DERTy Talk

We are back again to make sure you are up to date with all things DERTy (Digital, Entertainment, Rights and Technology) from the week just gone.

We hope you find some of the weird and wonderful things from this week’s news and Twittersphere of interest. If you have any comments on any of the points below we would love to hear them.

Until next week…

Digital Entertainment

The reality of seeing things in 3D

We’ve got some serious bits in DERTy Talk this week, for which we apologise. But there is more to a Digital and Entertaining life than Angry Birds and Angry Bird Art. There is. We promise. And so the first story is from the IHT regarding the *surprise* that Mars Needs Moms has flopped at the box office. “Tens of millions” in losses are expected of this film that cost $175 million to make. 3D fatigue is setting in. Or is it? Brookes Barnes cites various reasons for the failure. Firstly, saturation – the movie comes off the back of a busy 3D animation season – Rango, Gnomeo and Hop). Secondly – cost. The 3D price tag means going to the cinema isn’t a cheap activity for families; faced with so many movie options some movies are bound to be left behind. Finally – the performance of Moms could be the death knell for ‘Zemeckis’ style animation. Basically unlike the clever bods at Pixar, the Zemeckis approach includes filming live actors then putting them through the computer. It’s the same style used on Polar Express and it’s not to my tastes. It’s kinda creepy. These three reasons aside, the glaringly obvious thing here is perhaps Mars Needs Moms just isn’t a very appealing tale. This should be a wake-up call to an industry that seems to think that celeb + animation + 3D is a guaranteed success formula. It isn’t. Just look at the bastardisation of Yogi Bear. Quality of the story has got to come first.

Hold me closer Tinie Tempah

Apologies for the lame headline, we’ve been listen to Elton a lot recently. What we actually wanted to talk about was Tinie Tempah the Facebook GAME. It’s basically the same game concept as Canabalt (which is awesome, btw) and Mirror’s Edge on iOS (even more awesome – though DISCLAMINER we do work for EA mobile). The futuristic-mash-up background is nicely sketched (reminds us of the lovely doodles by Andrea Joseph for Cross Pens) and the game is simple and easy. Crucially each level is soundtracked by one of Tempah’s album tracks. It’s not big. It’s not clever. But it’s a little bit of fun and is driving some good numbers to Tempah’s Facebook wall.

Product placement

With the relaxing of product placement laws, Chanel 4 and New Look have announced their first deal. New Look clothes will feature in catwalks on the channel’s T4 show and they will also have sponsorship branding. This tie-up makes a lot of sense, as the teenage market is increasingly hard to target it is nice that another string has been added to the marketers bow. This is likely to be the first of many announcements in this space so we will keep you updated…

Inside Out
Or Analogue meets Digital. It feels a bit crass to categorise this as simply ‘entertainment’ but it’s a beautiful project that is so very well put together. Spare four minutes and watch the video to get a better view of exactly what this project is and where it came from, but in essence it’s a photography project of a huge scale that looks to get people from around the world working together. People are challenged to use black and white photographic portraits to share untold stories. The images are digitally uploaded, turned into posters and then sent back to the creators to be placed wherever they like. When you watch the video you’ll see exactly how brilliantly this has come to life. It’s all being documented and archived so that it’s viewable virtually. All in all a lovely project with a nod to the beauty of a physical photo.

Rights

You’re e-book is overdue
This week HarperCollins announced that it’s to put a life span on its e-book content. Currently due to hit those readers in Canada, the publisher is limiting each e-book to 26 ‘check outs’. Effectively this gives an e-book a usage time of 12 months before it self-destructs. The new restriction to the DRM set up makes clear business sense, on paper, but it’s arguably a pretty heavy handed approach which is hard to justify when you consider how many years a physical copy of a book might last. An interesting landmark in modern rights management, but not a vote winner for HarperCollins.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/03/08/f-vp-misener-ebooks.html

Walk Towards the Light

An interesting feature in NMA today, and the first of many we expect, looking at UltraViolet. Exciting times ahead for consumers – when digital and physical content can be passed from screen to screen and between members of the house hold. (DISCLAIMER: our Edelman colleagues in the US have worked with DECE, the consortium behind UltraViolet).

Technologies

Google Wedding

Google is taking city mapping to the next level by rendering a 3D route plan of the Royal Wedding procession in London. Whilst it isn’t quite up to the same levels as The Getaway London it is an interesting example of how much mapping has come along in recent years. Some people will be very excited about this, indeed the Telegraph ran an article on it as did the Independent. http://bit.ly/emPrWa

Creative Play

Think – Work – Play.com is a space for London creatives, opinion formers and thinkers to share with others tips of the trade. You can get an insight into the latest creative concepts running in the city. Including the latest project in the East End http://think-work-play.com/boxpark-shoreditch/

 

 

Tweets from the team

@LukeMackay Skype screen-grab art. Very funny (via @trendhunter and @GerryWisniewski) http://bit.ly/hijy31

@LukeMackay A brief history of movie title design. Lovely. http://bzfd.it/eJS3hH

@LukeMackay Really beautifully done RT @motherlondon: Well, this is nice:http://youtu.be/DIArJjU8HjE

@LukeMackay The internet is dead. v. v. interesting read from #SXSWhttp://bit.ly/fqb8Wo

@AJGriffiths: News Corp jumps on the ‘social gaming’ band wagon. Sound a bit clueless. http://bit.ly/g0NSnN

@AJGriffiths: Silicon Alley insiders – really interesting profile in the FT http://on.ft.com/gWxLf6