Love this! MeeGenius Brings Children's E-Books to Multiple Platforms, Including Google TV

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Excerpt Audrey Watters' post on readwriteweb.com:

"Despite the increasing popularity of e-books, children's literature - particularly picture books - has been slower to go digital. There are a number of obstacles in the way, most obviously the emphasis on colorful illustrations alongside the words. As many e-readers have black-and-white screens and as many formats focus primarily on digitizing the text, you're unlikely to find a great selection of children's e-lit in e-bookstores (although that is changing).

It's more common, perhaps, to see children's literature as apps, rather than e-books. Apps are full-color. They offer interactivity, with games and narration.

Those features are important, says David Park, a former tenure-track professor who's left that world to develop his children's e-book startup MeeGenius. Mindful of what parents are looking for, he asked about their interest in digital literature for their young kids. Many said that they weren't willing pay for "just" a digital book. Parents wanted additional features: the ability to have the story read aloud, to have words highlighted as the story progressed, to have it personalized.

MeeGenius has done just this, digitizing children's stories - classic and new - and adding features that make reading along easier. The MeeGenius reading app is available for free, and there is a selection of both free and paid books (priced between $.99 and $2.99) to download.

MeeGenius is available across platforms: the web, iPhone, iPad, Google Chrome Web Store, and Google TV. Yes, Google TV. Park, a father of preschool age twins, says that he would often do development on the product on a large screen in the living room, and his children came to see books as just "another channel" on TV...."

Eye on Films - Linking Global Network of Filmmakers, Festivals, Distributors… #infdist

A unique, global network of film professionals

Already 14 films festivals,
16 distribution companies

More than 15 countries

A focus on first time directors and authors films

A guarantee of festival exposure and commercial exploitation all around the world

Eye on Films is a unique, global network of film professionals, which guarantees the circulation of a selection of first feature films in festivals partners in Europe and third countries, and the commercial exploitation of these films by distribution partners in Europe and third countries.

The goal of Eye on Films :

Eye on Films  (EoF) follows several objectives:

  • to build a network of festival and distribution partners throughout the world, in both European and third countries;
  • to create a Label of first feature films composed of both European and non-European titles, selected by the EoF Partners with the support of well-known advisors;
  • to ensure the screening of these EoF Films in the Festival Partners;
  • to ensure the commercial exploitation by the Distribution Partners of these Films in each participating territory;
  • to create synergies between Festival and Distribution Partners, in order to maximize the visibility, the promotion and the marketing of the EoF Films;
  • to create branding and communication around the EoF Films through the Label, which will benefit to both Festival and Distribution Partners, and will bring a positive leverage in future discussions with rights holders and national film centers;
  • to give online information and access to the EoF Films

This new business model will definitively enhance the cinematographic diversity, promote debute films, and highlight emerging authors. This project specifically guarantees the theatrical exhibition of several films, by mutualizing the promotion in film festivals and at the occasion of releases by local distributors.

The premise of the project:

Eye on Films creates a network of film professionals (distributors and festivals directors), which will select, under the framework of a specific Label, first feature films, 50% produced in Europe and 50% produced outside Europe.

In the first year, around 12 first films (feature and docs), will constitute the Eye on Films Label, chosen and selected by the members of the network, ie by the distributors and festival partners.

The films of the Label will be screened in each festival partner, worldwide.

The festival partner will have the opportunity to select among the 12 films of the Label a limited number of titles to be screened in the festival.

However, the festival partners must strictly comply with the rule of 50% European films vs. 50% non-European films.

In each country where we have a festival partner, we also have a distribution partner.

The distribution partner will have the opportunity to preview the films in early stage; he will acquire at least two films of the Label for theatrical release in his domestic market (50% European, 50% non-European) each year.

Eye on Films will strengthen the link between festivals and distributors. The screenings in the festival partners must increase the visibility of the films and their authors, targeting the local audience, and must be part of the promotional campaign developed by the distributors before the theatrical release.

In addition, Eye on Films will make a special effort to increase the promotion for the films of the Label everywhere in the world, both classically (flyers, adds etc) and online (community-based website, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc.)

Beyond the promotion of the Label and of the films, we will specifically highlight the work of the festivals and the distribution partners on local and international markets.

We will benefit from the networking opportunities offered by one of the EoF Associated Partners: Cinando, whose online database is a reference tool for professionals. More specifically, we have created on Cinando a specific Group dedicated to the EoF Partners, who will then have the opportunity to share information about the Films and the EoF project, with “Postings” which will only be available for viewing by the EoF Partners (e.g. invisible to other Cinando users).

Secondly, we will take advantage of the “Online Screening Room” in Cinando to enable all EoF Partners to upload titles for the pre-selection of the Films. Cinando will also develop a brand new service for the EoF project, which will allow us to create a specific list of titles considered for pre-selection, so that all EoF Partners can easily preview them, give recommendations and finally vote for the final selection.

Once definitively selected for the Label, the 12 EoF Films will be available on Cinando for online viewing by all Buyers and Festival Directors outside the EoF network, for commercial and marketing purposes.

A global Network:

As a global Network of film professionals, EoF is in a unique position to promote the wider distribution, promotion and circulation of European and non-European films at an international level, in a complementary approach with existing networks because of the following distinctive features:

  • partnerships Festival/Distributor;
  • focus on first time directors only;
  • key Festivals involved all around the world;
  • mix of well-established Distributors and newcomers with innovative approaches;
  • exploitation not only in theatres but on all media, including new platforms;
  • contractual guarantee of festival exposure and commercial distribution;
  • diversity and reciprocity in all actions.

The commitment of the partners:

The Festival Partners commit themselves to screen as many EoF Films as possible from the final selection of EoF Films, within the framework of a specific section dedicated to EoF Films, or under the name of the Label.

In some Festivals, the Partner will have the opportunity to integrate the EoF Films under the name of the Label in the existing sections of its program, instead of opening a specific window for a special section.

It is understood that the Festival Partner has the obligation to screen the EoF Films chosen by the Distributor for release it the country.

The Distribution Partners already confirmed have signed an Agreement by which they commit themselves to distribute at least two Films of the Label each year.

The Distributor undertakes to bring the release date of the film close together with the screenings of the Films in the Festival Partner in his country, in order to allow theatres to benefit from the whole national marketing campaign.

Distribution Partners:

CURIOUS FILMS (Michael WRENN)
Australia / New Zealand

COOPERATIVE NOUVEAU CINEMA (Claude DIOURI)
Belgium

IMOVISION (Jean-Thomas BERNARDINI)
Brazil

RDIFQ FILMS (REGROUPEMENT DES DISTRIBUTEURS INDÉPENDANTS DE FILMS DU QUÉBEC)
Canada

FILM EUROPE, S.R.O. (Ivan HRONEC)
Czech Republic / Slovakia / Hungary / UK

KANIBAL FILMS (Arnaud KERNEGUEZ)
France

EYZ MEDIA (Andreas WILDFANG)
Germany

ANJOU-LAFAYETTE (Endre VENCZEL)
Hungary

EDEN CINEMA Ltd. (Caroline BONEH)
Israel

NOMAD FILM (Lydia GENCHI)
Italy

KAUNAS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (Ilona JURKONYTE)
Lithuania

THE NEW HORIZONS ASSOCIATION (Joanna ŁAPINSKA)
Poland

STARLET MEDIA AB (Mikhail BUSNYUK
Sweden / Russia

AQUELARRE SERVICIOS CINEMATOGRAFICOS, S.L. (Luis BELLABA)
Spain

FIRST RUN FEATURES (Seymour WISHMAN)
USA

INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL MOLODIST (Andriy KHALPAKHCHI)
Ukraine

Festival Partners:

Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival (Ilda SANTIAGO)
Brazil

Montréal Festival du Nouveau Cinéma (Nicolas GIRARD DELTRUC)
Canada

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (Tiina LOKK)
Estonia

Festival International du Film de La Rochelle (Prune ENGLER)
France

Festival Paris Cinéma (Aude HESBERT)
France

Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival (Michael KOETZ)
Germany

Titanic Budapest Film Festival (György HORVATH)
Hungary

Haifa International Film Festival (Pnina BLAYER)
Israel

Taormina Film Fest (Deborah YOUNG)
Italy

Kaunas International Film Festival (Ilona JURKONYTE)
Lithuania

Era New Horizons International Film Festival (Joanna LAPINSKA)
Poland

Seville European Film Festival (Javier Martin DOMINGUEZ)
Spain

Edinburgh International Film Festival (Diane HENDERSON)
UK

International Film Festival Molodist (Andriy KHALPAKHCHI)
Ukraine

Seattle International Film Festival (Carl SPENCE)
USA

Associated Partners:

CINANDO / Marché du Film (Jérôme PAILLARD)
France

ELMO MOVIEWORLD GMBH (Monique A. GÖSCHL)
Austria (distributor)

FONDIVINA FILMS (Marc GUIDONI)
France (distributor)

Festival International du Film d’Amour de Mons (André CEUTERICK)
Belgium

Valdivia International Film Festival (Bruno BETTATI)
Chile

Curators:

Jose Maria Riba (Spain, Latin America)

Joël Chapron (Russia, CIS, Central & Eastern EU)

Nashen Moodley (Asia, Africa)

Main Partners and Sponsors:

mediamundus_logo


with the support of the MEDIA MUNDUS programme

screeninternational_logo


Media partner – www.screendaily.com


Contacts:

EoF is a project developed by Wide Management, a leading independent sales company, representing a library of more than 600 titles, features and documentaries, with a catalogue containing an impressive variety of movies from internationally acclaimed directors.

Loic Magneron
General Manager
cell: + 33 6 60 43 96 86
lm@eyeonfilms.org

Camille Rousselet
Project Coordinator
tel : +33 1 53 95 04 62
cr@eyeonfilms.org

Diana Balba
Project Assistant
tel : +33 1 53 95 24 44
diana@eyeonfilms.org

Eye on Films – Wide Management
40 rue Sainte-Anne – 75002 – Paris
France

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Download EoF introduction on PDF

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Future of Media recap: Start-ups, gamification and ‘pay-what-you-can walls’ « Future of Media

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Excerpt from post by David Silverberg & Chris Hogg:

"The future for media organizations is not all doom and gloom, and there is more opportunity and experimentation happening today than ever before. That was the overall discussion at Digital Journal‘s Future of Media panel discussion last night in Toronto.

In a meaty conversation that sunk its teeth deep into topics of start-up culture, gamification and paywalls, editors and experts discussed why we should be optimistic for legacy media and start-ups experimenting with innovative news projects.

The insightful debate included a wide array of media experts: Jamie Angus, acting head of news at BBC World News; Jon Taylor, senior director of content for Bell Media Digital; Chris Boutet, senior producer for digital media at the National Post; Mathew Ingram, a senior writer at GigaOM; and Kathy Vey, editor-in-chief of OpenFile. The discussion was moderated by David Silverberg, managing editor of DigitalJournal.com.

The theme of the night could be summed up by Ingram’s poignant one-liner: “When you’re on Death Row, it’s easy to find religion.” He referred to the important wake-up call many newspapers faced with plummeting ad revenue and an upturned business model.

Boutet of the National Post agreed and said his outlet has adopted a digital-first strategy to allow readers to easily consume online news, while making sure the print product still had strong long-form content. “It needs to start with digital and end in print,” he said.

The conversation often veered into the benefits and dangers of using on-the-ground reporting from citizens in global hot spots. Angus said the BBC had previously ignored social media but now the organization is increasingly incorporating tweets into its reportage. “That could never happen two or three years ago,” he admitted.

Ingram replied, “When Twitter came out, I don’t think anyone would have predicted newspapers would have entire staff devoted to their Twitter account....”

Read more: http://www.futureofmediaevents.com/2011/04/07/future-of-media-recap-start-ups...

Very Cool: Him, Her and Them — The First Ever Facebook Film | The Creators Project

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From The Creator's Project article:

"...Promoted as the first ever “Facebook film,” Him, Her and Them uses Facebook as both a platform and model to create a social film that engages multiple users within a single friend network at once. It is a story of new love and violent confrontation told over seven parts and is a blend of live action, still photographs and voice over narration.

Although it’s casual, lightweight fare that isn’t attempting to replace the theater experience, it at least adapts film’s traditionally shared nature in a new way. By connecting to the film as one would any Facebook app, a story unfolds that intermittently asks viewers to invite their friends to participate in the experience with them. Viewers can comment and like photos to enhance the story being told. The story will change depending on who is currently engaged and how viewers choose to respond. The film doesn’t require viewer intervention, however, and can be viewed without inviting friends. It’s up to each individual how they choose to let it progress.

We caught up with Mike Knowlton of Murmurco, the company behind the film to answer some questions for us..."

visit The Creator's Project to read the full interview

Mark Harris on The Lost Children & Multi-Faceted Storytelling | The Filmmaker Magazine Blog

The IFP’s Cross-Media ForumNYC is coming up April 19, and, as it approaches, several of its participants will be blogging for Filmmaker. Today’s first post is from Mark Harris, who will be presenting his new project, The Lost Children, at the event. Click on the link above for more info and tickets.


One of the things that excites me the most about “Cross-media,” “Transmedia” or whatever it is, is the idea of telling a story in many different ways. I know this may not fit into a lot of peoples’ definitions of these terms, but it’s an opportunity, I think.

Face on Mars

The "Face" on Mars

When I say telling a story in many different ways, I mean using Stanslavsky’s “magic if” in a slightly different way. For instance, the feature film THE LOST CHILDREN, treats the story of Evelyn Hamilton as a documentary. The events in the film are told as if they may all be in the protagonist’s head, and they may not. The “found footage” model is perfect for a case like this, where we want to audience to interpret what they’re seeing on screen. This is what makes things like UFOs, the “Face” on Mars, “Nessy” so exciting to us. These images that are not clearly distinguishable, so our imaginations go to work and build stories around them. That’s what I wanted in the feature film of THE LOST CHILDREN. I wanted to meet the audience half-way, and ask them to bring their imaginations to the table.

So the feature film makes certain assumptions about the universe the story is set in. But, what excites me about ”Cross-media,” “Transmedia” or whatever is that the other platforms you tell a story on, are under no obligation to conform to that universe. One of the things I will talk about at the Cross media forum on April 19th is how we’re going to try having other platforms make entirely different assumptions about the universe of the story. So one platform might assume that it’s all real. Another platform might assume it’s all in people’s heads.

I'm looking forward to hearing more about this one!