Landmark year for digital
More features now shot on digital than film
By David S. Cohen
This year is likely to be remembered as a pivotal one in the history of filmed entertainment, and hardly anybody seems to be noticing.
Last week the PGA's mobile committee hosted an event at the Apple store in Century City. There Michael Cioni of post house Light Iron presented some statistics on digital imaging vs. tape vs. film. According to Cioni, 2011 is the year digital capture becomes more popular than film for professionally distributed, narrative filmmaking.
Counting indies, user-generated content, news, gameshows, sports and reality television, digital passed film years ago. And Cioni's unofficial stats count only the number of titles, not the amount of footage shot. But if he's right, 2010 will be the last year to see more scripted features shot on film than on some form of digital.
"You can't make film smaller," says Cioni. "You can't make 35mm be 8K resolution, no matter what you do. You can't have a (film) camera be four pounds. You can't fit a 400-foot magazine in a smaller space. It can't improve at the rate Moore's Law says we can predict technical improvements (in digital)."
But film will linger for a while, he predicts, as a boutique format. What's really doomed, he says, is tape. Tape resolution is locked in by hardware to "2005 specs," says Cioni, and it's being left behind by file-based capture, recorded directly onto hard drives or solid-state storage.
What about the film look? Cioni says that like car buyers, producers now have to consider "look" along with a slew of other factors including efficiency, size and cost.
Games are the most popular category in smartphone apps, Nielsen says
By Nathan Olivarez-Giles
Games are the most popular category in mobile apps, followed by weather and then social networking, according to new data from the research firm Nielsen.
Of those who've downloaded apps to a smartphone in the last 30 days, 93% of downloaders are willing to pay for gaming apps, Nielsen said in a blog post detailing its new findings.
"In contrast, only 76 percent of downloaders are willing to pay for news apps," the firm said .
If those who have played game apps in the last 30 days, gamers on iPhones, Windows Phone 7 devices or Android handsets are the most likely to have downloaded the games they played. On the other hand, owners of Blackberry phones or "feature phones," a.k.a. standard cellphones, more often play games that are pre-loaded on their devices.
"The average mobile gamer plays an average of 7.8 hours a month," Nielsen said. "Those with iPhones tend to play around 14.7 hours each month while those with Android smartphones play around 9.3 hours per month."
Of those who've downloaded apps in the last month, 64% downloaded a gaming app, while 60% downloaded a weather-related app and in third, 56% downloaded a social-networking app, Nielsen reported.
On the low end, only 6% downloaded household or personal care apps and 11% downloaded apps having to do with education, the firm said.
Beloved soap operas to migrate online
By CLAIRE ATKINSON
"All My Children" and "One Life to Live" will live on -- on the Web.
Disney's ABC has sold the online rights to the two long-running soaps, which are scheduled to go off the air in September, as part of a deal with TV, film and music company Prospect Park, The Post has learned.
Sources said the daily dramas will pick up where they left off on a new, as-yet-unnamed, TV-focused online network once the soaps finish their four-decade run in broadcast.
Prospect Park, founded in 2008, is run by executives Rich Frank, a former Disney Studios boss, and Jeff Kwatinetz. Both are executive producers of USA Network's hit show, "Royal Pains."
The firm will take charge of the same cast, crew and talent -- even soap star Susan Lucci as the villainous Erica Kane -- and continue the story lines.
Prospect Park is said to be finalizing its current round of funding for its Hulu-style venture in the next month to 45 days. Other unnamed financial backers are involved. The financial terms couldn't be learned.
The soaps are expected to be the first of a number of brand-name TV shows to eventually land at the site.
News of the deal will be a huge relief to soap fans who have been campaigning for ABC to keep them on air. The broadcast network said in April it was dumping them for much less expensive, unscripted programs, "The Chew" and "Revolution."
"All My Children" launched in 1970 and "One Life to Live" began life in 1968.
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