit in the middle for the aggressive dancing of the heavy metal fans that frequent the location. It was going to be the first time I ever witnessed a heavy metal concert in person.

We got there around noon, hours before they were going to start letting in people for the concert. We wanted to get some "staged" performance shots so we could have complete control over lighting and get some cool cinematic shots.

At around 6pm, we moved upstairs to another location where we were going to film the "story" portion of the video, which was going to be a hostage/torture scene.

At around 9pm, we set up everything to film the live performance of Catalepsy. They had to do the song twice, just to ensure that we got enough coverage. When they mentioned they were going to play the song twice, a lot of the crowd got upset, and understandably so. If I was paying for a concert, I wouldn't want to hear the same song twice.

Overall, it turned out really good, and we are in the process of editing it now.

Box Office

Over the past two years the film industry has seen a spike in box office revenue. With James Cameron’s Avatar, 2009 saw the first time since 1998 that a film broke the all time gross. The film grossed over $750 million at the box office. And in 2010 the top two grossing films were Toy Story 3 and Alice in Wonderland, seemingly, the industry is at an all time high with all this added revenue. However, I have been noticing reports on varied websites that theater attendance is at an all time low, and that the studios have been compensating for this to off set the numbers.

Over the past decade ticket prices have been raised from an average of $5.33 to an all time high of $8.01. The fact that the price of tickets has almost doubled has been a considering factor in why attendance is so low. The cost of going to the movies plus concession has reached points of unreasonable prices. Another tactic that studios have been utilizing over the past few years to off set the record low attendance is the implementation of 3D. In recent years, it has become a craze among tent pole movie releases to be produced and released in 3D.

The incentive of releasing a film in 3D is the added spike in the already high ticket prices. 3D tickets can run upwards of $15, and that’s not even considering additional IMAX fees, or online and taxing fees. It’s in my humble opinion that if more attention was given to content, there wouldn’t be a need to pull a runaround with the numbers. Original films like 2009’s The Hangover broke records and expectations for standard R rated comedies, showing just how hungry the audience is for a well made big original film. Even Avatar, which despite it’s obvious inflated numbers was an original ideas, and earned milestones on it’s own merits. In fact the last time an original film was the number one film of the year before Avatar was 1998 with Saving Private Ryan, and one could argue that the down turn in the following years could be attributed to that fact.

References: http://boxofficemojo.com/yearly/

Kevin Smith

In 1993, Kevin Smith made a splash in the independent film scene with his debut film Clerks. Now in 2011, seventeen years later, he has made an even bigger splash on the independent film scene with the release of his 10th Film, “Red State”. On Stage at the Sundance Film Festival, Kevin Smith decided not to sell his film for conventional distribution methods, instead he kept the right to his film “Red State” and has opened Smod Cast Pictures, his own distribution company.

Long in the industry, there was a certain way to do things, how to make a film, how to market a film, and how to distribute a film. It’s been proven that there is more than one way to make a film, there are definitely many ways to market a film, but until recently there wasn’t any really clear cut alternate options in distributing a film, at least theatrically.

Kevin Smith’s Smodcast pictures will distribute it’s first film, the directors “Red State” by taking it on a road show across the country, hoping to make the entire budget back for the film before its official theatrical release. Then when the film releases in October officially in standard run theaters, its all profit.

This initial plan while experimental, is also very daring. He then claimed that should the process work, his desire is to pluck up aspiring filmmakers and their low budget feature film projects. This is a tremendous opportunity for many young film makers, whose smaller films tend to get lost in the distributions shuffle at the festivals. Even the ones that do get picked up can get lost in the shuffle of release when distributors do not allocate enough funds to properly advertise a smaller less bankable indie.

This announcement excited me, as I know many young film makers, myself included who not only can hope to get plucked up from obscurity, but can also use something as simple as this announcement as a motivation to get out and do it themselves. The verdict is still out on whether or not Kevin’s plan to self distribute will work out, but so far ticket sales have been high, and things seem optimistic at the moment. Up and coming film makers can only hope that it goes well, because if it does, and Smod Cast Pictures opens it’s doors to small independent films, that small circle will open up to include many more people, myself included.

JJ Abrams

JJ Abrams’ TED speech motivates me to no end. It is very refreshing to see someone as seasoned, as experienced, and as well versed in the comings and goings of the industry still be so very passionate about what he does. You get a real sense of excitement from watching JJ talk, that he’s bound to motivate any person, regardless of what their career is.

JJ Abrams’ speech starts with him explaining an old gift he received, a mystery box. He uses this as the example of which to illustrate his point. His explanation of his obsessions with mystery, with suspense, and ultimately with storytelling, give a sense of the kind of person he was growing up, and how that is how he still is to this very day. JJ Abrams is a highly regarded writer and producer, having created shows like Alias and Lost, that were all met with much zeal and excitement. He started a career as a feature film director in 2006 with Mission Impossible 3. His second feature, a remake of Star Trek, solidified him as a blockbuster film maker, and storyteller. But fans of his earlier work know that his natural talent to telling a compelling story.

In his speech, JJ talks about the unseen mystery, that is featured in a lot of his work. He talks about his many uses of plot devices such as red herrings or Macguffens. But what truly resonates in what he is saying, is his pure raw passion for telling complex mystery filled stories that not only entertainment, but he also aims to challenge the audience. That is the mark of a great storyteller, someone taking advantage of their situation to do good work. He is grateful for his audiences and as a result he likes to give them solid entertainment, his best, and what he feels they deserve, and that is all that any aspiring storyteller can hope to do.

Social Media

Over the last few years social media has really exploded in popularity. Individuals to small businesses to giant corporations have picked up on this and have been using it as a dangerous arsenal against consumers.

With sites like Facebook, where there are 500 million users, the messages trying to be portrayed can reach virtually everyone. These users also help by re-posting the content to their friends, and with features, such as Likes and comments, you get instant feedback on everything.

There's a downside to this as well, as people can be negative as well and everyone following the business can see it.

The benefit of social media is for the business and its consumer to relay information back and forth to each other. Some even use services, like Twitter, to talk directly to their fans/consumers.

Travel Show in New Orleans

Earlier this month, I was contacted by a fellow Full Sail Graduate from the Digital Arts & Design program about a project in New Orleans. Usually at first, you start to think, "Yeah, right. This is just something that'll get my hopes up or I'll have to do for free." But the more and more of talks that went on, the more I realized that this was going to be something worthwhile.

I had to submit a budget proposal because there were other local companies submitting budgets as well. The decision came down to having the reference from the graduate who now works for the client. I was excited when we got contracts signed and money put into our company account. We set out on our 10-hour road trip to New Orleans.

Currently I’m in the hotel that we’ve been staying at for the past couple days. Today was our first shoot day and it went pretty well. It’s awesome seeing a new city, especially one with as much history as this place. For the next few days we’re going to be going to different parts of the city trying out food, drinks, seeing stuff made, watching music/street performers and meeting all the locals and fellow tourists.

We did run into one problem today where an audio cord got yanked on and it completely ruined the wire inside the cabling, which made getting 2 channels of audio from our lavalieres impossible. It’s not exactly a common cable either, so you can’t just walk into Best Buy or Wal-mart and buy one. We have to wait for an online order to be shipped, which by that time half the shoot will already be over.

Hopefully no other mishaps happen and the rest of the shoot goes over well. Tomorrow.. the French Quarter :)

RED Scarlet Hands-on

I recently read an article on Engadget about how the author, who is a huge RED fan, got his first hands-on experience with the up-and-coming RED Scarlet 3K camera. According to the article, he got a glimpse of how the prototype was a year ago. It was in a very early stage and didn't function anywhere near how it was supposed to. But now they have a working prototype that gives a look of where the digital end of the film industry is headed.

They haven't announced final prices or anything, but this 3K camera, which performs better than all Full HD cameras out now is expected to be in the $6,000 price range. This allows even the cheapest of budgets to get cinematic quality grade imagery for the fraction of the cost of what cameras have been for the past few decades.

Although RED has been a better marketing company than they have been a camera company, with their long development cycles, they really are the forefront for the digital end of the media industry. They were really the first ones to step up and say, "We can give you better and give it to you cheaper."

Something I've been following and interested in for the longest time has been the film-to-digital transition. There will always be the split between the two types of film makers, and at first, film-sided people did have their advantages, but with the progress of digital, it has almost certainly passed it in every single aspect. Bigger sensors providing more fidelity than film can, and the film-look being easily duplicated through software, it almost makes no sense to have the film side involved, especially when you have to do the conversion process to bring it to the digital world.

In the end it's all pixels, and it's all digital.

Sources:
ENGADGET - http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/07/working-red-scarlet-appears-at-our-trailer-we-go-hands-on-vid/