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Monday, July 28, 2014

Busy Q4 for HHSE includes Major Theatrical, Video and VODwiz Activities!

Greetings HHSE Friends & Shareholders.  We have received some inquiries about our current THEATRICAL plans and strategy for the coming quarter and year. 

As many of you know, Hannover House has not yet experienced any direct success with prior theatrical releases.  Movies like RACING DREAMS and TURTLE: THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY may have experienced a nice "bump" in their home video ancillary values after our theatrical release... but the movie TWELVE (with a P&A campaign of almost $2.5-mm!), was a major disaster that added painful debt to the balance sheet and operations.  Accordingly, the company has been very hesitant to proceed with theatrical activities, unless a clear path for profitability was present.  That said, HHSE is releasing FIVE films to theatres during Q4, each of which has a clear path to profitability from the theatrical exposure.

Here's a quick summary image of these five titles and the release plans as of this date.  ON ANY SUNDAY: THE NEXT CHAPTER is a major releasing venture with Redbull Media House, which involves Redbull as financier of the theatrical releasing costs - a strategy that fits their branding goal for a wider theatrical release.  BLACK-EYED DOG will have a limited opening (NY, LA and CHI) for awards qualification, before a modest expansion into additional top 40 markets.  The foreign language films BORRAR DE LA MEMORIA, ASALTO AL CINE and THE WEATHER STATION have very limited theatrical plans - and very limited financial exposure - so the path to profitability is a short journey for those three specialty releases.

As HHSE moves into 2015 - we will be looking a major openings (over 1,000 theatres) for LEGEND OF BELLE STARR, SHADOW VISION and MOTHER GOOSE: JOURNEY TO UTOPIA all of which will have carefully structured theatrical release patterns tied-into the satisfaction of SVOD and CABLE TV presale agreements.  HHSE will open "X" number of screens in "X" number of key markets because such a performance delivers ancillary revenues from SVOD and CABLE that justify the expenditure. 

Watch for more news this week on the release venture for ON ANY SUNDAY: THE NEXT CHAPTER.

Q4 will also see the release of EIGHT (8) new titles to DVD and / or Blu-Ray... plus a major consumer outreach for VODwiz - which launches in August, and moves into consumer expansion mode through the next six months!




Friday, July 25, 2014

HHSE converts master control to 4K Feature Editing Suite!

Greetings HHSE Friends & Shareholders - over 20-hours of 35mm footage from Hannover's current production of "SHADOW VISION" has been transferred to 4k digital files and to edit-format compatible files for editing.  We've converted part of our upstairs master-control offices into an editing suite for "SHADOW VISION" which will be flipped over to "CLOWN TOWN" and "BELLE STARR" as each of those productions moves into editorial / post-production stages.  "MOTHER GOOSE: JOURNEY TO UTOPIA" will have all post production and editing completed with our co-production partner in New Orleans.

Approx. 1/3rd of principal photography for "SHADOW VISION" is now completed.  To obtain the desired contrasting "look" for the opening acts of the film as compared to the second and third-acts, the film starts in 35mm and moves into 4k Digital.  The 35mm sequences - which take place during a lengthy time-frame during which the process of vision-enhancement is developed by researchers - will have a "film look" from the 35mm process (slightly grainy, greater shadow range, less color saturation).  When the research team loses their funding grant (beginning of Act 2), they decide to dramatically increase the strength of their herbal formula, and try it out on themselves.  This sets the plot and resolution into motion, and will be shot entirely on 4k original format.

All footage - including the 35mm sequences - will ultimately be transferred to 4k.  Key cinema exhibitors - such as Regal Entertainment Group (Regal, United Artists, Edwards Theatres) have the capability of exhibiting from a 4k source element DCP drive.  Other theatres will exhibit the film in 2k format, which is also compatible for Blu-Ray.  At some point in time - if there's ever a digital or packaged goods format for 4k native programming - Hannover House will be ready with "SHADOW VISION" and other features as we're planning ahead for that possible format rise.

Pictured below is the main control console for the Hannover House Master Control room.  The edit monitors (4k Seiki Flat Panels) will replace the studio-calibrated monitors currently on the top shelf.  The editing software is Adobe CS6, which outputs an edit list to enable the final element to conform assembly into 4k format.  The AVID drives and towers are being replaced by this more popular Adobe edit software.

Yes, those are Herman Miller chairs for our engineers - only the best!


Wednesday, July 23, 2014

New Releases in Queue for Q4 Sales Success!

Greetings HHSE Friends & Shareholders - while most of our focus the past two weeks (and likely the next four weeks to come!) has been with the operational details supporting the mega-launch of VODwiz... we are still getting inquiries about our core home video business and new releases.  Attached are the four primary "DVD" releases for Q4 from Hannover House - not listed are the budget titles, the specialty releases and the Spanish product.  Also not listed are the Q4 theatrical releases (and we've got a BIG one in the lead, to be announced soon!).

Studio support for VODwiz is running at 100% - we have obtained titles and library support from every indie-studio label that has been approached.  All of these established programming suppliers recognize the absurdity of the current "product bottle-necking" that is happening within the existing VOD portals.  The box office hits are available almost everywhere.. but where can consumers find anything else? 

The VODwiz site and IPTV channel are looking to have unanimous support from the independent film distribution labels and industry as "the destination site" for a wide variety of films for streaming... NOT "JUST" a handful of hits that most movie consumers have already seen.  VODwiz will present a massive catalog of fresh discoveries in independent, esoteric, foreign and art releases.  AND WE LAUNCH NEXT MONTH!!! 

VODwiz is developing into a major brand portal, to be reckoned with in the same manner as HULU, VUDU, AMAZON, NETFLIX, ITUNES and other sites that have already developed brand identity in the rapidly emerging video-on-demand marketplace.

Meanwhile - because we were asked - here's some highlights for our upcoming home video slate:

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Impressive Technology drives VODWIZ on-boarding process...

With ten (10) indie studio partners committed to the VODWIZ consumer launch next month, the HHSE management is focused on the technical "on-boarding" process for each title.  HD files of each movie - including "meta-data" (that drives the listings information and menus), and "closed-caption" options - each take up close to 100-GIGABYTES of storage in the Apple ProRes formats.  So what are some of the solutions for on-boarding 2,500 full-length movies requiring (approximately) 250,000 GIGS of storage?  For our primary VODwiz supplier partners, we're utilizing 4-Terabyte Drives from Seagate, stacked five to a series inside of Venus 75-C drive towers.

It's surprisingly compact when you realize that one of these little Venus tower units is holding the High-Definition data files for TWO-HUNDRED (200) feature films! 

The entire VODwiz library launch titles can be stored onto about twelve of these towers.  Now, think back about ten or twelve years ago... remember that COMPAQ or DELL desktop tower that you had?  How much memory did those carry... maybe FOUR gigs if you had special media needs?  TEN Gigs if you were a geek programmer?  Compare yesterday's technology to this little tower (below) that holds TWENTY-THOUSAND Gigabytes of storage!!!

ANYWAY - VODwiz on-boarding is now in full-swing mode... and the consumer launch plans are being assembled.  The plan is for a consumer rollout in late August, driving movie audiences to the site once we have tonnage of title availabilities. 

UPDATE (Friday, July 18) - we have received some shareholder questions that have gone into far greater detail as to how the streaming logistics work, and how consumers will access files.  To be clear,  the Seagate Drives (and Venus "towers") are the hardware elements and methodology that HHSE is utilizing to collect all of the features comprising the VODwiz studio files.  These files are formatted for NTEK to utilize in uploading to the "Cloud" based storage and delivery systems that are the backbone of the VODwiz delivery (for both the web portal and the IPTV-Roku-compatible channel).  The physical delivery of streaming files is not being handled by HHSE or through our corporate offices.  However, the movie library for VODwiz that is being assembled through this digital file system will serve as the initial upload "source" as well as the "back-up" files in case there's ever a need to re-access one of the supplier studio's source films.
 
 



Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Busy 2-Quarters for HHSE in 2014 so far... much more to come!

Dear HHSE Friends & Shareholders - During the first six months of 2014, HHSE released ten (10) new release DVDs to the retail market... along with the launch of our international sales division and the Lennon Bermuda CD.  The last half of the year looks poised for even greater revenues, with strong retail support for AMERICAN JUSTICE and DINOSAURS OF THE JURASSIC, plus theatrical activity for BLACK-EYED DOG, and three foreign-language titles to theatres.  There's another eight video releases as well, but it's still too soon to predict the level of retail response.

SO HERE'S OUR OFFER:  The first ten (10) shareholders to email with an address will receive a set of HHSE 2014 video releases at no charge!  Just our way of saying "thanks" for your support! 

Please send your email request to:  Leigha@HannoverHouse.com

HHSE - New Release Videos
January 1, 2014 - July 15, 2014
1/7/2014  Amityville Asylum
2/4/2014  Blues for Willadean
4/1/2014  20,000 Leagues Under The Sea
4/1/2014  Around the World in 80 Days
4/1/2014  Journey to the Center of the Earth
4/1/2014  Jules Verne Classic Collection
4/1/2014  Family Movie Night
6/3/2014  Spring Break Murders
6/3/2014  Possession: The Ingloda Within
7/10/2014  Pappa Cap Urban 6-Pack

Thursday, July 3, 2014

An Instant "Halloween-Classic" from Hannover House!

Dear HHSE Friends & Shareholders - we were shocked-and-awed to see the production plans now underway for an impressive project - the scary-as-hell new thriller, "CLOWN TOWN."  It didn't take long for Hannover House to structure a deal with the creative team to acquire the worldwide rights to this classic new fright fest.  Watch for casting news and updates on this current production!

http://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/HHSE/news?id=83898


Tuesday, July 1, 2014

AMERICAN JUSTICE - Speed Release Record for HHSE!

Sometimes, all the pieces just come together quickly and perfectly!  HHSE screened the action film "American Justice" at the Cannes market on Monday, May 19th.  On Tuesday, May 20, we had an "agreement in principal" with the licensor (Paseo Miramar Studios); by early June, a long-form document was fully executed... and by June 30, the entire marketing and release campaigns were completed (including packaging, distributor outreach and initial placement commitments for our top customers). 

In forty-two (42) days we went from "nice movie" to "Hannover House release."  We're pretty sure that this is a speed-release record for HHSE!  Onward & Upward!