Bedbugs in CBS NY's Offices
Apparently the CBS's New York offices have been infested with bed bugs. A day ago a reporter at deadline.com received a disturbing account of a "mass infestation of bedbugs" in CBS' New York offices. "Work has come to a screeching halt as employees are in panic mode," the person wrote. It turns out the situation is far less dramatic but still amusing: a couple of leased-out floors in satellite CBS offices in New York housing internal audit and CBS syndication sales executives have been affected by what a CBS representative described as "mild cases" of bedbug infestation. Professionals have been called in and the offices are being cleaned.Iphone Film Festival Call for Entries
Call for films and video for new Flaneur iPhone film festival
The Flaneur is running the first indie film festival held entirely on iphones. The selected films will be viewable as a downloadable Film Festival app from the Apple app store (subject to the usual acceptance by Apple). This is a proof-of-concept attempt to bring film and video to a whole new audience.
Call for films for The Flaneur iphone film festival
Submission deadline: July 31st 2010
More details: http://www.flaneur.me.uk/film-
Film makers and artists are invited to submit work for the first Flaneur iphone film festival. This will be held on iphones around the world.
To keep download time low our first festival is restricted to films and videos of around 3 minutes in length. This is not a hard and fast limit – if your film is only a bit longer then we will still consider it.
Please keep the MB size of your film as low as possible.
The Flaneur Film Festival exists to bring independent film and video to a wider audience. We are looking for films that entertain, amuse or educate. Or all three at once. It’s eclectic. If we like it, it’s in. There are no big sponsors and no corporate voting. This is a film festival for newcomers and old hands who would like to be part of this new film project.
We are not judging films on hi-def quality. This is not necessary for entry. In fact, to keep file size down we may have to reduce the MB size of any entries. So please send the smallest version you have.
Requirements:
Films and videos, live action and animation, fiction and documentary
3 mins length. Keep the MB as low as possible.
Video encoded in .m4v, .mov, .mp4 and .3gp
A brief one or two sentence description of the film.
Credits
Categories:
Open – any film, any subject
Mobile – shot on a phone or mobile device
Animation – animation of any sort
Prizes:
Kudos for winning the first Flaneur iphone Film Festival!
Entry fee is £5 or equivalent in local currency.
Email entries to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
The Flaneur iphone app - the indie art and culture paper - now an iphone app!http://www.flaneur.me.uk
New Pee Wee Herman Pic from Judd Apatow
After being arrested for allegedly masturbating in a public theatre, Paul Rubens, better known as Pee Wee Herman has moved on to bigger and better things. After falling off the entertainment map, Pee Wee Herman is back! Now he's heading to Broadway, making regular TV appearances, and staging a big screen comeback as the lovable Pee-wee Herman. After Judd Apatow saw him perform on stage in Los Angeles, he decided to develop a Pee Wee Herman adventure flick for Universal. Rubens is co-writing with Paul Rust. There is no director attached.Paranormal Activity 2 Trailer Deemed Too Scary. WTF?
Apology from "Battlefield Earth" Writer
This is an apology written by J.D. Shapiro, the writer of "Battlefield Earth", the recent winner of the Razzie award for worst movie of the decade. The movie was based on an L. Ron Hubbard book, and for those of you who don't know L. Ron, he is the founder of Scientology. This first appeared in the New York Post today.
By J.D. SHAPIRO
Let me start by apologizing to anyone who went to see Battlefield Earth.
It wasn't as I intended -- promise. No one sets out to make a train wreck. Actually, comparing it to a train wreck isn't really fair to train wrecks, because people actually want to watch those.
It started, as so many of my choices do, with my Willy Wonker.
It was 1994, and I had read an article in Premiere magazine saying that the Celebrity Center, the Scientology epicenter in Los Angeles, was a great place to meet women.
Willy convinced me to go check it out. Touring the building, I didn't find any eligible women at first, but I did meet Karen Hollander, president of the center, who said she was a fan of Robin Hood: Men in Tights. We ended up talking for over two hours. She told me why Scientology is so great. I told her that, when it comes to organized religion, anything a person does to reward, threaten and try to control people by using an unknown like the afterlife is dangerous.
Nonetheless, Karen called me a few days later asking if I'd be interested in turning any of L. Ron Hubbard's books into movies. Eventually, I had dinner with John Travolta, his wife Kelly Preston, Karen -- about 10 Scientologists in all. John asked me, "So, J.D., what brought you to Scientology?"
I told him. John smiled and replied, "We have tech that can help you handle that." I don't know if he meant they had technology that would help me get laid or technology that would stop Willy from doing the majority of my thinking.
I researched Scientology before signing on to the movie, to make sure I wasn't making anything that would indoctrinate people. I took a few courses, including the Purification Rundown, or Purif. You go to CC every day, take vitamins and go in and out of a sauna so toxins are released from your body. You're supposed to reach an "End Point." I never did, but I was bored so I told them I had a vision of L. Ron. They said, "What did he say?" "Pull my finger," was my response. They said I was done.
During my Scientology research, I met an employee who I instantly had a crush on. She was kind of a priestess, and had dedicated her life to working for the church by becoming a Sea Org member. She said that she signed a billion-year contract. I said, "What! Really?" She said she got paid a small stipend of $50 a week, to which I said, "Can you get an advance on the billion years, like say, a mere $500,000?" And then she said as a Sea Org member, you can't have sex unless you're married. I asked her if she was married. She said yes. So I said, "Great! That means we can have sex!"
As far as I know, I am the only non-Scientologist to ever be on their cruise ship, the Freewind. I was a bit of an oddity, walking around in a robe, sandals, smoking Cuban cigars and drinking fine scotch (Scientologists are not allowed to drink while taking courses). I also got one of the best massages ever. My friends asked if I got a "happy ending." I said, "Yes, I got off the ship."
But if you're reading this to get the dirt on Scientology, sorry, no one ever tried to force me to do anything.
Even after all the "trouble" I'd gotten into, people at the church liked me, so I read Battlefield Earth and agreed to come up with a pitch to take to studios.
I met with Mike Marcus, the president of MGM, and pitched him my take. He loved it, and the next day negotiations went under way. A few days after I finished the script, a very excited Travolta called, told me he "loved it," and wanted to have dinner. At dinner, John said again how much he loved the script and called it "The Schindler's List of sci-fi."
My script was very, VERY different than what ended up on the screen. My screenplay was darker, grittier and had a very compelling story with rich characters. What my screenplay didn't have was slow motion at every turn, Dutch tilts, campy dialogue, aliens in KISS boots, and everyone wearing Bob Marley wigs.
Shortly after that, John officially attached himself to the project. Then several A-list directors expressed interest in making the movie, MGM had a budget of $100 million, and life was grrrrreat! I got studio notes that were typical studio notes. Nothing too crazy. I incorporated the notes I felt worked, blew off the bad ones and did a polish. I sent it to the studio, thinking the next I'd hear is what director is attached.
Then I got another batch of notes. I thought it was a joke. They changed the entire tone. I knew these notes would kill the movie. The notes wanted me to lose key scenes, add ridiculous scenes, take out some of the key characters. I asked Mike where they came from. He said, "From us." But when I pressed him, he said, "From John's camp, but we agree with them."
I refused to incorporate the notes into the script and was fired.
I have no idea why they wanted to go in this new direction, but here's what I heard from someone in John's camp: Out of all the books L. Ron wrote, this was the one the church founder wanted most to become a movie. He wrote extensive notes on how the movie should be made.
Many people called it a Scientology movie. It wasn't when I wrote it, and I don't feel it was in the final product. Yes, writers put their beliefs into a story. Sometimes it's subtle (I guess L. Ron had something against the color purple, I have no idea why), sometimes not so subtle (L. Ron hated psychiatry and psychologists, thus the reason, and I'm just guessing here, that the bad aliens were called "Psychlos").
The only time I saw the movie was at the premiere, which was one too many times.
Once it was decided that I would share a writing credit, I wanted to use my pseudonym, Sir Nick Knack. I was told I couldn't do that, because if a writer gets paid over a certain amount of money, they can't. I could have taken my name completely off the movie, but my agent and attorney talked me out of it. There was a lot of money at stake.
Now, looking back at the movie with fresh eyes, I can't help but be strangely proud of it. Because out of all the sucky movies, mine is the suckiest.
In the end, did Scientology get me laid? What do you think? No way do you get any action by boldly going up to a woman and proclaiming, "I wrote Battlefield Earth!" If anything, I'm trying to figure out a way to bottle it and use it as birth control. I'll make a mint!
Disney Shareholders Meeting
Finished my Script, Now What?
Ever have that lost feeling of what to do with your script when its finished, or what the best way to get it out to the market is? Well Icame across this piece in a writing group that I'm and think it mighthelp. Again, this is from guest author Brooks Elms of www.abetterfilm.com, online film school and mentorship.
This includes personal messages to anybody in your address book who might know producers or agents looking for your type of material. And it means spreading the word in every other social media outlet you have: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google's buzz, your blog, etc...
#2A -- Cold Queries.
Find comparable stories & TV shows in the last 5 years. Research the key creatives and agents behind those projects (IMDb Pro). Send them direct e-mails that praise their comparable film and say you think YOUR SCRIPT may be a great follow-up project for them. You can also do the same thing for the people behind your favorite work (writers, directors, producers) who might also happen to like this project - the key is establishing rapport with people you genuinelyadmire and/or who are a great genre match. And for the handful ofpeople you MOST want to work for, seriously consider sending them the query by snail mail and including a $3 gift card from Starbucks - and then follow-up by e-mail.
#2B -- Ice Cold Queries.
Send out a generic query letter to every Tom, Dick and Harry with an e-mail address in the film biz. Make sure you include your WGA registration # on your script. There are lots of ways to get film biz directories, just do a search for the cheapest current offer. I even got a good one from a script contest I entered.
#3 -- Script networking sites like InkTip.com and others.
For a fee, around $10 per month, they'll post your logline and key words and make your script available for anybody who's searching their database.
#4 -- Script Contests.
Placing well in some of these contests may get you a couple decent meetings, and certainly will give you more sparkle to your query letters. Just do a bit of research first to make sure the contest fits for your script genre, and that it sounds impressiveenough to put in a query letter, if you place well.
Basically, it's a numbers game. And the more times you roll the dice the better your chances to find a match. It can be a long tedious slogso as the months and years roll by, be sure to create ways to amuse yourself, and measure your success by internal, concrete standardswithin your control.
And most of all, try to not take it personally. Your work may be as good if not better than many movies that have been produced. And yet you still may never find a match.
And when you do find a match: don't take that personally either! Enjoy it, capitalize on it, but keep measuring your success by your personal standards that you completely control, or else you'll get thrown off track when the market turns against you again.
The marketplace is beyond flooded. BUT, it's equally flooded for everybody, and the worst failure of all is scaring yourself into not rolling the dice as often as you should.
Stop Motion Collection - Really Cool
Black Mold - Metal Spiderwebs
A warped and mutated blend of the futuristic and the organic embodies Black Mold – the electronic alter-ego of songwriter Chad VanGaalen. This psychedelic stop motion video (with some resemblance to Kristofer Ström’s Hitchhiker’s Choice) was animated by VanGaalen and released in 2009 on Flemish Eye.Bomb The Bass - Butterfingers
Innovative in it’s complex simplicity - this is a puppet video manifesting a special kind of sequencer playing the tunes like a player piano. The video was created by Lung at Perish Factory in London. The track is taken from Bomb The Bass’s album Future Chaos released in 2008 on !K7.Minilogue - Hitchhiker’s Choice
Stop motion animation video from the duo who also performs and produces as Son Kite. Directed by Kristofer Ström at ljudbilden and released in 2006 on Crosstown Rebels.Efterklang - Illuminant
Music video by Tobias Stretch. Illuminant can be found on Efterklangs second album entitled Parades releases in October 2007 on The Leaf Label. With a stop-motion technique Stretch visualizes a semi-imaginary world with strange creatures in beautiful countryside settings which works great with the soundscapes of this Danish electronica outfit.Lucy Love - No V.I.P.
This stop motion extravaganza was created by talented artist Sif Westerberg and Lucy Love at the Funen Art Academy in Denmark. It is made from a bunch of plasticine modelling-clay, cardboard, over 5500 frames and a lot of hard work and determination. Released in 2008 on Pilot Music.Rex The Dog - Bubblicious
Directed by acclaimed director Geoffroy De Crecy (brother of Etiennne) and is basically just a cardboard DIY stop motion video. Taken from the “The Rex The Dog Show” album out on Hundehaus Records.Andreas Tilliander - Caught In A Riot
This is the video for the first single of Anderas Tilliander’s new album Shot out on Adrian Recordings, in May 2009. The video was shot during one day with a Nikon D90 with direction by Olof Werngren.Familjen - Hög Luft
Stop motion animation video from director Kristofer Ström at Ljudbilden, yes, same guy whos’s behind the acclaimed Minilogue animations. Released on Hybrid & Adrian Recordings.P.toile - Piano Piano
Mr. Kama & P.toile in co-op with another cute little minimal techno stop motion video and a quite complex storyboard. According to Kama it’s about “communication problems, love not corresponding, ancient ways to communicate and about time passing too fast”. Track released in 2008 on Mothership Music.Lusine - Two Dots
Lusine is the highly talented IDM producer Jeff McIlwain from the esteemed Ghostly International imprint. Britta Johnson brings Lusine’s gorgeous new single “Two Dots” to life, illustrating the song’s relationships-as-trigonometry analogy in an intricately animated video. In the clip, a pair of marbles - one blue, one yellow - engage in the timeless dance of seduction on a horizontal plain. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.Write a Screenplay on your iPhone with ScriptWrite
Purchase the app here:
From their website:
Write an entire screenplay or a quick scene on the go, all with one easy interface. As opposed to breaking the creative flow by separating your elements into different application pages, ScriptWrite uses a toolbar so you can seamlessly keep writing without have to worry about leaving the page. It’s perfect for seasoned screenwriters, or those new to the craft.
• ScriptWrite Toolbar allows for uninterrupted creative flow while writing.
• Full screen read mode with font size control.
• Accurate page count.
• Choose either portrait, landscape, or both to write how you are most comfortable.
• Export by email to a desktop screenplay application such as Final Draft or Celtx.
• Makes use of the iPhone Cut/Paste and Auto-complete.
This is the first 1.0 ScriptWrite release. A free 1.1 update is already in development and we are looking forward to providing the following features coming soon in future FREE updates: * Import Scripts and Edit in ScriptWrite
* Auto Character Recognition
* Auto Element Advance on <return>
* Export to .pdf
Panasonic Releases HD 3D Camcorder
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – Panasonic will release the world’s first* professional, fully-integrated Full HD 3D camcorder in Fall 2010. The company will begin taking orders in April. Engineering samples of the professional Full HD 3D solid-state camcorder was exhibited at the Panasonic booth (Las Vegas Convention Center, Main Hall, #9405) at the 2010 International CES in Las Vegas, USA, from January 7-10.
This Full HD 3D camcorder will offer the following core benefits:
Easier to Use
Current 3D systems are large-scale setups in which two cameras are fitted to a rig in parallel, or vertically intersect across a half-mirror. Separate recorders are also required. In Panasonic’s new Full HD 3D camcorder, the lenses, camera head, and a dual Memory Card recorder are integrated into a single, lightweight body. The camcorder also incorporates stereoscopic adjustment controls making it easier to use and operate.
The twin-lens system adopted in the camcorder’s optical section allows the convergence point** to be adjusted. Functions for automatically correcting horizontal and vertical displacement are also provided. Conventional 3D camera systems require these adjustments to be made by means of a PC or an external video processor. This new camcorder, however, will automatically recalibrate without any need for external equipment, allowing immediate 3D image capture.
More Flexible
The solid-state memory file-based recording system offers greater flexibility to produce Full HD 3D videos in more challenging shooting environments. The camcorder is lighter weight and smaller than current 3D rigs, while providing the flexibility of handheld-style shooting. Setup and transportation is simplified, making it ideal for sports, documentary and filmmaking projects.
Solid-State Reliability and Workflow
Right and left Full HD video streams of the twin-lens 3D camcorder can be recorded as files on SDHC/SD Memory Cards, ensuring higher reliability than on other tape, optical disc, HDD or other mechanical-based recording systems. This solid-state, no-moving-parts design will help significantly reduce maintenance costs, and the 3D camcorder will be better able to perform in extreme environments and be more resistant to temperature extremes, shock, and vibration.
And users will enjoy a fast, highly-productive file-based workflow, with instant, random access to recorded content; easy plug-in to both Mac and PC-based platforms; and longer recording capacity.
More Affordable
Using a standardized, fully integrated design, the Full HD 3D camcorder will be offered at a much lower price than traditional 3D rigs. Transportation expenses for this handheld unit will be less and faster setup times reduce labor costs. Using standard, re-recordable SDHC/SD Memory Cards available already everywhere, media costs become almost insignificant.
In addition to a camcorder, Panasonic also plans to offer a professional-quality 3D Full HD LCD monitor for field use as well as a professional HD digital AV mixer for live event production. Panasonic will offer professional production equipment to allow video professionals to efficiently create 3D content, so consumers can enjoy 3D video using Panasonic 3D home theater systems.
Major Specifications (tentative)
- Product Name: Twin-lens Full HD 3D camcorder (made-to-order)
- Suggested Retail Price for Main Unit: $21,000
- Available: Fall 2010 (made to order)
- Power Consumption: Under 19 W (main unit only)
- Weight: Under 3 kg (main unit only)
- Recording Media: SDHC/SD Memory Card
* As an integrated twin-lens Full HD 3D camcorder capable of recording Full HD 3D video to Memory Cards. As of January 2010 (based on our investigation)
** The point at which the left and right-camera lenses’ optical axes converge
Development Background
Movie companies and content producers are eager to produce more 3D content. 3D video is set to become a mainstream motion picture technology. In response to the resurgence of 3D movies, in September 2009, Panasonic proposed the world’s first 3D home theater systems, based around 3D-enabled Blu-ray Disc players and Plasma TVs (announced and exhibited at CEATEC 2008). In February 2009, the company established the Advanced Authoring Center (within Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory) – at which 3D movies are authored for replication on 3D Blu-ray Discs (announced at CES 2009). Currently, producing 3D movies is a painstaking process. Panasonic intends to promote the production of high-quality 3D video content by accelerating the development of 3D video production systems designed to boost production speed and efficiency.
Supplementary data:
Differences from conventional 3D camera systems:
Conventional 3D camera systems are built from two off-the-shelf film or broadcast cameras. Normally, the two cameras are installed horizontally and side by side, with the right and left camera axes approximately 6.5 cm apart – equivalent to the distance between the human eyes – to create binocular parallax. This can be done with small cameras, but broadcast or film cameras cannot be installed side by side since their bodies and lenses are too large. They must be installed vertically using half-mirrors, or mounted on metal frames called rigs, using prisms. This results in a bulky system that must be carefully adjusted to prevent the right and left cameras from going out of alignment before image capture. In addition, if the system is moved, the shock or vibration inevitably puts the cameras out of alignment, making frequent re-adjustment necessary.
In this fully-integrated Full HD 3D camcorder that Panasonic has developed, the two lenses, camera head, and memory card recorder are incorporated into a single compact housing. Unlike large 3D camera systems, this camcorder allows video shooting with greater mobility and from all angles; significantly reducing the time required for set up and adjustments, thereby leaving more time for creative activities.
Convergence Point Adjustment
The convergence point is the point at which the left and right cameras’ optical axes converge to produce 3D images. To take natural-looking 3D video, the convergence point needs to be adjusted to match that of a human’s eyes, whose convergence point varies according to the closeness of the objects being viewed. Panasonic’s new Full HD 3D camcorder adopts newly-developed twin-lens system that realizes convergence point control with its integrated design.
About Panasonic
Panasonic Corporation is a worldwide leader in the development and manufacture of electronic products for a wide range of consumer, business, and industrial needs. Based in Osaka, Japan, the company recorded consolidated net sales of 7.77 trillion yen (US$78.4 billion) for the year ended March 31, 2009. The company’s shares are listed on the Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and New York (NYSE: PC) stock exchanges. For more information on the company and the Panasonic brand, visit the company’s website at http://panasonic.net.
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