The action challenge - Editing John Wick: Chapter 4

RedShark News

Editor Nathan Orloff proves you don’t need experience editing action to edit a wall to wall action movie.

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A massive ‘car fu’ chase and fight around the Arc de Triomphe is arguably the highlight of John Wick Chapter 4. While the stunts themselves are as real as ever with physical crashes, stunt performances and Keanu Reeves driving, this all took place on tarmac in Berlin. The Parisian backgrounds are virtual but piecing the geography of it all together was a complicated task for editor Nathan Orloff.

“The Arc de Triomphe sequence is one that I'm really, really proud of, especially since this is kind of crazy and difficult to put together because all the hits [of the cars] are real,” Orloff says.

“The way I look at geography is that you should be able to explain every shot to a blind child very quickly. What I mean by that is that in the simplest fashion of ‘John runs, stops, looks around’ that's the story and it’s 2 seconds long, but it's a story beat and it's important to convey.

“If you're cutting too fast, if you're just punching things up for the sake of punching things up, you're confusing the audience. You're disorienting them. Sometimes you want to that intentionally but those moments should be incredibly selective.”

He talks of approaching such kinetic action scenes as he would a dialogue scene. There may be no dialogue per se but John Wick is interacting with the bad guys albeit with cars or guns or nunchucks.

“It's a conversation between villains and heroes, and it's just as important as is a dialogue in terms of following what's going on,” he says.

Getting to the final version, Orloff had to whittle down take after take of cars hitting each other, hitting John Wick, until he had the mix of performance, pace and story that felt.

“I did this massive trim pass and was kind of ruthless in removing some stuff and reimagined one part. We lost one car hit so that we got to the one that we wanted to show earlier.”

Even to get to the Arc de Triomphe there’s an extended street fight which Orloff had to blend into each other so there’s no break in the action.

“The question was how do we want to make that flow as one? Because it could become very clunky.”

A clue to the puzzle lay in the music. “To me it became essential to cut to the DJ, how the needle drops change, to keep the energy flowing across scenes back-to-back.”

This is all the more impressive given that Orloff is not only new to the franchise, but green when it comes to action movies. That’s precisely why director Chad Stahelski picked him when regular editor Evan Schiff proved unavailable.

“Chad told me he interviewed a lot of different editors and I think one of the reasons we gelled was that I haven't done a big action movie like this before. I wasn't bringing something to the table that said ‘I've done this before.’ I was bringing an approach to learning something new and being open to new ideas.”

Orloff had worked as an Assistant Editor on J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek: Into Darkness, as well as a Digital Intermediate Supervisor on Abrams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens.  He was an Associate or Additional Editor on such projects as Tully and The Front Runner, both directed by Jason Reitman, and more recently sole editor on Reitman’s Ghostbusters Afterlife.

 

“He wanted a blank slate of someone that would find the style within the movie instead of sort of putting their own stamp on it,” Orloff says.

Stahelski seems to have trusted Orloff to find his own rhythm to the film’s wall to wall action sequences.

“I didn't get a lot of direction during production about how to put these action sequences together,” he says. “It sort of was like out of necessity, how do these pieces fit? So it was kind of cool and a little bit validating that when we got back to LA that most of the stuff we did was just trimming and removing versus reconstruction.”

Musicals and slapstick

Stahelski did though give his editor a number of films to study. Those films include Sergio Leone’s Dollars westerns, Kurusawa’s The Seven Samurai and Singing In The Rain.

In films like Singing In The Rain the camera stays generally static and wide with minimal edits so the viewer can take in all the brilliance performed by the film’s stars.

Another influence is the slapstick comedy of silent screen legend Buster Keaton. A clip form Keaton’s The General appears in John Wick 2. Keaton famously devised and performed his own extraordinary stunts.

“You're watching Buster Keaton do these crazy things and you're just going, that is unbelievable. Similarly, there was an influence of these big wide shots. They made sure they could capture everything in shot.”

Keaton or Chaplin aren’t the only comic styling. The absurdity of the situation where John Wick can be repeatedly shot or bounce down stairs, albeit protected by a Kevlar suit, makes the film a sort of Looney Tunes for adults.

Tick Tock Mr Wick

John Wick – Chapter 4 clocks in at 169 minutes, more than an hour longer than the original. The first cut came in at 3 hours 45 minutes. Stahelski and the edit team gradually cut that down but even if they took out just 30 seconds, they would watch the whole film beginning to end, to ensure the pace of the film stayed intact.

“There is definitely a risk of overkill if something is too similar to something else,” Orloff says, “but going back to the music was a huge help in alternating what we were doing to avoid things feeling the same.”

A three-and-a-half hour runtime was no deterrent to audiences watching David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia, a point that Stahelski has made in interviews.

In JW 4, he pays homage to that film’s famous ‘match’ cut, one of two (along with the bone to spaceship time-jump in 2001: A Space Odyssey) of the most celebrated in cinema history.

“I wanted to make sure we did the exact number of frames when the fire was blown out before cutting to the sunrise,” Orloff says. “I wanted to do it justice.

“Chad told me he’d rather swing and miss than do the same thing over again. And so that match cut is indicative of [telling the] audience what we're aiming for.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When It’s All an Action Sequence: Editing “John Wick Chapter 4”

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With John Wick 2 and 3 editor Evan Schiff unavailable, franchise director and co-creator Chad Stahelski cast around for a new cutting room collaborator for Chapter 4. He alighted on Nathan Orloff (Ghostbusters: Afterlife), in part because Orloff had limited experience editing action movies.

“In my interview with Chad, we just really hit it off,” Orloff explains on the Next Best Picture podcast. “I found out many months later that one of the reasons he wanted to bring me on is because I don’t have extensive experience in action. He didn’t want someone to come in and do their thing that they’ve been doing on other action movies… because John Wick is sort of antithetical to how a lot of action movies are cut these days.”

To understand why, you have to appreciate that Stahelski’s vision for the fourth installment in the franchise was to expand the John Wick universe by bringing in multiple storylines and a longer run-time to let the action play out on screen, rather than having the editing dictate the action.

“The other films are very much like, you know, that John is on a direct rampage or running for his life. This film was intentionally designed to be more reflective and contemplating, that after his entire career as a hitman, he is forced to reckon with his past and what he’s done.”

Stahelski’s influences range from the lush visuals of Wong Kar-wei to the operatic staging of Sergio Leone westerns. As the director explained to Jim Hemphill at IndieWire: “I love the seventies movie style. I love four act operas. I love Kabuki theater. The Asian cinema kind of breaks a lot of rules that we adhere to in the three act version [of movies] and we’d like to think John Wick breaks a lot of those rules because we do go a little operatic.

“Lawrence of Arabia is a good example like that. That movie kind of flies by to me and it doesn’t feel like you need an intermission in it.”

The filmmaker’s homage goes so far as to mimic the famous “match cut” by editor Ann V Coates in David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia in which Lawrence in profile blows out a match and Coates cuts to a blazing desert sunrise.

“I remember vividly when I went to set in Paris, Chad asked me ‘what’s the most famous cut in all of cinema?’ and said we’re going to do it our way,” Orloff relates to Next Best Picture. “I wanted to make sure we did the exact number of frames when the fire was blown out before cutting to the sunrise. You know, I wanted to do it justice.

“He told me he’d rather swing and miss than do the same thing over again. And so that match cut is indicative of [telling the] audience what we’re going for.”

Another acknowledged influence on the director’s action style are classic MGM musicals or those featuring Fred Astaire. In films like Singing In The Rain or Top Hat the camera stays generally static and in wide shot with minimal edits so the viewer can take in all the dancing brilliance performed by the film’s stars.

“I love Bob Fosse here, one of my huge inspirations,” Stahelski tells Indiewire. “You take Gene Kelly, the old Sunday Morning Sunday Parade or something like that. You watch Fred Astaire do his thing. And if you watch the way we shoot, it’s very simple. The way we train people [to perform stunts] is very, very, very dance oriented.”

Orloff elaborates on what this means to decisions in the cutting room.

“Musicals like back then were sort of like you edited around the dancing,” he says on an episode of The Rough Cut podcast. “You showed them dancing. They would do a move, finish, cut, start something else. And the way Chad talked about that really inspired me to do that with our characters and not use the editing to try to punch anything up.”

There are times when the stunt performance or that of Keanu Reeves aren’t quite perfect “they slip or there’s something not great about the timing of this or that, but not being so obsessive about perfection makes it just so much more real. When you’re cutting less, you’re able to absorb everything more. You feel more empathy for the characters because you feel like you’re just there.”

John Wick: Chapter 4 clocks in at 169 minutes, more than an hour longer than the original. Stahelski explains why he wanted a movie of this length.

“In our heads we knew that we wanted to show this constant decreasing circle that spirals closer and closer as [the stories] come together. So every act brings us closer together. That was the plan. It sounds like a very genius plan, but you don’t know until you cut the whole thing together. Our first cut was 3 hours 45 minutes.”

So how did the edit team set about cutting that down, and knowing which killing to leave in or excise?

“When you have 14 action sequences, you can’t just edit that sequence,” the director explained. “You’ll never know if a five minute car scene or a ten minute car scene is good to watch in the two and a half hour movie.

So the only way to truly know that you’re doing the right thing is step back and take that half day. We’d edit all morning but by four p.m. we’re like, Let’s watch the movie. And my editorial staff probably hates me. We’ve watched it so many times because literally even if we just took like 30 seconds out of something, I’d make everybody watch the movie again, because that’s the only way you know, you have the right pace.

He adds, “It’s the whole song that makes you rock out. I think that was a big learning experience with me and my editorial team to constantly watch a two and five hour movie and feel where the slow parts were and to work on those parts.”

Because John Wick is dispatching henchmen left and right in intricately planned and executed stunts, making the decision about what to cut was a tricky one admits the editor.

“There is definitely sometimes overkill when something is too similar to something else,” Orloff told Next Best Picture, “but going back to the music was a huge help in creating different tones and alternating what we were doing to avoid the things feeling the same. And to Chad’s credit, especially in the last act when we go from street fight to a car chase to a lengthy overhead shot that, even though the audience has watched non-stop action for 30-45 minutes the movie is structured so skillfully that you’re seeing something you’ve never seen before.”

 

Race for Space: One Giant Leap for Entertainment

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Firing William Shatner into space was just the curtain raiser to a new era of shooting stars in orbit, as the race for extra-terrestrial entertainment takes off.

Gravity-defying science-fiction movies need no longer be propelled by CGI as extraordinary space odysseys of filmed entertainment take-off. Enterprising projects already announced for galactic production range from a Tom Cruise blockbuster to a mixed martial arts reality TV show.

Some media projects have been actively backed by NASA while US tech entrepreneurs are eager to budget films that boost their egos further into orbit.

There’s a wider commercial imperative too. The race to land valuable contracts to build orbital space stations was kicked off when NASA and Roscosmos declared the International Space Station will be decommissioned in 2030 after three decades of service, leaving the path clear for private enterprise.

Blue Origin’s description of its planned station Orbital Reef as an “off-world mixed use business park” is a blueprint that most ventures seem to follow.

Alongside film and TV productions, tourism, sports and celebrity events in space are destined to drive revenue and publicity within the next few years. Yet the first crop of shot in space projects are not just designed as marketing vehicles, in spite of the significant challenges that content creation in space brings with it.

“Of course, filming in space comes with its challenges, from radiation exposure to microgravity, equipment malfunctions, and space debris,” said John Lewis, VP & Managing Partner of Space 11 Corp and the man behind Galactic Combat. “But with proper training and qualified experts, these risks can be mitigated. However, the biggest obstacle to filming in space is the cost. The transportation alone is more expensive than any Marvel movie budget, making it a tough sell for studios.”

As space travel increases the cost of each launch will diminish raising the prospect of shows shot in space becoming just as regular as any shot terra firma. Next stop, the lunar surface.

“From someone who has been in the space business for 30 years I’ve never seen this amount of activity and new blood,” said Robert Feierbach, former SpaceX executive and Exec Producer of planned space film Helios. “There are hundreds of companies growing the industry from U$400 billion to north of a trillion dollars in the next ten years.”

Specifically, he points to the burgeoning economy of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) systems “which have made it cheaper to access space.”

Casting ahead, he thinks shooting on the moon eminently possible. “With the amount of companies and investment going in it is absolutely feasible to think that in 20 years we’ll be on the moon. In fact, multiple companies and nations will be too.”

Race for Space: Cruise boldly goes

Tom Cruise’s latest daredevil stunt was to ride a motorbike off a mountain in Norway and parachute Bond-style for Mission Impossible 7. He plans to top this by not just filming in space but making a spacewalk too. Details on the production were tantalising but scant when news first broke in 2020 and remain so. Director Doug Liman is reportedly still attached to the project along with studio Universal and the actor would ride to space in SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule.

It is being co-produced by UK-based Space Entertainment Enterprise (SEE) which has separately announced plans to build and launch a movie production studio which will connect with the ISS. It has tasked Houston-based Axiom Space to build it.

In a statement, SEE states that the SEE-1 module is “intended to host films, television, music and sports events as well as artists, producers and creatives who want to make content in the low orbit, microgravity environment. The facilities will enable development, production, recording, broadcasting and livestreaming of content.” The company says it will produce its own content and events in the module and also make it available for hire.

December 2024 is the planned completion date for SEE-1 which would later dock with Axiom Station, the commercial wing of the ISS.

SEE has heavyweight media credentials - SEE’s chief operating officer is ex-Endemol Shine UK CEO Richard Johnston, while Mark Taffet, former SVP of sports and pay per view at HBO, and ex-Viacom technology VP Remi Abayomi are also onboard.

“SEE-1 will provide a unique and accessible home for boundless entertainment possibilities in a venue packed with innovative infrastructure that will unleash a new world of creativity,” the statement continued.

SEE-1 will provide “a supreme-quality space structure enabling the expansion of the two trillion-dollar global entertainment industry into low-Earth orbit.”

Unsurprisingly, the cost of filming in space is astronomical. The Cruise movie was reportedly budgeted around $200m. Estimates from 2018 put the cost per kilogram using the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at $2,720. Then there’s the cost of staying up there, which can range anywhere from between $88,000 to $164,000 per person per day.

Put another way, just one seat on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon is thought to run around $55 million, according to The Verge, plus NASA charges additional fees for private astronauts using the space station’s facilities while in orbit.

Race for Space: Helios

A rival feature underwritten by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ company Blue Origin is being developed by US production company Centerboro Productions. Blue Origin and Sierra Space are building the LEO space station Orbital Reef which will be one of the stars of sci-fi thriller Helios, according to Centerboro President Patricia Beninati.

“This will be the first film to show what living in space will be like for real in 2030,” she told IBC365. “This is not CGI. This is the real deal.”

The story is about a rescue mission to save humanity when the world’s electricity is knocked out by solar flare – a scenario that is very much in the realm of fact. “Think Gerard Butler of Geostorm crossed with Jodie Foster of Contact – that’s the high-level pitch,” she said.

Beninati said the film has the backing of NASA, Space Florida and the US Space Force and that the film will feature their logos, their hardware and their expertise. Astronauts including former ISS commander Garrett Riesman have advised on the script as has Feierbach.

“We’re not just bringing them in to bring the money,” she said. “The aim is total authenticity and to spread the word in the STEM community that we are supporting space for all. That is our mission.”

Yet there is some smoke and mirrors here. The film, which is in development, is destined for release long before 2030. Footage was planned to be shot aboard a suborbital aircraft but when that company went bust this idea also bit the dust. Consequently, Helios will be shot in some real interiors (or mock-ups) of some genuine space-bound craft but not in actual space. Ground based locations are planned in New Mexico.

“You will see some very heavy promotion of Helios around Blue Origin launches,” Beninati promised. She also hinted at a first look deal with Amazon but that no distribution for the project has been signed. You can’t deny her enthusiasm though.

“The new gold rush is in space,” she declared. “There is so much opportunity in space right now for everyone.”

Exec Producer Feierbach said: “[Centerboro] wanted to get as many possible real space corporations into the film and have modified the script accordingly so that they can show the brands in a proper way.”

For example, he said Helios’ original script just featured the ISS but now includes Orbital Reef. “We have access to 2D and 3D renders of the proposed space-bound vehicles from Blue Origin,” he added.

Orbital Reef itself is described as a “unique destination” that will provide the essential infrastructure needed to scale economic activity and open new markets in space, including tourism, entertainment, research, and manufacturing.

Race for Space: MMA in Micro-G

Space 11 has perhaps the most outlandish plans. It has announced plans to build a space station operational by 2028 specifically to be used for film and TV. What’s more, it’s first project will be a reality TV MMA contest.

Galactic Combat, led by former Big Brother (US) and Hell’s Kitchen showrunner Thomas Loureiro, will see 40 MMA fighters compete for eight berths on board a rocket shuttle orbiting Earth and the chance to fight in zero gravity.

This was supposed to take off this year but there’s not been an update since early 2022 – until now.

“Galactic Combat is our first core business venture and is so exciting that I wish I could spill all the beans right now, but I can’t reveal too much information yet,” said John Lewis, VP & Managing Partner of Space 11 Corp | MMA-Zero G | Space 11 Studios and a former MMA champion. “You see, we have to protect our concept and abide by third-party NDAs. But trust me when I say that eventually, everyone will be talking about this around their kitchen table.”

Lewis is also a co-producer on Helios. He believes there’s nothing quite like the thrill of real, tangible risk in practical filmmaking.

“While it may be too early to say if there’s a demand for actual film and television shot in orbit, there’s certainly curiosity,” he said. “Imagine Tom Cruise tethered to a Starship doing a spacewalk where one misstep could send him hurtling into the abyss. That’s the kind of risk and excitement that can’t be replicated with a blue screen and CG effects.”

Space 11 founder Andrea Lervolino is an Italian producer with 75 credits to his name including Waiting for the Barbarians (2019) starring Johnny Depp and Mark Rylance.

His space station S11S is intended to host an array of entertainment content including music concerts, and includes a soundstage available to rent. Houston-based aerospace company Nanoracks is commissioned to build the station.

Lewis said: “Space 11 Corp has a unique business model that could be the answer to the entertainment industry’s space filming dreams. The S11S Spacestation/Soundstage would be a one-of-a-kind facility that can be monetized in various ways, providing a controlled environment for filming, hosting concerts, sporting events, and other entertainment-related products.”

The real game-changer could be the development of artificial gravity. “At the moment, the mystery of space is microgravity, which is wonderful to watch but can be challenging to film in,” he said. “But once we can create a more stable environment in space, it will become easier to film movies and television shows with dimension.”

“As for using the moon as a shooting location or studio, why not? Once a safe environment is created on the moon, it might be easier to film there than on a rocket ship in orbit.

“Elon Musk is the man to keep an eye on. He is at the forefront of all the exciting things happening in the space industry, including his goals of making us a multi-planetary species. Who knows what doors he will open in the years to come as he leads his company SpaceX into the future?”

 

The World Will Spend $154 Billion on AI This Year

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Worldwide spending on AI, including software, hardware, and services for AI-centric systems, will reach $154 billion in 2023, according to research from consultancy IDC. The fastest growth in AI spending will come from the media industry.

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What IDC describes as the ongoing incorporation of AI into a wide range of products will result in a compound annual growth rate of 27% over the 2022-2026 forecast with spending on AI-centric systems expected to surpass $300 billion in 2026.

“Companies that are slow to adopt AI will be left behind — large and small,” Mike Glennon, senior market research analyst with IDC says. “AI is best used to augment human abilities, automate repetitive tasks, provide personalized recommendations, and make data-driven decisions with speed and accuracy.”

The two industries that will deliver the largest AI investments between now and 2026 are banking and retail followed by professional services, but with a five-year CAGR of 30.2% it is the media industry that is exhibiting fastest growth.

The US will be the largest market for AI-centric systems, accounting for more than half of all spending worldwide in the sector throughout the forecast. Western Europe and China will spend 20% each.

Three of the leading AI use cases in terms of spending focus on sales and customer service functions: Augmented Customer Service Agents, Sales Process Recommendation and Augmentation, and Program Advisors and Recommendation Systems.

Per the report, these three use cases will see investment from nearly every industry and combined will account for more than a quarter of all AI spend this year.

Other principal use cases include IT optimization, augmented threat intelligence, and fraud analysis.

Freight trucks: a most promising market for hydrogen

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Last month a German automotive giant launched a fleet of hydrogen road cars, with its CEO referring to the natural gas (H2) as “the missing piece in the jigsaw when it comes to emission-free mobility.”

However, the market for hydrogen fuelled vehicles is more likely to be driven by heavy-duty road haulage.

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How do hydrogen vehicles work?

Like EVs, hydrogen vehicles emit zero air pollution from the exhaust.  Instead of being powered by electricity stored in a battery, fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) produce the electricity on board through a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen in a fuel cell stack.  Refuelling hydrogen tanks from a pump takes less than five minutes and the range of FCEVs tend to be greater than that of EVs. The new fleet of German made cars for instance can travel 503 Km before refuelling.

There are several barriers to market for FCEVs to overcome if they are to compete with EVs. The cost of the fuel cell alone makes the price of a standard passenger car double that of a comparable EV. Another challenge for hydrogen vehicles is the need to compress the gas to very high pressures in order to get the right density of fuel on board to give you range, explains Brendan Bilton, CTO at a UK-based hydrogen refuelling station operator. “In passenger cars that’s a hell of a challenge. It’s why a lot of car manufacturers are moving to SUV models where there’s more room to package the tanks.”

Battery electric cars face a similar problem but EV batteries are small flat packs that can be distributed all over the car. Hydrogen is stored in large cylinders on board and there are only so many parts of the vehicle you can put them in.Storage space is less of a problem for light commercial and heavy goods vehicles.

Another obstacle is the lack of refuelling infrastructure. There are only around 230 H2 filling stations across the EU and the UK, most of them in Germany. The Clean Energy Partnership, an alliance of German vehicle manufacturers and filling station operators, has pledged to expand Germany’s hydrogen fuelling station network from 100 to 400 stations by 2025 when it will still be a fraction of the country’s 14500 conventional fuel outlets.

“We have a chicken and egg problem with hydrogen fuel cell technology,” explained Axel Rücker, Program Manager Hydrogen Fuel Cell at the German automotive group. “As long as the network of refuelling stations for hydrogen-powered cars is so sparse, the low demand from customers will not allow for profitable mass production of fuel cell vehicles. And as long as there are hardly any hydrogen cars on the roads, the operators will only hesitantly expand their refuelling station network.”

The equation makes more sense for road freight. As major truck makers commit to phasing out diesel by 2040, the greater range and speed of refuelling hydrogen vehicles is an attractive alternative for the road transport industry which often operates long distances round the clock.

“Bigger vehicles pulling heavy loads or with a refrigeration unit or onboard crane for lifting goods becomes a massive challenge for the power capacity of electric batteries. If haulage firms were to switch to EV trucks they would have to completely change their operating model. Hydrogen becomes the only viable zero emission fuel for that sector,” says Bilton.

Haulage drives hydrogen

Networks of H2 refuelling stations are being built targeting this market. Bilton’s company aims to have 30 hydrogen refuelling stations under development this year concentrated on the UK’s 147 truck stops and estimates that it needs about five individual nozzles per truck stop (totalling 800) by 2027 to provide comprehensive national coverage.

“We can put a skeleton network in place with 100 miles between each refuelling station which will give comfort to a haulage company that they can go anywhere on major networks and know they can fill up on a journey when they need to,” he says. “In a vehicle with a range of between 300 and 400 miles, that isn't a problem logistically.”

IEC is paving the way for this form of energy to be widely used for transport. IEC Technical Committee 9 which prepares standards for railway equipment and systems, has recently embarked on the development of a new standard, IEC 63341-1, specifying fuel cells for the propulsion of trains as well as any rolling stock type of transport, including light rail vehicles, tramways and metros. IEC TC 105 develops standards for fuel cells.

And IECEx, the IEC System for Certification to Standards Relating to Equipment for Use in Explosive Atmospheres has recently extended its IECEx certification of personnel competence scheme for assessing and certifying individuals working in potentially hazardous areas, to address hydrogen safety by adding one unit of competence – Unit Ex 011 – addressing basic knowledge of the safety of hydrogen systems.

EU supports the hydrogen transition

The EU is backing the hydrogen infrastructure to support the “decarbonization of the European transport sector” and is concentrating on the haulage sector.

A 2020 study by the EU’s Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU), declared hydrogen fuel cells were a “very promising zero-emission powertrain solution for the heavy-duty trucking industry.” 

The EU’s public private Clean Hydrogen Partnership also determined that the application of hydrogen fuel cells in long-distance vehicles had “reached a sufficient level of maturity.” In tandem, a coalition of vehicle manufacturers committed to deploy 100,000 fuel cell trucks and 1,500 hydrogen fuelling stations across the EU by 2030.

According to the EU, hydrogen refuelling stations must be accessible at least every 150 Km along the Trans-European Transport (TEN-T) car network by 2030. This would create a sufficiently dense network of hydrogen refuelling stations to ensure adequate cross-border connectivity and to support the 60,000 hydrogen lorries the EU expects on its roads by the end of the decade.

Importantly, its projections rely on hydrogen fuel dropping below the current USD 6/kg for production so it will retail at € 2/kg or less at the pumps. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is optimistic hydrogen could cost less than € 1.8 euros per kilogram by 2030.

Bilton agrees, noting that the price of onshore wind and solar is dropping and that the EU can get hydrogen below € 2 a kilo for production (adding in cost for transport and compression at the pumps would at least double that). “If you can get the price of hydrogen down to € 10 per kilo or less that’s where you tip over into the cost per mile being cheaper for H2 than petrol or diesel.”

However, this relates to the cost of ‘green’ hydrogen. This is the type of hydrogen production necessary to achieve sustainability goals but one which is considerably more expensive to produce today than ‘grey’ hydrogen which is generated from fossil fuels.

How green is hydrogen?

About 95 % of all hydrogen fuel today is categorized ‘grey’ and using it to propel vehicles would fatally undermine progress on reducing CO₂ emissions.

‘Green’ hydrogen is produced by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen. This water electrolysis process emits little carbon waste but is energy intensive meaning that to be badged ‘green’ it needs to run off renewable energy sources (wind, solar, hydro). The total energy balance sheet for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles also has to include the transportation and storage of the gas which is more complex than for petrol or diesel. For example, pipe networks used for methane may have to be upgraded before they are fit for hydrogen, adding cost to infrastructure builds.

Again, IEC Standards can help. IEC TC 31, which prepares standards for equipment used in explosive atmospheres, is looking at the issue. It has set up a hydrogen advisory group to coordinate input from TC 31 and its subcommittees to other relevant technical committees on the topic of hydrogen.

In order to make hydrogen fuel vehicles a viable - and sustainable - alternative to petrol vehicles or even electric ones, the focus must shift to these greener ways to produce hydrogen fuel.

 

 

During Exponential Tech Change, You Have to Focus on Talent and Training

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Half of all CEOs believe that digital technologies pose an existential threat to their business but digital transformation is not just about implementing new technologies. It involves a fundamental shift in mindset and culture.

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“The most significant challenge many organizations experience during their digital transformation efforts is the resistance of employees to change,” says strategic futurist Mark van Rijmenam, in a new blog post.

“Many employees may feel threatened by the changes and fear their jobs may be at risk,” he says. “It is essential to involve employees in the process and communicate the benefits of digital transformation. The change process must be well-planned and executed in a phased manner to minimize disruption to business operations.”

Implementing a digital transformation strategy is a significant undertaking for any organization and technologies such as AI, blockchain, the metaverse and the cloud have the potential to both revolutionize the industry and hugely disrupt it.

Nonetheless, despite advances in AI, robotics and other forms of automation, no organization is going to succeed in its digital transformation without taking its staff with it.

“One of the most significant challenges is the need for skilled talent to develop, implement, and maintain technologies like Blockchain, AI and cloud,” van Rijmenam says. “For example, the demand for AI and blockchain experts has far outstripped supply, leading to a shortage of skilled workers in these fields. Additionally, the complexity of these technologies can make it difficult for organizations to integrate them effectively into their existing systems and processes.

The rapid pace of tech change means that organizations must be agile and adaptable to keep up.

“This is why it is so important to invest in training and development programs to ensure that employees have the skills and knowledge necessary to work with emerging technologies instead of running away from them so that they can use them in their favor.”

This involves encouraging employees to take risks, try new things, and embrace continuous improvement. Agile organizations prioritize learning and development, providing employees with the tools and resources needed to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and technologies, and this practice is also one of the main HR trends of 2023.

“When demand for skilled workers outstrips supply, companies must compete to attract and retain their best employees,” says van Rijmenam.

He points out that many companies are still using hiring and retention practices that may not be effective in today’s digital age. To overcome this challenge, he says companies need to rethink their talent strategies, embracing new models of talent management that prioritize skills over credentials and foster a culture of lifelong learning.

Ultimately, business agility requires a focus on culture and the mindset of talent — especially leadership. It will take more than new technology to transform an organization.

“It requires developing a management system that puts agility at the forefront of its mission, instilling a healthy degree of confidence in leadership (so they don’t balk when times are tough), and ensuring that everyone is realistically aware of what agility really means.”

UK proposes ‘Video-on-demand Code’

Streaming Media 

The UK government has published proposals which it says will enable public service broadcasters (PSBs) to compete better with foreign streamers.

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The Media Bill is intended to modernise “outdated” 2003 legislation by bringing services such as Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+ under a new “Video-on-demand Code, similar to the Broadcasting Code.”

The VOD code will would allow UK regulator Ofcom to investigate and enforce standards, and protect audiences from harmful material – standards to which PSBs already have to abide.

Once passed, the bill could see streamers fined up to £250,000 ($308,000) if they break rules—or, in the most serious and repeated cases—restricted in the UK entirely.

VOD viewers will be able to formally complain to Ofcom, and the bill will strengthen Ofcom’s duty to assess audience protection measures on VODs such as age ratings and viewer guidance.

The Media Bill will also cement the prominence of PSBs by ensuring that their on-demand services such as iPlayer, ITVX, All 4, My5, S4C Clic, and STV Player are easily discoverable on all smart TVs and streaming devices sold in the UK.

Forcing global TV platforms to “prominently” carry UK PSB services will “help ensure distinctly British programming remains easy to find as viewing increasingly shifts online, and UK audiences can readily find the content they value when they turn on their TV.”

“These new laws will level the playing field with global streaming giants, ensuring they meet the same high standards we expect from public service broadcasters and that services like iPlayer and ITVX are easy to find however you watch TV,” said government culture minister Lucy Frazer.

Broadly the move has been welcomed, if considered long overdue.

“The sluggishness of policy makers in adapting to changes in the media landscape has hindered the progress of British businesses,” said Kieren Mills, Head of Broadcast, Total Media. “ITV held a dominant position in the UK broadcast market, but was constrained by Contract Rights Renewal whereas Google enjoyed unregulated freedom with a 90 per cent share of the search market Although the horse has already bolted to a certain extent, it is reassuring to witness the [UK Government] slowly catching up,” he continued. “Protectionism should not be promoted, but British media companies should have the opportunity to operate on a fair and equitable playing field, particularly in an industry with such significant cultural importance.”

He added, “British media cannot compete with the global streamers at what they do best—high-budget, special effects-laden, and territorially homogeneous content. Localising their content is what will enable British TV and radio companies to distinguish themselves from their counterparts, thereby retaining their audiences.”

Oscar Wall, General Manager EMEA at subscriber management company Recurly said, “The bill will certainly establish a level playing field between broadcasters and VOD services. While giving Ofcom the powers to regulate and manage consistently across the media environment, it will create healthy competition that will drive higher standards for all. In addition, the increased investment in technology is likely to attract a larger audience, establish personalised connections with viewers, and drive revenue through advertising, subscriptions, and multi-platform media partnerships.”

In a statement, Carolyn McCall, ITV’s CEO, welcomed the bill “as a decisive staging post on the journey to a modern and flexible regulatory regime for TV and media in the UK. This bill will modernise the framework for a Public Service Broadcasting system that is the cornerstone of the £116bn creative economy. Given the profound and dynamic changes in the global media ecology the need is urgent, and we would encourage the Government to ensure the bill becomes law as soon as possible.”

Tim Davie, BBC director-general, responded, “We welcome the prominence reforms which guarantee all audiences choice and make great British programmes easier to find. While we will look at the details closely, the Media Bill is urgently needed and should be passed into law swiftly.”