The Future Is Here.

“The ideal movie technology is so advanced that it waves a magic wand and makes itself disappear” – James Cameron.

There is at least one man in Hollywood who knows how to spend $ 300 million wisely, while making profit of over $ 2 billion dollars, in seven weeks.Cameron’s magic wand combined with  pyrotechnics is not just another movie to watch with 3D glasses, it is the film that pushes cinematography onto another level.

Avatar puts the main stakes on the “performance capture” side of the technology. Actions made by real actors are transformed into actions of computerized 10-foot-tall aliens, on a planet called Pandora.

To understand with exactly what type of technology we are dealing with, let us take a look at few quick facts:

• The idea for this project came across Cameron’s mind 15 years ago. The director had to wait all this time to develop the technology. The author of Aliens participated in expansion of the 3D cameras needed for the movie.

• The movie is made out of 40 percent action by real actors and 60 percent photorealistic computer generated imagery. This makes Avatar one of the first films to use more computer generated technology than any other resource.

• The actors playing the aliens had cameras attached to their heads so that they filmed close-ups of their faces. Dots painted on their faces allowed motion-capture software to record their facial expressions, providing a ‘framework’ from which the character generator artists worked.

• Each frame (1/24 of a second) of the computer generated image scenes took an average of 47 hours to complete.

• Almost during the entire movie two camera lenses can dynamically converge on a focal point with the help of a computer, which is crucial for sweeping camera moves and action sequences.

Anyone who follows Cameron as a cinematographer, understands that it is all about pushing the envelope. Big box office numbers and a true celebration of “Cameromania” at the academy awards. Titanic took 11 Oscars in 1998, Avatar is hoping to take all nine golden statuettes it has been nominated for.

But the question that arises in the society and the film industry is what academy of motion pictures will decide? Shall 60 percent of footage made by technology, controlled by humans shall receive the desired prize or cinema has to stay as a simply glamorous genre of art where acting, literature and many other components come together in an organic way?

“Avatar as a movie is significant in terms of how cinema in general will be viewed now on, but on a personal level I didn’t love it much” said Claude Kerven – Chair person  of the directing program at the New York Film Academy.

At the end of the decade Avatar is defining the rebirth of the film!

As we have been observing various media outlets including music, television, print media and others – all are going through the phase of change. Technology drags us and our knowledge into the future. Cinema as part of the entertainment world is simply one of those industries that tries to survive and make a buck.

When Rob Marshall made a movie Chicago (2002) it brought the genre of the musical back.  Five academy awards and enormous international acclaim. He thought that the old fashioned way of movie making can still be appealing, but is it?

In 2009 -  Avatar and the musical Nine hit the theaters across the country, almost at the same time. One is the visual masterpiece while other tries to talk about Pasolini’s neo-realism and Fellini’s vision with blended Broadway dances and music. Obviously it was clear since the first day that star cascade of Nine (including such names as Daniel Day-Lewis, Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench and Sofia Loren) could simply not compete with Cameron’s vision! Obviously real stars of Avatar are the character generator artists and not the actors, in fact Sigourney Weaver is the only internationally known celebrity that appears in the movie, rest of the cast members are semi-famous starting actors. But this only proves the demand from the public for something new, and that something can be brought by technology!

“To be honest the script was weak, it reminded me of Pocahontas, and Cameron’s political message was not clear at all, but it is a visual masterpiece” – said Derek Katzer – digital cinema grad student at the DePaul University.

With weak or strong script it is apparent the director and his crew just re-invented the cinema.  As Roger Ebert said:  “Cameron got re-elected”.

The idea of the film became different and in the minds of millions of viewers the so called “fourth wall” that always existed between the screen and the audience was taken down in a most organic way. Watching 2D we always have necessity to take the wall down and be in the movie.  World known directors tried to bring that element to us, but only now with the right use of technology and just a bit of imagination picture becomes  so clear, that it is frightening. The audience can feel the story.

At this point it is hard to say where technology will lead cinematography, but one thing is true, demand for such films will increase and new generations will be craving for their own 3D TV-sets or perhaps even 3D iPhones, with their personal designer 3D glasses from fall collection of Gucci or Prada. Worldwide Avatar was received with warm critique and a sold out movie theater halls for weeks in advance, which only proves humans welcome the entrance of the future.

From that standpoint, the major point for the director has to be making  a movie that will bring income and satisfy people’s needs. Is it ok to use as much technological developments as possible or does s/he has to rely on already existing clichés to make a good movie?

Digital media developments have not only fundamentally transformed movies but have altered its role as a witness to reality by rendering “realities” not necessarily linked to documentation, by engineering environments that incorporate audiences as participants, and by creating event-worlds instead of avant-garde that mix realities and narratives in forms not possible in traditional cinema.

This hybrid cinema melds montage, traditional cinema, experimental literature, television, video, and the net. The new cinematic forms suggest that traditional cinema no longer has the capacity to represent events that are themselves complex configurations of experience, interpretation, and interaction.

In near future cinema as we know it now will simply be old fashion genre of motion pictures. The future is in our hands, all we have to do is open our imagination and re-invent.

To quote Abraham Lincoln – “The best thing about future is that it comes day by day”.

As humans we can learn how to accept our future step by step, film by film,  software by software and maybe one day planet by planet.

NEW BUSINESS vs. OLD BUSINESS – Welcome to newser.com

From Steve Jobs’ latest invention to Obama’s last night speech, including Brangelina’s breakup rumors and the rest of the most important issues occurring in the world –  you get it all at the newser.com, but the charming difference is that authors of this extremely popular online publication give their info in 50 to 120 words rather than writing long “boring” stories.

“Read less, know more” was the motivation for Michael Wolff - a Vanity Fair columnist and a CNBC contributor who founded  newser.com in 2007 and turned it into a profitable business – in less than a year.

During his interview at the CNBS, Wolff was accused of being a reason for the New York Times and Wall Street Journal getting out of the business but in his defense, author of  the  infamous “Burn rate: how I survived the gold rush years on the internet”,  brought up some interesting arguments.

…It is clear that new business is replacing the old business….. You don’t need to read  only New York Times to be well educated person, you have to read all the other sources as well.

The structure of constructing news for newser.com is simple – they take the daily news from over 100 sources, shrink them into smaller more “quick to read”, handy, semi-articles, add pictures or if available – videos and put them out to the world.

Obviously, such a form of not creating but recreating news got critical approach from the professional colleagues  – for instance Portfolio magazine has been critical of Michael Wolff specifically for that reason.

On the other hand we must admit re-invention is something not everyone can afford. All the media outlets have to re-invent themselves to adjust to the future. What is wrong with the fact that in the era condemned to the – quick, fast, rapid – you will have to spend less time, but still know it all.

Freakonomics.com calls the newser.com one of the best new models of journalism, and I cannot agree more.

Seven robbery attacks in Lincoln Park!

As the records of Chicago police department indicate, there have been seven considerable robbery attacks that occurred during the summer 2009, in the Lincoln Park area.

The map of the surrounding areas of the attacks show the exact locations of the two robberies that took place around the same time period and also the locations of the possible related attacks.

Police suspect that four of this robberies might have been done by the same group of individuals, between July 30^th and August 1^st.

Two victims out of four have been hospitalized.

As police believe attacks are similar to each other. Usually the victim is a male in mid 20s, who is confronted by four young males from the front and behind. The thieves take the wallet and beat the victim in the face or head.

As of December 2009, no arrests have been made and police are still investigating the last two attacks.

http://quikmaps.com/site/129564

The future has arrived! FLYPmedia.com

While traditional media forms are slowly packing their bags to rest in peace, new media outlets are already occupying the infinity of internet becoming some of the most powerful new faces of the journalism.

First fully integrated multimedia publication online – is the description that FLYPmedia.com gives itself. The idea is that they use every existing tool including video, audio, graphics, animation, text and of course photography to create “live’ articles that will help reader dive in and become multi skilled consumers of the news.

Radio we listen; Television we watch; Magazines we read; FLYPmedia we experience.

Jim Gaines is the former editor of Time and People who now is in charge of FLYPmedia, with team of 12 designers, journalists and of course flash experts who push journalism into another level. But is this really the future?

Absolutely!  By 2010 we are all on the same page with the idea that internet is the hope not only for journalism but for many other institutions.

Quote: “It’s a good place to check out stories that push boundaries and are relevant to Americans today” But obviously as being one of the pioneers of its type there are many questions public has – what is the business model? how does it operate?

When life magazine came out, every issue of it was like piece of art. Now it is  piece of art for museum! Who knows perhaps 20 years later FLYPmedia.com will become one of the oldest and least popular online publications, but for now it is more than clear that in its unique way FLYPmedia is putting a standard of what new era of journalism means.

On the other hand, there are demanding people who want everything at the same time and can complain about certain areas of FLYPmedia.

Is it using standard codes of ethics of journalism? which 10 laws of interactive storytelling do they apply most? where is this taking us?

Instead of asking questions, just go to FLYPmedia.com enjoy the quality that speaks for itself and remember it is only one out of hundreds of multimedia integrated magazines we are going to be observing in the future.

I-G

HELLO WORLD…..

Virtual Existence……

I refuse confessions of any type in life, but when it comes to the virtual existence it is OKAY to declare just a little bit about….. At the end of the day 50% we end up with what we are and 50% is what they – in this case “virtual people” think we are.

In times of facebook, MySpace, twitter, LinkedIn and other social networks it has become important and challenging part of our lives to represent ourselves online. That is why I have decided to write a blog, to share thoughts or make an impression that I am actually sharing! The good think about the blog is that no one can accuse you  -  being egocentric.

I guess that the landscape has an influence on people the same way people have an influence on the landscape. Chicago is covered with snow – lovely, soft and in a way warm snow which allows the mind to dive in and get lost.

In the world condemned to the internet the cinema is still a real authentic old-fashioned party and a celebration of self-expression but will it last long?

This Blog is dedicated to a search of identifying the difference between virtual and the authentic values of media outlets.

All for now.

I-G