Category: media

“They called me up and said, ‘Would you like to make a short film for the internet? You can do anything you want, you just need to show the handbag, the Pearl Tower and some old Shanghai.'” And he even got Marion Cotillard as his star. (video here)

“A Los Angeles Superior Court last week dismissed a lawsuit that said Variety illegally damaged the movie [‘Iron Cross’] by luring it into last year’s awards race with the offer of an expensive advertising package, then savaging it with a bad review. The court dismissed the suit based on First Amendment grounds.”

“Hollywood cleared a legal hurdle when the [FCC approved] ‘selectable output control,’ which can reach into a customer’s home video player and turn off its video outputs while a pay-per-view program is being watched, to prevent the program from being copied.” But so far, cinema owners’ opposition has kept studios from releasing films for home viewing before they’re on DVD.

“Extravagant creations such as Avatar might seem to have nothing to do with the performing arts, but 3D technology can work for dance, opera and theatre, too.”

“As cinemas close across Africa, homegrown blockbusters are actually eclipsing Hollywood on the African market as for the first time in 13 years an African feature competes for the top award at Cannes.”

“As studio marketers try harder to use technology to advertise movies, ambitious Web games that interlock with social networking sites are an increasing focus. The goal is to reverse the consumer-advertiser relationship. Traditional marketing pushes a message over and over. If people instead pull bits of information into their lives through a game, they are more likely to feel a sense of ownership.”

“Such is the ferocity and frequency of the attacks on the CBC that one might wonder if, along with diminishing the CBC’s status, the side-effect here is to elevate the role of private broadcasters. These are strange times in Canadian broadcasting. Local television has been eviscerated as private broadcasters point to shrinking revenues.”

“Five years after Karim’s 19 seconds of digital immortality hit the Web and rocked the world of television, YouTube is coming full circle. The king of Internet video is embarking on a mission to become nothing less than the world’s TV.”

“The series employed nearly 4,000 people each season, more than any other prime-time show in the city, according to the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting.”

“Finales are important enough to permanently color a show’s long-term legacy. The end can justify — or undermine — the many years of means.”