Random Stuff
Iron Sky Opens Up the Filmmaking Process
Making a film is a collaborative process, but the team behind the upcoming movie Iron Sky is taking that notion to a whole new level by opening up the production process to, well, the world.
Based in Finland, Director Timo Vuorensola and his team made a name for themselves a few years ago with the release of the sci-fi parody Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning. It was made with the help of 3,000 people who pitched in to create the movie.
Now Vuorensola is heading up a more ambitious collaboration in Iron Sky. To organize his worldwide network of collaborators, he’s launched Wreck A Movie (the title comes from Star Wreck), where people can participate in the process, and eventually launch their own collaborative project. Following is a lightly-edited interview with Vuorensola conducted via email (there’s even a version in Finnish at the end of the article).
NewTeeVee: What is Iron Sky?
Timo Vuorensola: Iron Sky is a science fiction comedy, a pretty dark one I might say, about Nazis that fled to the Moon in 1945. Now it’s 2018, and they are coming back.
Apple Nabbing HBO Shows?
Apple will reportedly announce a deal to sell HBO shows next week, according to Portfolio. If true, the move would be a big win for the iTunes store and Apple TV and would finally make HBO content available online in a meaningful way.
Reportedly, the HBO deal would also be the first time Apple has agreed to flexible pricing for content. Whether this means Apple will charge consumers more than $1.99 per show or just absorb the higher cost it would pay to HBO is unknown. But flexible pricing is what drove NBC shows off iTunes last year.
Rossellini Gets Freaky in Green Porno
If you ever wondered how dragonflies mate, let Isabella Rossellini demonstrate in her online series Green Porno, which went live this week.
Each episode shows Rossellini dressed in a different lo-fi (yet elaborate) bug costume to show how they have sex. It’s not freaky because it’s about animals doin’ it, but because the straightforward, clinical manner in which Rossellini speaks, combined with her pronunciation, makes words like “vagina” and “penis” haunting. Especially since she’s dressed like a giant fly mounting another fly.
Vid-Biz: NBC, Logo, Second City
NBC Shows Available to iPhone Users; using the Wi-Fi connection lets you stream episodes in QuickTime directly from NBC’s site. (Silicon Alley Insider)
Logo Launches Largest Online Library of LGBT Video; site to offer more than 1,200 video clips featuring full episodes and snippets from shows like Big Gay Sketch Show and Curl Girls. (LOGOonline.com)
Second City Getting into Online Video; “The Second City’s Quarantine” will launch with 6 or 7 mini-shows, as well as work from the comedy troupe’s alums, including Steve Carrell and Tina Fey. (The Hollywood Reporter)
MTV Shows Off “Podbusting” Technique; network breaks up commercial pods to make ads indistinguishable from the show’s content. (The New York Times)
FCC Pulling Plug on Wilmington, N.C.; test city will switch off analog TV signal five months ahead of the national transition. (Broadcasting and Cable)
ABC Opening “Digital Bureaus” on College Campuses; journalism students will have a shot at getting their work on the network’s digital and broadcast platforms. (Variety)
Viral Video Gets Direct-to-Video Deal; the spoof 305 goes from the web to feature-length film to be released on DVD. (The Hollywood Reporter)
UPDATE: DVD-by-Mail Users Stuck in the Past
UPDATE: Well, go ahead and affix the dunce cap to my head. As many commenters pointed out, I misinterpreted the Netflix Top 100 list. I had contacted Netflix earlier in the week before writing the story to learn how the list was created and didn’t hear back until this morning that it is indeed a Top 100 of all-time list. My apologies, my mistake, and there is plenty of egg on my face as I retract this original post.
Movies-by-mail rental services like Netflix and Blockbuster seem to have ripped open a hole in the movie-watching time/space continuum. Subscribers are stuck somewhere between the years 2004 and 2006, unaware that movies like Juno and No Country for Old Men are out on DVD. How else to explain the dearth of anything remotely resembling a “new release” in their respective Top 100 lists?
The following chart compares “Top DVD Rentals” (supplied by Home Media Magazine) to the Netflix and Blockbuster top rentals. There isn’t a single film from 2007. In fact, on Netflix, the highest-ranked movie from 2007 is Knocked Up, at No. 33 (Ashton Kutcher’s The Guardian is more popular).
Yes, waiting on the Postal Service is a lousy way to rent movies on impulse. And the beauty of Netflix and Blockbuster online is that they can accommodate the mid and long tail of movies. But the three-year old Crash tops both lists? And there are people who still haven’t seen Mr. and Mrs. Smith? I suggest my fellow Netflix subscribers rent Back to the Future.
Four Sites for Animation Fans
Thanks to the web, cartoons aren’t just for Saturday mornings anymore — they’re for every morning, and afternoon and night, too. Independent animators are reaching wide audiences by putting their work online and there’s a ton of great cartoons to be found. Here are four places you can find some of the best.
aniBoom
We’ve covered the YouTube of animation site before, and they’ve just announced distribution partnerships with both online and mobile partners. The beauty of aniBoom is that anyone can upload their work, and while this makes it harder to sift through the bad to find the good, poke around and you’re sure to find some clever stuff.
Scientology, A YouTube Sponsor
In the pre-web days, Scientology had it easy — through lawsuits and copyright claims, it was able to keep some measure of control over its message and its portrayal in the media. But it’s no accident that with the Internet’s spread, more and more information about the group has become available, and little of it flattering. And the Church has struck back with force.
YouTube is only the latest front in this battle, with skirmishes stretching back at least a year, including the notable case of stressed BBC reporter vs. Scientology camera crews and of course the epic Tom Cruise recruitment tape/Anonymous battle. But while Scientology’s response rate to new communication methods is a little slow, they’ve finally stepped up their game with a shiny new custom sponsor account:
Time Warner to Release VOD and DVD on Same Day
In another bit of news from its earnings call today, Time Warner says it will release all of its DVD titles on VOD on a day-and-date basis this year. That means you’ll be able to order a movie like The Dark Knight via your cable operator on the same day it comes out on DVD, instead of waiting through the usual release window.
Time Warner conducted numerous tests of the program last year. CEO Jeff Bewkes said on the company’s conference call with analysts that DVD sell-through went up (a bit) during the trials, and that the margins from day-and-date VOD were between 60 and 70 percent, compared with 20 to 30 percent for the shiny discs. Bewkes said he expects that the move will “capture a disproportionate VOD share.”
While Time Warner is a big believer in VOD, as far as the cable biz in general — not so much. Bewkes also said during the call that the company plans to spin off its Time Warner Cable division.
Do Movies Matter on Pay TV?
Why do you subscribe to HBO or Showtime, is it for the movies or the original series? It’s a question that sprang to mind when Viacom, Paramount, Lionsgate and MGM announced they were creating a new pay TV network. There was a lot of hubbub over Showtime losing all of those theatrical films, but in a post-Sopranos, Weeds-filled era, do movies on pay TV networks even matter anymore?
To find out, I spoke with reps from both Showtime and HBO, and the answer I got was a mixed bag.
Perhaps it’s just putting on a brave face in light of its loss, but Showtime says that while movies are still important to the network, more people are signing up for the original series like The Tudors and Dexter. According to the Showtime spokesperson, 18 of the network’s top 20 shows in 2007 were originals.
Vid-Biz: Sonic Solutions, Comcast, TV Guide
Sonic Solutions Buys Simple Star; Sonic’s Roxio to incorporate platform that allows people to turn video clips into shows that are shareable to PCs, TVs and social networks. (VentureBeat)
Comcast iGuide Time Shifts Itself; glitch made guide listings off by two and a half hours for Bay Area channel NBC11, making programmed DVRs useless. (NBC11)
Macrovision Shareholders Approve TVGuide Buyout; the company reportedly will sell off the print and oldteevee assets, but retain the online portion. (paidContent)
Economic Slump Could be Boon for Movie Biz; families that can’t afford a vacation could turn to theaters for summertime fun. (The LA Times)
FCC Chair Under Fire; Kevin Martin may be called by Congress to defend his leadership. (The Washington Post)
Motorola and Widevine Sign Reseller Agreement; pact allows Motorola to sell, service and support Widevine’s DRM products. (release)
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