aftrs – PERSONALIZE MEDIA

Aug 282009

Was going to call this Augmented Reality Story Environments but…:)

It is fascinating to see how quickly Augmented Reality (AR) is permeating our lives and the blogosphere. But what will the mass adoption of mobile devices that allow you to layer ‘virtual story worlds’ over the real world mean for new forms of entertainment & marketing? Also what will it mean when celebrities and audience/users, begin to merge – avatars appearing in broadcast TV and film/gamestars composited into our homes?

I have posted about the cross-reality evolution over the last 3 years on this blog under a general mixed-reality umbrella. Now we have every blogger & journalist talking about their AR engaged iPhone, DSi, PSP or smart mobile as if they have discovered some advanced alien technology. But is it really is a game changer, a new playground for storytellers? A window to another world at one end through to a simple layered utility at the other. Actors and fantasy characters deliver lines, embedded in real world scenes, you find the hidden virtual treasure, the historical or future backstories and clues, video, sound, images – even fellow ‘players’ morph into strange aliens or dissapear, you leave red herrings or leave help for other players the possiblities, endless.

Jul 302009

Running the Australian Laboratory for Advanced Media production I often have to provide a broad contextual background (as well as detailed insights!) to many of our seminars and labs. Over the past few months I have presented across a range of topics suggested in the blog title and lucky for some these have been captured in video form! So the player below contains (for now) seven separate presentations, a mix of free informal evening ones through to more formal full day workshop intros. The video production value is variable so I add the audio only versions at the bottom too and there are links to the other many great speakers at each session, detailed below the video box. These are unedited and contain the usual umms, arrs, errors, coughs & pregnant pauses, oh and I hope some great content. All are 16by9 apart from the serious games in 4by3, Enjoy

SOCIALIZED TV 2.0 – 17m © Gary Hayes Director LAMP @ AFTRS and CCO of MUVEDesign (slideshares here)
GAMES: SERIOUSLY – 35m © Gary Hayes (slideshares here)
VIRTUAL STORY: THE ART AND CRAFT OF MACHINIMA – 42m © Gary Hayes (slideshares here)
(Seminar Intro) THE RISE AND RISE OF SOCIAL MEDIA – 13m (slideshares here) © Gary Hayes
FREE AND EASY (seminar intro) – 10m © Gary Hayes
IPTV FUTURES – 20m © William Cooper Head of Informitv (live Skype video interview with Gary Hayes)
MULTIPLATFORM INNOVATIONS – 22m © Giancarlo A. Mori Senior Vice President, ANIMALLOGIC Interactive. (live Skype video intro interview with Gary Hayes)

Aussie Social Media Drama Wins International Interactive Emmy

Posted by Gary Hayes on March 31, 2009 at 10:25 am Alternate Reality, Awards, Business, Distribution, Events, Interactive TV, LAMP, Participatory Media, Social Media, Social Networks, TV 9 Responses »

Mar 312009

A cross-post from the LAMP blog I also run: LAMP mentored ‘Social Media, Multi-Platform’ Drama Scorched won the coveted International Interactive Emmy Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences last night at MIP TV. The first time Australia has won this award.

A big congratulations particularly to producers Marcus Gillezeau and Ellenor Cox from Firelight Productions. These awards are held annually at MIP TV in Cannes and celebrate the most innovative drama, documentary, informational and entertainment services delivered on multiple platforms.

Through these awards, the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is celebrating a significantly growing sector of the television industry and recognize excellence in content created and designed for viewer interaction and/or delivery on a digital platform.

The 2009 Winners.

Fiction category winners “Scorched” Firelight Productions in association with Essential Media & Goalpost Pictures, Australia

Non-fiction category winners “Britain From Above,” BBC / Lion, United Kingdom

Children and young people category winners “Battlefront”, Channel 4, United Kingdom

Brian Seth Hurst (Second Vice Chair at Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and CEO at The Opportunity Management Company) who helps organise these awards sent through this Twitpic of himself (mid left), Chris Hilton from Essential Media and Entertainment (far left), Marcus Gillezeau (mid right) and Mike Cowap (Innovation Head at Screen Australia – far right), at the after awards (30 minutes ago!). Picture from Brian Seth Hurst (actual photographer as yet unknown).

The story has also been covered in The Hollywood Reporter, TVAusCast,Â TV Tonight, Digital Media, Campaign Brief, ShowHype and NineMSN

Digital Media magazine has a few ‘delegates’ over there at the moment who are twittering events as they happen you can follow them here. This is how we found out about the award over here from several other tweeters…

PipRMB: Aussie digital media company Firelight Prods. have won the first ever International Digital Emmy for best drama for Scorched – huge congrats
BrianSethHurst: Winner Fiction Int’l Digital Emmy Award “Scorched” Australia Goalpost Media, Essential Media
FanTrust: Check out Scorched which just won a digital Emmy— outstanding fictional drama for 3 screens. Live from #miptv

The Digital Media magazine also featured an article prior to MIP TV referring to LAMP’s involvement in the project –

“Meanwhile the makers of NineMSN cross-platform drama Scorched, Marcus Gillezeau, Ellenor Cox, Michael O’Neill and Brad Hayward, have been nominated for an International Digital Emmy Award. The awards ceremony will be held on March 30 at the MipTV conference. Scorched was financed by Nine Network, ITV International, Screen Australia and the New South Wales Film and Television Office and developed through the Australian Film Television & Radio School’s Laboratory of Advanced Media Production (LAMP), which is Australia’s premier emerging media research and development production lab.”

Other awards winners noted by TV Week

The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences revealed the winners for the International Digital Emmy Awards at the MIP TV opening festivities in Cannes, France.

Australia won its first International Digital Emmy award in the fiction category for “Scorched.”

The non-fiction category went to “Britain From Above,” while “Battlefront” won the children and young people category. Both programs were from the U.K.

Below is a shot of the team with Jackie Turnure (far right – now at Hoodlum) back in May 2006 when they started planning the Social Media elements of the experience on a LAMP residential. There were then several follow up sessions with them to help crystallize their ideas. (Pic Catherine Gleeson)

Scorched has received a great deal of attention and commentary from press and also those closer to the project. This is the LAMP post about the launch, here is Guy Gadney at MIPTV at the moment (then head of PBL New Media, Channel 9) and Gary Hayes (LAMP Director’s personal media blog). It is great news that another LAMP connected project has won the International Emmy’s – examples of earlier ones included Jim Shomos (LAMP mentor) with his Forget the Rules projects, the winner of the Ogilvy Amex award by then LAMP mentor Jackie Turner and other LAMP projects such as The Deep Sleep won development awards too.

Previous iiEmmy award winners in related categories have included Canadian Xenophile’s Alternate Reality Doco/Drama Regenesis and Total Drama Island plus fellow Canadian’s Zinc Roe with their Zimmer Twins service (now featured globally).

Link to the Canadian’s winning most awards two years ago here and the image below is of the two teams during the awards taken by Gary Hayes.

Presentations – Adtech, LAMP, Banff, Portugal, Spaa and…

Posted by Gary Hayes on March 9, 2009 at 10:42 am Advertising, Cross Media, Education, Events, Games, Innovation, LAMP, Marketing, Online Video, Participatory Media, Press Release, Production, Second Life, Social Issues & Privacy, Social Media, Speaking, Transmedia, TV, Virtual Reality, Virtual Worlds, Web 3.0 5 Responses »

Mar 092009

It’s that time of year where things really start to kick-in. So on top of all my AFTRS lecturing, MA Supervision and LAMP R&D work plus commercial work via MUVEDesign and many consultancy sessions here are some nice breaks – seminars and conferences I am speaking at or running.

(BTW most of the LAMP ones can be booked at AFTRS short course pages in the MultiPlatform section – page being updated at the moment)

Tues/Weds 10-11 March – Ad:Tech. Virtual Worlds & Business: What’s The ROI?

Virtual worlds are maturing at a rapid rate and brands are realising there are valuable business opportunities within them. Whether the objective is engagement, research or brand presence, virtual worlds are proving to be a legitimate marketing channel. In this session our panel will look to provide insights into the business benefits of working within a virtual world. Our panellists will provide:

– An overview of virtual worlds and why they’re suitable for business

– Insight for brand involvement including what’s in it for both the brand and the consumer

– Considerations before entering a virtual world and how to be successful

– Identifying the KPIs and how to measure the success of a campaign

– Engagement and brand presence

– With case study examples, this session will bring to life the importance of engagement and brand presence in a virtual world and how organisations are testing, developing, connecting, and marketing within these communities.

Presenters

Gary Hayes, Director, Laboratory for Advanced Media Production, AFTRS & CEO MUVEDesign

Jeff Brookes, Regional Director – Asia Pacific, Sulake Corporation (habbo.com.au)

Mitch Olson, Co-Founder, SmallWorlds.com

Wed 25 March 6-7pm – LAMP ‘State of Play’ Television 2.0: latest innovations in online video

Convergence and multi-platform production is front and centre at MIP TV this year. This seminar will provide background to the terminology, techniques and recent innovations in distributed online video, preparing you for all the key developments. Gary Introducing and speaking.

Fri 3 April – LAMP ‘Interactive Workshop’Â Documentary 2.0: Serious Games

Seminar and Workshop Fri April 3. The intersection between documentary filmmaking and games will be explored in this seminar and workshop, providing deep insight into the potential of Serious Games. Both games and stories have long been recognised as powerful learning tools. Their combination in the 21st century has the potential to provide learning experiences that are collaborative and globally connected. What are the best examples of Serious Games and where are they heading? How can Serious Games best be employed by educators, corporations or non-profit organisations? Gary facilitating and speaking.

20-30 April – “Innovation & Form Workshop” for AFTRS Students featuring:

Wed 22 April 10am-12pm Open morning seminar “Innovations in Multi-Platform Content”

A selection of leading innovators in multi-platform content present recent projects in the areas of social media, cross platform storytelling, extended entertainment, games and online entertainment. Presenters will include social media strategist Laurel Papworth, 2008 BAFTA winners Hoodlum Entertainment and representatives from Google and other cutting edge innovators and thinkers in global screen media. Gary speaking.

Wed April 29 — LAMPÂ ‘State of Play’ Seminar “Free & Collaborative: Latest Open Source Creative Tools”

Want to run your own Facebook or YouTube? Want to set-up a cool online video festival or manage a complex project online? What are the best, free tools for collaboration, video distribution and marketing? An insightful survey of tools such as Drupal, Ning, Celtx, WordPress, Mogulus, Joomla and many more. Gary speaking.

Thurs/Fri 14-15 May – LAMP ‘Interactive Workshop’ Machinima Virtual Story: The Art & Craft of Machinima

Games and virtual worlds are now being used as creative tools to make a wide range of films from horror genre, comedy to corporate training and education. YouTube, Machinima.com and scores of other video portals are filled with examples of these new forms of virtual storytelling and some are now being commissioned by mainstream TV. NBC aired a CSI episode in 2008 featuring machinima made in Second Life and HBO recently acquired the machinima series ‘Molotov Alva’.Â The seminar will explore the vast range of machinima made with console, PC and online games. It will also look at simple forms of film pre-visualisation now possible using games technologies. The intensive workshop will provide a hands-on introduction to the tools of machinima and the opportunity to work on a short project. Participants are encouraged to bring along a pre-recorded soundtrack (including voice and/or music) to use as the basis for their project. Gary facilitating and speaking.

Wed May 27 — LAMP ‘State of Play’ Seminar “Massively Multi-Storyteller Online Worlds”

Virtual worlds and online games are primarily used for role-playing but they can become host to your own narrative worlds. This session looks at how to locate, take-part in or build rich story environments inside shared online spaces. Gary facilitating and speaking.

8-10 June Banff TV Fest Canada – Still discussing speaking and mentor role!

17-23 JuneÂ Games and Entertainment Technologies Conference in Algarve Portugal

Keynoting at theÂ Game, WAC and Informatics conferences (www.gaming-conf.org, www.wac-conf.org and www.informatics-conf.org). The Keynote will look at major trends and futures ofÂ eLearning, Intelligent Systems, Wireless Applications, Games, Creative Industries, ICT and Society, Computer Graphics and IHCI.

24 June – LAMP ‘State of Play’ Cinema 2.0

Stereoscopic 3D, interactive cinema, games in cinema. Where does the future lie for cinemas and other public screen spaces? Gary facilitating and speaking.

Thurs/Fri July 2/3 – LAMP ‘Interactive Workshop & Seminar’ “The Social Media Campaign: Connecting with your audience”

Aimed at anyone who wants to promote themselves, their product or creation into communities. A workshop looking at how to understand the new audiences, build traffic and loyalty that goes way beyond uploading a 9 minute short onto YouTube but looks at techniques of engaging with online events, social networks and DIY social media. The workshop will examine case studies of successful campaigns from producers and creators doing it for themselves.

Led by Laurel Papworth who is a Power150 media blogger (global – AdNews) and in the top 5 media bloggers for Australia (B&T). She has been teaching for 20 years, mostly in the area of online communities and virtual communications. Laurel is the senior social media strategist in Australia, consulting to companies, not for profits and government departments in Australia, Asia and Middle East including: Middle East Broadcasting (Dubai/Saudi Arabia) – Channel MBC4, Telecom New Zealand, , Fairfax: RSVP Dating Community, Sony Corporation, Universal McCann Erickson WorldWide, CHANNEL TEN: including Australian Idol community, Sulake: Makers of Habbo, Macquarie Leisure, Macquarie Media, New Holland Publishing, Australasian, Performing Right Association (APRA), Peoplebrowsr, MySongcast.com unsigned bands community, Australian Businesswomens’ Network, Pink Sofa online community, ABC Australia, National Archives of Australia (gov), Department of State and Regional Development (gov), Department of Primary Industry (gov), Australian Film Television and Radio School (edu), University of Sydney (edu, public), University of Western Sydney (edu, Masters program).

Gary speaking.

Mid Sept – SPAA Fringe, MultiPlatform Content sessions. Planning

Mid Nov – SPAA, MultiPlatform Content Strand. Planning

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