I clicked, and signed in with my Comcast Xfinity account (they have a pretty fantastic instant selection going these days as well). It was as though the pearly gates of what internet media streaming could be. I couldn’t believe the marvels and wonders. High definition content! No ads! Best of all: every show HBO has ever created, and all of their current movie and documentary releases. For years, I have put off finally watching The Wire and The Sopranos because the most viable legal method, one of exchanging Netflix disc after Netflix disc, seemed like a horrible solution for seasons upon seasons of episodes. Now, it’s all at my fingertips, from the pilot to the finale. If you have been wanting to watch any of these shows, this is the time and place. And now that HBO Go is offered on the iPad and other tablets and smart phones, all of this content is even more accessible.

Now, it’s not perfect. The functionality of the site is a little strange and poorly organized. It’s hard to add whole seasons or series to your queue, and hard to figure out where your place is if you start and stop often (compared to Netflix’s streaming, which shows you a little bar indicating how much of each episode you have watched, an excellent solution for trying to figure out which episode you were on.) However, HBO Go saves your place inside the episode, as long as you don’t experience an error which reloads the page and starts you back at the beginning of the episode (which has happened to me many times). One of the more annoying aspects is the challenge of any streaming video these days: frame rate slowdowns. In an effort to pump higher and higher definition video through the internet tubes, often frame rate is sacrificed. I wish that all streaming services had an option similar to YouTube’s, a wide variety of resolution options so that your show doesn’t stop and start five times during an episode to recalibrate the quality because someone else in the house decided to start doing something bandwidth intensive.

But despite these hiccups, I still feel like HBO Go is another technological bellwether. Unfortunately, HBO is still so in bed with cable companies that HBO Go is only available to you if you already subscribe to HBO through your cable company, and even then it is only available through certain subscribers in certain markets, and not available at all outside the U.S. even if you already subscribe. However, I dream of a day when HBO is less shackled by yesterday’s limitations. What sense is there in paying over $100 a month when you don’t use 95% of the channels available to you? Ala carte options should, and will, become the new normal. Wouldn’t you pay $10-20/month for access to HBO’s entire library? I certainly would.

HBO Go is what streaming content should be: high quality, ad free, and comprehensive. And it’s what it will be, one day. But don’t expect the cable companies to go down without a fight.

Now my era of Netflix may be slowly withering to a close. Following on the footsteps of Verizon in the legion of companies who have decided to increase profits by charging us more for less, the price of my Netflix plan will shoot up 60% starting in September. As of today I am paying $9.99 per month for unlimited streaming with one dvd out at a time. According to the official Netflix blog, “Now we offer a choice: Unlimited Streaming for $7.99 a month, Unlimited DVDs for $7.99 a month, or both for $15.98 a month ($7.99 + $7.99).”

Basically, I’m offered a bad choice: pay a lot more for the service, or cut down considerably on some aspect of it. I either lose the ability to have titles at my fingertips ready to go at all times, or lose access to the vast library of Netflix DVD titles and wallow in my substandard instant queue. And Netflix puts one hell of a spin on this Sophie’s Choice: “These plans offer our lowest prices ever for unlimited DVDs – only $7.99 a month for our 1 DVD out at-a-time plan and $11.99 a month for our 2 DVDs out at-a-time plan. By offering our lowest prices ever, we hope to provide great value to our current and future DVDs by mail members.” Give me a break. Aside from the poor grammatical form of including the ‘lowest prices ever’ phrase in back to back sentences, this seems like a load of schlock. Maybe we have been getting an absurd discount on this service versus what it costs to provide it to us. Let’s check. The direct cost to Netflix of streaming one movie to your home runs at between a nickel and a dime. By contrast, DVDs by mail run at nearly a dollar per. Ignoring licensing fees, instant streaming is virtually printing money compared to the old way. And America jumped on en masse; Netflix traffic now accounts for nearly a third of all U.S. web traffic.

Now, the licensing fees are the elephant in the room. By some estimates, it will start costing Netflix more than ten times as much to stream some of their most popular content. This new pricing scheme might be an effort to alleviate some of the burden. But last week’s announcement of an expansion into Latin America satisfied me that global domination, rather than the less service/more expense approach would be their path to a rising stock price. And let’s take a quick look at their charts: by any metric, Netflix is an ideal company. The stock goes from the bottom left to the top right in every time frame. Looks like the suffering stock price being the cause the subscription price jump theory holds no water.

Netflix may have pioneered the online streaming industry and given us something we didn’t know we craved, but it doesn’t have to last forever. Just as Facebook is probably regrouping off of the smashing start of Google+, Netflix will have to continue to battle with the likes of Hulu, Apple, and Amazon Prime for the future fate of the digital content world. But my money is on none of these guys. It is likely the company that will supplant them all hasn’t even been conceived of yet. Thus is the march of technology.

However, there is one remake that is getting a lot of buzz that I find myself particularly troubled about (you can watch the newly released trailer HERE)… yup, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Released just two years ago, the Swedish film of the same name went on to tremendous success, garnered a bunch of awards, and completed the series with two additional films. (Box Office numbers for 3 films was about $22 million, nominated for over 25 awards, won 11 awards including BAFTA award)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Now I’m not really interested in which trailer is better, which film will ultimately be better, or which film will go onto more success (undoubtedly the Hollywood version will due to the sheer amount of marketing dollars going into the American version). I don’t even doubt that the American version will be good (I am a huge fan of David Fincher and Daniel Craig).

What I am trying to discuss is a phenomenon that I think is becoming a larger and larger problem for the American film industry- Hollywood is losing dominance and influence globally. For decades, Hollywood has enjoyed a period of unrivaled supremacy. Films and movies are one of America’s greatest exports, and through the power of the medium, America has been able to influence many other countries with its culture and ideas. Because of this, Hollywood studios have enjoyed excellent business deals with foreign distributors, which means higher profit margins and continued success. If it maintains its current trajectory, I don’t think it will last.

Already, Hollywood is no longer the film capitol of the world- its Bollywood.

Mark Perry, professor of economics and finance at the University of Michigan wrote back in 2007 that

In terms of the number of movies per year and worldwide audience, Bollywood is clearly bigger, producing 1,000 movies in a typical year watched by a worldwide audience of 3 billion, compared to Hollywood’s 500 movies annually watched by 2.6 billion viewers worldwide. Bollywood passed Hollywood in 2004 for global viewership, and remains the global leader for movie audience.

Bollywood produces more films and sells more tickets annually. Back in 2006, Hollywood still held the edge by a long shot in revenue ($9.2 billion to $1.75 billion), but the gap is closing, particularly as the population in India gains more wealth and is able to spend more on things like entertainment and art.

In many ways, Hollywood’s problems are the same as America’s problems.

China is currently the 2nd largest economy in the world. According to the IMF, that could change as soon as 2016  when it replaces America’s economy as number 1. I don’t think its a stretch to say that America’s economic growth benefitted Hollywood’s growth tremendously. Countries began importing more than simple goods and services, they were also importing culture. As we watch other countries like India and China rise to global prominence, could we see a similar effect as we start importing more and more of their goods and services? Will our kids or grandkids grow up watching films and tv shows made in China and India?

This all may sound a bit drastic. India and China face many problems if they are to continue this pace of rapid growth. And in some ways, their film industries face even larger problems. Film funding in India is still largely a shady enterprise (it wasnt even governmentally recognized as an industry until 1998). English, as a language, still dominates international communication. This may be generations away from happening if it ever happens at all… or it may be happening right now.

This is what finally brings me back to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Why Hollywood is remaking yet another film still confuses me (well not really, its all about the benjamins), but the fact that Hollywood is importing a highly successful film to remake after only two years (and being distributed in the US) is a really bad sign for Hollywood and America (at least films like The Departed or The Ring were remakes of  movies that never got distributed in the US).

Click here to view the embedded video.

This is the trailer to Infernal Affairs, the film that The Departed is based on.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am not some anti-international pundit that believes in only America-made products or culture or people. I am not afraid of globalization, or importing foreign goods, or immigration. I’m concerned because it seems to point at a larger problem facing the American film industry- creativity and innovation are dead. Or if they are not dead, they aren’t being supported or encouraged by our current system.

Only by fostering young talent, fresh ideas, and new ways of telling stories through film will Hollywood continue its international success. Thats how America will remain relevant in a China and India dominated world-economy, and thats how Hollywood will remain relevant with Bollywood and Hong Kong film industries. Can you imagine the day when we are able to buy cheap American knock-offs of high-quality Chinese products? Or the day when every year’s Best Film Oscar goes to the American-remake of the previous year’s Best Foreign Film?

Maybe Fincher’s Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is one step closer to that reality.

If you are like me, you get all excited when you find some great behind-the-scenes material. It is informational and inspiring, helpful and compelling, interesting and motivating all rolled into one. It demystifies the process and lets us all know that the struggles and challenges dont change for the big boys- we all go through them. The following is a small but I think great collection of BTS material that has really gotten me excited. And if you know of something that I have not put here, available for free online, please let us know in the comments!

1. The first is a collection of stunning BTS photographs. A few are featured in this post but an entire collection (pulled from aintitcool.com) can be found on this guy’s blog. Each picture makes an incredible impression on me from some of the greatest films ever made.
2. IMDB has an amazing collection of video that takes us behind the scenes on the production of The Social Network. The 90 minute documentary is split into 4 videos and gives a fascinating inside look. Really helpful, especially for Fincher fans.  The first video can be found here.
3. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is one of my favorite films of all time. Thats why I was really excited to find the following 40min BTS look at the making of this classic.

   Click here to view the embedded video.

4. I hesitate linking to this, but the entire Lord of the Rings BTS is also available via the gracious hosts at youtube/google. The first part is below. LOTR totally put BTS on the map in a big way. I have met many young people that have told me that these behind the scenes clips made them want to go into film in the first place.

   Click here to view the embedded video.

5. Finally, the last one here is not so much a BTS but more of a review. Red Letter Media reviewed each of the latest Star Wars films. These are both absolutely hilarious and surprisingly insightful. Its an incredibly complete and thorough breakdown of why the latest Star Wars films never lived up to the original trilogy. You can watch them here.

• Notification Center- Single place combining all notifications, can get to it anytime by swiping down from top, shows stocks and weather, notifications no longer interrupt you (you get an animation from the top)
• Lock Screen Improvements- capable of showing much more information, can swipe across notification to go straight to the specific app
• News Stand- new listing in app store that combines all magazine/newspaper subscriptions, downloads automatically and can be read offline
• Twitter- built into iOS 5, sign-on info stored into settings, integrated inside camera app
• Safari App Improved- looks like instapaper, strips ads, parses through multiple pages to a single story, allows you to save stories to read later (Reading List), Reading list synched through multiple devices, tabbed browsing, tweet articles out from safari
• Reminders- brand new list-making app, multiple lists with dates to remind you, able to assign location for reminders a “geo-fence”, checkboxes for leaving and arrival
• Camera- way faster, lock screen shortcut, you double tap homebutton then tap camera icon, volume button can snap picture
• Mail- Rich text formatting, control indentation, search entire messages, system wide dictionary, draggable addresses
• New Keyboard options- can drag keyboard up, splits like ergonomic keyboard for better thumb typing,
• Over the air updates- PC FREE, no more reason to plug into a pc to register phone
• Game Center improvements- photos/avatars, recommend friends, purchase/download direct from Game Center,
• iMessages- new service between all iOS 5 users, like blackberry messager, looks like ichat,
• Airplay Mirroring
• WiFi sync to iTunes- when charging at night will find iTunes and back up and sync

iOS 5 will be available in the fall and supports iPhone 3Gs, iPhone 4, iPad 1 and 2, and iPod touch 3rd and 4th gens.

Here are some new features in the next version of OSX. As you will see, many cues have been taken from iOS. We will do a full analysis once we get our hands on it, but hopefully this will satisfy some appetites until then.

• Multi-touch Gestures- Swipe, pinch, all like iOS
• Full Screen Applications- important for notebooks,no scrollbars
• Mission Control- combines expose with spaces, special gestures to switch easily between apps, spaces can be created and managed through this with easy dragging and dropping
• Launch Pad- iOS like feature to launch apps, you can make folders,
• Resume – You can instantly resume any app after you quit it, works system wide (when you reboot all of your windows and apps return how they were), Lion also saves everything so you can revery any document (very similar to Time Machine but more sophisticated)
• AirDrop- new document sharing method over peer-to-peer wifi, shows up in Finder, drag/drop, then recipient can confirm/deny
• New Mail App- Improved search, new design, multi column like iPad, conversation grouping of messages
• Available on Mac Store for $30 (buy once and you can install on all macs like all Mac store apps)

The developers preview is available today, and will be released to the public this July.

While we are decidedly not a Mac website, we are a website for creative artists and many artists today use Macs, so in light of this I will be covering some of the big news coming out of the World Wide Developer’s Conference today. Unlike other sites, I plan on taking a slightly different angle and discussing how the updates may impact our world in developing and producing film/art.

Here is a brief rundown on what is rumored today:

• Mac OSX Lion- We are expecting a huge preview of Lion. I personally am hoping some correction to all of the Gamma issues that seems to plague Quicktime especially when crossing over from different platforms.  While this will not be keynote worthy- I can hope and pray right?
• iOS 5- A revamped notification system, better maps app, twitter integration and blackberry-like messaging are all rumored today.  I am particularly interested in a new notification system- the current one is really clunky and obtrusive. Hopefully download today, but I doubt it.
• iCloud- This is the big news and the one aspect that could have major implications on our industry. The big rumors have been circulating around the Music labels with Apple trying to lock up deals for cloud storage and streaming (ala Amazon), but movies cant be far off. With Steve’s close ties to Pixar and Disney, I wonder how today may influence film distribution.
• MobileMe Free- I am personally hoping that Apple’s solution to syncing all of its devices will finally go free today.

Finally, from some of our colleagues at the conference, we have received this picture of a blacked out banner. The online store is still up, but could new products await? Keep checking here throughout the day for up-to-the-minute news.

8. Rocky

Click here to view the embedded video.

23 cuts per minute

Rocky was by far and away the slowest trailer on this list. It was also the longest trailer, coming in at a fat 170 seconds, and still had the second lowest number of cuts. I guess the 70′s were a more somber time. The trailer is somewhat jarring to watch now, the intercuts between Creed walking in and Rocky talking quietly on the bed especially. I am reminded that Rocky was done on a shoestring budget, but this flick still holds a special place in my heart, silly trailer or not.

7. Star Wars

Click here to view the embedded video.

34 cuts per minute

I bet you have never watched one of the original trailers to Star Wars. I hadn’t either. Also a somewhat bizarre tone, much darker than the movie itself is. This trailer came out within a year after the Rocky trailer. This trailer had the fewest total number of cuts, 63, and made them in 111 seconds.

6. Kung Fu Panda 2

Click here to view the embedded video.

43 cuts per minute, 92 cuts in 129 seconds

Here is our first currently in theaters trailer. With a sample size of just one, I can only speculate that kid’s movies trailers are slower because their brains aren’t big enough to process all the quick cuts. Maybe I’ll get better data as the summer goes on. As far as I can tell from this, it’s a bunch of action set pieces similar to the last film, but assuredly bigger and bangier in every way. The main arc of the last one was the Po’s journey from being a total buffoon to a kung fu master, I’m not sure how they are going to fill out the arc without the origin story. Something a lot of sequels suffer from.

5. Bridesmaids

Click here to view the embedded video.

44 cuts per minute, 103 cuts in 140 seconds

Called The Hangover for Girls, the trailer certainly seems similar. Group of girls of marrying age get wild and drink alcohol and it has to do with weddings. There’s even a Zach Galifinakis character in there. And Judd Apatow’s involved. I’ve heard good things.

4. Thor

Click here to view the embedded video.

47 cuts per minute, 114 cuts in 146 seconds

Standard fare for a superhero trailer. Suggest origin, show his complete physical dominance. Thor beats people with his hammer. Gods seem to be involved and they are aliens. And there seems to be a little interspecies love sprinkled in there. I’ve heard that it’s better than expected if you didn’t expect much.

3. X-Men: First Class

Click here to view the embedded video.

50 cuts per minutes, 75 cuts in 90 seconds

Seems like an interesting setting for the newest installment of the franchise. Directed by Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake, Stardust, Kick-Ass). I like James McAvoy. But the superhero glut is getting a little silly. I’ll wait to see how this plays among the first crowds before throwing down for a ticket.

2. The Hangover Part II

Click here to view the embedded video.

60 cuts per minute, 144 cuts in 145 seconds

Now we get to the blazers. This trailer averaged nearly a cut per second for two and a half minutes. And appears to be sped up so fast so that you don’t notice that it’s the exact same movie as the last one. But the critics noticed. Won’t be seeing this one in theaters.

1. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Click here to view the embedded video.

63 cuts per minutes, 149 cuts in 142 seconds

At least Pirates wins the week in something. Though, like Hangover, the speed seems to try to cover the fact that its the same damn movie all over again. I’m glad they got rid of Bloom and Knightley and brought in Cruz, all moves which seem like it would make a better movie. But the last one was abysmal, and indications are that this one might not have surmounted it. Doesn’t matter though, these things make their money internationally and they already have a fifth and sixth in the works. I think Johnny Depp will be able to afford his own private pirate island from the proceeds of this franchise.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Great content is put online all the time. However, few things I have seen have made such creative and such beautiful use of found footage as the following video. Particularly, with NASA losing funding, this film seems particularly timely.

From a filmmaker’s perspective, its also great to see someone making something new out of something old. It just goes to prove that creativity and novel ideas can always triumph big budgets and expensive gear.

The film was put together by Chris Abbas and the footage was shot by the men and women at NASA using the Cassini Imaging Science System.

To see more of Chris’s work head here, and to learn more about Cassini and their ongoing mission, head here.