Moore Interaction

@mip 2013: The Formats Futures Report

Nicky — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 23:03:31 +0000

Based on two months of extensive analysis into trends in the international formats business this session charts current trends in the business. What is the current shape of the formats business and how is it likely to change in 2013/14? The session is accompanied by a print report which is available to all delegates free of charge. Moderator: David Jenkinson, Editor-in-chief; Managing Director, C21Media, UK. Speakers

Avi Armoza, CEO, Armoza Formats, Israel @armozaformats
Holger Andersen, Executive Vice President Group Program Strategy & Development, ProSiebenSat.1 Group, Germany
Jennifer Ebell, Vice President, Television Distribution SE EMEA, ITV Sudios Global Entertainment, UK
Trond Kvernstrøm, CEO/Producer, Monster AS, Norway
Keren Shahar, Head of Distribution and Acquisitions, Keshet International, Israel
Karrie Wolfe, Senior Vice President, Kinetic Content, USA

@mip Acquisition Superpanel: What do Buyers Want?

Nicky — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 00:04:31 +0000

In partnership with World Screen this exclusive acquisition superpanel discussed emerging global acquisition trends for 2013, as seen by key members of the buyers’ community, namely:

Gill Hay, head of acquisitions, Channel 4 (UK)
John Ranelagh, director of acquisition, TV2 (Norway)
Beverley McGarvey, chief programming officer, Network Ten (Australia)
Malcolm Dunlop, EVP of TV programming and operations, Rogers Communications (Canada)

@mip What do Buyers Want? #factualentertainment

Nicky — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 23:03:41 +0000

International executives give Producers the inside scoop on what factual programming they are acquiring to unveil what new content trends they expect from production companies.

Speakers:

Alison Baker, Senior Acquisitions Manager – Non-Fiction, Australian Broadcasting Television, Australia
Chris Hoelzl, Vice President, Program Development, Smithsonian Channel HD, USA
Mette Hoffmann Meyer, Head of Documentaries and Co-productions, Danish Broadcasting Corporation, Denmark
Mark Kozaki, Programming Officer, Alhurra TV — Middle East Broadcasting Networks, USA
Yuan Tian, Head of International Acquisitions & Co-Production, CCTV Documentary Channel , China.

@mip Branded Entertainment: Audience Engagement with Brands

Nicky — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 22:34:16 +0000

The rising importance of tablet PCs and mobile devices in the multi-screen viewing experience is clear, and brands are using apps, online games and bespoke websites as a way of reaching audiences and influencing them directly while they are watching TV. Industry experts will demonstrate examples of what can be done to enhance and deepen the viewing experience without spoiling or interrupting the audience’s focus on the television.

Speakers:
Nick Bailey, Executive Creative Director, AKQA The Netherlands @baileyology
James Kirkham, Managing Partner, Holler Digital, UK @spoonybear
Paul Kontonis, Vice President and Group Director for Brand Content, Digitas’ The Third Act, UK @kontonis

The Business of “Branded Entertainment”

Nicky — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 01:51:12 +0000

This morning I came across this fantastic Liveblog panel discussion on “Branded Content” courtesy of MIP Markets. Speakers include Evan Shapiro, president, Independent Film Channel; Birgit Becker, marketing & communications manager, Nestlé; Patou Nuyteman, EAME chief digital officer, Ogilvy and Mather; Chet Fenster, managing partner, MEC Entertainment.

There’s an interesting transformation going on in long-form entertainment that most TV Producers aren’t fully aware of. Or if they are aware they’re struggling to find a forumla that works.

Brands (and the agencies who service them) are rethinking the way they advertise products. If you’re in the TV biz you’ll know that the amount of people watching scheduled television has decreased substantially over the last 2 to 3 years. As a direct result of viewers not tuning in, brands aren’t buying as much commercial advertising space on broadcast television. For Producers this is a scary time. You see if brands stop advertising on broadcast television in the traditional way then broadcasters have less money to invest in new programming. This means that no matter how “entertaining” your idea may be, broadcasters won’t have the resources to fund it.

What seems to be happening now is a changing of the guard almost. Advertising Execs or “Account Managers” who for many years were given the task of selling a product in the shortest duration possible now find themselves having to create compelling long-form “stories” around products. The domain of the story-teller is fast becoming the domain of the advertiser and only a lack of formula is keeping the traditional TV producer relevant.

A year ago I wrote about the new skill-set Producers will need in order to “keep up” in the coming years. If the quality of integrated content popping up on free-to-air telly is anything to go by, we’re not doing a very good job of adapting so far. Why is this though? Account Managers are still partnering with Producers in order to create “branded entertainment”. Producers aren’t completely obsolete just yet! Instead of seeing an explosion of well executed branded programming however we’re getting two ends of the spectrum either award winning branded content or transparent (blatant) product placement.

Personally I don’t think Producers and Account Managers are chatting to each other enough or at the very least, we’re not chatting to each other at the right time. If I were to generalise I’d say that most Australian directors, producers and writers think “advertising” is a dirty word. Leave a comment if you think I’m wrong. In many ways they are right to feel this way. When done badly integrated advertising looks and sounds transparent. Viewers see it, hate it and switch off both literally and figuratively. In fear of alienating the viewer, producers shy away from partnering with brands unless the money is just too good to turn down. For the most part they leave it up to the broadcaster to “do the deals” which usually results in the aforementioned transparency problem.

Luckily for Producers Advertising agencies are working hard on getting “branded entertainment” right. They want to produce compelling stories that satisfy client objectives without distracting the viewer and, most importantly they want to do it all really well. I think the preconception that intergrating advertising is “difficult” or an obstacle to “real” storytelling is keeping TV producers in the dark ages. Advertising is not a dirty word. Producers need to forget that notion or they won’t survive. Advertising pays for television shows. It always has and it always will. If you can’t design a show that blends with advertising in a way that satisfies both camps then it won’t matter how awesome your idea is, broadcasters won’t be able to justify the investment.

So what to do? When developing a project think about the audience AND potential advertisers. How can you integrate with an advertiser without interrupting the viewer? Be clever. When you’re pitching to networks setup meetings with media agencies that represent brands at the same time. Their objectives are the same as yours and wonderful things can happen when account execs and producers collaborate.

Written by Multiplatform Producer, Nicky Moore. @moorefilm

@Microsoft Surface Keynote 2012

Nicky — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 09:01:28 +0000

Microsoft unveils its new Windows RT-based tablets at its June 18th event in Los Angeles. We think Surface looks wonderful and together with Smart Glass, we’re really looking forward to playing with Microsoft PC products again.

The Game of Life

Nicky — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 05:38:26 +0000

Over the last few weeks I’ve been reading two wonderfully compelling books on gaming by designer (and Future Forecaster) Jane McGonigal and author Jamie Russell. Jamie’s book, “Generation Xbox: How Video Games Invaded Hollywood” is a must-read for anyone calling themselves a Producer, on any platform. We’re not living in a time where a Film Producer can just be a Film Producer and the same can be said for all other mediums. Gamification has started to infiltrate everything we do and you’d be wise to know how and why it all started.

Jane McGonigal’s New York Times best selling book, “Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change The World” has been an absolute revelation and I haven’t even finished it yet. In the book Jane theorizes why people play games and makes the suggestion that instead of games being “escapist” as many people like to label them, they are instead fulfilling a basic human need for satisfying, hard work that the “real” world does not currently offer.

Jane outlines four defining traits of a game: The goal (what players will achieve), the rules (limitations on how players achieve the goal), the feedback system (how close players are to achieving the goal) and voluntary participation (every one playing willingly accepts the goals, the rules and the feedback). Unlike reality, games present you with a set of challenges that you know you can achieve. Challenges that have been specifically designed to suit your level of ability, so failing at a task (biochemically speaking) doesn’t depress you in the same way that failing at a “real-world” task would, but instead motivates you to keep trying. Jane details how the human body and mind are wired and how the structure of a game appeals to this natural engineering. She also questions why reality isn’t structured in the same way and if it were how each individual could play a bigger part in solving many world problems.

Most of us find the chaotic way our lives are organized to be wholly unsatisfying and in severe cases unbearable. If you work in an office for example you may have tasks defined for you and once you complete those tasks it can be pretty difficult to determine your personal contribution to the outcome. Positive Psychology, which encompasses the now multi-million dollar “self help” industry proposes that individuals can transform their lives by following a 1, 2, 3 step program and so on. In a lot of ways “self-help” is an attempt to apply a gaming structure to life but at the moment I don’t think it goes quite far enough.

There is a reason that people check-in to places, games, books, TV shows etc. and it’s the same reason people have collectively spent 5.93 million years playing World of Warcraft. If the secret to a more satisfying life is being able to see an immediate and direct response to something we’ve achieved then why have we collectively created a world that doesn’t do that? There are many biochemical reasons as to why this might be the case. Negative reinforcement helps to prevent us from making the same mistake twice but negativity in modern humans has (in my opinion) become misplaced and disproportionate. Somewhere along the line we’ve created a world where “reading” a recipe book and levelling up in The Sims generates a greater feeling of accomplishment than doing it in real-life.

In real life we don’t know everything about the world we live in. We don’t really know why we’re here and for what purpose we were created. There’s no undisputed “Life Wiki” and if there were I’m sure it would’ve been heavily edited by now. We also don’t know (or believe) that the challenges we face every day have been designed for our current skill level. We don’t know if we can handle the quest(s) presented to us.

Maybe the key to a satisfying life then is to assume that whatever challenges await, we have the skill level needed to overcome them. Whatever activities we undertake along the way we make sure to give ourselves (and others) a +1 and when we complete a quest, enjoy the reward. Maybe it’s time that governments and employers overlay gaming mechanics to day to day processes.

Maybe happiness is as easy as treating life like it’s a game – one you were born to win.

@andrewstanton: The clues to a great story

Nicky — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 23:33:50 +0000

Filmmaker Andrew Stanton (“Toy Story,” “WALL-E”) shares what he knows about storytelling — starting at the end and working back to the beginning.

Microsoft 2012 E3 Press Conference

Nicky — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 05:06:29 +0000

There weren’t any “earth shattering” announcements made at this year’s Microsoft E3 Press Conference, at least not from game developers. If you can’t get enough of the Xbox voice command feature and love playing eSports then this year was for you. It’s truly disappointing that game developers haven’t pushed the boundaries more when clearly the technology is there. Standouts for us were the Xbox Smart Glass demo and the new South Park game: South Park: The Stick of Truth. To quote Taylor Hatmaker at RWW, “Microsoft is opening the Xbox 360 up – not only to more deals with major content distributors, but to connecting with other devices regardless of the software they run.” Microsoft could have restricted Smart Glass to Windows operating systems only but they haven’t and that decision is the reason it’ll be a huge success. Can’t wait to try it on my iPhone and iPad that’s for sure!

@Jeff_Gomez: The Power of Transmedia Storytelling

Nicky — Sat, 26 May 2012 00:14:00 +0000

Jeff Gomez’ opening keynote presentation at Power to the Pixel’s Cross-Media Forum, Oct 2011 in London. Here he explores dynamic techniques to access your audience in the digital age.