Mainstream media

A bit of coverage from the magnificent Shane Richmond web communities editor at Telegraph.co.uk. Spreading the word and working out how to embed links in these blogs. What a day.

On the cutting room floor...

We set up this shot down one of the long cemetery vistas. Martin finds it and frames it. From 150 yards we semaphore ‘action’ to Harry and Charlie who move towards us. Then - serendipity: first one couple, then another, then another, come into shot, consult their maps before wandering off in the general direction of either Oscar or Jim. It’s as though we have a bunch of extras with us - and a dedicated extras director. The shot comes to be known as ‘Sunglasses Man’ and is a big favourite. And yet, as we cut and recut the film, there’s no obvious place for it. I want it in - quite badly - but to Paul and Simon there’s little point in gratuitous adornment. What is the shot doing, what is its job here? Will it make it to the final cut? I don’t know yet - but I still hope it does.

The Whole Equation

David Thomson’s new one ‘Have You Seen’ is in the house - perspicacious and sometimes acidic appraisals on 1,000 films. It reminds me to pull his wonderful The Whole Equation down from the shelf. This is a rollicking history of Hollywood (that’s Rita Hayworth on the cover) which sounds two themes repeatedly - ownership and distribution. Ownership because who pays the bills calls the shots - it’s rare to find people with an emotional and creative investment in a film, who also have a significant financial interest, much less a controlling one (an exception is Copolla who apparently owns Apocalypse Now outright).

So why don’t people who dream up and make films own them? 1) Cost - the prohibitive economics of film begets a million birthright/mess of potage deals and 2) Distribution. Distribution is where the movies started (theatre owners needing a spectacle to pull in punters) and it still runs the show. If you can’t get a film out there - why make it at all? But if you’re reading this, that can change can’t it? Today breakingviews.com is reporting that the first Hollywood/YouTube deal is in the pipeline. You’ll be able to watch Hollywood ‘product’ for free, provided you wade through a moat of advertising first. So the new distribution format is co-opted by the old power structures… and yet this is still a slightly more even playing field. We don’t own any cinemas but we do have a PC.