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CinemaTech

CinemaTech focuses on how new technologies are changing cinema - the way movies get made, discovered, marketed, distributed, shown, and seen. (With occasional forays into other parts of the entertainment economy.)

Apple Dropping DRM from Audio, Keeping It On VideoYesterday

Apple announced today that it plans to ditch digital rights management (DRM) restrictions on the music it sells through the iTunes Store. By the end of March, all 10 million songs on iTunes will be DRM-free. (Here's more from Macworld's Web site.) Cleverly, Apple will also sell you an "upgrade" to your existing music library, peeling off the DRM wrapper, for just 30 cents per song. Music without DRM is much easier to move from one device to another.

But DRM (Apple's is called FairPlay) will still be affixed to all videos sold by iTunes.

How long do you think that will last? Especially given that everyone in Hollywood pays lip service to having learned important lessons from the digital distribution experiences of the music industry?

CES Trends: Net-Connected TVs and Home 3-DJanuary 5

Judging from a bunch of news stories that appeared this morning, two big trends for this year's Consumer Electronics Show are TVs that have a built-in Internet connection for downloading or streaming video (these have been present at CES for several years.... but consumers may soon actually start to purchase them) and 3-D content in the living room.

The trend toward Internet-connected TVs seems to favor Netflix, which has been making deals with several TV manufacturers; it also has the potential to slow sales of Blu-ray DVDs.

Some links:
LG Adds a Direct Internet Link to a Line of HDTVs

- Blu-ray's Fuzzy Future (What will digitally-delivered content to do Blu-ray disc sales?)

- Internet-Ready TVs Usher Web Into Living Room

- Animators Envision 3-D TV at Home

- Taking 3-D to a New Dimension: The Home

ITVS: Case Studies of Indie Filmmakers Working with New TechnologiesDecember 30 2008

One of my big projects for 2008 was collaborating with ITVS on a series of case studies focused on indie filmmakers who are pioneering new ways to:

- Open up the production process to more audience participation

- Find and connect with new audiences for their work

- Distribute their finished film in new ways.

The first seven case studies are up on the ITVS site now, along with a list of the "Top Five Connection-Creating Strategies" and "Top Five Marketing and Promotion Strategies" for social issue filmmakers. (Many of these would work for any kind of filmmaker, but the whole project has a social issue doc focus.)

The filmmakers I interviewed include Byron Hurt ('Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes'); Katy Chevigny ('Election Day'); Curt Ellis ('King Corn'); David Iverson and Michael Schwarz ('My Father, My Brother and Me'); Hunter Weeks and Josh Caldwell ('10 MPH'); Tiffany Shlain ('The Tribe'); and Brad Lichtenstein ('What We Got'). One last case study, with Patrick Creadon (director of 'Wordplay' and 'I.O.U.S.A.'), should be up soon.

Here's part of the intro to the project:
ITVS Digital Initiative: Report from the Field, a series of

Dr. Horrible DVD: The Reviews are InDecember 24 2008

NewTeeVee ran a very positive review of the Dr. Horrible DVD, released just a few days ago as an Amazon.com exclusive.

What's interesting is that director Joss Whedon decided to publish the DVD using CreateSpace, Amazon's DVD-or-download-on-demand division.

Also interesting to check out how the Dr. Horrible fan community is evolving on the official site.

From NewTeeVee's assessment of the DVD:


Here are some earlier pieces where I've written about the significance of the Dr. Horrible experiment.

Seeking Your Help with My Next BookDecember 13 2008

The project I've been working on for a few months now is about building a fan base in the digital era.

If you are a filmmaker, musician, artist, or writer, how do you attract a big audience online...and ideally build a self-sustaining career with the support of that audience?

So I'm looking for people who have really built their careers on the Internet, not necessarily established bands or filmmakers who've also done cool stuff with the Web.

One example of someone I've interviewed already is Michael Buckley, the YouTube star who recently quit his day job and signed a development deal with HBO.

Other examples of people I've been talking to: the guys at JibJab...Ze Frank ... OK GO ... and Natasha Wescoat. Essentially, people who have figured out how to attract and interact with lots of people online, and who've built business models around that without ticking off their fans.

Would love to hear any ideas you have...