WHY RESEARCH IS SO IMPORTANT TO MAKING A FILM

This weeks blog post may seem out of character of my usual avant-garde, conceptual, defense of something that cannot be defended blog post that I have become known for but I still feel that this topic is important to discuss none the less. I want to take this week to discuss the importance of...

RESEARCH!!!!!!!!!!

I don't mean research for a book report or essay, I mean research for film, specifically research before you go to shoot anything. This is important because everything that appears in the frame, at least in the classical Hollywood, narrative mode of production, is supposed to add to the verisimilitude of the world of the film. Verisimilitude, for those who are not familiar with the term, means the appearance of being real or true. As it relates to film, verisimilitude means how believable the world of the film is to the viewing audience. For example I am attempting to write something where Beyonce is playing a Marlene Dietrich type character and Lady Gaga is attempting to play a Marilyn Monroe type character. Well, we all know that Lady Gaga can play a Marilyn Monroe type because that is what she has done previously in career. However, Beyonce playing a more androgynous type is something that I needed to research because as we all know Beyonce is an ultra-feminine, beautiful woman who I wasn't quite sure could play an androgynous character. So I went to a Google image search of Beyonce in androgynous looks and this is what I found....

So clearly Beyonce is very capable of giving an androgynous look that still underscores her femininity just Marlene Dietrich gave throughout her entire career. 

This leads me to a question that I am sure you are all asking yourselves, Ted how do we do this research that you are demanding of us? Well I have an answer for you that will help you figure out where to start. Say that you were making a film about the alien sightings in the 1950's, where do you go for information or inspiration? Well there are two answers, one involves technology and the other does not. Those options are...

1) THE INTERNET

2) A  LIBRARY    

In a library you will be able to read books and periodicals that relate to the time period that you need to find information on. 

On the internet you can find information more easily, in my opinion, then in a library. I create a folder on my computer and put images that help me lock into the style of the period that I am researching for and even if that might not directly relate to the style or look that I may want, I keep anything that helps me lock into ideas for what I want my film to look like. 

In conclusion, research is important and vital to insure that your film looks good. 

SO DO IT!!!!!

Netflix Takes on Movies

There’s no doubt that over the past decade, conventional television and film has felt a squeeze from online media providers like Netflix.  With the advent of full television series produced for the internet being ushered in by The House of Cards, the future of media consumption his definitely quickly evolving. 

For the most part, film has stayed the same, at least the initial release of each film, as it has been for many years. Now, however, Netflix is once again trying to change the game.  They’ve just announced that they’d like to start producing full scale, high budget films, for both the Internet and the theater. They’d ideally be released at the same time, over both venues. The caveat is, many movie theaters will not show a Netflix film, for fear that it would take away from ticket sales. It seems that Hollywood wants to stick to the archaic version of movie distribution. Regardless, I guess we’ll have to see how this pans out, as Netflix’s title as a game changer should never be underestimated.

Netflix's Big Data

Watch out, Netflix is about to become an absolute giant in the media industry. Its goal is to become the first true internet television station, and it has a little trick up its sleeve. I recently did a presentation on Netflix for my Media A&A class. I focused on how Netflix is utilizing Big Data, any time a show is played, paused, restarted, etc, to hedge their bets on what TV shows to pick up. Netflix looks at all of these "events",  over 30 million a day, and picks up patterns in our viewing habits. Netflix also utilizes social media in its analysis.

Netflix has a lot of data to draw from. It has 30-ish million subscribers and accounts for 33% of the internet bandwidth everyday. Over 2 billion hours of Netflix are streamed every quarter. Netflix uses all this data to create a TV show that cannot fail. Netflix's ultimate goal with big data is to be able to recommend titles that you will watch beginning to end every time without fail. Shows like House of Cards and Hemlock Grove, the first shows to be created based off of big data, are examples of how Netflix could have something big in store for internet video streaming.

Becoming Internet Famous

TV is moving online, or so it seems. Most younger demographics consume TV content through the internet, legally, or unfortunately for content providers, illegally. Youtube and Netflix are famously paying huge money for original content, with the latter's House of Cards rivaling primetime content from premium cable channels.

Similarly, original web content is an exploding market. Websites like CollegeHumor are thriving, producing new comedic content every day, occasionally nabbing an A-list celebrity for a cameo.

With so many people making content for the internet, how is one to discover quality and separate the good from the bad? Thus is the problem. Without millions in funding or a big name attached, months, if not years of hard work can disappear in the black hole that is the internet.

I worked on a web series last semester called John and Kyle Do Everything (which you can find here), and while I am thrilled with the reception we got, it took us months to understand how exactly to get people to watch the show. We did a condom handout in the on-campus dining halls, with our logo emblazoned on the wrappers. Classic.

In an environment as expansive and impersonal as the Internet, web marketing really boils down to establishing person-to-person connections. How many times have you received an email telling you to check out a website and immediately deleted it? Thus is the problem... or at least another problem. Try to market too broadly and people will think you are a robot (and you will most likely get your accounts suspended).

If you want to get big on the internet, you need to get small first. Build your empire from the ground up, person by person.

House of Cards Kills

After listening to Arturo's such positive comments about the brand new Netflix series "House of Cards", I decided I'd give the first episode a try and see if they held true. 12 episodes later... I concurred that Arturo was right.

House of Cards proved to be a very intelligently written political drama that kept you on the edge of your seat throughout. It was extremely difficult to stop watching once I got started, with the ending of each episode leaving you on even more of a cliffhanger than the last. In addition to the excellent storytelling, the acting was absolutely superb. Kevin Spacey delivers an immaculate performance as Francis Underwood, the ruthless Majority Whip whose hellbent on scheming his way to the Presidency, and not letting anyone get in his way. However he still doesn't outshine his co-stars, with Robin Wright, Kate Mara, and Corey Stoll bringing their A game as well.

This is the second original series Netflix has put out, and this one really knocked it out of the park. Whether or not the show is a success hinges on how many of Netflix's subscribers decided to watch the show and keep watching once they got started. Netflix hasn't released any numbers yet, but the hope is that releasing an entire season all at once will keep viewers hooked given the accessibility of the next episode, as opposed to releasing each one weekly. Essentially, Netflix hopes their original series inspires the "binge watching" in which many customers end up using the service for (especially college students). After my experience, I have no doubt that it will.

Misinterpreting the Media

While surfing the web recently, I cam across this image.  Now, normally I don't find myself incredibly provoked by cartoons of this sort, but this was something entirely different; this picture actually said the thousand words to me that it's supposed to be worth.  In short, it asked me, "What are you doing about this?  Or are you doing anything at all?"

"It's Media"

I see this picture as representing what just about everyone within the media industry's been guilty of at some point: framing a shot just so, tweaking words in the proper way, only giving half the story.  As a means of communication between different areas of the world and society, this shouldn't be such a twisted message that we send; rather, we should be relaying an honest series of events and ideas, which has potential to make moves in turning the media into a perpetually reliable source.  Yes, the content is still truthful, more often than not, but it's displayed out of context.  For example, in the image here, the man seen running away in reality is caught in a shot that entirely switches his action, and does the same for his aggressor.  Because of the way the shot is framed, however, it can still be considered an honest representation of what's going on...just with a bit of the story missing.  It's like when a child is caught by his parents having done something wrong.  "Did you make this mess?" they ask him, and he replies "No, Johnny did."  What he neglects to mention is the fact that he aided Johnny in this action, and by doing so entirely changes the way that events proceed from that point.  Still, he hasn't told an outright lie; Johnny did do this, but not alone.

So, what am I doing about this kind of misinterpretation in the media, about this backhanded way of skewing ideas to make or break something else?  Sure, I'm in Park and learning all that I can to accurately work with the media, but how am I actually going to apply these skills to the real world to make a difference?  The fact of the matter is, I'm not going to do it alone, but that's what makes the media so wonderful opposite its negatives; everything connects, and there are infinite ways of getting this thought across.   It's a touchy situation, considering how quick people are to jump to arms over any slight infringement of rights, but with enough influence behind the movement, it has potential to make serious progress in the way of accurate media coverage.

Commercials

No, this isn't about zombies. Sadly it's been a busy week so I haven't had time to find a new zombie movie to watch.

I'm one of those weird people that can say I love commercials. I want to help make commercials, whether it be for television, internet, or ads placed in magazines. Although my favorite is television commercials. I love the challenge of getting a message across in only 30 seconds, and trying to add humor into it if possible. One of my favorite commercials is for Toyota Tacoma, with World of Warcraft in it. I have never played World of Warcraft, nor do I understand it, but I still think it's hilarious how they incorporated a truck commercial into the game.

Another one of my favorites is the E Trade commercials. The way they are done is hilarious, gets the point across, and is one of those commercials you just enjoy watching.

Blair Witch Project

In the year 1999 a movie called the Blair Witch Project came out. It was a horror movie based off a story about something called the blair witch that lived in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland and killed people who went camping. The movie is based off of 3 friends who are making a documentary about this phenomenon. The movie made millions when it came out because the people that made it were very clever. 

The whole movie is shot half on a hand held consumer based camcorder and the other on an actual film camera. In the entire film, aside from the woods, they use 2-3 actual locations one of which is a parking lot. Also, aside from the 3 main characters there are maybe 4 other people in the whole film. They shot and produced the entire thing for roughly 25,000 dollars but made millions at the box office. This is because they spent a ton of money on advertising and they started hyping the movie about 6 months to a year in advance. During the ads they played they hyped the movie as the scariest thing ever. Because of this insane advertising, hyping the movie as the scariest thing ever, everyone who went to see it was extremely scared. The funny thing is, is that the movie itself is horrible. Its not very scary and its very poorly acted. The way in which it is shot is confusing as well because they switch between the film camera and the camera the main characters are using for there documentary a lot. I really don't like this movie but i also appreciate how the producers made millions because they were very clever. It proved that advertising is extremely powerful. This was also one of the first movies to use the internet to advertise for it. The movie was touted as a true story online and thus millions were already wrapped up in seeing it.

Interactive Filmmaking on the Internet

The Internet is revolutionary. We all know that. Look at YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter and imagine your daily life without them.

It's a new medium that opens up huge possibilities for filmmakers. However, the web is often an afterthought for many filmmakers and especially student filmmakers.

Pretty much every feature length film has a website. Some of them are standalone works of interactive art. ParaNorman, a recent animated film, has an amazing interactive website built in HTML5 that allows audiences to get a feel for its characters and animation.

ParaNorman's site lets audiences take a virtual tour of the movie even before it was released last month. It's built on HTML5, which is the new internet standard for replacing Adobe's Flash.

HTML5 is completely run inside of the browser and is therefore more stable than Flash, making it possible for better and faster interactive animations.

Flash still has its uses of course. It's also been used in the past by many websites that haven't updated.

Released in 2008, CrimeFace is an interactive movie built on Flash. It adds a new depth to the film using a controllable interface around the actual film to provide more information about characters, props, and other elements of the fim.

A new genre of interactive films has entered the market: interactive music videos. Bands and musicians like Arcade Fire, ABBY, Bobby Womback,  Chairlift, Ellie Goulding and Miranda Lambert have all released impressive interactive HTML5 songs. 

Old Spice teamed up with Vimeo to make an interactive short video where you can make music by moving Terry Crews's muscles in different ways.

If you're interested in creating an interactive film, a handy web script called Popcorn.js works wonders and is worth a checkout.

Internet time vs family time

As we have discussed the challenges of finding balance between the real world and virtual worlds, I thought this was an interesting op/ed from Michael Gilbert, a senior fellow at the Annenberg Center for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California and author of "The Disposable Male." I think he sums it up pretty well... that while "ominous clouds loom," he also says, "there's hope, because families are wondrously varied and resilient. Over the years they have managed to survive many technological innovations and potential intrusions." He also gives several excellent examples of the "good side"... perhaps, we can think of it more as "the Force" vs. "the Dark Side". May the Force be with you...

http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-opgil275592834feb27,0,176990.story