Month: October 2006

Here are two projects by wonderful colleagues of mine:

Is Your House Killing You? was my team for LAMP. It will be on SBS soon, but at present there is a call for people to be on the TV show!:

Put YOUR home under the microscope in our groundbreaking new science show ‘Is Your House Killing You?’

We’re looking for ALL TYPES of houses and occupants to take part in this exciting new series on SBS.

You are invited to take up the challenge to ‘detox’ your home. From inner city apartments to country fibros, our expert team will swarm, probe and strip back a diverse range of homes in a CSI-style investigation. No matter what house you live in, they all harbour a parallel microscopic world of hidden dangers.

‘Is Your House Killing You?’ is an innovative new scientific makeover programme that will expose this parallel universe and consequently help us to live healthier, happier lives.

Are you a cleaning freak or the opposite? Are you renovating or redecorating your house? Do you live in a rambling old quirky house? Are you expecting a baby and in a nesting frenzy? Does your bathroom have things growing in it? Have you recently bought new furniture? Do you suspect any kind of pest problem and/or have you been using pesticides? Do you spend a lot of time in the garage tinkering with cars? Do you have a mould or dampness problem? Are you a market gardener? Do you suffer from asthma or allergies? Do you have eczema or dermatitis or have a persistent cough? Do you live on a busy road?

Your house, garden or garage might be toxic!

However great the challenge, our super brainy team will come up with a makeover plan to rid each home of their toxic time bombs.

Join our scientific sleuths as they take Australian households on a journey of discovery, and find out about the latest scientific facts and great DIY tips.

If you, or someone you know would like to have their house detoxed, contact us immediately.

[…]

Life will never be the same once you ask IS YOUR HOUSE KILLING YOU?

Check out the call here

And here is the pilot for a mini-screen series by mobile content researcher Andrew McKenzie: A Bullet Waits for You. The pilot is on YouTube.

Go Jen, Carl and Andrew!

 

MIT Comparative Media Studies and the Convergence Culture Consortium present the Futures of Entertainment Conference, November 17-18, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Wohoo! Here is the blurb:

As advertisers look for new ways to engage audiences, content creators search for new audiences, and audiences quest for new ways to connect with culture, the nature of what counts as ‘entertainment’ is rapidly changing. We are seeing the blurring of aesthetic and technological distinctions between media platforms, of ‘advertising’ and ‘content’ and of ‘creator’ and ‘consumer’. Futures of Entertainment brings together key industry leaders who are shaping these new directions in our culture. The conference will consider developments such as user-generated content, transmedia storytelling, the rise of mobile media and the emergence of social networking.

And the blurb on the Transmedia Properties session:

The cultural logic of convergence lends itself to a flow of narratives, characters, and worlds across media platforms. Moving beyond older models based on liscensed ancillary products, transmedia extensions are now seen as expanding the opportunities for storytelling, enabling new kinds of entertainment experiences, building up secondary characters or backstory. Transmedia extension may also create alternative openings for different market segments and enable more extensive contact with brands. The great potential of transmediation is to deepen audience engagement, but this requires greater awareness of the specific benefits of working within different platforms. How are media companies organizing the development of transmedia properties? How are storytellers taking advantage of the “expanded canvas” such an approach offers? How do transmedia strategies impact the new integration between brands and entertainment properties? What new expectations do transmedia properties place on consumers?

Looks like a really interesting line-up. Jason Mittell will be presented too. Go Jason!

Screen Producers Association of Australia (SPAA) 21st Annual Conference is being held November 14th-17th on the Gold Coast.  

The Screen Producers Association of Australia (SPAA) represents the interests of producers on all issues that affect the business and creative aspects of independent screen production. Our annual conference is held over three days and attracts more than 650 delegates, which makes it the largest and most significant screen industry gathering in this part of the world.
Attendees include key Australian and international industry practitioners involved in all aspects of producing, creating, distributing and financing screen content.

What is good is that they’re running sessions on TV, Film and Cross-Media!!! Fantastic! The first I’ve seen at an industry conference. Spot on SPAA. Here are some of the sessions they’re running:

CROSS: Cross Media Storytelling is still story telling, but is there a New Media Way?
 
The growth of new technologies has changed the way a story can be told. The impact on the story, its production, and the audiences it reaches is evident. Using successful case studies we will investigate in what way it has changed and more importantly whether it is working?
The production options, interactivity capabilities and delivery mechanisms that are now available to story tellers and content producers are continually evolving, and the way in which it is presented to an audience spoilt by choice seems endless.

Considering that this phenomenon is approaching what appears to be its third generation the need for content producers and brand developers to organically grow their stories into cross media spaces, to find the right technology balance, and to reach its’ target audience in the most effective manner is a necessity.
Through this changing landscape and its increasing complexities the opportunity for the story tellers and producers to shape the future appears to be at its’ most exciting and its most challenging.
This session will bring together a unique panel of content producers and industry practitioners that have successfully navigated this path. Using their own experiences and specific case studies, each producer will share:

* How they approached and produced their stories,
* How things have changed and the impact on pre-production, production, deliver and audience experience, and
* What they consider are the success factors in this Cross Media Way.

Producer: Heath Amos, General Manager, Kojo Interactive
Chair: John Chataway, CEO, Kojo Interactive
Speakers: Amanda Duthie, Executive Producer, ABC,
Gary Hayes (LAMP and AFTRS)
Evan Jones, Creative Director at Xenophile Media, CAN,
Jim Shomos, Executive Producer, Forget the Rules

TV/DOCO: Extending Doco in the Time of Digital

Evan Jones is Creative Director at Xenophile Media in Canada.   He is an interactive media producer from the combined disciplines of computer science, film studies and radio production. Evan’s projects range from narrative console gaming to interactive historical documentary. Winner of the 2005 Canadian New Media Awards for Excellence in Cross Platform and Banff Television Award for Interactive Television, his project ‘The ReGenesis Extended Reality’ game engages players to interact with characters from the series. The project has attracted a whole new audience eager for more than bios and episodic summaries. The game draws viewers into a conspiracy and mystery that weaves in and out of the TV series, using the internet, email and other media to immerse the viewer and blur the line between fiction and reality. Evan will talk about the interactive and multiplatform opportunities for documentary production.

The ARG person would of noticed Evan Jones of Xenophile Media!! Wohoo! Evan is coming to Oz! I am thrilled to say that I will be working with Evan when he gets here in other states. Can’t wait for that. Anyway, for those that are interested and maybe able to attend this excellent event, the programme is now online [pdf].