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Naji al Ali doc premiere on Al Jazeera July 28, 2010

Posted by joost in : producing, screening, work , comments closed

Exactly one year ago I line produced a documentary on the Palestinian cartoonist Naji al Ali (ناجي العلي). This week episodes 1 and 2 are premiering on Al Jazeera in the Middle East, on Friday evenings at prime time 8pm!
The title is “La likatem al sawt” or “No for the silencer”, which is a reference to the last cartoon Naji drew before he was shot.
It also marks a première for me since I had not seen any footage nor the finished version. But even if I had, it would have still been a challenge since the entire program is in Arabic :-)
Very excited and proud to see the doc out in the open! Now let’s hope and pray the ratings and reception will be good.

The first episode focuses on his youth, upbringing, the state of the (and his) world from the forties to the eighties and the run up to his death. This episode can be seen (at least at the moment) on youtube:
parts 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5

The second episode focuses on the assassination, the people and organisations who might have been involved, and attempts to uncover new evidence. Watch the live stream of Al Jazeera on Friday the 30th of July 20:00 UEA / 19:00 NL / 18:00 UK (Java required). Check out this episode on Youtube:
parts 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5

3d follow-up post July 21, 2010

Posted by joost in : film , comments closed

Last year I wrote about the upcoming 3D-craze in Now in 3D! It’s been a while and with the landscape rapidly changing a follow-up post is definitely in order.

The industry is clearly still in a period of transition. Exhibitors are gradually upgrading and installing digital projectors (which are required for 3d screenings), while the major US studios have fully embraced 3d tent pole blockbuster films purely because of the extra revenue 3d generates, especially with the cash cow of DVD sales rapidly declining at the same time. Katzenberg talks in Variety about the biz being at 3D crossroads

“… the revenue (today) from a successful 3D release net to the studios is greater than the erosion in the DVD market over the last two years.”

This 3d gold rush leads to occasional clashes where there’s either too few 3d screens for major releases (Avatar could have easily launched on more 3d screens) or too many 3d films coming out in a short time span.

All of this has led to a new trend: “post-converting” films to 3d. This means a film is entirely conceived and shot the traditional 2d way, and then converted to 3d in the post production stages. This is far from trivial or cheap for that matter (up to $100.000 per converted minute of the film), but worth the extra potential box office revenue. Some of these 2d-to-3d conversions were rushed and under a lot of time pressure, leading to harsh criticism in the case of Clash of the Titans on the quality of the resulting “3d” film.

Obviously this process will continue to be used in the coming years by productions who do not have the means, knowledge or patience to create the film in 3d from conception to release – and by lazy cash-grabbing Hollywood studios of course…

Slate describes this process in an article called How do you convert a flat movie into 3-D? A more in-depth description can be found here: In-Three on the Workflow Behind 3D Conversions.

Not everyone is sold on 3d though. One of its biggest critics is “old man” Roger Ebert (who has been reviewing films for the past forty-odd years or so). He outlines his thoughts in a Newsweek article Why I hate 3-D (and you should too).

I would recommend that he’d watch Toy Story 3 in 3D. The film is a great example of the principle of “story telling first”, and of constrained use of 3D. The Guardian has a video online that shows how they determine the “3d-ness” within a scene. More word from Pixar’s stereographer on CNET.

Worth a separate post is the rest of the industry jumping on the 3d bandwagon. 3D TV’s were the hottest trend at this year’s CES, broadcasters are experimenting with 3d live events such as football and rugby here in the UK. The 2010 World Cup football in South Africa was shot and broadcast in 3d. Sky TV have announced a dedicated 3d channel, and interestingly, they have released the technical specifications for 3d content.

Haven’t had enough of 3d? Go over to 3dcinecast for in-depth articles and the latest news on 3D.