View From the Phlipside Radio - The Dumbest Story of 2011 (and 2012)!

My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media.  TV, radio, the movies and more.  I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion.  Call this the View from the Phlipside.

End of the year and I like to take a look back at the topics that we’ve talked about here.  This year I thought I’d do a best, worst and dumbest ideas of the year.  These are topics that bubbled to the surface this year that will carry forward into 2012.  This time let’s take a look at my dumbest topic nominee.

This one could have gone for the worst idea but I think it falls just short.  It’s just a dumb idea that some folks just won’t let go on.  It’s 3-D.  Every couple decades we have another resurgence of the attempt to create a three dimensional visual image for the big screen.  This time it’s also lapped over onto the small screen.  I need to acknowledge that I came to this latest attempt at 3-D with a negative attitude.  I’ve seen too many attempts in the past that never tried to get beyond the gimmick aspect of it.  What one friend of mine has described as the “jumpy outty parts”.  Beyond that you still have to deal with those dumb glasses which are an even bigger problem for those of us who wear presription glasses.

When Avatar came out in 3-D I thought we’d finally gotten over the hump.  Avatar gave us a reason for 3-D, it made the story better.  It was visually stunning.  The problem is that NONE of the movies I’ve seen since in 3-D meet the standard.  Even without jumpy-outty parts the 3-D adds nothing.  It’s still just a gimmick.

And then we talk about TV.  What a complete and utter non-starter of an idea.  Television is too deeply set in the American way of life.  So making it more complicated is just a bad idea.  Add in the dumb glasses some of which apparently need batteries and I just end up shaking my head.  When they start talking about putting major sporting events in 3-D then I’m totally confused.  So I’m either supposed to have enough TV glasses for everyone at my Super Bowl party or do I only invite folks who own them?  Just dumb.  And headed for the dustbin is my bet.

Here’s to the New Year.  Which will be just fine in 2D thank you.

Call that the View From the Phlipside

View From the Phlipside - 3D TV ads

My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media.  TV, radio, the movies and more.  I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion.  Call this the View from the Phlipside.

Sometimes innovation can be mass produced.  But more often than not it comes from some little guy in some little office who’s willing to take the risk on an idea that just sounds looney.

So you want small?  How about Stanville Kentucky, population 500.  And in this small Appalachian town you’ll find a local law firm.  Eric Conn’s firm isn’t that large, just four attorneys but Eric likes to think big.  The law for him is what pays the bills.  What really gets his heart pumping is marketing.  They figure they spent about 600 thousand dollars on advertising last year.  That’s about 8% of their revenue.  What has worked best for them historically has been that old reliable, the bill board.  But Eric isn’t willing even there to just sit back and do the same old same old.  His billboards are often bright yellow and involve mannequins of himself on top of them.  The man who started his firm in a storage trailer believes in thinking big.

So when it came time to develop the next level of marketing for his firm Eric turned his eyes to the future.  He had just purchased a 3D television and fell in love.  So clearly the next step in marketing was to go 3D.  That’s right a four person law firm in a town of 500 people is laying out the money to create a 3D TV commercial.  It’s old school technology requiring those old red and blue glasses to see.  So far the return has not justified the expense.  The first problem was that the section of the spot that told people how to get the glasses isn’t real clear.  In the end the idea is to do something that attracts the attention of the kids in the family.  Conn hopes that they will then get their parents to watch and request the glasses to see what’s going on.

The advertising campaign may or may not really work out for attorney Conn.  But a phlip of the lid to him for being willing to take the risk on something new and different.  Once again a man with a vision just might be giving us a glimpse of the future.  Who knew that the next great innovator in TV advertising would rise up from a Kentucky town of 500 people?

Call that the View From the Phlipside

"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY.  You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2011

View From the Phlipside - Star Wars in 3D

My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media.  TV, radio, the movies and more.  I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion.  Call this the View from the Phlipside.

There's word in the movie world that two of my least favorite things may all be colliding.  Sadly they will not be mutually destroyed in the process.  These things are the latest 3D fad and the eternal attempt by the movie studios and others to try and milk the very last cent out of a movie.  This usually involves creating new and useless "special editions" of the movie in the hope that the fans will race right out to buy the fourth, fifth or sixth version of the movie.

I said before that while I found Avatar really impressive and Inception pretty good the whole 3D thing just doesn't fly for me.  Far too often still they suffer from what one friend of mine refers to as the "jumpy out" parts.  I'm unconvinced that it generally adds anything to the story telling process.  It's just one more kind of flashy special effect.

I'm also tired of the latest and greatest version of movies.  Collectors editions, which usually means they've added some useless filler material.  Commentary tracks by whoever they could drag back in, most of which are mind numbingly boring.  Or they include the trailer.  Or a documentary on the making of the movie which  generally looks like it was done by an amateur.  Worst of all are  the "Director's Cuts".  This is a clear indicator that the movie is now significantly longer and more pretentious.  Spare me.

So would someone go slap George Lucas upside the head for me?  Yes, George is releasing a new version of the Star Wars movies and yes, it's going to be in 3-D.  Why?  I can answer that question and it has nothing to do with making the movies better.  It's a way to make a little more money from the franchise.  For me the proof of that is that he will release the new 3-D versions in chronological order.  That's right you will have to suffer through the release of the lesser second three movies in order to get to the decidedly superior original three.  Because if he did it the other way around no one would buy the second trilogy.

Let me put it to you this way - Jar Jar Binks in 3D.
If that isn't the dark side of the Force, I don't know what is.

Call that the View From the Phlipside

"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY.  You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2011