Archive for the 'future' Category

A change… Some thoughts

Published
by
Anthony Thompson
on August 12, 2008
in Movies and future
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First, I’ve decided to re-institute the daily Twitter digest.  So, every day, you can have my 140 character little thoughts as they flow from me five or six at a time.  If you don’t like it… too bad. :D

Second, yesterday, I helped Jerry shoot Dustin’s short that will be shown at the KIFF in September.  It was another one of those shoots where I didn’t feel very useful, but in actuality, I know that I was.  I mean, boom mics can’t hold themselves up and dip into frame.

I think I am a lot like Jerry, I really need to be in control of everything to really feel like I accomplished something.  Regardless, the shoot went off the whole day without any major hitches in its getalong.  We got all the major elements of the story even while making some slight changes here and there.  Our two main actresses were absosmurfly phenomenal.  They knocked their roles right out of the park and were extremely patient when many others were getting impatient after multiple takes, or if they were getting frustrated with us, it didn’t show.  Some things in the script were just not quite possible with the resources and time we had.  This time we had an actual DP where I was, once again, the 1st AD, a role, at which, I need to improve.  One thing I know I need to do is actually learn the names of those I’m working with.  Of course, there was a time very close to the shoot that I almost wasn’t able to make it, but I suppose that’s not really an excuse.

I don’t care what anyone says, Wikipedia is an awesome resource for a lot of things.

Hopefully the final project will be put up on Vimeo rather than YouTube.  I really like how well Vimeo treats the source material, like a peg that fits snugly into place.  Whereas YouTube smashes the video with a steel mallet until it comes out as a twisted, terrible facsimile of its former self.  Nope, not biased.

On a semi-related note, Kelsey, my sister-in-law, may very well have a future as a makeup artist for our future projects if we can get her.  What she did with some acryllic paint was awesome, I just wish it wasn’t water-soluble.  The cut mark she painted looked very real from where I was standing on Dustin’s sink.  You read that right.  It did wash/wipe off halfway through the first take, but that’s the paint’s, the water’s, and the towel’s fault, not her’s.

Btw, if you want a red color in a bath to stay, try not to have the drain open.

Well, I need to get to bed.  You have a good night and a good day.

My Passion. The Second Surge.

Published
by
Anthony Thompson
on June 5, 2008
in Media, Movies, Rambling, Technology and future
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Ok, so that title is a bit… suggestive.  Get over it.

Last night, I attended another meeting of the Independent Film Makers Coalition, aka IFC.  This is the organization that hosted the One Night Stand 10 Hour Film competition.  There was some drama the competition screening and last night seemed to be “talk shit about people behind their back” night.  I wasn’t impressed with the lack of professionalism of many of the IFC Board members.  The guy resigned, let it go.

Anyway, the big piece of awesome I got to hang out with last night was a RED One.  This is a 4K camera.  That means it has an active resolution of 4520 x 2540 pixels.  Compare that to the highest HD signal you can get on your TV at 1920 x 1080.  I think I just saw some of your eyes glaze over.  Here, look at this:

Screen resolution size comparison.

That 4k there?  That is where the RED One sits compared to 1080p.  Look how much bigger that image is, it is absolutely astounding!  I actually got to stand next to this machine and talk to the guy who owns TWO of them.  He is currently in the process of shooting a feature this is about to become the only two RED shoot in the Midwest.  That is just too cool.  He said that just the body runs $17,500 and when you get all the  lenses, power, and storage accessories, you are looking at a total setup camera of around $40,000.  Now, I understand that is a LOT of money, but look at it another way.  Other cameras that aren’t even capable of what the RED can do, run around $250,000.

Then, at NAB this year, RED introduced the RED Scarlet.  A 3k camera that will run around $3,000.  It will include a lot of stuff that will allow it to come out of the box ready.  The Scarlet doesn’t have as big of a sensor in it, but it does have a damn big one.

The RED One has a sensor in it the same size as a piece of Super 35mm film.  That means you get image characteristics that are extremely similar to film.  This is awesome because you get the same depth of field as you are used to with million dollar film cameras and the image quality is astounding.  The monitor that comes as an accessory for the RED One is a little 8″ LCD that outputs 720p.  At screen sizes that small you cannot tell the difference between 720p and the higher resolutions, so it gives you a damn fine example of what your footage looks like.

The guy, Steve Pruet (sp?), is such an amazing guy.  He is shooting and funding a feature out of his own pocket.  He has dropped over $250,000 on just equipment for the project and that includes two RED Ones.  He showed some of his footage last night and even on a standard definition DVD outputted to a crappy projector, the footage was absolutely gorgeous.  The amount of detail capable of a 4k image will just blow your mind.

Really, the thing that is grabbing me is that 3k Scarlet.  Once you are done getting all the accessories for it, you will be out around $7-8,000.  That is NOT at all bad.  That is a similar price to a Canon or Sony HD prosumer camera by itself and those aren’t capable of a 3k image.  The Scarlet will completely change independent film, I have no doubt of that.

I know that I threw a lot of jargon around and many of you are lost.  A 4k image is huge, but when you output your project, you are most likely going to output to a 2k master.  This means that you are throwing away a lot of pixels, but this also means that you can digitally, on a computer, zoom in and not loose and detail.  Taking a 4k image and mastering to 2k gives you so many options when it comes to editing, that you can do things on computer that wouldn’t be able to do in the field.  That is the real beauty of a large image camera like the RED, aside from the crystal clear image and the jaw-dropping depth of field.

Enough film geek for ya?

WL.TV Spoof!

Published
by
Anthony Thompson
on May 28, 2008
in Funny, Interesting, Media, Podcasts, Projects and future
. Comments

Sometime in mid-June, Gary Vaynerchuk of Winelibrary TV will announce a contest to spoof his show.  Apparently the prize for which will be sick (his words, not mine).  You may ask, if he going to annouce the competition, how do I know about it?  Well, he pseudo announced it today (05/28/08) on his show.  It was real quick, you have to keep an ear for it.

I know several of you out there, specifically those Lexy and I spend many of our weekends with, would find this kind of project fun.  So, if you guys want to help write, shoot, whatever this, give me a shout and we will get this done and produce the BEST WL.TV spoof on the net, ever.

Sony and Blu-Ray Sittin’ in a Tree

Published
by
Anthony Thompson
on May 15, 2008
in Media, Movies, Technology and future
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I’m not sure that title joke is actually appropriate seeing as Sony is the parent of Blu-Ray… meh.

So, Sony is sitting pretty with Blu-Ray being the one HD format to rule them all.  Until THIS! (dun-dun-dun)  Pretty much saying that Blu-Ray players aren’t moving and most consumers who didn’t get in during “the war”, still won’t get in on Blu-Ray.  Really, I’m not surprised.  Blu-Ray (BR) players are still up around $300.  DVD didn’t REALLY become popular until you could get a player for around $100.  I think those 35% with HDTVs are waiting for the prices to come down.  Sony or other BR manufacturers, however, don’t feel the need to bring those prices on players or media down because, dammit, they won and they are going to milk this tit as long as they can.

BR is a fantastic format, don’t get me wrong.  I love the crap out of it and my PS3 is a great DVD/BR player.  Though, the interesting thing is that the PS3 is adhering to more of the BR standards than the standalone players are, without being the best BR player available.  You are hard-pressed to find a BD player that supports BD 2.0 or BD Live.  Then when you do, you are looking to shell out $3-400 on it.  Not appetizing when you look at the actual movies running around $35 at BestBuy.  Though, admittedly, if you shop around, you can get new BR discs for close to the same price as new DVDs.

Sony is shooting itself in the foot and bleeding all over the consumer.  They are grossed out and kind of confused.  If the media becomes cheaper, more accessible to the consumer, I think Sony will start putting some gauze on that ugly bullet wound.  BR will eventually explode and replace DVD, but right now the consumer is confused, doesn’t really know the difference between BR and DVD, and is scared off by the high prices of all things BR.  HD specs are full of numbers and letters they never had to deal with before.  1080p through HDMI and all that.  Those of us who can follow and understand the jumble are okay and loving our BR players.

Once prices come down, if they come down, BR will start moving.  The first hurdle for the format is HDTVs.  The second, the format war, which is still scaring consumers for some reason.  The final is price.  Once all three of these are leaped, BR will become a giant and we will look at DVD the same we do VHS now.

Lets not talk about digital downloads.  Let’s suffice to say that the majority of consumers still want to hold a piece of plastic in their hands to show they bought something.  Also, the HD quality on downloads doesn’t come close to that on BR.  That may change, but I think the tangible product will keep winning for several years to come.

I’ve had my piece.  Now, you, Disqus.  Heh.  Reference to the new comment system I re-implemented.

I’ll Try Harder

Published
by
Anthony Thompson
on May 14, 2008
in Apple, Work and future
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A couple of weeks ago, I tweeted that I was planning on keeping up a commitment of one blog post per day.  I have already failed at this.  The past few days have been a bit hectic and honestly, I forgot to post.

On the good side, I was offered a job at the KCMO Apple Store as a Mac Specialist.  I filled out all of the paperwork today and should be recieving an email with details on training start June 6.  Very interesting it will be to juggle school and a job at Apple.  It may be rough and I may loose a lot of my weekends, but that is part of life right now.  Here’s to hoping the job rocks and I am good enough to move up inside of Apple.

The Future of Television

Published
by
Anthony Thompson
on May 8, 2008
in Computers, Media, Opinion, Technology, Television and future
. Comments

As some of you may know, I am a Broadcasting major at University of Central Missouri in mid-west Missouri.  That’s right, I’m in the mid-west of the Mid-West.  Well, you should also know that I am a geek.  I mean… look at that list of social networks.  What that geekiness really means is, I like the Internet.  I’ve always liked it, but when I started working for Niche Productions, Inc. in Jefferson City, MO, I fell in love with media.  I changed my life around, dropped Computer Engineering at UMR (now Missouri S&T), and moved to Warrensburg to start an undergrad degree in Broadcast Media. Then, I found out there were these things called podcasts.  I love them.  This got me thinking.  A lot of thinking.  Where is this podcasting thing going to go?

This is when I developed my theory of the future of television.  The Internet is becoming such an increasingly important part of our lives.  The content available on the ‘net is astounding.  There is a lot of it.  A LOT.  User generated content, the ability to produce your own series, is more and more available, thanks to sites like YouTube, Vimeo, Viddler, Revver, and the like.  A lot of that content is bad, but also, a lot is good.  Once we start moving to a more ‘net based viewer, I feel that the production values on a lot of shows will skyrocket along with their budgets.  Never before were we at such an opportunity for a Media Revolution.

The future of television?  I think it will have to change or die.  In the next ten years, the current model of television will be gone or at least severely crippled.  We are already seeing this in the structure of a season for many shows.  Viewable media will have changed into something we can’t exactly know, but I do know that it will involve the Internet and be at least somewhat interactive.  The ability to download and watch a show whenever you want.  Sounds a lot like a DVR, I know, but an Internet-based model will not restrict you to time slots.  The show will be sitting there, waiting for you to decide to watch it.

Some of you may be saying, “But I hate watching stuff on my computer monitor.”  I say back to you that you will be watching your content on a television.  Soon, there will be a blurring of monitor and television into the same entity.  You will sit down on your couch, check your email and watch a couple of your favorite shows.  Some of us do this already, but I will admit, the current system is… annoying.  The traditional keyboard/mouse system will have to change into something smaller, compact, capable of controlling several devices at once, and is easy to type and navigate on a computer interface.  Perhaps something like a haptic touch screen universal remote combined with the pointer capability of the Wii Remote.  Something you point at the screen to point and click, but also type on when necessary.

Regardless, the current broadcasting model will change.  I believe that instead of broadcasting shows, we will be receive Internet access.  Maybe not from the broadcasters, but wireless nonetheless.  Gone will be the days of tethered Internet.  Take your notebook or cellphone anywhere and access the web just as if you were at home.  Your computer attached to your TV will use that same wireless connection.  This way, the sets of eyes on your content isn’t restricted to the home, those eyes can be anywhere.  Able to reach anyone, anywhere, whenever they want.  Having access to all eyes all the time is a broadcaster’s dream.

Once we break down the current broadcasting model and broadcasters stop looking at the Internet as a rival, but rather a resource for distribution, we may see a Media Revolution that will take the bubble off Web 2.0 and move us past into waters unknown.

Are we mired in the current broadcast model forever, will there be a change, or will something completely different happen?