A couple of key issues come to mind when I think about the effect new media (that’s no longer so new) has on our film industry.
In a few days I’m going to be presenting a panel on branded entertainment at the annual SPAA Conference, with Sarah-Jane Woulahan. Preparing for our session has really been a great refresher on what’s out there, what’s working and what’s not; and I thought I would share some of it.
Last week I delivered a keynote at SPAA Fringe in Sydney. It’s tricky to know what level to pitch a presentation at, to a room of 200 people who come from all different areas of film & tv production, with varied experience; but I decided to wander introductorily through some of the forms entertainment or storytelling is taking across various platforms, and speak in more detail about case studies I’ve worked on.
Micro-budget indie thriller Paranormal Activity debuted at Slamdance in January 2008. Two weeks ago it started screening at midnight sessions in 33 cinemas in the United States. Since then the film’s distributors Paramount have made sure there are plenty of computer terminals available at the cinemas and encouraged the audience to log on and post their reviews on Twitter and Facebook immediately – a hive activity that had dire consequences for Bruno, when negative posts and tweets halved the movie’s audience in 24 hours on its opening weekend.
Wikitude is an application developed originally for Android phones that has been adapted for use with the iPhone. You hold up your iPhone and click the application to discover facts about where you are, and points of interest there. It’s also designed to be fully interactive (co-creative) with the ability to input data via your Google, Twitter, Yahoo or OpenID account. Can’t wait to play with this one at KCDC.
Augmented reality is a world where data overlays the real world. One of my very early posts features Kevin Kelly talking about the transition from Web 2.0 (where we are now) to the semantic web (where augmented reality is well and truly with us). The release of iPhone 3GS is moving us one step closer to that vision of a connected, interactive real world.
An augmented reality iPhone application appeared in the apps store yesterday. It works using the iPhone’s video camera, GPS and compass. If you happen to be in Paris, you can hold the iPhone up and data on your phone tells you where the closest Met station is.
This is a pretty cool video consisting some pretty astounding statistics. KCDC is always up for the challenge of combining high production value video content with the incredible reach of social media.
For the last couple of months, with the assistance of Screen Australia, KCDC has been working with Chilling Pictures and Circul8 developing a project that broaches the topic of dealing with the possessions of somebody who’s died. Based on the practical how-to book by Diana Todd-Banks, Wrapping It Up – The Ultimate Guide, we’re bringing to light a subject area that’s normally spoken about only in private, when it’s forced upon us.
Photo – Della Churcill directs Monette Lee and Sean Dennehy in a short re-enactment where grown-up siblings discover some unknown truths about their recently deceased mother.
With JUCY close to being finished (at least in the offline sense), I’ve been thinking lots about romantic comedies… and discovered that MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING is the highest grossing box office romcom ever made (in the English speaking world).
Predictably SEX AND THE CITY is in the top ten, as is PRETTY WOMAN. At KCDC we’re working on a sequel to the latter, the real story of what happens when a sex worker marries a rich man… more later.
If you’re interested in how romcoms have fared at the box office, check out this list.
Louise and I took the Jucy roughcut in to the PFTC yesterday, and… they really liked it. Much kudos to Louise and Andrew who are doing an awesome job in the edit suite.
