Last week I watched the restored version of Powell and Pressburger’s The Red Shoes at BFI Southbank.

As I have written elsewhere on this blog, I am a huge fan of The Archers’ films. I first saw The Red Shoes about 15 years ago and I must have watched it dozens of times since then but never on a cinema screen, though I have seen Black Narcissus, A Matter of Life and Death and The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp as they were meant to be seen.

The new print is dazzling for its lush Technicolor photography, as bright as a Matisse painting. Indeed, so sharp is the image that the actors’ makeup is all too apparent sometimes. Anton Walbrook’s magnificent performance as Boris Lermontov is reinforced by the close-up shots of his face as his obsession with Vicky turns to paranoia.

The famed 17-minute ballet sequence is an extraordinary achievement and is surely the apotheosis of Powell’s ambition of “total cinema”, merging film, music, art and dance into one medium. It is an ecstatic piece of film and dance, one of the outstanding achievements in British, indeed world, cinema.

The film looks wonderful but the soundtrack is still rather mucky, with a lot of hiss undermining the marvellous score by Brian Easdale. I have a bootleg CD from Spain of the soundtrack and that is no better. But Kate Bush’s The Red Shoes album, inspired by the film of course, is rather better produced!

Dr Herbert Kalmus, who invented Technicolor, and his wife Natalie did not agree on much but they always maintained that The Red Shoes was the finest of all Technicolor films.

It is a wonderful film. Go and see it.

FCC Talks Up “Gateway” Set-Top Device; the commission continues to push for a “gateway” set-top device or add-on that would combine linear video with online capabilities (Multichannel News); but DirecTV says it should not be required to open its set-top boxes, arguing it would be too costly to do so. (also Multichannel News)

Sky to Launch Avatar 3-D Promotion; satcaster will take advantage of the UK release of James Cameron’s Avatar to launch a nationwide promotion for its proposed 3-D channel. (Broadband TV News)

Comcast Could Own 100% of NBCU by 2014; cable company could buy out GE’s 49 percent interest in the NBC Universal joint venture for $17 billion in the next four years, according to Citigroup media analyst Jason Bazinet. (Multichannel News)

Cox Upgrades VOD Service’s On-Screen Interface; the new interface provides faster and simpler navigation and is available now across its digital cable footprint. (InteractiveTV Today)

Livestation Rolling Out Premium Channels; streaming-TV startup says it will start charging for packages of some live news channels next year. (paidContent)

Blockbuster’s ‘Direct Access’ Service Goes Live; the service makes all of Blockbuster’s titles available by allowing them to draw on by-mail inventory if a title they want is not available in-store. (Video Business)

ITV Integrates Facebook to Promote Catch-up TV Service; the broadcaster will use the social networking site Facebook to help viewers find new content on its ITV Player catch-up TV service. (Broadband TV News)

Technicolor Partners with Testronic for Blu-ray Services; Technicolor is launching a new digital content distribution business, which will focus on video delivery and hardware, including the management of cloud-based applications and portable devices. (Video Business)

This year’s Digifest, produced and presented by the American Film Institute, was a well-attended smorgasbord of the innovative, socially conscious, imaginative, and awkward. Now in its 11th year, the AFI’s Digital Content lab is a vital futurist incubator for the content industry (more than just film and TV, the DCL incubates projects and initiatives across a variety of content platforms, dedicated to ensuring that the storyteller has fullest leverage of their vision).

This year’s Digifest was opened to any and all, with free tickets made available for the main presentations, held at the Mann’s Grauman Chinese Theater in Hollywood. The location was appropriate, not only because its size  allowed for the larger attendance, nor simply due to its state-of-the-art playout equipment, but also because of its storied history as a film house (dating back to the 1920’s).

It was interesting (on a personal and professional note) that Digifest 2009 included a presentation by Technicolor’s Tom Burton. Tom and I worked together while I was CMO at Thomson (parent company to Technicolor), and his presentation here was a great education in how complex film-making really is, and how it is about so much more than just the business of making money from the fans:

(self-promoting side note: that’s me he’s subtly albeit generously acknowledging at the 18:40 mark, when he refers to the “research division”, which was one of the areas at Thomson I was charged with integrating more closely in with the Technicolor business units).

From film restoration to another form of archiving, Digifest showcased the work of Public Radio station KUOW, as part of the MQ2 project. Part of this project has used crowdsourcing to capture the essence and history of neighborhoods across America:

Digifest obviously showcased innovative new projects, as well. These included ScrollMotion’s fascinating, albeit not quite ready for primetime, “First Things Last”:

The event also was site of the world premiere of Mass Animation’s first piece of work, “Live Music”:

Worth noting: Mass Animation just launched their newest project a couple of days ago:

Digifest 2009’s innovation showcase included an interesting but somewhat messy presentation by Naked Sky Entertainment, demonstrating the unmistakable potential of AR (Augmented Reality):

Giving Naked Sky due credit, the team had very little time to put their presentation together, but I could not help wishing that they had thought through the variety of potential applications of this technology, and seen more clearly where the obstacles and opportunities lie. I believe that AR will be, along with real-time news sharing, one of the most talked about media evolutions of 2010, and so I am frustrated when it is not given the most compelling presentation possible. Another AR demonstrator at Digifest, Trigger, showed some of their work on “District 9“, and again I was disappointed by the lack of true innovation, given that such a compelling tech was part of the production.

Presentations from both days of Digifest opened my eyes to the nature of my frustration. on Day One, The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation gave another somewhat stilted presentation (mitigated here *a little* by some good editing by AFI):

The presentation gave no sense of what it was or intended to be, and was somewhat saved by the impassioned, and far more clear-sighted, subsidiary presentations of Global Green USA, Treepeople, and IFAW.

On Day 2, The Manobi Development Foundation gave a thrilling and inspiring presentation (even though it was largely pre-packaged):

The difference was simple – in any case where the presenter was showcasing a project driven by a dominant focus on the technology, there existed a certain lack of direction. When the project was largely about a well-conceived creative, political, or social objective (as opposed to an attempt to tap in to the shiny attraction of emerging tech), the power of that project came across impressively.

My critiques notwithstanding, I must acknowledge that all the presenters demonstrated a shared conviction in the power of storytelling and digital platforms, as foundation stones for social growth and community building. It did not matter whether the goal was social change or pure entertainment. The common thread remained an acknowledgment of the need to continue experimenting with the nature of storytelling.

The AFI’s Digital Content Lab was originally the brainchild of Nick DeMartino, and for the last few years has been driven by the tireless efforts of the impressive and charming Suzanne Stefanac.

I sincerely hope that, as Digifest 2010 begins to build up steam, the projects that will be showcased will be borne of, and driven by, creative and social considerations. The technologies that facilitate and assist in the realization of those considerations are vital and compelling, but they should never dominate the vision of those who have chosen to put them to use.

Arlington, Virginia - 12/3/2009

The 2010 International CES today announced an expanded lineup of entertainment technology attractions to address growing demand from Hollywood and the content community for exhibits, conference sessions and show highlights featuring collaboration between the content and technology industries. Owned and produced by CEA, the 2010 International CES, the world’s largest tradeshow for consumer technology, will be held January 7-10, 2010, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

NBC Universal returns to the CES show floor with a multi-platform content exhibit and will be the official broadcast partner of the 2010 International CES. In addition, CNET/CBS Interactive will exhibit and serve as the official online media partner of the 2010 CES. Sony will join content-focused companies exhibiting at the 2010 International CES, including Dolby, Dreamer, DTS, EchoStar, Roxio, Technicolor and THX.

“The 2010 International CES has a starring role as the must-attend event to experience the latest content distribution platforms and learn strategies for monetizing digital content,” said Karen Chupka, senior vice president of events and conferences of CEA. “CES showcases companies and products at the intersection of content and technology, and also offers strategic insights via the great content-focused conference programs at the 2010 CES. It’s the place to be in January for anyone related to the content industry.”

Written by Exhibit City News – Full article

Click here for  additional information regarding Trade Show Displays.

“Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.”

– Vincent van Gogh

Technicolor Kitty

Watercolor

5″ x 7″ Greeting Card

Today is my birthday, so my husband and I have a lunch date and an appointment with a flight instructor. ( Oh My! Did she say flight instructor?) Yes, I’m going to learn to fly. Did I mention that my 50’s are my favorite years, so far? Life is a great big gift, just waiting for us to revel in it every day. I hope yours is a good one!

About Vincent van Gogh

The Dutch post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh worked as an artist for only ten years, but he had a profound and lasting effect on the art world. He was born in 1853 in Zundert. He briefly became a minister but was dismissed for caring too much about his impoverished parishioners. His brother, Theo, was a close friend and supporter. He only sold one painting during his lifetime. He is known for his heavy brushstrokes and strong colors. He died in 1890 of suicide.

As you know, Lloyd and I have been deep in the bowels of the BFI, watching films. Seeing so many at once is a little overwhelming, so I thought I’d leave a few days for them to sink in. Now, a sense of each of them is beginning to emerge. And to be honest, I’m more than a little surprised by the films that have really captured my imagination.

Two films have really stood out: Mary Field’s The Life Cycle of the Onion, and The Green Girdle, shot by Jack Cardiff for Ralph Keene. Field’s film is – for the most part – a stop motion record of onions growing, from seed to reseeding. The Green Girdle records the parks around London, in full technicolor. Both films focus, tightly and plotlessly, on a small part of life; and each is absolutely stunning, in terms of both initial impact and insight generated.

To start with Life Cycle of the Onion. We live in an age when the nature documentary has become an epic form. To be excited, we must be shown footage of truly wild subjects in truly wild environments; and we must know that a film crew has battled across huge distances, or through overwhelming environments, or even just waited in hides for weeks or months, to get that footage.

Life Cycle of the Onion is the exact opposite of this. It shows an onion, growing; and that’s it. A seed buds; that bud becomes a stalk; the stalk thickens; and a new plant appears. Stop motion filming is the only technical trick used, condensing the onion’s life cycle into ten minutes or so. With a little time and effort, any one of us could step into our back gardens and witness this.

And yet this is an astonishingly compelling film. The rapid movement of the growing onion is hypnotic; there’s something profoundly intimate in the way that the film takes such slow, private growth and exposes it to public view. Watching new life bloom, we become aware that we are watching something truly secret – something that, before film could control time, was hidden from us all.

It’s that control of time, and the consequent revelation of the hidden, that also makes Mary Field’s film a profoundly surreal experience. When our experience of time changes, our experience of all that is caught within it changes too. By pulling her onion out of real time, and into film time, Mary Field makes it something rich and strange; a vivid new creature, all pulsing tentacles and living movement, bursting out of the earth and reaching for the sun.

That shifted experience is a profound reminder of the unreal nature of film. No film is a reproduction of reality; each one is an approximation of it, a manipulation of it, a remaking of it. That sense of remaking is profoundly present The Green Girdle, a small masterpiece leant very literal brilliance not by its director, but by its cameraman, Jack Cardiff.

I’ve got to stop for a moment here, and declare a personal interest. Jack Cardiff was Powell and Pressburger’s director of photography on their 40s classics A Matter of LIfe and Death, Black Narcissus and The Red Shoes. These complex, brilliant films are among the greatest ever made; peaks of British imaginative cinema that drew on some of Europe’s finest creative talent to respond – with dazzling style – to the new complexities of the post war world, and to refute the then-dawning tradition of British realist film making.

If you’ve seen them, you’ll know why I’m enthusing about them; if you haven’t, then nothing I can write will do them any sort of justice. Go and see them! I hope you get as much out of them as I’ve done, over the years. One of the things that I’ve always loved about them is their deep awareness of the fictive nature of film – and Jack Cardiff’s camerawork is at the heart of that awareness.

Cardiff was one of the early masters of Technicolor. His camera creates a world that reflects the vivid colours of reality, but that does so in a way that is clearly, beautifully artificial. Watching these films, we are always aware that we’re not watching reality; we’re watching a technology reproducing reality. That Cardiff-driven awareness is a core component of Powell and Pressburger’s broader artistic project; but it is only a component.

In The Green Girdle, by contrast, the medium of Technicolor is the real subject of the film. There is no plot; there are no characters; there are only a series of landscapes, burning off the screen. Shot in autumn, the film explodes with colour. Cardiff’s amazed joy at the visual capabilities of the new technology is brilliantly evident in every frame. It’s like peeking into the sketchbooks of an early Renaissance master painter, as he discovers perspective. I took some pictures off the screen; they don’t really catch the brightness of the film, but they give at least some idea of it.

An Autumn Tree

A man drinks in Technicolor

And again, we’re reminded of the unreal nature of film. Like Life Cycle of the Onion, The Green Girdle is honestly, joyfully abstract. At one point, some bison pop up, grazing contentedly. Within the film’s invented world, their Sussex presence seems entirely reasonable. ‘OF COURSE that’s what cows look like in Technicolor’, I said. ‘It makes perfect sense’, agreed Lloyd.

The Bison of Sussex

And these films – so unambitious, so honest, so startling – make perfect sense too. They remind us that every film creates a partial version of the world. Each one is – in the deepest sense – an edited artefact. And it’s that editing, that partiality that brings hidden aspects of the world into sharp, surprising, revelatory focus, that is at the heart of documentary, and of all the films we’ve been watching.

A Red Bus

No has leído mal. Probablemente a algunos de vosotros ni siquiera os suene eso del “Technicolor”. Digamos que cuando los televisores se veían en blanco y negro, el Technicolor fue una tecnología que revolucionó toda una época, poniéndole color a la información, a los shows, a las películas… en definitiva, al primer “gadget” de la humanidad, la televisión.

Ha pasado algún tiempo, la televisión ya no es el único cacharrillo tecnológico que está metido de lleno en nuestras vidas, y el color hace tiempo que dejó de ser un bien escaso. Desde esta bitácora, intentaremos ponerle sabor (flavour en inglés) al mundo de la tecnología en particular y a la vida en general, pues es algo que sí que echamos en falta. Que aproveche.

En mi facebook estoy teniendo la semana de coldplay pero ahora que vi este video no pude aguantarme y ponerlo en el blog. Es uno de los mejores videos de esta banda, espero que les guste tanto como a mi.

Voyage d’enfants.

Expédition, safari, aventures en terra incognita, haute savane cachant lions féroces et serpents venimeux, au lointain le lac et ses crocodiles effrayants…Un beau voyage, long et difficile, plein de dangers mais dont on sort victorieux et affamé. Le goûter, fort heureusement, est en sécurité au camp de base. Même pas peur.

Les autres voyageurs :

For two days this week, the world-famous Mann Chinese Theatre in Hollywood will be hosting AFI DIGIFEST, a veritable smorsgabord of new media and cross-platform experiments and productions in storytelling and audience engagement. You might still be able to snag a seat at this great peek in to the near future of content creation and interactive entertainment (see link at bottom of this post).

I’ve been supporting the AFI’s Digital Content Lab for the past 10 or so years, and for good reason: This is where Apple’s Quicktime technology was launched, and the Lab was winner of last year’s technical achievement award at the Machinima festival, responsible for the deployment of such groundbreaking tech as the mobile interactive apps for WARPED, the Planet Illogica digital artist support network, and the development of the Federally supported ITVS initiative (funding a wide swath of indie films), among others.

Right now, the Lab is working on a variety of very interesting projects with groups including The Leonardo diCaprio Foundation, DavidLynch.com, and the whole team that created “Africa Diary” (led by LM Kit Carson). These projects, and more, will be showcased at this year’s DigiFest.

Some highlights to be seen at DigiFest 2009:

• a social network and proposed marketing plan for INTERVIEW PROJECT PRESENTED BY DAVIDLYNCH.COM;
• a proposed online strategy for engaging youth in a series of relevant environmental action challenges for the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation;
• a mobile application that provide an interactive past-to-future timeline for an innovative ITVS cross-platform micro-series;
• an interactive mentoring environment for One Economy that encourages students from low-income families to learn more about science as a career;
• a MOBILE STORY MAKER session with longtime filmmaker L.M. Kit Carson, who shot the deeply moving micro-series AFRICA DIARY using a Nokia mobile phone as camera. The series will soon air on the Sundance Channel.
• 2012, dramatic visual effects demonstrated by Digital Domain;
• DISTRICT 9, a behind-the scenes look at games and an augmented reality application created by production house Trigger;
• LIVE MUSIC, a 3D animation pieced together from contributions by thousands of animators from around the world, masterminded by Mass Animation’s Yair Landau, former vice-chair of Sony Pictures;
• URBAN WOLF, a surveillance camera-based micro-series drama by Parisian director Laurent Touil Tartour;
• ESCAPE FROM CITY 17, an adept meld of machinima and live action created by the multi-talented Purchase Brothers for less than $500;
• MANOBI, an innovative mobile phone application that has helped raise the standard of living for Senegalese farmers and fishermen;
• FIRST THINGS LAST, a dynamic and visual storytelling application for the iPhone created by ScrollMotion;
• NAKED SKY ENTERTAINMENT, a surprising look at what our collective augmented reality future may look like a year from now;
• THE CORNER: 23RD AND UNION, an evocative sound, image, phone, web, and public installation created as part of Maker’s Quest;
• ROUTES, a documentary, narrative thriller, and game about genetics for Britain’s Channel 4 that attracted more than 2 million gameplays;
• MR. HULOT’S HOLIDAY, a restoration of Jacques Tati’s 1953 whimsical tale presented by my old company Thomson.

Here is the link to register, but hurry, as space is limited.

Le mouton semble être fait de brouillard dans cette brume. Pourtant le mouton est un animal à poils laineux ! À poils laineux ? À poil les… Ok d’accord… Mais je ne sors pas d’ici vu que c’est chez moi !

Les personnes qui ont réussi à sortir de la brume sont les suivantes :

• ANI
• CATHERINE
• DIDIER
• DOUME
• FINETTE
• FRAMBOISINE
• FRANCOISE
• GAZELLE
• GODNAT
• Joe Krapov
• JOYE
• KARINE
• KEE
• LOUIS-PAUL
• MARIE
• MCBARBARA
• NICEFOR
• NIKKOS
• NOELLE
• PENELOOP
• SARAH
• SOPHIE
• STEPHANE
• SUZANNE
• UGO
• VERON
• XAVIER

Ah ah ! Vous pensiez que j’allais vous raconter ma vie croustillante du passé, des histoires brûlantes, liaisons ardentes, amours dévorantes et sexe ? Mais oh déception je viens juste vous dire que j’aimais vraiment beaucoup, et depuis longtemps, la photographie en noir et blanc. J’avais un labo de fortune bricolé par mon grand-père dans ma chambre d’étudiante et dans lequel je restais de longues heures dans la lueur orange au lieu d’étudier… Je n’ai fait carrière ni en photo ni en musique (les études en question) mais il me reste l’amour de la photo. Alors retour vers le passé, l’argentique et le noir et blanc !

j’ai demandé des sujets à mes collègues de travail ainsi qu’à mon entourage et voilà ce que ça donne :

1. Notre photographe : “photo”
2. Un dessinateur : “une femme à poil” (qu’il  connaît) -> Faite
3. Une fouilleuse : “café”
4. Un autre dessinateur : “barrière” -> Faite
5. Un responsable de fouilles : “tes petits-enfants” -> Faite
6. Une documentaliste : “yeux”
7. Une autre documentaliste ” écorce”
8. Une copine :”jaune” -> Faite
9. Nol (collègue et aussi cop’ de bento) : “friche industrielle”
10. Une amie de blog : “sagesse”
11. Ma Libraire : “curiosité”
12. Une amie de bookcrossing : “légendaire”
13. Une amie de blog : “internement” -> Faite
14. Une amie de blog, de bookcrossing et d’Australie-Japon : “Japon”
15. La Maman du N° 14 (qui est aussi une amie de blog et de bookcrossing) :”poison”

Et c’est fini. Merci à toutes et tous, je me mets au boulot. En effet, je suis en vacances jusqu’à la fin de la semaine, voilà qui tombe à pic !

Orange is the color of heat, of fire and of passion. There’s nothing quite like something orange. From amber to vermilion, there are a number of shades that will impress you with emotion. Burnt orange, gambodge, orange peel, and peach, will fill you with delight. Here are 10 unique gadgets in all of the shades of orange. If neither blue, green, red, nor white does it for you, then maybe orange will.

Read More…

So I thought you all might enjoy a little pick-me after tonight’s screening.  Not everything must be about impoverished people leading miserable lives and shooting poor little adorable piglets.  Since she was mentioned in one of our readings this week, please enojoy a little compilation of Carmen Miranda:

Also, as a super-bonus, here is a wee Carmen Miranda tribute from one of my all-time favorite Tom & Jerry cartoons, in which Tom and some other neighborhood cats perform one of Miranda’s signature songs, “Mama Eu Quero”: