film

Hulu is going international for the first time with plans to expand its subscription service to Japan later this year.

The company didn't give too many specifics in yesterday's blog announcing the move. But it sounds like Japanese consumers will be getting their own version of Hulu Plus with access to films and TV shows across PCs, TVs, smartphones, and tablets, all for one monthly price.

Why Japan? The company cited a few reasons for expanding its service to Japanese customers.

Noting that Japanese audiences are "passionate" about video content, Hulu said it sees an "… Read more

Zediva, the video service that attempted to build a business by exploiting loopholes in copyright law, suffered a serious setback today when a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction against the service.

U.S. District Judge John Walter has ruled that Zediva violates copyright law and granted a preliminary injunction motion made by the Motion Picture Association of America for Zediva to be shut down. The judge is waiting a week for a legal technicality before officially issuing the injunction, but Zediva's fate is sealed.

Zediva billed itself as a DVD rental service that enabled users to rent physical … Read more

They said Hulu was going to save the film studios and television networks from repeating the mistakes of the music industry.

They said the video portal would help turn the Internet into a new means of distributing the most popular TV shows and movies for less money than cable and offer viewers much more control over where and when they watch.

But the latest news out of Hollywood seems to indicate that enthusiasm was misplaced, premature, or both. The most recent and most dramatic sign of this came yesterday, when the Fox Network, owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., … Read more

If you've got cinematographic chops and an iOS device, you could win yourself (or someone you love) an iPad 2 or other prizes by submitting your best film creations made entirely on your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad 2.

The Original iPhone Film Festival has four categories: Fiction, Brand Film, Nonfiction, or Music Videos. Submissions will be judged by a variety of film, TV, and music professionals including members of popular pop group Maroon 5, New York Times technology writer David Pogue, Macworld Senior Associate Editor Heather Kelly, and Director of Television Production at BBDO New York Regina Ebel. … Read more

Whether you're dressing up for Halloween, putting on a play, or doing something else that involves creepy appearances, there are plenty of ways to achieve gruesome effects with common household items. Makeup FX is an e-book that details some techniques for simulating injuries and all kinds of other yucky stuff. It's definitely not a comprehensive guide, but it's not bad if you need some basic tips.

Makeup FX is really just a set of HTML files that can be viewed with any browser; it's like a Web site that's hosted on your own computer instead … Read more

Robots are getting their own film festival next week in New York City, an exciting collection of shorts featuring robots exploring everything from scientific research to romance.

Slated for July 16 and 17 at Three Legged Dog theater in lower Manhattan, the inaugural Robot Film Festival will feature dozens of short films as well as a filmmaking workshop, robot entertainers, and a red-carpet awards ceremony, The Botskers.

The festival opens with Spike Jonze's 2010 romantic short "I'm Here" (see trailer below) and includes a host of new productions.

If you like getting creeped out by bots, … Read more

As many probably know, Final Cut Pro X--Apple's professional video-editing software--was recently released to mixed reviews.

For our CNET review of Apple's Final Cut Pro X, we decided to try something different. Normally our Download.com staff reviews software from a consumer perspective. This time, we called in a pro user from our offices in New York. Our very own Wilson G. Tang is a CNET and CBS producer, who has directed, shot, and edited award-winning pieces. He also hosts a daily technology and culture show on CNET called The 404. As a video and film professional, he … Read more

Editors' note (September 20, 2011): Apple has released a major software update to Final Cut Pro X. Additional features added include support for XML, custom starting time codes, Xsan event and project compatibility, support for media stems/audio channeling, full-screen view toggle for Lion users, and GPU acceleration.

The bottom line: Final Cut Pro X is truly a dramatic rewrite of Apple's mature and well-developed video-editing software. It borrows some interface elements from iMovie that may disappoint seasoned professionals, and also it loses many key features that are simply an absolute necessity in the professional world, like XML export. … Read more

Low-profile solar start-up Alta Devices today will detail a technique it claims can deliver record solar cell efficiency, a step toward making solar cheaper than fossil fuels.

Executives from the Silicon Valley company, which has raised at least $72 million in funding, will present technical papers today at the IEEE's Photovoltaic Specialist Conference in Seattle on how it has set a new mark in converting sunlight to electricity. Among its investors is Bill Joy, a Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers partner and famed technologist.

In tests, engineers achieved 27.6 percent efficiency last year and later hit 28.2 … Read more