If the emails that have been coming in from some of our loyal readers are any indication, some of you may be wondering where we’ve been or why the posts on Celluloid Junkie have decreased over the past six months.

The explanation is quite simple really. Like all of those who blog about the industries within which they work, sometimes it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to write about certain topics for various reasons. The very jobs which allow us to be knowledgeable enough to write about our industry sometimes actually prevent us from doing so due to conflicts of interest or breaches of confidentiality. Since these positions are how we actually feed our families, they tend to be given priority.

So it is that over the past several months each of the contributors to Celluloid Junkie have been otherwise engaged. Patrick von Sychowski has been busy tending to his responsibilities at Reliance MediaWorks. J. Sperling Reich has been focused on a number of industry related projects. Anyone who has glanced a a trade publication over the past year knows how busy (and feted) Carolyn Giardina has been lately.

That said, we expect to pick up the pace here on Celluloid Junkie and try to make up for some lost time… or in our case, a lack of worthwhile posts.

Just this past weekend I was shocked when my daughters, six and four-year-olds, asked who Bugs Bunny was. I’m not sure why I was so surprised, since they watch very little television and most of the movies they’ve seen feature characters from Disney, Pixar and Dreamworks Animation titles. This is probably why my attempt to trigger their memory with a “What’s up Doc?!” in my best Mel Blanc voice was such a failure.

Thanks to YouTube it only took a few minutes to introduce my daughters to not only Bugs Bunny, but Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Wile E. Coyote, Tweety Bird and all the major Looney Tunes characters I remember so fondly from my own youth. Yet, as if responding to my personal predicament, Warner Bros. themselves will be lending me a hand in my daughters animation education.

Earlier today, the studio announced that three new animated Looney Tunes shorts will be shown in theaters in front of Warner Bros. releases. Not only will these new shorts be shown in 3D, but they will feature the voice of Mel Blanc based on recordings he made in the 1950s.

Per the press release, the shorts hitting theaters are as follows:

• “Daffy’s Rhapsody”: In the first of the new shorts, a persistent Elmer Fudd chases Daffy Duck (Blanc) on stage during a musical performance. The short features Blanc performing the song “Daffy Duck’s Rhapsody.” “Daffy’s Rhapsody” is scheduled to debut in theaters on November 18, 2011, in conjunction with Warner Bros. Pictures’ release of “Happy Feet 2.”

• “I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat”: A classic game of cat and bird transpires in Granny’s apartment as Tweety Bird goes to great lengths to avoid the clutches of his arch-nemesis Sylvester the Cat. The short also features the hit song of the same name, which was performed by Blanc, and sold over three million copies worldwide.

• Untitled Coyote & Road Runner: Wile E. Coyote’s epic quest to capture the Road Runner continues in this all-new short. Will the Coyote finally get his paws on his elusive prize?>

While my opinion on this may be biased given recent family events, I believe this is a win-win-win for everybody. That’s right, three “wins”, not just two. And here’s why:

1. Surely Warner Bros. is using the shorts to help spread the word on their new television series “The Looney Tunes Show” which debuted on the Cartoon Network in May. However, the side effect of this promotion effort is that the studio will be keeping the Looney Tunes brand alive. My children know who Mickey Mouse is because Disney sticks him in their face every chance they get, especially at theme parks. My children are too young for Six Flags amusement parks so they don’t run into the Looney Tunes characters in person. Nor do they see them on television since, unlike when I was a child, there are now hundreds of channels for a pre-schooler to surf limiting the opportunity for them to stumble across a Looney Tunes rerun. To maintain a brand, a company needs to constantly be placing its product in front of customers. That’s exactly what Warner Bros. is doing by bringing Looney Tunes back into theaters.
2. Thanks to modern technology there has never been a better time for animated content. Though still a labor intensive process the time it takes to create animated films has been drastically reduced. The costs in producing such content has also declined, enabling armies of animators working out of their basements to produce hundreds of hours of animated shorts. Most of this content winds up being featured on YouTube or websites such as Cartoon Brew. Wouldn’t it be nice if there were one more venue to show such work? Who knows, maybe one of these new minute long pieces will turn into the next “Simpsons”.
3. After realizing the gap in my daughter’s knowledge of animation, I lamented the fact that theaters no longer screened shorts in front of movies. Surely not every film can or should have a short in front of it, animated or otherwise, but wouldn’t it be a nice bonus to see such content in theaters rather than just trailers and commercials. One of DVD’s major selling points is all the bonus material that often comes with each disc. Why not throw “extras” into theatrical releases as well. It will give moviegoers a reason to see a film in theaters instead of waiting for the DVD and thus theatre owners may see a slight increase in attendance. So it’s a twofer; both moviegoers and cinema owners win.

Let everyone know what you think of having shorts in front of theatrical releases in the comments below. Are you excited to see Looney Tunes returning to theaters?

There is really only one way to close out a post such as this; borrowing a line from Looney Tunes own Porky Pig, “Th-th-th-that’s all folks!”.

On July 9th the ongoing debate between 2K and 4K digital cinema picture resolution took an interesting turn when an unexpected player entered the fray. At VidCon 2010, a conference for online video professionals, came to a close, YouTube announced that they would begin supporting and streaming videos shot in 4K. (And you thought the popular website was only good for short clips of cats riding vacuum cleaners).

Okay granted, this news doesn’t really advance the discussion of digital cinema so much as it raises the awareness of projected image resolution to many industry outsiders who had never given it much thought before. YouTube’s blog post announcing the support of 4K is a perfect example of how the topic is being discussed by the public at large:

To give some perspective on the size of 4K, the ideal screen size for a 4K video is 25 feet; IMAX movies are projected through two 2k resolution projectors.

It was only in December of 2009 that YouTube announced they would allow for 1080p video content to be uploaded and streamed. Less then a year later they are increasing the resolution of the videos they’ll accept by four times to 4096 x 2304 pixels. As a comparison, Sony’s SRX-R320 digital cinema projector has a native resolution of 4096 x 2160 pixels.

Now let’s try and be realistic about who can actually view a YouTube clip in 4K. Most monitors aren’t even 1080p HD let alone capable of 4K. I’m not even sure a television exists that can display 4K, (though no doubt someone will likely correct me wrong in the comments). YouTube probably put it best in stating:

Because 4K represents the highest quality of video available, there are a few limitations that you should be aware of. First off, video cameras that shoot in 4K aren’t cheap, and projectors that show videos in 4K are typically the size of a small refrigerator. And, as we mentioned, watching these videos on YouTube will require super-fast broadband.

Effectively YouTube can now accept videos created by a limited number of professionals and stream it to the small handful of people in the world who have an Internet connection fast enough to download it and probably the most expensive playback device on the market today.

And this isn’t even touching on the compression issues. Because the video will be traveling via the Internet it will need to be compressed and thus 4K video will likely be playing back at a low bit rate, not the 250 Mbps max the DCI spec calls for. So it will be a while before theatre owners have to worry about moviegoers staying home to watch content on YouTube that’s comparable to digital cinema.

If you want to get a look at what 4K videos look like on the web, YouTube has been kind enough to create a special playlist with content shot in 4K.

If you were wondering what kind of impact the recent rash of 3D film releases has had on the general public, you need look no further than Fluevog Shoes. The Canadian shoe designer John Fluevog, whose footwear is often deemed trend setting, sent out a promotional email on Friday in which the subject line read – John Fluevog Thinks You’re Awesome In 3D.

Though messages like this that land in my inbox are automatically labeled “Bacon” and are often summarily deleted after a cursory inspection, I actually clicked on this one. I admit after reading the subject I was curious as to how a Canadian shoe designer whose shoes are sold in tiny, upscale boutiques could have anything to do with 3D.

The email contained the graphic above announcing an anniversary sale and was accompanies by the following text:

People said it couldn’t be done… launching a shoe company built on unique design and genuine appreciation, nurturing and developing it for 40 years, and then offering it in 3D! Well, consider that bridge crossed, that stone overturned and that box ticked. Welcome to the 40th Annual John Fluevog Thinks You’re Awesome Sale in 3D!*

The asterisk at the end of the last sentence is defined at the bottom of the email with the disclaimer “3D available only in store”. Keep in mind, this is coming from the same designer who emblazons angels on the soles of his shoes and whose company’s tag line is “Unique Soles For Unique Souls”.

Fluevog Shoes, and most likely Fluevog himself, are known for this type of informal, humorous approach that sometimes play off of current popular culture. The email goes on to explain that Fluevog has “done his best to put all the shoes that you think are Awesome on Sale (the ones you didn’t care for are still full price)”.

Working in motion picture exhibition and distribution it’s easy to take 3D for granted or forget that 99.9% of the world hasn’t been following its development for the past 10 years. Many moviegoers still have questions about the format and some are completely uneducated about it. This was the case at a recent showing of “Despicable Me” when the person seated next to me didn’t know they needed 3D glasses to see the film.

Emails like Fluevog’s are a good reminder that a majority of the world’s population have only recently become aware of 3D films. People are beginning to see 3D movies go beyond sci-fi popcorn flicks filled with blue cat people. At the same time, Fluevog’s satirical promotional piece could also be taken as a warning sign the public is so over-saturated with 3D offerings that they’ve become a bit of a joke.

What did you think of Fluevog Shoes promotional email?

North America’s largest movie ticket website is feeling quite charitable lately. In fact, over the next two weeks (June 7th through June 20th) Fandango will be donating $1 to the Starlight Children’s Foundation for every ticket they sell to “The Karate Kid” which is being released today by Sony Pictures in the U.S. and Canada.

The partnership seems rather complimentary given that Starlight’s whole mission of aiding critically ill children and their families revolves around entertainment. The 25-year-old charity uses entertainment as a distraction from the pain, depression, fear and isolation a child may experience during an illness. The organization presently has more than three million family members in their network.

A single dollar may not seem like much, but according to the press release published to announce the program Starlight manages to stretch a dollar quite far:

• $1 enables a child with cancer to play Starlight’s Fun Center video games for almost an entire day while going through chemo therapy
• $1 enables a teen who is too sick to leave home to spend a day finding supportive friends on Starlight’s Starbirght World
• $1 helps a family get away from hospital treatments to have fun for a day at a Starlight Great Escapes event

Over the last five days “The Karate Kid” has accounted for 52% of Fandango’s ticket sales and the film continues to outpace the sales of this weekend’s other new releases.

The program is only being offered in the United States and isn’t available for purchases in some states. The amount of money being donated is capped at $25,000. This last bit is not mentioned to detract from Fandango’s generous support of a worthy cause. It was raised for more mathematical reasons.

Just thinking out loud for fun – if Fandango usually makes $1.00 for every ticket they sell then their donation will be made after the first 25,000 tickets. Even if they normally pocket 50 cents, then the donation would be made after the sale of 50,000 tickets. With the number of theatres Fandango provides online ticket sales for in North America, combined with the massive number of tickets being sold for the heavily promoted and highly anticipated “Karate Kid” remake, I wouldn’t be shocked if either of these figures is reached by the end of this weekend.

Either way, you now have two ways to contribute to a charitable organization; donate to Starlight directly, or go see “The Karate Kid” this weekend helping both Starlight and the flagging North American summer box office.

Berkeley Breathed making his mark at Technicolor. (LA Times)

If I mention the name Technicolor what is the first thing that comes to mind? Chances are you’ll think of the company primarily known as a film processing lab and the world’s largest DVD replicator. Original content creation is probably not a concept most would associate with the company.

That may be changing soon, as Richard Verrier reported in yesterday’s Los Angeles Times. Technicolor has purchased the rights to “Pete & Pickles”, a children’s book by Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist Berkeley Breathed with the intent of adapting it into an animated television series. The book focuses on the Mutt and Jeff friendship between a playful circus elephant and a prim-and-proper pig. Breathed is probably best known for his comic strips “Bloom County” and “Opus”.

Continuing the trend of sending animation and effects work overseas to India, most of the show’s production will be done in Bangalore, where Technicolor built a computer animation studio with partner Dreamworks Animation in 2007. Technicolor has since taken full control over the facility and renamed it Technicolor India. About two dozen artists will work in the United States on key frame drawings before the work is sent to India, where skilled labor is less expensive. The studio plans to have a staff of 1,200 by the end of the year working on projects for a range of clients, including Electronic Arts and Nickelodeon.

Technicolor has formed a digital production division to oversee such projects headed by Tim Sarnoff, who comes to the company from Sony Pictures Imageworks. Speaking about the company’s move into content creation, Sarnoff said:

“Technicolor has a 95-year history of helping creative talent realize their vision. We believe that taking the next step of putting some of our skin in the game is a logical extension.”

However, as the Times story touches on, it could be extremely difficult for Technicolor to enter the children’s television market. Many of the studios and content producers that employ Technicolor for post-production services may not want the company to have any “skin” in a game that has traditionally been their own. It will be interesting to see if over time content producers view Technicolor more as a competitor than as a partner and service provider.

Technicolor topper Fredric Rose doesn’t see a conflict with the few low-budget projects he plans for the company to produce each year. Talking to the times Rose said:

“I’m not spending $150 million doing the next ‘Toy Story’. That’s not my business.”

Maybe not, but it’s not hard to see why Technicolor is experimenting with business models complimentary to their core products and services. A growing trend toward digital distribution of content to movie theatres and consumers means revenue from striking film prints and duplicating DVDs will surely decline, as the company has already experienced. Like the major studios Technicolor counts as clients, the company has been adversely affected by shrinking DVD sales.

Identifying pending business threats and making strategic changes to address them is precisely what companies are supposed to do. So Technicolor’s move into content creation, a decision that may come as a surprise to most, should generate less criticism than their attempt over the past year to prolong the life of their motion picture business through the development of a film-based 3D system.

Kodak restated an unwavering commitment to film this morning, with an announcement that it has added two new films to its Vision3 family.

The stock additions include a medium-speed, tungsten-balanced color negative camera film, and a color intermediate designed for digital post workflows.

“These new Vision3 films are the tangible results of our ongoing commitment to filmmakers,” said Kim Snyder, president of the Entertainment Imaging Division, and vice president of Eastman Kodak Company, in a released statement. “By capturing the highest possible amount of image information, far more than any digital format, the Kodak Vision3 family of films gives the filmmaking community incomparable flexibility throughout the motion picture chain. That translates directly to time and cost efficiencies on set and in post, and greater creative control no matter what workflow is followed.”

From the press release:

Vision3 5213/7213 is a 200-speed, tungsten-balanced film. It features extended latitude, enabling cinematographers to record more details in highlights, and delivers finer grain for natural-looking images in the darkest areas. The emulsion is optimally designed for both controlled interiors and challenging high-contrast exteriors, and is available in all formats (65 mm, 35 mm, Super 16 and Super 8).

KODAK VISION3 Color Digital Intermediate Film 5254/2254 is designed for use with contemporary film recorders – both laser recorders and numerous CRT recorders that are still widely used in the marketplace. The imaging characteristics of this new intermediate film enhance the speed and efficiency of DI postproduction while rendering noticeably sharper images that more faithfully represent the intentions of filmmakers.

Having tested the new film, American Society of Cinematographers president Michael Goi said in a released statement: “Kodak’s new Vision3 200T 5213 stock is a significant improvement over the already excellent Vision2 5217. Reds in skin tones have a noticeably more natural balance, and I felt I could almost touch the high resolution results in texture.”

More to come from the ASC on Thursday, when it officially reopens its historic ASC clubhouse in Hollywood, following an extensive renovation.

Here is an interesting video titled Tron vs. Saul Bass from Hexagonall on Vimeo.  Let us know what you think in the comments section.

For those of you who have been following our posts here on Celluloid Junkie you no doubt have noticed that we have been quite silent of late.  All it takes is a quick look at our archives to see that we didn’t post anything in the entire month of July.  Even casual readers of the blog will notice the huge gap in posts over the past couple of weeks.

Well, we now wanted to fill you in on the reason for our brief absence.

As many of you know, Celluloid Junkie is an extra-curricular activity for everyone who contributes.  When we aren’t posting updates on the latest industry news we are all working diligently at our day jobs within the industry.  At times, one or the other of us will be too busy to post anything on CJ and other contributors work to pick up the slack.  The month of July proved especially difficult with all of our contributors finding themselves inundated with work that actually pays them.

We have also spent time formalizing our editorial policy.  We strive to be a positive and informative voice for those working in the exhibition and distribution space by extending the conversation to an online environment.  The goal of CJ has never been to “break news” like our TI 4K story, though we don’t mind it when members of the industry allow us to do so and are quite proud of such posts.  Our intent has always been to keep those who need such information up to date with the latest industry developments and to provide critical analysis at a time of fast moving development.

With our policies and procedures now firmly established we will once again begin posting on a regular basis.  You may have noticed a few new posts already begin to appear.  Thank you for your patience and continued support.  Hopefully we’ll have a few more exciting announcements in the near future.

We also felt this would be a good time to inform our readers about two events we are sponsoring; the 4th Annual HPA Awards and the 3-D Entertainment Summit.  You may have noticed some ads running on CJ promoting both these events.

The 3D Entertainment Summit will take place on September 16th and 17th in Los Angeles.  With prestigious members from the entertainment, financial and corporate world, the 3D Entertainment Summit’s enables attendees to discuss and define the latest developments in the 3D marketplace. With an unprecedented group of 3D opinion leaders the second annual summit will focus on how you can capitalize on 3D.  Last December more than 400 participants attended the summit, which is co-produced and chaired by Bob Dowling.

Meanwhile, the Hollywood Post Alliance will host it’s fourth annual awards show on November 12th in Los Angeles.  The awards recognize creative and technical excellence in the art, science and craft of post-production.  In addition to the creative award categories, the HPA Awards recognize outstanding achievements in postproduction by individuals, companies and in engineering. A new category that made its debut in 2008, recognizes companies and individuals who have demonstrated excellence in the application of innovation in a post-production process or to the post-production industry through the use of new approaches, tools, workflows and ideas that help enhance the postproduction process from a technical, creative or efficiency perspective.

Merlin Entertainment’s London Eye is adding 4D cinema, with a new screening venue and debut short movie.

Designed to excite London Eye-riders, a short movie was written and directed by Julian Napier and stereo 3D produced by Phil Streather, CEO of 3D company Principal Large Format. The film was produced by Centre Screen Productions in association with Principal Large Format and Pablo Post.

“Having a purpose-built theatre for a 3D or 4D film is perfect because getting a film like this right relies a lot on the theatre geometry,” Streather said in a released statement. “The distance of the audience from the screen and the size of the screen itself have an enormous impact on the experience. Knowing the exact dimensions of both the screen and the theatre before we started production meant that we could craft a film that would perfectly fit the space.”

The focus of the four-minute film is a little girl on a day trip to London, whose view of the capital’s many tourist sites is obscured by people and buildings, until she arrives at the London Eye.

Principal Large Format worked with Jeremy Braben of Helicopter Film Services to design and build a gyrostabilised 3D helicopter camera mount, in order to shoot aerials for the production.

It is expected that this movie will be seen by four million people a year.