film

That other Steve Jobs movie, currently being written by "West Wing" and "Newsroom" creator Aaron Sorkin, will apparently be told in three acts, the screenwriter said today.

In an onstage interview at the Hero Summit (relayed by tweets from the The Daily Beast), Sorkin detailed a bit of how the story would play out, saying it would take place across three, half hour scenes and behind the curtains at three of Apple's product launches for the first Macintosh computer, NeXT computer, and the iPod.

Jobs was a well-known showman at such events, adding an air … Read more

There are at least a couple of different ways to motivate people into doing what you want them to do. You can offer consequences for bad behavior or rewards for good behavior. When it comes to cell phone use during movies, Cinemark is testing out a system that offers carrots rather than sticks.

CineMode is a new component to Cinemark's smartphone app for iPhone and Android. You open the app, select CineMode, follow the reminder to silence your phone, and then activate CineMode. It automatically darkens your screen. Leave it on for the duration of the film and Cinemark will send you a coupon as a reward.… Read more

I'm happy for N.V., the Economist correspondent who revels in the joys of film photography by shooting with a Rolleiflex twin-lens reflex medium-format camera. But there's no way I'm going back to analog photography.

The digital revolution is here to stay, of course, but film photography isn't extinct. The Economist's reporter, after inheriting and refurbishing a 1937 camera, sings its praises. For example, the reporter "enjoys the challenge and forethought involved in setting up a shot with an analogue camera. The discipline of having only a dozen shots on a roll of 120 … Read more

In media, "preproduction" generally means drawing stuff: sketching out ideas on storyboards, whiteboards, legal pads, and even cocktail napkins. Greyfirst's Celtx is a free tool that finally brings preproduction into the same century as the media it creates, with some old-school touches, too. It includes Project Templates for planning and creating Film, Audio-Visual, Theatre, Audio Play, Storyboard, Comic Book, and Novel projects. Sample projects help get you started. Celtx integrates with free online and cloud-based resources and syncs with your mobile devices, so your creative projects are always available and safely stored online in the cloud, as … Read more

Polaroid cameras used to be the coolest things. You'd huddle around a little square of weird photographic paper, waiting for the image to magically appear out of nothing. You just don't get the same thrill from capturing a photo on your smartphone. Until now.

I'm at the Kickstarter page for the Impossible Instant Lab, watching the pledge numbers rise in real time. Backers are jumping in on the $149 early-bird price (regularly a $229 pledge) for a device that turns photos from an iPhone into Polaroid pictures.… Read more

Do you spend more time with a computer, smartphone, or tablet than your significant other? Your life serves as the elementary premise for a futuristic love story, "Her," in which the film's star, Joaquin Phoenix, falls in love with an interactive operating system.

The movie, directed by Spike Jonze and made in collaboration with Annapurna Pictures, also stars it girls Amy Adams, Rooney Mara, and Olivia Wilde. … Read more

Kodak is selling the business that made it famous.

The company revealed yesterday that it's selling its traditional print film business as part of an auction to raise cash.

The sale extends to Kodak's entire personalized imaging and document division, which includes kiosks that develop photos, photo paper and still camera film products, and even equipment that snaps souvenir photos at theme parks.

Before the digital age, Kodak held the market on consumer photography and was virtually synonymous with the word "film."

The auction is part of the company's aim to segue from consumer products … Read more

CCPlayer from Rambeau Christophe is another addition to the growing number of free media players out there. As media players go, it is certainly not one of those flashy apps with all the lights and trimmings. The publishers opted to present a rather simple interface with just the basic controls: Play, Stop, Next, Back, Playlist. If you're looking for fancy skins, this is not the media player for you.

CCPlayer will play most types of media: MP3, DIVX, MPEG, WAV. The interface itself is simple, unassuming, and easy to understand. Right-clicking on it will present additional options such as … Read more

Casting for the upcoming Steve Jobs film starring Ashton Kutcher continues to fill out.

Per the Hollywood Reporter, the film has snagged actors J.K. Simmons and Kevin Dunn, the latter of whom recently played the father of Shia LaBeouf's character in Michael Bay's "Transformers" series. Simmons has been tapped for the role of venture capitalist Arthur Rock, with Dunn playing Gil Amelio, who was briefly Apple's CEO ahead of Jobs' return.

Other additions include actors Elden Henson, Giles Matthey, Lenny Jacobson and Victor Rasuk. Of that bunch, Henson will play early Mac team member … Read more