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/
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
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.
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.
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.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
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.
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.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
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 :)
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 :)
Monday, January 10, 2011
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/
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/
Monday, December 6, 2010
Camera Technology and Progress
For the longest time, RED was getting a lot of publicity for creating a cinematic camera package at a price to where the independent filmmaker could afford it. However, lately they have been faced with numerous delays of their newer camera systems and are becoming a better “hype and marketing” company than they are a camera company.
This has given other companies, such as Canon and Sony, time to bring affordable cinematic cameras into the picture. Canon is known very well for their EOS 5D and 7D DSLR cameras that have near-35mm equivalent senors, and recently Sony has showcased a prototype of their “RED killer” camera.
All this could be potentially bad for RED if they keep up their current ways. Being new to the scene with a new attitude and business model it gave them the edge, but the major companies aren’t allowing it to go on without a fight. This, however, is all very good for the consumer. There are numerous price points now that offer high quality cinematic video/film capture that will please everyone from family home movie makers to the hollywood feature filmmaker.
For under $1000 you can get a Canon t2i that films 1080p footage at 24fps. Between $1000 and $5000 you can get the Canon 5D/7D cameras as well as a few SSD-based Canon/JVC/Sony camcorders. Between $20k and $50k you can get the RED camera systems, and for over $100k you can get cinema-grade quality film and digital cameras/camcorders.
This all helps the technological advances for all cameras, not just for standalone ones, but for those integrated in other electronics, like cameras in your phones. Digital sensors are getting smaller and more efficient and cheaper. These little devices are capturing footage that’s leagues better than that hefty VHS camcorder you used to hoist up on your shoulder.
In conclusion, technology is advancing at such a fast pace, and with all the big players in the industry fighting to be the best, it will only benefit everyone in the long run.
This has given other companies, such as Canon and Sony, time to bring affordable cinematic cameras into the picture. Canon is known very well for their EOS 5D and 7D DSLR cameras that have near-35mm equivalent senors, and recently Sony has showcased a prototype of their “RED killer” camera.
All this could be potentially bad for RED if they keep up their current ways. Being new to the scene with a new attitude and business model it gave them the edge, but the major companies aren’t allowing it to go on without a fight. This, however, is all very good for the consumer. There are numerous price points now that offer high quality cinematic video/film capture that will please everyone from family home movie makers to the hollywood feature filmmaker.
For under $1000 you can get a Canon t2i that films 1080p footage at 24fps. Between $1000 and $5000 you can get the Canon 5D/7D cameras as well as a few SSD-based Canon/JVC/Sony camcorders. Between $20k and $50k you can get the RED camera systems, and for over $100k you can get cinema-grade quality film and digital cameras/camcorders.
This all helps the technological advances for all cameras, not just for standalone ones, but for those integrated in other electronics, like cameras in your phones. Digital sensors are getting smaller and more efficient and cheaper. These little devices are capturing footage that’s leagues better than that hefty VHS camcorder you used to hoist up on your shoulder.
In conclusion, technology is advancing at such a fast pace, and with all the big players in the industry fighting to be the best, it will only benefit everyone in the long run.
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