Minted Film and the Future of Cinema | Decentralized Arts
BanklessDAO Weekly NFT and Cryptoart Newsletter
Dear Bankless Nation,🏴
As we continue to explore the NFT world the question remains: when will the "seventh art", cinema, take center stage?
When will the web3 revolution in IP rights carried out by non-fungible tokens have a disruptive effect in film production, perhaps even greater than we’ve seen happen in cryptoart today?
We can draw this potential future closer to us, and imagine the union between cinematography and web3. Can you imagine seeing the first DAO win an Oscar or an Emmy? Can you imagine a film shot in an on-chain metaverse?
Perhaps, all of this will happen sooner than we might even have imagined.
Welcome to Decentralized Arts.
Contributors: BanklessDAO Writers Guild (Grendel, Kouros, Kaf, Frank America)
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The Minted
Made in Hollywood May No Longer be Necessary
by Kaf
The history of cinema as a spectacle began in Paris on December 28, 1985. Cinema’s technology has evolved from its humble beginnings with the silent cinema of the Lumiere Brothers to the explosive digital cinema of the 21st century.
With the arrival of the internet, the big studios were challenged, but thanks to the greater storage capacity on hard drives (CD-ROM and DVD) it was possible for the first time to play a movie in an unlimited way. Then came P2P (peer to peer) networks like BitTorrent, with which thousands of movies were downloaded. Many users took advantage of this technology (the same one used by Bitcoin) to share and download movies. All this created a huge debate, which continues to this day, about intellectual property.
Then we arrive at the year 2021, when NFTs explode, and while many people still think that just images that can be reproduced for free, others understand the enormous disruptive potential digital property can have and they get to work. NFTs can put power back in the hands of creators, and blockchain could end the monopoly of big production companies, allowing independent creators to be able to shine. In addition, web3 allows people to collaborate like never before, so in the years to come I expect to see great artistic innovation.
From the beginnings of art to today, and a look into the future of opportunities that blockchain gives us, is what today's project, The Minted, is about.
The Minted Documentary
The Minted is an art documentary financed through a collection of NFTs. Produced by 19 Studio and Unleyek. A collaborative collection in which the artists donate a piece that will eventually be included in The Minted Film. Their goal is to raise 64 ETH, with 100% going to the production of the documentary.
The Minted Series aims to use the benefits and freedom that NFTs have allowed artists, and incorporate those properties into the way we finance independent film. With credit and profit grabbing in the film industry, many filmmakers do not receive credit for their work and are unable to carry out their vision with major studios and investors, while also receiving little or no pay.
The collector community will bring the investor, consumer and creator closer together for a new approach to filmmaking – being a part of the first documentary on NFTs, financed by NFTs, and distributed as an NFT. Poster collectors will receive:
Credit on Minted Film as Associate Producer
Exclusive access to the premiere of the film (in premiere)
Private Discord Access: You can talk to the filmmakers about the production and make suggestions for documentary interview questions.
They will also throw some surprises at their community members in the coming months
Ten Minted posters are based on the most iconic and classic works of art from the past, which have been recorded in digital representations. The image disappears into tiny bits of digital data, pieces of artwork that compose and decompose into an ASCII-encoded mess.
The collection launched in two segments, the first on January 20 and the second on January 27, each consisting of donated artwork and Minted posters.
The list of collaborating artists is long: Dimitri Daniloff, Lans King, Iness Rychlik, Cute Dounia, Sebastian Pfeiffer, Salavat Fidai, Threepanelcrimes, Kawaii Kiwi.
As with the rest of the artistic specialties, Web3, in addition to giving power back to the filmmakers, allows you to deal with the viewer directly. Buying an NFT doesn't just mean you own the video file, it gives you access and membership, as well as status as an investor. The Minted means another step in the path of NFTs towards dethroning the film industry.
Decentralized Arts have contacted Annie Fulcher, development producer, who has kindly offered to answer a few questions.
DA: How is the project going?
A: It’s looking very promising, we have a lot hinging on this sale that is currently live as if we do not hit our target we need to look elsewhere for funding. We’ve sold around a third of the collection so far and so just trying to spread the word as much as possible! We’ve received so much support from the community, our contributors on the film and contributing artists in the Minted Series which we are so grateful for.
DA: How did you artists meet?
A: Back in September I was going through catalogs of artists whose work stood out to me for who we wanted to join our collection, and simply just reached out! The first Zoom calls I had with each artist gave us so much excitement as everyone was so thrilled to be joining and donating their work.
DA: Are you from the same place? How do you coordinate?
A: We’re all over! Our team is based between London and Italy, so we meet up when we can but Zoom is our main communication! The same with the artists, we have predominantly spoken over video calls as some are on the other side of the world!
DA: What is the documentary about?
A: The documentary is a deep dive into the art industry's paradigm-shift since adopting NFTs in the ‘mainstream’ sales. NFTs have caused a huge change in power dynamics which has really shaken up one of the most established/ traditional industries that exists. We’re also aiming to explore our contributing artist's philosophies around what web3 can offer and how they utilize it to no longer be conformist to the standards we have been told we should meet.
DA: When is the premiere of the documentary?
A: This all depends on how this sale goes at the moment. We need to sell out our collection in order to start production. The hope is Autumn 2022!
DA: What problems do you think the film industry has?
A: There are a lot. But focussing on what we’re aiming to tackle is the exploitation of intellectual property and having such huge barriers to entry through it being such a monopolized market. It's a real feat for independent filmmakers or independent production companies to get off the ground, and if they do have a really great project big studios see potential in, they will take majority of credit/ profit from the independent creator just because it's their reputation on the line.
DA: How do you see the future of cinema?
I think we are at the real cusp of the NFT explosion right now. We know a couple of other fictional films that are attempting funding through the blockchain, and I really think and hope Web3 can revolutionize the way we work. It’s just a matter of how quickly this can break through and take a real hold to be parallel with traditional methods.
DA: Ok, and now some quick questions,
Favorite movie? The worst?
A:
Best: Festen
Worst: The Invention of Lying
DA: Do you have any documentary that has marked you?
A: I’m going to have to cheat and put more than one as I have so many!
I recently watched Flee in cinemas and it really really moved me and is hands down one of the best docs I’ve ever seen. It was such a heart-breaking, intimate and such an important story to be told.
I also love music documentaries so much and think Laurel Canyon would be right up there.
🌐 Curated NFT News
NYSE Applies for NFT Trademark
The New York Stock Exchange has filed an application to register the term “NYSE” for NFTs, cryptocurrencies, digital collectibles, and marketplaces to trade and exchange them.
A spokesperson for the world’s largest stock exchange has said that they have no immediate plans to launch cryptocurrency or NFT trading.
NYSE could be envisioning an NFT marketplace as well as some sort of metaverse as they would be looking to provide "virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality software".
OpenSea: Lots of NFTs Stolen Through New Phishing attack
It all started when OpenSea announced that they are upgrading their smart contract that would affect all current listings: “In 1 week, at 2pm ET on Friday, February 25, any listings you haven’t migrated will expire. If you miss the migration window, you’ll be able to re-list any expired listings without incurring additional fees (including gas fees).”
The hackers then sent emails to OpenSea users with links to phishing websites that tell you to sign a message to migrate to the new OpenSea smart contract. However, you are not signing this, instead you are signing a private sale to the hacker for 0 ETH.
The upgrade is meant to solve issues that are caused by old listings where the listing was never canceled. If the NFT is listed again the old listing would also be valid. Say you listed a NFT for sale a few months ago for $100, it didn’t sell, and you didn’t cancel the listing because it costs gas fees to do so, now you list the same NFT for $5,000, however the old $100 listing is still valid so people can buy the NFT for $100 instead of $5,000.
To sort this, connect your wallet to OpenSea and go to your account page. Select the “Listings” tab and choose “Inactive”. A list of open but inactive listings now appears that can be individually terminated with an on-chain transaction.
After that, the hacker executes the smart contract before the listing expires to get hold of the NFTs. He can do this because you have already signed the contract.
Devin Finzer (Co-founder and CEO of OpenSea) has stated that they are working with the victims of this attack and investigating the issue.
Some have pointed out that the hackers have been able to steal user data from OpenSea, but it is still early to reach conclusions.
If you have fallen for this scam or have information regarding it please contact OpenSea Support.
BanklessDAO Artist Showcase
🧑🎨 Artist: JENetics
🏦 Auction Type: Open edition
💰 Price: 0.03 ETH each
🖼Piece: HODL fast
Available on the Bankless DAO OpenSea account on Polygon
Design Guild Artist Showcase
Discord: TacoD#4565
A digital artist born in the metaverse world
Last week’s weekly showcase numbers
Artist Arnld made a total of 2.4 ETH in sales with the “Bankless DAO Sneaker”
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