On January 11, 1991, the then-head of Disney studios, Jeffrey Katzenberg, circulated an incredibly important memo about the state of the movie industry and the products they were making. It was called, “The World is Changing: Some Thoughts on Our Business,” and it had a simple purpose: to locate the root of a growing problem and to take steps to avoid falling victim to it.

Katzenberg began the memo by stating:

“As we begin the new year, I strongly believe we are entering a period of great danger and even greater uncertainty. Events are unfolding within and without the movie industry that are extremely threatening to our studio.”

Read the full post here:

http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/opinions/how-the-state-of-the-movie-industry…

PRESS RELEASE: Oohalala Mobile Launches North America’s First Campus Augmented Reality Game

January 31st, 2012 by Leah Henrickson | Co-Editor

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Note: The original text has been slightly altered.

On January 23rd, Oohlala Mobile announced the transformation of University of Toronto’s St. George campus into a virtual playground. By downloading the app, Oohlala, students become contestants in a digital treasure hunt, utilizing the GPS on their smartphones to locate and acquire the treasure. The hunt involves three simple steps:
Step 1: Locate the treasure chest using the app.
Step 2: Obtain the treasure chest.
Step 3: Prevent others stealing it from you!
Other students using the app are able to snatch the chest if they are within 50m of the prize holder. Students must use their wits, determination and speed while trying to hold on to the prize over a 5-day period! The person holding the chest on Thursday, February 6th at 5pm is the winner of a high-end Macbook Air, while the person who has held on to the chest the longest without its capture gets a semester’s worth of text books for free.
Check out the game here: www.CampusApp.com

read the full post here!

http://www.blogut.ca/2012/01/31/press-release-oohalala-mobile-launches-north-…

BY: LIZZY GOODMAN

“One of the most talked-about–and harrowing–Sundance films wasn’t a film in the traditional sense. Hunger In L.A., which screened at the New Frontier Pavilion, is an interactive experience that puts participants in the middle of a shocking food line incident. Its creator, journalist-turned-documentarian Nonny de la Peña, talks about the making of the project and its potential impact beyond Sundance….

…The innovative project combines filmmaking, augmented reality, and journalism to recreate a real incident that took place two years ago at a food bank line in L.A. De la Peña used game development software Unity 3D, motion tracking, and a head-mounted goggle display, combined with live audio she recorded during the incident itself to create an immersive, and affecting, experience.

As de la Peña describes how she created the project, her colleague John Brennan follows a man around as he walks in circles occasionally reaching his hand out or crouching down to interact with avatars only he can see. He’s watching a simulation of the events at the First Unitarian Church’s distribution line when a man waiting for food went into a diabetic coma. Six and a half minutes later, Brennan taps him on the shoulder and helps him out of the goggles. “Wow,” the man exclaims, visibly affected. “That was intense.”…

Read the full post here:

http://www.fastcocreate.com/1679530/hunger-in-la-immerses-viewers-in-an-inter…

A Few Grim Truths About Media Right Now (and One Happy One)

Paul Deen and TV’s Karaoke Economy Sadden Our Media Guy, but Stephen Colbert Saves the Day

By: Simon Dumenco Bio
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As Ad Age’s “Media Guy,” it’s technically my job to try to make sense of the media world. Sometimes it’s not easy, but of course I stand on the shoulders of giants (including those of a certain Comedy Central host). Other times I wish I could stomp on the kneecaps of the media world’s cretins, but I won’t get into that right now. Anyway, here’s a quick download of what I’ve figured out lately:

Colbert’s antics in South Carolina have shown how ludicrous the political situation is.

–>

Stephen Colbert is America’s greatest living cultural/media critic
Hands down. Part of the credit, of course, goes to the writing team on “The Colbert Report” (somehow already 6 years old and more essential than ever), but it’s Colbert’s pitch-perfect rendition of the “Stephen Colbert” character that makes his show’s satire work so brilliantly night after night. There is no funnier or smarter (or more heartbreaking or depressing) deconstruction of the American scene — particularly our fatally flawed political process, as signified by Colbert’s Super PAC — to be found anywhere else in the culture right now.

America’s entertainment industry = the new Karaoke Economy
“China’s products are popular, but rarely original,” the journal of the British nonprofit Design Council declared in a 2007 piece titled “The Karaoke Economy.” But if you read The New York Times’ epic investigation last week headlined “How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work,” you know why China gets to make so many of the world’s state-of-the-art gadgets even if the ideas for them originated in, say, Cupertino. (Hint: It’s not just about cheap labor; the sophistication of China’s supply chain has left America’s in the dust.)

What does the U.S. still make?

Read Simon Dumenco’s full smart post on AdAge:

http://adage.com/article/the-media-guy/a-grim-truths-media-happy/232377/

RELEASED JUST NOW… Watch Terry Gilliam’s new movie ONLY online… via Distrify

By Chris on January 23, 2012 in Distribution

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Today is a big day for online distribution pioneers Distrify – film legend Terry Gilliam has made a short and he is releasing on their platform. By now, it should be live and selling.

You can rent and watch it right her, right now…

That’s one of the GREAT things about Distrify. You can put the player (aka YOUR shop window) anywhere on the web – blog, homepage, Facebook, fansite. It’s not just your site, but through affiliate marketing, you can attract people who have websites with large audiences. There is a reason why this film is on the Guardian website – they get an automatic cut of every penny generated via the affiliate marketing deal on offer. 

Excerpt: “….Kickstarter-funded Sundance movies included the well-received documentaries “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry” and “Me @ the Zoo.” Dramatic films included “Black Rock” as well as “My Best Day,” and “Mosquita y Mari.” More experimental efforts like “Abacus” and “Room 237″ (profiled here) were also Kickstarter projects.

Many of the so-called Kickstarter films were pretty far out there and were no threat for a theatrical release, but “Indie Game: The Movie,” a film about game developers, was optioned by producer Scott Rudin and HBO for development as a series…”