Media Credentials for the Super Bowl

When thinking about media credentials, I remember hearing stories about how many in the media request passes for various events. I specifically recall seeing how big the media section of the NBA 2012 Orlando All-Star game was. The media took up a huge chunk of the lower bowl. Then, I thought of how many people are around the sidelines of a Super Bowl game. It astounds me that it takes that many members of the “press” to report a game seen by hundreds of millions on live broadcast.

To me, there are two sides to this. First, we have the various leagues and their desire to have as much press discuss this as possible. Filling 10 rows of seats with paying fans is greatly outweighed by the need to have the press give the event tons of attention. Secondly, we have the year 2012 and although there are many more people “reporting” the event, it’s not needed. The reason I say this is because with so much communication capacity now, we don’t need thousands of reporters retelling the same story.

I’ve worked many press events, so I know how it is. Walt Disney World has hired me many times to shoot video at these press events. When a new ride, show or event happens, they invite media from all over the world to cover it. They treat the media very well and have people like me go with the producer so they can get video for their network or station. The biggest network I was sent with was the BBC. We had to shoot a bunch of material at Epcot and I quickly understood how many people would see the footage I was shooting.

Biggest Issue in Sports Today

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE.)  What is it and why would this be in a sports blog? CTE is a disease that occurs after multiple concussions and it diagnosed after death. There has been a rash of former football and hockey players committing suicide in the last few years due to this.  The most recent was Junior Seau, a perennial NFL Pro-Bowler. Like another NFL player before him, he shot himself in the chest. Dave Duerson killed himself this way and wished for his brain to be studied, as he could no longer deal with his affliction.

The legal aspect of this case is a number of former players are suing the NFL on the basis of a prior knowledge of the potential brain issues and resulting conditions. There are over 1500 former players in the suit and the number keeps growing.


One very interesting part of this argument hasn’t been talked about very much. Follow me here. Gregg Williams, former Defensive Coordinator for the Saints and somewhat current DC for the Rams was suspended recently fir his bounty programs used in the past. While he was in New Orleans, he ran a program that rewarded players for certain types of play. This breaks a big rule in the NFL. There have been more suspensions, but Gregg’s is the longest, indefinite. Now, listen to this clip, which is NOT safe for work, and hear how Gregg Williams clearly calls for hurting players, but more so than just a hard hit. Why does this tape exist? Well, a filmmaker is documenting the very physical nature of football and exploring a former Saints player that now has ALS, Lou Gehrig’s syndrome. He had permission to be there and made this audio available for the public and the NFL. The connection is that the type of play Williams advocates for is what causes some brain diseases. The clip now really comes full circle because it was used to implicate Williams and help get himself suspended, hopefully forever.

http://articles.cnn.com/2012-05-03/worldsport/sport_nfl-lawsuit_1_concussions-deceased-nfl-players-player-safety?_s=PM:WORLDSPORT

http://theusof.com/2012/04/tru-dat-gregg-williams-saints-audio-bountygate-pay-for-pain/

http://www.bu.edu/cste/about/what-is-cte/

Hart v. Electronic Arts

While my business plan incorporates many aspects of production, intellectual property rights aren’t really that much of a concern. We have to cover our basics like logo, motto/slogan, any software or stock footage/music rights and such. However, we don’t need to worry about performance clearances, as the production is responsible for it. However, the story I encountered interests me greatly as it can have a large effect on sports and entertainment industries.

What I found is a recent United States District Court decision to dismiss a claim by a former Rutgers football player. Ryan Hart sued EA Sports claiming that they illegally used his name and likeness in production of a video game. EA Sports said the First Amendment protects them. The judge ruled with EA Sports and the “transformative work” done by EA fulfilled the definition of the term. They changed enough of his likeness to qualify for this exemption. To me, it would be like taking someone’s song they wrote, changing only some of it, then not giving the original artist credit or payment.

As players of professional sports are usually protected by collective bargaining agreements, collegiate athletes are prohibited from earning money from their sports. Therein lies the issue for me. I understand EA walk a line, but they also take advantage of the NCAA rules. They only do this to the students because they can. Just because the law may be on their side doesn’t make it right.

The thing that burns me the most though is the game is made locally. I know people that worked on it, and they have no say is this sort of thing.

ACE Awards last night

Patton Oswalt hosted the 62nd annual ACE Eddy Awards in Beverly Hills. This event is the yearly awards presentation for film and TV editors. Frequently, the winners at the event are also the Emmy and Oscar winners too. The award for Best Feature Film went to Kevin Tent for editing The Descendants. The best one hour non commercial Eddy went to the editor of Homeland. Coincidentally, the writers had their awards last night too and Homeland did very well. I expect this show to have a good Emmy night.

With the event, there were some movers and shakers of the industry present. Clint Eastwood gave a nice talk about editors and their art. The event concluded with a nice party and likely Academy Awards talk too.

Tonight, Sunday the 19th, it the Motion Picture Sound Editors Golden Reel Awards show. I have three friends in attendance having been nominated for an award. They did the sound for a Tim Tebow ESPN special. Tim is in attendance with them. I wish them all the luck, and would be very proud if they came home with awards. The MPSE is also another Academy Awards pre-show. It's likely the films that win there will win the Academy and Emmy awards show upcoming.

It's awards season and the weekends are all showcasing our best projects coming to us on TV and movie theaters. It's quite possible to stay connected, even from Orlando.

The Three Stooges in post

An article about the cutting the new Farrelly Brothers film "The Three Stooges" was refreshing. The workflow I employ is essentially the same. They shoot on 35mm film, transfer to 4:4:4 HDCAM SR and edit offline in Avid DNxHD 36. DNxHD 36 offers a very nice picture with very compressed small files. This format saves a tremendous amount of space. With about 83 hours of footage, they will have to use a Unity Isis setup. With the roughly 40:1 shooting ratio, they have a ton of information to go through. Once this offline is done, they online it and correct it. The color timing is done with Davinci.

Another thing that stuck out about the interview was the talk about editing comedy. It’s very difficult to edit comedy due to the pacing. Pacing is vital to editing this genre. Not only does the editor need time all the humor properly for the sake of the picture, the editor must also consider the audience reaction. The timing must be done with enough room for the audience to stop laughing to move on to the next shot or scene. This is not at all easy. It’s an art unto itself.

The other part I noticed is how the editor, Sam Seig, edits. He stands up as he works. He mentioned has was raised on a Moviola (KEMs too) and that he feels very comfortable cutting this way. Another big editor does the same. He is Walter Murch of course. He feels his rhythm is proper when editing this way. Of course, they don’t mention the physical benefits from doing this as well.

I’m not sure how long this process will continue. With Kodak on the brink of going out of business, the film part could be dead in a few years time. When this happens, the few remaining film shooters will likely start shooting digital. The process doesn’t change very much, other than a film transfer will not be needed and the editor can get the shots immediately, if that’s what they want.

Sir Ken Robinson

I've been a fan of Ken Robinson for some time. I've even heard a talk of his in person. He and his message are such that he could be identified as his own brand. His manner of speaking, his message and his enthusiasm is very recognizable. In the talk, Ken explains how we, as a mostly global society, are trying to mass produce education; and we're failing miserably at it. This sort of TED talk really applies to everyone, no matter the business they're in. What Ken is saying is that future of our children is in jeopardy. This is important because we will need the right workforce to maintain and run our businesses at some point. Also, these people will be our customers, clients and targets of our brands. So, this lesson is two fold. First, it's a lesson about life. Secondly, it's a lesson on branding because Ken does have a certain sense of celebrity, and his brand is at stake whenever he speaks.

Ken comes from the UK where he has been knighted, and is known as a leader in education reformation. He is a very articulate speaker, knows his subject well and is very good at getting people's attention. I invite you to watch this talk, as it's much more than just someone on a stage. This video is animated, illustrating his talk.

American Cinema Editors (ACE)

The American Cinema Editors (ACE,) which was established in 1950, is an honorary group of professional picture editors. Large components of the group are education and furthering the art and science of editing.

As mentioned above, education is a focus of the group. Two of the programs that they employ are internships and a visiting editors program. The internship program allows for 6 weeks of intense learning. Each intern has the opportunity to learn from and work with panels and ACE members who mentor the intern. This program helps further the causes of education and the ACE itself. They also host an editing competition for students. Winning a contest like this would not only garner a prize, but also more importantly, potentially start a career in editing.

The visiting editors program from ACE connects ACE editors and schools. If a school that teaches editing wants to have come and talk, ACE can arrange it. These ACE editors can do some demonstration, put together a presentation, do Q&A and many other things. This outreach also promotes the association.

This group is prestigious amongst the film community members. If you watch the credits of a feature film or episodic television, you may see member of these types of groups. Have you ever seen ACE, CSA, MPSE, BSC or ASC? These are professional groups present in film and TV.

I’ve been slowly working on getting into this association. It’s a long process and it takes patience. I’ve received my invitation to their annual EDDIE awards, the precursor to the Academy Awards. The awards votes come from the membership of ACE. This group is not a union. The Motion Picture Editors Guild is the group that operates as a union. They likely have some of the same membership, both having different causes and purposes.


http://ace-filmeditors.org/about-2/education/
http://ace-filmeditors.org/about-2/http://ace-filmeditors.org/about-2/ace-intern-program/