The ongoing effort to utilize new technologies in the service of storytelling was the theme of USC School of Cinematic Arts (SCA) Dean Elizabeth Daley’s keynote address Sunday at the SMPTE Technology Summit on Cinema at NAB. Digital technology is deeply engrained throughout the SCA curriculum. In fact, the Interactive Media & Games Division and the John C. Hench Division of Animation and Digital Arts wouldn’t exist without it. Yet “everything has changed, and nothing has changed. Great storytelling is still key,” Daley said. Continue reading NAB: USC’s Elizabeth Daley Speaks at Tech Summit on Cinema

Blogging site Tumblr, purchased last year by Yahoo for $1.1 billion, has announced its first TV ad partnership. The deal is with Viacom, which plans to pitch cobranded campaigns on Tumblr to marketers tied to programming for cable networks including CMT, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Spike, TV Land and VH1. Viacom will offer campaigns to marketers during the 2014 upfront season that will combine Tumblr’s ad products with content developed by Viacom. Continue reading Tumblr Ad Deal with Viacom to Launch with MTV Movie Awards

In a ceremony at the Ray Stark Theater on USC’s Cinematic Arts campus last Thursday, Dean Elizabeth Daley joined George Lucas in welcoming three USC film professors to their new endowed chairs. Made possible by a generous gift from Lucas, the three new chairs — The Sergei Eisenstein Endowed Chair for Cinematic Design, the George Mélies Endowed Chair in Visual Effects, and the William Cameron Menzies Endowed Chair in Production Design — are now held by Bruce Block, Michael Funk, and Alex McDowell respectively. Continue reading USC Cinematic Arts Professors Installed in New Endowed Chairs

Carolyn Giardina of The Hollywood Reporter forwarded us news that Industrial Light & Magic, the visual effects division of Lucasfilm, has major expansion plans including a new facility in central London, just outside of Soho, and a move for the Vancouver team to a larger space that will allow the group to double from 100 to 200 employees. Lucasfilm also recently opened an ILM facility in Singapore. The VFX arm is a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. Continue reading ILM Has Plans to Open New Visual Effects Facility in London

Netflix and DreamWorks Animation are teaming to offer the streaming service’s latest push into original programming. Netflix will release “Turbo: F.A.S.T.” on December 24, a 26-episode 2D animated series based on DreamWorks’ feature film “Turbo,” about racing snails. The series is the first step in a deal that plans to offer 300 hours of programming via the service. Netflix says it exclusively streams 30 children’s series today, each generating more than 2 million viewers. Continue reading Netflix-DreamWorks Deal Delivers Original Kids’ Programming

Lucasfilm is developing real-time motion capture technology used in video game development that it believes it can combine with film production. In the long term, these combined technologies could eliminate the need for much of the post-production process as most of the work can be done in real-time. In addition, the potential exchange of elements in video games and films will allow viewers to tailor their movies while they watch. Continue reading Lucasfilm Combines Video Game Making and Film Production

With Labor Day the traditional end of summer, pundits survey the uneven landscape of a fickle summer. Disappointing openings and steep weekend-to-weekend drop-offs jarred execs and provided fodder for commentary and soul-searching. It may be easy to find irony in the titles of two financially successful movies — the low-budget “The Purge” and “This Is The End,” which spoofed the end of the world against a backdrop of contemporary Hollywood — to suggest that this summer truly marks the end for movies. But that would only happen if there were a total failure to recognize emerging trends, acknowledge this is not the first time Hollywood has faced a changing market and apply new ideas to shape the future. Continue reading EXCLUSIVE: Looking Beyond Summer Box Office as Trends Emerge

A significant threat to the video game industry is harassment targeting game developers from gamers. Video game fan obsession has led to death threats among game developers, forcing them to leave their positions or the industry as a whole. Many fault the anonymous nature of the Internet, and others see the immediate availability to voice one’s complaints or gain notoriety. Groups look to support developers as threats become more commonplace. Continue reading Game Developers: Harassment Alarms Industry, Fuels Exodus

Google has announced its plans for the Glass Creative Collective, a new partnership with film and design schools including USC, AFI, UCLA, CalArts and RISD. In an effort to help students and aspiring filmmakers become comfortable with Google Glass features such as the voice-activated interface and built-in video cameras, the company is loaning each of the schools three sets of the $1,500 Glass device for the upcoming semester. The goal is for students to start experimenting with more immersive forms of entertainment. Continue reading Google Unveils Glass Partnership with Notable Film Schools

As part of the grand opening of the Interactive Media building at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, filmmakers George Lucas and Steven Spielberg spoke on a panel regarding the future of entertainment. During the discussion, the inevitable landscape of entertainment media was characterized as grim for the majors with rising movie ticket prices and theatrical releases becoming a niche market, as content continues its vast migration to online video-on-demand. Continue reading Industry Vets See Big Future for VOD, Problems for Studios