Hitchhiker iTV Ad

An iTV Ad for Hitch sounds like they did an in-game/diegetic form of interaction (the button)…and then the storyworld fades off into meta-data (info about the storyworld or at least the representation of it). From itvt newsletter:

Buena Vista International has been using an interactive TV campaign on the Sky platform to promote its new movie, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” The campaign’s linear spots include a prompt, in which viewers are told, “Don’t panic! Just press the red button on your remote now”. Viewers who obey the prompt are taken to a Dedicated Advertiser Location (DAL), in which they can view a trailer for the movie; watch a mini-documentary on Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, the company that developed the movie’s various alien creatures; enter a competition; and find out more about the movie’s principal characters, such as Zaphod Beebelbrox and Ford Prefect. The ad was created by
Momentum Productions.

Convergence Jam

I’m just about to sign up to attend a ‘Convergence Jam’ being held here in Melbourne next month. The event is attended by professionals from film, TV, gaming, communciations and so on. Complimenting talks will be the development of multi-platform productions by attendees. It appears we’ll be split into teams and will compete against each other for the best idea.

Similar to television show The Apprentice, Jam teams of games developers, filmmakers, animators, digital media practitioners and new media artists will create the converging media models challenging the concept of ?spare time?. The winning team will be rewarded.

I’ve downloaded the Rules of Play which set out the theme and requirements. I’ve been coming up with ideas for a multi-platform work based on this theme — a really cool thing I think.

It’ll be a bit weird participating in such an event since I’d rather be observing (that’s why I’m there – to research how these professionals think multi-platform works should be designed and how they deliver the knowledge), but the pay-offs will be worth it. I wanted to participate last year but couldn’t so I look forward to it. I’m sure I’ll find some on-the-ball practitioners out there I can interview too.

If anyone has any ideas around the theme of ‘spare time’, throw them this way. No harm in a pre-jam jam.

A Holy Trinity

It is now official: I’ve successfully faced a panel and now I’ve converted to PhD. On top of this, the academic assessor was so impressed he fought to get on board and be a supervisor too! His work on ‘superfictions’ in art and writing is right up my cross-media alley, so to speak, and so I was happy to have him on board. My current supervisors weren’t budging either and so now I’ve got a win/win/win: 3 supervisors! One, Peter Morse, is my primary supervisor from Media Arts; then Peter Hill who is in the Visual Arts but is also a prolific author; and then there is Sari Smith who is from Creative Writing who will guide me through the birth of my novel. [I must say the amount of Peters I’ve encountered in my life since commencing my postgrad is uncanny.]

So, I’m thrilled to have such a great team on the case and to be confirmed as a PhD candidate. Now, if only I could stop working full-time and actually spend some quality time with my research. Same story around the globe.