The decline of the web series

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James Rawson writes in The Guardian that the web series is dying.

After recapping the successes of 2013 he laments:

“This year has seen no exciting steps forward for the medium, no breakthrough talents that have taken the web by storm, and no moneyed producers are making serious investments in the previously hyped new format. Apart from a few established talents and series that have managed to sustain themselves with a hard-won fan base, everyone else seems to have packed their bags and gone home.”

The reason why? The rise of Pro Streamers:

“With the rising popularity of Netflix and Amazon Prime, the distinction between online viewing and television has disappeared. Three years ago, if you were filming a drama to be streamed online, it’s likely that your main competition was going to be a home video of a cat with a French voiceover. Now, it’s Kevin Spacey in House of Cards, or a rebooted Arrested Development. The idea that low production values or a slightly unpolished script will be forgiven because a show is online no longer holds any sway. Combine that with the fact that advertising revenue simply isn’t reliable enough to guarantee creators will break even on their series, never mind make a profit, and the format seems increasingly unattractive.”

My take: On one hand, I was going to say, “The thing about the Internet is that it’s a huge desert and it can take hard work to find content that truly speaks to you. Pro Streamers and other content curators are building sustaining oases in that desert and operating lively bazaars there. They’re building markets. As an indie filmmaker, it’s very difficult or almost impossible to create that network effort by yourself.” On the other hand, yes, it’s tough and the competition is fierce. But never before have we had so many tools at hand. Have faith, work hard and believe the cream always rises to the top. Confession: I’d heard vaguely of The Guild but didn’t seek it out and watch it until I found it on Netflix.

 

 

Amazon buys Twitch for $1 Billion

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Beating out Google and Youtube, Amazon has bought Twitch for $1 billion.

Reported by the New York Times:

“Twitch specializes in live videos of people playing games, including regular Joes blasting away in Call of Duty, a popular shooting game, and elite players who earn million-dollar payouts at professional game tournaments. Twitch viewers typically see the screen of a broadcaster, featuring the game being played, along with a video feed of the player’s face and a chat window so they can communicate with the player and others watching the action.”

From Twitch:

“Twitch is the world’s leading video platform and community for gamers with more than 60 million visitors per month. We want to connect gamers around the world by allowing them to broadcast, watch, and chat from everywhere they play.”

According to The Economist:

“In July Twitch attracted 55m viewers, who collectively watched 15 billion minutes of video. That was enough to make it the biggest consumer of bandwidth in America after Netflix, Google and Apple. The typical Twitch viewer spends almost two hours a day on the site, far more than on sites like Netflix or YouTube. That delights advertisers, as does Twitch’s audience: mostly young men with plenty of disposable income.”

My take: Not content only playing online video games, gamers also spend time watching better players play. That’s a lot of eyeballs not watching TV or movies. TIME even reports of a mid-stream robbery foiled by online fans!

Superheroes to hog big screen

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As summer draws to a close, major studios have announced upcoming release dates for their future superhero blockbusters.

For many, many summers to come.

The Hollywood Reporter reports that in 2016:

“In order to avoid a direct confrontation with Captain America 3, Zack Snyder’s Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice is moving up from May 6, 2016, to March 25, the beginning of Easter weekend.”

And:

“New dates announced by Warners are Aug. 8, 2016; June 23, 2017; Nov. 17, 2017; March 23, 2018; July 27, 2018; April 5, 2019; June 14, 2019; April 3, 2020; and June 19, 2020. The batch of films is likely to include multiple Justice League titles and a Wonder Woman spinoff.”

The Independent says:

“The first few films in that plan are a mix of sequels such as Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), and new titles including Ant-Man (also 2015). Those mapped out beyond 2017 are yet to be identified – but that hasn’t stopped Marvel and its rivals jockeying for future release dates.”

Even Wikipedia lists upcoming films.

My take: as exciting as these films might be, I’m disheartened that they’re laying claim to so much financing and so many theatre weeks. Do people really want to watch so much escapist fare?

Disney posits computer-aided editing

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Disney researchers are working on an editing algorithm that edits footage from multiple cameras into coherent narratives.

It maps the common attention point in space for all the cameras as a proxy for the common subject. It then applies editing rules such as the 180 degree rule, jump cut avoidance and cutting on action — things your editor does now.

Their video is convincing.

See their take on interactive synchronization as well.

My take: this would be fascinating to see applied to news or documentary footage. It might also be applied to down-and-dirty multi-camera narrative work. The editor of the future’s job might evolve into finessing these cuts, choosing appropriate cutaways and organizing the order of scenes.

OTT revenue to surpass Theatrical this year

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A new report from Strategy Analytics claims OTT (over-the-top) revenue will double to over $18 billion by 2019.

“North American OTT video spending continues to grow as we go through an era where individuals address their viewing needs through on-demand services across multiple connected devices. Overall, the OTT video market was up 47 per cent totaling $8.9 billion in 2013.”

Fierce Online Video provides more detail:

“Consumer use of subscription video-on-demand services, such as Netflix and Hulu, will be the biggest driver in ‘over-the-top’ video revenues growing 21% this year in North America reaching $10.7 billion.”

Elsewhere, they display nice charts illustrating the dominance of Netflix and Youtube in the SVOD (subscription video) and ad-supported streaming segments.

IMDB quotes Screen Daily to give this some perspective.

“North America revenue from OTT (over the top) content is catching up with theatrical grosses as a study said projected numbers for 2014 will reach $10.7bn – a little under the record $10.9bn set by theatrical distributors in 2013.”

My take: I’m not sure this is evidence that people are turning away from the collective experience and embracing private viewing. Perhaps there’s more interesting stuff on Netflix. Perhaps a night out at the movies is too expensive. Or, is it both?

Hyperlapse solves shaky time-lapse footage

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Fascinating news from Microsoft Research: we can fix your shaky GoPro time-lapse footage.

The technique is called Hyperlapse and they say an application is coming soon, perhaps in a few months.

Better yet, they show you how it’s done.

My take: thanks for sharing, Microsoft. I love that you’ve released the technical know-how as well. I predict a Google Street View-style multiple camera rig capturing overlapping footage to generate a rich ‘picture-scape’ combined with this software to create immersive, real-time, viewer-defined camera movement. Movies, meet video games.

Super 8 is about to make a comeback

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The consumer film format called Super 8 was dominant in the sixties, seventies and eighties until the upstart technology called ‘video’ challenged it in the nineties and vanquished it from the marketplace in the new millenium. HD video now rules. With the right lens use and lighting, we can shoot economical, cinematic images.

Nevertheless, are you nostalgic for the real film look? It’s too expensive to actually shoot on film, right? 35mm, even 16mm, is out of reach. But what about Super 8? Is it possible to shoot on Super 8 and transfer to video for post?

My memory of the look of Super 8 is slightly soft, jittery Kodak Kodachrome, with it’s very warm tone and super-saturated reds. I shot my first films on Super 8, physically splicing the shots together and projecting the original reversal stock which would jump slightly as the cuts chattered through the projector gate.

One of Super 8’s strengths was also one of its weaknesses. The cartridges were extremely user-friendly but their design meant that the film was held steady during exposure by a simple pressure plate. Jitter, therefore, was built into all Super 8 cameras.

Now, a Danish company called Logmar plans to re-engineer the Super 8 camera. Their idea is to pull the film out of the cartridge and pin register it during exposure. The footage is rock-steady.

What about Super 8 film and developing? North American rights, film and processing will be handled by Pro8mm of Burbank, California.

My take: at 5 grand, this will be an expensive camera. I love the modern technology Logmar is brining to a mid-century medium, like the digital monitor and SD sound recording. Neat that they can scale this up to 16mm and 35mm as well. And I love the discipline of film versus video. But film! I thought it was dead! That sample footage does look more like 16mm than the Super 8 I remember. Perhaps if they address the dust on the negative and the dirt in the gate by the frame lines….

‘Sharknado 2’ can control your lights

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Whether or not you appreciated the concept behind last year’s ‘Sharknado’ — sharks falling out of the sky — you should appreciate a cool technological tie-in tonight’s outing brings. (Syfy, Space 9 e, 6 p)

According to Mashable, ‘Sharknado 2: The Second One’ — now set in New York instead of LA — will be able to control your lights. Think flashing during lightning and drenching your room in red during the shark attacks.

That is, if you have Philips hue lights. Combining LED lights, the Internet and smart phone control gives you ‘personal wireless lighting.’

Plus, you need the Syfy Sync app on your smart device.

“The secret sauce of the whole experience is the Syfy Sync app, which typically brings the viewer second-screen information, such as actor profiles and trivia. Similar to Shazam, the app uses audio tagging to identify what the viewer is watching, delivering the right content at the right moment. But the Philips integration takes it to another level.”

My take: kinda cool. With 5.1 sound and responsive lighting, in the proper hands, this could make for very immersive experiences.

Don’t get lost on the Internet

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I love maps.

I love how they abstract the big picture into something tangible and packed with information.

Did you know there are maps of the Internet?

The internet is not a ‘cloud’ — it’s simply a series of networks that are interconnected. And one of the way internet traffic moves around are by cables under the oceans.

TeleGeography publishes an Interactive Submarine Cable Map and an Interactive Internet Exchange Map. Both are fascinating. So is their Global Internet Map.

What’s the connection with the new mediascape? If your project is digital and relies on the Internet for downloading or streaming, you might want to know where your server is located. If you know where your customers are, you might want to locate it closer to them. You want to be on the bigger pipes, if possible, to minimize the hops required to move your bits around.

My take: these maps help you understand traceroute, the somewhat geeky tool that lists the hops between your location and servers around the world.

Web-based Transmedia

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I came across ‘Loves of a Cyclops’ recently through No Film School.

The film is a quirky 25-minute narrative about vision by Nathan Punwar.

Just as interesting are the transmedia components Nathan and his collaborators have brought together at lovesofacyclops.com . United by subject, tone and execution the extra material can both tease or round out the main film, depending on whether you’ve seen it yet. There are photos, audio profiles, ‘science’ backgrounders, early movies, props, the soundtrack, a shop on VHX and outreach. There’s also a link to tumblr where you’re invited to contribute more material.

About transmedia, Nathan says at No Film School:

“It probably wouldn’t work to do this for every film, but for the right story it can draw strangers in, especially when your audience is online and not in a theater. It also gave us an opportunity to play with these odd characters in a first-­person way that the film doesn’t allow because it keeps pushing the story into new territory. That said, I think it’s most interesting when the extra content raises more questions than it provides answers. It only provokes more curiosity about the film. Because of the nature of making this film the way we did, it took nearly a year, so we had a lot of in­between time to kick these fun ideas around. The site isn’t just an expansion of the story. It’s a document of our lives for that year. Not everything contributes directly to the story, but it does come from our time spent telling it.”

My take: definitely worth exploring — a singular vision.