Film+Industry+3

Film Industry Update #3 Interns, Unpaid by a Studio, File Suit By: Ivonnie Dulce [|New York Times Article]

The idea of an unpaid internship is common in the media industry, especially with big production film studios. Unpaid internships are required to meet the guidelines of federal and state labor laws to coincide with the alternative of being employed without pay. The compromise between studio and individual is accepted on the terms that the educational experience gained at the time of employment is sufficient to monetary value. According to two men (Alex Footman & Eric Glatt) who were recently associated with the production of Fox Searchlight Pictures, “Black Swan,” hundreds of interns are being improperly used by Fox Searchlight to undertake meaningless responsibilities that serve no purpose towards the interns’ educational benefit.

Footman and Glatt have filed a lawsuit against Fox Searchlight in hopes to eliminate the practice of unpaid internships in congruence to change the film industry’s approach on how to educate individuals interested in becoming a part of the business. If the plaintiffs win against Fox Searchlight, it will forever change how movie companies treat their future interns – but to what degree will film studios comply with the new set of rules? Will unpaid internships really decease or will unpaid internships be less prevalent?

Fashion Campaign Films Reach More Audiences Than Ever By: Morgan Denno [|Daily Mail]

Fashion in film in nothing new, but fashion campaign films have suddenly become all the rage within the industry. As if ads, runway shows and commercials weren’t enough, fashion houses have begun to incorporate their clothing or fragrance with music, poetry, locations and models or actresses into fairly short films that further develop their aesthetic and style. Every season, brands and stores create these films, though short in length, are not be confused with music videos. Famous directors occasionally take time from their movie-making schedules to create these films as side projects. Director Sofia Coppola created 2009’s Dior Cherie fashion/perfume campaign, her niece Gia has directed campaigns for the popular store Opening Ceremony, director Joe Wright creates the Chanel fashion films teamed with Kiera Knightly and Ridley Scott’s daughter was the director of one of the first fashion films by Prada in 2005. Young actresses and models like Scarlett Johansson, Megan Fox and Rosie Huntington-Whitely typically enjoy the publicity that the films allow because they introduce their name to an entirely new demographic of fans. This season, Miu Miu featured a young Hailee Stienfeld posing, lounging and eating pizza while wearing the 40’s inspired dresses and sparkly heels of Miu Miu’s fall 2011 line and Lanvin seems to have created the most popular film of the year by featuring famous models dancing to pop music. It’s typically the lack of story-line or script makes the films feel rather intimate and personal and draw attention that might otherwise go unnoticed to the brand or store.

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Local fans suggest 3-D films will continue downward slide without innovation By: Andrea Jimenez [|Times Free Press]

The 3-D industry boomed in 2009 after the film Avatar grossed 2.78 billion. 3-D has been a periodic novelty that fades in and out of style. Before the release of Avatar and the popularization of 3-D, third dimension and even four dimension attractions were popular in amusement parks such as Universal Studios. Rides such as Shrek, the Muppet Show and Terminator among the few are popular 3-D and 4-D attractions in amusement parks. From amusement parks, to the cinema and even to home television sets, 3 dimensional has been trending and expanding. Movies of all different genres are released with the option of 3-D, most popular are children’s movies often produced by Disney or Pixar and horror films such Saw, Priest, Final Destination and others. According to an article written by Casey Phillips, he predicts that once again 3-D is losing audiences and will soon become a disappearing fad, similar to its decline in popularity in the 1950s and 1980s. “ In 2010, "Avatar's" success prompted the release of 31 films with 3-D versions, as many as were released from 2005 to 2008. Most continued to make more money than their 2-D counterparts until the release of "Toy Story 3" on June 18, 2010, according to Slate Magazine writer Daniel Engber.” Even though 3-D films are not grossing the same amount of revenue they were before, companies are still producing 3-D films for now. Only time will tell if audience’s interest will diminish and 3 dimensional films will once again be forgotten.

Yesterday's Vision of Tomorrow By: Alisa Hemmesch NY Times Article

Mekado Murphey takes a look at past films that took very futuristic approaches. He compared what time the film was created and then analyzed the day in age the film projected itself to take place. It is interesting to see how far off some of these futuristic assumptions had been. For example, //Back to the Future II// took place in 2015, though filmed in 1989. The film envisioned a very colorful world with flying cars (//Jetson's// status) and self-tying tennis shoes. Though I do not see flying cars surfacing within the next four years, the McFly inspired Nike shoe was made a reality. It is interesting to see how true (or far off) big-screen visions of the future have or have not become. With how quickly technology has been developing, films like //Real Steel// don't seem too impossible. When you think about it, it seems as if we are almost to the point of having robots controlled by body movements. After all, Xbox's Kinect seems to provide a similar function. There are electronic sensors that detect your body movement to simulate the same actions on screen. Who's to say the same technology couldn't be implanted into some sort of robot? It doesn't seem to be too impossible. Now that technology has grown into something so huge and depended on, I wonder how many of our present big-screen visions of the future will really become reality.

Disney Rereleasing 'Beauty and the Beast,' 'Finding Nemo,' 'Monsters Inc.' and 'Little Mermaid' ﻿By: Lola Smith The Hollywood Reporter

I called it. Well, it was inevitable with the success of //The Lion King//, but still- I called it. Disney and PIxar have just announced they will be rereleasing classics such as //Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Finding Nemo// and //Monsters, Inc//. in 3D. This announcement comes shortly after the domination of //The Lion King,// which grossed nearly $100 million in worldwide box office sales in less than a month. The previously mentioned movies were all blockbusters in their original releases, but it will be interesting to see how they'll do their second time around. Has the merging of 3D and rereleasing trends become the movie industry's savior or will it be too much of a good thing?

iTunes dominates digital movie sales  By: Colleen Bordon   [|Variety]

IHS Screen Digest has reasserted Apple's iTunes as the top seller of movies in the U.S. on digital platforms. It commanded 65.8% of spending in the category. In comparison, Microsoft and Sony displayed a decline in the marketplace. The IHS research focuses on the digital services that handle streaming-rental or download-purchase transactions and has yet to include entrants of the following: Facebook, Youtube and Redbox.