An iPhone Filmmaking App and Pixar's Theatrical Future
Greetings all,
I finally went to the Angelika Theater to see “Killers of the Flower Moon.” It did not seem long at all to me, and I am usually the guy who tries to make everything shorter. It is great to see both a cinematic artist and a master craftsman at work. The only sad part was there were some people behind me who talked through much of the film. No amount of shushing made a difference. Each time, it took me away from the cinematic moment. If people want to talk during a film, they should wait until it comes to Apple TV+. When you see a film at the Alamo theaters, they make a big deal about not talking. I hope this was an isolated incident, but it certainly takes away part of what makes a theater special.
This has been a great year for cinema. I have been working on my top ten lists, which seems more challenging than in years past. These lists are often more about the aesthetic of the list-maker than the films themselves. Part of this list-making is picking an obscure title no one else will choose. But that is next week’s work. I have been trying to catch up with all the films I have not seen.
The next episode of Frame of Mind will be December 14, and I will write about this episode next week, featuring music and docs. I have missed doing both the Fog of Truth podcast and Cinematic Conversations, but as schoolwork ends and I get more writing done on the book, I will return to doing both. If you have any suggestions for Cinematic Conversations, let me know.
Most of you know I have been working hard on this book about Mobile Filmmaking. Yesterday, we received some unfortunate news about an app called Filmic Pro that changed the world of mobile filmmaking. This was the first app to give filmmakers professional control of exposure, focus, and more. The native app on your phone has minimal control, and Filmic Pro allows serious filmmakers to take the iPhone seriously. The film that broke the ice for iPhone Filmmaking, “Tangerine,” was made on the phone because of Filmic Pro. FYI, “Tangerine” will play at the Texas Theater on Friday, December 15. Over the years, many other apps have appeared, and many are good, but Filmic Pro was the standard.
Bending Spoons bought out Filmic Pro in September 2022. They kept on the staff but made one major change that pissed off all users of Filmic Pro. Instead of a one-time inexpensive purchase (19.99), Filmic Pro was now a subscription that is $2.99 a week or $29.99 a year. That is expensive for an app, especially since other apps now do much of what Filmic Pro has been doing. While most of us really hate subscription models, one way to think of it is that you are paying for software engineers to update the app.
Right after the iPhone 15 came out, Black Magic Design, a company that makes cameras and editing software, came out with a free app called Black Magic Camera. This app looks just like the viewfinder of one of their cameras and has almost all the features of Filmic Pro. The app is so good that Apple used it for the “Scary Fast” event promoting their new computers. Needless to say, many fans of Filmic Pro were reluctantly moving away from the app, feeling like we were betraying an old friend.
Then the news came out that Bending Spoons had laid off the entire Filmic Pro Staff. The app really made a difference, but even if it says around, it will only innovate as it was in the past unlesssomeone else buys the app from Bending Spoons. This all reminds me of the film “Wall Street,” where the greed is good folks buying up companies that mattered and destroyed them.
Those that had the old Filmic Pro can still use the old app.
In theaters this week, I am excited to see “Godzilla Minus One,” a new take on the Godzilla universe. You can see the trailer here. On Saturday, the Mocky Horror Picture Show is back with a screening/performance of “Jack Frost.” at the Richardson Alamo Drafthouse at 7 pm.
Have a great week.
-Bart
Howdy,
After the all-in approach on streaming plunged Disney into a fallow period, Bob Iger is back in the headlines, blaming his hand-chosen predecessor (and technically descendant!) Bob Chapek for all the failings he wrought on the company. This past week Iger said the company has been making too many sequels, needs to slow down on the Marvel movies, has been focussing on quantity rather than quality, and that releasing big budget films directly to streaming was a mistake. Basically reversing course on all the choices he made as CEO, before dipping out right as the pandemic hit.
Luckily, the company announced a salve for one of their biggest Covid-era errors. You might remember that during the dark ages of lockdown (about 1 week in,) it looked like people may never go to the movie theater again. Many studios released their slate as premium rental flicks, letting folks at home get new releases for $25 from Apple or Amazon. For some of their movies, Disney took the same approach. But for Pixar films like “Luca” and “Soul”, the company dropped the $200 million dollar films onto its $7 per month streaming service. And just last year, even when vaccinations were readily available, they did the same thing with “Turning Red.” Pixar employees were reportedly annoyed, seeing their work tossed onto streaming instead of getting the theatrical rollout that most other films were getting at the time. Prognosticators wondered if audiences would come to expect kid’s movies to be “free” for at-home consumption, devaluing the movies that used to be seen as the pinnacle of family entertainment.
Starting in January, “Soul”, “Luca” and “Turning Red” will be rolled out in theaters for audiences to see on the big screen for the first time in the US. Not only will this spruce up Disney’s quarter one release schedule, but it should help assure Pixar employees that they will be continued to be valued. It’s also a play that Disney has done in the past. I remember watching “Beauty and the Beast” for the first time in theaters, not back in the 90s, but in 2010 when it was re-released in 3D. The multi-revenue system that has existed for decades is a proven money-maker: theatrical tickets, home media, cable TV/streaming. If the company, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary as a studio this year, wants any chance of lasting for another 100 years, it needs to release original IP into theaters where it can make the biggest impact. All the other aspects of the company, from toys to theme parks to video games, need fresh characters and new stories to bolster their success. Disney+ makes sense as a library to house older films and maybe debut new content that expands the worlds, like the Toy Story holiday specials, but top-tier media should debut in theaters where it belongs.
At the Modern this weekend, we are showing the new international feature “Monster” which won Best Screenplay at Cannes and looks very intriguing. The trailer does not give much away, but it is intensely captivating.
-Elijah