Category Archives: The Mediascape

Don’t get lost on the Internet

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I love maps.

I love how they abstract the big picture into something tangible and packed with information.

Did you know there are maps of the Internet?

The internet is not a ‘cloud’ — it’s simply a series of networks that are interconnected. And one of the way internet traffic moves around are by cables under the oceans.

TeleGeography publishes an Interactive Submarine Cable Map and an Interactive Internet Exchange Map. Both are fascinating. So is their Global Internet Map.

What’s the connection with the new mediascape? If your project is digital and relies on the Internet for downloading or streaming, you might want to know where your server is located. If you know where your customers are, you might want to locate it closer to them. You want to be on the bigger pipes, if possible, to minimize the hops required to move your bits around.

My take: these maps help you understand traceroute, the somewhat geeky tool that lists the hops between your location and servers around the world.

Web-based Transmedia

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I came across ‘Loves of a Cyclops’ recently through No Film School.

The film is a quirky 25-minute narrative about vision by Nathan Punwar.

Just as interesting are the transmedia components Nathan and his collaborators have brought together at lovesofacyclops.com . United by subject, tone and execution the extra material can both tease or round out the main film, depending on whether you’ve seen it yet. There are photos, audio profiles, ‘science’ backgrounders, early movies, props, the soundtrack, a shop on VHX and outreach. There’s also a link to tumblr where you’re invited to contribute more material.

About transmedia, Nathan says at No Film School:

“It probably wouldn’t work to do this for every film, but for the right story it can draw strangers in, especially when your audience is online and not in a theater. It also gave us an opportunity to play with these odd characters in a first-­person way that the film doesn’t allow because it keeps pushing the story into new territory. That said, I think it’s most interesting when the extra content raises more questions than it provides answers. It only provokes more curiosity about the film. Because of the nature of making this film the way we did, it took nearly a year, so we had a lot of in­between time to kick these fun ideas around. The site isn’t just an expansion of the story. It’s a document of our lives for that year. Not everything contributes directly to the story, but it does come from our time spent telling it.”

My take: definitely worth exploring — a singular vision.

UPDATE: Lazer Team still breaking records!

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With less than a week to go, Rooster Teeth’s Lazer Team Indiegogo crowd-funding campaign continues to smash records.

They are closing in on $2,000,000 and 300% of their original goal.

This represents over 28,000 backers and an average contribution of approximately $68.

Of note, RT has raised over $142K from 23 people who have earned various producer credits in return.

My take: Rooster Teeth initially decided to make this a Flexible Funding campaign (9% fees,) rather than the riskier Fixed Funding gamble (0%.) No matter, now that they’ve surpassed their goal, the fee for both models is 4%, and Indiegogo stands to make $80K!

Rooster Teeth breaks crowd-funding records!

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Rooster Teeth, the creative team behind Red vs Blue, has just set crowd-funding history.

Here’s the scenario:

“In the late 1970’s, the Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence project received a one time signal from outer space. It looked exactly as theorists thought a communication from an alien civilization would — unfortunately it has never been decoded. Or so we were told. Unbeknownst to the general public the signal was translated and told us two things: 1. We are not alone. 2. The galaxy is a dangerous place. Our story is live action sci-fi comedy that takes place decades later in the aftermath of this event.”

Not bowled over? Well, these numbers certainly are impressive:

The ask: $650K. The project: a theatrical feature production.

The results:

  • $1,000,000 in two days.
  • Over 25,000 contributors.
  • $123,000 from 20 backers, rewarded with producer credits.
  • To date, over $1.7 million with more than 10 days to go!

See their campaign on Indiegogo.

My take: a popular franchise appeals to their fans to finance a very different product, with wildly successful results. Of course, it helps to have over 7.5 million subscribers on your Youtube channel.

Your film has many price tags

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Marc Schiller of Bond/360 thinks you should price your independent film differently depending on the platform and the time since release.

He lays out his strategy in ‘How Much Should I Sell My Film For?’ on  Medium.

Keeping your conversion rate between two and three per cent is key, he says.

“Conversion rates are never static. And because of this the price of a film should also never be static.”

Sell on your website to your core audience. But don’t overlook the iTunes and Netflixes out there:

“The benefit of having your film in the marketplace and supported with promotion is that your film can now be discovered by those who may not have known about it. A significant amount of sales of independent films happen specifically because they are found and discovered in New Releases, Top 25, etc. In addition, many of your core want to purchase on iTunes, not your website. The biggest mistake a filmmaker who is selling direct can do is to try to divert sales from iTunes so that the film is purchased on the website. Rather, they should be doing everything in their power to get their film into the Top 20 of its category so it can be discovered by others. This increase in sales is worth every penny of the commission the retailer takes.”

My take: excellent advice, backed up with concrete figures. Thanks for sharing!

Mid-2014 trends in the indie film marketplace

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Marc Schiller of BOND/360 has just released ‘An Analysis of Internet Trends in 2014 for Independent Films’ on Medium.

Main chapters comprise Commerce and Marketing while headings include:

  • Digital Revenue For Individual Films In Traditional Marketplaces Is Falling Rapidly
  • Niche Content Is The New “Mainstream”
  • Methods Currently Used By International Sales Agents Are Creating A Steep Decline In Revenue and A Steep Increase In Piracy
  • The Days Of “Free” Marketing On Facebook For Independent Films Are Over
  • Today, The Best Social Media Marketers Are Designers, Not Curators
  • Smart Filmmakers Are Realizing That The Key Value Of Crowdfunding Sites Is To Build Community, Not Raise Money
  • Publicity Alone No Longer Sells Movie Tickets

The insights are many, including:

“Today, the reality is that most independent films, even highly successful ones in the United States, have very little to no distribution in the majority of countries around the world…. Up to 40% of the audience that is following an independent film on Facebook is most likely living in a country where the film will never be released…. This has led to an increase in piracy that is not based on a desire to steal the film and watch it for free, but rather based on a the lack of availability when the global word-of-mouth is at its peak.”

And:

“More than any other platform that have preceded them (including behemoths like Facebook and Twitter), Kickstarter and Indiegogo create the most important and impactful communities for creators on the internet…. Those that have skin in the game (i.e. are “invested”) are the most important and loyal fans a filmmaker will ever have in their career.”

My take: this makes fascinating reading. Required reading. More by Marc to come.

How would you redesign Copyright?

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Copyright is a 350-year-old legal concept at the heart of the financial exploitation of most creative works.

Open Media International wants to know how you would revise copyright law. They’re hosting an innovative interactive website you can use to let them know how you feel.

“Whenever you share, create, or collaborate, you are working with copyright rules. These rules, codified in law, increasingly shape what you can and cannot do both online and offline. They influence how creators are supported, the options for expression online, and how we participate in society. We’re setting out a participatory process to develop a crowdsourced vision for copyright rules that work for everyone in the 21st century — ‘Your Digital Future.'”

It’s fun, thought-provoking and easy-to-use. Check it out today.

My take: to me, compensating for copyright and the right to copy in a digital age should be easy. See my two minute short on the subject. After all, the Internet logs every hit by design. It shouldn’t be that difficult to build on that.

Microsoft wants to be a content company too

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Microsoft want to position its Xbox One as a platform for the content it plans to begin releasing next month.

“Starting this June, you’ll have more reasons to love your Xbox: Xbox Originals – premium dramas, comedies, documentaries, animation, unscripted shows, and live events. Available only on Xbox 360, Xbox One, and other Microsoft devices, every Xbox Originals show will offer interactive capabilities, as well as unique interactive features customized on a per-show basis, making it a one-of-a-kind entertainment experience you won’t find anywhere else.

Xbox Entertainment Studios has attracted a slew of top Hollywood talent to develop its original programming slate, with names like Steven Spielberg and Ridley Scott attached to two separate scripted projects based on the “Halo” franchise – but that’s only the beginning. Other shows in production include an unscripted series about international street soccer, an original drama about robotic servants in a dystopian world, and a documentary about the search for discarded Atari games in a desert landfill – which were unearthed yesterday in New Mexico – amongst several others.”

Of course, Netflix is the streaming king right now; they are platform agnostic. The silent giant in the corner is Sony with its PS4 and vast media holdings.

My take: although Microsoft is loosing the next gen console wars on price alone, there’s an outside chance that those Kinect motion sensor cameras might be just the ticket they need to build in interactivity into narrative content. Everyone else is using a second screen to do that right now.

The State of Online Streaming Today

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Qwilt has just released a very interesting report.

Ignore the headline touting Amazon Instant Video.

The real takeaways are here:

  • Online Streaming grew by 54.9% last year.
  • Netflix grew their share by 5%, rising from 52.5% to 57.5%.
  • Youtube dropped 11.3% while Xbox remained flat.

From Qwilt:

“The source of data for this report is total volume of online video traffic from US cable operators where Qwilt video delivery systems are deployed. Our video delivery systems are inserted in operator network where we can see all online video traffic, both On Demand and Live, from any content provider. We measure traffic based on the source content provider such as Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, Twitch, Apple or Amazon. Our reporting of content provider volumes is independent of the device consuming the video. So, if a consumer is watching Netflix on their Xbox, we record the event as Netflix traffic not Xbox. The same is true across Roku, Chromecast, SmartTVs, Desktops and mobile devices.”

My take: Netflix is pulling away and winning this race!

Web Series Best Practices

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Canada’s Independent Production Fund has just published the Guide to Web Series Best Practices.

In many ways, this 30-page PDF is a good primer for any digital production: web series, short or feature.

The dozen chapters range from financing, to working with micro-budget crews, to marketing and to distribution platforms.

The tone is even-handed and not sky’s-the-limit. A sample:

“Always think of your audience and what makes sense for them – will this be interesting for them? Will it be a positive addition to their overall consumption? Will they share it? If it doesn’t make sense and there isn’t a “yes” to these types of questions, it may not be a good use of your time, money and resources.”

My take: listen to this IPF advice; they fund web series!