10 VASELJ 106 Page 1 10 Va. Sports & Ent. L.J. 106 © 2012 Thomson

10 VASELJ 106 Page 1 10 Va. Sports & Ent. L.J. 106 Virginia Sports and Entertainment Law Journal Fall 2010 Entertainment Article *106 TECHNOLOGIES OF STORYTELLING: NEW MODELS FOR MOVIES Henry H. Perritt, Jr. [FNa1] Copyright (c) 2010 University of Virginia School of Law; Henry H. Perritt, Jr. I. Introduction 107 II. Creation 111 III. Design and production 123 IV. Marketing and distribution 142 V. Consumption 153 VI. Serialization 167 VII. Crowd Sourcing 187 VIII. Finance 201 IX. Net Neutrality 213 © 2012 Thomson Reuters. No Claim to Orig. US Gov. Works. 10 VASELJ 106 Page 2 10 Va. Sports & Ent. L.J. 106 *107 I. Introduction Twenty-five years ago, Ithiel de Sola Pool, an MIT political science professor, wrote a book called, Technologies of Freedom. [FN1] In it, he explained how technology was causing the collapse of boundaries separating publishers, broadcasters, and common-carrier communications enterprises and that the melding of these traditionally separate categories would require rethinking law and policy. Today, technology is causing the collapse of boundaries separating movies, television, the Internet, and videogames--the traditionally separate categories of video entertainment. The melding of these traditionally separate categories requires rethinking the economics, business strategies, and legal frameworks that shape video entertainment. While digital technology has decimated the traditional gatekeepers in the recorded music industry, [FN2] a different fate may await the established providers of video entertainment, even as it opens the gates to the marketplace for indie artists and producers, eroding the control of traditional gatekeepers. As with music, there is a flood of new creative content available to consumers--far more than they can sort through. As with music, much of it is garbage. Only quality content will survive and flourish, but how can a consumer find high-quality offerings? What defines quality? The music industry myopically sought to defend old ways of doing things; the movie industry already is embracing the future. The established players in the music industry have viewed new technologies as a threat; indeed such an attitude toward technology is engrained in their DNA, given their predecessors' antipathy toward the first recording technologies, toward radio, toward television, toward CDs, toward the personal computer, and now toward Internet distribution. The established players in the video-entertainment industry, however, have been more open minded, and have a history of accommodating new technologies: “talkie” films, television, DVDs, and cross utilization of actors and programming between television and movies. Now they are embracing and exploiting the promise of the Internet, albeit with some trepidation. Capital requirements for making a good movie are at least two orders of magnitude greater than the *108 capital costs of making a good music album. As with popular music, new technologies of video entertainment have opened the gates to the marketplace for independent (“indie”) artists and producers, eroding the control of traditional gatekeepers. Technologies once associated with television are now gradually dominating movie making, replacing film. Creative efforts once directed at movies, television, the Internet, or videogames alone are now spreading their targets to include several or all of the categories. Production activities that used to be defined by a medium or channel of distribution now easily cover several. The article explores how technology will shape production, discovery, delivery, and consumption and how it will shift the relative economic opportunities for a variety of creators and intermediaries. It predicts a greater role for indie producers relative to established production companies, because technology has reduced the economic barriers to entry. The informal video distribution space typified by YouTube will converge with the more formal spaces typified by movie theatres, DVD distribution, television, with all distribution migrating to the Internet. Just because they have access to the market, however, does not mean that indie moviemakers will succeed. They have to have good stories to tell, and they must tell them through effective use of the new technologies. The combination of collapsing boundaries and reduced barriers to entry portend a more efficient and competitive industry, with a wider variety of choices for consumers. Large capital costs for productions, inherent in the full-motion video form, can be spread over more product lines. Immigration of artists and technologists from one industry category into others will shake up old ways of doing things and identify new possibilities, some of which will reduce capital requirements. This article, building on the ideas developed in this author's tetrology of articles exploring the future of popular music, [FN3] and his recent experience as a playwright and producer, [FN4] works through the stages of creating video *109 entertainment, describing traditional activities, highlighting technology changes important to each stage, identifying crossover trends, and analyzing the likely economic impact of embracing the new technologies.. The production chain for video entertainment begins with creation: the writing of a screenplay or the crystallization of a concept for a video game. Then the creative ideas must be translated into video form through a design and production stage: casting, planning, direction, principal pho- © 2012 Thomson Reuters. No Claim to Orig. US Gov. Works. 10 VASELJ 106 Page 3 10 Va. Sports & Ent. L.J. 106 tography, and post-production. For video games, this stage encompasses animation and coding. Next comes marketing and distribution. Consumption of the finished product follows. Technology has reduced the cost of almost every activity in these stages of production. Rapidly expanding Internet bandwidth, available to almost every home and business and spreading to wireless networks, expanding low-cost mass storage, and constantly increasing processing power open up new opportunities for the creation, production, distribution, and consumption of video entertainment while, at the same time undercutting desired returns on invested capital. More important, technology has opened up access to new channels. Hollywood and network television are not the only pathways to reach consumers with video entertainment. Now, creative expression can be communicated in video form through Internet sites such as YouTube, Vimeo, Hulu, Netflix, or Babelgum, downloaded directly from independent production company websites, or embedded in a video game. Parts II through V of the article address each of these stages of the supply chain, identifying crossover trends, and analyzing the likely economic impact of embracing the new technologies. Recognizing that one of the greatest challenges for an Internet-centered environment for creation and distribution is fil- tering good quality work from all the noise, the article begins with well-understood, but often ignored, “rules” for good storytelling. [FN5] Video entertainment is, at its heart, about stories. Creating a good story is the easiest part, however. Few economic or financial barriers stand in a screenwriter's way: anyone can write a screenplay using inexpensive or free word processing software. The elements of a good story have remained the same since Aristotle's time. Technology modestly reduces the cost of crafting a good story by facilitating collaboration through simple exchange of drafts through email and through crowd sourcing. *110 Creativity and discipline separate the good from the bad, however-- not money or software or hardware gadgets. Bridging the gap between storyteller and mass audience involves video production and distribution. Design and production cost less because of the move to all-digital technology for capture and editing and the availability of video simulation technologies to create backgrounds and special effects. Marketing and distribution cost less and have a wider reach through social networking and other Internet-based “viral” promotion. Technology offers consumers a broader array of choices, now not only including movie theaters, broadcast and cable television, and DVD rentals, but also streaming and downloading through the Internet and wireless access on mobile devices. The remainder of the article projects the video entertainment industry's new shape, in light of phenomena enabled by new technology and new business models to cover capital requirements and to provide an adequate rate of return. Part VI identifies serialization as one way to mitigate the capital costs of video production, as moviemakers build a fan base and a pool of po- tential investors with an initial, relatively low cost pilot episode, building a revenue stream over time by offering future episodes. It recalls that serialization has a long pedigree in popular culture, used by Charles Dickens to bring his novels within the reach of mass audiences. Part VI explores these possibilities, also explaining that, as many low-budget producers shift to serialization, the economic value of the creative effort is more in the characters than in the specific details of a single production. Accordingly, the copyright battleground will shift to protection of characters and basic story features, the foundation of serial episodes and sequels. When that occurs, the law will allocate freedom to build new video narratives on what has gone before between third parties,

Load more