Keeping The Movie Industry Blooper-Free

Have you ever seen a movie?  Of course you have.

But have you ever wondered how they actually make movies? I know I have. I know very little about it, though, but I knew even less about it just a few years ago.

In the meantime, I've had a few customers working with different kinds of things within the movie industry, so I've picked up bits and pieces while working with them.

One of them - Audun - works in movies and he and his company Drylab… well — they are revolutionising the industry.

I'm not joking.

Audun approached me last autumn because he needed some help with his project. To be brutally honest, I don't know the movie industry well enough to understand all the implications of what they make.

Revolutionising The Movie Industry

 But let me just explain what I do understand, and why I believe they’ll revolutionise the movie industry. It's simple, actually.

Basically, the movie industry is stuck in the Stone Age. I mean, of course they have high-tech equipment so they can make  HD and 4K high-quality videos and stuff. But how they work... Oh my: Stone Age.

All those people you see on a film set, many of them are there just to keep track of things.

A movie is very rarely shot in the order it's played. For example, if one of the characters in the movie grew up in Hong Kong, then moved to the States and went back to Hong Kong again, it'd make no sense for the film crew to fly back and forth, you know?

So, they finish all shots in Hong Kong first, then go to the States. Or vice-versa.

Either way, they have to keep track of what kind of shirt the actor is wearing, if he has his engagement ring on the left or right hand. If it's an actress, they'll keep track of the kind of earrings she wears, lipstick colour, makeup, etc.

Tracking The Details

It would look pretty dumb if those things changed from scene to scene right?  So they track everything to reduce  the number of mistakes, goofs and bloopers.

Do you like James Bond? I do. Let's look at some of the mistakes they made in Tomorrow Never Dies. These are from moviemistakes.com:

• In Bond's hotel room, after Dr. Kauffman has killed Carver's wife, he takes out the tape that has been playing, holds it up, and it's fully rewound.
• In the BMW chase scene the back window is clearly blown out — however as the camera goes back to Bond it’s miraculously intact again… and then missing as the rocket launcher goes cleanly through moments later.
• In the scene when Bond is trying to escape by driving his BMW from the back seat using a remote control, there is a 1 — 2 second shot where you can very clearly see a stunt man sitting in the front seat driving before the camera returns to James in the back seat.

So basically, what Audun's company Drylab does is fast-forward the movie industry from the Stone Age to the modern world. And they do it by making software to track all these details.

Basically, their software is installed on computers, phones, tablets and camera equipment to log and track everything.

Do you know what they did before? Tracked everything on paper.

From The Stone Age To 21st Century Precision

I'm not joking. So what's previously been recorded on paper, carried around and processed manually by people, is now stored and processed by computers.

I can but imagine how much time and resources they'll save by using this system.

As one of their clients said recently: "Instead of hunting through paper reports, it takes me seconds to find the references I need for costume, make up or dialogue. I will never go back to paper.”

Now I wish I could take credit for all their success, but I can't. However it's fair to say we've helped them get the system on its feet and get them rolling.

In fact, this is what my friend, Audun, told me yesterday when we were chatting:

"You know... What you did for us not only helped us win the market in Norway… But it took us a long way to get started in Europe too."

He went on to say:

"When we made the initial specification, we set certain goals. We finished more or less on budget (about 5% over, which is more than acceptable in this context) and again — it helped us win Norway and get a head start in Europe.”

How Smart Business Solved Audun’s Problem

So what did we do for Audun and his company?

They came to us with ideas and a proof-of-concept system. We helped them turn their ideas and beta-product into a production quality system they could actually sell and make money on.

And as Audun said, this could potentially help them conquer the world. I'm serious. They have more or less a monopoly in Norway, have made good progress in Europe and are now being noticed by the Big Corps in the States.

I'll let you know how it goes.

But in the meantime, we’re taking on new clients — so if you have systems that are costing you time, money, and headaches — get in touch today.

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