Film 2.0 - web 2.0 + film is film2.0

2008-11-23T21:30:00.001Z

We love Blogspot, but now that interest in film 2.0 is finally increasing we have setup a new bigger home over on our dedicated website film 2.0 film2.org
we hope you like it.

2008-03-07T11:32:00.000Z

New Media a good thing for Cinemas

The MPAA did discount one factor that Monday morning boxoffice quarterbacks have been quick to blame whenever the wickets register a downtick: competition from new media.

A Nielsen NRG study cited Wednesday by the MPAA found that the average moviegoer goes to the multiplex 7.9 times per year. But moviegoers who own or subscribe to five or more new technologies, such as PPV/VOD, DVRs, digital cable and DVD rental services, are even more reliable moviegoers. They leave their wired homes 11.4 times per year to go out to the movies.

Increasingly, moviegoers also consult the Internet about what movie to see. "I use the Web site RottenTomatoes a lot," Glickman offered in an unsolicited testimonial.

A study conducted by the MPAA and Yahoo found that 73% of all moviegoers consult the Internet before deciding on a movie. That's approaching the 75% who also get their movie info from TV and radio and way ahead of the 46% who rely on print.

Movie advertising is moving in that direction, too. MPAA companies spent 4.4% of their ad budgets online in 2008, up from 3.7% the previous year. Simultaneously, allocations for newspaper advertising fell from 10.8% to 10.1%.

2008-03-07T11:26:00.001Z

Interactive picks for SXSW festival

More details on the digital panels at SXSW courtesy of Sarah Lindner.

The South by Southwest Film and Interactive festivals both kick off today, and a few panels are open to badge holders from both events. Here's a handful of highlights for filmmakers who want to learn more about how technology is changing their craft. Panels take place at the Austin Convention Center. Each of the sessions listed here is in Room 12AB. For more details on these panels, visit sxsw.com. For more picks and additional coverage of SXSW events, visit austin360.com/sxsw.

Saturday: 'Digital Cinema for Indies' (11:30 a.m.) talks about getting your work onto digital screens and the implications of digital cinema. 'Video Production for the Web & Mobile Devices' (3:30 p.m.) looks at how to best use these new screens.

Sunday: 'Blogs, Buzz, and Buddy Lists' (3:30 p.m.) explores how you can use all of the above to build an audience.

Monday: 'ABC's of DVDs' (3:30 p.m.) looks at how the medium has evolved and where it's going. 'Independent Film Distribution: It Takes an Online Community' covers 'creating true cross-platform media brands.' 'A Conversation with Michael Eisner' (11:30 a.m.) features the former Disney head talking about his future plans and debuting his new Web series, 'The All-For Nots.'

2008-03-02T18:30:00.003Z

Quick reminder SXSW Film Festival
SXSW festival arrives March 7-15, 2008, which is one of my favourite festivals.
This year they have an event around Digital Cinema for Indies which is on
Saturday, March 8th 11:30 am - 12:30 pm.
The event looks at how can indie directors/producers get their work onto the growing number of digital screens in the US, and what are the economics of encoding your film so it can be downloaded digitally and onto a cinema’s server? It’ll also explore how digital cinema is changing the balance of power between Hollywood studios and independents, and what new developments lie ahead.

Visit the website to find out more details

2008-03-02T18:11:00.003Z

Sky to screen new film on same day as theatrical release
UK LONDON - BSkyB is to show a brand new, award-winning feature film on its pay-per-view film channel on the same day as it is released in UK cinemas in a deal with Curzon Artificial Eye.

The foreign film, 'The Edge of Heaven', will be released in Curzon and City Screen cinemas on February 22, and on the same day will be available to Sky subscribers.

It is first film in the UK to be released simultaneously on pay-per-view and at the cinema. A full-price cinema ticket at Curzon's Central London cinemas costs £10.00 and Sky will be selling the film at £9.99.

Films waiting 12 weeks for DVD and 6 months between windows is the usual minimum. This move reflects a change in consumer demand and it will be interesting to see how it pans out. The extra exposure for the film has already raised its profile to a much wider audience. Though the real question will be if the public will hand over their money.

Philip Knatchbull, chief executive officer, Curzon Artificial Eye, said: "It is often the case with non-Hollywood titles that many cinema-goers are aware of the film's release but don't have access to a cinema showing it. This deal means they will now have the opportunity to see it on release."

2007-07-27T21:51:00.000+01:00

Record breaking box office - time to gate crash the party!
This summer is blockbuster central. From Pirates, Shrek and Spidey to name a few.
So does this mean that cinema is in its best ever state ?
There´s a widespread argument that divides the film world between arty self indulgence and films that make money and people go and see. Put another way the rest of the world fit the bill for the latter making worthy movies, whilst the USA happily make films people want to see.
The bigger question is whether there are means to allow filmmaking to flourish independently. the issue is with distribution. There are great films out there but they will only be seen by a tiny few. In the UK if you live outside of london the the chance of seeing a decent indie film is slim. The likes of festival favourites Sherrybaby, Half Nelson and Black Gold don´t stray far from New York and London.
Lets face it the model is broke. It was created in the 80´s by the likes of Star Wars and has grown into an out of control marketing behemoth. what we need is an indie scene that gatecrashes the mainstream. The music industry has gone digital and the movie industry is not far behind.
How will this happen for the movie industry. one word.... Internet.
Film 2.0 is here and is the future.

2007-07-22T15:22:00.000+01:00

Film 2.0 Website launching soon.
We´ve been doing some navel gazing since last September and getting the right team together. But at long last we´ve got our act together and the fruits of our labour will shortly bear fruit at our new Film 2.0 website.
Film 2.0

Come back later in July for the launch and we hope you will like what you see. The idea is to provide a repository of information for budding Film 2.0 filmmakers.
See you soon.

2007-07-22T13:45:00.000+01:00

Machinima - Who Needs Actors?
Actors, lots of money and lots of attitude. With blue screen technology for Spiderman and Fantastic Four at the fore of technology for Hollywood films for creating amazing backdrops, that CGI has now taken over big budget movies, its only a matter of time before technology enables movie makers to be able to use software to create or re-create actors on screen. The first steps to this has begun with the low budget Machinima.
Machinima is a portmantaeu of machine cinema or machine animation, is both a collection of associated production techniques and a film genre defined by those techniques. As a production technique, the term concerns the rendering computer generated imagery (CGI) using real-time, interactive (game) 3D engines, as opposed to high-end and complex 3D animation software used by professionals.
Engines from first person shooter and role-playing simulation video games are typically used. Consequently, the rendering can be done in real-time using PCs (either using the computer of the creator or the viewer), rather than with complex 3D engines using huge render farms. As a film genre, the term refers to movies created by the techniques described above.

Last week I met Alex Wilding who is one of the founders of Machinima. He created the "French Democracy" which was a early example that this basic genre could provide original content, not just in jokes for gamers.
As always he was full of enthusiasm for the new genre and how it was developing.
Other earlier examples he talked about are the often amusing creations around the Halo games of Red vs Blue. And the more developments of characters from Sims and The Movies.

For further information visit which has a wide range of Machinima content to get you upto speed, and maybe create enough interest for you to make your own movie, without actors.

2007-01-28T19:20:00.000Z

Happy Beginnings: New digital platforms

On 29th January there is an event in Rotterdam discussing the impact of digital on the film industry. The opportunities, changes in filmmaker-producer-sales agent-distributor relationships, how to create sustainable business and revenue models and getting your film to the audience are the subjects of Monday’s panel. Michael Gubbins (Screen International) moderates the discussion with Liz Rosenthal, Jeremy Nathan and Dagmar Heijmans.
This event happens on Monday 15:30–17:00, and is open to all Film Festival guests.

2007-01-27T23:45:00.000Z

As Eninem would say 'Lose Yourself'

Rather than quoting Oscar Wilde as is the want of most film critics I would like to paraphrase a more modern philosopher by the name of Eninem from Detroit.

If you had one shot
Or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted, in one moment
Would you capture it, or just let it slip

So what has this got to do with Film 2.0. Well with the advent of digital, the democratisation of film making, taking it from $200 million blokcbusters into the hands of anyone with a digital camera and a talent, means that everyone now has a shot.

Now just because everyone now has the tools, does not mean that suddenly end up with 1000 masterpieces, in fact the opposite is more true as quality suffers. If you strap 100000 monkeys to typewriters you may end up with one writing the works of Shakespeare and so the odds are that 100,000 filmmakers strapped to a digital camera by the law of averages someone will make a decent film. The film Tarnation made for 50p about his own life is an indication of what can be done. Though as much of the success is down to years of editing and a major publicy campaign. Films often quoted are Super Size Me, and Fahrenheit 9/11, though what is obvious is that over the next few years the greatest revolution ever to take place in film since Sound is going to change the rules. Everyone knows change is coming, apart from the Studios who continue to plough upwards in their desire to make bigger and bigger tentpole films with less and less story and relevance. But no one knows what the future will be. The great thing is that the Opportunities are here and now.
So what are you waiting for, get writing and filming now…. ‘cos opportunity comes once in a lifetime.

2007-01-27T05:38:00.000Z

What is is about numbers?

Film 2.0, Spiderman 3, Rocky V , Web2.0

So yes we are guilty as charged. Film 2.0 is a bit too geekish, though I felt it describes what we are trying to say, ie Film has began a new generation.

But for a change i just wanted to talk about numbers in film titles. Why on earth do so many film titles have numbers in them? What is wrong with The Getaway, The Shawshank Redemption, The Movie?

Memorable numbered titles include Dudley Moore chasing Bo Derek the perfect “10”. 9 ½ weeks with Kim Basinger (why the half I never knew, what’s wrong with 9). And of course the numbers have to get bigger for multiplex audiences, so we had 101 Dalmatians a couple of years ago, and now we have 300 hitting cinemas this year. Who wants to see 50 or 100, when you can have 300.

Some titles seem to work, Seven, for instance. But for a sequel would the next be the rather unimaginative Eight? And confusingly this year we have Fantastic 4 2 ! eventually we will have fantastic 4 4 which is a publicist’s dream.

As audiences are force fed ever more sequels, then the numbers grow ever more. In the seventies and eighties the higher the numbers the worse the film. Anyone remember ‘police academy 6’ , was there ever a 7?
As we enter the year 2007, 3 seems to be the magic number today. Spiderman 3, Shrek 3, Pirates of the Caribbean 3. Lord of the Rings sealed the trend with the Trilogy being a huge commercial success. Unfortunately for audiences films like Matrix 2, and Pirates 2 didn’t really have an ending so you have to wait a year to find out what happened. In the fifties it was popular to have weekly cliffhangers, would the heroine be saved, but a year or two to wait for an ending!
And probably the most curious of the trilogies, Star Wars. We had 1 2 and 3, but then of course it was pointed out that these were really 4, 5 and 6 and they were just waiting for the technology to film 1, 2 and 3.
At least there is a sign of hope from the most unlikely of sources. Sylvester Stallone having milked the formula for the underdog boxer thru Rocky 1, II, III, IV, V released the latest with the genius title of “Rocky Balboa”. Genius.

Feel free to add your thoughts and let us know what your favourite numbers are, and let us know any suggestions for new number titles would be and why, and try to be more imaginative than 69, the sequel to Deep Throat.

2007-01-27T05:31:00.000Z

Welcome to Film 2.0

We hope over time these pages will educate emerging filmmakers and provide inspiration as you make your movies. Knowledge is power, and we want to highlight the good things that people out there in the world are doing right now, to pioneer new forms of filmmaking. Be it a 120 minute feature, a 60 minute documentary or a 30 second clip we will showcase and discuss the pioneering movements.

What are the aims of Film 2.0?

As digital takes hold of the film industry, shakes it up and spits it out at the other end we want to shine a light on even the darkest corners of the traditional industry forcing it to change.

What is/ was Film 1.0?

Film 1.0 is essentially film as we know it today. Since it’s invention 100 years ago, film has not changed particularly much. Sound has been added (significant) and a host of variations Widescreen, Technicolor, and 3D. But essentially film is still the same as it was originally, a piece of film exposed to light on 35mm, big bulky prints shipped around the world, and blown up on cinema screens for the world to see. Film marketing has changed beyond belief, with more and more money, but the actual process of making a film is the same, apart from larger and larger budgets.

So what exactly is Film 2.0?

Film 2.0 is a step change. The internet is everyone’s focus right now, but it is Digital technology in particular that is the driver for change, across all aspects of the film industry.
Film production in particular has seen the most changes, from the special effects of big movies delivering unbelievable experiences, compare the Star Wars movies, to the more fundamental capability of allowing independent filmmakers to pick up a Digital camera and make a movie. This democratisation of film making is a fundamental driver for Film 2.0.
And now the rest of the industry is adopting the technology, as cinemas become digital theatres, and distributors start to ship digital copies rather than bulky and expensive 35mm prints.
And this is just a start, as the internet starts to change the business models for ever. Long tail economics are becoming a reality for the better of film makers and the audience. Choice and true independence as filmmakers make and distribute their own movies.

Why the name Film 2.0?

We wanted to encapsulate what we are doing which is reporting on the fundamental changes to the film industry.
Firstly we had wanted to have a fun title like Cyber Dogging, What is Bobo, or something apple like cool such as iFilm or iMovies, or something different like Facebook or Skype. But boy oh boy thinking of something original and finding a domain name is so difficult (who is buying all these domains).
So as the phrase goes, if it looks like a dog and sounds like a dog, then call it a dog. So Film had to be in there. and our backgrounds are from the .com era, so right now Web 2.0 is all the rage. So Autumn 2006 we went domain searching and bingo Film 2.0 was available, and our baby was born.

What next?
Lots of articles, anecdotes and hopefully some interesting discussions can begin.
The future is about conversations, and we want to seed those conversations and debates by highlighting different areas.

2006-09-21T17:27:00.000+01:00

film 2.0 has been setup as a discussion area for the dramatic changes in the film industry.
Analagous to the version numbers that designate software upgrades, the phrase "Film 2.0" hints at an improved form of the film industry. Individually there are many changes happening over the last few years from Digital cameras through to Social network sites like You Tube. Film 2.0 brings all of these together to discuss the impact as a whole of these technologies and the digitisation of the film industry.

The key principles that characterise Film 2.0 :

the Web as platform
digital as the driving force
network effects created by an architecture of participation
innovation in filmmaking by pulling together different digital technologies
lightweight distribution business models enabled by content and service syndication
digital cinema including 3-D
leveraging the power of the Long Tail.

Each of these areas will be discussed in detail, and further areas will be added and expanded upon.