The percentage of national commercials airing in HD on the Super Bowl has increased steadily over the years to the point where a whopping 93 percent are now seen in all their hi-def glory. This finding came from an annual survey conducted by Tom Fletcher, VP of camera and production resource rental house Fletcher Chicago.
Fletcher has been tracking HD activity–or the lack thereof initially–for several years running. For example, he reported that only 30 percent of the national spots on the 2005 Super Bowl appeared in HD. This went up to 59 percent in ’06, 83 percent in ’07 and 93 percent this year.
“We’ve been major advocates of finishing in HD,” related Fletcher. “And it’s gratifying to see we’re now at 93 percent. But we very much need to get that up to 100 percent, not just for the Super Bowl but all commercials. With HD television set penetration increasing, it behooves us as an industry to showcase our work in the best possible light.”
However, the local spot market doesn’t seem to be getting the message. Fletcher noted that no local commercials shown in the Chicago market during this year’s Super Bowl appeared in HD. Though he didn’t monitor the New York feed last year, Fletcher found in ’07 there were also no local spots in the Big Apple shown in HD on the Super Bowl.
Local spots thus have stayed at zero during all the years Fletcher has conducted his annual HD survey. “It’s like buying a full page ad and using only two-thirds of the space,” he related. “And on the Super Bowl, the local ads really looked like local ads when compared to the commercials shown in HD nationally.”
Writers of “Conclave,” “Say Nothing” Win Scripter Awards
The authors and screenwriters behind the film โConclaveโ and the series โSay Nothingโ won the 37th-annual USC Libraries Scripter Awards during a black-tie ceremony at USCโs Town and Gown ballroom on Saturday evening (2/22).
The Scripter Awards recognize the yearโs most accomplished adaptations of the written word for the screen, including both feature-length films and episodic series.
Novelist Robert Harris and screenwriter Peter Straughan took home the award for โConclave.โ
In accepting the award, Straughan said, โAdaptation is a really strange process, youโre very much the servant of two masters. In a way itโs an act of betrayal of one master for the other.โ He joked that โYou start off with a book that you love, you read it again and again, and then you end up throwing it over your shoulder,โ crediting author Robert Harris for being โso kind, so generous, so open throughout.โ
In the episodic series category, Joshua Zetumer and Patrick Radden Keefe won for the episode โThe People in the Dirtโ from the limited series โSay Nothing,โ which Zetumer adapted from Keefeโs nonfiction book about the Troubles in Ireland.
Zetumer referenced this yearโs extraordinary group of Scripter finalists, saying โprojects like these reminded me of why I wanted to become a writer when I was sitting in USCโs Leavey Library dreaming of becoming a screenwriter. If you fell in love with movies, or fell in love with TV, chances are you fell in love with something dangerous.โ
Special guest for the evening, actress and producer Jennifer Beals, shared her thoughts on the impact of libraries. โIf ever you are at a loss wondering if there is good in the world,โ she said, โyou have only to go to a... Read More