Format war... almost over?

A month or so ago Warner Bros announced it would release only Blu Ray discs. So no more Harry Potter, Superman, and Batman sequels, or Loony Tunes on HD DVD.

In the UK, Woolworth's has announced it will now only sell Blu Ray discs and players.

Wired weigh in with their POV here:
http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/01/hey-hd-dvd-its.html

After loosing against VHS and DVD, Sony final win a home video form at war.

Guardian's "Making a Video" guide online

The Guardian included a handy guide to "Making a Video" on Saturday. It's aimed squarely at the amatuer and beginner (no bad thing) but still contains a few useful tit-bits for the no-budget filmmaker. The whole thing is available online at the link above.

Probably the first thing any aspiring film maker should read is Peter Bradshaw's "How to make a Bloody Awful Video (it's easy)".

David Lynch on iPhone

BEWARE: this clip features Strong language! Viewer discretion advised



I sympathise in some ways, but also feel like saying "Hey Grandad! Get with the new groove!" -- or something.

I wouldn't want to watch Blue Velvet or Dune or The Elephant Man, or even Twin Peaks (the TV show) on an iPhone, or on Youtube, but feel that content should be designed specifically FOR these new media outlets. The problem comes when, basically EVERYTHING gets designed for viewing on iPhones, the way that most movies are currently designed to be watched on TV screens (which is, in fact where usually they'll find their biggest audience).

However some people are missing the point. Some are calling Lynch a cranky old man, someone who doesn't understand new media. Lynch does. He's a pioneer (as far as big name producer/directors go) of using the internet as a way of getting new material out there way before such an approach became de rigueur for the independent set.

It should be pointed out that the iPhone logo and music were added later (and is available for download in a format for viewing on your iPhone). It's made it look like Lynch is specifically having a go at Apple and the iPhone, though when this was recorded, there probably WAS no iPhone! It's probably that which has got the bloggers so excited.

CGI extravaganza on a budget!

This movie has been lighting up the blogosphere! I found it by way of Mike Curtis' excellent HD for Indies blog.



A crew of four recreate the D-Day attack Omaha beach for BBC's Timewatch programme. A cast of three, basic costumes and props, a researcher operating a Z1E camera, a roll of greenscreenmaterial and a single saloon car. Add to the mix some small explosions filmed in a back yard and a ton of photographic references.

Of course the degraded Saving Private Ryan look and the Youtube compression helps cover a multitude of sins, but this is designed for TV broadcast so has to meet the BBC's standards. Mike Curtis says "All desktop doable".

A second segment is here, and a production blog explaining some of the process is here.

Free music?

One big issue for no-budget film production is music. The usual habit is to simply pick your own favourite tracks and copyright be damned. It's ethically dubious, as well as illegal, and limits distribution and exhibition opportunities. It's also creatively rather lazy.

There are two options:o ne is the growing movement of Creative Commons. This is music (as well as software, video, literary works, photographs, etc) that is release with a licence similar in concept to the BSD or GNU licenses that open source software is released under. It offers a range of licensing options the work. For example you may be able to distribute the work as long as you credit the author, or as long as the work is not for profit. Be careful, because some licenses demand (just like open source software licenses) that if you use the work you are compelled to offer your work under a similar licence - i.e. you must make your work freely available for others to use and transform in their own work (as long as THEY in turn release that work under the same license. So there are restrictions and you should be very careful that the license is going to work for you. (for example you may make a film that gets picked up for distribution, under an exclusive license that is incompatible with creative commons, and you're back to square one)

Then there is public domain music. Laws differ from country to country. In the UK country it generally means music by a composer more than 70 years dead, and if its recorded, a recording more than 50 years old. However there are people releasing music directly into the public domain, such as on the site www.musopen.com. They have a growing archive of music where the copyrights on compositions have lapsed, but are new, and often good quality recordings, by volunteers who have voluntarily relinquished their rights to the music. It is therefore truly free music., You don't have to pay for it and you're not limited. The original performers have no say or control over how you use the music and how you profit from it, they're not entitled to any royalties or even a credit, (though they do ask for a credit out of courtesy, and you'd have to be a total wanker not to give it to them).

It seems to good to be true. There's no real downside, though one should point out that the quality of (the recordings and performances) varies, much of it is excellent but there's the odd cough or chair scraping in some of the live recordings. It's also limited to pre-Twentieth Century or early Twentieth century classical music.

Also, a small caveat in the US constitution mean that any work produced by an American government agency is also in the public domain. So for example your scathing documentary on the Bush administration's invasion of Iraq could be scored with a performance of an American Air Force band performing Gustav Holst's "Mars" from The Planet Suite!