SLAMDANCE ANNOUNCES DISTRIBUTION AGREEMENT WITH MICROSOFT
Four Slamdance Films to Launch New Video Rental and Download to Own Program on Zune and Xbox Platforms
LOS ANGELES – January 21, 2010 – Slamdance today announced a worldwide video content collaboration with Microsoft on both Zune and Xbox platforms. The initiative will launch during the Slamdance Film Festival (January 21-28, Park City, UT) on January 27, 2010 with a four film, 7-day program providing video rental throughout North America.
Zune video Marketplace will make the selected films available on video-on-demand across North America on both Zune and Xbox platforms. During this 7-day period movie fans have the opportunity to rent some of the same films being screened at the Slamdance Film Festival on their computers or through Xbox LIVE. Price per film rentals during the festivals will range from 600 to 880 Microsoft Points
The Documentary Organization of Canada / l'Association des documentaristes du Canada (DOC) is pleased to announce a call for proposals for ReBoot, a week-long web conference incorporating skills-based training, mentorships and panel presentations from leading experts in cross-platform production.DOC aims to assist its members in transitioning to digital documentary and to successfully position documentary filmmakers and producers in the rapidly changing broadcast environment spurred by the Canada Media Fund.
DOC is seeking proposals for cross-platform documentaries that are conceived for two or more media. Preference will be given to projects in the development stage incorporating an interactive, participatory methodology in additional to a linear/broadcast version.Selected projects will receive one-on-one mentorship from industry professionals over a one week period, culminating in an online pitch session during DOC's ReBoot event in February. A jury of media professionals will select one project which will receive further mentorship for a three month period. The continued mentoring will be provided by the award winning team at EyeSteelFilm, as well as a group of industry professionals specializing in various aspects of new media production.Interested creators are invited to send proposals to info@docorg.ca.
Proposals should include:
1. Name(s) 2. Contact Information 3. Project Title 4. 250 Word Description of Project 5. Project Budget 6. Project Status 7. Short description of the new media ideas and platforms that will be explored.
Proposals should be for a multiplatform documentary and should describe the experience that a user would have on the website or digital platform, as well as a sense of the documentary that would be created in tandem. In writing the proposal, creators should address the following questions: · Can your story be told in more than one way? Can it exist as a traditional documentary, as well as a non-linear story? · Can your documentary have multiple versions? Can it be substantially different online, in theatres, and on television? How can you harness the strengths of each medium? · Does your subject matter and approach lend itself to the opportunities of participatory / social media? · Above all, how can your audience participate in the project? How is it an interactive experience that they can be an integral part of?
Submissions are only open to DOC members. Without exception, selected applicants must be available February 15th to February 21st in order to participate. Selected candidates should be comfortable sharing their creative process and work in progress with the public.
Submission deadline is January 29th. Please send proposals to info@docorg.ca
Re. securitization of cities, this came through the Boing Boing feed this morning. Must send to Vancouver friends.
Boing Boing describes the event as:
The UK activist group "I'm a Photographer Not a Terrorist!" is planning a mass photo-shooting this Saturday in Trafalgar Square, London: "Following a series of high profile detentions under s44 of the terrorism act including 7 armed police detaining an award winning architectural photographer in the City of London, the arrest of a press photographer covering campaigning santas at City Airport and the stop and search of a BBC photographer at St Pauls Cathedral and many others. PHNAT feels now is the time for a mass turnout of Photographers, professional and amateur to defend our rights and stop the abuse of the terror laws."
I discovered Julia Hepburn's work last night at the Gladstone Come Up To My Room opening. Beautiful, whimsical reworkings of fairy tales and exquisite scenes that feel like fairy tales you've forgotten.
Each one is its own beautifully realized world waiting for a story to be told.
David Brisbin sent this to me this am with the following comment:
"It is a Coke ad for the Olympics displaying hockey and broadcasting the message " Let's make sure everyone knows whose game it is." There are a couple of pools of Canadian flags, and a good spattering of red and white -- so that the half attentive might think it is suggesting that hockey is 'Canada's game'. But when you look at the visuals, and particularly the cutting of the ending, the actual message is that the game is Coca Cola's. One sort of knows that the Olympics are primarily for the corps -- but this is open about it in a way I wouldn't have expected."
I too was really struck by the corporate/securitization underway in Vancouver when I was there in November. If you're not familiar with the branding & securitization of Vancouver that's happening for the Olympics, the legislation that has been passed in support of putting Canada's best (branded) face forward is really startling. An earlier post of the securitization billboards calling on citizens to report the suspicious is one example.
Another is the banning of any promotional images for competitors of Olympic corporate supporters - Coke is in, Pepsi is out - which ok I see the logic of. The legislation below however also opens up the right of police to remove anti-Olympic signage or signage that is deemed undesirable and in circumstances, to fine those who post said ads or images.
The following can be found under "Regulation of commercial activities in public spaces" and the specific heading re. "Freedom of Expression":
"the removal of illegal commercial signs from private property will be made by the city manager....based on the following criteria:
a) visibility of the illegal sign... b) aesthetic impact of the sign on the city's image c) potential risk to health or safety of anyone"
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While the first is measurable, the two following have a wide latitude in terms of how these criteria will be assessed - who decides aesthetic impact? and on what criteria? How will the potential risk be assessed?
Another measure that has generated a pushback from groups that support the homeless is the planned removal of the street people from the Lower East Side. Their relocation to 'other' shelters raises questions as to what measures will be taken when shelter accommodation can't be found for all of the street people.
The transmedia development vision here is really impressive:
"It's the only first-look deal Brian Grazer recalls giving out since he and Imagine Entertainment partner Ron Howard hooked up 28 years ago. And it's with a company that hasn’t yet made a film. But Blacklight Transmedia gives Imagine a foothoold in “transmedia storytelling,” an area Grazer feels will have an increasingly important place in how producers maximize franchises by simultaneously rolling them out in multiple platforms.
Post-Sundance, Blacklight Transmedia will begin shopping 20 intellectual property creations. But rather than limiting them to film, the company will have fully-fleshed storylines and designs that will also be shopped for videogames, TV, graphic novels and new media deals."
I found this website tie-in for Christopher Nolan's Inception a few weeks ago and played the first level. It's got a nifty 3D plug for the city-scape that is visually striking. There doesn't seem to be any further activity on the site though & there also doesn't seem to be any extended ARG components yet.... maybe they're too subtle or I'm not being enough of a diligent tracker...