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11/6/2019

Variety: Japan's Film & TV Industries Contribute $126 Billion to Economy

By: Gavin Blair

An in-depth report on the industry's overall economic impact was released by the Japan MPA at a seminar at the Tokyo International Film Festival.

Film and television production and distribution contributed $125.8 billion (13.7 trillion yen) to the Japanese economy in 2018 in both direct and indirect impact, according to a report released by the Japan and International MPA.

The in-depth 73-page report by the Mitsubishi Research Institute was announced at an MPA seminar during the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF).

The film production and distribution sectors added $5.67 billion (616 billion yen) to the economy, while TV production and distribution boosted output by $15.4 billion (1.67 trillion yen).

For comparison, Japan's annual box office takings are approximately $2 billion. The biggest box office release in 2018 was Bohemian Rhapsody with around $115 million, though it took a large chunk of that in 2019.

Total employment in the industries, including distribution, exhibition, broadcasting and streaming, was more than 520,000 people, with TV broadcasting accounting for more than 315,000 jobs.

Total tax revenue, including indirect impact, amounted to $12.55 billion (1.37 trillion yen)

The overall impact, including knock-on effects from spending and employment, of the industries represented 1.25 percent of Japan's $5.05 trillion (550 trillion yen) annual GDP.

At the seminar, which was attended by Japanese lawmakers, the MPA warned of the danger of online piracy and the damage it was doing to the creative industries. According to a separate piracy report, more than 40 million hours of pirated content are viewed every month in Japan.

"Copyright infringement harms creators and the Japanese economy. Today's piracy study presents a sobering reminder that a flourishing creative ecosystem cannot be taken for granted and must be nurtured and protected. Site blocking has proven to be a necessary tool in the toolbox to reduce infringement and increase adoption of legal services," said Michael Schlesinger, Asia Pacific MPA regional legal counsel.

10/29/2019

GUEST BLOG: How VTR (Video Tape Recorder) Became Video Assist

Written By: Lee Hopp, @LHVideoServices

Video Assist is a position on a film/video production where we record and playback what is being shot. This is done concurrently as they are filming/recording. 

For those of you who are new to the Film Industry you may ask "why do you do this?" In the days of where we shot only film if you wanted to see the actors performance or check out how a shot went this was the only way that you could do it. A small video camera was attached to the film camera that could video what the camera saw, and we would then record that image.

Now that we are in the digital age it has become a little more complex than it was in the film days. Back then we used to record on video tape, which meant that when you had to playback something from earlier in the day you had to rewind the tape to the point where you shot the previous scene to play it back. This could take a few minutes sometimes, then you would have to fast forward back to the spot where the tape was blank.

With the use of computers, we now have the ability to access the shots that were previously recorded instantaneously. This technology was a game changer. I bought my first digital recorder back in the mid 1990's. It was amazing and saved a lot of time not having to rewind the tape anymore.

In addition, we didn't have to keep notes on a piece of paper anymore as the software enabled us to write any notes we needed in it. Wow! It also advanced each time the number when we did a different take of a shot. Woohoo! For the people who have been around you all know what a big deal that was back in the day! Now the software and hardware we use is so advanced we can record up to 4K if needed. It's pretty amazing what can be done! 

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About Lee Hopp: Lee is the owner/operator of LH Video Services, LLC. He provides HD video assist services using Qtake HD, the industry's preferred video assist tool, which he helped bring to the market in 2009. His knowledge of the software enables him to be quick and efficient as a video assist operator and allows him to perform onset visual effects that, previous to Qtake HD, could only be dreamed of.  Lee has over 30 years of experience in the film industry from commericals and episodic TV to feature films. For examples of his work, check out LH Video Service's website here: www.lhvideoservices.com and feel free to contact him via email at LH@LHVideoServices.com.

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