Obama Doc Draws Strong Interest From Industry "A documentary, more than two years in the making, about President-elect Barack Obama's campaign is gathering significant interest from international distributors just days after being picked up in the United States by HBO."

New York Times 11/13/08

email this story | Posted 11/19/08@09:41PM

Is The Recession Hurting Reality TV? Unscripted shows such as Survivor, Deal or No Deal and Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? are hemorrhaging viewers. Some of this is overexposure and the age of the shows, but can the plummeting ratings be blamed on the recession? "Well, hard times may not have any direct effect on what people choose to watch. But there's little doubt that during times of upheaval, viewers' tastes can shift."

Los Angeles Times 11/18/08

email this story | Posted 11/19/08@09:35PM

WNET To Open Studio At Lincoln Center New York's flagship public television station will produce arts programming in a new glass-walled studio on the ground floor of the newly-renovated and expanded Alice Tully Hall, which opens early next year.

New York Times 11/19/08

email this story | Posted 11/18/08@09:25PM

Academy Releases 15-Film Shortlist For Documentary Oscar Leading the pack is the post-Katrina doc Trouble the Water, the odds-on favorite; other semifinalists include Werner Herzog's trip to the Antarctic, the Philippe-Petit-skywalks-the-Twin-Towers film, and Errol Morris's examination of Abu Ghraib.

Los Angeles Times 11/18/08

email this story | Posted 11/18/08@09:17PM

- And Andrew O'Hehir Says It's A 'Goddamn Travesty' Of the Documentary Oscar shortlist, Salon.com's "Beyond the Multiplex" columnist fumes, "Margaret Brown's wonderfully nuanced and profoundly personal film about the racially segregated Mardi Gras traditions of Mobile, Ala., The Order of Myths, was left off, as was Laura Dunn's gorgeous The Unforeseen, which I've described as the Chinatown of Texas real-estate documentaries. Those were two of the best examples of American filmmaking to be seen on screen all year … It's a complete and total goddamn travesty, is what it is."

Salon 11/18/08

email this story | Posted 11/18/08@09:15PM

Lab Project: Making Movie Storytelling Meaningful "The movie world has been fretting for years about the collapse of stardom. Now there are growing fears that another chunk of film architecture is looking wobbly: the story. In league with a handful of former Hollywood executives, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Laboratory plans to do something about that on Tuesday, with the creation of a new Center for Future Storytelling."

The New York Times 11/18/08

email this story | Posted 11/18/08@05:29AM

Great News! Wii Won't Turn Your Kid Into A Killer! "A new study suggests that games that feature motion-controlled violent actions, like the Wii version of Manhunt 2 ..., don't affect players any differently than traditional violent games. Phew!" Critics had claimed "that young children would be rehearsing violent moves, and converting them into real physical violence."

Wired 11/17/08

email this story | Posted 11/17/08@04:51PM

About Those Sign-Language Interpreters On TV ... "So, there I was, idling late at night in front of the telly, when on came the late film: John Schlesinger's 1967 work, Far from the Madding Crowd." Then up popped the on-screen sign-language interpreter, inescapably covering a substantial chunk of the picture. "Please, someone, answer me this: what the hell is wrong with subtitles?"

The Guardian (UK) 11/17/08

email this story | Posted 11/17/08@04:24PM

A New Life For French Film "These are heady times for French film, which seems finally to have found a new voice after many years spent emerging from the long shadows of the Nouvelle Vague and battling the influence of Hollywood. French films are taking centre stage around the world and the names of French directors are once again rolling off the tongues of cinephiles: Cantet, Abdellatif Kechiche, Olivier Assayas, Agnès Jaoui. Is this the start of a new New Wave?"

The Observer (UK) 11/16/08

email this story | Posted 11/17/08@05:19AM

Subtitles That Sing Why do movie subtitles have to be boring? Enough of those black-and-white lines of text at the bottom of the screen. Perhaps they should look like comic boook balloons...

Washington Post 11/16/08

email this story | Posted 11/16/08@08:18PM

NBC Cancels Show... Now What About The Product Placements? "The demise of My Own Worst Enemy highlights the risks of the advertiser partnerships that NBC and other broadcasters are turning to. But the network is not backing away from the model; if anything, it is doubling down."

The New York Times 11/14/08

email this story | Posted 11/14/08@07:21AM

It's Not Just Newspaper Journalists In Trouble Anymore "Sorry, news anchors - you might soon have to share your job with avatars. A virtual news technology is turning heads by quickly creating news stories and commentary, no humans required… News At Seven (newsatseven.com) is an automated system combining 3-D avatars, images, video, opinion and generated speech. The website collects news stories from the Web, edits them automatically and formats the content for artificial anchors."

NOW (Toronto) 11/12/08

email this story | Posted 11/13/08@08:07PM

After Pockmarked Big Bird, WGBH Sues Over 'Digital Mural' "First of its kind in the region, the state-of-the-art display covering the western wall of the new WGBH headquarters debuted amid fanfare last year, when it began beaming an ever-changing array of images ... to the half-a-million Boston-bound motorists who pass by it each week on the Massachusetts Turnpike." But the screen, "marred by dark spots," was turned off in June, and WGBH is suing the maker of its "digital mural."

Boston Globe 11/13/08

email this story | Posted 11/13/08@05:49AM

Social Networking Could Be TV's Next Big Thing "As television audiences migrate online, media companies are eyeing social networking as a possible killer app for hooking viewers through their laptops. From simple chat rooms to unique games, the race is on to develop content that complements traditional shows -- the more creative and addictive the better."

Wired 11/12/08

email this story | Posted 11/13/08@04:43AM

Armchair Travelers' Latest Destination: Ancient Rome "Now Google Earth has embraced a frontier dating back 17 centuries: ancient Rome under Constantine the Great. Soaring above a virtual reconstruction of the Forum and the Palatine Hill or zooming into the Colosseum to get a lion's-eye view of the stands, Google Earth's 400 million users will be able to explore the ancient capital as easily 'as any city can be explored today,' Michael T. Jones, chief technology officer of Google Earth, said Wednesday...."

The New York Times 11/13/08

email this story | Posted 11/13/08@03:59AM

All Grown Up, Can The Kids Who Loved Kotter Save TV? "It's never good news to discover that your generation, broadly speaking, is in charge of things. ... But it's nice, sort of, that the people tasked with putting stuff on TV at least remember what it was like to love it, to love Bosley, to love Squiggy, to love Les Nessman, to know who Skippy and Mallory are. If you're going to fix something, it helps to love it first."

KCRW 11/12/08

email this story | Posted 11/13/08@03:33AM

Trivial Pursuit Becomes A Game Show "At the show's Web site, average Americans (or 'folks,' as one always wants to call them after an election season) upload video clips of themselves asking questions. In the studio, standing on a six-spoked set paying homage to the home game, three pleasant contestants attempt to answer them."

Slate 11/11/08

email this story | Posted 11/12/08@09:03PM

NPR Taps NY Times Exec As New CEO "Vivian Schiller, 47, will take over as president and CEO of Washington-based NPR at a time when many media companies are under severe economic stress due to declining advertising support and rapidly shifting consumer tastes." So far, NPR has avoided fiscal trouble, but "Schiller takes over an organization... that has been roiled by internal disagreement."

Washington Post 11/12/08

email this story | Posted 11/12/08@06:33AM

Last-Minute Filmmaking "Director Baz Luhrmann says he has yet to finish his $130m (£84.2m) epic film Australia, despite the fact it is due to have its world premiere next week... The 46-year-old, who has spent the last four years working on the film, said he was 'going back to the mixing desk to finish it in 24 hours'."

BBC 11/12/08

email this story | Posted 11/12/08@06:01AM

Brokeback in Bollywood? (Um, No…) In Dostana, Indian film superstars Abhishek Bachchan and John Abraham play gay. Except it's Three's Company-gay: their characters are straight buddies pretending to be lovers so as to share an apartment with a hot babe. In India, this is seen as extremely daring.

Los Angeles Times 11/09/08

email this story | Posted 11/11/08@09:29PM

Banned Satyajit Ray Film Restored Sikkim, a 1971 documentary about the tiny Himalayan kingdom, was suppressed by Indian censors because it was found to glorify monarchy. (The statelet was a sensitive subject: India went on to annex Sikkim in 1975.) A print of the film, thought to have been destroyed, turned up at the British Film Institute in 2003 and "was restored digitally frame-by-frame by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences."

CBC (Reuters) 11/09/08

email this story | Posted 11/11/08@09:20PM

Cinematography, Where Oscar Honors Only Men (So Far) "First the bad news: When it comes to Oscar nominations, cinematography rivals the best actor category in number of women honored: zero. That comes as no surprise to Women in Film president Jane Fleming, who calls the discipline 'by far the worst' in its male-to-female ratio." The good news? "This year, two female d.p.s stand a good chance of bucking the trend...."

Variety 11/10/08

email this story | Posted 11/11/08@08:13AM

Minority Report Foretold Real-Life Technology "The future-predicting technology that drives the premise of the sci-fi blockbuster Minority Report is silly at best. And when the film hit theaters in 2002, the gadgets seemed pretty unrealistic, too. But eerily enough the slew of dreamed-up gizmos showed off throughout John Anderton's daring escape are hardening into reality."

Wired 11/10/08

email this story | Posted 11/11/08@06:37AM

TV Networks Fail To Score New Fall Hits Once again, the five broadcast networks made it into November without one breakout, game-changing hit -- or any show, old or new, that has caused any palpable audience excitement.

USAToday 11/10/08

email this story | Posted 11/10/08@08:35PM

Will Audiences Shun Serious Movies In Gloomy Economy? With gloom and doom in the real-world economy, will moviegoers be even more reluctant to catch dark, dreary Oscar heavyweights and head instead for the happy place that a "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" can take them?

Yahoo! (AP) 11/10/08

email this story | Posted 11/10/08@08:11PM

Movie-Makers Increasingly Go For Amateur Actors "New digital camera technology, in which take after take with inexperienced actors doesn't waste expensive film, has given a push to the trend. And some productions using amateur talent have won critical acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival and elsewhere, fostering more funds and creative development for these types of project."

Wall Street Journal 11/07/08

email this story | Posted 11/10/08@08:05PM

Venerable Searchlight Films Fights To Get Back On Track The unit of News Corp.'s 20th Century Fox, known for picking quirky films that resonate with the public, has released only a handful this year, far fewer than in the recent past. Two pictures it had high hopes for flopped. Others performed adequately but hardly with distinction.

Los Angeles Times 11/10/08

email this story | Posted 11/10/08@07:58AM

YouTube To Start Posting Full-Length Movies "Many TV networks already run short clips on YouTube, which also offers millions of home videos uploaded by users. But until now, YouTube videos were predominantly short clips of ten minutes or less."

Yahoo! (Reuters) 11/10/08

email this story | Posted 11/10/08@07:51AM

Philly Public Station WHYY's Golden Exec "As a public station, WHYY received nearly $4 million in tax dollars in 2007. It spent $2.63 out of every $100 in expenditures on its CEO - more than any other public station in the largest markets."

Philadelphia Inquirer 11/09/08

email this story | Posted 11/09/08@09:18PM

Adults-Only Screenings? Not So Fast. "When I saw that the Vue chain of cinemas had banned children from certain performances, such as the new James Bond film, at first I had some sympathy with the decision." But not for long -- and not only because young adults tend to be more obnoxious than kids at the movies. "It's by going to [things with their parents], over time, that children learn how to behave properly. And it's by leaving their children behind that adults learn how to behave badly."

The Guardian (UK) 11/07/08

email this story | Posted 11/07/08@07:08AM

Comedians: Nope, The Election Didn't Wreck Our Jobs "[T]he shifting political landscape is ... a perilous one to make fun of, and many questions remain unsettled, even for those who are paid to do the mockery. What's funny, and what's fair game, about a President Barack Obama? Is it too soon to start ridiculing his achievement? Can blacks make fun of him? Can whites? No two comedians seemed to have the same answers to any of these questions."

The New York Times 11/07/08

email this story | Posted 11/07/08@05:32AM

Russian President Calls For End To Media Censorship "In a speech to lawmakers televised live across the country on state television's flagship news show Vesti, Medvedev warned officials against trying to interfere in freedom of expression in the press, radio and television."

Variety 11/05/08

email this story | Posted 11/06/08@09:53PM

Battle Of The Dalí Movies There are three major biopics in development about the arch-Surrealist painter: Dalí, with Antonio Banderas in the title role; Dalí & I: The Surreal Story, starring Al Pacino; and Little Ashes, a portrait-of-the-artist-as-a-young-man with Robert Pattinson as said artist.

The Independent (UK) 11/07/08

email this story | Posted 11/06/08@09:44PM

The Value Of Midwestern Humor American TV shows seem always to be based in either New York, Chicago, or LA, and they tend to be full of implications that only an idiot or a redneck would live anywhere else. But in Canada, the top-rated comedies of the moment all seem to take place on the wide-open prairie. "When things are not pushed and rushed as they can be in the city, just as a lifestyle, funnier stuff can percolate."

Toronto Star 11/06/08

email this story | Posted 11/06/08@06:21AM

US Election As The Ultimate TV Event "The election wasn't just a historic milestone, it turned out to be a television event as thrilling and uncharted as the first lunar landing: For many long, nerve-racking hours, attention was focused on the clock and a tangle of numbers and technological details, then suddenly, and almost shockingly, a feat long awaited, but never fully expected, came to be."

The New York Times 11/06/08

email this story | Posted 11/06/08@06:13AM

Toronto Film Fest Seeks Angels With C$49M The Toronto International Film Festival is in the midst of building its new home, the Bell Lightbox complex. But the campaign to fund the place has stalled at C$147 million, about three-quarters of the way to its goal of C$196 million. Having evidently tapped out government and corporate support, TIFF is now seeking private donors.

Toronto Star 11/04/08

email this story | Posted 11/05/08@09:24PM

FCC Approves New Wireless Broadband Spectrum "The Federal Communications Commission voted Tuesday to open up unused, unlicensed portions of the television airwaves known as "white spaces" to deliver wireless broadband service. The vote is a big victory for public interest groups and technology companies such as Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. that say white spaces could be used to bring broadband to rural America and other underserved parts of the country."

Wired 11/05/08

email this story | Posted 11/05/08@05:56AM

The Great Campaigns: Fonzie, Barbie, Yogi Bear ... "One of the top story lines of the 2008 campaign has been a possible surge of fake voters. But as we concern ourselves with voter fraud, let us not forget our country's long history of fake presidential candidates."

Slate 11/03/08

email this story | Posted 11/04/08@04:06AM

Rand Corp. Study Links Sex On TV With Teen Pregnancy "[R]esearchers at the Rand Corporation say they have documented for the first time how such exposure can influence teen pregnancy rates. They found that teens exposed to the most sexual content on TV were twice as likely as teens watching less of this material to become pregnant before they reach age 20."

Time 11/03/08

email this story | Posted 11/04/08@03:56AM

Good For Google, Bad For Broadway? Google and other tech companies are likely to get an Election Day gift "when the Federal Communications Commission votes on a proposal to make a disputed chunk of radio spectrum available for public use. ... But a coalition of old-guard media -- from television networks to Broadway producers -- is objecting to the proposal, saying it needs a closer look. The opponents argue that signals sent over those frequencies could interfere with broadcasts and wireless microphones at live productions."

The New York Times 11/04/08

email this story | Posted 11/03/08@05:07PM