The Ninja That Isn’t AskANinja

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I’m not totally sure what to make of ‘Katana,’ the latest webseries pilot from the folks at Strike.TV.

It is a completely earnest attempt at making a ninja-revenge action film reminiscent of those from the ’70’s complete with well-choreographed fight sequences from clearly professional stunt fighters.  As TubeFilter told me:

The  hard hitting show stars John Koyama and Yuji Okumoto (also the writer-producer) alongside stunt superstars Al Goto, Sam Looc, and Don Tai. If you haven’t recognized any of those names, check out those IMDB listings, because you’ve definitely seen their movies.

‘Katana’ is part of a new wave of low-budget professionally produced fare finding its way to the web, much of it in the form of tried-and-true film genres like sci-fi and horror. The big question will be whether or not enough fans of these very specific genres will a) find these programs considering the overall lack of marketing budgets and b) if they do, will they really be interested in watching what boils down to cheaper versions of what they get plenty of on both TV and the big screen.

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Pirates Beat Oscars Again – Suck It MPAA

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Every year the MPAA claims to be doing everything in its power to stop pirates from destroying the film industry.  Of course, what they really mean is that they are wasting millions of dollars and work-hours.

Not only does there seem to be little proof that pirated downloads are actually hurting the film industry’s bottomline but the efforts of the MPAA are doing nothing to stop it:

Waxy.org’s Andy Baio has once again published an extensive collection of data about this year’s Oscar nominations and their availability on P2P networks. He’s been doing this for the last seven years, during which the overall picture has remained pretty much the same; almost all Oscar nominated movies are available on file-sharing networks before the annual awards ceremony. In fact of the 26 movies that were nominated this year, 23 are already available in DVD quality on P2P networks. (via NewTeeVee)

While this same article points out that it is taking longer for pirates to get copies to the internet, by a matter of days from year-to-year, it makes it very clear that the major studios are going to have to figure out a new approach to fighting the pirates other than chasing them around the net with “cease and desist” orders and dragging fans into court.

Maybe they should, um, take a few lessons from the pirates and begin releasing usable digital copies themselves without endless forms of DRM that cripple the end-users ability to do what they want with the movie.

Just a thought.

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Scotty Got an Office Job and Damn is it Funny

Let’s face it, the world of cubicle humor, while ripe for the picking, tends to end up being either a ripoff of “Office Space” or “Dilbert.”  What makes “Scotty Got an Office Job” so fantastic is that it captures the essence of office life in a completely original and authentic way.

If we are to believe the creator, star, director and editor, Scotty, these are all short films made without the knowledge of his coworkers or superiors.  Using a clever combination of webcam and phone-cam along with some great sound effects, Scotty has produced over twenty gloriously short episodes – most are less than a minute.

While this might not be the breakout hit of the season, his work deserves to be seen and appreciated.

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Dr. Horrible Demonstrates Wonderful Potential for Post-Web Profits

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While it certainly helps that the very successful webseries “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog” featured a name cast and was created by the much loved (especially by the net-saavy) Joss Whedon, there is a lot for all of us to learn about how to monetize web video.

The secret for Dr. Horrible lies in the use of release windows much like the movie studios have employed for decades.

First, the episodes were available for free streaming online, but only for a limited time.

Next, you were able to pay to download the episodes at iTunes for a small fee.  The fee was fair because now you had a version that could travel with you.

Now, Joss and company are releasing a jam-packed DVD with all sorts of value-added extras for even more money.

I’m sure there is a TV license window yet to be exploited as well.

Oh, there’s a soundtrack available, too.

Not only was Whedon able to get enormous amounts of free press and fan favor from the free release but he has understood how to build on that base to actually come out with some cash in his pocket.

While every webseries is not going to be able to do exactly what Whedon has done, it is very important to understand all of the distribution channels that exist and examine how each can best be exploited for your project.

Good article in TubeFilter, too.

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Movie Industry Continues Idiotic On-Going No-Win War on Digital On-Demand

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In their latest attempt to hold onto their self-proclaimed crumbling empire, the major movie studios are forcing(?) NetFlix and iTunes to remove films from “watch-now” libraries when those same films reach their network TV release window.

This is absurd on so many levels, not the least of which is best put by CNet:

“Normally, release windows don’t affect retailers or video-rental services after they’ve begun selling or renting films. Warner Bros. doesn’t go into Best Buy and pull DVDs off the shelf when Comcast airs Casablanca. The corner Mom and Pop video store doesn’t surrender copies of Gladiator to Universal Studios when the film appears on ABC. But Internet stores are being treated differently. What this means for iTunes and Netflix customers is that movies will pop in and out of the services.” (via)

Not only does this not make sense, but there is no way that having the films available online is going to stop someone dumb enough to watch the edited, commericialed movie on netw0rk TV when they can just rent it – or easily find it on a BitTorrent site.

At the end of the day, this is the major studios once again doing everything in their power to make it a pain in the ass the watch the movies they make.

And they wonder why the pirates do so well.  Here’s a hint: they meet the needs of their customers.

DMCA Shuts Down Fansite Run By Preschool Teacher

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On of the many super-cool niches out there on the web is the world of “fanedits.”

As defined by TorrentFreak:

“Taking famous movies as a base, faneditors spend huge amounts of time editing with sophisticated software in order to create improved or just plain different versions of existing movies. Most of the time, faneditors try to improve what is wrong or bad with a movie, using advanced techniques to create a new piece of art based on the original. Of course, faneditors love to share their work with others in the community, something the movie industry wants to bring to an end.”

Now comes word that one of the most popular sites for fans to share their edits is being shut down due to DMCA takedown requests.

Not only is it yet another absurd example of the major motion picture studios attacking the core fans they rely on for ticket sales, but, in this case, it exposed one of the horrible pirates they are trying to stop.

“I am boon23, faneditor and administrator of the biggest fanedits website in the world. I’m a preschool teacher from Europe and as faneditor I post under the name CBB (created by boon) and have so far created 29 fanedits, which is quite a lot. It is my hobby, my art, the thing I really love to do and will continue to do.”

Yup.  A preschool teacher.  Nice work, guys.  Go get ’em!

The Dark Knight Can’t Stop Pirates – And It Doesn’t Matter

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According to the MPAA, movie piracy is a huge problem that could jeopordize the entire industry.  The problem with this theory is that they simply can’t back up the claims with any legitimate data.

Here’s a great example of why they’re full of hot air.  The Dark Knight has already made over $1,000,000,000 worldwide and stands to make a hell of a lot more in ancillary markets (DVD, VOD, etc).  Yet, the film is also the number one pirated movie on BitTorrent:

“This week, in another round of leaks, DVD-rips of ‘The Dark Knight’ found their way to BitTorrent. Unsurprisingly, given the commercial success of the movie, these were downloaded well over a million times in just a few days.”

So, potentially the number one grossing film of all-time may also be the most pirated of all-time.  Explain to me again how this is hurting your core business…

Top 5 My Media Musings for Tuesday

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Every day I probably scan a few thousand bits of information via email, RSS, surfing, chatting and even the occasional tweet.  Here are the top five things that caught my eye:

1) MGM putting up movies on YouTube – This is really only big news because YouTube is the biggest provider of video on the web.  I like the point made by TechDirt:

“You don’t see movie studios today looking to do exclusive deals with one chain of movie theater to distribute their movies. No, the idea is to get the movie seen in as many places as possible to make it as convenient as possible for whoever to watch it. The same should be true of studios who realize that they want their movies available for free online.”

2) Project Playlist vs. Labels – Project Playlist is another music site hoping to help people discover new music and are in the news because they just hired Owen Van Natta (formerly #2 at a little site called Facebook).  Question is whether or not they can survive on ad revenue and whether their linking to music is yet another form of music copyright violations.  As the NYT points out:

“The record labels have indeed proven themselves quite willing to settle lawsuits and license their catalogs to up-and-coming Web sites, so long as the sites pay a nine-figure upfront fee, a penny or so for every song played, and often a big chunk of stock as well.”

And we wonder why the music business is suffering…

3) OceanSpray to Replace Charlie Brown – It is becoming more and more common for brands to fully sponsor shows so I guess OceanSpray’s upcoming ABCFamily special “Cranberry Christmas” shouldn’t be so upsetting…but it is. Via MediaPost:

“The story is about an antagonist, Cyrus Grape, who won’t let kids ice skate over the local cranberry bog near his home. The hero, a young girl, saves Christmas Day for the children by reclaiming their favorite ice skating spot and discovering the land’s rightful owner.”

Yeah, that’s much more in the Christmas spirit than some red-nosed reindeer.

4) Bond Breaks Free – The weirdly named “Quantum of Solace” has been released first in the UK meaning the larger US market has to wait to see the newer, darker, James Bond, unless they know how to use BitTorrent:

“…despite searching the bags of paying customers, monitoring movie audiences with Bond-style night vision goggles and proffering misinformation, the industry has failed to stop the movie leaking to the Internet.”

Gotta wonder how much people are willing to put up with after paying $12 for a ticket and another $10 for soda and popcorn – Would you rather be treated like a criminal at the theater or actually just be one from the comfort of your couch?

5) Women are Pirates, Too – I love looking at the top “pirated” TV shows downloaded via BitTorrent.  Not only is it constantly surprising to see “Prison Break” at the top of the list (who watches this show?) but I am also fascinated that both “Desperate Housewives” and “Grey’s Anatomy” are always in the top 10.  I doubt lots of men are downloading Housewives and that means women are very much in the pirate game.

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Video Killed The Indie Film Star?

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It wasn’t all that long ago that the way every young director hoping to make his or her mark would make a short film and send it out on the festival circuit.

Of course, that was before YouTube made online video mainstream.  First, we saw a fair number of short films online but now, it seems, more folks are going the web-series route, to various levels of success.

The excellent Tilzy.tv have posts on two such indie webseries, CATACLYSMO and THE BICYCLIST.

“The two spent $20,000 making the web show [BICYCLIST], $30,000 making the movie, and they expect total costs to rise to $100,000 all told when the movie is marketed and distributed. That’s not much for say, a venture-backed web studio, but for folks who make a web show on weekends, it’s quite a bit of cash.”

Yup, and they’ve received fewer than 500,00 views for the series.  BUT that is one hell of a lot more bang for your buck than you’ll get at a minor film festival with your short film!

These days, you’d have to be crazy to think a film fest will be your route to the big times.

The Return of Smell-O-Vision? Dear Lord, NO!

From the country that brought the world sauerkraut comes the return of “Smell-O-Vision“:

“A company called Cinescent is giving marketers the chance to pump out the scent of their brands in German theaters, where it first tested the technology for Beiersdorf‘s Nivea. For the test, a specially made 60-second spot showed a typical sunny beach scene, with people lying around on deck chairs or sunbathing on towels while waves crashed and seagulls cried in the background.

As people wondered what the ad was for, the scent of Nivea sun cream permeated the cinema, and a Nivea logo appeared on screen along with the words “Nivea. The scent of summer.” (via)

It’s bad enough that, after paying $12, I am bombarded with close to 30 minutes of commercials before I get to see my movie of choice.  Now they want to attack my olefactory glands?!  As if we needed another reason to stay home and pirate a movie or two off of mininova.