VOD Rides to the Rescue of Indie Film (Updated)

possibly good news for indie film makers,



VOD Rides to the Rescue of Indie Film (Updated)

Google+ Gains Traction, Researcher Says - NYTimes.com

Hi Gang, watch this space, Google plus works cause every time you search the little G+ is just sitting there asking you to click it. Question how soon will it get integrated with facebook, for real.







Google+ Gains Traction, Researcher Says - NYTimes.com:

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Can a Picture Of Your Mother Diagnose Depression? | Wired Science | Wired.com

Hi Gang,
Seems like my neuroscientist colleagues, whom I'm sure wouldn't be caught dead in therapy, have discovered that Freud was possibly right about a few things, well bully for them.
May I ask, what about a picture of some one who looks, like your Mother, or acts like her, in person, in a movie,on TV on the net?
Freud also speculated that the unconscious mind couldn't tell the difference between a real sandwich and an imagined one , how about about a real Mother and an imagined one?
Stay tuned.



Can a Picture Of Your Mother Diagnose Depression? | Wired Science | Wired.com:

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AFM 2011 report

 

Hi Gang, back from a very busy week at AFM in Sanat Monica, and covering Variety's Future of Film Summit,  Many less buyers, but lots of sellers. Brisk biz. One interesting fact worthy of note,according to the LA times,  75% all films released in the US last year were Indie productions, up 50% from 2 years ago, quite a leap.The good news lots of cash around for indie movies, bad news , they need to be top notch. This is not bad news for those who have the next Kings Speech, or Black Swan, because they will have star attached. The low .no budget thrillers and c stuff still sells but for a lot less.

The big item, how will indie producers/direcors etc., get paid, in the futre with all the VOD and same day and date release deals being made.?

The transmedia space is starting to heat up as the realization begins to sink in that one dimensioinal projects have less of a chance of recoupment, than  projects aimed at multiple platforms.

Stay tuned for how this will impact stroytelling in all media.

 

 

Michael Rose: Indie Filmmakers Storm the Beach at American Film Market

The good news from the finance conference was that there is plenty of money available for quality projects like The King's Speech and not just the blockbuster studio pictures. But the key is "you still have to make a good movie at the end of the day," said Jared Underwood, Senior Vice President of Entertainment at Comerica Bank.

Yahoo as a network ?

Hi gang, well now ww are starting to see where web 3.0 is going. Everyone is in the content biz, the tv biz. The net is cable tv on steroids . Yahoo is going into production, along with google, Netflix , Aol, and why not.
These are the new studios, and as opposed to the Hollywood studios, these guys are making development deals.
Regular TV has become more like the movies, afterall Scorsese is making Boardwalk Empire for HBO.
Look for some major talent deals being announced by these varied "studios ".


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Location:http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/04/technology/yahoo-aims-to-produce-more-original-reporting.html?_r=1&hp

Online Game-Maker Zynga's Has Virtual Products, Real Profits - WSJ.com

Hi All,'
Back from summer fun, check this article out. Key point,"We're an analytics company masquerading as a games company," said Ken Rudin, a Zynga vice president in charge of its data-analysis team, in one of a series of interviews with Zynga executives prior to the company's July filing for an initial public offering.
An analytic s company, thats right, only 5% of users buy things, but out of a claimed 150m monthly users, that not a bad business is it.
How do you know what they will buy, simple you test market the thingy and if it sells you win, if not , you create another virtual cartoon.
It's all about the imagination thats what is being sold, imaginary friends, relationships, fun, stories. Use your imagination to create stories and if they are engaging others will inhabit the story with you, a sort of group hallucination, kind of like your facebook friendships, only actually completely made up, afterall their cartoons.


Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904823804576502442835413446.html#ixzz1XTfK9KYIint

By NICK WINGFIELD
To understand why Zynga Inc. is among the tech industry's hottest companies, consider how it gets people to buy a bunch of things that don't exist.
Enlarge Image

Zynga
In Zynga's 'Empires & Allies' online game, players can buy better weapons to win military battles.

Last year, Zynga product managers for a videogame called "FishVille" discovered something intriguing while sifting data that Zynga collects when people play its online games. Players bought a translucent anglerfish at six times the rate of other sea creatures, using an imaginary currency people get by playing the game.


Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904823804576502442835413446.html#ixzz1XTebm4SX




Online Game-Maker Zynga's Has Virtual Products, Real Profits - WSJ.com:

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Philip Zimbardo: The demise of guys? | Video on TED.com

dr Z has a thought provoking commentary her, and the most interesting aspect is his comments on media., check it out.


Philip Zimbardo: The demise of guys? | Video on TED.com

The movie plots that technology killed | Film | The Guardian

This article parodies how old great movies would be fundamentally altered by having new technologies in them. What it really means is that new technologies require new imaginations, and plot points that fit with the new world in which they occur. Good to know there will always be a place for imaginative story tellers

The movie plots that technology killed
Hollywood's classic murders, stalkings and deceptions would never have been possible had today's technology been around. Joe Queenan rewrites the script for the digital age




The movie plots that technology killed | Film | The Guardian

Katzenberg on future of movies

Hi all, Katzenberg has a lot to say about the Future of movies and TV and they are smart.
Key point as a good film maker he says different delivery systems create opportunities for different types of story telling , and I might add different types of experiences .
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Location:http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/07/19/brainstorm-tech-video-katzenberg-on-the-future-of-movie-watching/

Google plus1 ie.googbook

Googbook emerges soon facetube then googtweetbook, ? How many users same in each. Repeat! A thought, microsoft has a peice of Facebook, and just bought Skype. What these really means is your likes and profile can now be shared and targeted more precislly by all the companies scouring the collective databases, have fun managing your Identities now!


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Location:http://mashable.com/2011/03/31/googles-plus-1-and-facebook/

When the Internet Thinks It Knows You - NYTimes.com

Hi gang, as we are on the eve of the Semantech conference in SF, the mother of all semantic technology hoedowns with all the latest and greatest in the field this article is timely.
Again, your intrepid reporter/analyst will be covering the conference. This years challenge, as alluded to in this article, to find out how much the Internet--as if it were an entity(which it may be) actually not only knows about you, but , more importantly, understands.
The leading company in this field, last year kicked off its "meaning based " marketing campaign. Meaning. it would give meaning for those who paid , to the ever growing mounds of data being collected about you. Remember that Facebooks like button, means that you are saying what you like and don't like, and this simple act makes the semantic task, theoretically a lot easier, BUT since the semantic engines still cannot tell the differences between irony and sarcasm,the issue of knowing you in any real sense is mute. Can your behavior likes and dislikes be tracked, yes, how well does this information when correlated with other info define you, that is what I hope to find out at the conference, or at least shed some light on. The internet, meaning companies and the feds that buy and sort the data, may know some of your tastes, but know you, I doubt it. Ask yourself, do you think your facebook friends know you?, How well? Without a way to slice the info along psychographical lines, the Inet can't know your many selves. The beauty of the net is that people can lie, computers don't lie, they compute, language is wiggly, and human beings use it as intended to both occlude and reveal meaning
Drmedia
follow my tweets drsandyr@twitter.com

When the Internet Thinks It Knows You - NYTimes.com

ONCE upon a time, the story goes, we lived in a broadcast society. In that dusty pre-Internet age, the tools for sharing information weren’t widely available. If you wanted to share your thoughts with the masses, you had to own a printing press or a chunk of the airwaves, or have access to someone who did. Controlling the flow of information was an elite class of editors, producers and media moguls who decided what people would see and hear about the world. They were the Gatekeepers.



When the Internet Thinks It Knows You - NYTimes.com

Studios theater owners get down over VOD

Hi Gang
Check this out, it's ultimately about who gets the cash and behind that is how do the creatives do , you know writers, directors, actors, producers.
Remember how there used to never be backend, now you can count on it.

Location:http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2011/05/premium-vod-fight-between-studios-and-theaters-gets-nasty.html

Films/video games disconnect

This article outlines the difficult relationship between gamers and movie folks.leaves out a key element: story.
Many of the games generated by films, don't have a compelling story or gameplay, whereas films that take the gamestory seem to do better.Why, screenwriting and game writing are completely different and require different skills and sensibilities .
Creating a script from a game allows the writer to establish the characters, their relationships beyond their one dimesionality in a game.

Drmedia

Location:http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/34430/Opinion_The_Video_GameHome_Video_Disconnect.php

Communications revolution

Looks like the Brits get it. Transmedia Multi screen access .
Content providers want all access to all screens all audiences. DVD sales erode 20% let's see how far that goes .
Dr media says people want to own things BUT don't want to pay, that's called free tv and it's ad supported.
Watch this space, YouTube is aiming at being a cable provider and they are already on otto tv.
Producers next??


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http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&username=indiewire

Professor of small films

Schamus vision of Narrative seeing so elegantly articulated here, is a concept that goes far beyond film.
This attitude and approach can be applied to ones company, website, indeed ones life .
I call this storification, he calls it narrative seeing. It is the process of organizing information in a coherent structured holistic way with the intent of telling an emotionally engaging story.
The degree of storification is directly proportionate to the level of understanding of the listener/viewer/experiencer.
The storification process combines personal mythology and social mythology in creating a unique and original story.
See my website for further info.
www.mediaresearch.com.




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Location:http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/magazine/28Schamus-t.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all

Drugs and the media

This article from alternet by Martha Rosenberg Is about how big pharma pushes drugs direct to consumers and enables self diagnosis and medication.
What's most critical is the use of tv, the Internet , and the illusion of giving people real information they can use.
This idea is true throughout many industries , information is what its all about. Problem is being able to understand the info and use it.
That would require in the case of drugs at minimum a a degree in bioscience,which we all have Right?


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Location:http://www.alternet.org/story/150656/how_big_pharma%27s_deceptive_advertising_helps_addict_patients%2C_screw_over_doctors_and_jack_up_insurance_rates?akid=6879.266873.m6MtmA&rd=1&t=18

CIA/Google

Hi Gang well do no evil now apparently includes joint invests with the spooks to monitor all those cat videos and drink location updates.
Bulletin, and Dr Media knows something about this semantic tech , they can't distinguish between irony and sarcasm in attitudes or especially unstructured data.This complex speech acts are out of range.
Let alone images.
Are your secrets safe , not sure, but from this tech, for now, yes,

http://m.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/07/exclusive-google-cia/


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Amazon looks on longingly as Netflix delivers 61% of digital video

Well here we go, everyone is going try to eat a piece of Netflicks biz.While Amazon is late to the gate, just remember, they know more about peoples choses and interests than anyone.Now can knowing peoples reading interests help to know their movie interests, you bet. Don't count them out of this race.

Amazon looks on longingly as Netflix delivers 61% of digital video

Facebook's 'Dark Knight' may be Netflix's dark day

Hi all,

Well here you go, Netface rises. You know the head of Comcast, I think was, said something about Netflicks dreaming if it thought it would dominate streaming movies.

Of course Netflicks has made some of its own moves, so not wise to say they are going to go away, afterall AOL is still with us. This does indicate that the IPTV race is just beginning, with Apple TV and Google TV just coming to the fore and the cable companies fighting to create multiple screen release points, disruption continues, stay tuned.

Let me know if you watched the movie and what you thought.

DrMedia

Facebook's 'Dark Knight' may be Netflix's dark day

Baby Boomers Love Movies

Dr Media says listen up, older folks like going to the movies, and the audience for Black Swan, Kings Speech, The Fighter, True Grit , is an older audience one which reads reviews, wants movies about something. This means the investors in the films and the audience are in the same demographic.
Dr Media says if you make indie movies you know who will watch them, and on all screens




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Location:http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/26/business/media/26moviegoers.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Baby%20boomers&st=cse

Blogs Wane as the Young Drift to Sites Like Twitter - NYTimes.com

Hi, couldn't pass this up, afterall blogging about the end of blogging on my blog on blogger was just to tempting.

As usual this article overstates the case. Blogging has morphed to other platforms, but mainly people are using Facebook, Twitter,to get people to their blogs. If people are serious about their writing, blogging is the way to go, Facebook has the population, but the real stuff is on the blogs where you can write a story and it stays there as opposed to Facebook which is more for broadcasting your story.Of course Twitter is like a text message, gone immediately and requiring little attention.

Irony works well in 140 characters, since Twitter is like a Haiku, She Twits me, she Twits me not:).

Blogs Wane as the Young Drift to Sites Like Twitter - NYTimes.com

Egyptians and Tunisians Collaborated to Shake Arab History - NYTimes.com

Hi Gang,

Well you know I can't pass this up. Norcal gives birth to chips, personal computers, the internet, search, social media, etc., all ideas rooted in values from the 60's about giving everyone the means to express themselves, their views, values, music, videos, you name it . The medium is the message, or massage, as McLuhan said.

The meme which is inherent in the very nature of the technology, says the more people who learn to use it the more it changes because it is a malleable medium.

The young people who set the tone for this Egyptian putsch, were not only the educated elites, it was also the workers with cellphones, the 20 year olds on Facebook, twitter, broadcast yourself, YouTube, . Interesting that one of the 'heroes' is a Google exec. Clearly the circumstances for this moment were building for years, but these American inventions allow3ed for very american ideas to be acted upon. The rearguard action of despots will be swept away by the desire for freedom that is every humans birthright.

Remember the hackers cry, Information wants to be free, well. Freedom wants to be free even more.

Dr. Media

Egyptians and Tunisians Collaborated to Shake Arab History - NYTimes.com

Sundance Festival Thrives On More Than Just Money - NYTimes.com

Hi Gang, so for all you film makers out there we have Dargis , informing us that indie film making is about passion, heart, and usual and interesting stories. While that isn't news to people in the community, to the money people it is, why? Why even have to say Sundance is about more than money? Well it's that old adage about the convergence of commerce and art, yes, but in the post digital age, it's even more important to remember.

Movie making is about story telling, about , writing, directing acting, editing, all to tell a story. What's a story, a different reality, a made up vision of a possible world,when well done, allows you to feel as if you have inhabited another life, another world.

Avatar, or Black Swan, The Fighter, or The Wrestler, all invite you into a different world all come from a human mind, and explore human ideals, and experiences.

Money follow meaning when it comes to movies. We knew that didn't we, perhaps the suits will remember how they were once swept up in a story , in the dark, perhaps it will let them better understand the power of the film experience.

Dr Media says remember, movies, are, public dreams with private meanings.

Sundance Festival Thrives On More Than Just Money - NYTimes.com

Psychology of Cyberspace - The Online Disinhibition Effect

Dr Media says, check out the below reflections by Suler, based on his research re:online life, and relevant to the earlier article about loss of privacy on Facebook.

The net allows for disambiguation of the True Self, allowing the multidimensional self, Jung anticipated this in his work . Is it new or merely a representation of our multiplicity of faceted selves, stay tuned, its all changing.

Psychology of Cyberspace - The Online Disinhibition Effect

True Self?

Does the disinhibition effect release inner needs, emotions, and attributes that dwell beneath surface personality presentations? Does it reveal your "true self." For example, a woman with repressed anger unleashes her hostility online, thereby showing others how she really feels. Or a shy man openly expresses his hidden affection for his cyberspace companion.

Some people do report being more like their true self in cyberspace. If personality is constructed in layers, with a core or true self buried beneath surface defenses and the seemingly superficial roles of everyday social interactions, then does the disinhibition effect release that true self?

This is a tempting conclusion. In fact, the very notion of a true self is tempting because it is useful in helping people articulate their experiences in how and what they express to others about themselves. The concept also works well, in a humanistic fashion, as a motivational tool in the process of self-actualization.

However, a comprehensive psychological as well as philosophical analysis reveals complexities in

this thing called self that stretch far beyond this tempting notion. In an in-depth exploration of the online disinhibition effect, the idea of a true self is too ambiguous, arbitrary, and rudimentary to serve as a useful concept.

Personal and cultural values: Personal and cultural values often dictate what we consider the true and false aspects of who we are. We more readily accept as valid those attributes that we regard as positive. An unpleasant aspect of one's personality is not really "me." However, sexual and aggressive tendencies, as Freud noted, are basic components of personality too, as are the psychological defenses designed to control them.

Personal and cultural values may also label the usually polite persona that we present to others during everyday living as superficial or false. However, this persona is the product of years of social and psychological development. As a critical component of the ego's construction and functioning, it is essential to interpersonal survival and no less important or true than other components of intrapsychic structure.

While online people may feel they have more opportunities to present themselves as they would like to present themselves, particularly in the carefully composed text of asynchronous communication. They may have more chances to convey thoughts and emotions that go "deeper" than the seemingly superficial persona of everyday living. These opportunities are very valuable aspects of cyberspace, but not necessarily evidence of a more true self. What we reveal about ourselves spontaneously, often right on the surface for others to see but without our being consciously awareness of it, may be just as real and true.

Some people are not fully satisfied with their in-person relationships. Perhaps they don't have opportunities to develop many relationships, or those that did develop turned out to be unfulfilling. In cyberspace they may find the companions they need. They feel more authentic in those online relationships, and this becomes a viable lifestyle alternative. On the other hand, some people who need to deny or rationalize the unfulfilling quality of their in-person relationships may resort to a personal philosophy that idealizes the disinhibition effect and the notion that the true self appears online.

10 Things Facebook Won't Say - SmartMoney.com

Hi Gang,
Well aren't we surprised. Here's the top 3 , read the rest as well. The key ones, knowing where you go and tracking you, are the big ones.
Recently Facebook acknowledged, perhaps via arrogance--following the example of its founder-or naivete, ditto, the owner, whatever the reason, now you know.
And you know who else knows, other than every major corporation, the government.
Do you really think Facebook, Google, Twitter, et al, will say no to the Feds?
Well if they won't say no to GE, or Madison Ave., why to the Feds Hmmm?
Think about it and then think about the implications.
Of course regular folks, can't even figure out how to deal with their privacy setting on Facebook, or set the time on their VCR's remember those.
This isn't a bug its a feature, it means that since most are technologically illiterate and they think they are getting a free service so they can "talk to their friends",
they give away their right to their own ideas.
Think someone will create the paid private facebook, called maybe, what "2faced", wait maybe that's what Facebook should be called, TwoFacedBook, seems appropriate doesn't it?

1. "We were in the right place at the right time."
2. "We know where you go online..."
3. "...and we hope you don't mind being tracked offline, too."

Read more: 10 Things Facebook Won't Say - SmartMoney.com http://www.smartmoney.com/spending/technology/10-things-facebook-wont-say-1294414171193/#ixzz1BX4l7yce

10 Things Facebook Won't Say - SmartMoney.com