tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2213655896863538542024-03-14T01:03:47.861-07:00Circle of ConfusionCraig Mieritzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06848601235943327168noreply@blogger.comBlogger158125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-221365589686353854.post-87183069597654088022017-04-12T17:18:00.000-07:002017-04-12T21:38:17.770-07:00Assimilate SCRATCH VR Suite v8.6 Released<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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SCRATCH VR Suite adds support for multi-cam stitching from 360-degree rigs, ambisonic audio, HDR and more in a major update.</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.assimilateinc.com/" target="_blank">Assimilate</a> has just released the update in anticipation of NAB and it is currently available for download. Assimilate calls its SCRATCH VR Suite the only professional, end-to-end workflow for VR/360 content currently on the market.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Improved Stitching</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.assimilateinc.com/products/" target="_blank">SCRATCH VR</a> now supports 360-degree stitching and the ability to load shots from multiple cameras, wrap them into a stitch node and combine them into an equirectangular image. They have also added support for various camera stitch templates, including AutoPano, Hugin, PTGui and PTStitch scripts. Users can also now create their own custom templates within SCRATCH VR. An improved workflow allows you to either render the equirectangular template or continue to edit, grade and composite on top of the stitched nodes and then do a final render.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">Ambisonic Audio Support (all images courtesy of Assimilate)</span></i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Ambisonic Audio</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">SCRATCH VR can now load, set and playback ambisonic audio files and publish video with 360-degree sound directly to YouTube 360 or Facebook. It now automatically recognizes ambisonic audio embedded in an h.264 file or you can load a separate .amb audio file and link it in the timeline.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">SCRATCH VR now supports PQ and HLG HDR standards</span></i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>HDR Support</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There has been a major upgrade in HDR support. Scratch VR now supports PQ (Perceptual Quantizer) and HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma), both recognized standards. Scratch's scopes also automatically switch to HDR and use a nit-scale. For output, users can now also define HDR mastering metadata for monitoring and publication.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Other key new features</b>:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Support for new formats: 10-bit h.264, .mp4 or .mov output</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A new high-speed DNxHR MXF encoder</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Support for ACES 1.0.3</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Simplified DIT report generation</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Enhanced Cinema DNG support</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Improved playback within the application</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Re-designed UI</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Support for all major headsets and updates to support others as they are released</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Scratch VR Suite 8.6 is now available for download as either a free trial version or $1,995 for the full version.</span><br />
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Craig Mieritzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06848601235943327168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-221365589686353854.post-787786191666913042016-08-22T07:00:00.000-07:002017-05-09T21:10:23.087-07:00Film Production Writer Worth Watching<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP4frrPVrY2gU7ZN1RLZSi_LYsSjbcJXqXNSGsqYnpaYKjTC9XvVrzb99WmTbJ67XI2hbazudtcxJPCJytzuRdQ70_PX88fajikd_Wk3G7fYKiiPU8lK4qOTJqBD5Dm0gIJSBLC_ErBXI/s1600/Charles+Happy+Valley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP4frrPVrY2gU7ZN1RLZSi_LYsSjbcJXqXNSGsqYnpaYKjTC9XvVrzb99WmTbJ67XI2hbazudtcxJPCJytzuRdQ70_PX88fajikd_Wk3G7fYKiiPU8lK4qOTJqBD5Dm0gIJSBLC_ErBXI/s400/Charles+Happy+Valley.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.charleshaine.com/" target="_blank">Charles Haine</a></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There are a lot of sources out there about filmmaking equipment, technique, processes, etc. Some are very good, some are slightly veiled product plugs and many are mediocre. I wanted to point out an excellent new resource on the <a href="http://nofilmschool.com/" target="_blank">No Film School</a> site, <a href="http://nofilmschool.com/u/charleshaine?type=posts&page=0%2C0" target="_blank">Charles Haine</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Here are a few sample articles:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<a href="http://nofilmschool.com/2016/08/sony-releases-r3d-competitor-x-ocn" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; color: black; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Sony Takes Aim at RED with X-OCN</b></span></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://nofilmschool.com/2016/08/sony-releases-r3d-competitor-x-ocn" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; color: black; font-size: 21px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;"><br /></a><b style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; color: black; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;"><a href="http://nofilmschool.com/2016/08/casio-thinks-outside-box-new-360deg-camera" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; color: black; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;">Casio Thinks Outside The Frame with New 360° Camera</a></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://nofilmschool.com/2016/08/hp-makes-strong-case-mac-pro-users-switch" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; color: black; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;"><br /></a><a href="http://nofilmschool.com/2016/07/nvidia-goes-livestreaming-vr-quadro-p6000" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; color: black; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;"><b>NVIDIA Goes for Live Streaming VR with the Quadro P6000</b></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://nofilmschool.com/2016/07/nvidia-goes-livestreaming-vr-quadro-p6000" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; color: black; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;"><br /></a><a href="http://nofilmschool.com/2016/08/to-be-a-great-cinematographer-youve-got-to-be-an-inventor" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; color: black; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;"><b>To Be A Great Cinematographer, You've Got To Be An Inventor</b></a> <span style="font-weight: normal;">(I make a guest appearance with a photo of me gleefully operating a Mole Richardson Carbon Arc lamp in the article. The only time my name will appear on the same page as Gregg Toland and Vittorio Storaro, for that I will be eternally grateful.)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span><a href="http://nofilmschool.com/2016/07/black-magic-demonstrates-forward-thinking-new-arduino-shield" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; color: black; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;"><b>Blackmagic Brings DIY Tech into Camera Control With New Arduino Shield 3G-SDI</b></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://nofilmschool.com/2016/07/black-magic-demonstrates-forward-thinking-new-arduino-shield" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; color: black; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;"><br /></a><a href="http://nofilmschool.com/2016/07/cameras-used-best-cinematography-emmy-nominees-2016" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; color: black; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;"><b>Here Are the Cameras Used By the 2016 Best Cinematography Emmy Nominees</b></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<a href="http://nofilmschool.com/2016/07/whats-iso-your-eye" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; color: black; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration: none; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>What's the ISO of Your Eye?</b></span></a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He is a reliable resource, with an encyclopedic knowledge of technology, technique, history and creativity. I initially met him in a Cinematography class that he taught at Los Angeles City College. He was always pushing his students, many people will remember the <a href="http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=30766&page=1" target="_blank">RED vs. 35mm shoot-out </a> we did under his direction way back 2008. Yep, he had a City College class doing that, back then.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Besides being a teacher, he's an excellent cinematographer, colorist and also co-founded Dirty Robber Production and Coyote Post in LA. Since that class I've worked with him and am happy to call him a friend. I do not know where he gets the energy to do everything he does and still stay on top of what's going on out there in the bigger world of technology and equipment. I'd expect an eclectic stream of information from him.</span></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.mole.com/" target="_blank">Mole Richardson</a> Carbon Arc Putting Me in a Happy Place</span></b></div>
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Craig Mieritzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06848601235943327168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-221365589686353854.post-50331265666983944272016-08-19T19:34:00.000-07:002017-05-09T21:11:01.621-07:00Website Refresh, New Stuff<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubu_Roi" target="_blank">Ubu Roi</a> (links to Wikipedia)</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've recently completely rebuilt my website, <a href="http://ubu-roi.com/">ubu-roi.com</a>. It was time to refresh and consolidate my work in one place (except for this blog, which I am still working on integrating) and make it compatible with mobile of all stripes. If you have any interest in seeing what I've been up to creatively and professionally, please take a look.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's are a couple new images there that haven't been published before (click on them to get a decent sized version):</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Face (© 2015)</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Port of Oakland (© 2016)</span></b></div>
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Craig Mieritzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06848601235943327168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-221365589686353854.post-89515818380074583952013-10-09T09:37:00.002-07:002013-10-09T09:37:17.464-07:00Michael Bloomberg, Traders and Your Media Career<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.capitalnewyork.com/files/Bloomberg-nerd400_0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://www.capitalnewyork.com/files/Bloomberg-nerd400_0.jpg" width="359" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-small;">Can I get a little more bounce off that mickey?</span></b></div>
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Wisdom can come from many places. Many media makers view themselves more as creative artists than business people. However, to have a sustainable career, we need to be both (as well as having a fanatical work ethic and mad skills....among other things). Digging through old materials, I found these nuggets of wisdom, equally applicable to a creative media career as to a career as a Wall Street trader. The original source is from a post made <a href="http://www.mercenarytrader.com/2011/04/wisdom-from-bloomberg/" target="_blank">here</a> by the <i>Mercenary Trader</i>. <br />
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In it, he extracts some really great practical advice from <i>Bloomberg on Bloomberg</i>, the autobiography of NYC's billionaire businessman/Mayor, Michael Bloomberg. Structure. Structure. Structure. This stuff is basic, but to build a career, we all need to develop a great foundation, and equally importantly, good habits about how we make decisions.<br />
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For example, his advice with regard to deciding which projects to push forward, is to pick projects of the right size, <em>“Big enough to be useful, small enough to be possible.”</em> Define the project, and its goals, clearly before starting. What in heck are you hoping to get out of a project? The goals can change as the project moves forward, but how do you know where you're going if you haven't defined it clearly? If you're working on projects, especially for other people, and you don't have clearly defined goals, well, it reminds me of the saying about playing poker.....if you don't know who the sucker is at a poker game, it's you. You, and your time, are your greatest capital. Spend it thoughtfully.<br />
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Media makers as entrepreneurs, it's kind of the new reality facing us all. If you don't, you may end up working for an (increasingly smaller) day rate. Don't get me wrong, working for a day rate can be great. I do it, it keeps me alive, gives me connections, polishes my skills and I enjoy it. But, unless you're on the path to making a real career in one of the craft unions, you really need a plan. Well, actually, if you want to make a career in one of the craft unions, you also need a plan and focus. Structure. Structure. Structure. It's inescapable.<br />
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Anyway, he does a great job of summarizing Bloomberg, so I'll quote him directly (the original article is <a href="http://www.mercenarytrader.com/2011/04/wisdom-from-bloomberg/" target="_blank">here</a>):</div>
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<li><strong><em>“Pick the right project:”</em></strong> Make sure your
trading plan is logical and sustainable. Aim high, but stay within the
realm of the possible. Expand your roster of knowledge and personal
capabilities, so as to naturally expand what counts as possible.</li>
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<li><em><strong>“Start with a small piece:”</strong> </em>Think of your
trading process like an engine. Instead of horsepower, though, this
engine produces profits. Now think about the various components of the
engine. Take those components apart, and examine each of them
individually. Ponder on the individual component level, one piece at a
time, the things you can do to make the whole engine improve.</li>
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<li><strong><em>“Fulfill one goal at a time, on time:”</em></strong> This goes back to the <a href="http://www.mercenarytrader.com/2011/04/a-casual-introduction-to-the-theory-of-constraints/" target="_blank">theory of constraints</a>. What can you do <span style="text-decoration: underline;">right now</span>
to most effectively improve your process? What area of concentrated
effort will have the most tangible impact on results? Set incremental
improvement goals — again oriented to “small pieces” — and knock them
down systematically, like targets at a shooting range.</li>
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<li><strong>“</strong><em><strong>Do it with all things in life:”</strong> </em>
As poker pro Tommy Angelo says, “The surest way to get better at poker
is to get better at everything and let poker rise with the tide.” This
also works in trading.</li>
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<li><strong><em>“One syllable words:”</em></strong> Start from where you
are. Don’t stress how long the journey is, as long as you can see a
path from here to there. The journey itself is a huge part of the
fulfillment. In trading, a deceptively simple methodology can take a
long time to master. But the mastery is well worth it. If you start
simple and create a foundation, you will then have something powerful
to build on for many years to come.</li>
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Craig Mieritzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06848601235943327168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-221365589686353854.post-61828511825737773922013-10-01T14:58:00.002-07:002013-10-01T14:58:30.698-07:00Getting Paid, Part II: The 13 Most Insidious, Pervasive Lies of the Modern Music Industry<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><span style="font-size: x-small;">Real money is in selling those DVD's at screenings....</span></b></div>
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In <a href="http://cmieritz.blogspot.com/2013/09/getting-paid.html" target="_blank">my last blog post</a>, I mentioned an article that tore apart the conventional wisdom about making money in the "new" music industry. I finally found it, <i><a href="http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2013/20130925lies" target="_blank">The 13 Most Insidious, Pervasive Lies of the Modern Music Industry</a></i>, by Paul Resnikoff, published last week in the Digital Music News.<br />
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It is really worth reading by anyone involved in any kind of media creation. Much of this conventional wisdom will sound vaguely familiar to people in the film world. And isn't horrible bandwidth in the U.S. really the main protection the domestic film industry has right now from suffering massive amounts of high quality downloading by regular folks?<br />
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Regardless, the article is worth a read.<br />
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My favorites from the article:<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Lie #1<span style="font-weight: normal;">: Great music will naturally find its audience.</span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Lie #2<span style="font-weight: normal;">: Artists will thrive off of 'Long Tail,' niche content.</span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Lie #8<span style="font-weight: normal;">: Kickstarter can and will build careers.</span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Lie #10<span style="font-weight: normal;">: Google and YouTube are your friends.</span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Lie #13<span style="font-weight: normal;">: 'Streaming is the future...'</span></span></h1>
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Craig Mieritzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06848601235943327168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-221365589686353854.post-90743072100936612112013-09-30T09:52:00.002-07:002016-03-31T20:10:23.489-07:00Getting Paid<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.launch.co/blog/i-aint-gonna-work-on-youtubes-farm-no-more.html" target="_blank">Whose farm you working on?</a></span></b></div>
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Sorry if I beat on this drum once again, but why are so many talented people still spending so little time thinking about how they're actually going to get paid for their content? There are yet even fewer conventional wisdom answers, than just a few short years ago (you should be reading <a href="http://trulyfreefilm.hopeforfilm.com/" target="_blank">Ted Hope</a> to get up to speed, if you aren't already). And even some of the newer revenue models, say YouTube, have been shown to be....how do I say it politely.....heavily in the interest of YouTube and less in your longterm interests (<a href="http://blog.launch.co/blog/i-aint-gonna-work-on-youtubes-farm-no-more.html" target="_blank">this article</a> is essential reading if you're thinking about building a channel on YouTube).<br />
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I have a foot in the more technology oriented content world, app development, interactive content, transmedia, call it what you will. I can do some iOS coding, am actually pretty good at UX design, and have <a href="http://appstore.com/saintify" target="_blank">published</a> my own content, as well as helped others with their projects. I'm also currently developing an interactive project which incorporates live video. I spend a lot of time thinking about the quickly changing economics of the app economy. One thing which has changed very quickly, in the world of apps, is how content creators get paid. Pay for an app up front? Fuggedaboutit. It's the kiss of death for your content. No one wants to pay for apps in a marketplace where there are a million plus apps. Even heavy-hitters like Marco Arment (co-founded Tumblr, founded Instapaper) <a href="http://www.marco.org/2013/09/28/underscore-price-dynamics" target="_blank">publicly state</a> that trying to get people to pay for content up-front is a losing proposition.</div>
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<a href="http://themoviebros.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/field_of_dreams_1989_685x385.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://themoviebros.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/field_of_dreams_1989_685x385.jpg" height="223" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-small;">We're 45% of the way to our Kickstarter goal for materials</span></b></div>
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Currently in the iTunes App Store, between 60-70% of all app income is from in-app purchases. In a few short years, developers have gone from making millions from $.99 apps to having to come up with a completely new way of thinking about generating revenue. Yes, there are still a few blockbusters from established brands but they are far and few, most developers are lucky to get a couple hundred downloads......starting to notice a pattern?</div>
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I find many traditional media makers are still in the "if you build it, he will come" mode (albeit with some Kickstarter, community building twists). Really hardworking, creative folks generating lots of content on no-budgets and hoping to get traction somehow. Ironically, the very act of generating a lot of no-budget content undermines the very system of which they're hoping to become part. So, if in the relatively new world of apps, where even quality $.99 content can't find its way, why are more traditional media makers still thinking that they can get paid up front? This slow-motion implosion has been happening since even before the iPhone existed, it's not like we haven't had time to think about it. Facebook likes are vapor, celebrities are high-jacking Kickstarter, where is it all headed? </div>
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I need to find an analysis of the conventional wisdom of money-making in the new music industry which I recently read. It did an effective job of tearing apart the fiction that streaming, touring, selling merchandise and CD's off of a table, and building community with home concerts was making it easier for indie musicians to make a sustainable living. In the end, what we're seeing is a even more highly stratified music industry with the Lady Gaga's, et al. making a lot of cash and the musical "middle class" disappearing. Should filmmakers be running down all of these paths without really thinking about this previous experience? I do know people who have bootstrapped their films by touring around the world for a year, or more, with them. Really good films. But how many people realistically can do this? <a href="http://cmieritz.blogspot.com/2013/03/wheres-money.html" target="_blank">How much is your content really worth</a>, per minute, in the streaming content world? I can't pretend to have answers, but let's take a moment, stand back, and reassess the questions we need to be asking.</div>
Craig Mieritzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06848601235943327168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-221365589686353854.post-12595159888011455042013-05-03T15:40:00.000-07:002013-05-03T16:28:29.535-07:00Saintify, the App<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrCHiEuTFCTKYKCxzdcmPmaaBBJAQmxInh9i2wSJ5wMIJKt0zgjbV6nCnps5_Za8p43GNcAlZygM-bE36dF1UYUFSgX4y52QLEMSXn_-2aJkPR5jNP8koPqV5AM2WJb6VFE8drkedzEtM/s1600/NicholasFrontSaintifyApp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrCHiEuTFCTKYKCxzdcmPmaaBBJAQmxInh9i2wSJ5wMIJKt0zgjbV6nCnps5_Za8p43GNcAlZygM-bE36dF1UYUFSgX4y52QLEMSXn_-2aJkPR5jNP8koPqV5AM2WJb6VFE8drkedzEtM/s400/NicholasFrontSaintifyApp.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-small;">St Nicholas of Tolentino, Patron of Animals</span></b></div>
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Oh boy, I am pretty bad at self-promotion. I forgot to mention that the app which I produced, Saintify, is now available in the<a href="http://appstore.com/saintify" target="_blank"> iTunes store</a>. It is a contemporary re-imagining of patron saints, with 100% original visual and written content. I'll share a few of my thoughts about the process, hopefully it will be useful for others out there toying with the idea of trying something new, creatively.<br />
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As you can see, the artwork is beautiful and is what really makes the app stand out. It was created by the very talented <a href="http://www.garyamaro.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Gary Amaro</a>, who is better known for his concept art as well as his comics work for Vertigo/DC. Gary makes great use of the back lighting on mobile devices. As with most good creative commercial work, it took a lot of collaboration (Anna Mieritz art directed the visual content), from spit-balling the original concept to the final art. This process takes time, nearly always longer than you think it will. If you're lucky, it will require a fair amount of going back and forth because you're working with a creative who cares about what they make. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQmGkEv5g6P5sXuswZw8lKxOd5R9g_A1LiLHUtG8yK1ri80zXZgrir2vL4hhc2u_Ygl4MrNEHlRZ6LM7waBWvKn-BxAdKUmJoJdjC_8xDC5Z8c0RmHTL4Z6EQRlLUTBZVJ5KdZZsJX0iw/s1600/NicholasRearSaintifyApp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQmGkEv5g6P5sXuswZw8lKxOd5R9g_A1LiLHUtG8yK1ri80zXZgrir2vL4hhc2u_Ygl4MrNEHlRZ6LM7waBWvKn-BxAdKUmJoJdjC_8xDC5Z8c0RmHTL4Z6EQRlLUTBZVJ5KdZZsJX0iw/s400/NicholasRearSaintifyApp.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>The "rear" of the card</b></span></div>
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What are some of the lessons learned? Quality, original content costs money, or your own personal time, to create. That's why a lot of the apps you see out there are aggregating information, or having the users create the content. It's a rough road for a small content producer to create original content for which people will be willing to pay. This is no different than music, films, art or any other creative endeavor these days. I think that the answer often is to give away some content and then to charge users for either "premium" content or for some advanced functionality. This is why nearly 2/3 of the money earned in the Apple App Store is from in-app purchases, not for initial app purchases. Frankly, I'm still a little confused by the fact that we live in a culture where people want original, handcrafted creative work for free, but will pay to have a shiny doo-hickey added to the mix. But that's the way it is, and unless you have created something so amazing, or have a huge marketing team behind you, you'll need to learn how to navigate it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirK9y4f632MXiTT4Dhu2L2aUe7pwtURvV8NI8XGA7lTFpD1tlp0B92OVYqb0duTb69gz5LM5ONMj9XIICVBRixm-2g_NIdL0pPCQnjvwhuoisoYThf5_EpLaMKWl-_P7iKbKy54p0lObM/s1600/SaintifyAppNav.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirK9y4f632MXiTT4Dhu2L2aUe7pwtURvV8NI8XGA7lTFpD1tlp0B92OVYqb0duTb69gz5LM5ONMj9XIICVBRixm-2g_NIdL0pPCQnjvwhuoisoYThf5_EpLaMKWl-_P7iKbKy54p0lObM/s320/SaintifyAppNav.png" width="213" /></a></div>
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When you are bootstrapping something like this on your own, you savor the small victories. For me personally, it was a great learning experience in UI design. My own little victory was creating a very flat user experience, while still providing a lot of functionality. Our ability to implement these ideas was only possible because of the inimitable <a href="http://www.erif.org/code/ios/" target="_blank">Kaolin Fire</a>, writer, developer and general creative mad man (and new daddy). Having great developers, and having a great relationship with them, is essential if you want to be able to try new ideas which require original code. Kaolin delivered far more value than we could afford to pay him for, partly because he's an awesome guy and partly because he's <i>interested in solving unique problems </i>(ditto for Gary Amaro). This is the point at which I have to say, if you aren't curious, driven and just generally want to try to make awesome things, you are wasting your time by doing this kind of work. In the end, it shows in what you create. You also have to be resourceful. I taught myself how to design icons, three of the navigation bar icons shown above, I created. The only other option was to pay someone else to do the same thing.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinC1WVhTlIYten9ZT4h8XoppaRdA75uwDsJWhu5rR_QgvAjWywRsW2WYfmbDn7t4RqzhfQRifN0BW6kFJKj3-PFvvRoqBO8ACMgndrAA7ksBkqvVsRgFpz1hR_s5JjzE0p6ceXJ7w50Dk/s1600/AnneSocialCardSaintifyApp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinC1WVhTlIYten9ZT4h8XoppaRdA75uwDsJWhu5rR_QgvAjWywRsW2WYfmbDn7t4RqzhfQRifN0BW6kFJKj3-PFvvRoqBO8ACMgndrAA7ksBkqvVsRgFpz1hR_s5JjzE0p6ceXJ7w50Dk/s400/AnneSocialCardSaintifyApp.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Saintify's Social Solution </b></span></div>
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The other victory was creating a solution for sharing content across Facebook, Twitter and email, using the same content. That is no small deal, if you've navigated in these waters you will understand, and took a lot of thought and skill (and a brilliant coding solution by Kaolin). We ended up creating a social "card" for each patron saint, generated within the app, which allows users to share some of the original content within the app. The social card again required a lot of collaboration to make it work. Lesson learned? Things that appear simple, or obvious, usually required a lot of thought and effort to get there. And, help from talented friends like the designer Fiel Valdez, who is a master of elegant, understated design.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdnqIsAUuK3UCg3bx3MMBzgqVKerOsTmjx5nuQReglwpd6hQEDA0Hr1OHQi1nkNSSniygA-CNOhBeuRtVDGp_fdpyTX94nDV2i-6yCoMgcfqC-xTklq6p0N0Fyr9aBnFeS2pCYhPDTlhU/s1600/StAnneFacebookSaintify.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdnqIsAUuK3UCg3bx3MMBzgqVKerOsTmjx5nuQReglwpd6hQEDA0Hr1OHQi1nkNSSniygA-CNOhBeuRtVDGp_fdpyTX94nDV2i-6yCoMgcfqC-xTklq6p0N0Fyr9aBnFeS2pCYhPDTlhU/s400/StAnneFacebookSaintify.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Sharing on Facebook</b></span></div>
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If anyone has any questions about the process, or would like for me to elaborate more on aspects of creating interactive content, feel free to email me directly or leave a comment. To manage this kind of project well, from creating wire frames to designing the app store listing and creating the necessary marketing materials, is a complicated undertaking. And, again, you really need to love the act of creating because the odds are slim that you will end up making a profit.<br />
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<br />Craig Mieritzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06848601235943327168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-221365589686353854.post-23920222773845106332013-03-06T10:13:00.000-08:002013-03-06T10:13:09.788-08:00Where's the Money?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjcYTPWuGQ_JflPbb1VLfoWNJQoXLmQeEcI_Rcs8_zObt6IgTDp6X6VQMJrcsAPAVk4oqTiG1k0gbphm6MiHk7V85E-VbQPJNkcTshxTr1QwLVORAhqGsPMuUMcSa8gTW4pfjlSgZTX7Q/s1600/Episode.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjcYTPWuGQ_JflPbb1VLfoWNJQoXLmQeEcI_Rcs8_zObt6IgTDp6X6VQMJrcsAPAVk4oqTiG1k0gbphm6MiHk7V85E-VbQPJNkcTshxTr1QwLVORAhqGsPMuUMcSa8gTW4pfjlSgZTX7Q/s400/Episode.PNG" width="350" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-small;">The full screen experience</span></b></div>
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Just a quick post to highlight something I saw this morning..... I read a lot of information about the economics of second screen, streaming distribution......yeah, usually it's a lot of hype and mind numbing information that doesn't really talk about the meat of the matter, where's the money, who's paying and what's the payoff? So I thought I'd share <a href="http://www.viaway.com/content/" target="_blank">this link</a> from one of the myriad of people out there (<a href="http://blog.viaway.com/" target="_blank">Viaway</a>) looking to distribute and monetize content. Again, this is more of a "take a look at this" post, than an analysis. Mostly, I was surprised to see actual numbers for compensation.<br />
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I'll summarize [emphasis added by me]:<br />
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1. Per minute and subscription royalties:<br />
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<i><b>For professional video content </b>(no cats allowed): "$0.001 per minute watched. For example, <b>if 10,000 users watch your 2 hour show, your [sic] earn $1,200</b>."</i><br />
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<i><b>For professional Audio content</b>: "0.0003 per minute watched. For example, <b>if 10,000 users listen to your 2 hour show, your [sic] earn $360."</b></i><br />
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2. Pay-per-view royalty (Video on demand)<br />
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<i>50% of the rental price of the content. </i><br />
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I don't have a lot of time to talk about this today, however, I think the models do raise interesting questions. My previous post spoke about the importance of engaging user experience. When you start talking about per minute or subscription models, it really starts getting interesting. Now, you're in a marketplace where you're getting paid by the minute watched, in a world where the reality is ever diminishing attention spans for content. How do you engage viewers long enough to make a profit at $0.0001 per minute per viewer? Especially if you're content is on a channel which is taking a slice of that? I'll try to look into this more, I see that that content is offered as a channel in the<a href="http://blog.viaway.com/2012/02/viaway-is-new-channel-in-roku-channel.html" target="_blank"> Roku Channel Store</a> and other places, including via Android and iOS apps. <br />
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I honestly have no idea what's happening here, I'd love to hear the overarching vision from someone in-the-know. Fascinating. Frankly, it is always ominous to me when I see video content listed alongside Pandora, iTune Radio and the other music streaming sites, given what musicians earn from those services. The subscription options for Viaway are <a href="http://www.viaway.com/entertainment/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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How far are we from a day when you will be able to create your own online channels of content and pay just for the technical infrastructure? How does this compare to the evolving YouTube advertising type model? What are the opportunities, or is this just another treadmill of diminishing income for content creators? Who will be able to market their content, so it isn't lost in the tsunami of content created every day? So many questions today.<br />
<br />Craig Mieritzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06848601235943327168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-221365589686353854.post-35888104376878552292013-03-05T22:33:00.002-08:002013-03-05T22:38:32.345-08:00New Directions<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><span style="font-size: x-small;">"Will it fit?" and other pertinent questions.</span></b></div>
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Recently, I have alluded to other, non-film projects upon which I have been working. One project, <a href="http://www.saintify.com/" target="_blank">Saintify</a>, is nearing completion. It is an iOS app upon which a small team has been has been working for the past year or so, on the side. It's been an interesting experience for me, juggling technical, creative and producing duties in a completely new medium and on a low budget. At times, the gear shifting almost was too much: from good old-fashioned issues like creating focused, quality visual imagery and written content on a budget to trying to figure out whether code existed that could make a screen do something cool without breaking the screens around it (thank you, Stackoverflow.com), to trying to figure out how to create pixel level wireframes representing every screen, and every interaction, in Omnigraffle.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggZOgk88lgMQrkAoPEzYscxCt1V3kEe-p4hyBM5W1VY_TgY7f-XSnQTjrBsA96ESpAWN2wGaH-NHM6EAGTudH-gkeyfRcACVZtmUNi1_fgQ5TmGrGI1UjcptIX2q7r5whnp5GpDh1OrlE/s1600/Saintify_wireframe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggZOgk88lgMQrkAoPEzYscxCt1V3kEe-p4hyBM5W1VY_TgY7f-XSnQTjrBsA96ESpAWN2wGaH-NHM6EAGTudH-gkeyfRcACVZtmUNi1_fgQ5TmGrGI1UjcptIX2q7r5whnp5GpDh1OrlE/s400/Saintify_wireframe.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-small;">Pixel perfect</span></b></div>
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Some of this work has been directly pertinent to my other media work. Most importantly, the idea of thinking more fully about user experience has helped focus my brain on media creation moving ahead. Visualizing, and planning, how the audience is going to interact with what you create, from beginning to end, and maximizing that experience, is not a part of the creative process which can be glossed over any longer. On one level, this isn't entirely new. Great filmmakers already plot their films out carefully, weeding out scenes, lines, words, that don't enhance the audience's experience of the project. However, now that process has been put on steroids, as audience expectations of what an entertainment experience should be have become more and more complicated.<br />
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The audience wants, expects, to actively participate in the process, even if it is just to complain loudly and publicly. Whether it's an interactive device, crowd-funding projects by their pet director or guiding the conversation about the project in social media, today's audience is no longer just an audience. They are participants, partners. Personally, I think it's great. Anything that focuses creative minds to think more fully about what they're trying to create, and to whom they are trying to communicate is just fine with me.<br />
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Sometimes the questions raised are profoundly creative, like finding simple hacks to create a beautiful new experience, and sometimes they're as simple as "will it display correctly on all 7 devices?" But they are all important. For some people, I know this is already old hat. Thankfully, many of those people are generous and share their knowledge online, or in reasonably priced books. For many of us, it is going to be a matter of survival to learn how to engage our audiences more thoughtfully and to anticipate needs that they haven't even considered. And integrate it into great stories. The era of disruption is far from over. May we all live in interesting times.Craig Mieritzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06848601235943327168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-221365589686353854.post-55032195621780960772013-02-28T09:20:00.002-08:002013-02-28T09:28:53.064-08:00Interactive Journeys<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.chairlifted.com/metbefore/" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf0mDWLiRruWsG4aTjksgvdh560pmkUbWLxoykMX6Bj1tWuWN_OzjaQ490DXG1_dXFxxg7M_TnI9quoBh5iCXWDvJo8wYI-DSRtCVGGC_Qi5fZzSIXMLcL5W5urZdbnNlp6oTM9gauMKA/s400/Chairlift.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Click on the image to get to the video</b></span></div>
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While on the subject of music videos, last year saw the release of <a href="http://www.chairlifted.com/metbefore/" target="_blank">this</a> interactive video by the band Chairlift (I'd embed the actual video, but I now realize that Google makes it difficult to embed video from anywhere except YouTube now. I'll be moving the blog to another platform, as soon as I get my new hosting all squared away. Hey, Blogger is a <i>free</i> platform after all. More on that, on another day).<br />
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Anyway, the Chairlift video uses technology created by an Israeli company, <a href="http://interlude.fm/" target="_blank">Interlude</a> . They're selling a web-based tool which enables "the creation, design and deployment of interactive videos." A lot of the content created so far seems to be branded and there's no discussion on their site as to the cost. It's definitely worth watching where they take the technology. They do say their player requires "no installation" on iOS or Androd. I'm not sure what that means, I tried to play their content with a browser (Chrome and Safari) in iOS (iPad) with no success. It does work well on desktop browsers, however. There is an iOS app using their technology, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mozart-interactive/id499372535?mt=8" target="_blank">Mozart Interactive</a>, which is available in the iTunes store for free. It's cute, and engaging, however, it doesn't seem to offer anything groundbreaking (technology-wise) for iOS.<br />
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I do hope that you watch the Chairlift video. It is definitely worth a look. Creatively, the question which I come back to, over and over again, is would I rather go on an unguided, interactive journey or, a well thought out journey created by a master?<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="225" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/cUVxhvjc5O0" width="400"></iframe>
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Maybe what we need is an interactive video made by Spike Jonze?Craig Mieritzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06848601235943327168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-221365589686353854.post-9847790579572629182013-02-15T18:01:00.001-08:002013-02-28T08:13:27.409-08:00Has It Really Been Nearly a Year?Ouch. Really, I just haven't had much to say. I've been working hard, doing freelance camera work, camera shading, the odd colorist gig, and making my own projects. I've finally made some small steps towards creating more interactive content. Change can be challenging, and time-consuming but I'll talk a lot more about that soon.<br />
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I really feel especially lame for not posting my New Years music/video. I want to fix that first. I'll go with a music video from 2012 that really fits the bill: catchy, ridiculous, but still manages to express a truth (which, slyly has as much to do with the demographic time bomb of bored, un and underemployed young men as bad girls). I will note that it was shot in Ouarzazate, Morocco and not in the Middle East. It apparently has changed quite a bit since I visited it many, many years ago, and is now the film capital of Morocco. It has a lovely Kasbah and a very old fortified city nearby, none of which were used by the artist and her talented creative partner, Romain Gavras.<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"> </span><br />
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Well, belated New Years' greetings to everyone:<br />
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<br />Craig Mieritzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06848601235943327168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-221365589686353854.post-52576700530098087132012-03-24T14:59:00.001-07:002012-03-28T16:43:33.124-07:00Lost Film Masterpiece Weekend<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzhYDIbUIR4KTseMwm4HoNuVeSp5vhzDsnHMHixmsccDESMR7X0VGdewV3CjIcnc8i6QH-XWvPCWc16IHELPVw9DLZkAhXOQo1xM4qQu1tyD1CAtJ6AeaPMzRaH44uNulck4_JnPYGhMY/s1600/the_passion_of_joan_of_arc_07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzhYDIbUIR4KTseMwm4HoNuVeSp5vhzDsnHMHixmsccDESMR7X0VGdewV3CjIcnc8i6QH-XWvPCWc16IHELPVw9DLZkAhXOQo1xM4qQu1tyD1CAtJ6AeaPMzRaH44uNulck4_JnPYGhMY/s400/the_passion_of_joan_of_arc_07.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Eye acting heaven</span></b></div><br />
Next weekend is looking to be one freaking amazing weekend for film nuts. Saturday night, at <a href="http://calperformances.org/performances/2011-12/special-events/passion-of-joan-of-arc-baltimore-symphony-orchestra-voices-of-light.php" target="_blank">UC Berkeley</a> (Zellerbach Hall), Carl Theodor Dreyer's 1928 film <i><a href="http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19970216/REVIEWS08/401010350/1023" target="_blank">The Passion of Joan of Arc</a></i> will be screening. The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, with the UC Choral Ensembles will be performing Richard Einhorns' <i>Voices of Light</i> to accompany the film. This is a beautiful, beautiful film which gives me tingles every time I see it. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ3bRpuQFrmvrtHegz2ivH_6cPVlXvcoyoSeuPxS4DWAcX_KBLI-jNoUW9DS61cfEN42umzERnJnv5bZxBk073B4yfFC8Jp_7nVEL1kUg9F7yi0LDQVXCwgenco6y_qtkJ7dAAXgN495w/s1600/Gance_Napoleon2.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="93" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ3bRpuQFrmvrtHegz2ivH_6cPVlXvcoyoSeuPxS4DWAcX_KBLI-jNoUW9DS61cfEN42umzERnJnv5bZxBk073B4yfFC8Jp_7nVEL1kUg9F7yi0LDQVXCwgenco6y_qtkJ7dAAXgN495w/s400/Gance_Napoleon2.gif" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Suck on this, VistaVision</span></b></div><br />
On Sunday (for me anyway, the film is screening four times: 3/24-3/25 and 3/31-4/1), in sweet, sweet Oakland, at the Paramount Movie Palace, will be a once-in-a-lifetime event: a 5 1/2 hour screening of a British Film Institute restored print of <a href="http://www.silentfilm.org/napoleon-home.php" target="_blank">Abel Gance's <i>Napoleon</i></a> with live orchestral accompaniment performing the score by Carl Davis. This is literally a piece that is the product of decades of effort, finding and restoring the film to Gance's original version and composing a score to accompany it. The final act will be projected with multiple projectors in accordance with Gance's original vision. This may be the last time this work is screened in film in the United States (a digital restoration is in the works). People are literally flying in from all over the world for this. Read about the films fascinating history <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/movies/the-many-lives-of-abel-gances-napoleon.html?pagewanted=all" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyIkplP7uzv50wxZrEHoKEOsIuADHgkk-7uZ0xmHgwhTVv_Ebwtd6OI76tsA67OS0RmU8g5HFspqWJah6KxUf0XwJv0bauHXaz1HyjsvG7GjyOukJNHz5PkTfv3UEVdc2bwAr8LWxcO24/s1600/Artaud.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyIkplP7uzv50wxZrEHoKEOsIuADHgkk-7uZ0xmHgwhTVv_Ebwtd6OI76tsA67OS0RmU8g5HFspqWJah6KxUf0XwJv0bauHXaz1HyjsvG7GjyOukJNHz5PkTfv3UEVdc2bwAr8LWxcO24/s400/Artaud.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Cruelty, madness, beauty and over-acting</b></span></div><br />
If you care about fast disappearing film, these are rare opportunities to see once "lost" masterpieces projected in film with live orchestral accompaniment. If that's not enough, it will also be the chance to see every art kid's hero, Antonin Artaud, on the big screen in each film. I'll be there, in the dark, dreaming.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGP-f316LpgFiSI_wwN3_wCpYy__kFUT2LHa1-aFtbTVRJ5dW8gfhkipF-h75xlmht57LzIaPOjmJCt-EzzyPixWtLKn_USjNCoJaUQLYNmOiIlrBq4LbbEQ42VhCfDf4FQAzZueoP62s/s1600/artaud,+antonin_passion+of+joan+of+arc_bw01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGP-f316LpgFiSI_wwN3_wCpYy__kFUT2LHa1-aFtbTVRJ5dW8gfhkipF-h75xlmht57LzIaPOjmJCt-EzzyPixWtLKn_USjNCoJaUQLYNmOiIlrBq4LbbEQ42VhCfDf4FQAzZueoP62s/s400/artaud,+antonin_passion+of+joan+of+arc_bw01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Living, with your neck placed firmly in the noose</b></span></div>Craig Mieritzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06848601235943327168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-221365589686353854.post-33983326047159409382012-03-07T14:24:00.004-08:002012-03-07T14:34:13.354-08:00Project Updates<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9sZ7ZF5YFVyTW53S4pkPowyp_BhcD43_65u9l7KV3fh_38xvqbdFXHES5WoyI2vtT7jaUkTZxOcAYfGQGgRbjEbft2BiIMc70mDbNDI95FVZXx60EXScrAlXw_r_37eyWKfjOwqpxj58/s1600/arapiuns+river-landing-web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9sZ7ZF5YFVyTW53S4pkPowyp_BhcD43_65u9l7KV3fh_38xvqbdFXHES5WoyI2vtT7jaUkTZxOcAYfGQGgRbjEbft2BiIMc70mDbNDI95FVZXx60EXScrAlXw_r_37eyWKfjOwqpxj58/s400/arapiuns+river-landing-web.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Lucky me</b></span></div><br />
We have finally finished the short project that we created for <a href="http://www.saudeealegria.org.br/" target="_blank">Projeto Saúde & Alegria</a>, a Brazilian NGO in the Amazon. It is going to be used to help promote their new <a href="http://www.saudeealegria.org.br/turismo/" target="_blank">ecotourism project</a>, one of their sustainable development initiatives. It was a real privilege to go down there and actually meet the people in the communities and experience it all firsthand. We also shot additional footage (interviews with elders, a walk in primary rainforest describing the plants and their uses, etc.) that they will hopefully be able to use in the future for documentary purposes. This project was edited by Gustavo da Silva, who also edits a TV program <a href="http://www.fjproductions.com/planeta.html" target="_blank"><i>Planeta Brasil</i></a> and is my first producing credit.<br />
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I also just found out that the documentary short I recently color graded, <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/721834105/the-alley-cats-a-documentary-film" target="_blank">The Alley Cats</a>, will screen on <a href="http://www.oiff.org/call2012.html" target="_blank">April 06, 2012</a> at the Oakland International Film Festival. It is small film (in the best sense) that looks at a slice of Oakland, CA, the Alley Cat piano bar (open since 1934) and its family of patrons. This film was directed by Cary Virtue and edited by the very talented <a href="http://carlokamin.com/" target="_blank">Carlo Kamin</a>.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEr1Jjd_BgHoRdR9GB00KvCCMq1g7jNDRNxFm2KjZje539k8ufzxFnnnKHnws36kCZBKQnFcs4wJ21XWJVUP-rX29AWNcp_RHOWjkjdt9vytO84s5f_iJkuh1JBoRC8vDORCGvsFzBNIg/s1600/Alley+Cats.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEr1Jjd_BgHoRdR9GB00KvCCMq1g7jNDRNxFm2KjZje539k8ufzxFnnnKHnws36kCZBKQnFcs4wJ21XWJVUP-rX29AWNcp_RHOWjkjdt9vytO84s5f_iJkuh1JBoRC8vDORCGvsFzBNIg/s400/Alley+Cats.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>The Alley Cats</b></span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">There are several other exciting developments in the near future, including an iOS app, about which I will be sharing details.</span><b> </b></span></div></div>Craig Mieritzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06848601235943327168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-221365589686353854.post-41779820694377162532011-12-31T13:28:00.000-08:002011-12-31T13:35:45.022-08:00End of the Year<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UXRlp6_kHm8/Tv99Y5mIKsI/AAAAAAAAAVE/_LvIGqot2jE/s1600/Buddha+of+Qi+Gong+5_26_11.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UXRlp6_kHm8/Tv99Y5mIKsI/AAAAAAAAAVE/_LvIGqot2jE/s400/Buddha+of+Qi+Gong+5_26_11.JPG" width="298" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Find The Bliss Within (The Buddha of El Cerrito)</b></span></div><br />
I've been quite busy (happily) this past quarter and have been a little light on postings (one of the few rules I do have about this endeavor is that I promised myself I would not post just to post). Most recently, I completed work as a colorist on the documentary feature, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/foriknowmyweakness"><i>For I Know My Weakness</i></a> by John Dentino. It's an intense, personal documentary which he's been working on for 7 years. It's always humbling to be the person who has been chosen to help finish such a long, intense journey.<br />
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As we approach the end of the year, I want to thank everyone who reads my blog. I am constantly amazed that there are people out there who take the time to read what I write. The past couple of months have been heavy on technology and media and less on the art form. I am hoping to balance that a little bit more in the new year. Ultimately, none of any of this matters unless there is ultimately something created which moves, challenges, confuses or entertains us. Thanks to all the amazing people this year who have done that for us all. Particularly those who will never be famous, but bring us stories because they <i>have</i> to do it, not in a search for fame.<br />
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Instead of a holiday video, this year I'm posting a link to a <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/afc/afcftv/51/5160b1.mp3">holiday song</a>.<br />
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The Spiritual Four Quartet in 1941 at the Fort Valley College Folk Festival. Amazing. I've been unable to locate any pictures of the group. Check out the <a href="http://www.loc.gov/folklife/folkcat.html">American Folklife Center</a>, Library of Congress recordings, I've been working my way through them the past year or so. There's so much amazing American music there, and it belongs to all of us.<br />
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Have a great New Year!Craig Mieritzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06848601235943327168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-221365589686353854.post-46137871183099299152011-11-12T09:33:00.000-08:002011-11-12T09:33:32.311-08:00Whoa, Sony and Panasonic<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://cdn.splatf.com/w/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/sony-by-segment.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="321" src="http://cdn.splatf.com/w/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/sony-by-segment.gif" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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Wow, I knew Sony was doing badly in its consumer division, but <a href="http://www.splatf.com/2011/11/sony-profits/">this</a> article in SplatF shows just how much money they are losing in their professional division as well. Combined with Pansonic <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/31/us-panasonic-results-idUSTRE79U1A020111031">losing</a> $5.5 BILLION (much of it in their consumer TV division) this year, it really shows how much the landscape is changing at the top of the food chain. Sony, however, did make a profit in their film division. Panasonic will be closing facilities which will affect LCD and plasma production. I still have not seen a break out of the financials for the professional products division at Panasonic. What does all this mean for the era of professional quality gear with better and better specs at ever-cheaper prices?Craig Mieritzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06848601235943327168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-221365589686353854.post-87393107738271143392011-11-09T09:09:00.000-08:002011-11-09T09:19:13.006-08:00For Lovers Only- $.99This week the Polish Brothers movie I discussed previously, <i>For Lovers Only</i>, is available as an iTunes rental for $.99. It's a good chance to see a good movie and to check out the iTunes Store rental experience at the same time.<br />
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The film was made with only a cast and crew of three, the two Polish brothers, one on camera (a 5D) and the other an actor, and one actress. It is being self-dstributed online only for now. It's been getting a lot of press lately in the film world. It's an interesting experiment, as cameras become ever light sensitive the whole idea of what is needed in a film crew will evolve. It is also a lot more honest than asking a whole host of people to work for free. Although, I did finally meet for the first time someone who worked on a "spec" project who got paid (a small amount, ten years later) when the project got picked up by a cable channel.<br />
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Here's the trailer, again:<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="225" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/22111423?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0&color=ff9933" width="400"></iframe><br />
<a href="http://vimeo.com/22111423">for lovers only...</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user5011464">Polish Brothers</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.Craig Mieritzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06848601235943327168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-221365589686353854.post-86021798470739615062011-11-06T08:41:00.000-08:002011-11-06T08:41:59.562-08:00Google, Pay TV?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv1hT5eV0JETQOZw6XJ1q_BWjMA7xfBOsQf5ZuuHBo2w-rJionTX9xAllaurTbwq3ACG0C3HKEk_c72GD5nF2eL6oayDfP29NO375EIW-5w0r57AjsjRwqkPv723_oQQjKi5vaHBYAwLU/s1600/googlebuzz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv1hT5eV0JETQOZw6XJ1q_BWjMA7xfBOsQf5ZuuHBo2w-rJionTX9xAllaurTbwq3ACG0C3HKEk_c72GD5nF2eL6oayDfP29NO375EIW-5w0r57AjsjRwqkPv723_oQQjKi5vaHBYAwLU/s400/googlebuzz.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1INb5FM_1lE&feature=related">What's the hype?</a></span></b></div><br />
Matt Rosoff is doing a good job on concisely focusing on Google and what they seem to be doing as far as becoming a content distributor. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/google-is-looking-to-roll-out-a-pay-tv-service-2011-11">This piece</a> complements the other stuff that I've been posting about Google recently. As an armchair quarterback, to me it seems what will ultimately determine Google's success in the longterm is whether they can recognize that online TV is about <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/04/tv-cloud/">more than</a> how content is distributed. They do have the social platform in place for complementing online content, but it's a big if as to whether they can position Google Plus as a product that is so ubiquitous, like Facebook, that it becomes a natural extension of any online distribution products they create. <br />
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From Rosoff's article, it seems as though they're taking a cable TV-centric view of what they're doing. Here's to hoping that they don't end up just recreating what already exists, only more and through a different portal. Otherwise, it could end up in the <a href="http://memeburn.com/2011/08/the-google-graveyard-20-products-that-failed/">Google Graveyard</a>. Strangely, this list doesn't include Buzz or Orkut.Craig Mieritzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06848601235943327168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-221365589686353854.post-43794207162926762902011-11-02T22:12:00.000-07:002011-11-02T22:12:34.306-07:00The History of Improving TV<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://seanmaitland.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/family-television.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="361" src="https://seanmaitland.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/family-television.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Just a short post, I want to point everyone to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/interactive-tv-failures-2011-11?op=1">this</a> funny article by Matt Rosoff: a pretty definitive list of "iTV Failures." Ah, the memories, <i>Web TV</i> in the 1990's.....wait a minute...it's <a href="http://www.webtv.com/pc/">still supported by Microsoft!</a>.Craig Mieritzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06848601235943327168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-221365589686353854.post-14471062993382615622011-10-31T08:20:00.000-07:002011-10-31T16:18:47.937-07:00Loose Ends<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://joyhog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/tom-cruise-risky-business-guitar-hero-bob-seger-underwear-a-rod-kobe-hawk-phelps-e1299107459751.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="301" src="http://joyhog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/tom-cruise-risky-business-guitar-hero-bob-seger-underwear-a-rod-kobe-hawk-phelps-e1299107459751.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Give me that old time rock n' roll </b></span></div><br />
As an addendum to my last post (<a href="http://cmieritz.blogspot.com/2011/10/to-free-or-not-to-free-that-is-question.html"><i>To Free or Not to Free</i></a>), I see that Fast Company in their piece <i>20 Riskiest Business Moves of 2011</i> has listed as the 19th riskiest business move <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/pics/20-riskiest-business-moves-of-20#1"><i>Music Labels Surrender to Spotify</i></a>. The main risk: jeopardizing paid sales with the freemium model.<br />
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Also, the <a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2395494,00.asp">recent update</a> of Google TV and the <a href="http://www.appmarket.tv/opinion/1396-youtube-announces-new-channel-partners-taking-on-broadcast-tv-adds-100-youtube-channels-of-original-professional-content.html">announcement Friday</a> that Google will be acquiring <i><b>a lot</b></i> more original content for YouTube should pretty much clarify <a href="http://cmieritz.blogspot.com/2011/09/state-of-internet-tv.html">where they are headed</a>. If you thought that 900 cable channels was amazing, get ready for hundreds of thousands or maybe millions delivered online. As I've said before, there will be more content than ever. There's a tremendous amount of opportunity out there to those who can visualize and take advantage of this new order. As the curse goes, <i>may you live in interesting times</i>...."Craig Mieritzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06848601235943327168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-221365589686353854.post-79846325898844388612011-10-17T10:37:00.000-07:002011-10-18T13:50:40.191-07:00To Free or Not to Free, That is the Question<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/39/05_Pike_Place_Market_busker_at_main_entrance.jpg/450px-05_Pike_Place_Market_busker_at_main_entrance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/39/05_Pike_Place_Market_busker_at_main_entrance.jpg/450px-05_Pike_Place_Market_busker_at_main_entrance.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">Pre-IPO</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div>The subject of whether <i>every</i> entertainment product should be available for free just doesn't seem to die, particularly in the music industry. There is always some new company out there that seeks to disrupt an already disrupted marketplace with a new offer of free. All these years after Napster, well, there are new companies out there offering free, with business models seemingly TBD, or at least fully explained. Where will this never ending dream of achieving marketplace dominance of free finally end up? Who will be the proverbial last man standing?<br />
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<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/rhapsody-president-jon-irwin-interview-2011-10">This article</a> from the Business Insider is a brief, intelligent look at the state of the streaming music business and one company's (Rhapsody) attempt to hold tight to making people pay. Interestingly, there's no mention of Pandora in the article.<br />
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Several months back I attended a respected film industry event and nearly swallowed my tongue when one of the speakers said that they thought "we were through the worst" of competing against free. I hope that they're right, unfortunately, I have my doubts.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://codinghorror.typepad.com/.a/6a0120a85dcdae970b01287770901f970c-pi" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://codinghorror.typepad.com/.a/6a0120a85dcdae970b01287770901f970c-pi" width="262" /></a></div>Craig Mieritzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06848601235943327168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-221365589686353854.post-16861300859180341072011-10-16T20:05:00.000-07:002011-10-16T20:05:53.944-07:00Even a Broken Clock is Correct Twice Per Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.fastcompany.com/upload/FastCompanyNovemberCovers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="123" src="http://images.fastcompany.com/upload/FastCompanyNovemberCovers.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Fast Company seems to be going full-on into the media/tech battle I briefly discussed a <a href="http://cmieritz.blogspot.com/2011/09/big-three.html">couple of posts</a> ago (and earlier). They refer to it as <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/1787260/the-legacy-of-steve-jobs-and-the-next-tech-war?partner=rss&utm_source=pulsenews&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+fastcompany%2Fheadlines+%28Fast+Company+Headlines%29"><i>The Great Tech War of 2012</i></a>. I am very interested in learning about Amazon and where it is headed. Hopefully this article will fill in some of the blanks, particularly with regard to how each company is using its data. Amazon seems to be building its empire the most quietly, with the exception of the cloud data loss debacle. It also seems to have a maniacal attention to detail.<br />
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I can attest to receiving in-depth customer service with regard to a complaint I made over the intricacies of the Amazon MP3 download system: how annoying it was to constantly update the downloader, how the whole system feels jury rigged, how it creates a media folder separate from the iTunes media library folder and just generally messes with the whole "it just works" juju of my Mac. My point: do not underestimate any company that is willing to listen and respond (more than once, and nicely) via a living human being to the cranky complaints of a customer over a $.99 download.Craig Mieritzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06848601235943327168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-221365589686353854.post-86544493278305785312011-09-24T08:10:00.000-07:002011-09-24T08:11:33.556-07:00Creative Destruction<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmccEeJ0EYXEQh-qEN1KCE8eC7h6RpXtxtzm1j68n0Ia0cG8n_fNn4PuOm3FgSz-RewriBlTqNkFQ9B_TCmiGKsHjq3IrEDISKuP8rzkgGPTd_MXt5BP3-2198hTmIuvKosMG5aPCYXAk/s1600/Cronus-%2528web%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmccEeJ0EYXEQh-qEN1KCE8eC7h6RpXtxtzm1j68n0Ia0cG8n_fNn4PuOm3FgSz-RewriBlTqNkFQ9B_TCmiGKsHjq3IrEDISKuP8rzkgGPTd_MXt5BP3-2198hTmIuvKosMG5aPCYXAk/s400/Cronus-%2528web%2529.jpg" width="301" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Where's the on button for this thing?</span></b></div><br />
When I talk about old media, I mean really old media. I was an exhibiting artist, mostly paintings and prints, for years. Life, making a living and the cost of real estate seemed to be the main causes for the end of that period of my life. I do miss the physicality of painting and taking the time for the introspection necessary to condense a lot of experience into one static physical object. It can be a profound and, at times, exhilarating process.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dieiscast.com/image9/chance_garden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="310" src="http://www.dieiscast.com/image9/chance_garden.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><b>As long as the roots are not severed, all is well.</b></span></span></div><br />
Recently, I have been trying to streamline my life, pruning if you will. Part of that process was going through all of my (much too much) artwork in storage. Some of it I kept, some I gave away and the rest went to the dump. It's interesting to compare the reaction between my non-artist and artist friends. The non-artist friends were mostly horrified and thought that it must have been some horribly traumatic event for me. The artists all, to a person, understood that analyzing and selectively pruning your past is a powerful and important aspect to being a creative person and moving ahead. There were a few rough moments but overall, it felt really good.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpODQA0xtjTa0cI9SY0B4zTwcUwRQ_Wqr5EVXcXrPLZZyAJEbvySZGbQjeAd4h7-OwVvfccBAF5xkuRN-7bl3JWy36IV5L0cXRSq-oWNF60JzX5A24ns0a5fIle2yHJiNM8usMEM1m-pU/s1600/9_2011-garbage-paintings+%2528web%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpODQA0xtjTa0cI9SY0B4zTwcUwRQ_Wqr5EVXcXrPLZZyAJEbvySZGbQjeAd4h7-OwVvfccBAF5xkuRN-7bl3JWy36IV5L0cXRSq-oWNF60JzX5A24ns0a5fIle2yHJiNM8usMEM1m-pU/s400/9_2011-garbage-paintings+%2528web%2529.jpg" width="298" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">How about that quality of light?</span></b></div>Craig Mieritzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06848601235943327168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-221365589686353854.post-7979844586282895562011-09-23T21:16:00.000-07:002011-09-24T07:38:01.118-07:00The Big Three?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.cuadernodearte.es/pintura/goya-duelo-garrotazos-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="183" src="http://www.cuadernodearte.es/pintura/goya-duelo-garrotazos-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">My enemy's enemy?</span></b></div><br />
With Facebook's <a href="http://blogs.cio.com/web-20/16520/recap-facebooks-biggest-f8-announcements">recent announcements</a>, I will repeat my armchair opinion that the three companies fighting it out for dominance in the new media (we need a better term for it because I'm not talking about what is stereotypically thought of as "new media" but rather the new world of media consumption we are beginning to see) world are Apple, Facebook and Google. They are profiting primarily by either taking (or will be taking someday soon) a piece of media sales within their platforms or by selling user information, usually to advertisers. Facebook looks like it will be unique in that it has no commitment to hardware, unlike Apple or Google (depending on what they do with their Motorola assets). This is going to be a very interesting fight. <br />
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If Facebook can leverage their <a href="http://www.briansolis.com/2011/09/the-new-facebook-a-timeline-for-personal-discovery/">digital scrapbook concept</a> later into an intelligently curated stream, they will be a very formidable force. They do have the advantage of being somewhat more focused than the other two on this particular area. They seem to be on the forefront now of breaking down the concept of what media is, how it is delivered and how to make money from it. No doubt, they will be busy <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/22/facebook-timeline-birth/">analyzing user behavior</a>, perfecting algorithms that are predictive and pull in content from a much wider range of sources. The big question with the Facebook model is whether people are going to be willing to do all of their media consumption <a href="http://www.weliveinpublicthemovie.com/video/">in public</a>.<br />
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As I've said before, I believe the future of media consumption is going to become smaller chunks, provided via algorithms that not only find the content but also reconstruct it in a way that provides a meaningful narrative to the viewer, consumed more or less constantly. We will consume more media than ever. However, less and less of it will be what we consider now to be professionally produced. Yes, the higher-level content will still exist, there may just be less of it. Unfortunately, there will be less of the low to mid-level content that provides so much employment for my friends.Craig Mieritzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06848601235943327168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-221365589686353854.post-66982513450799308012011-09-20T14:27:00.000-07:002011-09-24T10:01:21.450-07:00State of Internet TV<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjluZGcWDlaAwjV-n1iD7ADmoiCrcOL36GHMnOUL3iKn1bhBaF-pU7JQIiWwxsSJjXI0twW8cYMTNbtJSFB1Gm59qQ3OIyBueRUAkt77rwWHMcKm1OZqNHeM-TV_MQY9cU3b7L13NSzD0ca/s1600/cumulus_clouds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjluZGcWDlaAwjV-n1iD7ADmoiCrcOL36GHMnOUL3iKn1bhBaF-pU7JQIiWwxsSJjXI0twW8cYMTNbtJSFB1Gm59qQ3OIyBueRUAkt77rwWHMcKm1OZqNHeM-TV_MQY9cU3b7L13NSzD0ca/s400/cumulus_clouds.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"> <b><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Cloud knows what you want</span></b></div><br />
<a href="http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/04/tv-cloud/">This article</a> (<i>TV in the Cloud</i>) is a good companion to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/google-is-secretly-spending-hundreds-of-millions-of-dollars-turning-youtube-into-a-cable-alternative-2011-9">the link</a> I posted at the end of my last post. That article discusses how Google is quietly becoming an online TV powerhouse by directly buying over $100M of their own content for YouTube and supposedly trying to acquire Hulu.<br />
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<i>TV in the Cloud</i> is one of the better summaries I've seen recently about the state of online TV recently. And, I buy Erick Schonfeld's view of social's integration with online TV. He believes that it will be useful as a TV guide, showing you what people you know or respect are watching. This is a logical, concrete and most importantly, likely to be successful step towards integrating social with TV. But please, no clunky cable-like user interfaces. It is also worth noting his observation that the TV Industry is still largely resistant to these changes and, importantly, don't seem to understand that online TV is about more than how content is distributed.<br />
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If you want to read how that resistance is affecting what you can watch, read <a href="http://abovethecrowd.com/2011/09/18/understanding-why-netflix-changed-pricing/">this very good article</a> from the <i>Above the Crowd</i> blog about why Netflix changed its pricing structure. Netflix cracked the code about how to make money with online streaming content when everyone said it was impossible. Now, everyone (understandably) wants a piece of the pie, even though many of them do not really seem to still understand how to make it work. What does that mean? Get used to fracturing in the delivering of content, that is, for the immediate future it seems like you will be looking more places (and paying more providers) for the same type of content you found in one or two portals making it more expensive and more difficult to locate.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.abonarconsultants.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/roast-goose.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="362" src="http://www.abonarconsultants.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/roast-goose.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Netflix, The Innovator's Dilemma and the Golden Egg</b></span></div>Craig Mieritzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06848601235943327168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-221365589686353854.post-51022967961359277042011-09-16T13:43:00.000-07:002011-09-21T16:09:18.316-07:00What's New Is Old<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://techzwn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/mysteryScienceTheater3000.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="271" src="http://techzwn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/mysteryScienceTheater3000.png" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Project Runway 3000: Inter-Galactic Social Edition</span></b></div><br />
Is it just me, or is new media and certain aspects of social starting to feel old (as opposed to mature)? Facebook, Twitter, to me they are feeling tired and too time consuming. Quora, very interesting if you belong to the church of the startup. Google Plus? It seems even key Google execs have <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/google-svp-google-plus-2011-9?op=1">stopped posting</a>. Google is finally getting ready to make it open for "everyone." I haven't exactly heard a wave of excitement from the masses.<br />
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What is the payoff to hundreds of millions of people broadcasting unedited and often incoherent bites, aside from contributing to our understanding of truly newsworthy events like the recent Arab revolutions? Yes, there is also some interesting work being done on meta-analysis of these streams of information, say to track the spread of influenza. However, it seems that most of it is self-broadasting as a means of personal marketing. Who really thinks that people who subscribe to 300 plus Twitter streams are doing anything other than trying to get those people somehow interested in themselves? Who has the time to monitor that many streams and to what benefit? Social media seem to be a net-sum game: time spent on Twitter is time not spent on Facebook, etc. How much self-marketing is really healthy and how far do people really need to go down the road to developing personal brands? Ultimately, whether you represent a large corporation or yourself, social media is only effective if you are providing useful, timely information.<br />
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I have been through quite a few apps meant to make some kind of coherent personalized narrative out of social and/or news and they all have all failed, either as businesses or in their functionality. I've given apps permission to interpret my Facebook, Twitter, RSS and pretty much anything else to which I subscribe and ended up with nothing but nearly generic results. They were definitely much worse than manually scanning RSS feeds or Twitter streams. Believe me, I am a true believer: whoever gets the next step right, curating content automatically and in a way that tells a story to the recipient combining news, video, social, etc., will be the next Big Winner. I want it to happen. And yet, I am coming closer to the opinion of a good friend, in explaining how they use their Facebook account: "Facebook is the perfect delivery platform for baby pictures." That may explain why Facebook is the largest online image hosting platform, I'm guessing larger than almost all the others combined.<br />
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How long will the idea that "social television" is a clunky TV interface tied to chat rooms, or check-ins to your favorite shows or tweets from show stars hold sway? Someone, please help me understand how any of this is an interesting way forward?<br />
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The most interesting aspect, at least for me, is that the mid-1990's promise of interactive media is quietly <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2011/jul/20/bjork-biophilia-app">coming to fruition</a> without CD's or DVD's. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkLl7r40KGV9KF_DwokdaMS6aCa8MKURqDCyNJIIbTV2aKOe8TshaNHVuNeS1JVyvbkVnHcl9Y4VI3c7lNk4lxKVRIlEWDve9ZTwsRF2IhF0MUShiDepJoudMG1Ky-Vfz3GctTYsclN8Y/s1600/bjork19jul2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkLl7r40KGV9KF_DwokdaMS6aCa8MKURqDCyNJIIbTV2aKOe8TshaNHVuNeS1JVyvbkVnHcl9Y4VI3c7lNk4lxKVRIlEWDve9ZTwsRF2IhF0MUShiDepJoudMG1Ky-Vfz3GctTYsclN8Y/s400/bjork19jul2011.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">The future of media: it's in your hands</span></b></div><br />
I do want to talk about Google soon, and how they are silently <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/google-is-secretly-spending-hundreds-of-millions-of-dollars-turning-youtube-into-a-cable-alternative-2011-9">changing the way content will be delivered</a>. Now, if they only could implement super fast broadband nationwide.......Craig Mieritzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06848601235943327168noreply@blogger.com0