[Weekly Update] Last Update of 2023

Happy New Year! A lot of you are probably in 2024 already. But as of writing, I'm still stuck in the past. Either way, I hope you are having a fantastic New Year!

CHANNEL UPDATE?

We don't have anything specific channel updates, so instead, let's talk about my plan for 2024. Some are related to my channels, others are personal projects.

Our 2023 Chinese movie recommendation video is surprisingly well received, and there are multiple requests to keep this a yearly series. So, I'll be keeping a close eye on Chinese cinema next year. The ones I'm interested are Creation of the Gods II, I Am What I Am 2, and White Snake 3. Unlike Hollywood, advertisement cycles in China is much shorter, so it's rather difficult to tell which one will be interesting. But I can tell you the remake of The Myth is probably gonna suck. Sorry Jackie Chan.

The topic I want to pay attention to, however, is web movies. Last time we talk about this topic, I focused exclusively on horror. At the time, it was by far the biggest and arguably the most profitable genre. But this new industry is transforming very quickly, and in recent years, it became the hot bed for martial arts films. That alone is enough to get my attention.

On a personal creative side, I'll be taking some time to finish up a short film I've been neglecting for too long, and also start writing fiction again. I've recently started writing a sci-fi story, and it feels good to let my inner nerd come out. I don't think anything I write will be published. But if I make any progress, you'll be the first one to hear about it.

MEDIA TALK

Okay, so, I bought a new phone: Pixel 8. And it looks delightfully like RoboCop. Now, before you judge me for spending so much money, it is actually one of the cheapest option my cellular carrier has to offer. Mobile companies in Canada are freaking vampires I tell you. And I'm buying it to replace my old Huawei phone (I know). That phone is so old, it doesn't even work properly with newer SIM cards from China.

Yes, Huawei phone doesn't work in China!

<rant> I swear this is going somewhere. But before that, I really need to rant: Phone engineers spend millions of dollars meticulously designs each phone to ensure it isn't just a piece of tech but also a fashion statement: the color, the bevel, the corners, the length and width, the feel in your hand. And all of that becomes irrelevant the moment you bought one, because now you have to SLAP A FREAKING CONDOM ON IT!

It's 2024! Why are phones still designed like they are Pichu from Smash Bros!? My Nintendo Switch can survive a drop from the second floor! And don't ask me why I know that.

Some people tell me to never use my phone while walking, and also be aware when I'm handling it. That way, I don't need a phone case. To that, I just want to say: my brother in Jobs, a phone is a tool! I want it to work for me, not the other way around! The bastard already dictates the rhythm of my life as is!

</rant> Anyway, have you ever noticed how smart phones have changed the way movies were made? And I don't mean that some movies are filmed on phones. I mean how it changes things, in the same manner MTV and music videos changes cinema back in the 80s and 90s.

Before MTV was founded, Hollywood movies were noticeably slower pace. While editing style was certainly a thing already, the general philosophy is to not draw attention to itself. It's a minimalist craft, do it only when it is necessary.

And then music video and eventually Madonna became a thing. Editing for the sake of style became more accepted, and eventually, resulted in the abomination that is Taken 3. Today, average movie shot lengths were way shorter than it was before the days of MTV.

Of course, I (and many actual scholars) would argue that it has more to do with the rise of computer driven non-linear editing. But the broad cultural shift is undeniable.

For a while around the 2010s, within the filmmaking community, there was also talk about how YouTubers are changing filmmaking aesthetics. Hank Green, Angry Joe, Spoony, and many YouTubers of that time frequently uses jump cuts to hasten the pace of their videos. It made people more accepting of jump cuts, and we predicted that It'd alter the aesthetic of film editing once again. Fast forward to today, very few YouTuber still does that, and cinema largely did not adopt the aesthetic, thankfully.

This then brings us to today. With smart phone being the most often used screen in our day to day life, more and more mediums are adopting the vertical aspect ratio. Beyond that, since phone screens are rarely 16/9 these days, people are also become much more accustomed to pillar box and letter box.

I remember back when Dark Knight came out, and its aspect ratio keeps changing, it was a big deal. No joke, Google "Dark Knight Changing Aspect Ratio", and you'll find articles and forum posts from 2008, complaining about the decision. It was less of an issue by the time Dark Knight Rises came out, and no one talked about it by the time Dunkirk came along. Now, seeing vertical videos (or non-conforming aspect ratios) in a movie is pretty much normal.

In fact, now, when a movie character rotates their phone to landscape mode, it'd actually catch me off guard.

Part of me also wonder if the phone's verticality is what finally turned filmmaker away from anamorphic aspect ratios. Again, maybe it was because the rising popularity of IMAX camera that's the actual cost. Either way, I'm happy that 1.85:1 is back in! Gawd, it was infuriating back when I saw reviewers complaining about Dawn of the Planet of the Ape not being "widescreen" and "not cinematic".

Alright, with all that ranting out of the way, I can put it all behind me, and let it drift into the past, along with the year 2023. It'll be a new year, new me, new phone, and new videos. I hope you a good year ahead. I'll see you in February!