Netflix has turned to the past for inspiration for its upcoming series The Get Down. The main trailer for the music drama was released today, and it shows off 1970s New York, a time when disco was fading out and, in some parts of the city, hip-hop was rising.
The series opens in the South Bronx in 1977 and centers on a group of young adults who are coming of age in this interesting point in music history. Music, dance, and art are key parts of their lives, but they have other challenges as well. The trailer shows shots of a chaotic neighborhood, with one quote summing it up well: “This ain’t Disneyland, this is the Bronx.”
Based on the preview, it looks like many of the characters are exploring what they want in life and how far they can pursue their dreams. Not surprisingly, music is a biggie for several, and we get to see them showcase their impressive talents. Their work suggests that the creative team did its job in producing some irresistible music for viewers.
The series, which is produced by Sony Pictures Television, comes from executive producers Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, Nas, Stephen Adley Guirgis, and Nelson George, with Grandmaster Flash serving as associate producer. Together, they form a strong group of collaborators with ample hip-hop know-how between them. The musically minded cast stars Shameik Moore, Justice Smith, Herizen Guardiola, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jaden Smith, Skylan Brooks, Tremaine Brown Jr., Mamoudou Athie, Jimmy Smits, and Giancarlo Esposito.
When the series premieres on August 12, viewers will be able to binge on the first six episodes, but then they’ll have to wait until 2017 for the rest of the 13-episode first season. The schedule marks a deviation from Netflix’s typical all-at-once release model, which means that viewers will have to exercise a rare degree of patience.
China just gave Hollywood a cautionary tale about AI filmmaking. Sanxingdui: Future Past, billed as the country's first fully AI-generated movie, hit theaters on October 23 and bombed at the box office.
According to Futurism, the film's reported $1.5 million production budget landed on more than 10,000 screens. Yet it pulled in only about $181,000, averaging roughly $20 per screen, making the budget difficult to recover.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?