Gabriel Byrne, Cultural Ambassador for Ireland 01

Posted by Andrew on Monday May 31, 2010

I was lucky enough to see Gabriel Byrne deliver this speech recently in Dublin and I found it inspirational. Gabriel Byrne is currently the Cultural Ambassador for Ireland. When I had lunch with Gabriel afterward (Moxie: defn: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=moxy. The Moxie Institute: http://www.moxieinstitute.org/MoxieInstitute/Home.html) he told me the story of how Paul McCartney couldn’t have known he was an artist sitting in music class with George Harrison when they were children. He said “Can you imagine that? You’re sitting across the desk from half of the Beatles and there’s no way of knowing.” He was talking about finding oneself as an artist. Even Paul McCartney had trouble getting there. I think this speech shows the importance of trying.

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Kurt Vonnegut at the Blackboard – Lapham’s Quarterly

Posted by Andrew on Thursday May 6, 2010

Kurt knows how to tell a story

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MakingOf (rubenfm: Amazing Muppet Movie camera test…)

Posted by Andrew on Tuesday May 4, 2010

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Mike deGruy: Hooked by an octopus

Posted by Andrew on Tuesday May 4, 2010

What a great storyteller with a lovely idea. Hope spots, grassroots change and healing zones. How to create change? “Look in your heart, ask yourself- what do you really care about that isn’t right? Where you live? – and fix it.”

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The Truth About Marika

Posted by Andrew on Monday Apr 26, 2010

If anyone asks what cross platform transmedia production means, this is a pretty good place to start.
What’s more interesting is how close the reality comes to the fiction in this narrative. There’s a communal perception of a shared reality that mirrors our own, in the so called real world. It goes pretty deep.

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The Pixel Lab

Posted by Andrew on Saturday Apr 24, 2010

An interesting get together that sounds intimidating. It could be an amazing experience.

The Pixel Lab

Power to the Pixel has been a champion of transmedia since it’s inception in 2007. Liz Rosenthal and her team have worked hard to establish PttP as one of the leading voices for digital innovation within Europe. This year PttP expands to include the Pixel Lab (a week long lab for the development of transmedia projects), a bigger version of their Pixel Pitch (which places projects in front of industry) and the addition of a cross-media market this fall when it holds it’s annual cross-media forum in London.

We caught up with Liz to get the low down on the new Pixel Lab.

What is the Pixel Lab

The Pixel Lab is a UK-based residential cross-media workshop open to European filmmakers and media professionals. It’s focus is the creation, finance and distribution of cross-media properties and also about developing new creative and business partnerships around cross-media storytelling. It takes place 4-10 July 2010 in Wales in the UK

European film producers and other media professionals will tap into the business knowledge-base of the film, online, broadcast, advertising, gaming and mobile industries. Led by international cross-media experts, the programme will be project-based and will be through group work, one-to-one meetings, plenary sessions and case studies; a tailored, hands-on opportunity for developing, packaging, marketing and distributing cross-media stories.

Why is now the right time?

As audiences engage with stories in ever evolving ways across multiple platforms and devices, the time is ripe to explore how storytelling will evolve to suit audience behaviour. The Pixel Lab will also look at the business opportunities around cross-media storytelling as stories extend beyond traditional formats and delivery methods. As traditional film finance routes dry up we’ll look at new potential alliances and partnerships across the media industries and the opportunity to extend the life and value of story properties.

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Another trend: algorithmic content models. He talks about Demand Media, which uses an algorithm to identify topics with high advertising potential – trending adwords on Google – and then they get low-paid freelancers to write text (blog posts) or make videos based on those keywords.

Excellent wrap up of MIPTV conference. Making content on demand based on algorithms…we’re turning into robots…

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Demand Media | The Leader in Social Media

Posted by Andrew on Monday Apr 19, 2010

“Another trend: algorithmic content models. He talks about Demand Media, which uses an algorithm to identify topics with high advertising potential – trending adwords on Google – and then they get low-paid freelancers to write text (blog posts) or make videos based on those keywords. ”

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Did You Know 4.0

Posted by Andrew on Monday Apr 19, 2010

U.S. centric but interesting video about media and where its going.

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Digital marketing and distribution for filmmakers

Posted by Andrew on Monday Apr 19, 2010

Just throwing a couple of ideas around in my head at the weekend. Reading back, its kind of long- read what you can with speedy eyes and leave out the rest if you like !

Introduction: Ted Hope, The Six Pillars of Cinema, and four eyed monsters.

This is Ted Hope’s excellent keynote addressing the current state of cinema and tv, and suggesting his ’six pillars’ theory. What is interesting is that he stops short of suggesting a definitive solution as there is none out there yet.

This video is a case study by foureyedmonsters, who created and distributed a successful feature film (including a series of episodic podcasts) online.

The foureyedmonsters creators were quirky emo kids with no charm. They were addictive because they drew you in with a strange deception. What was real and what wasn’t in their relationship and more importantly in the way they told their story? It was scary and brilliant. It was difficult to stop watching their webisodes because I wanted to know what would happen…

They by no means solved the problem of online marketing and distribution. (Arin Crumley went on to form the From Here to Awesome festival and continues to explore the area). Their use of the technology available at the time (a case study) is interesting, as is the narrative they presented during the course of making their movie- was it all a lie??? Or a beautiful truth we wouldn’t see anywhere else than alone in our rooms, privately watching on our computer screens….all the while anticipating the full feature film in the local cinema…

The more niche and the quirkier it is the better it works. Other great examples of episodic content online used in film are:

M Dot Strange (We Are the Strange)

Lance Weiler (Workbook Project)

I should say that in my opinion, online series fail if they exist only on their own. They have to be part of a whole story- the story is online as part of series but may also appear elsewhere- on a cinema screen, or a tv, or in emails…Lance Weiler presents social media for storytellers here…

I can see the need to lean in the direction of social media marketing and engagement- I see it as vital as the production in the creative and commercial process now. The thing is (and this comes up all the time), the technology can be as much of a hindrance as a help. Particularly when we’re looking at the internet and the infinite possibilities there for creation and experimentation. The image I have for when someone tunnels too far down into researching and understanding the tools of technology is of lemmings jumping off a cliff. It distracts from the human and the creative side.

Here’s what the traditional production process looks like, roughly speaking, and its what most film producers are familiar with:

Pre-production->Production->Post-production->Marketing and Distribution.

If we look at that process energetically this is what you get:

READ ON….click the “Read More” link below for the rest of the article…

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