Steven Soderberh’s State Of Cinema Talk

[Humberto Rivera]

Crowdfunding Campaign’s are beginning to spread it’s “Wings” it has just taken off to fly into unchartered places, it’s slowly beginning to become a part of the “Money Raising” dialogue, it has not quite arrived yet, but it’s getting there.

http://www.deadline.com/2014/01/mat...-crowdfunding-slated-kickstarter/#more-672256
“Matthew Modine Launches ‘Rocking Horsemen’ Crowdfunding Campaign – But Not On Kickstarter” By JEN YAMATO - Tuesday January 28, 2014 @ 4:25pm PST

Crowd funding Program like “KickStarter” are meeting the new kids on the block like “Slated” an actual “Profit Participation Program”; all of a sudden the financial “Regulators” are starting to take a look. But IT-DOES mean the Democratization of the process is in the works! Traditional model continue to “drop-off” and time moves on and things like “Funding”, “The Televisions Networks”, today’s “The Distribution Methods”, and all the other new things on the horizon “Keep on Changing”! But the small 5M to 10M (in today’s dollars) “Theatrical Feature Film” “do-not-change”, they keep on being as controversial as ever, OR NOT, just being a dramatic expressions off something in you, they’re just finding new way to get into the World Wide system! Now I’m not saying these models are dead yet, all the contrary, but they are losing ground in the “one-fits-all” method of thinking!

And of course the “Red Epic Dragon Camera” has been part of that evolution. You no longer have to hear the “Money Rolling Through” the camera as you “burned-up-all-that-cash” on “Color Negative”, and rented a “Giant Camera” to shoot with, and all the people that it took to support it, just think of all the saving! After all the “Goal” has always been the same whether in “35 mm Film or Digital Cinema” to get the content into a digital source so you could do the “Post-Production”! You’re still dealing with the “Juxtaposition” of two “Moments in Time” to another; it’s just different how you get there!

Matthew Modine is raising his campaign using http://www.slated.com/films/29907/#/ I wish him all the best! The “World Wide Web” (www) in becoming an evolving model for raising capital, that’s innovation, so “Hit-That-Page” // (in the) “World Wide Web” (http://www.)!

Humberto Rivera

 

[Elsie N]

Humberto, you never cease to amaze me at your ability to find new ways of doing things and then posting them here. But here's one you missed that just was posted on Reduser... http://filmmakerspond.com/filmmakerspond-for-filmmakers/

 

[Humberto Rivera]

Thanks, Elsie! I tried to write about things that POP “off-the-top” of my head (mind or brain), SPONTANEOUS, “sort-of-speak!” It’s like writing about whatever I’m THINKING about, with a few major exceptions, of course.

Thanks for the web page! It was one that I did not know about! I tried to keep a record of what I write about in case it may be of “use-to-me” at a later date and “share-it-on-this-thread” at the same time; and also the related articles, whenever there’s one. You’re absolutely correct, I did missed it, and YOU and “everyone-else” is WELCOMED to use this thread to published whatever I missed, or anything else that comes to yours minds.

Thanks for the Q&A on http://filmmakerspond.com/filmmakerspond-for-filmmakers/ and its home page at; http://filmmakerspond.com/ and their blog at http://filmmakerspond.com/blog/ so till the next time!

I’m in Costa Rica, so the Internet is one of my primary ways of keeping up with the entertainment “news-of-the-moment”, and other topics around the World! I been here for “Thirteen Years” now, WOW how time just flies? By the way this coming Sunday, Three Days from today, we’ll have the “Presidential Elections” in Costa Rica, no one knows “who-will-win”, it’s too close to call, there might be a “second-round” between the two top candidate, you need 40% of the vote to become the President, and there are “Thirteen Presidential Candidates”!

Humberto Rivera

 

[Elsie N]

Thanks, Elsie! I tried to write about things that POP “off-the-top” of my head (mind or brain), SPONTANEOUS, “sort-of-speak!” It’s like writing about whatever I’m THINKING about, with a few major exceptions, of course.

Thanks for the web page! It was one that I did not know about! I tried to keep a record of what I write about in case it may be of “use-to-me” at a later date and “share-it-on-this-thread” at the same time; and also the related articles, whenever there’s one. You’re absolutely correct, I did missed it, and YOU and “everyone-else” is WELCOMED to use this thread to published whatever I missed, or anything else that comes to yours minds.

Thanks for the Q&A on http://filmmakerspond.com/filmmakerspond-for-filmmakers/ and its home page at; http://filmmakerspond.com/ and their blog at http://filmmakerspond.com/blog/ so till the next time!

I’m in Costa Rica, so the Internet is one of my primary ways of keeping up with the entertainment “news-of-the-moment”, and other topics around the World! I been here for “Thirteen Years” now, WOW how time just flies? By the way this coming Sunday, Three Days from today, we’ll have the “Presidential Elections” in Costa Rica, no one knows “who-will-win”, it’s too close to call, there might be a “second-round” between the two top candidate, you need 40% of the vote to become the President, and there are “Thirteen Presidential Candidates”!

Humberto Rivera

I have a friend who used to go diving in Costa Rican waters. He speaks highly of the place.

 

[Humberto Rivera]

Elsie, Costa Rica is a complex case; it depends on your point of view! That’s one of the reasons why there are Thirteen Presidential Candidates’. But generally speaking, it is a “Beautiful Place”, “I-like-it”! There are many things too do; of all stripes; the Beaches, Surfing, Diving, the “National Theater”, in Escazu we have Multi-Plaza, and the complex that has developed around it from CIMA Hospital, to the only IMAX Theater, and the list goes on, and on!

But there is also a more dark side that most visitors do not get to see, but I guess things are the same elsewhere, for one thing we’re right in the middle between Columbia and Mexico, there is no way to “by-passed-it”, it’s an accident of geography!

I would personally recommend-it as a place to enjoy a “Nice Vacation”!

Humberto Rivera

 

[Humberto Rivera]

For those of you who are interested, “Luis Guillermo Solis”, and “Jonny Arraya”, are going to have a ‘Run Off” election for President of Costa Rica on Sunday, April 6, 2014, just thought I mentioned it.

I was thinking of a an interesting case of a Movie Set in “Costa Rica”, but filmed in “Puerto Rico”; “Runner Runner”; http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=runnerrunner.htm it took in worldwide $62,675,095, so far! It stars Justin Timberlake; Gemma Arterton; Ben Affleck; and Anthony Mackie. The Film is about the continuing debate over High Stakes “off-shore-computer” gambling!

I think if I’m not mistaken, everything in the movie is pretty close to the TRUTH! But the film has generated some very negative opinions by the local “Television Media” in the two primary channels that I’ve seen. I’ve not seen the movie, BUT THAT’S NOT THE POINT. Costa Rica is country with freedom of expression, it does not have an Army, and it does not have any Ax to grind with any other country. But yet the Costa Rican took it to heart, maybe it’s because of the image it presents to the worldwide public. I really don’t know! It kind of reminds me; a US Marine can say anything negative about the US Marine Corps without raising any flags among Marines, but let some else say anything about the Corps and all hell breaks loose.

Here is the story plot in Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runner_Runner_(film) and the Film Full Synopsis are found below.
http://www.fandango.com/runnerrunner_v563185/plotsummary “A Princeton grad student finds himself caught between the FBI and a malevolent online gambling tycoon in this thriller from The Lincoln Lawyer director Brad Furman. A whiz at the virtual-poker table, bright young Ivy Leaguer Richie (Justin Timberlake) had nearly raised enough cash to pay his tuition when he lost it all in the blink of an eye. Convinced that he's been cheated and determined to confront the swindler, Richie hops a plane to Costa Rica, and comes face-to-face with online gambling mogul Ivan Block (Ben Affleck), who introduces him to a world of wealth and privilege. Meanwhile, the FBI has been watching Ivan, and attempts to strong-arm Richie into turning informant. With Richie's help they could bring Ivan's illegitimate empire crashing to the ground. But who's more dangerous, the entrepreneur who feeds his enemies to crocodiles, or the agents who seem like they're willing to break the law in order to uphold it? Gemma Arterton and Anthony Mackie co-star.” ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

It certainly a curious case, ABOUT FREEDOM OF SPEECH, this is just another Movie, with multiple characters! So what?

Humberto Rivera

 

[Humberto Rivera]

I was thinking; I “kind-off” think there is some confusion about “HI-END” cameras, it’s NOT the Red Digital Cinema Company, “it-is” on the part of the Arriflex Company! I’m about repeat myself; so here it goes, the “Red Epic Dragon Camera” has an image size of “6 K” OR “6144 x 3160 Pixels” - 30.7mm (H) x 15.8 mm (V) = Ø 34.5272 Image Circle (D) – (Ø 34.5 mm) – 19 Megapixels - 1.94:1 ASPECT RATIO; the most you can get from Arri is “3.4K”, maybe they got something up there sleeve that they have kept “Top Secret”, but I doubt it.

A better description can be found in this Arri pdf; http://www.arri.de/fileadmin/media/...eas-Surround_Views_and_Framelines_SUP_9.0.pdf “Sensor Size 3414 x 2198 Pixels” (1.55:1) 28.17 x 18.13 mm / 1.109 x 0.714”, or “Ø 33.50 mm Image Circle”.

HERE IS THE TEXT QUOTED DIRECTLY FROM “THE ARRI NEWS IBC ISSUE 2013” (9/6/2013 PAGE 27); “Bill Bennett, ASC, was the first to test the new feature, commenting: "When we viewed the results up-rezzed to 4K, we were surprised at how good 3.4K looks. However, my clients don't want to process or distribute in 4K; they all love how the ALEXA looks. What they want is a little more resolution from the camera for repositioning, resizing, stabilizing or rotating the image. The open gate mode provides exactly that." (But how about a new sensor?)!

http://www.arri.com/camera/digital_...erview&cHash=4d3e3267613969e8c75b95f6e15c48b4 From the Arri “advertisement/article”;”TRUE ANAMORPHIC WITH A 4:3 SENSOR For the most effective use of anamorphic lenses, each ALEXA XT model is equipped with a 4:3 sensor of the same size and shape as a Super 35 mm film frame. A 4:3 Sensor is crucial for delivering the unique and cinematic widescreen look that can trace its origins back to the CinemaScope films of the 1950s. It is a look that has long been appreciated by cinematographers, directors and the viewing public. An anamorphic de-squeeze license is included with all ALEXA XT cameras, as is a high speed license for filming at up to 120 fps. The 4:3 Sensor is also useful for non-anamorphic productions as it permits significant reframing of the image in post, similar to shooting 4-perforation 35 mm.”

So to summarize the best RED EPIC DRAGON SENSOR DELIVERS 6K “period”; and the Arri under the best of conditions with an Anamorphic Lenses can do is just 3.4K! So the Arri lenses will cover the same distance with an Image Circle of 33.5 as the Red Dragon at 6000 x 3000 Pixels, as Arriflex will at 3414 X 2198 Pixels. There is no comparison, and better Dynamic Range to-boot, and the cost for the Arri is much more, and the list goes “on-and-on”! So “Why”? I don’t know it’s a mystery beyond comprehension for me, and the facts! I guess that’s why they make “Chocolate & Vanilla Ice Cream” (or other flavors in-between), so everyone can get their favorite taste and that makes them feel good!

Here is sample provided in the early stages of testing by Mark Toia, Dragon “IS-A-WORK-IN-PROGRESS” we’re still waiting for the final release http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?103732-DRAGON-ITS-THE-REAL-DEAL-!!!! Just saying! Graeme is STILL working his “Magic”! It always better to Down-rezz than Up-rezz, that’s an indisputable fact, no matter how it may appear to some! So other than “some-legs-on-it-brand” what else does Arri Digital Cameras have? And let’s not forget the new OLPF that is still to come out in large numbers from the Red Dragon Cameras, anyhow that’s my opinion, for whatever it’s worth! How about those “Still Photos” for other purposes too!

Wow, wow, wow, I was “Blown-Away” by these “Two-Images” from “Gunleik Groven”. http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?109979-Stanley-on-the-run/page22

Humberto Rivera

 

[Humberto Rivera]

I was reading this morning “The New York Times”, and came across this article that reflects on the “Wall Street” reality “for better or worst”! http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/14/m...is-reflection-of-the-truth.html?src=dayp&_r=0

Leonardo DiCaprio talks about films that the Studios might not make these days, he talks about “Outside Financial”; “QUESTION. You got hold of Jordan Belfort’s memoir, DETAILING HIS FINANCIAL FRAUD, when it was still in galley form, right? ANWER. Yeah, this was seven years ago. We ended up getting the rights to it. Jordan knew about my relationship, obviously, with Marty, and I think that that was a big incentive. Terry Winter wrote the screenplay right away. It was on the fast track [at the studio] to getting done and then — HOW DO I PUT THIS? — [there was] some sort of resistance on the material AND THE DISTURBING NATURE OF WHO THESE PEOPLE WERE. [The project fell through at that time, so Mr. Scorsese turned to “Hugo.”] There were two other directors all set, and I just couldn’t. It was the only time really that I was like: “No one can do this except him. Nobody can capture the essence of these people and take the time with the actors, get the sense of humor, bring that sort of authenticity to this cutthroat environment.” So I waited for him for seven years, and I finally said, “Now I have people and outside financing, and they’re going to let us do whatever the hell we want.” NYT

“Outside Financing” & “They’re going to let us do whatever the hell we want.” How times have slowly changed? Now they (Distributor) are selling the film to the members of “The Academy”, it’s mandatory if you want to win an “Oscar”! I thought I would share the article with you!

Humberto Rivera

 

[Humberto Rivera]

What I’m saying is, WHAT-IF, not that IT-IS, but this is MY OPINION on the subject! So following along the line of WHAT-IF; we were to learn the true “Box-Office” ”NET-RESULTS”, God-forbid, but “what-if”, we’re NOT talking about “World-Wide–Gross-Box-Office-Numbers” but RATHER the actual numbers; REALITY! Think about-it for a few seconds, we live in the UNREALISTIC Cinematic World of Box Office Numbers. What purpose could it serve? By the way, that’s why they use to say, for a film to “BREAK-EVEN” it had to make “Two-and-a-Half” times what it “Published-Budget” was!

Well, there is Hollywood Accounting for one, is a mystery, and will continue to be mystery! Another is to “Appear to Maximize” profit for all the subsequent “Ancillary Markets”. Actual “Motion-Picture” attendances does NOT COUNT; just “Box Office Receipts”. They are related to that all important “Box- Office -Receipts” NUMBER. Even if they are UNREALISTIC! Remember; the “Golden-Rule”; he who has the “Gold-Makes-the-Rules” that has been true throughout history, ad-infinitum! So everybody is operating on UNRELIABLE DATA; Box Office Receipts!

We only need to look as far as your nearest McDonalds, yes McDonalds, that how the Movie Business is measured around the World. In both businesses you walk up to the “Cash-Register” and you place your order, and then in “expeditious-manner” your order is filled, the “Ticket-or-Junk-Food”! So there are a lot of similarities at the “Point-of-Purchase”! By the way in some films they may add to their receipts because of ancillary deals, mostly on “big-films”, those toys’s and cups! There is “no-way-in-hell” that a Filmmaker will ever know the true numbers, “no-way”!

We all take different paths to get to the different ways to create a “Motion Picture”, but at the end we are here! We’re so obsessed with creating the Film that we don’t realized there are people lurking on the Side-Lines, waiting to take advantages of all the Filmmakers! I’m talking about the Small/Big Distributor or the Studio; they come in different sized which are “sub-distributed” to different territories. After all just about the time you run out of money before that last step! Most Filmmakers generally don’t have a good perspective or management of a Film Budget. I personally have a lot of stories how it happens, but it does happen. But “it-is” the ultimate obstacle course of daily Film-life! What a business, it’s full of intrigue, lies, and contradictions? Yet Film continue to be made, all sorts of deals continue to be created around the World; Cinematic Life Continues, and it will forever!

Just like the Red Digital Cinema Company, they just thought will make the best Digital Camera, and the world would come to their feet, well that was not the way it happened, it took time, and they have literally made the best “Digital Cinema Camera”; the “Red Epic Dragon Sensor Camera”, and at NAB 2014, they will finally showcase their accomplishment! The mainstream press; the one “Hollywood Producers” read religiously on a “daily-basis”, they’re not onboard just yet, there are a lot of loose cannons on deck taking pot-shot at them, but Red will persist on!

Humberto Rivera

 

[Humberto Rivera]

I been thinking; about the “Global Paradigms” for new methods of “Motion Picture Revenue Generation” they are slowly changing. I saw an article the other day in The Hollywood Reporter; http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/german-home-entertainment-market-hits-682300 “German Home Entertainment Market Hits Record High in 2013”

TO QUOTE THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER; “Official figures released Friday show Germany's home entertainment market booked revenues of $2.4 billion (€1.757 billion) last year, nearly $70 million more than in 2012. Both the sell-through and rental business showed growth, with booming digital revenues as well as strong demand for Blu-ray discs more than compensating for a slow slide in traditional DVD sales. Blu-ray revenue shot up 20 percent last year to $470 million (€343 million) in Germany while DVD sales fell only slightly, to $1.3 billion from around $1.4 billion a year earlier. Digital sell-through posted double digit growth, up 13 percent to $71 million (€52 million).” THR

You can see the TREND in Germany, but also on a “World Wide” basis, as “Home Entertainment Centers” become more sophisticated with 4K/UHD pictures, home sound systems that equal of better the “Theater Experience” (brick & mortar), there is TREND happening here, I won’t be surprise is there are not more places in the World that we’ve have not heard about yet. 4K/UHD and Blu-ray, in a proper home environment, with a respectable “Aspect Ratio”, really makes’ a Perfect Viewing Experience! Take a Home with a 55” or better, I see the “120” Home Television” on the horizon. And there is always China they are really a “Big Country” and a population (even if they don’t like to pay), how will the “China Film Group” handle this situation in the future. But as the planet continues to be connected, the methods continue to expand, and expand in population growth and technology at an alarming rate, for example here in the little Country of Costa Rica you can get Netflix, we also have one IMAX Theater.

Humberto Rivera

Continued from the bottom of page 31 to the top of page 32 http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?99172-Steven-Soderberh’s-State-Of-Cinema-Talk/page32

 

[Humberto Rivera]

Continued from the bottom of page 31 to the top of page 32 http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?99172-Steven-Soderberh’s-State-Of-Cinema-Talk/page31

We will ALWAYS have the “Motion Picture Theater” (brick & mortar) but they are going to need to get more aggressive and creative to get their Audience in through the doors! Remember that “Huge Piece of Furniture” that we use have to watched TV at home, the one that brought you the “Ed Sullivan Show” in B&W, at least some of us “older folks” remember “The Beatles” LIVE on TV when they arrived in America, well a lot of water has pass under the bridge since then, and now we’re about to enter the era of the 4K/UHD 55” to 120” “Home Television Theater”!

However those Movies that Played at the “Movie Palaces” (brick & mortar) of the time, they can still be transfer to 4K, many have already have been transferred, and are just waiting to put on the “New Media”! The “New Paradigm”, with old movies, do you think that the Producers and Studios “of-the-time” thought of it “at-the-time”, I “doubt-it” some Films were lost because they had “no-forward thinking”, and how they FOUGHT the B&W TV Set itself.

So what was the attraction of the “old times”, “Hollywood Theaters”, 35mm and Super-Panavision prints, theaters like “The Paramount Theater” in my little town in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico in 1947 when I was Six-Years-Old boy that went to the Movies almost every day; or the World famous “Grauman's Chinese Theatre” in the heart of Hollywood, it opened on May 18, 1927, with the premiere of Cecil B. DeMille's film The King of Kings; all of them are now on the same page, they used the same distribution method for both “Movie Theaters” (brick & mortar) and the “Home Video Theater”, they are now playing “Digital Cinema” and the best “Digital Cinema” camera to capture an image has become the “Epic Dragon Sensor Camera”, we have seen it all happen before our eyes (the old folks), so let’s take it further than beyond the beyond, and think of all the things that can happen in the future, its limitless, WHATEVER IT IS. The change did not occur without its big fight like the Talkies, B&W Television, Digital Cinema, and Digital Distribution; use your imagination!

“Grauman's Chinese Theatre” in the heart of Hollywood was one my local theaters for a very long while, I remember seeing the first Star Wars Film there, I saw the several James Bond films with, Sir Thomas Sean Connery Kt. the Scottish actor. The theater has been used for many Motion Pictures; remember the scene from 1952 Picture “Singin' in the Rain” with Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds, oddly enough is a Picture about the “Motion Picture Business”. Well there were several scenes filmed at the “Grauman's Chinese Theatre”! It has a lot “Cinematic History”! The Academy Awards will again be broadcast from the same place, but is now called the “TCL Chinese Theatre” (or “is-it” the Dolby Theater, it’s just a name) time continues to move forward, but it also stays the same! It’s the CONTENT THAT MATTERS; it always has, and always “will-be”!

HERE IS WHAT DEADLINE.COM HAD TO SAY; http://www.deadline.com/2014/02/oscars-street-closures/#more-687419 “Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2013 will be presented on Oscar Sunday, March 2, (2014) at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® and televised live on the ABC Television Network. The Oscars, produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.” Deadline.com

“Digital Cinema” will be present next Sunday, March the Second, 2014; what will it be like on the Year 2020? What use to be “Grauman's Chinese Theatre” (not its real name, only its colloquialism) has been the site for many World Premiers, Scenes from Motion Pictures, even the Hollywood Walk of Fame begins there.

While thinking about Next Sunday’s Academy Awards Broadcast; I was looking “Back and Forward” “Grauman's Chinese Theatre” and the year 2020; “Singin' in the Rain” and the future “Home Theater Environment”; in those two juxtaposition; the “Motion Picture Film” (Cinema) has SURVIVED as an IMPORTANT “Art Form” the transition from one to the other; we can see “it-in” “Lawrence of Arabia” and the new “Digital Cinema” with Peter O’Toole in his FIRST Motion Picture Role (2 August 1932 – 14 December 2013) and now may he RIP. However “Lawrence of Arabia” can be transfer to 4K or 8K resolution (when it becomes available), and it loses nothing, there “it-is” in Glorious Color shot in “Super Panavision 70”! Peter O’Toole will be part of Eulogy reel at the Awards, and the one more final closing to the Picture will come to an end, but not “Lawrence of Arabia” the Movie, it will go on forever as one of the great films of the “Motion Picture Business”!

So it’s a “Good Thing”; that Films from long ago can still be enjoyed in the “Home Theater Environment” WHENEVER YOU WANT, and that’s really important because in the “Movie Theater” (brick & mortar) they only play the LATTES release from Hollywood, and only WHILE in the “Movie Theater”, that’s definitely a big difference! VOD (Video on Demand) will become more and more the preferred way of seeing a Motion Picture, the “Picture” when it was originally made, it was for the “Movie Theater” (brick & mortar); how times have change, but what we can see how it has not change, and that’s the important part! The Motion Picture “Art Form” has survived, AND THAT’S WHAT COUNT!

“Lawrence of Arabia” cost $15 Million Dollars to Produce by Horizon Picture; it took in $70 Million Dollars at the Box Office for Columbia Pictures! Now let’s take a step back, and just imagine, “what-if” the film is re-released in the “New Home Environment” via let’s say VOD (Video on Demand) on 4K/UHD, what would happen, and on its proper Aspect Ratio! We just don’t know where the future is heading, we all have ideas, but it’s just that “an-idea”. What-if ODEMAX finally comes on line one of these day, it’s bound to happen with it generous offer to the “Copyright Holder”. Remember it-is he/her who controls the Copyright WHO OWNS THE FILM.

We’re born, we live, we take whatever path life assigned to us (or several paths), some of us join the Armed Forces and go to War as I did in the US Marine Corps in Vietnam, some of us lead more distinguished lives than other and some leave no marks at all, we marry, we have children, we get old, we have grandchildren, we are different persons at different parts of our lives, and we die! The “Cinematic Art” that we (if) create lives on forever, like in the case of “Lawrence of Arabia” with Peter O’Toole in his first Motion Picture Role along with many “Distinguished Actors”, the Distinguished Director David Lean, the Distinguished Director of Cinematography Freddie A Young, the Bold Producer Sam Spiegel, the Distinguished Writers Robert Bold and Michael Wilson, all of these people are now dead, but the “Picture” will go on forever! “Grauman's Chinese Theatre” a Brick & Mortar facility will “live-on” under different names and owners’, many New Big Film will open there forever, the Academy Awards will be broadcast from there again next Sunday!

The Future will continue to move forward, and some-were along the journey our lights “will-go-out”! Sometime, somehow, somewhere in the future we’ll move on to the next world (hopefully at least 100 years old, but you just don’t know when), depending on our beliefs’ we’ll go to heaven or hell! You know there are “New Paradigms” for how long a person might live-on, it-uses to be much younger, and throughout the ages it has been slowly creeping-up on all of us, while the Earth continues to grow at an exponential pace on the people side, that’s’ definitely a paradox. Meanwhile we-all will enjoy the “life-we-have” as best we can; use it whiles it last. Use it well!

“Grauman's Chinese Theatre” will be there by whatever name is called, and “Lawrence of Arabia” will be playing in whatever kind of device you have for your home Viewing System, look at a painting by Rembrandt it still hangs on the walls of Museum long after all the Centuries & Wars have gone by, for all to see! Just saying! I don’t think Producers ever think about the Future, mostly about the “Few Months” that a Picture is on its “World Wide Theatrical” (Brick & Mortar) stage for release (if they have one). There has been a new, and will continue to be a new “Revenue Generator” that has not been invented yet, and unlike the Rembrandt on a Museum wall, a Film /Movie /Picture /Cinema can be taken out of its “Archives” and adopted to any method of display. Long after we all have gone on to the Next World!

Humberto Rivera

 

[Humberto Rivera]

I was reading an article on the Deadline.com and thought how Distributors in “The Film Business” make one final pitched to “MONETIZE” the Film that are in contention for the Oscars; http://www.deadline.com/2014/02/box...-best-pictures-how-theyre-faring/#more-687630 “BOX OFFICE: Oscar Nominated Best Pictures, How They’re Faring By ANITA BUSCH - Saturday February 22, 2014 @ 7:50am PSTTags: 12 Years A Slave, American Hustle, Captain Phillips, Dallas Buyers Club, Gravity, Her, Nebraska, Philomena, The Wolf of Wall Street.”

TO QUOTE FROM THE ARTICLE; “The Oscar nominated best pictures still in the theaters are holding well the last weekend before the Academy Awards. Most are at the end or nearing the end of their runs. Those distributors who re-released their films or upped the number of theaters post-nomination DID RECEIVE NICE BUMPS TO ADD TO THEIR OVERALL CUMES. This is the last weekend before the Academy Awards, so traditionally the Oscar-nominated films still in theaters usually see rock solid numbers as moviegoers venture out to see them before the show. Last year’s Oscars brought in 40.3M viewers. Here is how they all look to play out this weekend and their overall cumes based on Saturday morning estimates:” Deadline.com

They run from twenty one weeks for “Gravity” to nine weeks for “The Wolf of Wall Street”! The one with the larger Box-Office number is “Gravity” with $260 Million to the lowest Box-Office numbers $16.4 taken in by “Nebraska”. The selling of these Pictures to BOTH, the Academy Members as well as the Public has been ongoing since the nominations were announced. The Distributors are in to “Maximize the Cash Flow” before the Actual Academy Awards. Some better than others! The World Wide Audience for The Academy Awards are “Huge”, the Winners will have advertisements of all kinds ready, in many languages. They are all posed to respond all over the World IMMEDIATELY “Following Awards”! The Awards Show is like a giant “Television Commercial” for “The winners”, and “you-cannot-buy” that kind of PUBLICITY, and they have to followed it with a “one-two-punch”, IMMEDIATELY!

Going back to the thread above just to expand on “Lawrence of Arabia”; if you take a Producer like the and flamboyant Producer that was “Sam Spiegel” a man who found the money and partner up with Columbia Pictures on the “Seven Pillars of Wisdom” (the Basis for the Script), a Writer like “Robert Bold” that took a year to re-write the Script, always consulting with the Distinguished Director “David Lean”, and the Distinguished Director of Photography “Freddie A Young”. You can see a village forming-up (“It takes a Village”)! These are the people from the “Pre-Pre-Production”, getting’s their hands around the Script, and way before the first frame of film runs through the “Super Panavision 70” Cameras! Eventually there would be a “Small Army of Film Professionals” to join the team.

It’s a lot of work, which goes into a Film like “Lawrence of Arabia”, and they are LONG WAY from the Academy Awards, and winning even less, I don’t think the thought ever ran through their minds. Nominate in their categories’ which were; Best Picture (Producer), “Sam Spiegel”; Best Director, “David Lean”; Best Art Direction, “John Box, John Stoll and Dario Simoni”; Best Cinematography, “Frederick A. Young”; Best Substantially Original Score, “Maurice Jarre”; Best Film Editing, “Ann V. Coates”; and Best Sound, “John Cox” THEY ALL WON AN OSCAR THAT YEAR. Also nominate BUT they did not win, were; Best Actor, “Peter O'Toole”; Best Supporting Actor, “Omar Sharif”; and Best Adapted Screenplay, “Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson”, they just went home with a nomination to the Academy Awards. There are so many variables in “Lawrence of Arabia” the scope, and so many changes that occur along the way, it’s a MIRACLE that the “Picture”, came out AS WELL AS IT DID, but it “did-come-out” and it will live forever, as a “Cinematic Art Form”!

There is a lot riding on getting the Coveted Oscar, will see who will be the winner this year, whoever “it-is” their Box-Office Receipts will be that much the better for it.

Humberto Rivera

 

[Humberto Rivera]

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS)

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS)

Tomorrow Sunday Night; be sure to watch the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) give the “Coveted Oscars” to one of the nominated people in each category; on the ABC Television Network OR wherever in the World you watch the show on; Sunday night March Second 2014 (depending were you are on the Planet Earth); it should be an interesting show! Why? Well as we all know the actual “Winners Spend” a SHORT SMALL SPECIFIED amount on time “GIVING-THEIR-ACCEPTANCE-SPEECH” (very SHORT amount), and the REST of the time is spend on “The Shows’ Opening Dialogue”, jokes, introductions by some of the presenters (sometimes very dumb), Television Commercials, Songs, and other things! Among them; the Pre-Production Show the very famous “Red Carpet Shows”, and the “Post-Productions Parties”. The endless silly questions for those who WANT to walk the Red Carpet, what are they wearing (the designer), the jewelry (who made it), where did it come from, and endless questions on TRIVIAL matters!

You really need lots of STAMINA to go to the Oscars, you have to prepare at home (or the hotel), which includes make-up, wardrobe (provided by the designers for free to wear their gown or tuxedo that night), and other things that’s before you get the compulsory limousine “to-go” to the theater.

Once at the theater, you will answer an innumerable amount of “silly-questions” before you get to the door of the famous “Grauman's Chinese Theatre” (or whatever is called, I think Dolby). Once INSIDE you only have a 20% chance of winning? Then comes the “acceptance speech”, that’s probably THE SHORTEST PART of the “Show” and if you “go-on” too long, they boot you “off-stage” with their FAMOUS MUSIC, how embarrassing there have been some notable examples as they play “OK let’s get moving”, they HAVE TO GO to a COMMERCIAL (got to maximized profits), “belief-it-or-not”! If you’re in the 80%, there is no acceptance speech, you simply sit there quietly thinking about “what could have-been”, “but it-was-not”!

Then off to the Parties which go on till the “wee” hours of the “Monday Morning”, it seem like everyone has a party somewhere (especially for the winners), then home to sleep, exhausted, and probably you need the whole next-day to recuperate! And then “it’s-over”, till next year with a NEW CROWD and but some old one too.

But what is the most interesting thing IS; how quickly the “Distributors” for the winners are to release the “Oscar” on their advertisements; THE FOLLOWING DAY, now that speed, on a “World Wide” basis! Remember only 20% of the people win, the other 80% do not win! The voting pool is about 6,000 people (I remember reading that somewhere), more or less. I guess it’s time to “suck-it-up” and go on the stage “World Wide”, from the Preproduction, to Production to the Parties way Afterwards! Ellen Degeneres, good luck, “your-on”, from the start!

Here a rundown of the Parties; “2014 OSCARS PARTY ROUNDUP” By THE DEADLINE TEAM Wednesday February 26, 2014 @ 6:20pm PST” http://www.deadline.com/2014/02/2014-oscars-party-list-academy-awards/#more-689985 and here are some places around the World where you can also watch the “Oscars”; ”Oscars: Where To Watch Around The World” 4:05 AM PST 2/28/2014 by THR Staff http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/oscars-watch-around-world-684337 this is truly an international event!

The Academy, It’s actually a well oiled machine, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), THE OSCARS, it's all program to be a “GREAT SHOW” and shine the SPOTLIGHT on Hollywood, which need to maintain it preeminence in the “Theatrical Motion Picture Business”. All of it; the Stars getting ready before jumping on the limo, the “Show Itself”, various incarnations of LIVE from “The Red Carpet Show”, the “Host Ellen Degeneres”, the awards, the after event parties, the little-gift bags that are worth over $50,000, the “whole-shebang”, the various PARTICIPATION PARTIES know their places, and they ARE SURE NOT TO CROSS THE LINE, the fans yelling for their favorite stars from the stands, there is really nothing like it, and here it is to be broadcast onto the “Planet Earth”, that’s the power of show business, and it takes “show business” to sell-it, and keep-it in Hollywood!

Here is an interesting article from The Hollywood Reporter this Thursday (all the stories are tragic); “OSCARS: THE SAD STORIES OF 9 ACTING NOMINEES WHO COMMITTED SUICIDE”. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/oscars-sad-stories-9-acting-682163 TO QUOTE FROM THE “HOLLYWOOD REPORTER” ARTICLE; “The 86th Academy Awards ceremony will take place in Hollywood on Sunday night, and it will be a -- if not the -- high point in the lives of many of the acting nominees, just as Oscar night has been for the last 85 years. Many of these 20 individuals will go on to even greater fame and fortune, but, inevitably, some will go on to experience hardships, disappointments and perhaps even a return to anonymity that will make them pine for that one night on which they stood firmly in the spotlight, with a sense of love and appreciation from their colleagues and indeed much of the world.” THR

This year, the Oscar for Best Cinematography will go to someone that shot the Picture with an “Arri Digital Camera”, TOO BAD, they will eventually pay for their decision in the future for the lack of resolution, they should have used a “Red Epic Dragon Camera”, “oh-well” there is next year.

Don’t get me wrong, I WATCH THE “Academy Awards Show”; just like anybody else, it’s once a year, and as far as shows go; IT’S NOT TOO BAD. So the Oscar goes too; blank, blank! So off to Eighty Six Academy Awards in search of an Oscar! If-it-is of any comfort, the 80% that did not received an Oscar or the ones not nominated; THEY ARE IN VERY GOOD COMPANY and that will always be the case, but on the other hand is not too bad winning either. Here are some of the people and films ignored by the Academy this year; http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/gallery/2014-oscar-snubs-tom-hanks-671492 “2014 Oscar Snubs: Tom Hanks, Oprah Winfrey, 'Saving Mr. Banks' and More.”

Let’s hope the “weather-plays-along” and that we have a dry (weather-wise) Academy Awards! http://www.deadline.com/2014/02/oscars-2014-rain-red-carpet-plan/ “Oscars Rainout? Organizers Say No Way” By DOMINIC PATTEN - Friday February 28, 2014 @ 8:15pm PST

Humberto Rivera

 

[Humberto Rivera]

Well is the day after the Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) gave the “Coveted Oscars” to the winners! I must confess I did not stay “all-the-way-up”, (were in the same time zone a US Central Time) so it’s not that far from PST, but anyhow I felt sleep somewhere around zzzzzzz! The “Host Ellen Degeneres” did a good job managing the whole affair, and as far as I saw everything “went-well”, “with-it”; of course the SHORT TIME GIVEN TO ACCEPTANCE SPEECHES, but we know that (how-sad)! But it’s a giant “World Wide Commercial” for the “Motion Picture Business”; everyone has a “Dog-in-this Fight” (except for the winners)! I did turn-on the TV early in the morning to get some of the Parties Coverage, but that lasted about five minutes.

Here in Costa Rica, Saturday and Sunday’s VIVA which is a DAILY INSERT in the middle of “New Paper” had “Ellen Degeneres” on Saturday and Some Kind of “Oscar” thing on its cover on Sunday. Inside it was pretty much all Oscar coverage, so the 360,000 some people who are well-healed in Costa Rica “where-well-ware”, at least who those who read “La Nacion”! I imagine that’s pretty much the case around on a “World Wide” basis, a lot of work went into that effort, it took a whole lot of preparation (I’m sure for months), my hats goes off to them, whoever they are, and whatever they did-on a World Wide basis. “You-do-not-buy” that kind of Publicity! This Morning, Monday, March 3, 2014, what do we fiend on the cover of “VIVA, Oscar 2014”, and the “Wide Angle Picture” that “Ellen Degeneres” took with her Cellular Phone of the gathering at the foot of the Theater! Just spontaneously!

In case you “did-not-know”, the winners were; 86TH ANNUAL ACADEMY AWARDS WINNERS; PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE Jared Leto in “Dallas Buyers Club” (Focus Features); ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN “The Great Gatsby” (Warner Bros.) Catherine Martin; ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING “Dallas Buyers Club” (Focus Features) Adruitha Lee and Robin Mathews; BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM “Mr. Hublot”; BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR “Frozen” (Walt Disney) Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee and Peter Del Vecho; ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS “Gravity” (Warner Bros.) Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk and Neil Corbould; BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM “Helium” An M & M Production Anders Walter and Kim Magnusson; BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT “The Lady In Number 6: Music Saved My Life” A Reed Entertainment Production Malcolm Clarke and Nicholas Reed; BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE “20 Feet From Stardom” (RADiUS-TWC) A Gil Friesen Productions and Tremolo Production Morgan Neville, Gil Friesen and Caitrin Rogers; BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR “The Great Beauty” (Janus Films) – Italy An Indigo Film Production; ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING “Gravity” (Warner Bros.) Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead and Chris Munro; PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE Lupita Nyong’o in “12 Years A Slave” (Fox Searchlight); ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY “Gravity” (Warner Bros.) Emmanuel Lubezki; ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM EDITING “Gravity” (Warner Bros.) Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger; ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION DESIGN “The Great Gatsby” (Warner Bros.) Production Design: Catherine Martin; Costume Design: Beverley Dunn; ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SCORE) “Gravity” (Warner Bros.) Steven Price; ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SONG) “Let It Go” from “Frozen” (Walt Disney) Music and Lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez; ADAPTED SCREENPLAY “12 Years A Slave” (Fox Searchlight) Screenplay by John Ridley; ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY “Her” (Warner Bros.) Written by Spike Jonze; ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING “Gravity” (Warner Bros.) Alfonso Cuarón PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE Cate Blanchett in “Blue Jasmine” (Sony Pictures Classics); PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE Matthew McConaughey in “Dallas Buyers Club” (Focus Features); BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR “12 Years a Slave” (Fox Searchlight) A River Road, Plan B, New Regency Production Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen and Anthony Katagas, Producers

Till next year’s “Awards Season”!

Humberto Rivera

 

[Humberto Rivera]

Here is the Picture;

 

[Humberto Rivera]

Well, there was one more SURPRISE for me today; Another Academy Award FRONT PAGE from the “VIVA” insert to “La Nacion” “Alfonso Curaron” won for his work for in “Gravity”! It was well deserved! Congratulations! The Mexican Filmmaker won for a work that was well; a work of Art! All of the Latin Americans Courtiers, Mexico, Central America, South America, Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and the mother country “Spain” are all united by common denominator; Its Language!

If you look at a map, you will see the area is fairly large, diversity like you would find in any a country, but spread across the Ocean, pretty much like the Five Countries that speak English.

So I say to “Alfonso Curaron” congratulations again!

Humberto Rivera

 

[Humberto Rivera]

I was watching the 2003 HBO Produce Film, “And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself” (that’s the name of the film) it’s a variation on the “Making-of-a-Film” (1914 more or less) about Filmmaking during the Mexican Revolution starring Antonio Banderas as Pancho Villa, the Film was set in the “Silent-Days” when the “Film Industry” was in “Infancy”, the center of the “filmmaking-world” was in “New Jersey” (hard to belief if-true). I have at home “Ten Channels of HBO” among other channels, I remember when filing ONE “HBO Channel” was a big deal, now they have to fill “Ten Channels”, so they have to put on “Rock ‘n Roll” concerts, Documentaries, and of course re-runs of many of their HBO Film. I kind OFF GOT OFF THE SUBJECT, which is; HOW FAR WE HAVE ADVANCE IN CAMERA MANUFACTURING TECHNIQUES. We no longer need “Two Railroad Cars” to shoot a “Multi Camera Shoot” in jerky B&W.

HERE IS A COMMENT FROM WIKIPEDIA.COM; “The film concerns the filming of THE LIFE OF GENERAL VILLA (which was shot in 1914) and is seen through the eyes of Frank N. Thayer, a studio boss's nephew who gets a career boost when he is placed in charge of the project. THE RESULTING FILM BECAME THE FIRST FEATURE LENGTH MOVIE, introducing scores of Americans to the true horrors of war that they had never personally seen. Thayer sold the studios on making the film despite their concerns that no one would sit through a movie longer than 1 hour, by convincing them that they could raise the price of movies to TEN CENTS, doubling the going price at that time. The actual contract that Pancho Villa signed with Frank N. Thayer and the Mutual Film Company on JANUARY 5, 1914 to film the Battle of Ojinaga still exists and is in a museum in Mexico City. The original film has been lost, but some unedited film reels of the battle, showing Pancho Villa and his army fighting Federal forces, as well as photographs and publicity stills taken from the original film still exist.” Wikipedia.com http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_Starring_Pancho_Villa_as_Himself

The camera itself that we had at that time was basically; a wooden box with a hand crank and the place where the film rolled around behind the lens on some sort of mechanism, AND THE TALENT WAS ON HOW CONSISTENT THE CAMERA OPERATOR RAN THE FILM THROUGH THE CAMERA, with his steady cranking in “BROAD-DAYLIGHT” (no night shooting).

Now we have the “Red Epic Dragon Sensor Camera”, we have come a long way since then, and have passed through many stages of Camera Development, to get to the “Red Epic Dragon Sensor Camera”, many of you-all might have worked with different kinds of “Cameras” over the years, depending on your age, or you might have seen them in Pictures like “Singin' in the Rain”! That’s one of my favorite’s films about filmmaking. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singin'_in_the_Rain

There was a companion to the Film Camera “OF-THE-DAY”, the “STILL-PHOTO-CAMERA”, which was help by a “GUNPOWDER-FLASH” to give the single digit ISO some needed help. Now we have the “Red Epic Dragon Sensor Camera” that was given a “Rating 101” by the “Still-Camera Standard”, the DxOMark Sensor score champion! Another barrier has been broken! http://www.dpreview.com/news/2014/0...urce=news-list&utm_medium=text&ref=title_0_17

Just an observation, but it appears that we have finally synchronized into a single standard for both “Motion Pictures and Commercial Photography”, and with the “up-coming” A.D.D (Advanced Dragon DEBAYER), I think we’re there for most “Commercial-Photo-Shoots” (with just a few exceptions), and definitely THERE with the “Motion Picture Camera” with RED and its R3D Files (instead of film frames). There is no Competition anymore; “all-the-other” cameras have been “left-in-the-dust”! Let’s not forget the NEW OLPF (Optical Low Pass Filter) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-aliasing_filter and what it will bring once it’s finished! “Big things to come...” Sean, Red Bomb Squad!

Humberto Rivera

 

[Humberto Rivera]

What is Film, Cinema, Movies, Motion Picture, or a Picture!

What is Film, Cinema, Movies, Motion Picture, or a Picture!

What is a “Film”? How about “Cinema”? What about a “Movie”? Or do you like what the “Old Timers” use to like to call them, a “Motion Picture” or a “Picture”? David Fincher called it; “The Moment of Crystallization” when it “all-becomes” a “solid-released-Film” (some can be re-called and worked on again like “Star Wars”) a work of Art (depending on how you see-it) that will live on forever, at least in the archives of time (if-it all goes according to plan)?

Let’s start with that “First Idea”, when someone gets the idea of doing a Film, it can be ANYONE, Studio Executive, an Agent trying to sell a client’s idea, it can be the Screenwriter trying to get a Director or Producer interested, it can be ANYTHING or ANYONE! It can be an “Outline” or a complete “Script”, or to adapt a “Well Known Book” or not so well known, it can be anything. It’s a delicate period because everyone has something to-contribute (to-say) about the characters, the casting, the story idea, or anything that YOU CAN POSSIBLY IMAGINE; this is where the strongest persons “TAKES-OVER” (maybe-for-a-while). Then there is the endless Deal Memos, and Contracts that follow among all the parties that have NOT “shot-a-single-frame-of-footage”, it’s all just TALK a lot of TALK at this point.

Then someone among the group for WHATEVER THEIR MOTIVATIONS say; OK, “let’s-do-it”! Usually someone “close-to” or the Money “it-self”! “No-film-shot-yet”; there will be changes occurring to the “Script” during this talking period. But at least there is an OK to “take-it-to” “Development”! Usually a Producer and Director are chosen, and they begin working with the Screenwriter or his SUBSTITUTE (another writer), then comes the various color pages, till we get to a “Shooting Script” (that’s what is called, BUT NOT REALLY) the Director will make changes “on-the-spot” as shooting progresses. Good accident in the “interpretation-of-a-scene” will occur (another change), there might be more than one way to shoot a scene, that might call for-it to-be-shoot several different ways, the visual effects people might make a suggestion, it really a “crap-shoot” at these point (for better or worst). Some Directors when asked “point-to-their-head” to tell how it all looks, “it’s all in my head” they replay! At this point when they have decided on a Director of Photography, there might be a “camera test done”, or you might have to shoot some footage for a “screen test”, probably not on the actual camera that will be use for filming.

Nothing will move without the MONEY, you need to get your finances in order, you need to know how much MONEY you need (you’ll probably almost be wrong), and it’s an absolutely essential part for your MOVIE. Let go back just a little, there are the numbers of people that need to be contracted by the Producer or the Production Manager or the Copywriter Holder or the Attorneys for the owner of the MONEY, or a combination of all of them, people like the Actors, The Director, the Director of Photography and his crew, the Special Effects people, the Wardrobe Designers, the Production Designers, the Composer; well the list goes on, and on, just take a look at the credits of any modern film to see how extensive this Endeavour is.

Most people would like “to-get-paid-up-front”. NOW all these people get some input into the “Screenplay” through their various ways! The Production Begins, the Director is-in-charge” at this point, and I say at this point is because once the Photography is completed, they “likely-might-have” some else take over the Production, HERE AND EVERYWHERE it depends on the strength of the person at the moment, till we get to that point, where we get to “The Moment of Crystallization”!

Multiply that by all the countries of the “World” and you get a tremendous “out-put”, you might not see them all, but they are there, having “Ten Channels” of HBO you get to see many Film that I would have never seen save for HBO, all in their original languages, sometimes I don’t understand a word, but look at the “Film or Television Serial” for their visual content. Being a Bi-lingual American Citizen living in Costa Rica for the last 14 years, born in Puerto Rico, and raise in California, and lived in all parts of the World for extended periods of time over my lifetime, I have a tendency to adapt to anything, and I mean anything; “When in Rome “do-as-the” Romans do”!

In Costa Rica itself there have been more than a Dozen “Feature Length Movies” “made-here”, and countless shorts. Filmmaking is truly an “International-Language” it’s a visual language, it’s a “Product-to-be-Consumed”, and a work of “Art to-be-Created”. I remember back in the “Filmmaking Days” (film) when traveling through the World visiting places I would find an obscure place (or-not-so-obscure) where they had copies of the “American Cinematographer” laying around, ‘Old Yellow Box’ (Kodak film) was King and it was always around, and the same equipment I was using “was-used-by-all”, we had a common language between us, we could go out and get a beer and just talk about Filmmaking.

I suspect the same thing is true now with “Digital Cinema” relegated to the “Red Epic Dragon Sensor Camera” and the “Alexa Camera”. I would suspect the discussion is pretty much something like we NOW get on “RedUser.net”, except there was no “Internet Back Then” and “no-beer” NOW either (unless it’s “Digital Beer”, but they have not invited that yet). The world has change into a “Digital World” right before our eyes, and it continues to change at an exponential pace!

But the “Story”, the “Locations”, the “Styles”, and the “Audience” seem to have remained somewhat the same, they just became more SOPHISTICATED! It’s that there is just that there is “More-of-it” now, from when they shot with the “wooden box with a hand crank on its side” to the “Digital Cinema” of today, in both Production, and Distribution!

Humberto Rivera

 

[Elsie N]

What is a “Film”? How about “Cinema”? What about a “Movie”? Or do you like what the “Old Timers” use to like to call them, a “Motion Picture” or a “Picture”? David Fincher called it; “The Moment of Crystallization” when it “all-becomes” a “solid-released-Film” (some can be re-called and worked on again like “Star Wars”) a work of Art (depending on how you see-it) that will live on forever, at least in the archives of time (if-it all goes according to plan)?

...
Humberto Rivera

I try to call it anything but a film, unless I'm talking to someone who has no idea of the distinction between the terms film and digital. I describe a movie (even documentaries) as an alternate, but believable, version of reality.

OBTW... Motion Picture sets comfortably with me. '-)

 

[Humberto Rivera]

Interesting point, Elsie, I think you can call WHATEVER YOU WANT! Where at a point where there are “Digital Metaphors” for everything that use to be “Brick and Mortar” have found (snuck) their way into our lives, like the Accounting Books, the Tax Forms are in transition from pdf Files to all kinds of Industries, like the “Magazine Industries” it could be “Digital or Paper”; it’s like they use say at the Supermarket “Paper or Plastic” and now is “Plastic or Nothing”, because they’ve sold us their “Store Bags” that we bring to the Store when we go shopping. Some books are available on “Digital Only” and others on “Paper and Digital” directly from Amazon.com, interesting, how the book industry is been slowly eaten up by Amazon.com, they are World Wide! When someone invents a good “Digital Beer” the first one is on me, meanwhile I'll stay with my Corona!

In the Movie, Motion Picture, Cinema, Film World we have all sorts of Mixtures, take “David Nolan”, he says he will only shoot Film, yet he mixes his films between 35 mm Motion Picture Film and OMNIMAX FILM, but then it’s all transfer to “Digital Cinema” for Post Production, and Distribution. In the vaults of Sony there are lots of Films (Motion Pictures, Cinema, and Movie) that have been transferred to 4K “Digital Cinema” and are ready to go when the time comes.

The next logical step is the “Epic Dragon Sensor Camera” that goes one up on the “Digital Transfer” from 35 mm Film, to a Computer Hard Drive. Depending on how you think, they’re the same or the “Digital Cinema” has the edge, but for Post-Production they will be exactly the same. We live in a World that we can call it whatever we want, the consumer will not know.

Humberto Rivera