"Horror Meets Comedy" on the XBox 360 and the future for indie filmmakers?

This was actually going to be a Linkapalooza post with links to a few articles and other stuff, but I ended up going on way too long about the first article. So, you get a whole post about video gaming consoles and why you, as an indie filmmaker, should know more about them, if you don't already.

"Xbox Channel Goes Live With 'Horror Meets Comedy'" on wired.com: As you probably know, the Xbox, PS3 and Wii are all fighting for space in your living room by not only being a gaming platform, but by providing you with exclusive content, connecting to your PC and playing media files. The above article is about a pretty cool series that XBox is doing called "Horror Meets Comedy", where a bunch of horror directors are making short comedies and XBox allows its owners to download them for free on the system, their laptops or PDA's. I'm not going to get on my soapbox here and rant about the future of entertainment, but you better start thinking about shit like this because, unless you missed what I just said, Microsoft is producing and distributing content from horror filmmakers. The simple fact is that film and television (print and radio, as well, for that matter) are not going to be the same in 10 years. I'm not saying it's dying, I'm saying that it's going to be drastically different... and if you want to get paid to make content, your check may be from Microsoft, Nintendo or Sony, not Paramount, Warner Bros or, well... Sony.

Much like most of you, I'm assuming, I WAS a big gamer. I loved the arcades, my first computer, I loved my Nintendo, my Sega. I loved it all. However, right around the time I went to film school, it faded away. Unplugged the console and plugged in a DVD player, movies are more important. HOWEVER, like I said, gaming consoles are back and they ARE the future. So, here's my question. I'm going to buy myself a system this Christmas, but I'm still not sure which one...

Here's my thoughts... The Nintendo Wii's games are a little out there, but they are really fun. It does connect to the internet, but outside of a couple news and forecast channels, it's more for communicating and talking with other Wii systems. There's been talk about a newer model having DVD-Video playback capabilities, but that's not happening any time soon. The Microsoft XBox is, apparently, the best choice for gamers. I have a friend who works at EA and he scoffed at getting any system but the 360. Outside of the games, it's compatible with the Zune and can share media files with it. It supports music and videos in a bunch of different formats, but it does not play DVD's. It will connect to the internet and can stream files from your PC, which is pretty cool. It also has it's own community, it's own channels and you can get content, such as the afore mentioned "Horror Meets Comedy" series. Recently, I heard that Microsoft is going to open the platform up to allow 'home brew' games and other content to be downloaded for free, as well. Then, lastly, there's Sony's PS3. I've heard that it's the best technical system out there, but it's never lived up to its potential. As far as games, it has very few unique titles. However, much like the 360, it's also compatible with just about everything, it supports all music and video files and it connects to the internet and can stream from your PC. However, here's a couple things that it does that the other systems don't, it has it's own Linux system, so you can browse the internet and it's also the best Blu-Ray player on the market.

For me, I think the fact that the PS3 is a Blu-Ray player (and can play ANY DVD, burned or otherwise) and has an internet browser to go with it, is going to push me in that direction. However, never underestimate Microsoft. So, what do you think? What's the way to go?

Now, some of you might be thinking that this is a site for horror filmmaking and what the fuck does this have to do with anything? Well, really, I think it has a lot to do with filmmaking. Video games are turning into a bigger entertainment industry that film and the studios are all scrambling to jump on board. They're working it from both angles... they're creating games and online content out of their films, plus their taking games and online content and turning it into films. If you know nothing about gaming and the consoles, do yourself a favor and learn about them. They are the platforms of the future and you better be able to adapt.

Before I finish, check out this article called "Miramax Web Games Build Buzz for 'Adventureland'", where Miramax has an online game built and creating buzz for a film that comes out in March of 2009.

The future is racing towards us, be ready!

Film Festival Updates, but not really at all... more of a rambling post on new media.

So, I've got a predicament. By the time I woke up this morning, I had decided that my post today was going to outline all the horror festivals left in the month of November. Easy, peezie, Japaneezie. So, I went through my usual steps of researching and collecting information, only to find that there's only two festivals in November... The Red Blood Buenos Aires Festival, which is Argentina's only festival that specializes in fantastic, horror and bizarre films and the Sitges Fantastic Film Festival in Catalonia, Spain. By the way, if you'd like more information on either of them, here's a link to Red Blood and here's a link to Sitges. This lead me to two conclusions... First off, if you're thinking of launching a new festival, November's the month to do it. There's a gaping hole there that needs to be filled. Now, the other conclusion is that I'm left a few paragraphs short of what would be considered a decent post, as I didn't want to talk about two festivals that 99% of our readers couldn't attend. So, what can I talk about?

Do you guys remember the classic Youtube clip, "David Lynch on iPhone"? Cracks me up every time I watch it... and whoever added the music is a genius. Here's the link, if you haven't seen it. Now, I don't have an iPhone... but I am a Blackberry user and mine doesn't play movies. I'm almost certain that the new Blackberry Bold and Storm can play movies, but I have the "free with a monthly plan" Pearl, so I don't watch movies on it. However, I DO watch movies on my PSP. I do it all the time. There's a great freeware program that will convert ANY video format into mpg4, which is what PSP plays (PSP Video 9, if you're interested). So, if I've bought a DVD, received a screener, ripped a movie off a friend, downloaded it off the internet, whatever... I just drop it in, convert it and it's on my PSP. The quality is awesome, too. I also have a cable that connects my PSP to my TV which cost me $10. No, I didn't get it to play the video games on the TV (looks like shit), I got it so I could watch the movies on the TV. So, every once in a while, I dump 3 or 4 movies into my PSP, then when I'm riding the bus, I'm at the gym or I'm taking a crap, I can watch bits of films. Then, when I get home, I connect it to the TV and I can watch the rest of it or a complete other film... whatever the fuck I want to do, really. So, what's my point? My point is, I wouldn't be able to watch HALF the movies I do, if I couldn't watch movies on the go or use a portable media player... and I don't think I'm alone in my media consumption habits. Sorry, David Lynch, but stuff like this is changing the way we watch movies and consume media, as a whole.

Really, we haven't even come close to where we're going to end up... if that sentence makes sense. I use the PSP and that freeware, which makes a straight PC to PSP connection, nothing special. But, check out some of the other things that are going on out there. Ever heard of a company called Archos? They make a media tablet that's a big touch screen with a 60 GB hard drive. You connect it to your TV and it acts as a PVR. However, you unclip it and everything that it's recorded will play on it when it's acting as a portable media player. It also connects to your PC, so you can dump files back and forth. It's also basically a little computer on its own, as it can connect to the internet through WiFi and view complete webpages better than the iPhone. Oh, by the way, it also clips into your car and works as a full GPS system, plus will play all the media files you want it to while you're on those long trips. The thing is F'ing amazing, here's a link to their site, if you're interested in it. You think something like that will change our viewing habits? That whole system is fairly expensive now, but what about when the prices come down and other companies start making similar products? I could go on and on about what other companies are up to, but the long and short is that digital media is changing everything and, like I said, we STILL don't know where its going to end up.

Don't get me wrong though, I still believe that nothing will replace the TV. Now, I'm not talking about the content on the TV, I'm talking about the TV itself. Let's be honest, as far as home entertainment, it's still king. Within a few years, everyone's going to have a huge LCD or Plasma in their living room... and no portable media device can compare with that. The only change I can see would be if they incorporate touch-screen technology into them, but really... let's not underestimate how lazy we all are. I'll take a kick-ass remote over a touch-screen TV in my living room, any day. So, the real change is going to come in how we get the content to that TV and THAT'S where the world is going to change for indie-filmmakers. I foresee a day when I can create my own website that contains whatever content I want it to and you'll be able to grab it, one way or the other, and it'll instantaneously play on your TV. I don't think there will be a cable company or network involved, either. It'll all be done through some internet based portal device, some sort of bastardization of an XBox, PS3 or Tivo. Where will the money come from? Well, I think there will be some sort of advertising aggregator that will input ads into my content, which are targeted and will cater, specifically, to the person who ordered it. The advertiser will pay that aggregator, who takes their part of the money, then gives me the rest. In the end, the viewer wins because he's getting the precise content that he wants, the advertiser wins because he's reaching the exact person he wants, that aggregator wins because he's getting paid and I, the indie horror filmmaker wins becomes I have an audience and I'm getting paid to distribute it. That would be nice... wouldn't it?

How's that for a rambling post?