Skillset UK

Skillset is the UK government's development portal for the film industry, with a whole range of really useful information including job descriptions, skills sets for particular crew roles and links to unit standards. This, for instance is taken from the unit standard on what directors need to know / do in order to understand whether their ideas actually are viable.



D1 INVESTIGATE THE VIABILITY OF IDEAS FOR PRODUCTIONS
This is what you must be able to do
1. ensure you keep yourself up-to-date with trends and developments in the industry including those with relevance to the context of the medium in which you work
2. network to establish good working relationships with people known to possess potential ideas
3. initiate ideas and encourage new ideas from others
4. review and select ideas that meet your own capabilities and objectives or those of your organisation
5. where appropriate,organise the securing of the necessary rights for development and production of potential projects in good time
6. establish with relevant people the commercial and artistic viability and audience appeal
7. appoint and negotiate with relevant people who will bring quality and value to the proposed projects
8. manage the development process by encouraging constructive discussion with relevant people
9. review the development work and base final decisions about the feasibility of projects on appropriate research and discussion
10.collate necessary information to enable the preparation of an attractive pitch to be made to relevant people
11.interact with the producer in the way that best suits their own individual modus operandi and this particular project

This reminds me of the Producer's Profile outlined by the Canadian Cultural HR group, available here.. Use it as a check list and tell us what you need to learn......

Piracy

A DVD-quality copy of the sci-fi blockbuster “District 9″ was posted to file-trading networks over Labor Day weekend. The movie was downloaded over one million times within the first 24 hours. Downloads are likely to exceed the leaked workprint of another SA-linked movie, “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” which was downloaded over 4 million times.



Filmcontact.com says that most movies are available on the Internet within a few days of their release, but the quality is typically poor and all but the most prolific pirates avoid them. The “District 9″ release is described as an R5 copy, or a retail DVD sold in Region 5 — Eastern Europe, India, Africa, North Korea and Mongolia. Studios release R5 DVDs early and without any special features or image processing in an effort to compete with bootlegs in areas where piracy is prevalent......

Sundance No-Budget Films

Sundance, Robert Redford's now iconic film festival has announced the launch of a new section called "Next," which will focus on six to eight innovative and original low- and no-budget films.



The idea behind "Next" is to discover and promote new filmmakers whose vision is hemmed in only by available funding. THAT MEANS YOU, PORT ELIZABETH!!!!!

Programmers hope to introduce these directors, previously known to the devotees of the mumble core and dogma movements, to the wealth of viewers, talent and media at Sundance.

If you're a no-budget filmmaker and want to get in on "Next," submissions are still being accepted for 2010. Get more info here.

Co-Production

The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) has announced new co-production guidelines.

Co-Production basically allows for South African producers to join forces with producers from other countries with whom we have treaties, and access their government funding mechanisms as well as our own. As much as 80% of a budget can therefore come from overseas government funds.



Our Co-production partners include Canada, Italy, Germany and the UK, with unconfirmed buzz of more to come (France / Australia / New Zealand?) later this year.

Read the guidelines here. And read more here on the principles of Co-Production from the Knowledge Foundation, authors of the above chart.

District 9 SFX

Found this while looking for the previous post - SFX behind District 9....

100 Years of Special Effects

A potted history:

PcTv4Me

Is this the future of how we'll consume our television product? This mailer for PcTv4Me just arrived in my in-box, offering 2,000 world wide TV channels direct to my PC for no monthly fee - just the cost of the software.

The blurb claims the product offers:

• Hundreds of channels from around the world to watch. And new channels
• are added every day
• Hundreds of Radio stations to listen to anytime, all of the time. And new
• stations are added daily
• Available 24 hours per day right from your PC and laptop
• All of the programming is uncensored
• No additional hardware needed

South Africa is one of the countries the package claims to include. I wonder if SABC is factoring stuff like this into their revenue calculations. I mean, although this may be the future of consumption, I doubt they think it's "the right thing to do."

More info here

Shortcut Wednesdays

Here's a good one; how to mobilize yourselves: in Cape Town from 2nd September......

Shortcut Wednesdays offers a platform for Filmmakers to showcase their film projects in their chosen genre (ie. short story, documentary, commercial, music video, anime), leading to acknowledgement and exposure of their work.

Beginning the first Wednesday from September the 2nd and every month following, each event will showcase a selection of Films from different genres in the following categories:
1) Student
2) Professional
3) Newcomers



Each event will be uniquely packaged according to Collaborations with various Sponsors in conjunction with This Side Up Events and Speedway Café 105. Prizes, awards and audience participation will be encouraged. There's a Facebook site if you're interested.

Discop Africa - Broadcast market

The Kenya edition of DISCOP AFRICA runs from 16th - 18th September,

This Broadcast-focussed Marketplace combines 3 days of individual meetings between participants organised in advance of the event by our in-house research staff as well as a conference programme addressing 5 important issues related to the development of television business in Africa.



Topics to be addressed in the conference programme will include:

1. How to create a compelling programming bouquet that can attract viewers and advertising revenues
2. How to build and manage an efficient television air-time sales department
3. How to establish distribution deals with mobile operators
4. The importance of television to provide health care and medical news
5. The emerging roles of China, Brazil and India in the African television landscape

In addition, a series of 3 training and case-studies workshops specifically aimed at African audiovisual content producers will cover the formating, funding and distribution of programs "Made In Africa". ScreenAfrica has reported that over 330 participants have already registered to attend.

NFVF Responds to Media Criticism

Eddie Mbalo, CEO of the NFVF, responds in his blog to criticism of the organisation's funding decisions regarding its support (or lack of it) for blockbusters like District 9.



"While the NFVF continuously encourages filmmakers to consider SA audiences in their work as the widest possible viewership for every film means financial success for investors and producers, box office success is not about good PR for the institution....."

Make up your own mind by visiting www.nfvf.co.za

Trend Watch: Advertising Online

More small and medium-sized business advertisers are now spending their advertising budgets online than are buying ads in traditional media, according to a report from The Kelsey Group and research partner ConStat.

The penetration of digital and online media grew to 77% in August 2009, up from 73% a year ago, while penetration of traditional media fell from 74% to 69% during the same period.



"Penetration" is the percentage of businesses using a given type of media, irrespective of spending level. Small and medium-sized businesses reduced their overall spending on advertising and promotion by 23.5% over the past year but Digital/online rose as a percentage of overall ad spend from 22% to 36.8%. Spending on websites and profile pages increased by 26.8%.

Mobile Music Downloads

Only 10% of U.S. cell phone owners listen to music on their devices, according to a report from market research firm Forrester Research.

This compares with 27% of Britons and 70% of Chinese mobile subscribers.

"Part of the reason is that mobile and music providers have focused on their business models first and the user experience second. Europe and Asia have fared better in terms of user adoption, but direct revenues from mobile music remain lean," the report says.


"To benefit from mobile music adoption, music labels need to shift their strategy from direct to indirect revenue gains, services need to become platform-agnostic, and device makers and carriers need to up the ante on innovative offerings."

While 60% of U.S. mobile subscribers polled said they had no interest in purchasing music on their phones, Forrester predicts that the U.S. market for purchasing music via cell phones will reach $263 million by 2013.

TED.com Lectures

Ted.com bills itself as "Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world...." and that's just what it is.

TED.com makes the best talks, lectures and performances on three core subjects - Technology, Entertainment and Design - available to the world, for free. More than 450 TEDTalks are now available, with more added each week. All of the talks feature closed captions in English, and many feature subtitles in various languages. These videos are released under a Creative Commons license, so they can be freely shared and reposted.



So educate yourself, and start trend-tracking today.....

Internet Video Viewing On the Rise

Digital Media Wire is carrying a story from Internet audience measurement firm comScore which reports that more people watched online videos in June 2009 than during any other month since the birth of the Internet.

The firm said that more then 157 million U.S. Internet users viewed video online during the month, attributing the surge to a plethora of major news stories, led by the death of Michael Jackson and the Iranian elections.

SA Film tops US box office!

SA-made Sci-fi action thriller District 9, about a colony of space aliens stranded in South Africa, landed atop the North American box office with an estimated R300 million its first weekend, distributor Sony Pictures said on Sunday.



The film was directed and co-written by South African native Neill Blomkamp, making his feature directorial debut after a career of doing commercials. The movie cost roughly R240 million to make - a modest budget by Hollywood standards.

The cast of unknowns stars South African newcomer Sharlto Copley as a bureaucrat leading the forced eviction of alien creatures from a Johannesburg slum, District 9, where they have been settled since their ship stalled over the city 20 years earlier, marooning them on Earth.

Music Fan interrogated over mobile phone vote

One of the hidden risks of pursuing a digital future:

Rovshan Nasirli, a young Eurovision fan living in the Azerbaijani capital Baku, says he was summoned this week to the country's National Security Ministry -- to explain why he had voted for Armenia during this year's competition in May.

Nasirli, like others, used his mobile phone to send a text message expressing his preference, little imagining his vote would eventually result in a summons from national security officials......

The full story here.

SABC wreaks havoc on Independent Producers

The Television Industry Emergency Coalition (TVIEC) issued a strongly worded press release earlier this which which sounds the alarm bells regarding the proposal by the SABC to freeze, cancel and delay various local productions in order to cut costs.



As per the SABC’s 2008 Request for Proposals (RFPs) from the independent production sector, the TVIEC has been informed that only 12 out of the 47 productions due to have been incepted in April 2009 will be going ahead this year. The balance will be delayed or cancelled.

There will be no 2009 RFPs for production in 2010. Furthermore, numerous existing/renewable contracts have been postponed or deferred......

More, as always, at Screenafrica.com.

Seeking South African Documentaries

SnagFilms, is looking to sign South African documentaries for its digital distribution service.



SnagFilms streams over 800 non-fiction films from leading content owners including National GEO and PBS and has an established partnership with NBC/Fox owned Hulu. The goal of SnagFilms is to create a formidable online community of non-fiction films for a discernible international audience.

If you own the digital distribution rights for your documentary, Snagfilms would like to be your digital distribution partner. Contact Erica Motley for more information.

Real Change - Digital Style

By the way - if there is ANY doubt left in your mind about how the digital era is going to democratize and revolutionise our lives then take a brief squizz at the coverage of theIranian crisis at AndrewSullivan.com. Sullivan's become one of my "must-read" daily fixes and he blends news, first-hard tweets, photo-journalism and really insightful comment from a variety of sources in a way that the mainstream media can only dream of.



The Digital Era offers us a total transformation of media in South Africa - what we make, what we see, how and when we see it. Things will never be the same again.

Cab Music

I've been saying for as long as anyone can be bothered to listen that the Music Industry stands to be the biggest unintended beneficiary of the Soccer World Cup. 2 billion people will be watching their edited highlights to an African beat - and then hopefully they'll go on line to try to find more of that South African music for themselves.

And so how can film benefit from this cross over? Very easily apparently. Check out these black cab sessions: load up a couple of musos in the back of a London cab, get them to perform live and unplugged and then post it on You Tube. It's great theatre!