Archive for June, 2005
Wednesday, June 8th, 2005
In The Guardian, Ousmane Sembene, the Senegalese-born “father of African cinema,” talks with Bonnie Greer about filmmaking in Africa, his European experiences and why Live 8 is fake.
Africa, says Sembene, “is a continent going through a crisis. Nobody can deny that we have a lot of wars going on; brothers killing brothers; we have a lot of diseases and catastrophes. But on the other hand, we have a majority of individuals, both men and women, who are struggling on a daily basis in a heroic way and the outcome of whose struggle leaves no doubt.
…”Nowadays…I think it is France that is really leading [the way in] dividing Africa. Most of our presidents have dual nationalities, French and African. When the going gets tough, they run away to Paris and all our decisions are made in Paris. I think in that context it’s very difficult to talk about pan-Africanism. Of course, it’s just plain rhetoric. Why don’t they abolish political borders in Africa? What is stopping them from developing education in Africa?
… [Big European initiatives, such as Make Poverty History, Hear Africa 05 and Live 8] are “fake,” claims Sembene, “and I think African heads of state who buy into [these] ideas are liars. The only way for us to come out of poverty is to work hard.
… “I think there needs to be a rupture between Africa and Europe,” he adds, “and all the international laws being conceived here in the West have to be revisited and changed. Just one case in point, now European countries are running into problems with China because of T-shirts. What did China do? China’s flooding their markets with T-shirts. But last century, France and England bombed Shanghai — they took weapons and invaded them. They can no longer do that because China has organised itself; and Vietnam has organised itself. That is what we lack back in Africa: we have been subjugated so much that all we can do is beg, and some even think what we are going through is a comedy.
…Today, “everywhere you go in Africa, … Read the rest
Wednesday, June 8th, 2005
Justin Lin, who was featured on the cover of the Winter 2003 issue of Filmmaker for his debut feature Better Luck Tomorrow, has been tapped to direct Universal Pictures’ The Fast and Furious 3.
As reported in Variety, “None of the stars of the original two films will return, making this the rare third installment of a hit franchise where the only gross player is the producer, Neil Moritz.”
Lin recently directed Annapolis, currently in postproduction, for Touchstone. He is also attached to direct a remake of the Korean film Old Boy for Universal and Vertigo Entertainment. (Tartan Asia Extreme will release the DVD of Park Chan-wook’s Old Boy on August 23.)
.… Read the rest
Wednesday, June 8th, 2005
As reported in Variety, “Universal and helmer Spike Lee have decided to shoot Denzel Washington-Clive Owen starrer Inside Man at Brooklyn’s Steiner Studios thanks to a new package of city and state tax incentives aimed at luring production to Gotham” as part of its Made in N.Y. program.
In today’s New York Times, Glenn Collins profiles the 280,000-square-foot Steiner Studios, where Steven Shainberg’s Fur, a film about the early life of Diane Arbus, featuring Nicole Kidman, is currently lensing.
Coincidentally, on Tuesday night, the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting launched the latest additions to its Made in N.Y. program, introducing a Made in N.Y. discount card, “which will offer price breaks to members of the entertainment industry on services such as hotels, airlines, car rentals, parking and banking.”
.… Read the rest
Tuesday, June 7th, 2005
According to the promotional material for Robots: From Science Fiction to Technological Revolution, “The 1980s were the PC years, [and] the 1990s the Internet years, [but] the first decade of 2000 will belong to the robot.”
“When people think about the future, they envision a world of robots. Robots intrigue, amaze, worry and disconcert. Now on the cusp of the 21st century, they are poised to saturate every aspect of our culture, from medicine, science and industry to artworks, toys, and household appliances.
Robots by Daniel Ichbiah (Harry N. Abrams, June 2005, $37.50) is the first visual survey to focus on this increasingly important, always newsworthy scientific development and its effects on society.
“Covering automatons, androids and all maner of artificial intelligence, both fictional and real, this massive, comprehensive volume describes the robot’s fascinating history and speculates on its probable future. Interviews with scientists, surgeons, manufacturers, science fiction writers, artists, toy creators, and a host of other experts bring tremendous insight to the subject, and the copious illustrations provide visual examples of robots in every environment. As entertaining as it is informative, this one-of a kind book is an indispensable guide to approaching the Robot Age.”
As Will Wright, creator the video games Sims and Sims City writes in his Foreward to Robots, ” The primary challenge facing robotics today is that of situational awareness. We can build capable hardware that can perform useful tasks under human control. But the hard part in automating that control is giving computers the same level of awareness that the human has… We need to give our robots the ability to build better models of the real world.
“Ironically, though, as we build robots that are, in some sense, models of ourselves, we begin to glimpse that one of the fundamental skills that we must learn is to give them the ability to build models of their own.”
On a related note, Seth Schiesel writing in the New York Times reports that gaming’s future, as exemplified by the interactive drama “Facade” (pictured right), lies in the creation of “virtual characters powered by … Read the rest
Monday, June 6th, 2005
The rap on us movie business people here in New York is that we’re out of touch with the pulse of the industry, the daily insanity of life on the Left Coast. After seeing this pic, I fear that this criticism is correct. I honestly don’t know what to make of this story on Defamer which concerns the town’s biggest agency and one of my favorite writers. Finding it hard to believe that CAA has borrowed a promotional tactic from the IFP’s Independent Feature Film Market circa 1996, I ask anyone out there in L.A. to confirm Defamer‘s claim that giant armored men are hand-delivering to studios copies of a feature screenplay by Alex Garland (The Beach, 28 Days Later) based on the Halo video game and requesting a lunch-hour read and afternoon bid.
From Defamer:
“On Monday at 12pm, CAA is going directly into studios with one of the most anticipated scripts ever written. Microsoft financed and oversaw development of the script written by Alex Garland based on the most popular video game ever sold. They have asked each studio to read during lunch Monday and make their bid that afternoon.”
.… Read the rest
Monday, June 6th, 2005
As predicted yesterday in numerous publications and as recounted below, Apple Computer today announced that it will be moving from IBM’s Power PC chip to the Intel Pentium chip, currently used in Windows computers. Yesterday I linked to Wired‘s Cult of Mac blog which stated that while speed may have been an issue, one of the other main reasons behind the switch was Apple’s desire to use Intel’s new Digital Rights Management protection that’s embedded in the new Pentium chip, a technology that will allow Apple to pitch the major movie studios with an ITunes-like digital movie store.
At the Apple WWDC conference today, Steve Jobs announced the switch but digital rights management was on nobody’s lips. However, read these comments after the conference by Jobs on CNBC in light of the Cult of Mac theory as well as one other salient fact: that Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo are all shifting to IBM’s Power PC chips for future versions of their gaming machines that are intended to have other multi-media capabilities. What’s shaping up is some kind of “War of the TIVO” spin-offs between gaming consoles and Mac-based PCs.
From CNBC via Think Secret:
“‘We have a good relationship with IBM, and they’ve got a product road map, and today, the products are really good,’ Jobs said when asked what IBM had failed to deliver, in his estimation. ‘But as we look out into the future, where we want to go is maybe a little bit different. We can envision some awesome products we want to build for our customers in the next few years, and as we look out a year or two in the future, Intel’s processor roadmap really aligns with where we want to go much more than any other.’
The transition is beginning now, Jobs said, to ‘get us where we want to be to build the kind of future products we want to build.
‘Our products today are fine,’ Jobs added, ‘but it’s really a year or two down the future where we see some issues.’”… Read the rest
Monday, June 6th, 2005
According to BBC News, “A human version of the classic arcade game Pacman, superimposing the virtual 3D game world on to city streets and buildings, is being developed by researchers at Singapore.
“Players equipped with a wearable computer, headset and goggles can physically enter a real world game space by choosing to play the role of Pacman or one of the Ghosts.
“A central computer system keeps track of all their movements with the aid of GPS receivers and a wireless local area network.
“The Human Pacman was developed by Adrian David Cheok and his team at the Mixed Reality Lab, National University of Singapore.
“Merging different technologies such as GPS, Bluetooth, virtual reality, wi-fi, infrared and sensing mechanisms, the augmented reality game allows gamers to play in a digitally-enhanced maze-like version of the real world.
…” Other institutions focused on creating similar games include the University of Southern Australia, which has developed an augmented reality (AR) version of the Quake game.
“Some of the AR gaming technology developed at the University of South Australia is being modified for consumer use.
“The researchers have created a start-up company called A_Rage that plans to launch augmented reality game engines into market with a target price tag of AUD$500, by the end of 2006.
“Experts believe AR technology will revolutionize the gaming experience creating an arena where people move about, socialising and interacting with each other instead of being glued to a computer screen.”
.… Read the rest
Sunday, June 5th, 2005
If you’ve gone anywhere near your computer this weekend you’ll have noticed all the stories about Apple’s supposed plan to shift from IBM Power PC chips to Intel chips in its Macintosh computers. A Wall Street Journal story earlier in the week claiming that this shift might be in the offing caused Apple’s stock to pop 6%, but most followers of Jobs and company doubted the report. Now, however, with the official announcement less than 24 hours away, it’s being reported as near fact. For Mac fans, it’s a big deal, as the architecture of the new chip will require rewriting of all Apple programs, a process that developers recently had to go through when Mac shifted to the Linux-based OS X.
The initial obvious reason for the shift is speed. Apple has reportedly been frustrated with IBM’s ability to produce faster chips on a competitive timetable. But on the Cult of Mac blog on the Wired site, Leander Kahney has a different explanation, and it has to do with the movies:
“But why would Apple do this?” Kahney writes. “Because Apple wants Intel’s new Pentium D chips.
Released just a few days ago, the dual-core chips include a hardware copy protection scheme that prevents ‘unauthorized copying and distribution of copyrighted materials from the motherboard,’ according to PC World.
Apple — or rather, Hollywood — wants the Pentium D to secure an online movie store (iFlicks if you will), that will allow consumers to buy or rent new movies on demand, over the Internet.
According to News.com, the Intel transition will occur first in the summer with the Mac mini, which I’ll bet will become a mini-Tivo-cum-home-server.
Hooked to the Internet, it will allow movies to be ordered and stored, and if this News.com piece is correct, loaded onto the video iPod that’s in the works.
Intel’s DRM scheme has been kept under wraps — to prevent giving clues to crackers — but the company has said it will allow content to be moved around a home network, and onto suitably-equipped portable devices.
And that’s why the whole … Read the rest
Sunday, June 5th, 2005
Below we linked to a Hollywood Reporter article about the momentum in the industry towards collapsing the traditional theatrical/home video/pay television windows that have governed when new motion pictures are released to the public. Today on his blog, Mark Cuban, whose 2929 Productions and HDNet films are at the forefront of this experimental distribution, has a cogent explanation of his strategy. Make sure to read the postings from readers below his blog as well. Hollywood may not like it, but it’s clear that he is on to something.
From the piece:
“Why not price a DVD or the PPV at a significant premium for day and date delivery? It’s $29.95 retail if you want to wait 4 to 6 months. If you want to see it the same day its released in theaters, it’s $39.95 retail. Plus, if we are smart, we will provide a $10 or $15 mail-in rebate against that price if you provide a ticketstub for the movie and a receipt for the PPV or DVD. Not only does it expand the number of customers who can and will see the movie on opening night, but more importantly, it enhances the perceived value of going to the theater. 10 bucks to get out of the house, 40 bucks to stay home. Of course this won’t make everyone happy. Some people will still think that both options are too expensive. No solution will make everyone happy, but it will expand the number of customers and the revenue base upon release.”
.… Read the rest
Saturday, June 4th, 2005
Anne Thompson’s column this week in the Hollywood Reporter is essential reading for anyone interested in the future of specialty film distribution. She interviews folks like IFC’s Jonathan Sehring and Picturehouse’s Dennis O’Connor about what she says is the inevitable collapse of the theatrical/home video/pay cable distribution window system.
IFC’s Sehring, whose IFC Center opens this week in New York, is particularly forthright:
“While he has no plans to ‘expand beyond one facility,’ says Sehring, he sees other changes ahead. ‘We’re going to alter our business plans over the next six to eight months. We feel strongly about video-on-demand as a future. As we shorten the window between DVD and theatrical, you’re going to see some sort of mixture and blend of VOD.’
“As Sehring sees it, ‘When films open theatrically, they get national press attention for the first two to three weeks, and then move to B and C markets two to four months down the line. Aside from releasing on DVD earlier, we can take advantage of new technology on our cable channels via satellite and experiment with VOD day-and-date a week or two after the opening.’”… Read the rest
