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New Videogame Player Psychometric Model – 5 Domains of Play

March 14, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The Big Five

As I prepare to head off to GDC 2013 in a couple of weeks' time, I am reminded of a fantastic presentation that I saw at GDC 2012 by Jason VandenBerghe, Creative Director of Ubisoft. The presentation was called, "5 Domains of Play", and its purpose was to redefine the model that is used to analyse player behaviour. In particular, to rid it of its obsession of player 'demographics'. The point is - we all know that our playing behaviour changes over time as we move through different stages of our lives, but some of our core, fundamental playing behaviour does not. By slicing and dicing our audience by demographics, we ignore the psychometric aspects that players of different ages, sexes, and education have in common. In other words, can we group players by some other means that will be … [Read more...]

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The Facilitator – “I’ll Be Back”

March 27, 2012 by Leave a Comment

I ran into somebody yesterday who'd read my post, "The Middle-Man IS the problem", and dismissed it by saying that there will always be middle-men, so what's the point of dreaming otherwise? I think they missed my point. Yes, there will always be middle-men, especially if they add a useful service that other people want to pay for. No, you do not always need them. What I wanted to question in my article, however, was the function of the middle-men. What, exactly, is their purpose? When you are seeking out finance for an independent movie, most of the middle-men you meet are not there to help you. Instead, they present an obstacle that you must either scale over or circumnavigate to get to your goal. If they don't like or don't understand what you are pitching to them, they don't try to … [Read more...]

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Crowdfunding Paradigm Shift – Kickstarter & Double Fine Adventure

March 14, 2012 by 1 Comment
Screen Shot 2012-03-14 at 10.17.28

I hate using the phrase, "Paradigm Shift", because it sounds so phoney and hyperbolic but in this case I think it's warranted. The video game project - Double Fine Adventure - has just raised $3.3m - from 87,142 fans on Kickstarter. There are a number of reasons to be excited about this. The first is that, "The Audience has spoken". Here are 87,000 fans who have pledged money to participate as voyeurs in a project without taking any stake in it whatsoever. They have happily given money simply for the privilege of going along for the ride. Second, roughly half of them gave $15 and a quarter gave $30. This is slightly more than the price of an average movie ticket - suggesting that having ringside seats to the game development process is considered to be at least equivalent entertainment … [Read more...]

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Storytelling is a search for meaning

March 9, 2012 by Leave a Comment

We enjoy stories that either confirm what we already know to be true, or to change our perspective entirely. Stories entertain but they also educate. And, above all, it is a community activity. A Shared Experience. We enjoy stories because they connect us to one another and to the human condition. Sometimes, they give us answers. Other times, they confound us. But, always, they force us to explore, learn and evolve. Development IS Entertainment Every time I develop a story with other writers, I discover more about myself and the world around me. It is a very challenging and rewarding process. I am forced to question my beliefs, question my rituals and debate the truth. I believe that this process is just as important as the final product. And I'd like to find a meaningful way to give … [Read more...]

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The Middle-Man is the Problem

March 4, 2012 by 1 Comment

When I see how successful "The Artist" has become ($81m worldwide BO as of this writing), I am reminded of how difficult it is to get unusual films made yet how much the audience enjoys them. Film is really more than a medium of escape - it is a place to find fresh new ideas, stories and performances. The trouble is, this is not what distributors and financiers are looking for. Independent filmmakers dream of making brave new films for receptive audiences. And, yet, when it actually comes down to getting films made - we aren't pitching them to the audience. We are pitching them to middle-men. And what the middle-men are looking for may, in fact, be very different from what audiences crave. The middle-men will tell you otherwise. They will tell you that they know what audiences want. But … [Read more...]

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Jane Wright & Paul Grindey – Independent Feature Films

February 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment

In this podcast, I brought together Jane Wright and Paul Grindey to discuss feature film development, finance and distribution. I was particularly interested in their advice for the independent producer, given that they have worked both as independents and for large organisations. Jane Wright has worked for the BBC for 15 years, most recently as Managing Director for BBC Films. Paul Grindey has worked for Channel Four and Film Four for the past nine years. Both are now independent. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcvTViCi9gU … [Read more...]

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When Loyalty Pays Off

February 23, 2012 by Leave a Comment
FreddieW

As an independent producer, I meet with a lot of financiers, distributors and sales agents. It reminds me that I'm not making films for the audience. I'm making them for the middle-men. This is far from ideal. The ideal scenario would be to have a direct line to the consumer - like you do in the theatre. Instant feedback between the consumers and the creators during every viewing. And if they liked something, we could give them more. But I'm not pitching my projects to the consumer. I'm pitching them to people who believe that they know the consumer best. They're the ones who'll have to market the picture, pay for prints and advertising, haggle with the exhibitors and collect the receipts. They want a particularly kind of product. They might not be able to tell you what it is but they … [Read more...]

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Liz Rosenthal – What is Transmedia?

February 9, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Liz Rosenthal

I'm starting a new series entitled, "State of the Union", to examine how the entertainment business is developing in the European Union. I'm doing this because I feel that we are lacking shared resources here on this side of the pond, compared to what's on offer in America. My hope is that by holding roundtable discussions and interviews with professionals and mavericks in the business that we will begin to build a brain trust and "best-of-breed" knowledge base for innovation in our industry. We face different challenges and opportunities in Europe, despite working in a global market. I will be talking to filmmakers, game designers, storytellers and anyone involved in the entertainment industry in order to figure out what works, what doesn't and what we can do to make us more effective in … [Read more...]

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Will Tablets Kill the Television Star?

January 13, 2011 by 4 Comments

Apologies for the kludgy headline but I had that song stuck in my head as I was writing this. If you don't know the song, then I'm showing my age. They said that 2010 was the Year of the Tablet... but it only turned out to be the Year of the iPad. Now, post-CES, we are told 2011 will be the Year of the Tablet. This may be true. But, what is more interesting to me is what the Tablet is doing to media consumption and distribution. In particular, it's like the Walkman revolution all over again... shifting people away from the static TV to a personal, more intimate and portable viewing experience. And - as with the Walkman phenomenon - don't people end up listening to more and more music as a result of being able to take it anywhere and everywhere? Watching video content on an Tablet is … [Read more...]

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What does Crowdpower mean for Entertainment?

December 3, 2010 by Leave a Comment

I just wrote an article on Nomadz, "Dematerialising Posessions into The Cloud." In it, I wrote about the effect of the weightless economy on goods and services, inspired by the work of Rachel Botsman and her thesis, 'collaborative consumption'. What I didn't do was discuss at length how this will affect the entertainment industry... Even if DVD sales disappear, they will be replaced by something else. Thankfully to those of us in the Industry, people still like watching movies, television and other forms of passive entertainment. But it seems increasingly unlikely that people will want to 'own' this content, unless they are a big fan of the content creator (see, "The Sky is Falling - the End of DVD?") In other words, people will want the experience but without the ownership. Much of … [Read more...]

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