Exactly 14 months ago, shortly after its introduction, I outlined a concept for how Google Wave could be used by filmmakers (which I recommend reading before you go on). The post was widely read, and even Google featured the idea as a potential use case scenario for its fledgling product. After snagging a (relatively) early beta spot for the service, I witnessed how filmmakers were attempting to make use of it. I should emphasize the word attempting, because most users were completely lost on how to implement the technology. Yesterday, Google announced it will stop developing the platform, and has only promised to support their version of Wave through the end of 2010. Google Wave is dead. So is the Google Wave for filmmakers concept dead? Read on…

Last week, Google announced an upcoming product called Wave which the tech giant refers to as “what e-mail would look like if it were invented today”. By that they mean a communications system with all of the acquired knowledge of the 21^st century without the hangups of the 20^th. For detailed info you should really check out the official Google Wave site, but I’ll try to keep the pre-required knowledge to a minimum here.

This isn’t a tech site, it’s a film site. So what on earth does this have to do with cinema? Google is inventing this to revolutionize communication and productivity which has essentially been stagnant for decades if not longer. E-mail, as one example, is sent back and forth between one or more people just as the letter or the memorandum was before before it. Wave basically breaks that wide open, offering contextual live editing of a single communiqué. Now, while this can certainly help in producing a film just like it could help any general office task, the overall Wave concepts could be applied on a grander scale for filmmakers. Read on…