Results tagged “movies” from Uncivil Society
Today was one of those days where I had old media on my mind, so I took my camera and tracked the dotted lines to snap images of things I'd noticed on my daily walks.
The video above is something I've wanted to try for a while. On the repurposed Hudson River pier just south of Pier 54, there are some old installed binoculars with dusty interior lenses. I noticed that the my camera would fit in an eyepiece, and I thought the resulting image just might look like some of the old photos & films I've seen from the nineteenth & early twentieth centuries.
Et voila. Circular diffusion, gauzy images, faded color and harsh sound--it's several decades of early photographic experimentation distilled into one thirty-five second movie.
Below: a look back at the City from the Hudson in 1903. The piers below--those that survive--have been or will be remade into recreational areas, with playgrounds, greenspace, seating or entertainment complexes.
An iron fence on W. 21st St. in New York depicts the classic image of a rocket crashing into the Man in the Moon from Melies' 1902 pioneering science fiction film, Le Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon).
The fence is across from the Clinton School of the Arts, and I happened to snap this photo during lunch break. After I was done shooting about 10 or so photos, I noticed that a crowd of kids had surrounded me and continued talking about the image as I walked away.
Soooo, educator that I am, I went back and asked if any of them knew what it was. None of them did, but they agreed that it was "awesome" and wondered if the thing in his eye might be a bullet. I explained about the Melies film, its history, and what the image was supposed to be, all of which the kids said was even more awesome, so they asked me to repeat the title so they could watch the film on Youtube.
Highlight of my day, that.
Everything that advertises must converge at Rome's St. Regis Hotel, where the press junket for Angels & Demons meets cute with The Papal Foundation, also convened there at . . . where else? . . . Le Grand Bar!
Via Nikki Finke.
Gave my presentation today on Superman and CSR--basically a narrative of the case for folks who might not be familiar with it, with broad-brush thoughts that, if you know what's in my head, illustrate my larger theoretical points. More to come on that--much more--soon enough.
The news that the Watchmen settlement talks have heated up is interesting, though not wholly surprising. Nikke Finke notes inside talk that Warner Bros. finally takes the legal threat seriously enough to negotiate--as I was explaining to a law prof today, before hearing about this latest development, the judge's summary judgment order is likely not the only thing on WB lawyers' minds. The permanent injunction in the Bratz case is a powerful reminder that a judge can view (alleged) infringement of IP rights as harm substantive enough to warrant shutting down distribution.
It's a question every litigant has to consider: how much risk are you willing to bear. Even if lawyers were convinced they can prevail--and here, the WB's definition of prevail was basically lose-millions-of-dollars-to-the-point-the-movie-is-unprofitable, at some point they were going to have to say to company executives that yes, the possibly exists that the movie could be entirely shut down. Fox had nothing to lose going forward; WB could lose everything. You don't have to be a game theorist to see where the incentives lie.
Another interesting thing that jumped out at me when reading a letter by one of the film's producers--the description of the movie as a charitable social venture. Really:
Writers gave us free screenplay drafts; conceptual art was supplied by illustrators, tests were performed gratis by highly respected actors and helped along and put together by editors, designers, prop makers and vfx artists; we were the recipients of donated studio and work space, lighting and camera equipment. Another irony, given the commercial stakes implied by the pitched legal dispute between Fox and Warners, is that for years Watchmen has been a project that has survived on the fumes of whatever could be begged, borrowed and stolen - A charity case for all intents and purposes. None of that effort, none of that passion and emotional involvement, is considered in the framework of this legal dispute.
It's easy to be cynical about this sort of thing, but this account really does touch upon an important feature of comics and comics-related enterprises. In my talk today I spoke of the connection between comic art and charity, and IDW CEO Ted Adams--a fellow panelist--described how for most comics creators the work truly is a personal passion as much as, if not more than just, a job. This personal dimension is as essential to corporate production as the business elements, and we lose a lot when we ignore it.
That said, I bet Warner Bros.' lawyers are not exactly thrilled with the producer saying the project survived through "whatever could be begged, borrowed and stolen." Stuff like that is why lawyers tell clients not to say anything their case in public!
If Marx had written about the withering away of the bookstore, he might still be regarded as a sage.
Cody's is dead. The Harvard used book scene is a pale shadow of its former self. And now Hollywood's Book Soup is up for sale.
Book Soup, for those who have never been, is a gem--a truly essential shop for anyone with a serious interest in the dramatic arts & design, not a mention a hub for local arts scene. It was a steady haunt when I lived out there and remains a mandatory drop-by whenever I'm back in the area.
Which got me thinking. Book Soup still makes a profit, and it's an integral part of both the artistic community and the region's various arts-related industries. Perhaps one way to maintain its integrity is for a charity to buy it, such as the California Community Foundation or even the Academy Foundation.
Still using the break to gain some perspective. In the meantime, here are a few news items that stick out:
- This article has been making the rounds in design circles, and it really is a must-read for do-gooders of all stripes. I've been writing about the link between design and social benefit for a while, and it's a theme whose importance will only grow.
- Bruce Nussbaum on the shift from innovation to transformation. I have much more to say on that--in fact, I've already said a fair bit about it, if you read my articles carefully. What social enterprise folks should note: it's not just the talk about earned income & learning from hedge funds that face obsolescence.
- FilmLA has been in the news due to the decline of filming in Los Angeles. What I hadn't known: that a nonprofit coordinates movie, tv & ad shoots in the area.
- When can museums sell their works?
- Shaolin monks inspire controversy with their temple management franchise initiative.
- BBC announces the next Doctor today!
Fans anxious to know whether Watchmen will be released in March as scheduled will have to wait a few weeks. The New York Times is reporting that the judge in the Watchmen case has decided to refrain from ruling on the injunction sought by Fox until after a hearing set for January 20, 2009.
For anyone who wants more details on the judge's 12/24 ruling, I've uploaded a set of documents that includes not just the Christmas Eve order, but both parties' motions for summary judgment as well as fascinating material filed by Fox just yesterday.
These three filings in particular provide detailed allegations as to how Warner Brothers got into this mess. In a nutshell, Fox claims that it has evidence that Warner Brothers initially relied on an inaccurate chain of title provided by Paramount. Once Warner Brothers was aware of Fox's documented claims, it nonetheless decided to proceed in a deliberate "business calculation" that it would be more profitable to deal with a court case than clear the rights before making Watchmen.
Fox's claim that Warner Bros. has an established "studio practice" of bad faith in clearing title is central to its argument that the court should enjoin Warner Bros. from releasing the film.
Besides these documents, I also recommend checking out Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily and Rodney Perkins' Film Esq., which provide detailed analysis of the latest developments.
Disney co-produces an animated Bollywood film in this Indian joint venture. Via FurryNews.
Social enterprise suffers from a serious design flaw: it focuses attention on commerce as the defining trait of a medium ostensibly distinct from commercial values. The peak of a business cycle can mask this--business becomes associated with success, and the relative contrast between types of business helps maintain the integrity of the charitable form. But the economy crashes, the commercial elements become more distinct--the social entrepreneur seems preoccupied by profit, self-interest and the business practices that created the problems we now need to solve.
A sign of the cultural shift to which social entrepreneurs need to adapt: the resurgence of business as the villain in popular entertainment.
Just got back from the Watchmen screening at Time Warner. The movie really does seem to have waited until Zack Snyder could direct it--his play with time is ideal for this story, making the film as much a personal statement as an adaptation of someone else's book. The Q&A that followed the screening was equally engaging, particularly when it explored translating visual vocabulary across media and balancing multiple interests within a collective creation.
But, as always, what most engages me at events like this is meeting a bunch of interesting people. One thing that shone throughout the evening was the passion everyone felt for their work--Zack and Debbie Snyder, Paul Levitz, Dave Gibbons, the Time Warner archivists and the publicity team made the evening feel like much more than a promotional preview.
And that's exactly how such events should feel, because that sense of something more is exactly what art conveys.
One thing the announced remake of Plan 9 from Outer Space cannot match: the fact that the original production was a social enterprise. As Tim Burton's Ed Wood memorably portrays, the film was an investment vehicle for the Baptist Church of Beverly Hills. Pastor Lynn Lemon appears as the reverend presiding over the funeral of wrestler Tor Johnson.
An animated series--starting with an Oscar-nominated short--that adapts recordings of Dublin children recounting Bible stories. Here's the one that started it all: the beheading of John the Baptist.
Roger Ebert's blog consistently offers gems of insight, and his latest post is no exception. Not too long ago movies were a junk medium, like comic books and pulp fiction. Now we read this and it seems intuitively obvious:
As I've written many times, the movies are an empathy machine, drawing us into other lives, allowing us to identify with those of other races, genders, occupations, religions, income levels or times in history. Good films enlarge us, and are a civilizing medium. Bad films narrow us. No films at all impoverish us.
In this respect film expresses the same impulse toward empathetic representation evident in spoken and written language.
Current bid is 5000 dollars, but at least the shipping is free--and the designer fashion for the red carpet premiere is included!
As a youngster I went to see the Clint Eastwood "Every Which Way" films--not because of the plot, of course, but because of co-star Clyde the Orangutan. Here's what I didn't know about them until today:
According to "Visions of Caliban: On Chimpanzees and People" by famed primatologist Jane Goodall and Dale Peterson, the original "Clyde" was trained with a can of mace and a pipe wrapped in newspaper. He was viciously beaten the day before filming started to make him more docile. Near the end of filming the sequel "Any Which Way You Can," the orangutan was caught stealing doughnuts on the set, brought back to the training facility and beaten for 20 minutes with a 3 1/2 -foot ax handle. He died soon after of a cerebral hemorrhage.
An application to Speed Racer follows in this Defamer post.
Sigh.
I tried to post this as a comment on the relevant Blog@ thread, but alas, it was rejected as spam--understandable, given the digi-tons of linked junk that shows up in my own filters. Anyway, since I pulled this all together, here it is. No substantive comment for now; I'm working on some thought-intensive projects that are going to keep my blog posts for the next week or so confined to shiny things I run across in the course of my work. However, I will note that cases like this illustrate why I emphasize the value of savvy due diligence and explore worst-case scenarios.
For those who want to check out the original source material, here are the the Fox complaint, Warner Brothers' response, the disputed legal documents and the judge's order.
Arguably the most explosive sentence in the order: "It is particularly noteworthy that nothing on the face of the complaint or the documents supplied to the Court establishes that Gordon, the claimed source of Warner Brothers' interest in 'Watchmen,' ever acquired any rights in 'Watchmen.'"
As several reports state, Warner Brothers faced a similar situation before, when, in 2005, the same judge granted a preliminary injunction that would have kept The Dukes of Hazzard movie from being released, prompting the studio to agree to a multimillion dollar settlement. The plaintiff's lawyer in the Hazzard case: Marc Toberoff, who is now representing the Siegel heirs.
FOR THE RECORD UPDATE: Since a number of people are interested in the documents in this case, for the sake of completeness here are the studios' responses regarding the motion to dismiss and, for real inside baseball, the motions and order regarding whether the court has jurisdiction to hear the case. If you don't want to wade through all the legal arguments, a couple of the documents stand out: Fox's chart of alleged misstatements by Warner Brothers and the original 1990 purchase agreement between DC Comics and Fox.
Whether this means development hell remains to be seen.
Ebert's entire essay is brilliant & subtle. Quote of the day:
The closest sight I have seen to Friday night's spectacle, and I mean this objectively, not with disrespect, is the sight of all those Germans marching wave upon wave before Hitler in "Triumph of the Will."
In this week's Friday dramatical, a video mashup creates a 1920s silent Batman movie. Included in the mix are a couple cited as an inspiration for the character. Part 2--including must-see footage from The Man Who Laughs--is below. Together they illustrate how the Batman franchise has proven to be such an enduring and resilient set of archetypes.
Social enterprise as a movement trends toward the secular, but the big money has always been in religion. Via Libby Purves, check out the $30 million investment on $150 million valuation for GodTube, the YouTube knockoff that sports a full-on CSR agenda:
The great God Internet bubble rises and rises...Religion is probably as big as pornography on the net, if not bigger. Godtube - the minivideo site for the religiously minded - has raised $30 million at a $150 million valuation from GLG Partners, a hedge fund. The site started with $ 300 and last September became one of the top thousand sites worldwide. Its mission statement, incidentally, is strict: it gives a platform, so it claims, only to socially responsible faith-based organizations . . . 'Security and moral integrity are exceptionally important to the family at GodTube, and we take great pains to protect you and your loved ones. GodTube is family-friendly and is great for all Christians alike, including Christian children.'
To illustrate what a difference a social mission makes, one family has attracted millions of viewers by filming two versions of their daughter and placing one on each site. Here's the girl on GodTube:
And in her secular YouTube incarnation:
