USEDCARSALESMAN

The Logistics of Video Game Production Triumph Over the Logistics of Live-Action Film Production?

Usedcarsalesman had a rough concept of the logistical difficulties involved in making a major motion picture before for moved out to Los Angeles.  But his understanding of the challenges involved was refined once he was able to work on a few L.A. movie sets and gain some first-hand experience. 

         

Working as a Union Extra, Usedcarsalesman was astounded when he witnessed the production efforts needed to organize actors, crew, supplies, locations, equipment; and he was looking at just a scene shot locally in LA. When he later stopped to consider the films and TV shows with scenes that needed to be shot in remote locations (Hollywood currently, for example, has about 4 films that are being shot in Antarctica, of all places), he then recognized that productions coul become staggeringly complicated and expensive for a variety of different reasons.

Versus film and TV production, Video game production is -- logistically -- a likely a more pleasant story. Yes, it is true game designers do venture out of their "campuses" to find visual and audio influences for their projects. But when push comes to shove, imagery in a video game is not shot by crews operating film cameras and directing actors in some exotic locale, such as Sub-Saharan Africa (where you may need satellite telephones and refrigerated-food flown in from Europe). Rather, the imagery in a video games -- whether Madden 2005 or Half Life -- is generated on PCs, usually located in an office complex somewhere in California.  Sure game designers may spend a lot of nights coding, but it is done in a controlled environment.

         

To some extent, Usedcarsalesman would imagine making a highly profitable animated films, such as Finding Nemo or The Lion King, involves the same office-park logistics as making a video game (Edit July, 2007:  lately, successful films like Sin City and 300 with seemingly exotic locations have also largely been made in more logistically manageable environments like studio lots and office-parks; this could be a rising trend). 

With all of the aforementioned in mind, Usedcarsalesman asks you this:  If you were a business person looking at making a live-action film needing a variety of locations vs. making video games in an office-park and you were guaranteed to gross the same for either, which would you choose to produce? The expensive, complicated, spread-all-over-the-place live action films or the tightly controlled, locally-designed video games? Usedcarsalesman would probably go with the video games, himself.

Reality Shows: Could They Inadvertently Alter the Hollywood System?

Usedcarsalesman has seen a lot of entertainment-related reality shows lately, such as 90 Days in Hollywood and Unscripted (by George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh) . Since he's living in Studio City, Ca. ad is basically surrounded by the entertainment industry on a daily basis, he can attest that said shows are pretty true-to-life. And that is a little disconcerting for him. 

You see, Usedcarsalesman traveled all the way to Los Angeles, Ca. from the Washington, D.C. metro area a couple of years ago to work on the talent-side of the entertainment industry. And until the advent of the aforementioned reality shows, he thought that you could only really know the entertainment industry by living and working in the entertainment industry. 

      

Now, however, you can see what Hollywood casting sessions, auditions, and classes are really like and what actors go through in Hollywood.  And you can do it from the comfort of your own home in Charlottesville, Va. or Bridgeport, Mass.  This has left Usedcarsalesman -- already in L.A. -- feeling like he missed an a cost-effective opportunity to "look-before-leaping" (that is, witness life in the entertainment business before actually moving to Hollywood).

                  

Lately he's been belly-aching, approaching these reality shows like the General Turgidson character approached the Russians visiting to the war room in Dr. Strangelove: "Mr. President, they'll see everything, they'll see the big board!".  However, in this case it's: "why is Hollywood doing Usedcarsalesman such a disservice and letting potential newcomers get this information that he didn't get untl he moved to L.A.?  After all, actors are supposed to come to Hollywood and learn about professional casting sessions and auditions the hard way!" 

             

Usedcarsalesman got over it pretty quickly.  But with all of the aforementioned in mind he still thinks you might want to ponder the following questions:

• With Hollywood a relatively open-book now, will greater or fewer actors undertake the pilgrimage to "Mecca" in SoCal (Hollywood)?
• Knowing how Hollywood operates, will these people even bother to leave home in the first place or will they copy the practices and behaviors they see in the entertainment-themed reality-shows and make/act in their own films?

Who knows? With all of the inside information about the entertainment industry out there now, why would an artist go to Hollywood when he could act in or direct films on his home turf, not look like too much of an amateurs thanks to exposure to entertainment-based reality television, and then submit his home-made films on-line to Hollywood decision-makers for marketing and distribution?

A Small, Bright Glimmer of Hope for Traffic in L.A.

Usedcarsalesman was driving through nearby Burbank, Ca. on the way to the local Fry's Electronics to buy some generic toner cartridges for his thirsty new printer. While motoring down Burbank's intermixed commercial and residential areas, he noticed an unusual automobile go by in the opposite direction.  It was a 2004 Toyota Prius, but one painted black and gold and with company advertising on the side.

          

Though its driver was seated in the normal location, the black and gold Prius appeared to have two adult passengers in the back who appeared unrelated to the driver.  Usedcarsalesman was apparently looking at a 2004 Toyata Prius Taxi!
               
It occurred to Usedcarsalesman last year, but really sunk in yesterday after he saw this Prius Taxi: hybrid power and other efficiency- enhancing technology such as map-based GPS navigation for cars might greatly improve the efficiency of traditional automotive-based service businesses such as Taxi Cab companies and Messenger companies.  Typically these businesses use gas-engine cars that have to idle constantly and drivers that must have fluent knowledge of local roadways to survive on the job.

             

But if you add or substitute highly efficient gas/electric hybrid-engine cars (that shut off at idle) and GPS navigation in to tht business equation, Taxi-Cab companies and Messenger/Delivery companies look like they are in much stronger position to minimize the expenses -- gas consumption, inexperienced or unknowledgeable drivers, miscommunication between driver and passengers regarding locations -- that can drag on their business.
                
Usedcarsalesman even thinks that In Los Angeles, hybrid cars with GPS Navigation could enhance the public's demand for Messenger services over the next 20 years. Think about this possibility:  knowing that he can employ a Messenger Company's precision-guided, non-gas-hogging car to run errands for him, Usedcarsalesman decides to get out of the weekend-using, personal errand-business for good.  Yes, Usedcarsalesman and others wouldn't necessarily know the drivers doing the jobs. But they also wouldn't have to fear that issues of fuel consumption and navigation would affect drivers' concentration on the complicated details of weekend deliveries. As such, consumer confidence in Messenger companes might grow, as would demand for their services.

                

Another point to consider is that for every one hybrid/GPS navigated car used in the Messenger business and employed by local LA consumers, you might keep several cars -- each one operated by a person running his own errands -- off the road.   Then add other things like the new Satellite-provided "traffic congestion" locators to these Messenger vehicles. Ahh, imagine fewer cars in mall parking lots and freeways on Saturdays in LA!
               
What gets better is, down the road, when you take the driver out of the equation and have self-driving, GPS-guided hybrid autos. Usedcarsalesman would simply load his stuff in to the automated vehicle and it would drive to prearranged destinations; people on the receiving end would do the rest. But, unfortunately, Johnny Cab (see Paul Verhoeven's 1991 "Arnold" film, Total Recall) is still a generation or more away.