This week we’re delving back into the world of tech for a nice chat with Andrew Kippen, VP of Marketing for Boxee. For those who are unaware of Boxee, it is a free piece of software that allows you to experience any kind of digital content, be it local or streaming, from the comfort of your couch. It is available for Windows, Mac, Linux and AppleTV, and they will soon be releasing the Boxee Box in conjunction with D-Link. If it is still unclear what Boxee is, first go to boxee.tv and click around, maybe install the app. Then listen to the podcast to hear why this scrappy little company is on the front lines of a major media distribution revolution.

This summer, Boxee plans to roll out a payments system. Imagine, if you will, paying only for the channels you actually watch instead of dishing out around $70 per month for hundreds of channels you don’t watch. Better still, given the openness of the web and Boxee, almost any content maker can get in on the fun. As has become painfully honest to networks and studios over the years, you know longer need to be a major corporation to create content that people want. With the advent of digital workflows, content creation is already democratized. Boxee is working to even the playing field for content distribution.

I’ve said too much already. Click and listen, and tell us your thoughts on Boxee, streaming video, and the media revolution in the comments.

 
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Apple’s iPad is 2 months from release and the Internet seems to have already made up its mind on the device, one way or another. This is all based on total speculation as even those who have handled the tablet haven’t done so long enough to offer an informed opinion. So while the mud and rainbows sling elsewhere, I would like to speculate how the device will impact filmmakers should it be embraced after launch.

First off, let’s look at the iPhone/iPod Touch which has enjoyed decent success in the film community. There are apps available as simple as AJA’s data rate calculator for estimating video file sizes and as complex as screenwriting applications. You can plug your iPod into an Alesis ProTrack and record audio via XLR mics. This doesn’t even to mention the simpler things like the video capabilities of the iPhone 3GS which gives any maker the ability to shoot a walkthrough or concept video whenever they deem necessary. Today, the filmmaker finds a decent tool in the iPhone/iPod Touch.

So when voices on the internet decry the new iPad “just a big iPod Touch”, I would ask the dissenters how they could consider that a bad thing. The truth is that if it were just a big iPod Touch, it would already solve a great deal of problems with the smaller screen on Apple’s mobile devices. Even though the device isn’t available in the wild yet, it is fast becoming clear that the iPad is something more than a glorified iPhone. Take a look at some of the advanced gestures possible on the iPad in this video compiled by Gizmodo:

The way Phil Schiller “stacks” those Keynote slides with a two touch gesture is something that has never been available on any Apple touch device before, and it is a sign of things to come. Gesturing is about to go way past touching and swiping. So how could this impact filmmakers? Let’s break it down by department. Read on...

Now that the dust has finally settled on NBC’s “Tonight Show” debacle, with Jay Leno returning as host of the program, speculators can’t help but predict a landing place for the now jobless Conan O’Brien. It’s assumed that he’ll go to Fox, the only network without a late night talk show currently. However, over at the New York Times’ Bits Blog, writer Nick Bilton has a different, more ethereal outlet for the ginger haired comic: The Internet!

“So here’s my advice to Mr. O’Brien:” Mr. Bilton offers up, “After he leaves NBC and spends a few months healing his wounds and pulling the troops back together, he should come back and make the Internet his time slot.” The rest of the piece doesn’t say all that much about how to achieve such an end, but does revolve around buzzwords like “Leno!” “Conan!” and “Internet!” proving that even the New York Times isn’t above link-baiting. But there is a story to pull from Bilton’s piece: that the logic behind his Internet Time Slot reflects the outdated viewpoint of the web that still runs rampant among popular thought. Read on...

The use of 3D and advanced imaging/animation techniques allows for not just a technological advance, but serves as a racially problematic metaphor for Avatar’s narrative.

While the use of his technology has a tendency to impress simply in skin textures, and facial gestures, James Cameron’s real success has less to do with animation and compositing techniques and more to do with the over looked 3D technique of weight. The most impressive moment is when protagonist Jake Sully dashes through the forest, chased by a large predator at high speeds, only to find himself jumping over a cliff into a waterfall down below. While this is nothing new in any narrative of a similar type, what is new is the technology’s ability to draft the weight of the character through these different physical environments, and the manipulation of time, we are able to get closer to feeling these moments than in any other film for the simple fact that the camera has been placed, panned, and paced in the appropriate positions to allow for the most tactile understanding of air rushing at one’s body, as well as the initial slowing-down of energy once it submerges within water. While neither the scene nor the tools are necessarily anything new, the careful placement of vantage point is what allows for a very effective use beyond the normal 3D tricks. Read on...

You may not have heard about AnyClip yet, but you should definitely prick up your ears and listen to this interview with their VP of Product, Nate Westheimer. This tenacious tech startup’s plans for video search have been causing a lot of buzz in the tech community ever since they won the Audience Choice Award at TechCrunch50 (think American Idol for tech companies). The short of their idea: cataloguing every clip ever. Their flagship site, anyclip.com, is currently in private beta, but if you land an invite it is definitely a lot of fun to poke around. You can search through moments in their growing collection of films using simple terminology, just like any other search engine. Nate describes it better in our conversation (and on the anyclip blog), so you really ought to download the audio below.

 
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I’m sorry, but I am going to have to hike up my crotchity old man pants and whip my suspenders; it’s time to do a little ranting about the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).

Recently, outgoing President Sid Ganis announced that next years Oscar ceremony will feature 10 Best Picture nominations instead of 5. This unprecedented (at least in 60 years) announcement was followed by a few lesser publicized changes. The rules for Best Original Song are now such that there may not even be an award every year and supplemental awards, such as the Thalberg or the Honorary Oscar, will be distributed at a separate event. It is great to see AMPAS blow the dust off of the arcane rule book they have been following for nearly a century, but other changes are needed. Like what, you may ask? Good thing you came to the candler blog.

Axe the Best Animated Feature Category, and Fast

Part of the thinking behind expanding the Best Pic pool is to give films that rarely make it into the running a fighting chance. Comedies, summer blockbusters and animated features are rarely nominated, but only one of those genres has been pushed out of the running completely. Instituted in 2001, with the first award going to Shrek, the Best Animated Feature award was meant to get gold into the hands of animated filmmakers whose work accounts for an incredible amount of box office grosses yet is rarely honored at the annual ceremony. Instead, it has pigeonholed all animated films into one giant lump that is out of the running of the Academy’s top honor.

Over the last decade, Hollywood and audiences have taken note of animation auteurs. So many people are required to make an animated film, the makers often get lost in the shuffle. However, Brad Bird has now become a marketable name, as have Andrew Stanton and John Lasseter. (These are all Pixar guys, I know, but hey, they’re the major studio) As films become more closely linked to specific names, they start to feel more like works of art rather than DVDs to keep the kids happy in the back seat. With a bigger Best Pic pool, there is no longer a need to push animators into a corner with this useless, offensive award. Read on...

While I gear up to give you up to the minute coverage from Oklahoma City, I figured I would let you in on a little known feature of the candler blog. When you are out and about, you may find yourself in need of a little pop culture deconstruction with nary a laptop in sight. No fear, just pull out the ol’ cell phone and point to http://m.candlerblog.com and our full canon will come up. There is also a “secret” link at the bottom left hand corner of the site.

The demo still here is from an iPhone, but this should work on pretty much anything with a browser. Let us know in the comments if there are any problems. What’s that? You’d rather just check us in a feed reader? We’ve got you covered yet again. We’ve got RSS 2.0 and Atom feeds at your disposal. If that’s not enough, just ask and we’ll find a way to get you what you need.

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 21st century without the hangups of the 20th. 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...