Copy of Class Survey

Digital Cinema / Media Convergence
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CLASS SURVEY
(Please take a moment to fill out and return to the left of your row)



1. In what format do you most often watch movies?
a. on film/celluloid (in a theater)
b. DVD/Video
c. on the web (YouTube, iFilm, downloaded movies, etc.)
d. movies on television (digital cable, TiVo, etc.)
e. other

2. Name the last movie you watched and the format in which you watched it.


3. Have you ever created any type of digital cinema and/or experimental video yourself ?
a. yes
b. no

4. If you answered ‘yes’ to the question above, did you release any of your material to any type of audience (online, a class, etc.)
a. yes
b. no

5. In your opinion, do you feel that the rise and popularity of digital cinema/media in today’s entertainment industry is a positive development or a detraction from traditional moviemaking?

Spreading the Word

The Digital Cinema Society is a non-profit organization that seeks to spread information about the constantly changing nature of digital cinema specifically to filmmakers, directors, producers, distributors, and other people in the industry in an objective manner and without a "film versus video" angle.

http://www.digitalcinemasociety.org/

iPod meets Sundance

This website that showcases student and independent videos, claims to have held the world's first iPod Film Festival early this year. Filmmakers were encouraged to submit their films - ranging from "Indie" to "Family Clips" - to have them judged through online voting. To watch the winning videos, click here: http://www.theflux.tv/ipodfest/

Media Convergence

How many people have watched a movie in the past two weeks?
Now how many people actually watched that movie in a movie theater?

In this digital era it is now rare that people actually go to movies theaters any more. Movies can now be viewed anywhere, anytime, and on the go. Example, portable DVD players, PSPs, movies on Ipods, downloaded movies viewed on computers, and movie trailers on cell phones.

Watching a movie is no longer a social event by actually sitting in a room with other viewers and watching a film all the way through without the option to pause, stop, or rewind. In a way the aura of the original film has changed. The same emotions are not experienced by watching a movie on your Ipod as when you are watching the film on the big screen in a room full of strangers with similar interests.

With movie tickets continuing to become more expensive, digital technology has allowed viewers to buy DVDs for almost the same price as a ticket. A problem that has helped to increase the price of movie tickets has been the increase in movie piracy, especially through illegal downloading over the Internet.

In this digital age movies are now accessible to more people and can be viewed in any environment, but what does this do to the original aura of the film?

YouTube Broadcast Yourself

Background

Based in San Mateo, YouTube is a small privately-funded company with 60 employees. Chad Hurley, one of its co-founders, serves as the CEO with its other two co-founders Steven Chen, CTO, and Jawed Karim, Advisor. So far, the company has raised over $11 million of funding from Sequoia Capital, the firm who also provided initial venture capital for Google, Yahoo and Apple in their early days. Their tagline is "Broadcast Yourself" and this largely represents their goal.

History

YouTube was founded by three former PayPal employees, who, witnessing the boom of online grassroots video, realized the need for a decent service that made the process of uploading, watching and sharing videos hassle-free. They registered the domain YouTube.com on February 15th, 2005 and developed the site over the following months from a garage in Menlo Park. In May 2005 they launched in a public beta, and in November, YouTube made its debut with an $3.5 million of funding from Sequoia Capital.

To get a decent start and attract the initial crowd they were looking for teenagers, college students, hobbyists, film-makers they came out with a contest that promised to give out one iPod Nano to a random member each day, which ran for two months. This contest worked on a point-based system, for example one point was rewarded for signing up, one for inviting others, another one for posting a video, etc. The more the points you gained, the higher the chance of winning you had. This was a significant action that got YouTube noticed by the masses and gave it a headstart as per the signups.

Now, after being the host (and former-host) of countless SNL segments, Superbowl ads, TV goof-ups, and home videos, it is the world's fastest growing website right now.

Business

The service is completely free for users, the company's business model, which was put in place in March 2005, was based on traditional banner advertising, sponsorships, partnerships and promotions, and even contextual advertising. So far, they've had numerous partnerships with traditional media companies, like NBC and the Warner Music Group.

YouTube has had to take several videos down to settle matters, most notably the SNL skit Lazy Sunday over NBC's request.

Ever since it began, the company has had a strong goal to build a community rather than to make a lot of money. But with the growing phenomenon, now with more than 65,000 uploads daily and 100 million videos being watched, they've had to kick-start their business plan in-order to sustain the growth.

Director Membership

Users can join with different types of accounts, one is a Director membership. By signing up for a Director's Account, you essentially become YouTube's content partner. Along with a 'Director' tag, you get to co-brand your logo, link to a URL and provide your company's description on each of your videos. You also get the ability to upload videos longer than the 10 minute limit they've set, and customize a lot of fields and values. The program is aimed at amateur film-makers and online content distributors alike.

Phone Video

http://getitnow.vzwshop.com/index.aspx?id=vcast_video_demo

I Tunes Movies

http://www.apple.com/itunes/store/movies.html

Movie Ipod

http://www.apple.com/ipod/ipod.html

Playstation Portable

http://www.us.playstation.com/PSP/System

Portable DVD Players

http://www.nextag.com/portable-dvd-players/search-html?nxtg=37ac0a1c051a-5E8C4597C93B713C

You Tube History

Some low-cost, successful Digital Cinema examples below

Below I've posted the trailer for the film "Open Water," a recent thriller based on a true story which was shot by a former editor and his wife for a meager amount of $$$. I've also posted a clip from Jonathan Caouette's "Tarnation," in which he uses various forms of media taken throughout his life to create a stirring documentary that he compiled through Apple iMovie for approx. $300. Both films saw theatrical releases and gained critcal acclaim.

"Open Water" movie trailer-shot entirely on DV inexpensively

"Tarnation" clip - guerilla digital film making

Tarnation

Hello....