Statistical Perpetuity For the Misers

Once again, Indieclub comes through for me. Not the local chapter, but the national/international forum with a suggestion from a fellow user who suggested I put my movies out to all the web video sites via a new service that tracks all your videos as well as lets you upload to 12 sites simultaneously. Now THAT is something that helps me out. I have a ton of videos, shorts, news clips, etc. so this service saves me a TON of time getting the videos all up in a single shot. Plus, the main purpose of this service is to track the views and statistics, so I get a twofer which I love.

Now for another short film update on the current stats on my experiment – HOW TO DEAL WITH TELEMARKETERS. On the site that it was made for, Sony Picture's CRACKLE.COM, I have not yet cracked the 5,000 views barrier. It may not make it for a few months at this rate. On Yahoo, part 02 has not cracked the 30,000 views ceiling, but this one seems to be a matter of days (possibly hours). Overall we're at a combined 42,260 views on Yahoo Video.

When I last checked in on these statistics I made mention that one of the more interesting problems is that the series HOW TO DEAL WITH TELEMARKETERS is so popular it's being stolen, as in literally the files themselves are being re-uploaded on multiple sites, including the ones they are already on – and getting sometimes more views. Someone uploaded them to a site called THATVIDEOSITE.COM where someone had uploaded the movie in Windows Media and allowed everyone else to download it as such and distribute all over the video sharing sites in the world. I have mixed feelings about this, as I don't like losing control, but hot damn a lot of people liked the movie and wanted to share it.

The major coup that was done for me by "Anonymous" was to Ebaum's World. Part 02 has gotten 110,134 views on this site alone in less than a month. Whoa. That's heavy and luckily they didn't shave off the Sonnyboo.com at the end either.



That puts my total at over 200,000 combined views of all the segments from every site playing them as of today. There might even be more with the uploads by the "anonymous" users out there.



The BEST OF SONNYBOO DVD has been released on Amazon.com. That makes my 4th product to be released on their site and not as an "Amazon Advantage" where I set up an eStore. This is via Amazon.com's own limited run service. This was presents a new way to get small runs of books & DVD's out there to the peeps. I don't have any idea how many will sell if any at all. I've already been selling the 'Best of Sonnyboo' DVD for a few years, so most people who would want it already have it.

Why do I feel like I haven't accomplished enough yet? Because I'm motivated to try harder, I want more. I have not achieved all of my goals yet. I reach the small plateaus, but I'm still on my way to Everest. I think with making movies, I will never feel "done". With music, I did reach certain goals, and I achieved what I set out to do in some respects. I stopped "feeling" it, stopped being hungry.

I came across a VHS tape whilst making a cleaning overhaul in my basement. It was a compilation of video material from my first two years in high school with some friends. They were really awful attempts at making short films that I forgot existed. A flood of memories came together when I saw this footage. I recalled pulling everyone together to do this and had ideas on how to cheat with editing by using cognitive reasoning, so one actor that was a good guy, via editing, also played the bad guy. We cut it together with two conventional VCR's.



I remembered being very pleased with the result at the time, but I never tried anything like that again until 2000… Why not? I put music first. I tried that for as long as I could and where I failed miserably with music was not being able to effectively communicate my ideas to any audience. With movies, right out of the gate, no matter what technical problems there were – I could get my ideas across far more clearly. That is why I made the switch from songwriter to moviemaker. Seeing what I did when I was 14 years old shocked me into a realization that I should have listened to the muse more clearly then.

What does my muse tell me today? Never mind the bullocks, naysayers, and stalkers – just keep doing what you are doing. That's what I feel today. With all my heart, I know I'm doing what I am supposed to do. Ne'er does a doubt creep in. Ne'er doth negativity get through the shield of support I have from friends and family. I never dreamed I could have the support I have at this point.



I backed up a bunch of DV shorts on DVCAM master tapes. I had been tinkering with old short films, so I liked to have a tape backup instead of just files on a hard drive that may or may not crash. Better to have hard copy back ups on tape – and DVCAM is a great mastering format for standard definition video.

That's all I have for now, my droogies.

Keep on keeping on, I know I will.

- Peter John Ross

FORMAT WARS II : THE WRATH OF HIGH DEFINITION

Yesterday I ordered my HD-DVD player, thanks to a link on the main page of AICN. For myself - it was singularly deciding to purchase the BLADE RUNNER 5 DVD set. I know I don't want to buy it twice, especially not in standard definition, so I had to commit. I chose HD-DVD. Here's why:

For those who are more casually observing the HD-DVD versus BLU-RAY war, know that this is a clash of the titans. Microsoft versus Sony…. Again. First it was video games with Microsoft's Xbox versus Sony's Playstation 2, now the latest incarnations of the same gaming systems are casting a net over the high definition video market. The Xbox 360 can play Microsoft's HD-DVD's and the Playstation 3 can play BLU-RAY DVD's.

In the early 1980's JVC went toe to toe with Sony for the coveted (and then brand new) home video cassette market. There had never been a home video market before that time. Sony had a proprietary format called Betamax or "beta" for short and JVC had the slightly inferior VHS cassette. It looked bleak for a time as many households had one of these or sometimes invested in one of each. Sony held off on licensing their format to any 3rd party manufacturers. JVC did not. Soon the price of VHS VCR's dropped in very high percentages. JVC won the war and Sony dropped the Betamax cassette within a few short years.

Did Sony learn their lesson? Sort of. They are licensing the BLU-RAY manufacturing to other companies (like Toshiba) but they are charging way too much, so no one can make a cheap BLU-RAY player. Microsoft, not wanting to lose they way they did with Xbox versus Playstation 2, lowered their prices and made a very public claim that this Christmas, HD-DVD players would be under $200…. And 3 weeks ago an older model Toshiba HD-DVD player even sold for under $100 at Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and Circuit City.

Many industry insiders felt that with the Sony Playstation 3 being the clear video game winner (over Microsoft's Xbox NOT the Nintendo Wii), that would make Blu-Ray the winner in the race for High Definition movies. In the war for consumer dollars, the inclusion/exclusion of PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360's in the statistics, along with disc counts are all ploys and very hard to figure what is or is not really the status of whose winning. Everyday a new report comes out claiming that either Blu-Ray or HD-DVD is outselling the other.

Right now, the consumer is in the losing end of the format war. Sony owns several movie studios at this point (Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Pictures Classics, Columbus, Tri-Star, MGM, United Artists, etc.) which means they are putting all of their titles, new & old exclusively on their own format without offering them on HD-DVD. They made deals to get exclusive BLU-RAY for the home video giant – Disney and Pixar Animation. In the 1990's Disney home videos on VHS were considered the new "American Babysitter", an autopilot for holding children's attention for stretches of time to allow parents to have a break. Each edition and re-issue of a Disney title could be accompanied with a "ka-ching" sound of Michael Eisner's pocket. Bagging this library of movies on the Blu-Ray HD market would have almost single handedly ended the war with Sony as the clear winner. They already had 20th Century Fox on their side.

Until Microsoft bagged two elephants. They got Paramount and DreamWorks' entire library to go exclusive with HD-DVD where Universal had gone exclusive before them. This leveled the playing field. Warner Brothers have not committed to one format yet, but they are much like us consumers – waiting out to see who wins before making a commitment. Warner Brothers released the Stanley Kubrick movies in both formats recently, as a compromise, but manufacturing 2 simultaneous formats will be expensive. It's really really really expensive for a consumer to buy 2 different players – especially when the BLU-RAY players are so pricey.

Money talks. The "sale" price for BLU RAY at $399 spoke the loudest to me and I'm sure the majority of consumers. Sony screwed up once again with their greed, although Microsoft is just as greedy, they are smarter about it and most importantly - have the deep deep pockets to take heavy losses now so they can reap the reward$ later.

The 11 free HD-DVD's total will ease my passing into the HD realm (especially since 3 of them will by Stanley Kubrick high definition discs). I've had a 30" LCD for 2 years, but this is my first step into the BLU RAY/HD-DVD fray.

In my opinion, the price this Xmas will end the High definition debate. Microsoft wins. HD-DVD will quickly surpass Blu-Ray from now till December. Consumers would rather save $200 now than get 7-9 gigs more quality later.

Of Appellate and Peanut Butter Jamming

Well, this seems to be it. My movie has been on shelves for almost 2 weeks. The sense of finality has come. The HORRORS OF WAR chapter of my life seems to be over. I'm relieved and glad. This has been my life for so long that I can let it go. I have some final words on the subject, and for the most part it can exist as something in my past.

Now that it's in the public eye, there are some reviews and opinions coming in. Exactly as I thought – the blue Hitler cover is great, but it is greatly misleading and not really right for our movie. One review on AMAZON.COM clearly states a warning to buyers not to be fooled by the cover into thinking it's a war epic. Now I understand the distribution companies thinking. A great cover will get people to rent it or buy it. And their attitude is simply, "We've got their money already, I don't care if they like the movie or not." This is simply an ignorant way to run a business like this anymore. We live in the "information age". By getting one person's money and disappointing them, they can write a bad review on the Internet and prevent 10-20 more sales or rentals from occurring. An honest approach in marketing is always best. Misleading people or attempting to make your movie into something it isn't will alienate the audience.

Most other reviews are either positive or dreadful with very little in between. People either love it or hate it. Another one of my predictions has come true which is the criticism over the storyline being jumbled by the non-linear story telling. Our "Directors' Cut" is the story in a linear, chronological set of events that builds character development and plot in a better fashion. I'm hardly surprised people are less than enthused with the cut currently for sale on DVD. Following the characters or story makes for an effort in the cut on DVD. The words that will live on in my brain forever are "I don't care about story or character; I just want more action and explosions in the first half of the film…" and I was proven right again.



I will trust my instincts a lot more in the future. I will never allow myself to be painted into these corners again or I will choose not to make the movie at all. My instincts on storytelling, audience response, and marketing were all spot on. The next feature will not suffer the same fate as HORRORS OF WAR. I learned a lot and I am still proud of the movie, flaws and all. I'm still getting emails and pictures from the DVD on shelves (or rented off shelves I should say) from BLOCKBUSTER's all over the country. I still get chills from that. I'm going to stop reading reviews of the movie on all sites. I feel I have learned what I needed to from it and I know how I feel about the movie as is. Time to truly move on.

Speaking of which, I'm re-reading the feature length script for my next feature. Working with other writers has its benefits. I'm 95% committed the project, but the screenplay needs work. I will get more involved in the next few weeks with writing, re-writing, and then casting. I'm targeting early 2008 to start shooting. I have a better vision for what this needs to be tonally than what I did 4 months ago.
Editing trudges forward on ETERNAL for the Derek. I don't have enough hours in the day for all that needs to be done. I'm knee deep in editing work all day, then trying to manage to find time to write my articles for VIDEOMAKER magazine, plus produce videos for them now too. My first article hits in January along with my first produced video with them. Now I'm doing another one on transitions. Speaking of which, I have to get back to writing THAT today too. My weekends aren't free of work, and no longer periods of relaxation – just more work I didn't have time for during the week.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=RANT=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Here is a situation brought to my attention. If a filmmaker is online begging for donations – AVOID THEM LIKE THE PLAGUE!!! THEY DON'T DESERVE YOUR MONEY! The cost of making simple movies is nominal in the day & age of digital. If you want to be a filmmaker bad enough, you can make it work within your schedule and finances. The worst thing in the world is when these crazy yahoos pull a number out of their butts and say, "I need $10,000 to finish my movie." There is no budget; there is no breakdown of where that money will be spent. Don't give them a dime; you're only wasting it on someone who won't be able to accomplish their goals.

If these wannabes can't raise $10,000 to finish a project that cost $35.67 to shoot, they ain't gonna spend that money wisely. It's obvious they don't have a grasp of film financing and budgeting with things so lopsided. It's like donating cash to a crack addict, not helping an artist achieve their goals.

Too many whiners out there are expecting life as an artist to be easy. It's not. Quit crying, baby, grow up, and play the cards life dealt you. Seems like everywhere you go, there's some girly filmmaker crying about "I have to work full time and because I have rent to pay and food to buy, that somehow prevents me from succeeding as a filmmaker…." Well pussy, life is hard. There is no magical pussy filmmaker fairy that will grant your wishes. Make great movies within your meager budgets. Find the balance and harmony between your world of employment and desires to make movies. If it's meant to be, you'll find the happiness and money and opportunities will find YOU. No one wants to donate to some crybaby that whines about the world being against them. There are no short cuts and nothing will be easy. Life as a filmmaker ain't for wimps. Pussies need to stand up and take responsibility for their own actions & situation.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=END RANT=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-



Life in Rossdonia moves forward. The new bathroom and kitchen will begin anew before the new year. Investing in our condo can't be a bad thing. "V" is verboten to be in the bathroom, a.k.a. the MAGIC ROOM. I have no explanation for this, but "V" is obsessed with the bathroom. Just being in there makes him purr and relax. He can be mad as hell, but 2 seconds in there and he is relaxed, purring and positively glowing with happiness. With the floor being up and the walls exposed, we don't want him eating things that will hurt him, so his Magic Room time is limited. Sometimes he cries at the closed door.

At night, he sleeps on my back. Cousette is not allowed on the bed or "V" will attack and pounce. Jealousy abound in Rossdonia. I try to make it up to her during the day.

I'm trying to cook more. I want to make more of my own food but until the kitchen gets remodeled, this will be difficult. I'm also starting to re-aquire some of the DVD's stolen when our house got broken into. So far, buying used DVD's, I'm spending about 20% of what it cost me to buy them the first time. FUTURAMA was the first thing I wanted back because I watch it so much on DVD. It helps to have extra income from book sales (just got a royalty check foro TALES FROM THE FRONT LINE) and my editing class.




Look, I won ANOTHER award on Sony Picture's CRACKLE.COM! I can't turn around without getting some kind of accolade. How many awards till someone can call themselves Award Winning? Answer: one.

I've re-made the "Best of Sonnyboo" DVD for Amazon.com, which will soon have it for sale on their site.



I've lost steam and must get to paid writing now.

Trailing off into confusion,
Ross

Spielbergian, a new adjective

I'm currently reading a book of collected interviews with Steven Spielberg. I am a huge fan, but I have not watched a lot of his movies or even watched too many behind the scenes etc. from his flicks in a several months. This book gets me jazzed because it ranged from his early twenties to his mid fifties and seeing what his mindset is like.




Some of my favorite quotes thus far....
"Anyone who has had as much responsibility as director as I have, HAS to be a business man. They can't avoid it."

This rings so true. If you want to work with money, you have to accept the business responsibilities as well. It's amazing how few amatuers get this. Art and business collide in film more so than any other artform, even music. If you want to have the money, you have to comprehend the business end of the movie business. There is nothing wrong with movie masturbation abstract art-house crap, although I am obviously not a fan. Just don't whine that the general public doesn't give a rat's ass or that for reasons that are apparent to everyone except the performance artists wannabes - nobody wants to invest (lose) money into that kind of movie. So stop whining like little school girls and make your movies and be content with your station in life. No one chose it, you did. Get a hanky, whipe your nose, and stop complaining that life isn't easy.

and the quote I agree with the most...
"I'm still fighting so I can be good in my eyes. When I'm good in my eyes, I might even quit. I don't see that happening for years. I haven't satisfied myself with a film yet. I haven't made a film that I think is great yet."

This is something I can relate to. I am not in a race with other filmmakers, only myself. The only critic that truly matters to me is my own self reflection. It doesn't hurt when other people criticize or bash a movie I've made. I already have my own ideas about what went wrong, and even right with my own movies.

The reason I stick with the filmmaking is because I have not mastered it or come close. I have not achieved my own self imposed goals, not even close. This will be a lifetime of heartache, struggle, poverty, and yet I could not be happier. I know what it is I'm here on Earth to do, and I'm doing it. I'm both perpetually striving to improve, and I am also completely content with the hardships that this entails. Every single disaster is just a challenge to overcome. I can’t imagine complaining about any aspect of my lifestyle. I chose this lifestyle. I chose to be a filmmaker. I chose not to complain about being somewhat poor (although my fortunes have changed in that arena recently), and I chose not to whine about whatever curveball life gives me. Recently I was robbed of several thousands of uninsured DVD’s, cameras, camcorders, and various other sundries. Our bathroom deteriorated and it will cost several thousands of dollars we don’t have to fix it. Even with all these personal tragedies, life is good. I’ve got an unconventional family that I love, that loves me. I am on the verge of a very productive year of filmmaking. My first feature film sits on shelves at Blockbuster Video across the country.

I’m a filmmaker. I chose this life. There’s no greater compensation than being able to put my movies out there to be seen. I cannot fathom complaining and crying about “woe is me! This is so hard!” Stop complaining and make do with that you’ve got, wimps.




The book comes from the same series as my previously mentioned STANLEY KUBRICK INTERVIEWS. I also have Ridley Scott's book waiting in the wings and Quentin Tarantino, George Lucas, and Francis Ford Coppola on order. All used and very cheap (average price $6 including shipping).

I feel like watching the original RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK soon. That film is damn near perfection as far as I'm concerned. I recently re-watched BACK TO THE FUTURE, and that too is continuity perfection.

Obviously, I’m gearing up, motivating myself for the next film adventures. I have several new stories to tell cinematically and this is the beginning of the process for me.
Peace acolytes.
PJ
JR
PJR

Day of Days

Well, my movie came out on DVD this past Tuesday. To celebrate, John Whitney had the idea of a DVD release party. So we had one at Scott Spears' production Partners studio. It was a blast. As per usual, I had no idea how many people to anticipate. You can invite people, but I had no clue how many would actually show up. As someone so eloquently said to me on the phone earlier in the day, "I don't want to waste my time because I don't think anyone's showing up…" and to be honest, I didn't either. Some people didn't show up, but a great number of people did.



I saw several people I had not seen in a long while, some since the shoot in 2005. Others, I was really glad they didn't show up. Not all my memories from HORRORS OF WAR are great ones. We celebrated, but there was one thing in small supply – DVD's of the movie itself.

I woke up early on Tuesday, anticipating the party, but mostly anxious about the DVD itself. I had not seen a proof copy or had anything to do with the promotion (or lack thereof) for the DVD. I gave them a plethora of extras on DVCPRO to use or not use. It was way more than they could ever fit on a single disc, but I wanted to provide them with options. We recorded a commentary track, which to me was the no brainer.

My single biggest anxiety lied with the audio soundtrack of the whole movie. The DVD specs boasted a commentary track and "5.1 Surround". The original sound mix, both in stereo and 5.1 are substandard. It's not Cobblestone Studio's fault as we were on the same page. Over a disagreement with the Executive producer of the film as to what constitutes a good sound mix, we lost this battle because he believes "If you can't see it, you shouldn't hear it…" which is an appalling concept. One of the reasons our original 3.5 minute scene worked so well was because we made up for the small number of people on screen by implying a larger number with sound FX. It worked staggeringly well. In the final sound mix, that same scene plays thin to the point of anorexia. For the final delivery to our distributor, I had added back in several more layers of gun sounds, sound FX, and even some unused incidental music. To my horror, I did this in stereo, but not in Surround sound. This scared me to death that the bad sound mix might be on the DVD without all the extra work I did.

I did order a copy of the movie, but it had not arrived and I wanted to see it. Unfortunately, none of the retail stores in Columbus were carrying the title for sale. Best Buy's store manager told me they could not allocate the valuable shelf space because they wanted the slots for Spider-Man 3. Thankfully, Blockbuster Video had 4 copies on the shelf. I could at least hold the box in my hand. Doing that forced me to sign up for an account and rent the movie. I had to shell out $4.68 to rent my own damn movie. What a sad, sad world we live in. The clerk at the store told me he watched that movie the night before, so I asked if he liked it. He said it was great. He then went on to tell me he lived in Youngstown and that he recognized the old rubber factory where we shot the ending of the film.

Because I was in a mad rush to finish a big client project BEFORE the party, I could only skim the DVD and its extras. Good news and bad news abound. The bad news? There was no commentary track, even though it was listed as an extra by the distributor. The good news? It does contain my sound mix and that has been remastered in 5.1 surround. As for other extras, they included a nice selection of the web docs (with a weird intro they cut), plus even B-Roll and the Visual FX demo.

The party started at 7:00PM on a Tuesday night. We packed the house. I was relieved. Had a blast, spoke to a ton of people, saw some old friends, and met some new people. It was a party after all. I speak the obvious. Even my parents came to the party.

How does it feel to see your own movie on a shelf and being rented at Blockbuster? It feels great! More people should get to feel this way. I'm on top o' the world. My movie is out there in the world. Sean Velie emailed me from Hollywood and snapped a pic of 4 copies on the shelf at Blockbuster, all 4 rented out. Someone called Phil Garrett and told him that they had 4 copies at a Blockbuster in some obscure little Florida town, all rented.



Since there wasn't room, we've made the commentary track a free download on the site. CLICK HERE, it's a 28 meg download of an MP3, so feel free & put on your Ipod or MP3 player, and cue it up with the start of the DVD and enjoy the commentary with directors Peter John Ross & John Whitney with producer Philip R. Garrett.



The review in our local paper, the Columbus Dispatch was very good! Local filmmakers rarely get reviewed or mentioned in that publication, so this is a major coup for us.

CLICK HERE TO READ DISPATCH REVIEW

Not everyone likes the movie. Then again, I don't know of a single movie that every single person likes, so you get used to it. I like this movie. Hell, I even love it, warts and all. I'm very proud of what WE did. We made this movie and we have come a long way.

Now the movie belongs to everyone else. The Boo sleeps well tonight. The Boo is happy. Have peace my acolytes.

- Peter John Ross
- Co-director, Co-writer, producer of HORRORS OF WAR