[Weekly Update] Mid Budget Productions are Usually Bad, Unfortunately.

After about 3 days of 30 degree sunny temperature, Montreal began raining, and temperature has dropped back to 17. It's as if summer is already over. Fun well lasted, I guess.

CHANNEL UPDATE

I know I keep complaining about Ah Girls Go Army, but it really feels like I just crawled out of a black hole. 2 months of work ended in a dud. I wonder what I can do with it in the future.

Our next video is complete and should go live in a few days. It'll be about City Hunter, the 2024 Netflix live action adaptation. There's no story spoiler, but has some visual ones. So, if you want to go in fresh, give it a watch. It's a fun action flick with very unique handling of weapons.

I'm dusting off one of our old script ideas and need your help: Do you know any stereotypical American characters in Asian movies? This was a topic I worked on for a few weeks, before realizing most of the sources are overwhelmingly anime oriented, a domain I'm not overly familiar with. If you know any film sources, let me know!

Finally, work on our final dynasty video has begun. It's currently very lopsided, because the Yuan dynasty is short and doesn't have much movies, while the Ming dynasty has way too much movies to list them all. Hopefully I can get it done in time, and bring the series to a satisfying end.

MEDIA TALK

As I was working on our video on City Hunter, I was once again being reminded how much I love smaller scale, mid to low budget productions. I don't know if many people share my view, but watching filmmakers navigating through the budget limit and get the most out of it is quite fun. As they say, constraint encourages creativity, and City Hunter certainly brought a lot to the table with very little.

It's a trend cinephiles are championing: Crazy Rich Asians, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Godzilla Minus One. These movies feel like proper movies, ones that I want to see in theaters. That's more than can be said about a lot of mega blockbusters these days.

The unfortunate reality, however, is that blockbusters has the advantage of "consistency". Even if it's consistently awful (like Disney's live action remakes), it nevertheless is consistent. It's like McDonald's, you know exactly what you are going to get.

Compare to some of the mid to low budget horror films. You can either get X, or Hush, which are fantastic. Or you can end up with Choose or Die, which is just a goofy-ass movie. All of these are fairly original productions, often made by lesser known if not less experienced directors. You just don't know if they are good or bad until you watch the films. The reviews don't help either, because Choose or Die's review is oddly divisive.

And now, it's time for our favourite topic: Our economic reality. Indeed, as people are less willing to spend money in theatre tickets, they are also less willing to take risk with their money and time. Between a known fast food and a new restaurant, most people will, understandably, pick the McDonald option, just so they don't risk ruining their night.

It is, I think, the same kind of mentality that propelled the popularity of short videos. With less investment in time, there's less to loose.

But even when people have disposable income, the gamble of watching a low to mid budget production will never convince most filmgoers to dive in. Unless established director's find an incentive to make cheaper movies, tipping the quality balance, I don't see a way for mid budget films to become mainstream.

Anyway, that's the food for thought of the week. New video is being reviewed. I'll see you soon!