RADAR a mobile and web series that I co-created and produce enters its' fourth season. New episodes ever Wed for the next 12 weeks www.babelgum.com/radar
.: wbp
Alice in Wonderland meets the iPad. The other day I had a meeting at a major publisher to discuss this very thing. Not Alice in Wonderland but the way in which books can become more interactive, social and engaging across devices. Alice for the iPad just scratches the surface.
(Hat tip 401st Blow)
From the book’s site
Futuretainment is about the world transformed by consumer connectedness. Futuretainment is about the world transformed by consumer connectedness. It is an indispensable handbook for anyone wanting to understand the future of media and marketing, and explains what it will take for companies and brands to thrive in this challenging new environment. With a unique focus on the dynamic markets of Japan, China and Korea – Futuretainment tells the story of disruptive consumer innovation at the cutting edge of social media.
(hat tip Christy Dena)
I recently contributed a post to Thompson on Hollywood. There’s been quite a bit of talk about the woes of the industry and I thought I’d contribute something to the discussion that focused on some simple steps towards the future.
Where the industry goes from here is going to require a rethinking of the infrastructure that supports it. To realistically move forward, innovation, experimentation and R&D is needed to help create an OPEN framework that will improve the funding, creation, distribution and discovery of truly independent work.
Here are some thoughts:
1. Keep it Open. As the industry shifts, it is key to build the next generation of discovery, creation, and distribution upon systems that embrace the following:
– Open software/hardware that encourages innovation and rewards improvements on functionality.
– Open business models that enable filmmakers, distributors, exhibitors, and audiences to sell, trade, and share films in ways that directly reward performance and encourage a healthy sense of competition.
– Transparency: In the age of connected devices and the real-time web, there is NO reason why tracking, performance and reporting can’t be accessible in real-time.
:: Read More
I’ll be in London next week taking part in Digital Week. I’ll be speaking at the Protein Forum. If you happen to be in London check it out.
But before I fly out on Sunday I’ll be speaking at IFP’s Filmmaker Conference in NYC here’s a description
Join respected independent film pioneers along with a new guard of thinkers who are diversifying the industry through their approach to both the art and business of independent cinema.
Panelists:
Ted Hope, Partner/Founder/Producer – This is That – 21 Grams, Adventureland
Christine Vachon, Principal – Killer Films – One Hour Photo Boys Don’t Cry, I’m Not There
Lance Weiler, Writer/Director – The Workbook Project
Kenneth Woo, Co-Founder – Massify
TechCrunch interview about his new 300 million VC fund lead to a few predictions…
1. Twitter and Facebook’s investors aren’t worried about monetization, but “it’s sweet” of you to. Twitter has spent about $15 million acquiring 30 million users. It’d be a no-brainer to recoup that if need be. Meanwhile, Facebook will generate more than $500 million in revenues this year—it’s spent far less than that to build the company to date. In other words, these are pretty fiscally conservatively run businesses with huge growth potential and no trouble raising additional cash.
2. Digg isn’t done. Andreessen is still bullish on Digg, citing the fact that Kevin Rose is no longer distracted with Pownce and Jay Adelson is moving to San Francisco to manage the company full-time. He thinks having both guys focused on the company will make a huge difference in the next twelve months.
3. The venture capital market should stop whining about Sarbox and other factors that are hurting their ability to take companies public. Says Andreessen, “Build Companies More Valuable and You Won’t Have this Problem.” That said, he sees a conceivable scenario where public markets are no longer how investors get returns at all. Instead, the same institutional names that used to buy the bulk of the shares at an issue, will just buy out VCs at premiums in private deals. That’ll essentially mean everyday Joes can no longer invest in high growth companies. That’s a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how many scars you have from the dot com bust.
4. At least 300 venture firms will go out of business in the next five-to-ten years.
5. Innovation and opportunities to build businesses on the Web aren’t done. They won’t be done for a long time because the Web is one of the only inventions that’s pure software, compared to computers, the television or even the railroads. That means it can completely change without having to fit into set molds. Anyone—Andreessen included—is deluding themselves if they think they know where it’s going. (In other words, don’t listen to anyone making Web 3.0 predictions.)
I’ve just returned from Europe where I gave a keynote at EIFF as part of the Digital Frontier Program. There was much talk of transmedia storytelling in Europe.
I found this today:
Now that the franchise has replaced the blockbuster as Hollywood’s holy grail, a new tool has emerged to help those who want to extend film and TV properties across multiple platforms.
The tool — transmedia storytelling — is capable of performing such feats as the recent revival of the Batman franchise, which helped propel “The Dark Knight” to the second-highest box office numbers in history, after “Titanic.” READ MORE
Scott Kirsner recently wrote an interesting op-ed piece in the LA Times entitled ‘Digital technology and dollar signs’ The piece goes into some interesting uses of digital tech and how creatives are considering the consumption of their audiences / fans to inform new biz models. These are exciting times where experimentation is needed and welcome.
The piece mentions my experiments with film, mobile and gaming. Here’s a section from the article.
Many in Hollywood still deride the wacky, user-generated videos that occasionally turn into viral hits on YouTube, the top website for video viewing. And it’s true that one of the most-watched videos ever uploaded to the site is titled “Charlie bit my finger — again!”
But a number of young creators — many of them working outside of Hollywood’s orbit — have been feverishly experimenting with new ways to tell stories and generate revenue. An office worker in Connecticut created the catty entertainment commentary show “What the Buck” on YouTube, and suddenly found he was making more from the site’s “partner program,” which offers creators a cut of ad revenue, than he was at his desk job, which he promptly quit. Lance Weiler accents his suspense films with cellphone and Web-based “alternate reality games” that enable players to explore the story and interact with characters after they’ve left the theater. Robert Greenwald, a Culver City-based documentarian, has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars online to support his left-leaning films and Internet videos on such topics as the mortgage crisis and the war in Afghanistan. READ MORE
Danger Mouse’s new Dark Night of the Soul to be released as a blank cd-r along with a 100+ book of conceptual photographs by David Lynch inspired by the music. The decision to release the blank cd-r stems from a legal dispute with EMI. Dark Night of the Soul features collaborations with Iggy Pop, Sparklehorse, The Flaming Lips and many more.
Track featuring Vic Chestnut
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Will be interesting to see how the album leaks and if it takes a similar path that Danger Mouse’s Grey Album did.
I’m a big proponent of transmedia / cross-media storytelling. It’s something that’s changed the way I approach the stories that I tell. One company that’s been doing interesting work in the area is Fourth Wall Studios. Variety has an interview with its founders who’ve been behind such groundbreaking work as The Beast and I Love Bees.
Events, not ARGs: Interview with the founders of 4th Wall
“It’s a little bit video games, a little bit Internet, all 21st century storytelling.
That’s the idea of Fourth Wall, the interactive “event” company formed by three of the founders of 42 Entertainment, makers of Microsoft’s famous “I Love Bees” alternate reality game to promote “Halo.”
All of their projects so far have been marketing campaigns for films like “Eagle Eye” (above right) and “Watchmen” (below left) and the short-lived NBC TV show “Kings.”
But they’re aggressively looking to start producing their own original content and are starting to connect with partners for just that purpose.” Read More
RELATED: I spoke with Fourth Wall co-founder Elan Lee for an episode of WBP’s TCIBR
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Caught the first episode of This Week in Startups. Broadcast / event type programming is evolving in some interesting ways. twitter is empowering a whole new type of back channel.
I love niche based programing and especially the kind that provides transparency into process. We do a lot of that over at WBP. If Jason Calacanis can bring in high caliber guests which I’m sure he will – then I’ill be watching.
.
Omar elbaga is discussing.
Omar elbaga 2:23 pm on April 28, 2010 Permalink
That’s interesting. There’s also vook.com where they incorporate video right into the book but it’s only available online.
I think they have an ipad app for it. I’m also working on something where authors write a book online and can record their narration and add YouTube videos to broaden the experience of the book at http://www.rimmix.com
I think these ideas are huge for everyone involved in multimedia. I think too many filmmakers are still thinking too traditionally.
It’s ok for Hollywood to take it’s time because once they decide they could roll out whatever they want in an instant.
Indie filmmakers however need to be more diligent in what they spend their energy on and how the distribute their ideas.