Interactive, Gamification and B.S.

Now, tell us,  do you feel engaged?

I don't have time to really do a proper post, but someone forwarded this to me and it's too good not to share.  It is a blog post titled "Gamification is Bullshit: My position statment at the Wharton Gamification Symposium."  It is a short, articulate statement, written in plain language, about the problem of when "experts" try to latch onto the new thing and how it can end up being a lot of, well, bullshit.  See also, Interactive Media.  And no, getting people to populate your content for you for free is not interactive media and please don't pretend that it's necessarily engaging with your audience.

The whole idea of viral in new media is starting a whole lot like old media, with a marketing sector out there providing "scientific" advice about how to create, distribute and, most importantly, track the people watching branded viral content distributed according to some master marketing plan.  Yes, it is the creation of the appearance of the spontaneous explosion of interest in branded online content.  There are people out there teaching classes on it as I write this.  I always knew those cute cats were at their core demonic messengers of doom.  Remember.  Nothing is free in this world.  If you are not paying for your content, you are the product being sold.

You Can Haz Branded Content

Content will not get better until the people with the money understand that the rules of the game have shifted.  The kids have come to play with their Bullshit Meters.

Well, ok, maybe not all of them.

One Addition

Wow, I just saw this, and it reminded me of a movie that I left off the list on my last post.  Jackpot, by the Polish brothers.  A genuinely offbeat and visually interesting movie.  It was shot by M. David Mullen who has shot most of their films and is one of my favorite cinematographers.  The stories I've heard about working with them (leaner than lean) and the films they have made put them in the forefront of interesting American filmmakers.

Their latest film, For Lovers Only, had a cast and crew of three.  The two Polish brothers, one on camera  (A 5D) and the other an actor, and one actress.  It is being self-dstributed online only.  I can't wait to watch it this weekend.

Here's the trailer:


for lovers only... from Polish Brothers on Vimeo.

Let the Right Ones In

Let the Right One In

We do this to tell stories.  So, I thought I'd share some of the one's that I've enjoyed over the past year or two.   Most of them were made in the past decade, however, there are a few exceptions.   This list isn't meant to be inclusive, systematic or really have any larger meaning.   It's just some films that I've watched recently and enjoyed.  Many of these films grossed under $100,000 and some were as low as $20,000 in their U.S releases.

There are not any big Hollywood films in the list.  It's not because there aren't any good films made in Hollywood, but they get their coverage elsewhere.  These are films that typically are not going to get much coverage in the media, even after winning major international awards.


Really good French/Belgian movies from the last 5 years.

Many of the best movies coming out recently are low to mid-budget films coming from Europe, including many French and French-Belgian productions.  They seem to be able to still put the financing together for really engaging character driven stories.

 The Class

1. The Class:    This one was somewhat experimental in that it was workshopped with the actual immigrant kids who also star in it.  HIGHLY recommended.
2. A Prophet
3. I've Loved you So Long
4. L'Enfant
5. Lorna's Silence

Four Lions

Other fairly recent European films

1. Four Lions-I think you can safely call a comedy about 4 wannabe homegrown jihadists in England transgressive (and funny).  Christopher Morris may be the new Ricky Gervais.
2. Let the Right One In:  Really interesting look to it, captures that modern alienated Nordic feeling.  One of the best vampire movies ever.  It is astonishing that it only grossed $49,000 in its opening weekend in the U.S.  It was remade as Let Me In (2010) in the U.S.
3. The Lives of Others: wow. Beautiful and incredible acting.  The claustrophobia of living in a police state.
   

Lives of Others

Others


Lady Vengeance- last film in the twisted Oldboy trilogy. 

Whisky: Uruguayan comedy.

Bubble: really compelling Soderbergh.  He uses "real people" as actors and shot this on a shoestring.

Cutie Honey: Get your Cos Play on.  Not a great film but who can resist a live action Japanese female superhero.

Play Time:  this is a taste one.  I love Mr Hulot and this is arguably the best of the lot. It is great to look at, the cinematography is phenomenal, and the physical comedy really good on a big screen.  Get the Blu-Ray and watch it on the biggest screen you can find.  Made in 1967 by Tati.

Play Time

Documentaries

1. September Issue: rightfully got a fair amount of press.  And every visual person should be well-versed in Grace Coddington.
2. Salesman: an awesome, awesome classic.  A reminder of why the Maysles brothers so heavily influenced the course of documentary film making for 50 years.  A day in the life of door-to-door bible salesmen.
3. Valentino: The Last Emperor- Surprisingly, another fashion-related film. 
4. Wasteland-won the IDA feature award last year
5. Bus 174:  Brazilian.  It will change you. Really.  Maybe one of the most important documentaries of the last 25 years.
6. La Vida Loca:  I can't recommend this doc highly enough.  Christian Poveda lived a dangerous life and ended up getting killed in the end.  In the meantime he recorded the reality of gang life (imported from the U.S) in El Salvador.   There is one scene in it that is like a waking fever dream.  
7. Stevie: by Steve James (Hoop Dreams).  One of the few movies where the reflexive mode really works well because the film maker allows himself to be presented in a less than perfect light.  The moral center of the movie is provided by a white supremacist ex-con.

Salesman

Iranian: the best of my recent obsession with Iranian cinema
It is really a shame that we don't get to see more Iranian films here.  They produce a decent number of films and have some incredibly talented directors.

Kandahar- released in 2001.  Made by the prolific Mohsen Makhmalbaf.
Gabbeh- another Makhmalbaf film.
Close-Up- Abbas Kiarostami.  This film is an innovative blend of documentary and narrative film making.  And watching a real life trial in Iran is fascinating.

Close-Up

And winner of possibly the most disturbing film I've seen in a long, long time:  The Chaser (Korean).  I felt terrible for days after watching this. If horrendous serial killers are your thing, then this film will scratch your itch.

Don't Ask

Old Friends

Yesterday I also got to spend time with some old friends....

It's Not Easy Being Green

Played hookie from DaVinci this morning and instead got lucky and was able to spend a couple of hours talking with Isidore Mankofsky.   What a legend.  And, he's still working at age 80.  It's nice when someone at his level is actually willing to take the time to have a nice, intelligent conversation with regular people like me.  It definitely charges your batteries after going to events with people who are full of themselves.

Last night I was at the LAFCPUG meeting dedicated to FCPX.  Larry Jordan, the inimitable Michael Wohl and Phillip Hodgetts were all presenting on what actually CAN be done on FCPX (or as Michael Wohl calls it "Z," as in "forget about Final Cut, this is something completely different.")  It was a sold out house full of post production professionals.  About three hands went up in the whole theatre when asked who was planning on purchasing it.  And with good reason.  It offers a lot of innovation as far as GUI/database interaction for a video editor, unfortunately, it lacks a lot of standard features that a working professional would expect.   Say, telling you when your audio is out of sync.....apparently in the future audio will never be out of sync because X isn't going to tell you if it is.

I have a good idea what Apple was thinking, and in the longterm it was probably the right corporate strategic decision.  In the not too distant future most video is going to be shot in H.264 either on DSLR's or phones and end up being viewed on devices like the iPad or iPhone. But as far as alienating cultural tastemakers in such a huge way, what were they thinking?  I'm guessing we won't see the Coen brothers or Walter Murch on their marketing materials moving ahead, apparently they're at a place where that kind of approval is no longer needed for their products.  And we all scratch our heads, and try to figure out where to go next with all of this.

Spiritual Center

Time to go to that special place, you know, the film that makes the world seem like it really will be ok.  That there's hope, and that there are other people in the world out there who get you.  The spiritual center film tells you a lot about a person and how they view themselves.

Yes, it is time for me to screen Caddyshack again.  Am I the only person who feels like the world is full of people who want to belong to some sort of Country Club?

OK, time to get back to work logging video from the December shoot in the Amazon.

On a Lazy Sunday Afternoon

Playtime.  For fun, I made a couple of grades up for footage on a recently completed film.  I love this work so much I think I could do it as a job.  Click on the images for larger sized versions.

For the first shot, an underwater shot, I was looking for drama.  My inspiration are the Turner storm paintings.  Two versions, one with more saturation.  I don't think I need to point out that the original shot is pretty awesome already.

Original (ungraded)

Test Grade (less sat)

Test Grade (more sat)

For this interview shot, I had two goals in mind.  The first was to really make the face pop from the background and, second, to give it more of a narrative, ominous look.

Original (ungraded)

Test Grade