WGA Strikers & trying to count video streams

As momentum for internet delivery of TV and movies builds, it's clear there's a lot of money and basic rights at stake in the writers' strike. But there are more than a few uncertainties. Reel Pop notes and quotes a Shelly Palmer post on media business site JackMyers.com:

"Who in their right mind thinks that the 'number of video streams per quarter is a readily ascertainable number.' First of all, what is a stream? Is it defined as an open socket between a server and a client? What if the stream is peer-assisted? Does that count? How about progressive downloads that are abandoned before they are viewed in their entirety? Are they considered downloads or streams? What about downloads? Do they count? How about off network plays of previously downloaded material that actually has a reported playcount? Wait … there’s more. How about VOD streams over closed IPTV networks? That’s what the cable industry is about to turn into – technically every one of those plays is a video stream. Does it count if you stream data that updates creative on an HD-DVD or BluRay to change story arch or release additional material that creates a derivative work? I could go on for about thirty pages and not come close to creating a complete list."

Reel Pop has also covered aspects of online usage stats, noting that search for video is also important. Now for balance, here's an explanation of the groundbreaking new deal put in a way writers can understand:

OpenHULU sorta

Last100 features an interesting interview by muhammad.saleem with the creator of OpenHULU, which mirrors currently closed HULU content like episodes from this season's The Simpsons, Heroes and Battlestar Galactica. Content is limited to viewers in the US and there are a bunch of scripts and cheesy ads; find out more in OPENhulu: setting Hulu’s videos free?

OpenHULU seems like another reason to use the Firefox add-on NoScript and an ad aware cookie cleaner.

From Avid to Final Cut Pro

Splice Here notes a "thoughtful analysis of the differences and similarities between Media Composer and Final Cut" at the Avid to Final Cut Pro site in a Useful Comparison of Avid and Final Cut. It's oriented toward Apple of course.

Idiocracy kool-aid -- red or blue?

FreshDV notes reports (Spout Blog, Guardian UK) that "Fox had struck a deal to produce real-life Brawndo, the fictional energy drink that threw the Earth into chaos in Idiocracy, a film that Fox barely released and all but refused to promote." Perhaps part of the reason for all this was that the Fox News brand remained pretty much intact (though more muscular) in the movie's dystopian future.

And as The Chutry Experiment notes, Fox and pals are "going full steam ahead to market Brawndo using viral videos on YouTube, a Brawndo website, and other social networking tools. And, yes, you can 'friend' Brawndo on Facebook and MySpace." Sort of reminds me how The Merry Pranksters kool-aid was re-branded by the SF People's Temple at Jonestown. The Brawndo episode also comes from San Francisco, this time from Omni Consumer Products LLC which borrows its name from Robocop.

By the way, design in Idiocracy was fun; see "The graphic design of Mike Judge's Idiocracy" at SpeakUp and Idiocracy is Reality at graphpaper.com (which notes the "flat buns" burger commercial). Seen at the left is the movie's US President -- a porn star and wrestling champ -- at the "House of Representin'", which is sponsored by Pepsi. The Cabinet is sponsored by Carl's Jr, which devolved a new tag line, “F$#k you! I’m eating!” Video segments can be found via YouTube and Google.

At this point you really can't be sure who's zooming who. As shown at FreshDV, the Brawndo attempt to go viral mimics both Ideocracy and this viral video (one viewing is more than enough):

And here's a segment from The Daily Show on Brawndo's sister 'Cocaine Energy Drink':

Adobe beta of Brio web meeting tool

Over on Adobe Labs, there's a beta "preview of the next generation of Adobe Acrobat Connect, codename 'Brio.' Brio is a web meeting service built with collaboration in mind for individual professionals and small businesses...

Built on Adobe's Flash platform, Brio operates inside most popular web browsers, so you can start a meeting without worrying if others have a compatible system or the right software."

Brio has screen and file sharing, chat and whiteboards, but I'd also like to be able to record parts of the meeting and play it back right away -- so I'm not sure if this will fit the bill. A name change would make sense too since this has little to do with Acrobat.

CS3 updates nearly finished

from iTWire... "Adobe has delivered Mac OS X 10.5 compatibility updates for two components of Creative Suite 3. The Soundbooth CS3 update is purely for Leopard compatibility. The Premiere Pro CS3 3.1.1 update includes 'important bug fixes' as well as compatibility fixes for Apple's latest operating system and Adobe officials describe it as 'highly recommended' for all users. Leopard compatibility updates for After Effects CS3 and Encore CS3 are still expected this month. Other members of the CS3 family are already compatible with Mac OS X 10.5."

If there's a problem with automatic updates you can go to Adobe downloads.

Update: sort of an aside...with the Abobe site redesign there's a big push for Flash, and little attention to Adobe's actual video tools. See Adobe's broadcast and media solutions are changing the face of entertainment. Flash On. Looks like there might be more elements to be discovered:



NAB 2008 has a similar approach, though the mindshare is red-shifted from creation to commerce, without Avid (see Capria.TV, Splice Here) and maybe a lower profile from Adobe (no logo on floor map). NAB: "...the mecca for those seeking to produce and distribute broadband video across the Internet, via IPTV and for mobile devices, is also where new content deals are being brokered ... between telecom carriers, broadcasters, programming networks and social media outlets..."

Hand Held & Bourne

...from FX Rant's Hand Held Cameras:

"I love how author David Bordwell launches into a topic and digs deep. One [in a series] of his terrific articles is 'Unsteadicam Chronicles,' from his website. I don't necessarily agree with his viewpoints, but I adore how deeply involved he gets with his material."

Anatomy of the Action Picture, mentioned here last February, is another thoughtful article by Bordwell.

These sorts of discussions are what keeps me interested in an industry sector that often sells musical groups like toothpaste and sells toothpaste with hate speech.

Update: The Edit Blog notes an Editing organazized post on editing directions right in the script in The Bourne Supremacy script online