New-Day Era Film Industry

In the Age of the New Day on Aren, cinema is alive and well. Three major powers compete for the lucrative market, with two of them being quite politicized. The Gudersnipe Foundation makes movies in Modia, the Trans-Draconic Federation has well-funded studios in Weagal and Arindell; and a thriving independant industry exists in the region of Serpentia, centered mostly around a city outside Polaris. There is also a thriving Necromancer film industry; however since their films are intended for the necromancer audience, they do not consider them as "competing" with the more standard film cartels.

Port Feira, Serpentia

A gorgeous planned city not located near water, Port Feira houses the bulk of the so-called "Free Agents" film industry(so called because they are not beholden to any greater organization and operate "freely"). A number of large studios and production houses film here. The city was founded in the mid second-century N.D., financed with loans from HMBT.

Port Feira is known for making big-budget, financially successful films with little critical or artistic value. While Feira-based critics certainly disagree, the wider film world is often quite hard on the center.

In contrast to the other centers of film production, where the story or director take a central place in the marketing, Port Feira tends to promote actors. This is most blatant in the "Por Feira Darlings"; attractive young women given major roles and then heavily promoted. Opponents of the Feira industrial complex are quick to point out that you seldom see many of these darlings past the age of 25.

Film recuts are a frequent source of ire among the consumer-base. Its often said that studios in Port Feira first film an NC-17 version of every movie, then cut it down to the desired rating level. As evidence, film buffs will note that even movies aimed squarely at children will include implied sex via scenes that cut away quickly, or substantial violence that conveniently happens "just off screen". While this accusation lies on the extreme end, it is well known that nearly every PG-13 film also has an "R" and usually an "unrated" cut with a lot more inappropriate material in it.

Notable Studios

Studio Jenez

Studio Jenez is the largest of The Big Three, known for making high-concept and expensive films, usually with borderline exploitative themes. The studio's primary moneymaking ethos can be boiled down to "overpay for story rights people want to see, then sex it up".

The Feira Fantasy

An oft-mocked phenomenon of the Port Feira films is a strange tendency to depict the Trans-Draconic Federation and Gudersnipe Foundation as mortal enemies locked in eternal war. The reasons for this are perfectly practical; both navies use the same warship designs, which makes it very simple to stage large naval battles (in point of fact, the TDFN buy obsolete warships from the Crimson Blade and refits them as a matter of course, the only new ships ever built are fleet carriers and submarines).

Most of these films are depicted more as "what if" or based on novels where events have driven the two superpowers to war. Exactly how deep the malice goes varies heavily from work to work; with some depicting the two sides as merely ideological rivals, while others portray blood enemies hell bent on mutual destruction. Most depictions are of the spy/thriller variety, but numerous war movies have also been made.

The films owe their roots to a genre of literature involving mutual espionage between the two powers. Usually one side finds out something deeply alarming about the other, and must fight to either bury the secret or reveal it. As a genre it is quite popular, however the accuracy and status as fiction are never in doubt.

There is some grain of truth to the genre. The TDFN requires "force parity" with the Crimson Blade Wet Navy on Aren. The reasons for this are largely bureaucratic, orders issued directly from the dragons and never rescinded. It is at times ruinously expensive.

Modia

Modia has no single centralized film production region, but a large network of state-owned facilities provides extensive capacity. It is difficult to tell where the privately-owned studios end and the Foundation begins, though all but very small independent ventures produced in the region are at least distributed by the Foundation.

The region produces primarily war films. Very occasionally the "Feira Fantasy" genre will crop up, but most often the films portray Crimson Blade soldiers fighting against un-named "belligerent nations" and always winning. Smaller-scale conflicts are often based on the real-life exploits of actual units, and dramatizations of famous wars are incredibly popular subject matter. Most notably even during the New Day, the Foundation continues to produce multiple movies each year set during the Kamian Succession Wars (an event which, in the late New Day-era, took place nearly 4,000 years ago). These films offer varying degrees of historical accuracy and often use modern weapons and props.

Modian films are known for being grand, effects-heavy, and featuring enormous casts of extras. Crimson Blade soldiers seen in the backgrounds are typically portrayed by actual active-duty soldiers, and filming on bases or with real vehicles is extremely common. In more fictionalized films, cutting edge VFX create highly realistic renderings.

Though less well-known, the bulk of Aren's high-quality animation studios can actually be found in Modia. They produce mainly children's and family films and release under a wide variety of labels, but the actual work from writing to voicing to animation to editing is carried out in Modia.

Port Feira Interactions

Despite the prevelence and popularity of Port Feira films over Modian, Port Feira's VFX industry still fails to match up in quality to what Modia produces. This leads to high-budget Feira productions outsourceing VFX work to studios in Modia, much to the consternation of Serpentia's government. Since the studios are ultimately owned by the Foundation, the Foundation is quick to leverage this politically.

Necromancer Films

Necromancer Cinema is widely regarded as its own unique genre. The necromancer film industry is incorporated primarily in the Anea region in the Anea Foothills, this area being home to some of the denser Necromancer populations. Most necromancer productions are much smaller-scale than the sorts of films produced by the major distributors. Because necromancer movies are made primarily for consumption by other necromancers and for artistic purposes, the productions tend to be much smaller in scope.

Necromancer films tend to make use of more location shooting than sound stages, which has given rise to "caravan studios". That is production companies with no real brick-and-mortar address beyond an office to handle business aspects. Everything else lives on the road, being driven to wherever the film is set to take place.

Necromancers will also often film on any available sets, working at night or on weekends. Since their style tends to use relatively few special effects and relies on the talent of necromancer actors, they can get away with quite a bit. Errors in ever-changing backgrounds are often worked into the plot.