Today's Art History Leaving Cert Question on Pixar.

'The success of Pixar animation studios is firmly fixed on the understanding that the animated world should be based on the real world'. Discuss this statement with reference to any one of Pixar's productions, such as Toy Story 1,2, and 3, The Incredibles, Monsters Inc., Wall-E and Up. AND Discuss briefly two film-making techniques that make these films so visually attractive. Illustrate your answer.

MIPTV 2010

Data, Transmedia, 3DTV and Ash-clouds were among the buzz-words at MIPCOM 2010 which took place in Cannes in April.

While there seemed to be fewer attendees than usual at the event, there certainly wasn’t any shortage of useful info or contacts to be collected and stored for future use.

Aside from winning an iPad at the Cake party in the Old Town (thanks for the iPad and the cake, Cake!) three highlights worth a mention were the seminars with Tim Kring, creator of the tv series ‘Heroes’, a fascinating session with companies pushing the boundaries on augmented reality and Gavin McGarry’s (@gavinmcgarry) Digital Wrap Up - always a crowd pleaser. (If you only have time to go to one seminar at MIP, McGarry’s wrap-up should be it. You’ll learn more in 45mins than any book, blog, social media site, or video will ever tell you. Yes, that age-old past time of watching a man talk on a stage still works.

Transmedia Heroes

Tim Kring is a transmedia hero, so it comes as no surprise that his tv show ‘Heroes’ has become the case study in transmedia exploitation. An incredible amount of content was created in tandem with the tv show to continue the experience for fans across a variety of online and offline content, including motion comics, various augmented reality experiences and mobile content. The producers even took the audience engagement to the point of asking viewers to assist in the creation of new characters for the show. Tim picked up a Digital Emmy for his efforts in Cannes.

The lesson reinforced once again is that content producers must look beyond the tv when creating content. Producers need to be feeding the audience’s appetite for wanting to take their entertainment brand beyond traditional media and into other aspects of the viewer's world (both real and virtual). Cross platform is no longer a spin-off, it’s a necessity and while it’s been that way for some time now, it’s surprising how many companies are still very slow in getting into this space and more surprising how many are getting caught up in trying to chase the technology and not just jumping in and getting on with it, using whatever technology is available. ‘Feel the fear and do it anyway’ – as the book title says. If you wait for the right technology to come along, you will be waiting – it’s changing too fast to keep up. While producers obviously need to be aware of what platforms are available, more importantly they need to know what platforms and technologies makes sense for their content. If there’s no obvious augmented reality spin-off for your content for example, don’t waste your time trying to make one up just because that’s the trend at that time. Use what makes sense for your idea, your characters and their world.

The other obvious thing to be garnished from Tim’s seminar is that content is king (we've been hearing that for years now). Tim explains that at the heart of the ‘Heroes’ success is the fact that the show is based on archetypes of the traditional hero characters which have been around for hundreds of years in various forms of literature. All he did (he claims and makes it sound so easy) was to put a modern spin on these archetypes. He pointed out that the appeal of the show is that audience identifies with the characters and their struggle to find their own identity and ultimately accept who they are, something we all do at various stages in our ‘non-superhero’ lives. Spiderman and Batman do this too but 'Heroes' does it without the cape and tights and that’s the heart of the entire ‘Heroes’ concept – everything else spins from this. It’s interesting that something so complex in all its various executions can be boiled down to something as simple as that.

As an aside - following Tim’s session, Chris Albrecht of Starz Media discussed his latest international co-production ‘Camelot’ which is due to shoot in Ireland this summer taking full advantage of Irish directing talent (Ciaran Donnelly) along with Irish actors and Irish crew with post-production to be completed in Canada. For many US studios producing content on this scale, Albrecht suggests that international co-pros are the only way forward. Interesting quote: 'The World is TV - a truly global medium, now more than ever'.

It’s all about the data.

Data: Who owns it? Can you sell it? Should you sell it? Does it belong to the producer, the company who collects it, the service provider or the government? And would you surrender it if you were asked to?

Plenty of companies are shifting focus to the collection, management and analysis of data with many saying that the content is only as good as the data you can garnish from its exploitation. And you can understand why. Data can tell us so much about our audience and consumers but the debate continues around data retention and who should own it and if it's right to even share it. Is the real value in a company its ownership of the content and the IP or is the value in the data that goes along with the content more valuable? Also how do you visualize all this data? Endless pages of Excel docs? Surely not.

There are companies developing animated maps for example to illustrate data with incredible detail and instant readability in a way that no presentation could do justice to. Accurate data reporting is continuing to change the face of tv too and providing inroads for brands looking to target specific consumers. The challenge for the brands is in continuing to create engaging content in order to stimulate the consumer and keep them involved. Brands and producers need to cosy up a lot more if both are to survive. Taking entertainment brands out into public spaces with things like digital graffiti and augmented reality experiences continues to open up endless opportunities for producers but the majority of content in this space appears to be coming from the technology guys at the moment with some very interesting results.


Note: If you haven't seen this, check out 'Hidden Park' - a great augmented reality iPhone app for parents and kids.

3D or not 3D

3D (stereoscopic using polarized glasses) looks like it’s here to stay, at least that’s what you might think looking around MIP. And it’s well on its way to becoming a fixture in your home, much to the disappointment of the movie theatre owners who thought they may have had this exclusive attraction for a while longer. But no such luck. TV sets requiring no glasses like the one at the MDA Singapore stand (screening content created by Tiny Island Productions) are impressive. Certain technical issues (a slight strobbing if you move left to right in your seat too rapidly) will be ironed out in the months ahead but the ‘no-glasses-required’ is a big attraction for all the family. This version doesn't just use a second camera eye - but 16 individually rendered perspectives so everyone sitting on the sofa get a slightly different pov.

The Singapore stand also had 3D gaming on display from a projector. While it did require glasses, the idea of playing you favourite Xbox game in 3D is very intriguing and gaming is thought by ‘experts’ to be the best application for stereoscopic 3D in the near future. Telecast (who have been working with 3DTV for many years) have a tv that displays 3DTV when you wear the glasses but ‘magically’ returns to normal 2DTV when you take them off so everyone can watch the tv at the same time even if there are only a handful of glasses in the house.

However, recent health concerns over the affect that viewing 3D for extended periods of time might have on your eyesight, may ruin the party for everyone but we will just have to wait and see what the scientists say. Reminds me of mobile phone health scares . . . whatever happened to them?

Ps: The Playboy Channel did have some ‘interesting’ 3DTV content on display – proving once again that adult entertainment is always at the leading edge when it comes to adapting technology and content for consumers.

Word about iPads

There was a lot of talk about iPads with over 1million sold in the 30 days in the US (the iPhone took 74 days to reach the same volume). The jury is still out for lots of reasons but there’s definite potential in that-there new gadget with consumer brands leading the way in creating content. It was kinda strange to see numerous people wandering about with the new must-have toy, reminding me of guys in the 80’s with the first mobile phones – battery in one hand and the receiver in the other. Remember them? You know who you are. I did spot someone with an interesting case for their iPad that doubles up as a 'wedge' which holds the iPad in a laptop-like position making typing on the touchpad keyboard much easier. See it here: Apple Store iPad case

Gavin McGarry’s Digital Warp Up

@gavinmcgarry is definitely a great follow if you are a tweeter. His Digital Wrap-up session is always a great way to get a snap shot of where everything is at in the industry - technology, trends, brands, gadgets, the future – he has all the answers, well some at least.
Gavin works for Jumpwire Media in NY.

Few quick headlines to note from his session:


- If you are an executive of a media company - get the data on your desk every week.


- Micro payments are going to be even bigger in 2010 / 2011.

- Single sign-on is the way forward.

- HTML5 - get on board with this asap. (Did you see Google's banner for Pac-man's anniversary? HTML5).

- Everything to do with location awareness is going to be big.

- Creative commons - Click here to find out more it's fascinating.

- Check out the 'Did you know 4.0' video Click here


- Money making models more obvious on the web than ever before.


- Be curious (old skool media types V the new skool). Curiousity over command.


-  Women leading the way in digital space because the are more curious and are asking the right questions.


- Think global.


-  Social media is being positioned in marketing departments rather than under PR.


- More innovation happening outside America BUT if America is not taking to it, it's not seen as leading the way.


- Niche markets are key.


- Key ways to monetize online remain: freemium, subscription, affiliate, banner ads, sponsorship.


- Americans spend $260 per month on entertainment (poorest Americans spend $180 per month).


- Consumers will pay for a unique experience.

- Watch out for Yahoo Connected Tv.


- If you ever visit NY check out NY video.org (a video meet up group) - 'The stuff I've seen there is phenomenal'. David McGarry.


- Foursquare is big in NY


- Video is almost 50% of internet traffic and will be approx 64% of mobile traffic. Video has the highest rate you can monetize content at right now.


- Interesting note that every public Tweet is held in the Library of Congress in the US.


- Youtube CPM $10-$15 for a pre-roll. Overlay $8-$10. Homepage banner $200k-$300k. Just over one third of all video streams are monetised. 


- Online video revenue increased while online revenue overall went down.


- Facebook and monetising video? Watch out.


- Cut down on your Twitter followers - quality over quantity.


Thanks to Gavin McGarry for pulling all this useful info together.

And then there was ‘ashcloud’

As MIPCOM 2010 came to a close on Thursday morning, a new word began to emerge: ‘ashcloud’. A development by Microsoft in the field of cloud-computing perhaps? Left over and unwanted data floating in the stratosphere waiting for some garage start-up to turn into a digital business and make a fortune from? No …. sadly it was a simple act of God (or an act of man as some would later debate) in the guise of a good old fashioned volcanic eruption in Iceland (7000kms) away which led to a complete grounding of all flights across Europe.

While the idea of being stranded in Cannes for a few days or even a week is not too shabby, there were those of us who wanted to get home asap. Cannes is expensive and straight way the opportunists came out of the wood work – car hire €900 per day???!!! Thanks anyway. In fairness though some of the hotels did reduce rates and even offered some rooms for free for a night or two until people had figured out a way to get home.

The biggest things we learned from ash-Thursday was, as Damien McCarney from Enterprise Ireland put it: ‘Without air travel, the world is a very big place’.

Our road trip from Cannes to Lille to Callis to Dover to Holyhead to Dublin (just under 2000kms in 2.5 days was followed by many on Twitter (thanks tweeters) and a series of bets on Facebook as to who would get home first saw some people garnish a small fortune out of other peoples' misfortune.

Once again social media led the way in getting info to the masses. Hashtags #getmehome and #ashcloud became the most followed in Europe with people offering free transport, accommodation and coach rides to help get you home.

Thanks to all who shared news, information, tips and suggestions to aid the thousands of travellers over the week.

Thanks also to the wonders of iPhone, Sat nav, strange French biscuits with apple inside and an empty Samsonite case for all your help on our adventure.

The Special 1 is returning to England for the World Cup.

The BBC today confirmed today that Jose, aka The Special 1, will be hosting his new show, ‘Special 1 TV’ as part of BBC3’s World Cup coverage.

‘Special 1 TV’ is a topical spoof phone-in show hosted by puppet versions of Jose and co-hosted by Wayne Rooney and Sven Goran Eriksson. The show also features regular calls from managers like Rafa, Arsene ‘The Voyeur’ Wenger, and Mr. Alex (Ferguson). Set against the backdrop of the upcoming World Cup, players like Didier, Stevie G. and Beckham will contribute each week, as well as personalities from beyond the world of soccer like Nelson Mandela and a certain ‘Barack’ in Washington.

The comedy puppet series, originally created by Irish writer and impressionist Mario Rosenstock and producer, director and puppeteer Damian Farrell began on Setanta Sports in 2007.  However, with Setanta’s demise, Jose put a transfer request in and BBC3 have since snapped him up.

The topicality of the show is the real hook, with Jose and his rubbery cohorts regularly taking on the traditional media with its version of footballs breaking headlines.

Mario Rosenstock says, ‘The idea of Jose, Sven, Wayne and Fabio as puppets is a mouth-watering prospect. With the puppets you have free range to poke fun and heighten the characteristics that already exist. Having written and performed many of these characters for over 10 years on the radio for the ‘Gift Grub’ comedy slot on Today FM’s breakfast show, it’s great to transform the same characters into puppets which also give us the license to veer towards the surreal.’

‘Special 1 TV’ episodes will be produced by production company Caboom for BBC3 and BBC online ahead of each of the England games, capturing the mood, atmosphere and anticipation from Jose’s South African studio in the lead up to what’s undoubtedly going to be one of the most exciting World Cup tournaments of recent years. With Wayne and Sven embedded in the tournament, Jose will be doing what he does best - shouting in his opinion from the outside.

Damian Farrell from Caboom says that ‘S1TV has proven to be a very unique and well-loved TV and online series, with its humour, topicality and fan interaction at the heart of its success. We are delighted to be working with the BBC on a World Cup version and very excited in particular with the opportunities presented to us in working with BBC online to further build on the social media and online potential of content like this.’

The show will also feature a puppet version of England manager Fabio Capello whose approach and attitude to the beautiful game will undoubtedly stand in complete contrast to puppet Sven’s tactics of hanging out in South Africa for the month, on an all expenses paid trip courtesy of the Ivory Coast.

‘Special 1 TV’ begins on BBC3 on June 11^th with daily episodes available on BBC online during the World Cup.

Follow 'Special 1 TV' on www.twitter.com/special1tv
And follow @caboomtweet on twitter for more details.

J.J. ABRAMS TO BE HONORED AT OSCAR WILDE EVENT

Tom Cruise, Tim Roth and Brian O’Byrne, will be presenters at the fifth annual "Oscar Wilde: Honoring The Irish in Film" pre-Academy Awards party, Thursday, March 4, 2010 at the Ebell of Los Angeles.

The US-Ireland Alliance, a non profit organization that fosters ties between the US and Ireland, will honor multi-award-winning screenwriter, producer and director J.J. Abrams, cinematographer Seamus McGarvey, and actress Saoirse Ronan at the intimate, casual awards ceremony that has become a must-have ticket on the Thursday night before the Academy Awards.

Tom Cruise will present the Oscar Wilde to J.J. Abrams. It was recently announced that Tom will star in, and J.J. will produce, Mission Impossible IV for Paramount. The pair worked together on Mission Impossible III, which starred Mr. Cruise and was directed by Mr. Abrams. Mr. Cruise was most recently seen in Valkyrie and will next be seen this summer, in the action-comedy Knight and Day with Cameron Diaz. Mr. Cruise has starred in nearly 40 films with more than a dozen of them earning more than $100 million. He has been nominated for an Academy Award three times, for Magnolia, Jerry Maguire, and Born on the Fourth of July.

Tim Roth will present to Seamus McGarvey. The two met when Seamus was the cinematographer for The War Zone, a 1999 film directed by Mr. Roth. Tim made his studio feature debut in Rob Roy opposite Liam Neeson and Jessica Lange, in a villainous role that earned him Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations. He currently stars in the Fox series, Lie to Me, as a pioneer in the field of deception detection. He was recently seen in The Incredible Hulk, Francis Ford Coppola’s Youth Without Youth, and Funny Games, opposite Naomi Watts. He gained worldwide recognition for his roles in two Quentin Tarantino films: Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction.

Saoirse Ronan will be unable to attend, as she will be filming in Europe. Directed again by Joe Wright, she will star as a teenage assassin in Hanna, co-starring Cate Blanchett and Eric Bana. Saoirse will accept her award by video and will be introduced in L.A. by Brían O'Byrne. Brían won a Tony Award for his portrayal of a serial killer in Frozen. He was also Tony nominated for his role as the priest in Doubt, for which he won the Outer Critics Circle Award and the Drama Desk Award. He was Tony nominated for his role in Tom Stoppard’s The Coast of Utopia and for the Drama Desk Award for his role in Conor McPherson’s Shining City. Directed by Garry Hynes, Brían was Tony nominated for roles in two Martin McDonagh plays -- The Beauty Queen of Leenane and The Lonesome West. Among his many film roles, he played the priest in Clint Eastwood’s,Million Dollar Baby and will soon be seen in Brooklyn’s Finest.

Caboom is proud to support this event and the ongoing work or Trina Vargo and the US Ireland Alliance.

For more details visit the US - Ireland Alliance website.

IFI Screening of Irish Oscar Nominations March 3rd 6.30pm

The IFI celebrates Irish Oscar nominations with a special Ireland at the Oscars screening of all three nominated films; The Secret of Kells, The Door and Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty


March 3rd 6.30pm


The IFI is delighted to present this event that celebrates the achievement of the three Irish films nominated for Oscars at the prestigious Academy Awards. The Secret of Kells has already proved to be a big hit during its Irish release and this event is also a rare chance to see the two nominated short films, The Door and Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty, in the cinema before the Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday 7th March.

The Secret of Kells, nominated for Best Animated Feature Film, is a magical animation in which a 12-year-old Brendan fights Vikings and a serpent god to find a crystal and complete the legendary Book of Kells. The film was directed by Tom Moore for the Cartoon Saloon in Kilkenny, the company he helped to found, and the film has recently secured a wide release in the United States for 2010.

The Door, nominated for Best Live-Action Short Film, is a powerful tale of life, loss and death set in Chernobyl in 1986 and was produced by Irish duo Louise Curran and James Flynn from Ardmore-based Octagon Films.

Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty is a retelling of the well-known fairy tale by seemingly sweet Granny O’Grimm before things go decisively off the rails. The film was produced by Brown Bag Films who are no strangers to the Oscars, having been nominated in the same category in 2002 for Give Up Yer Aul Sins.


The films will be introduced by Sarah Glennie, IFI Director, and the evening will be attended by members of the Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty crew from Brown Bag Films.

RIP EUGENE LAMBERT (PULLING STRINGS - RTE ARTS LIVES)

1 x 60 min documentary on the life and work of Irish puppeteer Eugene Lambert. This highly visual documentary traces the career of Ireland's leading puppet-performer from stage to radio (yes puppets on radio!) to black and white television, to colour television and back to theatre with the development of his own puppet theatre in Monkstown, Co. Dublin. Now in his seventies, Eugene looks back on his career with his wife Mai and 10 children, reflecting on changes in the business, the good times, the bad times and what it takes to ensure the show must go on. Directed by Damian Farrell & produced by Maria Horgan.

Damian Farrell: 'Working on this documentary was a real dream come through. Getting to pick Eugene's brain for a few months was great. His old stories, his crazy inventions and his memories of the early days of tv in Ireland were among our regular conversations. I remember bringing him a photograph of myself and my sisters standing in the door way of Wanderly Wagon - I was about 3 years old in the photo which taken in the mid 70's and featured in the closing credits of the doc. I remember vividly visiting the set of Wanderly Wagon on Sunday afternoons with my family to see the show being made. My dad worked in RTE at the time in set construction. I remember standing by the magic chute on the side of the Wagon as my sisters climbed inside and slid packets of Cadbury's buttons' down to my brother & I who eagerly took turns pulling the lever. We really believed it to be the most unusual wagon we ever saw!

'Waking Sleeping Beauty' - Trailer

Waking Sleeping Beauty is no fairytale. It is a story of clashing egos, out of control budgets, escalating tensions… and one of the most extraordinary creative periods in animation history. Director Don Hahn and producer Peter Schneider, key players at Walt Disney Studios Feature Animation department during the mid1980s, offer a behind-the-magic glimpse of the turbulent times the Animation Studio was going through and the staggering output of hits that followed over the next ten years. Artists polarized between the hungry young innovators and the old guard who refused to relinquish control, mounting tensions due to a string of box office flops, and warring studio heads create the backdrop for this fascinating story told with a unique and candid perspective from those that were there. Through interviews, internal memos, home movies, and a cast of characters featuring Michael Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Roy Disney, alongside an amazing array of talented artists that includes Don Bluth, John Lasseter, and Tim Burton, Waking Sleeping Beauty shines a light on Disney Animation’s darkest hours, greatest joys and its improbable renaissance. From Apple Trailers.

If Jason Reitman & Pete Docter had worked together . . . .

Spotted on http://www.slashfilm.com