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Panel Notes from FoE 5: Spreadable Media in a Networked Society

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November 11, 2011

Here are some key remarks from a panel at this week’s Futures of Entertainment conference at MIT.

Panel: “Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning in a Networked Society”

  • Letting unauthorized content circulate and studying how it’s used and consumed is a great opportunity that no one seems to be taking advantage of.
  • Kickstarter crowdsources funding. The key is that the audience buys into the idea of a film financially. But crowdsourcing doesn’t have to stop there; it could lead to crowdsourcing of casting, SFX, etc… increasing the attachment the public has with a project.
  • A shift from the term viral to spreadable. Viral gives the content a feel of “special,” “hard to do” or “a one-off,” but spreadable allows people to think of producing content that people will want to share and consume.
  • If you start to “pay” the fan for their “free labor” of connecting with your brand, the relationship shifts and is no longer a legitimate serendipitous fan connection.
  • The impression model (number of views) is no longer valid. There is a growing trend to say, “But I can find a few people that are influencers.” However, picking a small group of people to communicate with can be shortsighted. Those small groups may be vocal, but may not know what the masses truly like or want.
  • Massive organizations are set up to hear, very slow to response. Massive organizations aren’t set up for listening. Listening is a very human response; you can’t take the humanity out of communication.
  • Companies need to start thinking about taking a much more service-based attitude. Take for example Dominos: “Our pizza was bad; what can we do to make it better?”
  • Companies are crisis-based, companies must be able to listen to audiences. Media producers have to listen to their audience before a crisis hits.
  • But we have to understand that too much media circulating outside of context can lead to dilution or can be used against the media creator.

Speakers:
Henry Jenkins (University of Southern California)
Sam Ford (Peppercom Strategic Communications)
Joshua Green (Undercurrent)

Epson Moverio: First See-Through 3D Head-Mounted Display

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November 11, 2011
  • Epson Japan announced the Moverio this week, a see-through 3D head-mounted display that the company claims is the first of its kind.
  • “Think of it as a mix of NEC’s transparent HMD Tele Scouter and Sony’s cool 3D OLED head mounted display HMZ-T1, powered by Android OS,” reports TechCrunch.
  • Epson’s Moverio is lower resolution than the Sony HMD, but at 160g is much lighter in weight.
  • “The Moverio supports MPEG-4/MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 video files, including side-by-side 3D images on its 0.52-inch displays with 960×540 resolution,” indicates the post. “It handles AAC and MP3 audio files, too.”
  • The HMD is expected to hit Japanese stores later this month at a price equivalent to $770.

Amazon Purchasing Yap: Possible Siri Rival for the Kindle Fire?

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November 11, 2011
  • In a quiet acquisition deal, Amazon is purchasing Yap, a speech-to-text startup that may find its voice recognition technology in future Kindle products.
  • “Yap is truly a leader in freeform speech recognition and driving innovation in the mobile user experience,” says Paul Grim of SunBridge Partners, which funded Yap in 2008.
  • “Yap’s technology may give Amazon the ability to add voice controls to its tablets capable of understanding far more than the rudimentary commands currently supported by Android software, potentially allowing the company to erode Apple’s dominance,” reports Forbes.
  • Apple has yet to make a move toward installing Siri on its iPad, so Amazon could get a jump start. “If Amazon puts Yap’s technology to good use and releases tablets with intuitive voice recognition in the near future, it may give Android-powered tablets a stronger handhold in the market,” suggests the article.

Tablet Users Lead the Charge in Viewing Video, Prefer iPads over Android

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November 11, 2011
  • According to a new report from analytics service provider Ooyala: “On average, tablet viewers watched videos nearly 30 percent longer than when watching on their desktop.”
  • Additionally, tablet users are twice as likely to watch their videos to the end. “Videos 10 minutes or longer accounted for 56 percent of the time played on tablets and 84 percent played on connected TV devices and game consoles,” indicates the report.
  • ReadWriteWeb adds, “non-traditional TV watching devices such as cord-cutting boxes like Boxee and video game consoles tripled the amount of videos they played during the last quarter, although they still have a minute market share.”
  • And according to results featured on Ooyala’s blog, Apple continues to dominate in this space: “iPads crushed Android tablets in terms of total audience size. iPads accounted for 97 percent of all tablet video plays.”
  • Ooyala’s “VideoMind Video Index” report is available for download from the company’s blog.

Going Retro with the LomoKino: New 35mm Analog Movie Camera

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November 11, 2011
  • For any old school film fans in our audience, check out the $80 LomoKino analog camera that shoots 144 frames on a single roll of 35mm film (at a frame rate of approximately 3-5 frames per second).
  • “With the LomoKino, you can give your films a sense of style, all the while escaping the megapixel-obsessed society we live in today,” reports Digital Trends. “You can even pair it with the LomoKinoScope so you can watch and enjoy the movies you’ve created.”
  • With HD getting all the attention of late, “it’s nice to see a cool new analog camera enter the fray and represent the colorful, unique, and sometimes blurry world of Lomographic photography.”
  • The LomoKino site features some interesting package deals, including the $150 “Film Noir” bundle: LomoKino & LomoKinoscope, Lomography Lady Grey B&W 400 35mm (Pack of 3), Lomography Lady Grey B&W 400 35mm (Pack of 3) & Lomography Earl Grey B&W 100 35mm (Pack of 3).
  • You can also check out some sample footage on the LomoKino site.

Post Production Trend: Hollywood Turns to India for Special Effects

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November 11, 2011
  • Hollywood is looking to special effects houses in India to deliver shots for 25-50 percent of what they would spend domestically. PriceWaterhouseCoopers predicts the Indian special effects industry will more than double in size by 2015.
  • Digital Domain is partnering with Reliance MediaWorks, an affiliate of India’s Reliance ADA conglomerate. Lucasfilm is working with India’s Prime Focus for the 3D conversion of “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.”
  • Indian companies like Crest Animation Studios and DQ Entertainment, meanwhile, have announced projects with Lionsgate Entertainment and France Television.
  • “These days, as much as a third of the budget for major Hollywood films is earmarked for special effects, according to a research report by accounting firm KPMG. The annual amount spent by filmmakers on special effects in the world’s top five markets totals some $1.9 billion,” reports Fortune.

Pandora Targets the Vast Majority Who Pay Little or Nothing for Music

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November 11, 2011
  • Speaking at the GigaOM RoadMap conference this week, Pandora CTO Tom Conrad suggested that more than half of Americans do not pay for music each year, while 40 percent only pay about $15 annually.
  • “Conrad revealed that his company aims to monetize the vast majority of listeners who pay little or nothing per year for music,” reports TechCrunch.
  • “While there are opportunities to build businesses on the 10 percent who are willing to pay more, Pandora plans to focus on monetizing the majority via advertisements. Other music companies might be wise to target the non-paying segment as well.”
  • Pandora is working to expand across multiple areas, including “in the home, the television, the living room, the bedroom, even embedded above the ice maker on your refrigerator,” and in your car.
  • Conrad doesn’t feel threatened by Spotify’s success. “I see Spotify as largely complementary to what Pandora does,” he said. “Spotify’s CEO Daniel Ek says he thinks Spotify is the future of the record store, and that Pandora is the future of radio.”

Hollywood Victory: Judge Orders BT to Block Newzbin2 Filesharing Site

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November 10, 2011
  • A British judge has ordered BT, the United Kingdom’s largest ISP, to block access to Newzbin2, a website that makes Hollywood content available to its users illegally. The order also made a provision for blocking access even if Newzbin2 moved to another IP address or URL.
  • “The judge backed the argument brought by a coalition of Hollywood studios, including Warner Bros, Paramount, Disney, Universal, Fox and Columbia, which have argued that Newzbin2 has made millions profiting from exploiting other people’s work,” reports The Guardian.
  • This order may set a precedent for blocking of other illegal filesharing websites in the UK.
  • “Securing the intervention of the ISPs was the only way to put the commercial pirates out of reach for the majority of consumers,” said Chris Marcich, president and managing director of MPA Europe. “This move means that we can invest more in our own digital offerings, delivering higher quality and more variety of products to the consumer.”

Adobe Announces Aggressive Focus on HTML5, Abandons Mobile Flash

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November 10, 2011
  • Adobe will no longer continue to develop its Flash Player for mobile devices. Instead, it will focus its resources on HTML5, according to the company’s blog.
  • “HTML5 is now universally supported on major mobile devices, in some cases exclusively,” writes Danny Winokur, VP and GM, Adobe Interactive Development. “This makes HTML5 the best solution for creating and deploying content in the browser across mobile platforms. We are excited about this, and will continue our work with key players in the HTML community, including Google, Apple, Microsoft and RIM, to drive HTML5 innovation they can use to advance their mobile browsers.”
  • Future efforts for Flash on mobile devices will focus on creating native apps with Adobe AIR for all the major app stores.
  • “Did Apple ensure mobile Flash’s demise by preventing it from competing properly? Or did Adobe’s insistence on keeping the format proprietary, complicated by Flash’s alleged performance issues, tie Cupertino’s hands?” asks TIME. “Whatever the case, with Adobe’s mobile development switching to HTML5, all eyes are on the desktop version of Flash, and whether after nearly a decade-and-a-half of use, Adobe will eventually opt to retire it, too.”

Corvair: Is Motorola Poised to Launch an Android-Based TV Controller?

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November 10, 2011
  • Motorola Mobility has been talking Android-based cable boxes for some time, and now images of a 6-inch Android 2.3 tablet codenamed “Corvair” have leaked.
  • Reportedly “designed for use in the living room,” the device is currently in testing with cable companies.
  • Based on the leaked images, features may include a custom version of Android, IR control, RF4CE (a ZigBee-based RF control protocol), and a high-capacity 4,000mAH battery.
  • According to The Verge: “…the box calls it a ‘dedicated controller,’ but it also seems to show the tablet wirelessly displaying its entire UI on the TV, so we’re guessing it can be used to watch and stream content in addition to serving as a remote control for one of Motorola’s cable boxes.”

Measuring Tweet Rate: TweetTV Joins the Ranks of Social TV Guides

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November 10, 2011
  • TweetTV is a social TV guide that ranks available shows based on what people are tweeting about.
  • Users enter their zip code and TV provider, which makes the search more personally specific. You can view the tweets of certain shows (filtered by “experts” or cast members) or break it down by trending network.
  • Additionally, you can launch private or public video chats for each show.
  • “Not only does TweetTV empower TV viewers, but we think this creates a fantastic opportunity for networks and brands to engage with their social audience in a very direct way,” founder Bradley Markham said.

Panasonic Unveils 3D Point-and-Shoot and Upgrade for G Series

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November 9, 2011
  • Panasonic has announced its first all-in-one 3D point-and-shoot camera.
  • The Micro-Four-Thirds Lumix DMC-GX1 features “16.01-megapixel Live MOS sensor and Venus Engine, designed to deliver high-resolution stills and video with image rendering and high quality color reproduction,” reports TWICE.
  • The $700-$950 GX1 records 1,920×1,080/60i video, with 30p sensor output in the AVCHD format. According to the report, the new camera “is positioned as an upgrade to the Lumix DMC-GF. In includes an new ultra-fast auto focusing system and includes a built-in flash and a hot shoe allowing for such accessories as external electronics viewfinder.”
  • Additionally, the $500 Lumix DMC-3D1 is another P&S 3D-capable offering. It uses two 25mm ultra-wide lenses with 4x optical zoom extensions and has a 12-megapixel MOS sensor.
  • “With its twin-lens design, the Lumix 3D can even shoot HD video through one lens and 2D photos from the other,” says said Darin Pepple of Panasonic, “thus getting still and moving content simultaneously, a unique shooting feature which Panasonic provides so users can stretch their creativity.”

Retro Movement: Will Horror Films Bring the VCR Back from the Dead?

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November 9, 2011
  • Horror fans are resurrecting the VHS format to enjoy films of the 1980s, “the kind in which brains were made of Jell-O and the cast was paid in wine coolers,” suggests The New York Times.
  • “It’s hard to get into the aesthetic of shakycam, pretty people, safe scares — like something jumping out at you — and the digital photography and CG blood,” says Evan Husney, director of Drafthouse Films.
  • These fans prefer dusting off their VCRs to viewing via tablets or DVD. As a result, several distributors are re-releasing select 80s titles on VHS.
  • “You just don’t get the same feeling in a pristine print of a DVD,” explains blogger Dan Kinem. “With VHS it’s like I’m experiencing an old grind-house movie theater. I would never watch them on a computer.”
  • Additionally, VHS nights are emerging at theaters such as Cinefamily in Los Angeles; the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas; and at the Spectacle Theater and Nighthawk Cinema in Brooklyn, New York.

Viewing Trends: DVR and VOD on the Rise in U.S. Households

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November 9, 2011
  • Leichtman Research Group reports 44 percent of U.S. households with TVs have a DVR, up from 8 percent in 2005.
  • LRG also found that one-third of DVR households have more than one DVR, and 73 percent of digital cable subscribers have used VOD.
  • “On-demand TV viewing in the forms of DVR and VOD, as well as Netflix streaming, have significantly increased in terms of usage and popularity over the past few years,” said Bruce Leichtman. “Yet these on-demand TV platforms remain largely complementary to traditional TV services and viewing, with about 90 percent of all TV viewing in the U.S. still being via live TV.”
  • Additional LRG findings (on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being excellent): 80 percent of DVR owners rate the service 8 to 10, 62 percent of cable VOD users rate the service 8 to 10, 63 percent of Netflix subscribers rate the Watch Instantly feature 8 to 10, 20 percent of Netflix subscribers use Watch Instantly daily.

Apple Forecast: Will iPhone 4S Lead to 60 Percent of Industry Profits?

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November 9, 2011
  • According to Canaccord Genuity analysis of Apple’s third quarter, the company “captured more than half of the handset industry’s overall operating profits — 52 percent…And it managed it with only a 4.2 percent global handset unit market share,” reports The Wall Street Journal.
  • “With the iPhone, Apple is doing to the smartphone business what it has done to the PC business with the Mac: Generating a disproportionate share of profits relative to revenue,” suggests the article.
  • With other manufacturers faltering and iPhone 4S sales soaring, Apple may hit 60 percent of the industry’s operating profits soon.
  • According to AllThingsD: “…with the iPhone 4S the top-selling smartphone at AT&T, Sprint and Verizon, and its international rollout in full swing, it seems pretty clear Apple has a very good chance of hitting that big number — and soon.”

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