Archive for the ‘Tech Stuff’ Category
Filed under: Animation, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Awards, Tech Stuff, Steven Spielberg
It’s the next evolutionary step. We had Fred Astaire trying to sell us vacuums and John Wayne trying to sell us beer after they were dead. Will we soon have computer-generated actors who were never real people in the first place? An article in the L.A. Times shines a light on a recent debate surrounding the performance captured acting used in James Cameron’s Avatar. The filmmaker received nine Oscar nominations for his part animation and part live-action film, but none of them include a nod to his cast. There have been no major critic’s awards, no guild prize and according to interviews with several of the other Oscar nominees, what appears to be no respect for Cameron’s revolutionary technology which combines real actors with computer-generated animation.
Jeff Bridges, who received an Oscar nom for best actor in Crazy Heart, put a bit of a dystopian spin on the subject. “I’m sure they could do it now if they wanted. Actors will kind of be a thing of the past,” Bridges told The Times. “We’ll be turned into combinations. A director will be able to say, ‘I want 60% Clooney; give me 10% Bridges; and throw some Charles Bronson in there.’ They’ll come up with a new guy who will look like nobody who has ever lived and that person or thing will be huge,” he said.
Continue reading Discuss: Is Performance Captured Acting Really Acting?
Filed under: Romance, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, RumorMonger, Fandom, Tech Stuff, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand, Remakes and Sequels
In case you hadn’t heard, 3D films make a lot of money, and Hollywood won’t rest until everything is in 3D whether the film is enhanced by it or not. We can no longer feign surprise at “Really? In 3D?” anymore. Except maybe this one last time: Breaking Dawn, the final installment (or installments, if it’s split into two films) of The Twilight Saga, may be filmed in 3D. It’s obvious why. You don’t even need me to tell you why Twilight fans might want to see it in 3D. It’s not for the scenery of Forks, Washington.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Summit Entertainment is seriously contemplating whether or not Twilight has made them enough money, or if they could earn more by making Edward and Bella’s love a truly immersive experience. Considering this is the book where they finally get it on (and Edward breaks their bed, if I remember correctly), the implications of that are very unsettling. But hey, think of Taylor Lautner’s rippling abs! Surely that’s enough to offset Reneseeme’s birth in full and bloody 3D.
Summit will reportedly decide on whether or not to go 3D by the end of the month. THR notes that any Breaking Dawn plans could still be derailed by Stephanie Meyer, who has an ironclad contract binding her to approve everything from casting to director. It’s not clear whether or not that includes filming format, but even if it didn’t, I don’t think Summit would risk her disapproval. She commands an army, and if she doesn’t want a 3D movie, the fans won’t either. But what if the fans do want it? I’ve seen the lines at ComicCon for a three-dimensional glimpse of the cast. Couldn’t the film sell under the same idea?
Filed under: Sony, Tech Stuff, Exhibition, Home Entertainment
Someone really has to explain this addiction to 3D. Years ago, it was a novelty that no one took seriously. Random images would fly towards viewers eyes, and a squeal or two would escape, but no one wanted to wear those annoying glasses all the time. It was a nice little cinematic trinket used for the random feature. Now, however, it’s everywhere. And not just everywhere like everyone is making 3D movies, but everything is getting converted to 3D, whether it be Harry Potter and Clash of the Titans, or Sony’s old library.
According to the New Zealand Herald, Sony is looking to sell Blu-rays with 3D versions of its catalogue in the next year. Joe Nakata, a deputy general manager in Sony’s 3D unit says: “We’ll probably be able to start next fiscal year, if we can convert them into 3D with good effects.” Conversion companies are popping up all over the place to process these films into new 3D monsters, and PS3 is looking to get into 3D gaming in the near future.
Continue reading Sony Converts Old Movies to 3D for Blu-ray – When Will it Stop?
Filed under: Deals, Disney, Lionsgate Films, Paramount, Sony, Warner Brothers, Tech Stuff, Distribution, 20th Century Fox
When it comes to the world of digital media, Hollywood is still a little behind the curve — but to give them their due, at least they seem to be doing something about it. In an article in Variety, a consortium of studios and retailers dubbed “the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem” revealed plans to develop a single format to enable digital entertainment to be played on different platforms and devices. According to them, a ‘buy once, play anywhere’ plan would increase revenue by broadening their market and giving them access to audiences who like to watch their movies/TV on mobile devices or gaming consoles, and now that the sales of digital content are rising, studios are looking for a way to start controlling their own content rather than letting retailers dictate the price and format.
The group has landed big-name participants, including Fox Entertainment Group, NBC Universal, Paramount, Sony, Warner Bros. and Lionsgate among the group’s 48 members, along with companies like like Best Buy, Netflix, and Microsoft have also joined. Now you’ve probably noticed that a certain ‘fruit-based’ tech giant has not signed on, but considering they’re a huge presence in the business (iTunes stores and the proliferation of iPods and iPhones) Apple’s participation in the project could be key to the project’s success. But they aren’t the only hold-outs, as Disney has also not agreed to join the group, but instead is working on a “cloud computing technology dubbed KeyChest to digitally store and distribute its pics to paying subscribers.”
Most of the the technical details have yet to be revealed, but one thing is for sure: there must be a better way to watch movies on your computer or mobile device, and even though a universal format might not help…it certainly can’t hurt.
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Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Tech Stuff, Scripts, Fan Rant
As people gush about Avatar, allowing the beauty to make up for a storyline that seems to leave most fans disappointed, I wonder: By buying into this whole love-the-pretty-visuals bend, are we helping to end the art of storytelling? Actions have a reaction. Money talks. Merge those two together and it seems like we’re sending a loud and clear message to Hollywood that we don’t care if the story sucks as long as everything looks pretty. It would certainly account for the neverending barrage of crappy, big-visuals, big-action features.
Of course, it’s not so easy to just ignore a film like Avatar. It’s been buzzed about for eons. It has infiltrated television shows and plastered its message near and far. We’ve got to see it. The curiosity is too high. At the same time, however, how the frak can James Cameron have cooked this story up for a decade, waiting for technology to catch up with his vision, and not want the story to be killer? How can he not at least work that script into a form that can at least begin to rival the visuals it’s matched with? It seems like an insult. Sure, as Todd Gilchrist pointed out, the man isn’t known for his stories. But they usually don’t have the push, the marketing, and the time that this one did. While waiting for that technology to meet your needs, why not get some trusted opinions and hone the script? Make each word, each moment, and each scene parallel the beauty of Cameron’s cinematic eye — imagine what the film would’ve been then.
Filed under: Tech Stuff
Just a couple short months ago, 3D was controversial — a dazzling cinema mainstay to some, a distracting gimmick to others. Since then, it seems that James Cameron has made the world a convert. Avatar didn’t really have any of the problems that drew complaints from the format’s detractors: the picture wasn’t dim, the effects weren’t ostentatious; not only did the 3D not draw me out of the story, but I soon forgot that I was wearing the glasses. At the very least, the prevalence of 3D releases seems unlikely to be a “fad,” or at least a short-lived one.
The next logical question would seem to be whether 3D will remain confined to the realm of benign spectacle. The world may be on the verge of accepting that 3D can be a legitimate tool to spruce up family flicks and action blockbusters — like other kinds of fancy special effects, it can effectively give them an extra “wow.” (Certainly the wow was what Cameron was after.) But is 3D good for anything else? What did Avatar prove, exactly?
Filed under: Tech Stuff, Distribution, Home Entertainment
I’m not sure who originally said it (although I like to think it was Ms. Debbie Hunt), but desperation is truly the world’s worst cologne, and right now Blockbuster Video is starting to stink. The retailer has been struggling to stay competitive in the face of on-demand video and downloadable films from services like Netflix and Redbox, and all of it has certainly added up to a rough year for them. After a disastrous third quarter, stores are closing and they’re losing money hand over fist, so what is the chain to do? Well, I will say this for them, they aren’t going down without a fight. The Wall Street Journal recently reported on some of the new services and products the mega-chain is launching as their latest attempt to stay in the entertainment game … but is it enough?
According to WSJ, Blockbuster is looking to expand beyond the DVD rental market, and is making inroads to the digital world by developing an iPhone application that would let customers check to see if a rental is in-stock, as well as expanding their offerings in-store like selling video games, concert tickets, and even branding entertainment hardware like DVD players that would have a direct connection to their online store where you could download Blockbuster titles onto your player. Unfortunately, these newfangled strategies are still a long way off, but until then Blockbuster is hoping to fill the gap by offering a new service that would mail a DVD at the in-store price to your home if your local store doesn’t have it in stock.
Blockbuster’s Chief Executive, Jim Keyes, remains optimistic that the retailer will come out on top (comparing it to the switch from VHS to DVD), but I’m still not convinced that a couple of snazzy new services is enough to save Blockbuster, are you?
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Filed under: Action, Celebrities and Controversy, Tech Stuff, 20th Century Fox, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
When sequels, prequels, and reboots are announced before a movie has even hit theaters, it’s hard to remember all the shock and drama that swirled around them prior to their release date. So if you’ve forgotten that X-Men Origins: Wolverine leaked on April 1 to the tune of 4,000,000 downloads, you’re forgiven. But now we get to dredge that story up again because according to The Hollywood Reporter, the FBI has finally arrested the man allegedly responsible.*
At the time, there were lots of rumors that a disgruntled Fox employee was responsible, possibly even someone associated with the film. The mystery has only deepened with the arrest, as THR reports that it’s a fellow named Gilberto Sanchez, 47, who resides in a Bronx apartment in New York City. He uploaded the film to Megaupload.com under an alias. No one knows how he received a copy of the film, and it’ll be fascinating to find out the truth on that score. Will it be a total fluke? Or will the pirated film be a conspiracy that reaches all the way to some humble effects designer?
Sanchez faces a hefty sentence for his file sharing: three years in prison and a $250,000 fine. That’s a surprisingly small fine considering Fox still hints that they lost millions of box office due to its online piracy. But will Hugh Jackman’s broken heart factor into the sentencing? Will Sanchez at least have to write an “I’m Sorry” or IOU to the musclebound actor? What do you think this guy deserves, and do you really think Fox lost millions because of the leak?
*ETA: Apparently, “arrested” gives the impression of condemnation. So, let us stress again he is simply charged with the crime, not convicted.
Filed under: Paramount, Fandom, Tech Stuff, Distribution
I used to have this pet theory that you should be able to buy just clips of movies, you know, just so you could get to the good parts without having to sit through the whole film. Now even I thought this was a crackpot idea, but I guess the same thought hasn’t occurred to Paramount, because the studio has just launched ParamountClips.com, a service that would allow you to make and buy clips from your favorite Paramount films. The site was launched on Tuesday, and is powered by a “proprietary video interpretation systems, [that] allows films to be quickly searched by specific actor, line of dialog, location, genre or product, among other criteria.” Once you’ve found the flick of your choice, you select your clip, choose your format (mobile, Internet, or broadcast), then you get your bill and you’re on your way.
So what makes this any different from taking a clip on YouTube and embedding it into your own personal site or blog (other than the not free part)? Well, as it turns out, not much, but the service is the latest attempt by the industry to generate revenue from their existing libraries. Think of it like how the music industry found a new source of cash in the world of ring tones. Some of their titles include The Godfather, Forrest Gump, Top Gun, and Grease, and Paramount expects to add a third of the studio’s total library. But the big question is: how much is this going to cost? Well, it ain’t cheap, and you could pay up to $100,000 for a clip (if you intend to broadcast it). Now as you can guess, this service isn’t for your average moviegoer, but Paramount is promising to open up the site to consumers in the near future.
So what do you think: would you want your very own ‘movie-ring tone’, and more importantly, are you willing to pay for it?
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Filed under: Action, Drama, Horror, Romance, Thrillers, Deals, Tech Stuff, Distribution, Newsstand
IMAX and Summit are joining forces to bring you all the shirtless vampire and werewolf action your eyeballs can handle in the third Twilight movie, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. The third movie in the Twilight series will be remastered using the IMAX Digital Re-mastering system. Since the announcement that 30 Days of Night director David Slade will be behind the lens, writers and fans have been wondering if Eclipse will offer more action and bloody bits to draw a more male audience, especially since Eclipse features a full-on battle between Victoria (Bryce Dallas Howard who took over the part after Rachelle Lefevre parted ways with the series) and her vampy army versus the Cullens and the werewolves.
In fact, Ashley Greene, who plays Alice Cullen, told MTV that Slade is “a little more focused on it being real and maybe it being gorier and a little dark and kind of dramatic… The first one was very focused on this love story and really sweet and it was beautiful, but it didn’t have a lot of stuff that guys would go, ‘Yeah, I want to go see that,’… There’s going to be a lot more focus on [action], and the fight scene will have more emphasis on it. I definitely think it will be a little more guy-friendly.”
Continue reading ‘The Twilight Saga: Eclipse’ to Get the IMAX Treatment
