SAG joined the WGA in striking against the AMPTP, will the Film Industry ever recover

So yesterday, July 13th 2023, SAG Struck against the AMPTP joining the WGA in a historic labor strike. Now this strike seemed inevetible after the backlash to the WGA President Fran Dreshers video saying how swimmingly the negotiations were going, and especially after the comically ridiculous DEADLINE article, "Hollywood Studios' WGA Strike Endgame Is To Let Writers Go Broke Before Resuming Talks In Fall." (And no I don't think the AMPTP planted this). My big question is what this will do to the future of the industry. Having lived through the 1990's Commercial SAG Strike and then the threat of the Writer's strike that basically completely killed the commercial production industry as it was in Southern California. I went from being able to work 365 days a year to barely being able to get work practically overnight, and that was when I left commercial production and got into non-union editing. Now the Unions are absolutely right that they deserve to get the streaming numbers so they can see what residuals they are owed, but honestly I am not sure that they studios even understand their streaming numbers, or they would tout them at least on some shows! You don't think Apple would want to tout how many people are watching Ted Lasso? Or Netflix on Stranger Things? And the AI thing is certainly being blown out of proportion at least where the technology is right now, as AI can't currently replace anyone. And before the next contract in 3 years it is certainly not going to be able to replace either writers or actors. And I really don't get the completely different statements on it from AMPTP and SAG. The AMPTP says that they are protecting digital likenesses and requiring consent, while SAG says that they will take background performers likenesses and own them forever. And the Studios need to realize they can't keep actors likenesses forever in any circumstances. Still I think something can be something worked out, but yes you can bet than in the future background performances will often be digital, just like crowds have been with Massive from WETA since Lord of the Ring, but if they are based on a performers likeness that performer needs to be paid and credited, no matter what. Yes eventually Teamsters will be replaced by self driving trucks. I mean Teamsters don't even help load and unload the trucks they drive, so if you could have a self driving truck, why wouldn't the studios do that? But replacing an actor, technology wise we really are not there yet. How much money did they spend on Indiana Jones The Dial of Destiny to de-age Harrison Ford and it was no where near there for me. And as for Artificial Intelligence writing scripts, the studio does own the scripts they have purchased for writers, so some day they will want to use them to train AI, as they own them. And writers are terrified of that, but we are certainly not there,…

postPerspective on The Muppets Mayhem Embraces the LED Volume

https://postperspective.com/the-muppets-mayhem-embraces-the-led-volume/#utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=rss?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-muppets-mayhem-embraces-the-led-volume Awesome. I loved the show (except the focus on the human instead of the band) but the band was so damn good. And the Volume sequence hallucination was just amazing.

Harrison Ford’s De-Aging in the Dial of Destiny is the best yet, but still not there, at least for me

Wired has a story on the de-aging, and I saw the film yesterday. I didn't at all love the film, though it is better than the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The opening 25 minutes, with Harrison Ford de-aged, while exciting was just too digital. The first 3 films have effects, but so much is with actors that this just made it look like a video game. And to me the de-aged face often looked like it was at a different frame rate. To me it looked like maybe they liked the clarity of the face so much, that they didn't motion blur it to fit in the shot? That would account for the odd stutter that made it look like it was at an off frame rate. Also the face didn't seem to perfectly match the dialogue. It just didn't get there for me, and threw me out of the film, as I was watching the effect instead of the sequence. SOME SPOILERS AHEAD... Of course the story really lost it for me. I am not sure if there was more to it that they cut out, or it was just badly written. I didn't buy the CIA letting an Ex Nazi scientist have NAZI guards with him that murdered innocent Americans, and felt it needed more explanation. I get the CIA with the Ex Nazi as he was basically Verner Von Braun, but with Nazi Guards, really? Allowed to run around New York with guns? Then when they take the Nazi's boat and the Nazi's see they are going west not east, they still manage to find them on the first try? Really? How about an explanation. Why have the whole clue hidden in the tablet if the Nazi's don't in fact need it. Also the tomb raiding was lame. It was too short, and had inconsistencies (like the bridge getting broken and then being fixed 10 minutes later). And there was so little to figure out, just stick some rocks in water and find a tunnel. And the digital bugs being a throwback to Temple of Doom, were useless, made no sense and didn't look very good. Now people complained about the ending, but I didn't mind that. All the films have been rather magical at their conclusions and I didn't expect this to be any different. And I loved seeing the seige (though why didn't the plane pull up sooner?). And the action scene in the middle on the Jeep Jeep Motorcycles was great, and looked really good. It was good to see Indiana Jones again, but not great. Letting the films go out with a wimper vs the thud of the Kingdom of the Crystal Skill.

CUT/Daily #348 – Convincing Day For Night

Cut/Daily (Free Registration Required) has shared another great article, this one on Shooting and Posting convincing Day For Night. An interesting article for sure, though I still don't think Dune's dusk for night was that great, mostly just color corrected too fucking dark, but that is my opinion on so much lately that is just color corrected too dark. I do need to play with DaVinci Resolve's Relight features though.

PVC on Filmic App excitedly adding LUT Support

https://www.provideocoalition.com/filmic-pro-new-release-with-full-support-for-lut-import/ In preview or burn in, pretty cool. Now if only Filmic could lock in a 23.976 shooting instead of a slightly shifting 24fps (all thanks to Apple).