#deplorable trends

[twas-ever-thus]

Words & Phrases That Must Be Banned Forthwith (Happy New Year Edition)

I get that

Work hard, play hard

Evangelical overuse of "awesome"

nom nom nom

Stunning

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Words & Phrases That Must Be Banned Forthwith (Autumn Edition)

Goodness

Hip & trendy

Passion (in advertising)

Spoiler alert

Boston Strong

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Words & Phrases That Must Be Banned Forthwith (Heat Wave Edition)

Bestie

Selfie

Latergram

It's up to you

Easy on the eyes

[twas-ever-thus]

Words & Phrases That Must Be Banned Forthwith (June Gloom Edition)

Only the freshest ingredients

Restaurant-inspired

Fashionista

Bespoke

The Framers (i.e., of the Constitution)

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Words & Phrases That Must Be Banned Forthwith (Black History Month Edition)

Like I said

Go ahead and

As it were

Whatnot

Ping

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Words & Phrases That Must Be Banned Forthwith (End of the World Edition)

Interwebs

Purveyor of

Starting your article or book with "Why" or "How"

Hackathon

Desperate

(in politics; ex.: by one's spokesperson in putting down the other's tactics; e.g. "this is another desperate attempt by our opponent to blah blah blah.")

[twas-ever-thus]

This article is the first article I've seen that gets it, and doesn't dismissively shrug off Kodak's demise with a digital's here to stay or, at worst, a gloating adapt or die! premise. While it's been obvious to me a new film paradigm is emerging, I've been perplexed at: a. Many players in the business' hasty move away from the medium. Especially, for instance, film labs, who, without the scope of information on the actual health and ongoing viability of the industry that Kodak has, might be prone to thinking that current trends will continue until film is extinct. Consolidation and extinction are different things (see: record stores); outlasting the others is futile in the latter, but rewarding in the former. (as the author, George Bonanos, notes, "In the past year, Kodak film sales have, for the first time in more than a decade, gone up rather than down.") And: b. The media drumbeaters' myopic thirst for disruption, fueling a public perception that digital is the future digital is the future digital is the future, film is dead film is dead film is dead.

Exhibit A? Instagram. The allure of photography is that it does not look exactly like real life, that it engages your imagination; hence, tens or hundreds of millions of people intentionally fuck up their digital photos every day, mimicking cheap film cameras. In direct proportion to, and right behind, the rise of digital media lies the rise of the Real Thing Market (see: record stores, again). No, I don't have a chart to back this up.

  Bonanos's advice to Kodak: 1. Don’t be afraid to raise prices.

The people who want film will pay extra for it. They’re already paying a huge premium over the essentially zero cost of digital. Film is no longer a commodity product; it’s a preference, required for a labor of love. Boutique prices are going to be part of the future of film, and the devout buyer will adjust.

2. The only cameras are going to be high-end cameras — and very-low-end ones.

But one product line continues to work for Kodak: the “one-time use,” or disposable, camera. It solves certain problems that standard cameras do not — like having one on each table at a wedding or photographing in nasty environments where you don’t want to risk an expensive, delicate device. Amazingly, 31 million disposable cameras were sold in 2011.

3. “Don’t do anything that someone else can do.”

The point, though, is that if you’re going to sell film in the 21st century, you need to think of your product as a fine-arts material.

4 The little yellow box is still golden.

Don’t neglect the equity in that box. The amount of name recognition — a sign behind the counter of every convenience store in the world — is staggering.

But honestly, as long as Kodak continues to produce Ektar 100, I'll be happy.

[twas-ever-thus]

Chuck D's anti-industry, power-to-the-people argument - classic tech-worshiper stuff - throws the baby out with the bathwater. When Lars said "it's not about the money," who believed him? I didn't. Watch (and read, linked above).