While some media reactions to the Apple Keynote presentation were dissappointed because Steve Jobs had no new jesus-like gadgets to show, the effect on the online movie business could actually be tremendous.
Itunes now has a serious movie rental system. The big suprise is that every major film studio participates!
Movie rentals cost from 3-5$, but you only can watch the film for 24 hours from the point you start it. When the service will launch in february (USA only) it’ll have around 1000 movies. I think that’s not enough to really reach big user groups, we want all the full back catalogues, too! So it’s not the big breakthrough but having all studios onboard is the first important step to really get online movie rental going!
Apple also improved the AppleTV, now becoming a serious home entertainment device.
Read a full feature list of the new intunes and Apple Tv on Newteevee.
Film: The Digital Future is a one-day conference presented by South West Screens on December 11th, 2007.
‘Film: The Digital Future’ will bring a pool of experts to the region to explain how best to embrace and exploit the ongoing digital developments within the production, distribution, exhibition and marketing sectors.
Following on from ‘Funding your Feature’, the informative South West Screen film finance conference of March 2007, ‘Film: The Digital Future’ promises to be both compelling and entertaining, and of course immensely informative.
Speakers confirmed from companies / organisations including the UK Film Council, Arts Alliance, Content Republic, City Screen and Hammer. Quite simply, there is no better way to get the lowdown on the changing landscape of digital film.
via Projector Films.
“A Swarm of Angels is a groundbreaking project to create a £1 million film and give it away to over 1 million people using the Internet and a global community of members. By subscribing for £25 members become part of a revolutionary process to make an open source feature film.”
Berlin based web TV station Hobnox goes online today!
Right now they’re running four channels, all connected to youth culture. What separates them from other web tv stations is the massive amount of self produced content. They’re having a handful of hosts, running different show formats. They recruited some german MTV-faces for that. Reminds a little bit of G4, although they are shifting the focus from game-related-content to music, film and street culture.
To push the whole web2.0-participatory thing they are having a contest where you can win 25.000 Euro to realise your project!
After Vimeo there is another company called Akamai, which is pulling of streaming HD.
Right now they are running a demo portal called HD WEB. According to the company, right now only 10-20% of the users have the needed bandwith to receive the streaming HD files. If you don’t have the bandwith you can still download the clips to test the awesome quality.
Go watch the stunning Sigur Ros Heima Trailer as an example.
At the Flip Animation Festival in Wolverhampton they’ll have a panel on the effects of YouToube on the Animation business.
“This panel discussion will look at the impact of new and emerging online platforms and tools and will ask what the opportunities are for animators and filmmakers and can online distribution and exhibition lead to professional commissions?”
Power to the Pixel, a ground-breaking new industry forum taking place on Friday 26 October 2007 at NFT1, BFI Southbank.
“Power to the Pixel is a one-day forum that will connect the film community with key innovators of the digital revolution who are pioneering new ways of distributing, marketing and financing independent films.
Leading filmmakers, entrepreneurs, networks and companies creating cutting edge distribution strategies will share their expertise on the latest digital tools and practices that are transforming the film business, as well as describing new ways of working in the digital environment.“
Art made for - and only available on - the peer to peer networks.
The original artwork is first shared by the artist until one other user has downloaded it.
After that the artwork will be available for as long as other users share it.
The original file and all the material used to create it are deleted by the artist.
”There’s no original”
P2P Art is an artproject from Swedish artist and filmmaker Anders Weberg.
Uboating.de is a new web based cinema magazine from Germany.
Every issue features a new movie with trailers, making of, interviews and more background information. I was impressed by the quality of the given information. All this supported by a beautiful design. Really shows what’s possible with web TV formats.
The first issue covers ‘A mighty heart’ by Michael Winterbottom, with Angelina Jolie, starting today in German cinemas.