Getting it done!

I really need to buckle down and write out some of the things I want to do in the future. I have all these story ideas and business ideas and I think they are all doable, if I start making some effort into writing them down or drawing them out. I know in the end it needs to be me that takes these steps, but I'm not good at the sitting down stuff. I like being on the go and constantly doing things (activities).

So how do I buckle down and get it done?

RED Camera

It's funny how the RED can't keep itself off my blog!

Right now I'm working on a feature length indie film in Allentown. I'm the assembly editor and I'm having a blast with it. The funny thing is that they are shooting on the RED camera. I have to say that as far as post is concerned the RED makes this very easy.

There is no converting of footage. You have 4 different sized files you can work with and therefore, there isn't a slowing down of your processing speed. As far as latitude with color - I'm not really sure you can need much more. I can understand why the RED has such a niche in the indie market.

Filmmakers beware - the camera will not "make" your film. You still need to take the time to setup amazing shots.

Update on RED Camera!

I want everyone to check out this article from Creative Cow Magazine.

http://magazine.creativecow.net/article/the-truth-about-2k-4k-the-future-of-pixels

It basically explains how 4K is not all it's cracked up to be. In fact, with 4K you are actually losing over all resolution.

Been busy

So it has been quite a while since I last posted. And my excuse is very predictable... I've been busy! lol

I am all finished at Full Sail and ended up with a 3.79. I tried so hard for that 3.8! I'm bummed, but I didn't have much time to think about it.

I headed in for surgery to remove the last of my ovaries shortly after I finished school. So no more cancer! The surgery was much easier this time. No vertical cutting. The surgery was done robotically and left very little marks across my mid region. While it still took some time for me to get back to normal, I think I might finally be close!

I was just released to drive, but before that I had a friend take me out to Pittsburgh for a Pens game. Since we were staying all weekend with some friends we decided to purchase some tickets for the Saturday night game, as well. The Pens beat the Avs in one hell of an exciting game. The score was 2-1 Pens with under 2 minutes left in the 3rd. The Avs pulled their goalie and the Pens scored 2 empty netters to finish the game 4-1!! On Saturday, they fell to the Blackhawks 2-1 in OT, after a last second goal in the 3rd period by the Pens. Two crazy exciting games.

Unfortunately, on the way home we listened to the Steelers fall to the Raiders... THE RAIDERS!! There is no hope there for this season. I guess Polamalu really was the whole D!

Now that all is back to normal it's back to job hunting.

What's all this fuss about RED?

I first heard about the RED camera way back in the early part of this decade. There was no camera that existed, only an idea. And what an idea it was. This small, odd-looking box was to deliver a 4k-resolution picture with the cost and ease of having it in a digital format. Basically,, a digital form of film. But nothing can compete with film, right?

Well since then the camera has been released and is slowly building momentum. With a $17,000 base price, why would you want to shoot with film? Lets just say the camera isn’t totally complete. First off, you’re going to have to wait for you camera and your not going to be able to do much with the base package. Second, you’re going to need an external way of recording audio. The most important thing is that you are going to need a large amount of storage drives because the REDCODE records at a rate of 4.4GB per 1 min of recording time (at 4K resolution).

Carlos, from MindWarp Entertainment LLC., had a wonderful article that break down some of the positives and negatives of shooting with the RED Camera and can be found at this link: http://www.mindwarpentertainment.com/blog/2009/07/10-things-red-camera-users-need-to-know/.

There are always going to be people who like film over digital and vice versa. This isn’t meant to be a debate over the mediums. Someone who is thinking of purchasing a camera of any type should look into how it will affect the whole production.

Marvel Entertainment Business Case Study

Marvel Entertainment: Marvel Studios

Amy J. Keller

June 28, 2009

This case study focuses on the Marvel Studios franchise. Marvel Entertainment took a huge risk when it decided to stop licensing its’ characters to outside production companies and develop their own in-house productions via Marvel Studios. This study focuses on the history of Marvel Studios and what harm or benefit has come from the creation of Marvel Studios and the expansion into filmmaking.

Biography/History

Marvel Entertainment, Inc. is a prominent character-based entertainment company that is worldwide. The have a collection of 5,000 characters that cover a 70-year company span and sever media types (comics, toys, movies, et cetera). “Marvel’s strategy is to leverage its franchises in a growing array of opportunities around the world, including feature films, consumer products, toys, video games, animated television, direct-to-DVD and online” (Viacom). Marvel Studios mission is to “develop and manage entertainment projects that leverage Marvel’s vast universe of creative content” (Marvel.com).

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Marvel had licensed out a number of their characters for movies and direct-to-TV productions. Very few of these are remembered today. One that you might recall is Howard the Duck; it didn’t do so well in the box office. The reasoning behind such failures was the lack of research the company put into it’s licensing (Stax).

Marvel Studios was created in the 1990s and it run by Avi Arad (President and CEO). Prior to heading Marvel Studios, Avi Arad had become one of the world’s most predominant toy designers, he produced children’s programming and had created dozens of successful products. Arad is titled with Producer and or Executive Producer in all of the Marvel films (Stax).

With the creation of Marvel Studios and the addition of Avi Arad, Marvel stopped licensing out their characters to unheard of directors. In the early 1990s, the company started to push for more established filmmakers that would give their long developed characters a little more respect. This ended up being a huge turn in events for future superhero movies of any kind (Stax).

In 1997, superhero movies hit a wall with the failure of Batman & Robin. Kevin Feige, president of production at Marvel Studios, believes that that is the first time there was a big change in comic book movies that lead him to the realization that characters were the most important factor when it came to films. He says that this realization is what has assisted him with helping Marvel Studios get off the ground (Firstshowing.net).

This first movie listed under the Marvel Studios name was Blade (1998). Blade turned out to be a hit with cult fans and was successful enough that the company decided to release a sequel. The success of Blade also garnered attention from Hollywood and helped push films like X-Men and Spider-Man back into production (Stax).

X-Men, despite the critics, was a huge success and really considered the “breakthrough” movie of the superhero genre. The big names brought the viewers to the theaters, but the main reasons for its’ success was it’s loyalty to the storylines and characters (Boucher, Geoff).

In 2005, Marvel secured “$525 million” in financing, with ten films to be produced in five years. Each film will have a budget between $100 million and $160 million. Due to the writers strike, the time-line for those films has changed, but the funding is still there (Boucher, Geoff).

With the release of Iron Man, Marvel Studios will become the first studio in the past fourteen years to greenlight its’ own $100 million movie (Boucher, Geoff). With its’ success comes the answer for anyone who questioned Marvel stepping into the filmmaking business. Because Marvel owns the intellectual property of Iron Man, they own the rights to everything that bears it’s name. These items include; the movie, the video game, the toys, the comics, the animated series, the direct-to-DVD animated movie and the Iron Man ride at an amusement park in Dubai. And all of these profits go right back to the company (Boucher, Geoff).

In past years and through to 2012, Marvel Studios has or is planning to released Blade, Daredevil, Elektra, Fantastic Four, Ghost Rider, Hulk, Iron Man, Spider-Man, The Punisher, Ultimate Avengers, Doctor Strange, Captain America, Thor, Deadpool and more (Freebase).

With Iron Man 2 slated as the next release from Marvel Studios. Keven Feige has found himself in the same situation, as he was when he first started with the company, making sure the character is the most important element of the script.

Audience

According to Marvel.com, “Marvel has become the #1 choice for advertisers looking to reach the all-important, elusive kid, teen and young adult male” audience. They have a monthly readership of “10mm” and a circulation of “over 4.1mm/month.” In the world of comics, graphic novels and magazine publishing, Marvel holds more than 50% of the market share (Marvel.com).

Branding

A man named Martin Goodman, in 1939, during the Great Depression, left his job as a New York City publisher to develop a new medium of escapism. This was the introduction of Superman and the beginning of the superhero age (Cook, Brad).

The next major character to be introduced was Captain America during World War 2. In late 1941, Goodman’s nephew took over the company and created himself a secret identity, known as Stan Lee. From there comics took off until Congress pointed to comic books as a cause of juvenile delinquency. The industry adopted a code and stopped producing crime and horror comics (Cook, Brad).

Enter, Fantasic Four, in 1961. This would result in what is known as, “the Marvel way.” “Where over-the-top stories full of colorful superheroes, bombastic villains, and fantastic technology” would be the foundation to every storyline (X-Men, Silversurfer, the Hulk and Spider-Man). Unfortunately, this won’t be the only up and down for the superhero industry (Cook, Brad).

Fast-forward to 2008, Marvel Studios entered into an agreement with Paramount Pictures to distribute Marvel’s next five self-produced films to a worldwide market. These releases include; Iron Man 2, Thor, The First Avenger: Captain America, The Avengers and Iron Man 3. Rob Moore, Vice Chairman of Paramount Pictures was quoted as saying that Marvel has “popular characters” and has “proven ability to create compelling and visually spellbinding films” (Viacom).

In 2009, Marvel created a Global Branding Team, with the main goal of promoting Marvels superheroes to every corner of the world. This advisory board included Manmohan Shetty (Bollywood film producer) and Peter Yip (digital entrepreneur based out of China) and is headed by James Halpin (Marvel director for 14 years). Marvel would like to have better representation in Europe, Latin America, Africa, China, India and the Middle East (Mclean, Thomas).

Marvel Comics has been around for over 70 years and has grown wiser from the event of each of them. They know their limitations and have “captured the hearts and imaginations of several generations of children worldwide” (Cook, Brad).

Competition

Marvels’ main competitors in the comic book to film department are Dark Horse Comics and DC Comics (Google Finance).

Dark Horse Comics has had a different approach to the movie industry. In 1988, Dark Horse had begun to purchase the rights to distribute comics of already made, and successful, feature film characters. Some of these titles include, Aliens, Predator, Star Wars, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Terminator, Tarzan and Conan (Dark Horse Comics).

Dark Horse is also responsible for the start of the “vs” series like Aliens vs. Predator. In 1992, after a couple of years of success at making popular movie characters into comics characters, Dark Horse Comics decided to form a division call Dark Horse Entertainment, Inc. and has since made its’ comic book character into big screen characters (Dark Horse Comics). Some of these titles include, The Mask, Timecop, Hellboy, Mystery Men, Aliens vs Predator, Mystery Men and 30 Days of Night. Dark Horse has teamed up with Universal Pictures for it’s next film, The Secret (Dark Horse Entertainment). While Dark Horse is a predominant player in the comic book genre, it has yet to have the success that Marvel has had.

Another large competitor of Marvel is DC Comics. In contrast to Marvel and Dark Horse, DC Comics has not created a movie division of its franchise. This is most likely due to the fact that DC is owned by Time Warner and Time Warner already has its’ own film divisions; HBO Pictures, New Line Cinema and Warner Brothers (About.com). DCs’ characters have still made it into the theaters. Riding on the success of the last two Batman installments (Batman Begins and The Dark Knight) and the latest Superman movie, DC had finally started creating successful films (Meeks, William).

Cinematical.com reported that DC has put all of their “properties on hold for the foreseeable future (with maybe the exception of a certain caped crusader).” Joss Whedon explains the reason why DC’s characters don’t work well as movies is due to the fact that they are detached from the real world. He says, “DC’s characters, like Wonder Woman and Superman and Green Lantern, were all very much removed from humanity. Batman was the only character they had who was so rooted in pain, that had that same gift that the Marvel characters had, which was that gift of humanity that we can relate to.” Whedon, at one point in his career, was writing a script for the Wonder Woman movie. But the movie never made it past that stage (Barnes, Jessica).

Films based on DC characters include, but are not limited to; Superman, Batman, Catwoman, Swamp Thing, Constantine, The Spirit and Watchmen (Superheroeslives.com).

Strategies

David Maisel, chairman of Marvel Studios, says, “We’re not in the movie business, we’re in the ‘Iron Man’ business right now.” And just as Joss Whedon said above, characters that people can relate to are what make Marvel special. And Kevin Feige agrees. He says that “they are people who become heroes but also have flaws and they struggle with them,” “the costumes can easily be the stars of these movies if you let them be… you have to flesh out the character.” He goes on to say, “they battle bad guys, but they also battle these things within themselves” (Boucher, Geoff). Iron Man was Marvel Studios first try at being a stand-alone production company that can make big-budget films and be successful.

A twist that has been showing up in recent films is characters making surprise appearances out of nowhere, sometimes leading up to their own stories. He states that, “they only do things if they can do them right” (Firstshowing.net). This is a great way for Marvel to promote and introduce new characters and storylines.

Conclusion

Marvel Studios has proven itself with the success of Iron Man. But some obstacles still stand in the way. Some of the company’s biggest names have already been rented out. Spider-Man, Fantastic Four and X-Men have all been licensed to other production companies. And the company’s executive, Arad, has left, as well. Not to mention that Daredevil and Ghost Rider have already had their shot at silver screen fame (Boucher, Geoff). But with a library of 5,000 characters, those four or five seem insignificant. And it isn’t slowing Marvel down. The company regained the rights to its’ Hulk license and has Captain America and Thor already in development, not to mention, Iron Man 2.

And if that’s not enough for you, when Marvel Entertainment went public in 1995, they sold for “$12” a share. In 2008, their stock was around “$25.60” a share (Boucher, Geoff). Currently, according to Google finance, the Marvel Entertainment stock sits at 34.67 per share.

References:

Viacom. (September 2008) Marvel Studios Enters Into New Worldwide Distribution Agreement With Paramount. Retrieved from:

Marvel.com. Annual Report 2008. Retrieved from: http://marvel.com/company/pdfs/2008_annual_report.pdf

Stax. Featured Filmmaker: Marvel Studios. Retrieved from: http://movies.ign.com/articles/426/426098p1.html

Firstshowing.net. Profile on Marvel Studios with Big Updates from Kevin Feige. Retrieved from: http://firstshowing.net/2009/06/07/profile-on-marvel-studios-with-big-updates-from-kevin-feige/

Freebase. Marvel Studios: Films table. Retrieved from: http://www.freebase.com/view/en/marvel_studios/-/film/production_company/films

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2005_Nov_2/ai_n15769952/?tag=rbxcra.2.a.1

Marvel.com Media Kit. Retrieved from: http://marvel.com/company/index.htm?sub=media_current.htm

Cook, Brad. (April 2002). Marvel Comics. Retrieved from: http://www.brandchannel.com/features_profile.asp?pr_id=65

Mclean, Thomas. (March 2009). Marvel Forms Global Branding Team. Retrieved from: http://www.animationmagazine.net/article/9713

Boucher, Geoff. (March 2008). Marvel is on a Mission. Retrieved from: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-marvel9mar09,0,2628618.story

Google Finance. Marvel Entertainment, Inc. Retrieved from: http://www.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=NYSE:MVL

Dark Horse Comics. Overview. Retrieved from: http://www.darkhorse.com/Company/Overview.

IMDB.com. Dark Horse Entertainment. Retrieved from: http://www.imdb.com/company/co0020061/

Dark Horse Entertainment. Retrieved from: http://www.dhentertainment.com/

About.com Time Warner. Retrieved from: http://filmtvcareers.about.com/od/companyprofiles/p/CP_TimeWarner.htm

Meeks, William. (November 2007). Upcoming DC Comics Movies. Associated Content. Retrieved from: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/436839/upcoming_dc_comics_movies.html?cat=40

Barnes, Jessica. (February 2009). Joss Whedon Explains Why DC Comics Movies Won’t Work. Cinematical.com. Retrieved from: http://www.cinematical.com/2009/02/25/joss-whedon-explains-why-dc-comics-movies-wont-work/

Superheroeslives.com. DCComics. Retrieved from: http://www.superheroeslives.com/indexdc.htm

G.I. Joe

Granite it has been quite a while since I watched the cartoon, but I don't recall them being able to do the type of "superhero moves" that I see them doing in the preview.

Either way, I'll probably go see it in the theaters when it comes out. I hope it's not as crappy as the first Hulk movie.