ENSIDER:NEWS
Anyone who makes films puts their current project at the centre of attention. The immediate goal is to defy the challenges together with colleagues and ultimately complete the filming successfully. Typical project work, in other words. Anyone who prepares for festivals or works towards release dates and premieres knows the feeling too. Project work is intensive, exhausting, fulfilling and takes up everything for the moment. There is hardly any space or time for personal reflection. There is no room for the appreciation of current skills and experience, perhaps even an academic degree or simply personal development. Yet current offers offer an optimal combination of professional activity with a recognised title. The magic word is a master's degree - part-time, sometimes with low entry barriers, always flexible and respectful of filmmakers. We present three variants.
The good intentions at the beginning of the year have long been factored into everyday life. A final moral rebellion during Lent has also been ticked off. The tracks for the current year must be laid by Easter at the latest. Project-dependent employees already have a good idea of the films to be made this year. Production companies are already juggling crews and checking locations and funding. Service providers are planning their resources and adjusting to the new cost reality. Only broadcasters and streamers seem to be changing plans at short notice. Projects that were already believed to be certain are being canceled, others are being commissioned - green and gender-fair. Short-term changes are hardly manageable under the general organizational burden. Successful companies define themselves through technological solutions, long-term partnerships and flexible structures.
Entertainment technology is being hotly debated due to the new AI offerings. In the digital space, the laws from the analog world no longer seem to apply. "Who actually owns what?" is much more difficult to answer. Perhaps this is why defensive behavior and caution are being delayed. After all, no one wants to be the one who blocks things, the one stuck in the past. On some topics, there is still no social consensus on which legislation could be based. Data management by service providers and content creation by creatives are the two main topics that are currently being hotly debated on panels and workshops. We provide a brief overview.
The period between Ash Wednesday and Good Friday is Lent for Christians. For Bavarians, it is also the strong beer season, but that is not the topic. Fasting means giving up what you are used to. Similar to New Year's resolutions, alcohol, fatty or sweet foods are often on the list of things to do without. In recent years, crisis reports and omnipresent news tickers have taken up so much space that I had prescribed myself a good mood. This year I wanted to smile away bad news and disaster reports, ignore them or at least not immediately fall into a doomsday mood. A status report from week four of stress fasting.
ChatGPT's artificially intelligent results are also fascinating more and more filmmakers. The various providers spit out short answers, detailed texts or even images on their platforms, some of which are chargeable. The quality of the results and of course the verification of the veracity are determined by the user's competence. Like any other tool, it has to be practiced. US universities are therefore already requiring students to use these systems. China is leading the world in various AI applications, such as image analysis. "The quality of the input and the iteration skills are crucial," say experts. What does that mean?
Almost everything is back to how it used to be: films, stars, filmmakers and events are back, almost like before. Admittedly, many events are a little smaller and fewer stars are in the spotlight. The market is also being experienced more soberly. Nevertheless, promising projects are being announced. This applies to films, but also to new studios and platforms. The major crises do not seem to scare anyone this year. ARD and ZDF have already brought forward decisions on program reform. Even the impending strike by American creatives is by no means seen as a given by the negotiators there. The production volume seems to be leveling off at the pre-Corona year of 2019, although the focus is more on the second half of the year. The forces of television, cinema and streamers are also increasingly balancing each other out.