Tag: closed captions

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Truly Free Film

The Really Good Things In FilmBiz 2014

Let's look at the bright side!
Let’s look at the bright side!

Some rituals help keep us focused throughout the year. This marks the 4th time I have looked back at all the good things that occurred in the film biz and listed them out for all of us. Tracking them through year, keeps me from abandoning hope. Sometimes they may just be the silver lining in the storm cloud, but nonetheless they keep me going, keep me convinced that in fact we truly are: building it better together. I hope they do something close to that for you. It’s been a good year, and I have thirty two morsels to tempt you with. And of course the year’s not through yet, so perhaps you have some to add to this too. 

If you’ve encountered elements of this list earlier on my postings in Film Comment and on Keyframe, pay careful attention as I have weaved some new points into all for your reading pleasure. And if you like a little of the bitter to wash down the sweet, don’t forget the list of 30 Bad Things In 2014’s Film Biz here.

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Truly Free Film

30 Really Bad Things In FilmBiz 2014

IMG_9903It is now time for my complete list of The Suck In Today’s Film Biz. Earlier this week, I’ve dropped some bits on Keyframe and Filmmaker Mag. IndieWire picked it up. There’s so much that is wrong, it is easy to share the wealth. But here is all of those combined lists  plus many more. Can’t you hear everyone screaming “OMG, there is so much too fix! It is time we made this really work for ambitious and diverse film once and for all!”?  We wish, right?

I have been chronicling the negative in our film industry for sometime now — six years in these type of posts, but my original rant goes back to 1995 for Filmmaker Magazine.  Much of what I have stated in years’ passed remains still in need of getting done. Dig in to my past lists and when you combine them you will have well over 100 things that we could be doing better.  You’d think with so much wrong, more people would stand up and say “this has got to change!”. Where is the film industry’s national leadership? For the first time I believe we are capable of conceptualizing what an entire systems reboot could be — and one that looks out for ALL the stakeholders.  Isn’t it time for a international summit on this?

I have been also chronicling the good too, but today that’s for another day. Come back tomorrow for my comprehensive list of 30 Good Things In The Film Biz 2014.

By detailing what we have failed to do, done wrong, or continue to ignore, we build a road map of how we can improve things for the future. Here’s my contribution to that map for 2014.  Let’s build this better together.

  1. The “Winners Take All” Blockbuster Model Has Stomped “The Long Tail” Flat (in Hollywood). And as much as I hoped people would try to resist
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Truly Free Film

Diary of a Film Start-Up: Post # 42: The Importance of Subtitles & Closed Captions

By Roger Jackson
KinoSmall

Previously: Blockbuster Trends

Many video-on-demand outlets require Closed Captions. This is true in the USA and increasingly elsewhere in the world, for example in the UK and Australia. And while it is not yet a mandatory requirement for all films submitted to Kinonation, we very strongly recommend it, not least because without captions a film won’t be eligible for delivery to iTunes. This has generated many questions from filmmakers, which I’ll try to answer here.

Why Captions Drive Revenue

Only 3 in 1000 people in the US are “functionally deaf.” But 17% of Americans report some sort of hearing impairment, which amounts to over 50 million people. That percentage is more or less reflected worldwide. Closed captions allow those people to enjoy your movie. Big potential audience. BUT – it’s not just about physiological hearing issues. Your audience will often watch films on a laptop in a noisy cafe, or a tablet on a commuter train, or a TV in a bar — or simply at home in the kitchen with the sound of cooking and kids. Closed Captions allow consumers in all these scenarios to watch your film comfortably…and therefore generate revenue for you.

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