Huntford Productions

EBMS @ Full Sail

2012-08-20T22:35:00.004-07:00

My experience of the Entertainment Business Masters course at Full Sail University is hard to describe in one word. It has been a struggle, it has been fun, and at some points it got kind of weird, but the program as a whole was a blast. I was able to meet people from around the world, and really get to know them as a friend and not just as another classmate. We started out the program in August of 2011 with about 25 people in the class. Fast-forward to today and you can see clearly that our class has dwindled down to the few who stuck it out and gave it all they could. Every single person that was in my class came from all different walks of life. Having taken a Bachelors degree at Full Sail as well, I can definitely say that the masters program is completely different. Not only was my graduating class smaller, but also I felt that we were much closer because of it. Advanced Entertainment Law helped me gain more knowledge about what goes into contracts and other forms of legal documents. The instructor was supremely knowledgeable about the subject and guided me through the course to better understand the legal side of the entertainment industry. Having an interest in becoming a producer and opening my own company, this class really brought to light the issues and trials you must over come when starting a business from scratch. This course has helped me truly understand what it takes to start a business and what trials you must overcome. I might not be starting my company any time soon, but I feel that the information I have gained in the past twelve months is extremely beneficial towards what I want to accomplish with my life. If you are looking to broaden your knowledge of the entertainment business and have a once in a lifetime experience, then Full Sail’s Entertainment Business Masters is where you belong.

The Dark Knight Rises

2012-08-09T22:26:00.000-07:00

Christopher Nolan never ceases to amaze me with his incredible visual talent to bring such an iconic comic book character into today’s world. If you haven’t had a chance to see The Dark Knight Rises, then I highly suggest you do so immediately.
There may have been a few small plot holes that could have been explained more, but what it all comes down to is that it is a movie and simply sitting through a 10 hour long cut of the movie to have everything explained in detail, would be quite boring. The film has remained at the top of the box office since its release on July 20, which brings the grand total amount ticket sales to about $347,000,000 making it the twentieth highest grossing film of all time and it is still selling out theaters. In addition to the film looking cinematographically spectacular, it was partially filmed on IMAX cameras to fully immerse you into the heart of Gotham City.

The Dark Knight Rises is squarely a Christopher Nolan show; the movie is an epic farewell to an epic franchise, a production that is as big as summer blockbusters can be, but much deeper than your typical Hollywood fare. In hindsight it is clear that Nolan was building to something like this from the start, the perfect ending that wraps up the story of Gotham, its citizens and Batman in grand fashion. The best part about the movie is that it's unpredictable. Rumors have been circulating for years over who is who and what will happen at the end and it's not until deep into the movie, and if you grew up reading Batman comic books, will you realize how things will turn out. Most comic book movies don't offer that kind of mystery, and that's what makes this a special film.

The Problems on the Set of 'World War Z'

2012-06-14T06:52:00.001-07:00

World War Z is a zombie drama that has been in production now for about four years, and has had problems from the get go. One of the biggest flaws in the production is the lack of an experienced director. Marc Forster was signed to direct after Brad Pitt’s production company, Plan B Entertainment, bought the film rights to move the film into development. Three weeks before shooting was to begin in June 2011, sources say Forster had not made critical decisions about what the zombies would look like and how they would move.
As filming began, conflicts arose between crewmembers, especially between those above the line. Many seasoned talents were hired on, and then replaced after only a short amount of time. One of the biggest stories you may have heard of from this set is the raid by the Hungarian Anti-Terrorism Unit. Being a zombie film, you need guns, and this being a HUGE zombie movie, you need a lot of guns. So, 85 assault rifles, sniper rifles, and handguns had been flown into Budapest overnight on a private aircraft, but the film's producers had failed to clear the delivery with Hungarian authorities, and while the import documentation indicated that the weapons had been disabled, all were found to be fully functional. As the production wended its way through locations in London, Glasgow, Malta and Budapest, there was still more trouble. By several accounts, cinematographer Richardson struggled to impose order, antagonizing other crewmembers in the process. While it’s not at all unusual for filmmakers to go back to capture a bit of additional footage, most reshoots take somewhere between a few days and a few weeks. World War Z was set to release in December 2012, but now with The fact that World War Z needs to film for another month and half suggests that this isn’t a matter of some simple tweaks or a couple of new scenes, but an attempt to significantly rework the movie. In my own opinion, I was looking forward to seeing this movie, but with all of these news stories of horror from the set, I’m starting to feel like I probably wont be forking over $15 to see this one. Is this movie worth putting forth millions more money to try to save it from its impending doom, or should they just unplug the life support?

Source: /film

The Motion Picture Association of America

2012-06-03T20:05:00.001-07:00

mpaa.org

One of the most powerful organizations in the film industry is the Motion Picture Association of America. Formed in 1922, the MPAA was originally named The Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association of America and was created to resist government interference with films and create an organized system of industry-led censorship called the Hays Code or The Production Code.

The biggest change in MPAA’s history was in the late 60’s when the Hays Code underwent revisions adapt to our country’s changing social morals. In 1968 the rating system we know today was introduced to the film industry, which required each film to be reviewed and rated by the MPAA to inform parents about the content of a movie. The key functions of the MPAA is best stated by them:

“We are the voice and advocate of the American motion picture, home video and television industries, domestically and, through our subsidiaries and affiliates, internationally. We champion a healthy, thriving film and television industry by engaging in a variety of legislative, policy, education, technology and law enforcement initiatives. These efforts range from safeguarding intellectual property rights to using technology to expand consumer entertainment choices, to championing fair trade agreements and a secure future for artistic freedom of expression.“

Even though the MPAA has been around for so long, many people feel that the association over-censor films and television shows and sometimes even restrict a movie from ever being released. In my personal opinion, I feel that the rating system we have is a great system, but there needs to be a slight change to what is acceptable for children to observe. I know that you must be aware of what children see, but I feel that the rating system should be directed at what is acceptable in our society as a whole.

This association is definitely something that I, as a producer, must take into account when I am producing a film or television production. To accomplish this I need to completely understand my audience and be aware of who is going to observe my film. The MPAA is no doubt the most powerful organization in the entertainment industry. Without it, who knows what kind of films and television shows would be on the air.

Sources: MPAA.org

Amazon Created a 'Never Before on DVD' Store

2012-05-25T12:57:00.000-07:00

Amazon is making a bold move in the right direction with their new ‘Never Before on DVD’ store by bringing back older film, which have never been released on DVD. The service literally makes DVDs and packaging after you have ordered them. Among its 2,000 titles initially offered are movies from the vaults of Disney, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. The service allows for content providers to offer movies on DVD that it might not be economically wise to mass-produce. Rather than eliminating these titles to digital on-demand services, Amazon's CreateSpace will produce the discs on an order-by-order basis, meaning there are no concerns about unsold stock. I personally am looking forward to this because hopefully studios will stop locking away movies from releasing. It was also mentioned that Nickelodeon will also take part in this new store. That is the main thing I’m looking forward to because soon I’ll be able to watch all those great shows from the 90’s. Amazon has also announced that it has struck a deal with Paramount Pictures to offer "hundreds" of its movies via the Prime Instant Video service, including titles like Mission Impossible 3, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and Top Gun to customers who have ponied up for the $79-a-year service. The agreement is good for the next three years, though the window for when new movies will become available on the service looks like it will be fairly long, if the titles Amazon has name checked are any indication. In my opinion this is a great step to bring back the old movies, we shouldn’t just lock them up in a ‘vault’. Also, I hope they create the option to put your own material on amazon and have them basically become your independent distributor.

Results of the 84th Annual Academy Awards

2012-02-29T17:19:00.000-08:00

Even though the Academy Awards was a few days ago, I feel that it’s still relevant enough to post the results for those who didn’t watch it or simply can’t remember who won what Oscar. Billy Crystal was our host for the night, making this his ninth time hosting the Academy Awards. I was pretty satisfied with the winners, although I did not see some of the films that won. Hugo, directed by Martin Scorsese, won five Oscars including best cinematography.

When a film wins an Oscar or even when an actor wins one, their fame rises dramatically. When managing an Oscar winning actor you must be on your feet at all time because you will have offers flying in left and right. The best way to manage a situation like this is to pick the best offer that will showcase what that actor or actress is actually capable of. Over the past few years, I have felt like the Academy Awards was very, very political. I felt like some of the films that had won over the past, only won because they made the most money or rather, who gives the Academy most money.

Here are the winners of the 84^th annual Academy Awards:

Best Picture

- The Artist

- The Descendants

- Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

- The Help

- Hugo

- Midnight in Paris

- Moneyball

- The Tree of Life

- War Horse

Best Actress in a Leading Role

- Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady

- Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs

- Viola Davis, The Help

- Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

- Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn

Best Actor in a Leading Role

- Jean Dujardin, The Artist

- Demian Bichir, A Better Life

- George Clooney, The Descendants

- Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

- Brad Pitt, Moneyball

Best Director

- Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist

- Alexdander Payne, The Descendants

- Martin Scorsese, Hugo

- Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris

- Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life

Best Actor In a Supporting Role

- Christopher Plummer, Beginners

- Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn

- Jonah Hill, Moneyball

- Nick Nolte, Warrior

- Max von Sydow, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

- Octavia Spencer, The Help

- Bérénice Bejo, The Artist

- Jessica Chastain, The Help

- Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids

- Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs

Cinematography

- Hugo, Robert Richardson

- The Artist, Guillaume Schiffman

- The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Jeff Cronenweth

- The Tree of Life, Emmanuel Lubezki

- War Horse, Janusz Kaminski

Short Film(Animated)

- The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg

- Dimanche/Sunday, Patrick Doyon

- La Luna, Enrico Casarosa

- A Morning Stroll, Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe

- Wild Life, Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby

Documentary Short

- Saving Face, Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

- The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement, Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin

- God is the Bigger Elvis, Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson

- Incident in New Baghdad, James Spione

- The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom, Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen

Short Film (Live Action)

- The Shore, Terry George and Oorlagh George

- Pentecost, Peter McDonald and Eimear O’Kane

- Raju, Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren

- Time Freak, Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey

- Tuba Atlantic, Hallvar Witzø

Writing (Original Screenplay)

- Midnight in Paris, Written by Woody Allen

- The Artist, Written by Michel Hazanavicius

- Bridesmaids, Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig

- Margin Call, Written by J.C. Chandor

- A Separation, Written by Asghar Farhadi

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

- The Descendants, Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash

- Hugo, Screenplay by John Logan

- The Ides of March, Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon

- Moneyball, Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. Story by Stan Chervin

- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Screenplay by Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan

Music (Original Song)

- “Man or Muppet” from The Muppets, Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie

- “Real in Rio” from Rio, Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown, Lyric by Siedah Garrett

Music (Original Score)

- The Artist, Ludovic Bource

- The Adventures of Tintin, John Williams

- Hugo, Howard Shore

- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Alberto Iglesias

- War Horse, John Williams

Visual Effects

- Hugo, Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning

- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson

- Real Steel, Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg

- Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett

- Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Dan Glass, Brad Friedman, Douglas Trumbull and Michael Fink

Animated Feature Film

- Rango, Gore Verbinski

- A Cat in Paris, Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli

- Chico & Rita, Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal

- Kung Fu Panda 2, Jennifer Yuh Nelson

- Puss in Boots, Chris Miller

Documentary Feature

- Undefeated

- Hell and Back Again

- If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front

- Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory

- Pina

Sound Mixing

- Hugo, Tom Fleischman and John Midgley

- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson

- Moneyball, Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick

- Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin

- War Horse, Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson

Sound Editing

- Hugo, Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty

- Drive,Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis

- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Ren Klyce

- Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl

- War Horse, Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

Film Editing

- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall

- The Artist, Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius

- The Descendants, Kevin Tent

- Hugo, Thelma Schoonmaker

- Moneyball, Christopher Tellefsen

Foreign Language Film

- Iran, “A Separation”, Asghar Farhadi, director

- Belgium, “Bullhead”, Michael R. Roskam, director

- Canada, “Monsieur Lazhar”, Philippe Falardeau, director

- Israel, “Footnote”, Joseph Cedar, director

- Poland, “In Darkness”, Agnieszka Holland, director

Makeup

- The Iron Lady, Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

- Albert Nobbs, Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle

- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin

Costume Design

- Hugo, Sandy Powell

- Anonymous, Lisy Christl

- The Artist, Mark Bridges

- Jane Eyre, Michael O’Connor

- W.E., Arianne Phillips

Art Direction

- Hugo: Dante Ferretti (Production Design); Francesca Lo Schiavo (Set Decoration)

- The Artist: Laurence Bennett (Production Design); Robert Gould (Set Decoration)

- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2: Stuart Craig (Production Design); Stephenie - McMillan (Set Decoration)

- War Horse: Rick Carter (Production Design); Lee Sandales (Set Decoration)

Source: /film

Blackout Day

2012-01-18T08:54:00.000-08:00

Today, January 18, 2012, over 7,000 websites including Wikipedia and Google will have a “Blackout Day” to censor all content in protest of the upcoming vote of the Stop Online Piracy Act or SOPA.

SOPA if you didn’t know is an act that will greatly hinder our right to free speech by censoring any and all copyrighted content on any website. Websites such as Facebook, YouTube, and most blog sites are in danger of being shut down unless they themselves take the content down. This so-called copyright infringement will include any videos on YouTube that have any copyrighted music in them and didn’t get permission to use the song, even if it is just a video of a family member or friend dancing to a song. SOPA will also require ISP’s to censor any kind of peer-to-peer sharing website, such as ThePirateBay.org or Bittorrent.com.

The Blackout Day movement is to show the bill supporters what the internet will possibly look like if SOPA gets passed, by the government being able to censor or take down any site they think is breaking the law. In an article from /film, the Motion Picture Association of America’s Chairman and CEO Chris Dodd came out with a statement blasting the websites that plan on protesting. This is what was said in his statement:

“Only days after the White House and chief sponsors of the legislation responded to the major concern expressed by opponents and then called for all parties to work cooperatively together, some technology business interests are resorting to stunts that punish their users or turn them into their corporate pawns, rather than coming to the table to find solutions to a problem that all now seem to agree is very real and damaging.

It is an irresponsible response and a disservice to people who rely on them for information use their services. It is also an abuse of power given the freedoms these companies enjoy in the marketplace today. It’s a dangerous and troubling development when the platforms that serve as gateways to information intentionally skew the facts to incite their users in order to further their corporate interests.

A so-called “blackout” is yet another gimmick, albeit a dangerous one, designed to punish elected and administration officials who are working diligently to protect American jobs from foreign criminals. It is our hope that the White House and the Congress will call on those who intend to stage this “blackout” to stop the hyperbole and PR stunts and engage in meaningful efforts to combat piracy.”

Sources: Huffingtonpost

Slashfilm.com

Jaws No More

2012-01-06T08:31:00.000-08:00

One of Universal’s original and most memorable rides, Jaws, closed down on Monday, including the Amity-themed area, to make way for a new and exciting attraction to be added in 2012. The ride, if you don’t know, is based off the 1975 movie Jaws, directed by Steven Spielberg and is one of the most iconic movies of all time. Universal spokesmen Tom Schroder said, "Jaws has been an amazing attraction and an important part of our history. We know that Jaws holds a special place in the hearts of our guests," Schroder said. "But we always have to look to the future and dedicate ourselves to providing new, innovative entertainment experiences for our guests."

Now questions are arising as to what will be replacing the famous ride. When the park first announced that the Jaws and Amity area would be closing back in early December, rumors started to float all over the Internet. Would it be a ride dedicated to the Michael Bay Transformers films? Or bringing back one of its original rides like King Kong or Ghostbusters? Well, according to the Theme Park Insider, it is going to be transformed into an extension of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (WWoHP). While this is all still in concept and is not set in stone yet, it is a perfect way for Universal to attract more visitors to their leapfrogging original park Universal Studios. Having built one in each of the two parks it will make the consumer have to buy the 2-park hopper pass instead of just one ticket to Islands of Adventure. This is a perfect marketing strategy seeing as the opening of the WWoHP has been drawing in record crowds into their park since it opened in 2010. Some of the new concept attractions include Diagon Alley complete with a Gringotts ride, similar to the Harry Potter ride in Islands of Adventure, and also what seems to be the rumored Hogwarts Express connecting the two separate parks. Even though this is still all in concept and it really hasn’t been confirmed by anyone at Universal, I am definitely looking forward to a new extension of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

If you never got the chance to ride it, here is a tribute video for Jaws showing the whole ride:

Sources - Theme Park Insider

Orlando Sentinel

TED Speaker Franco Sacchi

2011-12-12T11:25:00.000-08:00

When you think about Africa, you think of it as a place of wide-open landscape with exotic animals and deserts, but did you know that Africa has one of the largest film industries in the world. With 872 feature length films released in 2006, Nigeria became the second largest film producer in the world. Italian film director, Franco Sacchi, saw this booming industry and decided to make a documentary giving insight to all that happens in Nollywood.

The basis of almost every film produced in Nollywood has some sort of meaning behind them. They make films for the people of Nigeria to enjoy while still making movies for a relatively cheap price. Not only do they make their films on a small budget, but also they also usually make them in a week’s time including post work. In an interview with producer/director Lancelot Imasen in Sacchi’s documentary, Imasen best explains what Nollywood really stands for, “… they are stories that our people can relate to themselves. They are stories about our people, for our people. And consistently, they are glued to their screen whenever they seen the story.”

Franco sells the story of Nollywood very well by giving us visuals and personally relate to the community of Nollywood. Before I had seen this video, I really had no idea that Nollywood even existed let alone be the second largest producer of films. Franco gives us a great background about himself and why he is so interested in the Nigerian film industry. His speech greatly expanded my understanding of Nollywood and all that it stands for. Franco’s point-of-view is expressed clearly and completely and he doesn’t seem to miss a beat. Being that this video was taken more than four years ago, I still feel that it is a relevant cause and Nollywood shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

Sources : http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/franco_sacchi_on_nollywood.html

http://www.un.org/apps//news/story.asp?NewsID=30707&Cr=nigeria&Cr1=

Netflix Loses 800,000 Customers

2011-10-26T13:24:00.000-07:00

Netflix is, in my opinion, one of the greatest things that have happened to movies. The ability to watch almost any movie any time has changed the way we watch movies. However, in the recent months the company has made a few changes, and with the changes came upset for the subscribers to their service.

Back in July Netflix’s CEO, Reed Hastings, decided with the company to raise the price by 60% for their mail-ordered DVD service. Their response to this change was simply that it was the costs of running its business. The second big change Netflix approached was to partner up with a service called Qwikster, in which the Netflix name would only apply to the online streaming and the DVD’s and newly added games would be under Qwikster. Being such a sudden and unusual change, customers were immediately struck with confusion. A quote from Hastings’ blog explains the reason behind the changes:

"[W]e realized that streaming and DVD by mail are becoming two quite different businesses, with very different cost structures, different benefits that need to be marketed differently, and we need to let each grow and operate independently. It’s hard for me to write this after over 10 years of mailing DVDs with pride, but we think it is necessary and best: In a few weeks, we will rename our DVD by mail service to “Qwikster”. We chose the name Qwikster because it refers to quick delivery. We will keep the name “Netflix” for streaming."

Then in less than a month the company realized that this had become such an unpopular decision that they abandoned the idea entirely. His explanation for the cancelation of the proposal was, “It is clear that for many of our members two websites would make things more difficult, so we are going to keep Netflix as one place to go for streaming and DVDs. This means no change: one website, one account, one password… in other words, no Qwikster. While the July price change was necessary, we are now done with price changes.“

In more recent news the company has unveiled in their third quarter investor letter that Netflix has lost 800,000 subscribers since the initial price hike. Along with losing so many subscribers, Netflix’s stocks dropped by 27% in one day. In response to these plummeting stocks the company unveiled a plan to expand their service to the UK and Ireland beginning in 2012 and also to expand to other countries in Europe.

The majority of people who are subscribed to Netflix, including me, only use the online and console streaming and as long as they keep adding new movies and TV shows, then I am going to stay a happy customer.

Sources - slashfilm.com

Rango Review

2011-10-17T19:50:00.000-07:00

For the first post on this blog, I decided to do a review on the movie Rango. As soon as I saw the trailer for this movie, I knew I wanted to see it. Though I never got around to see it in the theater, I did buy it on Bluray. I must say that this is by far the most highly detailed animated film I have ever seen. The way the characters stride or even just how the hair or feathers lay looks so realistic.

If you have no idea what Rango is about, then here’s the synopsis:

“Rango is a sheltered chameleon living as an ordinary family pet, while facing a major identity crisis. After all, how high can you aim when your whole purpose in life is to blend in? When Rango accidentally winds up in the gritty, gun-slinging town of Dirt - a lawless outpost populated by the desert's most wily and whimsical creatures - the less-than-courageous lizard suddenly finds he stands out. Welcomed as the last hope the town has been waiting for, new Sheriff Rango is forced to play his new role to the hilt...” -- (C) Paramount

One of the main things that got me interested in watching this movie was how they recorded the audio for each scene. Gore Verbinski would take all the actors that were in the scene being recorded and they would be in a soundstage with a partially put up set to give the actors some reference. It also helps the actor really interact with the environment that their character is in. Not only did this technique help for the better of the sound of the movie but it allowed the actors to interact with each other when the normal way of recording dialogue for an animated film is done in a tiny sound proof room with just a microphone and a podium.

Rango not only looks fantastic, but it also has a great storyline and great humor for any type of person. It is a smart comedy with non-stop slapstick humor and also a deep emotional rollercoaster that the character Rango rides. Rango is a great movie to watch with your family, a group of friends, or even by yourself. It will keep you entertained the entire time.

Rango HD Trailer: