With an economy that’s not getting any better and alternatives like Netflix and Hulu continuing to garner loyalty, cable TV execs worry that a new generation of viewers might not show up.

That’s not a universally held idea. Time Warner’s Jeff Bewkes is among the cable CEOs who spots monthly cable fees as among the last items to feel the hit of a tighter personal budget. But that still doesn’t mean any of the major cable systems view the rise of the Internet lightly.

Case in point: Comcast On Demand Local service recently launched Vidblogger Nation; these short three-to-five-minute episodes by Facebook-aware video bloggers offer takes on local people, places and things. No mystery to this effort: it’s an attempt to pull the younger smartphone-obsessed generation back into the fold. Headed by participatory media director-producer New Yorker Marc Scarpa, the project is available in some 10 markets nationwide at launch.

(To fix its battered customer service reputation, Comcast, the No. 1 U.S. cable TV provider, launched Xfinity early last year. Pushed through by Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, Xfinity re-brands the company’s triple-play service for bundled Internet, telephone and TV, adding tweaks like live sports on the web, improved download speeds and the ability to watch some shows online.)

Heralded by Scarpa as the “first-ever Social TV Network”, local talent with “strong Facebook and Twitter followings” create short diary-style segments on local topics such as fun places to go, local personalities, things to do and other topics not so unlike those that show up in the color segments of local news stations.

Scarpa has built his name on finding ways to use computers, the Internet, cellphone and other technologies to make more interactive experiences for viewers. His varied background includes a gig as the first New York Chair of the Producers Guild of America New Media Council and producing the web show ‘Grammy Live’ for the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards. For a 2007 MySpace streaming of a Linkin Park concert, Scarpa says that he was the first to pull off the intercutting of realtime video from fan’s mobile phones with the concert’s live HD TV feed.

“It’s not a video log, it’s not a reality show, it’s just folks sharing their adventures and experiences with the viewer, who are also participants in the programming,” says Marc Scarpa, founder of SimplyNew Studios, producer of the shows. Comcast ordered some 360 episodes in all, with a decision by the end of November whether to commit to the series.

Scarpa says that TV is moving towards an all-IP universe, with an immersive web presence key to blurring the boundaries between web TV and cable TV. Finding a social TV look-and-feel for the cable giant’s current local fare, which hasn’t changed from standard studio presentations in years, is key.

One major hurdle, however, hasn’t changed since the earliest days of TV and Internet video: whoever is in front of the camera needs to be a compelling actor who can put a narrative across. Scarpa faces an added barrier: a huge corporate structure with layers of management ready to nix content that might be too cutting or salacious, the very spice that pulls in hundreds of thousands of viewers to YouTube and other social media sites.

Would be viewers are left with segments such as “Off Limits”, where erstwhile video blogger Jeff Wisenbaugh “sneaks into Spartan Stadium at Michigan State” and makes a go at not getting arrested, or “Beach Front Fun” where one Ann Spade is “off to the waters!” of the sluggish Sacramento River, which, we’re advised, is the city’s “beach.” Viewers may be unsure if they are instead watching a health report, as they face a number of perky reminders to “put on your sunscreen!”

These are still heady times for the cable industry. But as the main audience for broadcast TV ages, growth is hard to come by—profits are high because a push to offer premium services brings in more money, not more viewers.

Comcast, Cablevision, HBO, Turner and other major cable companies now offer TV Everywhere, which allows subscribers to watch TV shows online. But the audience that watches on a 50-inch plasma in the living room isn’t necessarily the same as those who will watch on a laptop or smartphone.

Cable continues to fight a rearguard action. As new generations turn to Netflix, Hulu and newer options for video entertainment, will they also toss in $100 per month for a cable subscription?

The Past Week in Review: for September 6, 2011

We search for the more interesting and provocative news and views of the past week…just so you don’t have to.

This week we watch NYC TV’s getting hacked, learn about cool new gear, and find out that Kevin Smith is really good about coming up with ideas that keep him in business.

The (Hacked) Future of TV in New York

A push for innovation in the online video and connected TV market in New York lies behind Hackday.tv, a two-day event to occur this coming weekend.

Created by start up Shelby.tv, Hackday.tv plans to bring together startups and developers to create “new applications for the digital living room”, according to Ryan Lawler on GigaOM. Developers, working in teams, will have 24 hours to create the apps. Crews have been hired to create video trailers for each hack, to document the process and also presumably to use in promoting the hack fests for planned roll-outs in other cities. Shelby.tv, a recently launched start-up, employs Twitter and Facebook to create a personalized streaming video site that leverages video choices by friends and others.

Share Your Sketches Instantly

While sketching out some ideas seems like a pretty solitary action, a recent project by researchers at the University of California San Diego allows you to upload drawings to Twitter, Facebook, or your email.

As reported in new scientist, Lisa Cowan and colleagues at the University have developed a paper-based system called UbiSketch that converts the output from an Anoto digital pen to images on a smart phone. While you do have to use paper printed with light dots that allow the digital pen to track its position as you draw, a standard Bluetooth connection is enough to send the data on its way to your phone.

You can read more at the New Scientist website, or go directly to the UbiSketch page on the UCSD website.

Blackmagic Does 3D

There’s more new technology from Blackmagic Design, which announced this past week that its portable capture and playback device
UltraStudio 3D is now shipping. Claimed as the world’s 1st video product integrated with Intel’s high-speed Thunderbolt connection technology, the tool link device connects via 3 Gbs SDI, HDMI 1.4a and analog video, AES/EBU digital audio capture, 10 bit video and dual stream 3D.

The dual stream, 3D SDI connection allows capture and play back of two streams directly from the camera, with one stream dedicated for the left eye and the other for the right eye. In all, the device features interleaved, side-by-side, frame packed and dual stream capture and playback. The SDI connection also enables 1080p/60 and 2K capture.

While dual stream 3D recording isn’t incompatible with much of the current NLE software, Blackmagic Design upgraded its Media Express 3 app to allow users to work with both interleaved and dual stream 3D for capture and playback. The app works with Blackmagic Design DeckLink, Multibridge, Intensity and UltraStudio Pro products. At less than $1000 list, Blackmagic Design again offers a useful tool at a strikingly low price.

Better Cameras, Better Recording

Mirror-less compact cameras have been gaining fans, since their low profile makes an even easier to work with than DSLRs like the Canon 5d. Video capabilities on the new cameras are also being improved, making them viable alternatives to their larger cousins.

Sony’s NEX 5N is a good example. It offers manual control when in video mode, which even includes 24p shooting. Since the body costs less than $600 and can handle PL-mount lenses such as the soon-to-be released Zeiss 24mm F1.8, more alternatives for fast, quick shooting keep coming.

The reviewer on EOSHD says the new camera “offers the biggest amount of bang per square inch and per dollar that I have ever seen.”

Recording HDMI output has become an accepted way to pull a good video signal from a camcorder before it degrades as it hits the built-in codec circuitry. (Watch for an upcoming review by Joe Herman on Blackmagic Design’s HyperDeck Shuttle to see what we mean.)

While we recently posted an Abelcine blog about taking HDMI output from Sony’s new NEX-FS100, that message actually drew additional comment from Juan Martinez, senior product manager at Sony.

Abelcine’s Jeff Lee posted excerpts from Martinez’s email, which offers a brief yet concise explanation of just how the HDMI output on the camcorder works. Useful info—including the cool amount of auto negotiation that goes on between the FS100 and an attached recording device—and key for anyone who’s considering using this stand out new camcorder.

More HP, TV Online, Unsinkable Kevin Smith

While we recently headlined an article with the dramatic query “Will HP Fail?”, A variation on this question has caused HP to make some fast moves in to take out some advertising to convince people that the computer division won’t just be dumped or sold ignominiously to some overseas company, but will thrive and stand on its own.

The San Jose Mercury News documents how HP is trying to assure customers of its PC division that they can ” count on HP” in a campaign that seems to be aimed at stopping some sort of panic that would radically drive the company’s share price down.

Over at GigaOM, reporter Stacey Higginbotham states that online video is “finally chipping away at broadcast TV.” According to recent survey data there’s been at the decrease in the the numbers watching broadcast TV, while Internet-enabled options are all on the rise. Read more here.

While he receives less support from the major studios for his films these days, that doesn’t stop director/actor Kevin Smith from cooking up new release strategies for his ventures. While a version of his latest, Red State, screened at Sundance, a re-jiggered cut will debut via a one-night-only nationwide simulcast on September 25. It spools out from the New Beverly Cinema in L.A., which is owned by none other than Quentin Tarantino.

Smith is partnering with Ira Deutchman‘s opera-oriented Emerging Pictures theater network. The setup will enable Smith to hold a Q&A session after the screening–something he seems to thrive on–with the whole event streaming live from the LA-based cinema to all of Emerging’s participating theaters.

Read more in Jason Guerrasio’s Filmmaker Magazine article by clicking here.

The Past Week in Review: For August 15, 2011

We search for the more interesting and provocative news and views of the past week…just so you don’t have to.

This week we hear about how the economy affects Hollywood, why we get more of the same from TV, and a technology ideal for shooting snakes and funerals.

Dollar Blues

Entertainment Weekly’s Inside Movies takes on an old chestnut in the article “Is Hollywood recession proof?” Our rapidly fluctuating economy with growing numbers of unemployed are causing some people to point to Hollywood during the Depression, when huge numbers of folks went to relatively inexpensive movies to forget bleak times. But box office analyst Karie Bible says that the reality was that for studios, only MGM was in the black; all the others were “bleeding red.”

In his article on TheWrap, Joshua L. Weinstein says that the “indie film community is jittery” while TV media buyers aren’t yet panicking over the stock markets violent ups and downs.

However over the long term those involved in the media economy are worried since tougher economic times means less investor backing for movies as well as top ad rates for TV. Tightening credit means that deal making could show the earliest problems.

Calling it Hollywood’s dirty secret, Edward Jay Epstein in this Adweek article says that it’s TV that keeps the big six studios in business, not movie profits. (Sony is the only major without a television subsidiary.)

Without ad sales on cable networks and foreign TV, even profitable companies can’t make it by the silver screen alone. For example Time Warner–the largest movie producer among the six—still makes some 87-percent of its earnings from TV.

In his blog on IndieWIRE, Ted Hope opines “Can We Create The Future Of Indie Marketing & Distribution—Or Is It Already Dead?”

The Indie producer notes that it’s the lack of PMDs (Producers of Marketing & Distribution) in the indie film scene that holds back the whole genre. While he had developed a proposal to help develop such an integral part of a films existence, none of the standard groups such as Tribeca, Sundance, or the IFP could fund it.

Hope praises Sundance’s new executive director Keri Putnam for starting up Sundance’s Artist Services as a 1st step towards building a “true Artist/Entrepreneur class.”

On GigaOM, reporter Liz Shannon Miller asks “What happens if your web series doesn’t hit it big?” Miller says that it’s the Web success stories we hear about, and not those who have put in time and money and turned out a great series of shows but still fail.

She tells the tale of Jonathan Nail, who has created and written and even starred in Solo, a sci-fi comedy series. Nail put his own money in the series, some from his parents, other money from crowd sourcing and some sponsorships. While the amounts were not huge, Nail couldn’t recoup even this modest amount.

In this GigaOM article, reporter Janko Roettgers sees a possible return to piracy as consumers start to tighten their belts and cut unnecessary expenses such as entertainment that they can get in other ways. Since Netflix is about to institute a price hike while authentication plans from broadcasters further clamp down on viewing opportunities, it might be a “perfect storm for piracy.”

More of the Same

In his AdAge article, Michael Learmonth tells us what we already know, but it’s still entertaining to see it laid out:  television really, truly is not an innovative medium. In his article “Why 500 Channels Means 19 Shows About Pawnshops” the reporter points out that that even as the FCC mulled over plans for new rules that will open up access to the airwaves and presumably allow more divergent voices to be heard, the reality is that networks continue to steal, copy, or clone whichever shows are popular and making money. You needed to hear that spelled out, didn’t you?

While cable networks have unique demographics upon launch as their rationale for being, the reality is that over time only two goals remain: a bigger audience and a younger one.

Filmmaker Kevin Knoblock

Doc Talk

You’ll get a sense of what it costs to make feature documentaries and other concerns of directors and producers if you read this interview with documentary director Kevin Knoblock on the Script site. If you are new to documentary production, Knoblock’s personal step-by-step procedure for pitching and producing a documentary will be of interest.

Good for Snakes & Funerals

AbelCine’s tech blogger Ian McCausland has a quick overview of ARRI’s Anamorphic De-squeeze for the Alexa. The capability, accessed via a purchased download license, enables the use of widescreen (2.39:1 image) lenses for the 1.78:1 Alexa imager while still allowing the image to appear normal and not squeezed in the viewfinder and for playback. And no snide asides about Fritz Lang’s comment in Godard’s Contempt, who described Cinerama as only good for filming “snakes and funerals.”

If you’ve taken the dive and bought a copy of Final Cut Pro X as I have, you might be enjoying this radical re-written program. But you might also like to know that there is a useful and very inexpensive PDF manual available.

Hollywood composer Edgar Rothermich bests Apple’s online manual too by its extensive use of graphics. Rothermich explains how he has been making his own version of each manual that he might need when using computer-based gear. This basic 62-page manual is just what you might need too, and for the low price of $2, it’s hard to beat.

Streaming Along

Google is moving quickly into the streaming video market, says CNET in this article. An update to Google’s Video app allows some users of Android smartphones to screen movie rentals from the Android Market. Users-who must the running the 2.2 Froyo and 2.3 Gingerbread versions of Android–can also manage the movies they’ve rented.

Streaming video service Vudu meanwhile is now available on the iPad, which allows it to keep pace with Netflix, the market leader. Vudu, which just happens to be owned by retail powerhouse Wal-Mart, makes the movies and TV shows available via a browser plug-in for the iPad, rather than as an app in Apple’s App store. That keeps it free not only of Apple’s decisions on what gets him or what doesn’t, but circumvents the Cupertino-based company’s 30-percent cut on such transactions.

Read more at CNET by clicking here.

Ezra Pound (1920) Photo credit: E.O. Hoppé

Make It New

Over at the Guardian, reporter Aleks Krotoski writes about storytelling in the digital age. This isn’t another film specific story on how digital technology is enabling new production but rather how breaking up traditional linear storytelling bolstered by digital technology could place is on the verge of an exciting new era of digital storytelling. After all the gloom of our economy, it’s always refreshing to find folks still trying to ‘make it new’ as E.P. would have it.

The Vitagraph Studios in Brooklyn, now for sale, originally looked like this.
Photo credit: George Groves tribute website

We search for the more interesting and provocative news and views of the past week…just so you don’t have to.

This week we note the sale of a movie studio with roots that go back over a century ago, strong trends in production growth for the New York City region, and how some individuals and companies are taking media production and consumption further into the Internet age.

Silent Movie Memory Palace and Current Production Gear both for Sale

Crain’s New York reports that Brooklyn’s J.C. Studios is on the auction block after the cancellation of soaper As the World Turns last year. The studio, located in the Midwood section of Brooklyn, became the second home of the American Vitagraph company in 1907. An important early studio in the silent era, Vitagraph was later sold to Warner Bros.

The remains of Atlantic Video are up for auction. The facility had provided stages and full suite of production gear at the Manhattan Center on West 34th Street. An auction of video gear (including cameras, switchers, and file servers) will be held on June 7th. We can only imagine that real estate costs in mid-Manhattan had much to do with the demise of a facility that’s been around for some time. More info here.

Production Scene Improves

But let’s take a look at the bright side of production in New York. Crains New York recently reported that a record 20 TV pilots have been filmed in NY over the past few months. Crains credits the uptick to last August’s renewal of the state’s 30-percent tax credit for film production, and quotes city film commissioner Katherine Oliver who estimates that some $120 million has come to the city’s coffers through the new production. (While you can read the full article on Crain’s site, it requires a digital subscription.)

Instead, you can turn to this in-depth article by Nellie Andreeva from Deadline posted a couple of months ago, which notes that production is up from zero the prior year. According to Andreeva, pilot production in New York now nearly equals that in Los Angeles, the traditional leader, which has seen a continual drop in such production.

In another sign that media production in New York is on an upswing, the Visual Effects Society (VES) announced that it had formed a new section in New York. The organization represents around 2500 visual effects artists worldwide. The New York chapter includes effects creators in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.

How Not to Get Left Behind

You might not think that Jeff Jarvis is writing for anyone but stick-in-the-mud old-style print and broadcast journalists in this posting, but his recent column “Hard economic lessons for news” offers a brisk rundown of the new rules of the road for anyone embarking on a web business.

Jarvis, who has worked at many of the major media companies he takes to task in this post, directs the interactive journalism program and the new business models for news project at the City University of New York’s Graduate School of Journalism.

Getting with the Program

Some New York TV news regulars, who recently launched a new all-video news and info website seem to have taken Jarvis’ message and run with it. Buzz60.com covers “trendy stories from world events to Hollywood,” according to a release,, with founders including longtime local sportscaster Len Berman and Philip O’Brien, who had a hand in starting up the revamped news operations at Time Warner’s NY1. Read more in this New York Post article.

Another take on new trends in media comes from New York producer Christine Vachon, who is quoted in this IndieWIRE article by Brian Brooks as commenting that “The State of Cinema is not necessarily taking place in a cinema.”

Vachon, credited with over 60 indie productions, goes on to say that she’s seen independent film “die and be re-born at least three or four times. When it does, it reminds me how terrified we are of change – how terrified the film business is of change.”

Brooks’ article includes a complete video of Vachon’s talk at the San Francisco International Film Festival.

We Demand to See Everything….Real Soon

In another sign of our shifting media world, major studios have come up with a new video on demand scheme that will offer quick access to recently released films. Theater owners think the majors are trying to cut them out of long runs of popular films, since the VOD would begin shortly after the theaters get them. Hollywood of course is looking at the plummeting sales of DVDs and Netflix’s rise. More here.

Finally, more news of the industry’s move to new media distribution schemes, YouTube is on the verge of implementing a movies-on-demand service. According to TheWrap, Google will be directly challenging Apple’s iTunes service while offering a new revenue stream to counter declining home entertainment revenues. Read about that here.

We search for the more interesting and provocative news and views of the past week…just so you don’t have to.

The news today includes proliferating VJs, enchanting marimba sounds, and how we’ll all be using Cloud apps real soon.

New York Mag Goes VJ

New York Magazine plans to offer video journalism as a regular feature of its site. What might be a bit unusual is that the mag created its own video school to accomplish this; the first weekend classes began in February at $995 a pop. (More on the academy here.)

As reported in the New York Observer, the school is one more project by Michael Rosenblum, a New York-based producer and video consultant who has started similar schools for The Guardian, USA Today and The Travel Channel. Supposedly, those attending the course will learn of job openings from the NY Mag editorial staff, who sit in on the meetings.

Rosenblum also runs New York Video School, which joins an ever expanding number of online video schools.

Adobe Takes 0n DSLRs

It’s no secret: HDSLRs have quickly become accepted for creating everything from music videos to feature films. Ever wonder who lays claim to creating the first feature film using a DSLR? Searching for Sonny makes a case for its production in 2009 as the first “film” shot entirely on a DSLR. However, Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, shot in stopmotion on Canon DSLRs and released in 2005, makes for a better claim. You can find more on the production in this Editors Guild article.

Support from major software makers for DSLR production, however, has built slowly. Adobe is one of the few aggressively staking out that market. Makes sense, as the company sits in a sweet spot, since it offers closely integrated software for both still and video editing in its Creative Suite packages. (The company is expected to make an announcement about a new version of CS at this month’s NAB.) Adobe has also recently launched a number of pages on its site to promote and teach how its apps can be used in DSLR production.

This page of the site offers useful tips for those involved in regular video production with DSLRs.

Of course Adobe creates these pages to convince you to pony up for the software. A professional won’t think twice about it. But the $1700 tab for Production Premium might not be an easy sell for many beyond the pro and enthusiast markets. Truth is, the latest versions of CS unlock much of the potential of smaller format gear, paying dividends as useful as an upgrade from an old DSLR delivers.

Better Apps and Improved Sensors

More powerful apps turn up in even lower-end gear. A Business Insider reporter thought that Vimeo’s new video editing app was as fast and flexible as the well-regarded iMovie app for iPod Touch and iPhone. Vimeo, of course, is the online enthusiast-streaming site that prides itself on the quality of its community-monitored video.

Getting higher quality images continues on the hardware end via improved sensor technology according to this CNET article. At the Image Sensors Europe conference this past week a Sony semiconductor unit executive touted the rollout of BSI (backside illumination) type CMOS sensors, which offers much improved lowlight sensitivity via a basic redesign of the standard CMOS sensor. That’s helpful, since pulling a good image out of low light levels has only been solved with deploying as large a sensor as practical.

Now, smaller cameras are benefitting. While their smaller sensors won’t yield the tight DOF (depth of field) a Canon 1Ds delivers with its full 35mm-sized sensor, capturing a useful image in difficult, low-light level environment is probably more important to users of cellphones, for example. BSI technology is one reason the iPhone’s camera is superior to many competitors.

Ed Burns’ Guerrilla Tactics, Woody’s Paris, Pricey VOD & Marimba Fun

A couple of weeks ago we noted Ed Burns’ tweeting the guerrilla production of his latest film Newlyweds. The actor/director/producer claimed it cost only $9000 to shoot with a three-person crew and a Canon 5D. He must have done something right: This past week the Tribeca Film Festival announced that Newlyweds was chosen as its closing night film, a significant tribute to Burns’ skill and indie chops, according to this Filmmaker Magazine article.

Another New York director’s film opens a different classic film festival: Richard Brody tips us off to a recently posted trailer to the new Woody Allen film, Midnight in Paris. Has Woody made a rom-com? In any case, we’ll know soon after the film opens the Cannes Film Festival on May 11th.

As DVD sales continue to plummet, new distribution schemes are part of the studios plans to capture more post-theatrical revenue. WB, Sony, Universal and Fox plan to charge $30 for a VOD screening of recently released feature films, according to this Variety report. The majors will soon launch Home Premiere, a common branding under which each studio plans to offer movies at $30 a pop, with a viewing window of two to three days.

The 6thFloor NYT blog offered up news of this remarkable Japanese commercial. The short take is that it involves building a long, wooden marimba in a forest, and setting up the descending plates so that a bouncing wooden ball plays Bach’s Cantata 147, “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”. Sure, it’s to sell an NTT Docomo cellphone, but that’s handled discreetly at the end, while the whole production is to be marveled over.

Get Thy Data into the Cloud

You’ll probably be using a cloud-based business service soon, if you haven’t already signed on to one of the proliferating storage and music start-ups. This Business Insider article comments on Amazon’s roll out of an Android Appstore the prior week, followed by its new Cloud Drive service for the web and Android this past week. Want to use the Cloud for storage? Amazon offers 5GB of storage for free, besting services such as Dropbox. Buy an album from Amazon, and you’ll get the storage bumped to 20GB, again for free.

Finally, last week we wrote about Scenios coming out of beta on its Cloud-based production service. (Scenios uses Amazon’s S3, an open platform that offers access to the company’s extensive Web-based storage arrays.) The Tribeca Film Center-based company touts its cloud-based production management system as the first to be available to producers worldwide. It happens to be free too, offering 5GB of storage for a single project.

This past week Scenios announced that Bravo’s TV show Inside the Actors Studio recently became the first major television program to use its cloud solution to manage its entire production workflow. Becoming the first production to move a successful show—it’s now been in production for 17 years with viewers in 125 countries–to a new production scheme doesn’t come as a total surprise in this case: Jeff Wurtz, producer and director of the show, co-developed the online workflow procedure with Scenios CEO Mark Davis.

Inside the Actors Studio, produced via an SD tape-based workflow for its first 16 years, went to a tapeless HD workflow built around Scenios for its 2011 season. “I’ve cut production costs even while collaborating with my team more effectively,” says Wurtz, who has won an Emmy for his editing on the show. Wurtz uses Scenios to post and manage scripts, budgets, call sheets, locations and production schedules. Crewmembers can access the Scenios system from any Mac or PC web browser, iPhones and on location via an iPad.

Since Scenios automatically shows if crewmembers have read production updates and script changes, Wurtz says he doesn’t spend time worrying about his team being on the same page when live production starts. “This is something I should have had years ago,” says Wurtz. For more, visit the Scenios web site at www.scenios.com.

We search for the more interesting and provocative news and views of the past week, just so you don’t have to.

This past week brought news on hot new camcorders, contests, Kevin Smith, the ever-reliable-for-drama Weinstein Bros., and a new look for a classic New York tale.

Just a week ago director/DP/author Jon Fauer traveled to Japan to get a peek at what might be Sony’s answer to upstart Red: a prototype camera system that shoots beyond 4K by subsampling from a huge 8K sensor. Unusual for such a large sensor system, the camera will have a high frame rate mode going to 120 frames per second. Fauer says the complex project could be a breakthrough for practical 4K productions. One key factor, he says, is that Sony makes all the crucial parts, including the sensor and high-speed SR Memory Cards with their 5 Gbps sustained data rate. The story is here.

DV editor David E. Williams goes into much detail on the rest of Sony’s line-up presented at the press tour in Japan. That post is here.

More practical cinematography—that is, if 3-D production can yet be said to be anywhere close to practical–comes via a one day 3-D production workshop on Saturday, March 19th at StudentFilmmaker’s Broadway workshop. To be taught by Julian Chojnacki DGA and SOC, attendees with work with one of the few standard rigs out there, Panasonic’s AG-3DA1 camcorder. While not many would peg that rig for anything beyond industrial and educational use, any hands-on work will put you above the competition at this early stage. More info here

The Abel Cine blog has a video on using the rental house’s new AF100 ENG Kit for the Panasonic AF100. That single sensor camcorder has become an immediate favorite for its relatively lowball pricing and design—and that it hit the market well before Sony’s still to be delivered competitive model, the HandyCam NXCAM with E-Mount. The Sony camcorder has higher specs, but the Panasonic has already drawn modders such as Abel Cine who employ the Hot Rod Tuner and HDx2 B4/PL Optical Adapter to allow attaching 2/3-inch lenses.

Just too tired of having to read your Facebook and Twitter pages? Developer Ustream helps address that boredom via its new iPhone app that combines both a mobile video viewer and video broadcasting capability. Takes just one click to post to Twitter and Facebook. Sounds like one more way to bring down the networks of Verizon, AT&T, et.al, but who am I to discount our self-mythologizing ways?

Augmented reality—it’s essentially the layering on of digital info over the real world—inches closer to the everyday. At the recent GDC (games developer conference), Sony detailed how augmented reality will work in its NGP, the next generation Playstation platform. The huge gaming market might push AR to wide use. Read about it here.

Meanwhile, a blogger on Handheld Hollywood tries to make the case for the iPad 2 as a mobile production tool. While we know the Pad is finding a place on set–to review takes or even act as a slate–this fellow goes over every technical detail to seriously make the case for it as your digital filmmaking tool. You be the judge.

Looking to improve how you manage your New York-based business? Well, you’re too late to attend tomorrow’s sold out Sixth Annual Small Business Summit, hosted by the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce. However, you can plunk down $29 for what is promised as “live remote video access to all sessions”. Those sessions run from 8am to 5pm, so looks like you’ll get your money’s worth of virtual conferencing. Click here for more.

One major shindig that finished this past weekend, the annual TED conference, has its many free videos posted for all. TED, originally dedicated to technology, entertainment, and design, has grown from its small, geeky beginnings into an important tech-oriented gathering that covers everything from “quantum physics to paper-cutting” as Steven “Hackers” Levy puts it. The videos of the presentations are anything but dry—the speakers pride themselves on making the most arcane topics relevant, and dare we say fun—so don’t hesitate in trying at least one from their top-shelf list. Click here for that.

Picking up distribution, of course, is a filmmaker’s final hurdle. Kevin Smith came up with a solution that kicks self-distribution to a new level–he packed Radio City Music Hall to push his new horror movie, “Red State.” Folks paid $54 to see the movie and then sit through Q&A with Smith and cast. Not sure how many Indie productions could pull that off. In any case, read more here.

A longish essay by “film finance expert” Jeff Steele on, of all places, the HuffPo, lays out other strategies for a “complete democratization” of the film industry, one said to make “every man, woman and man-child to be his or her own mini-studio”. If you’re not too frightened by that thought, you can read more here.

If you’re involved in advertising, you might want to consider Shoot’s 9th Annual New Director’s contest. The April 4th deadline is approaching, so if you can use the promotion, see the application details here.

Sony’s “Behind the Lens” film student contest has also been announced, with submissions accepted through March 15th. Winner gets a PMW-F3 camcorder.

Two filmmakers who claim their animated film projects were deep-sixed through the Weinstein Studio’s “indecisiveness and general incompetence” have sued. Seems they were also paid to keep quiet about this until after the Oscars, so that the studio’s campaign for “The King’s Speech” wouldn’t be sidetracked. You can read the details here, including an embarrassing episode involving M&Ms.

Echt Broadway movie “Sweet Smell of Success” has been restored and includes a new Blu-ray transfer courtesy of the Criterion Collection. Written by Broadway press agent Ernest Lehman and the great Clifford Odets, the film stars Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis playing against their good-guy types. Hands down one of the best takes on a now lost era, the mid-1950s milieu of New York theaters and nightclubs. There’s wonderful black & white cinematography by the great James Wong Howe to boot.

We search for the more interesting and provocative news and views of the past week, just so you don’t have to.

Film at Lincoln Center/Indiewire blogger Eugene Hernandez is among those offering reminiscences and appreciations of New York indie producer/director Gary Winick, who passed away Sunday, February 27th. Winick is credited for his career in the New York community, notable for helping to start InDigEnt, the independent film company that produced “Pieces of April,” “Personal Velocity” and “Tadpole,” which Winick also directed. Hernandez also points out that Winick, a winner of a 2003 Spirit Award, was an important early proponent of digital video gear for short- and low-budget shoots.

Variety reports on NY distrib Tribeca Film’s announcement of nine new acquisitions, which brings to 26 the tally for releases in 2011. That’s over twice the number of releases over its freshman year, so you can see the distrib isn’t shy in pushing ahead in a difficult market. Among the new pick-ups are Vincent D’Onofrio’s directorial debut “Don’t Go in the Woods,” a “rock ‘n’ roll horror musical.” And then there’s Vincent Gallo once more using his craggy face as his calling card: he stars as a captured Taliban fighter in a direct to VOD of Jerzy “Deep End” Skolimowski’s thriller “Essential Killing”.

For those of you who look to HDSLRs as a viable alternative for image making–and we’ve all flirted with the idea, haven’t we?–you can now buy the latest of Canon’s entry level DSLRs that does just that. The Canon Rebel T3i/ESO 600D, announced earlier this month, keeps most of the same internals as last year’s T2i but adds choice bits such as an articulated screen and more setup info for beginners. You can read Digital Photography’s review here.

Don’t be too surprised in learning this, but almost everyone in America reports rising rudeness and other unmannerly behavior in the use of mobile devices in public. Intel paid good money to figure this out for us.

You should further not show any astonished reaction to learn that Philly-based Atomic Cheesecake productions has produced a 3D music video using two paired iPhone 4s. Suppose the result suffices for all of those mistaking heavily compressed iPod and iPhone music for the real thing.

You can find a more serious take on lower cost 3D production during Studiodaily’s webinar on Monetizing Stereo 3D this Tuesday, March 1st. We’re not talking James Cameron style production here, but basic work of the sort that will pay you back in today’s marketplace. I can’t give any promises on how useful this will be–and you’ll have to drop $99 to find out–but one good sign is that Randall Dark, a recognized producer/director with years of experience in practical applications for HD and 3-D, will be on the panel.

Over the weekend, Apple is said to have divulged details of JointVenture, a new small business program to be launched later this week as part of the Cupertino-based company’s Wednesday press conference. Apple plans to charge $499 for up to five users of this Apple ProCare-on-steroids venture. While features such as priority access to the Genius Bar and customized workshops might seem a little enticing, comments surfacing on the net already complain that it probably won’t work out easily as Apple’s in-house Genius crew is already stretched to the limits. More at 9to5 Mac.

Abel Cine plans to offer another two-day intensive training session on the Phantom Flex camera system. The well thought out high speed Phantom has made slow motion production much more accessible. While not cheap at $1725, the classes are said to be popular, and with limited class space anyone interested should sign up now. Starts March 31st.

While you might be satisfied just reading the article’s title “How social media store your mind, took advertising with it”, this screed on AdAge Digital’s site does go on to point out that it’s not just that nostalgia for older tech that loses out: a new Stanford study finds that we are being distracted to the point where marketers have to spend more and more money just to attract smaller and smaller parts of our attention. Makes ya sad.

Finally, if moment-by-moment pop cult news distraction really, truly is your crack, you’ll want to sign up for Anticipation Index. Brought to you by NY Mag and Trendrr, the idea is to track what popcult folks are expressing the most interest about in real-time on Twitter and the rest of our social web. The New York Observer quotes one of the party’s involved describing it as infoporn. We tend to agree. Not that we’d know what that porn part is all about.

The success of the 3D versions of Avatar and now Alice can have only whet the appetite of major TV set manufacturers as they ready a push into a new, untapped home market.

Panasonic begins selling a new series of 3D-enabled HDTVs at Best Buy this Wednesday. According to the Wall St Journal and other reports, the company will discount its 3D TVs as much as 50% in the US compared to Japanese pricing in order to rack up big sales quickly.

Analyst firm DisplaySearch forecasts 3D-ready TVs will grow from 0.2 million units in 2009 to 64 million units in 2018, with the first hurdle already gained: the tech specs for the Blu-ray 3D spec was recently completed.

Progress means different things to different groups in the industry, of course. Take TV set manufacturers. Sure, over the years better technology raises all their boats, but if you make widgets for a living you face a mean reality since technical and manufacturing improvements wipe out any differences among competing products. Thus the flip side of easier and cheaper production consists of living with ever thinning profit margins.

According to industry researcher DisplaySearch average selling prices for TVs in 2009 were expected to fall for the first time since the flat panel TV transition began.

So while the changeover to a new technology standard can be hazardous, it can also raise your bottom line. Building and selling 3D parallels what HDTV gear did for the industry: give reasons to raise money, invest in factories and marketing, all to slake the tech needs of a new batch of consumers who want the some of the buzz that they’ve felt from the latest and greatest movies.

So while we’re only on the cusp of the changeover to 3D in the home, expect to still hear plenty of noise about the technology over the coming months from Panasonic, Sony, Samsung, et.al. Scoring top position early on can be crucial to owning a sector of the market. Or at least that’s what tech companies have come to believe.

Here’s a quick look at some of the most recent news:

PCWorld reports that Sony will begin selling 3D TVs in Japan on June 10 and worldwide at about the same time. A PlayStation 3 firmware upgrade, meanwhile, will add 3D support to that platform.

The Financial Times describes as “ambitious” Sony’s stated target of selling 2.5 million 3D televisions in nine months starting from that June launch. This indicates how important 3D will be to the company’s bottom line, says FT.

Sony’s Mr. Ishida said they aren’t concerned by Panasonic’s head start since there is still so little 3D content available.

Jumping out quickly with new product, however, could backfire, as some standards—such as fully interchangeable 3D glasses among the various makes of 3D TVs, haven’t been set. “For the 3D TV industry, if you want fast adoption, or a nice, seamless, easy consumer experience, you want to work as hard as possible to make sure that everybody’s glasses can be used at a friend’s house,” says DisplaySearch TV analyst Paul Gagnon.

Everybody needs to show they’re studying the 3D situation very intently. ESPN and Sony have set up 3D test facilities. Panasonic, meanwhile, trumpets its 3D Blu-ray authoring facility in Hollywood.

ESPN’s Innovation Lab at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, will be its hub for developing 3D technology. ESPN launches its 3D channel this summer to cover the World Cup. Sony and CBS opened a 3D research center and screening facility in Las Vegas at MGM Grand Hotel & Casino to focus on “consumer perceptions toward 3D programming”, as well as ways to deliver 3D content in and outside the home.

Ending on a more cynical note is Peter Bart in his Variety article Movie biz doing the splits. Bart sees an ever-widening gap between tentpole pics like Avatar and other expensive 3D productions—which continue to suck up more and more of the money that’s out there–and smaller, Indie fare ala Hurt Locker, Precious, and An Education, for which money and distribution keep drying up.

Considering how much of New York film and TV production fall under that latter Indie banner, that doesn’t make for a very heartening glimpse of the future, 3D or not.

The Hollywood Post Alliance’s Tech Retreat, organized and led by the inimitable Mark Schubin, is now over. This yearly high-end tech conference, held in Palm Springs every February, has become one of the leading venues to learn about the most important tech topics in production,post, distribution, and exhibition from the leading practitioners. As you might imagine, 3D is the topic that’s getting the most coverage throughout the four-day event.

You can follow Adam Wilt’s excellent summaries on his ProVideo Coaltion blog starting here.

Agreement on an open file format spec and the addition of 21 new member companies—including Adobe–are just a couple of the details of the announcement made by the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) group at CES2010.

DECE, formed in late 2008 as a counter to Apple’s seeming stranglehold on digital content distribution, plans to develop an integrated DRM scheme that member companies will honor. DECE membership includes Best Buy, Cisco, Comcast, Fox, HP, Intel, Lions Gate, Microsoft, NBC Universal, Paramount Pictures, Philips, Sony and Warner Bros.

Besides making sure Apple doesn’t walk away with the pie, the group’s main concern is to answer consumer (and producer) grumblings about proliferating formats that hinder, for example, someone who buys a movie online from copying it to another device the user owns.

The Walt Disney Co., which is developing its own DRM spec, Keychest, also made a CES2010 announcement on its planned rollout of the technology later this year . As Steve Jobs sits on Disney’s board, you can image that Apple will be signing on to that spec soon. A Reuters report says that Disney officials hope to use KeyChest to “build momentum for the long-stalled digital distribution of films.”