U.S. District Judge Louis L. Stanton’s decision against Viacom and in favor of Google and YouTube placed the onus on copyright holders to identify specific instances of infringement and then inform websites to remove the pirated content. If the sites do so promptly, they are shielded from liability.
Day: June 29, 2010
Categories
Linearity is the enemy.
Today’s guest post is from James Fair, a filmmaker and educator I had the pleasure of meeting at the Galway Film Fleadh last year and recently met up again in NYC. You might recall him from a prior post “University Challenged: Educational Approaches To Filmmaking”.
This summer I will direct “The Ballad of Des & Mo”, a feature film shot, edited and screened in 72 consecutive hours as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) in Australia. The plan is to shoot it upon RED One, to cinematic quality with dollies, tripods and tracks. If it goes well, you should never be able to tell that it was made in 72 hours.
‘Why do this?’ I hear you ask. Well, I am fascinated by the organisational structures that digital can offer to filmmakers, and I enjoy experimenting with alternative workflows and roles within filmmaking. I am not convinced that trying to use new technologies with the antiquated organisational structures of a struggling industry is effective. And it seems that the MIFF organisers agree that this is a valid point for us to explore at their event. My argument is that linearity permeates all areas of film production. To be linear is to be direct, undeviating and sequential. I believe that independent filmmakers have a fixation with linearity, and it is an obstacle they need to overcome.
But as Variety has reported, it looks like Congress is going to stop it, and the film business will remain like onions — unable to leverage the future to mitigate risk. We need to find ways to create a secondary market for film investment, so it is far more liquid than it is today.
Cantor Exchange president Richard Jaycobs said in light of the bill reported out by the conferees on Friday, “Cantor is continuing to assess its options for providing risk management and financing tools to the motion picture industry.”
