Head in the clouds? look out for Ultraviolet.

The future of entertainment is changing rapidly. The technology that we get use to using today will be the medium of the past tomorrow. About fourteen years ago a little company started to revolutionize the home rental business by making videos available through the mail at a low cost. This was followed by a streaming technology that incorporated the use of video game consoles to deliver the content through a high-speed internet access. This would be a significant event, as it would affect the home video business and coupled with a downward economic spiral, would lead to a large amount of video stores closing. Before this event there was a slow change from VHS tapes to DVD. This change was gradual a slight shift from an analog tape to a digital disk. However the change to the blue ray was one that met with many obstacles as the market was split between companies vying for the use of their medium, Sony with their Blue ray disk, and Panasonic with their HD-DVD. I enclosed a brief video from 2007 courtesy of C/Net.com Even in 2007 there was a mention of downloadable content. Now here we are in 2011 having a new discussion on the cloud. The cloud is what many in the industry are planning to use to convince consumer to come back to buying DVDs and blue rays instead of using the Netflix service so much. The new Ultraviolet technology is a direct result of negotiations with companies to avoid splitting the market as they did during the Blue Ray and HD-DVD struggle. Many studios have come together and decided to offer their movies on the ultraviolet format. Disney is the only notable hold out on the format, as they have decided to come up with their own cloud format. Either way there will soon be digital lockers available to house your movie collection meaning you may not physically own the movie, but you would have access to the movie via the cloud. As of right now the media is only available via streaming or down load for portable devices such as your laptop or your digital phone. However you can bet a pretty penny that before you know it there will be a set top device that will enable you to tap into the cloud and access your stored media. However this makes me think about the stores that closed as Netflix came on the scene. What will be the effect of keeping so much material on a server that you don’t have access to, and will this have an adverse effect on the already shaky home video market? Only time will tell, but one thing that is definite is technology will continue to expand the possibilities and boundaries of what we watch and how we watch it.


References:

C/Net video 2007 retrieved Oct 26,2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oKkqpA2ZoI

Chris Pirillo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bBLap5zOcQ retrieved Oct 26,2011

http://www.uvvu.com/what-is-uv.php retrieved Oct 22, 2011

How did this make it to T.V.?

According to many reviews of the new fall line up, it is a bad year for television shows. There are a couple of bright spots out there this season; among them Prime Suspect and Person of Interest seem to be the most prominent to me. Although this freshman class of television shows has yet to yield a stand out hit, they did make it to a fledgling season when other ideas didn’t make it past the pitch. This makes me wonder about the show ideas that were great, that didn’t get pitched or packaged correctly. So I thought we would go ever some of the more important information for someone to know about pitching an idea for a television show or movie. The first thing that you have to know is your story. If you are not clear on the story, how can you tell someone else about it? You must also be aware of what option you would like to take if they are interested in your story. Are you going to let them buy it, option it or are they going to license the work from you. You should also know what the company normally buys, and be aware of your audience. This will make it easier to choose who you want to pitch the story to. The presentation should be full of energy and you should be able to explain how the characters’ world works. All of this is assuming that you are already prepared and have an agent. Having an agent is the initial step if you ever want to get into a position where you have a captive interested audience to pitch to. An agent uses his or her connections to get you in the door. Getting an agent is no easy accomplishment, it takes some persistence on your behalf, but if this is what you want to do with your life then there is no time like the present to get started. So take a look at the links and start moving towards your future, maybe one day your show will be one of the lucky ones in a freshman class of ill-conceived pilots.

References

http://www.nbc.com/prime-suspect/video/episode-1/1357561

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x9ov8xJijg&feature=related

Jobs: Changing the world one innovation at a time

I had intended to write about the future of distribution in the music industry. However it seems more appropriate to write about the man who would inadvertently changed the way we listen to music, communicate with each other and forever change the tools we use to do business. Steve Paul Jobs was born in 1955 in San Francisco. Jobs claim to fame began in 1983 when Jobs was working as part of the Lisa project. Steve Jobs was removed from the Lisa project, and later took over another small project at Apple. The Macintosh was a project that was simply designed to make the computer as easy to use as a toaster. After finding some success with the Macintosh Jobs was forced out of the company and began to find new innovations. He started another computer company called Next and acquired a graphics department with the dream of making animated movies using computers from George Lucas, he would later rename the group Pixar. Jobs would not return to Apple until his company NeXT was acquired by Apple in 1996. This would prove to be the company’s most successful decision since the departure of Jobs. Jobs immediately reorganized the board and stream lined the company. He also did something that most could not understand at the time. He partnered with their main competitor Microsoft to help solidify the company. From this point on Steve Jobs would steer the ship that is apple into the black, and to new innovations that would change the world. Great innovations that combine flexibility with know how, such as the iMac, the MacBook, which I am currently using to write this blog, to the iPod and the iPhone. Forever changing the way that people communicate with each other and enjoy their entertainment. Mr. Jobs resigned on August of this year stating “I have always said that if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s C.E.O., I would be the first to let you know unfortunately, that day has come.” Mr. Jobs had been fighting a battle with a rare cancer; sadly he passed away Oct 5, 2011. Leaving behind many family and friends to mourn his passing and the legacy of all of the innovations he provided us with. Thank you Mr. Jobs you will be missed.



References:

http://allaboutstevejobs.com/bio/short/short.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/25/technology/jobs-stepping-down-as-chief-of-apple.html?pagewanted=all

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2394212,00.asp#fbid=MqGM0gNj0e3

http://blog.moviefone.com/2011/10/05/steve-jobs-apple-pixar-obit/