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From AFACT (Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft)

FOUR PIRACY SEIZURES IN FOUR MONTHS IN BANKSTOWN AREA

Sydney: A 36-year-old woman was arrested by New South Wales Police in Bankstown late yesterday and charged with copyright offences in relation to possessing for sale pirated movie DVDs.

Police discovered the woman selling the illegitimate movie DVDs from the rear of her parked car in Bankstown's Brandon Avenue Carpark. Officers seized around 2,500 pirated movie DVDs, including copies of Land of the Lost and Angels and Demons which have only just been released in cinemas across Australia. Other titles included copies of Valkeryie, which is not yet legitimately released on DVD.

Following the arrest, Neil Gane, Director of Operations for the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) said: "We commend the work of the New South Wales Police for putting a stop to the sale of these pirated movies in our communities. Legitimate suburban businesses like cinemas and DVD rental stores have enough challenges in these tough economic times without having to compete with criminals."

The operation yesterday represents the fourth seizure of pirated DVD movies in Bankstown in the past four months. Over 7,000 pirated DVD movies, with an estimated street value of $35,000, have been seized in these operations.

Police enquiries are continuing and further charges may be laid.

Penalties for copyright crimes are up to $60,500 and/or 5 years jail per offence.

 

"What are you really burning?": AFACT's anti-piracy campaign.

One of the most commonly stated reasons that Australian viewers don't engage with new television programs is the difficulty they sometimes face in staying with the show as networks switch the days and times that the show is on, show's disapear for sports, and sometimes just plain disapear (Yes, I am looking at you, Channel Nine).

More often than not, we figure I'll wait for it to rerun of Foxtel, or binge view on DVD.

ADVERTISING AGE report that CBS in USA is taking a new approach with their new show, 'Harper's Island'.   The audience has been told two things about this show, every episode someone will die, and it will run for just 13 episodes.   The show is not just a traditional TV presentation either, it also has a strong online component.

It kind of makes sense, in our busy modern lives we all have to plan more, schedule more, have busier lives.   Maybe in the future the TV schedule will not need to cover the next 7 days but the next quarter.   Foxtel publishes their TV guide monthly, should free-to-air be aiming for the same.   Viewer loyalty built through reliable and dependable programming.

But is this all that new, is Australian ahead of the game for once, 'Sea Patrol', 'Underbelly', 'City Homicide' and 'The Circuit' are all short run series and Australian audiences are responding well to these.   The days of shows that run for 40 weeks of the year are definately on the way out.   

Channel Nine this week are showing the Oscars at 9:30pm on Monday, after all with over 2.5 million viewers last week and some additional publicity courtesy of the Australian Family Association, that's a viewership you don't want to rock the boat with.

Additional digital channels also provide networks with an opportunity to improve programming, while not disgruntelling viewers, unsuccessful shopws could move down onto secondary channels, while popular shows could move up to the primary channel.

Shorter series allow for more creative storytelling and more engaging productions, a great example of this is any comparision between a British show, which can be as low as 6 episodes, and the same show be remade in the USA, where the concept might be pulled out to as many as 22 episodes.   Take a look at 'Queer as Folk' for an example.

That's the guarantee I want from my broadcaster, if you begin watching this show, it'll be played all the way through.

The Independent Television Service in San Francisco has just released a new report which looked into new ways of creating distributing and promoting films.    The report focuses on 10 case studies, and it's well worth a look.   The focus is on social filmmakers, but not strictly documentary.

They also highlight the Top 5 stategies in each area.   I particularly like the sugggestion that you could make an international film by collaborating with other idependent filmmakers in other countries.

Source: CinemaTech

I stumbled over an intriging and clever online marketing move today.

I have an account at Twitter, the mobile misco-blogging web site.   I rarely use it  and I've never connected it to my mobile - I'm way to busy to distracted by another thing.    My Facebook updates automatically repost to my Twitter account, and a few of my friends follow my activities through the Twitter feed.

One of the great (and possibly scary) things you can do on Twitter is you can start following people, every now and then I take a look at who is following me and block a couple of the more dubious ones.   Today I found someone following me who I wasn't expecting.    Cardinology.

The Cardinals are the backing band of one of my favorite performers, Ryan Adams, and Cardinology is their latest album.   I've blogged about Ryan Adams before and my love of his work is well known.   But surely I should be his fan - not the other way round.   It's very clever that someone in Cardinal land trolls the internet and makes connections with an artist's fans.

I clicked onto the Cardinology Twitter feed, their update from earlier today announced that Adams alter ego DJ Reggie had posted some more rap tunes online.   The link led me to the bands You Tube account and this beautiful new song, 'Dear Impossible'.   I didn't know this song.   What album is it on?   A google search revealed the answer.    Even though 'Cardinology' is only just in the shops, the next album is already underway.   My seach also revealed Ryan Adam's blog, on the tour bus he's been learning Final Cut Pro and posting simple videos to share the new songs, I found another one 'Sunflowers in Hotels' on Vimeo.

So what's all this got to do with filmmaking.    Well not a lot.    It has a lot to do with online distribution and marketing though.  

The BIG thing is that they didn't just create a online presence and hope I'd find it - they reach out and made contact with me.    Now I don't think anyone in the Ryan Adams camp is actually following my Twitter updates, mainly because they have 1995 friends to follow - but they made me feel like they were interested in me.

How many filmmakers just create a web page to promote their film and leave it at that?

The band is also cleverly getting me to like the songs from their new album - before it's released.    They're getting to me before the critics and the reviews.   Could this work for filmmakers?   Would you ever let me see your rough cut online?   Some footage from the shoot?   Something beyond the standard trailer?  

Listen to Cardinology on the band's My Space page.  

Ryan Adams is playing Metropolis Fremantle in January - he's more than welcome to drop by FTI for a FCP tutorial session.

..and while I don't believe that The Cardinals have a connection with all 1995 of their Twitter friends, I would like to take a moment to recognise my 584 Facebook friends...your all great. 

The WALL STREET JOURNAL has a catch up article on some of the newer technologies that are set to change the screen exhibition and distribution side of the business.

Amongst the news of Blu-Ray, 3D and Digital Projectors was one technology I had to think twice about.   A blu-ray DVD that links into social networking.   You watch a movie at home and friends who are watching it at the same time can comment and chat on the TV screen.  

Personally I hate people who talk in the movies, and I don't think I'm going to appreciate my facebook aquaintainces giving me their thoughts as I watch a film.   Do people want this?   Are there any signs?   Are we talking on our mobiles while friends watch films? do we text them SMS messages?   Do you hear teenagers parting in the playground with calls of 'let's all watch 'Gossip Girl' at the same time and chat'?

With all the calls for content to be free of time and space and the proclaimed death of appointment viewing - is this a little of target?

What do you think?

See the article at the WALL STREET JOURNAL

Here's another good example of how documentary can be successful outside the normalk distribution chanels if there content is right.   It's all about being in the right niche.

From Variety, Anne Thompson reports on How Sports Films Thrive on the Net.

Channel 9 is offering the first two episodes of their new drama series 'Canal Road' for free download.   They encourage you to share it, burn it to DVD and even but it up as a bit-torrent.   The idea is that word of mouth advertising for the new show will spread and it will get personal and positive reviews, building a loyal audience before it's TV debut.

If you missed this week's debut of Sea Patrol II: The Coup, it's also available for download.

In November we posted a link to a story about webisodes, FTI Member Justine Smith provides this guest post in response to the article.  

I think the article is focussing on points which are not completely relevant. What they are referring to, I think is the re-packaging of material and putting a price on this for creative development. If you want to understand more about this have a look at the current negotiations in Hollywood between the Writers’ Guild and studio execs. Hollywood is on hold waiting for this to be resolved. The Directors’ Guild of America are coming in behind the Writers’ as their agreements are also up for negotiation soon.

But if we’re talking purely content generated for on-line viewing I have a lot to offer. I was recently a participant in the Portable Screen Academy in Melbourne which is directly exploring this territory.

The first point is: People are already making money from creating webisodes.

{Have a look at this surprise hit story of a one-off http://www.catfish.net.au/index.php?h=NewMedia} 

The main examples that we studied were extremely profitable enterprises. We met and were mentored by the creators of these success stories.

In North America Miles Beckett and team started the “Lonely Girl 15” phenomenon. They looked at what works on YouTube, mostly copyright rip-offs and video-blogging. Obviously the only profitable area was focussing on video-blogging.  Lonely Girl created a video blogger identity. A short series began, with Bree complaining about her parents and not being able to go out as much as she would like. 

A buzz was created. People started to wonder who this person was, where they lived, what her parents did for work, which religious sect they belonged to. And those people were asking these questions on-line in forums and on Lonely Girls profile pages.

Eventually the Lonely Girl team came out and stated publicly this is a fiction, we have created Bree and her story.  It was a scandal without too much bite, a victimless crime, and Lonely Girl’s buzz increased as word got out. 

Now Bree has loads of fans and followers and the story still continues 18months after it started.

Next step, the spin-off.

The Lonely Girl team noticed that they had world popularity, but the most impact was close to home where users has more opportunity to interact with the characters and story. So they created a new series in the UK, Kate Modern. 

Luke Hyams is a key writer and producer for the Kate Modern series. Using the same format profile, but new characters and storylines the new UK series was created. But this time they started with a big budget. Due to the notoriety of Lonely Girl, the team garnered immediate sponsorship and alignment with the social-networing site, Bebo. Bebo is the primary social-networking tool in the UK, and they saw this as a way keeping there difference and excitement for consumers. They held initial first- run of all episodes, before the ep’s could then be re-distributed in ‘traditional’ on-line areas, such as You Tube – a virtual free-to-air distributor.

Highly successful. Highly interactive.

A standout story for me was hearing how they held an Art Gallery opening of Kate’s work. Only 12 viewers showed up as no-one really believed it was for real. The writers had devised a double-whammy for this event and thus staged an abduction of another character at the Opening. Some savvy viewers recorded this on their mobile phones and effectively scooped the Kate Modern team by uploading that night. But it also created a greater buzz and there are loads of loyal viewers and participants in this show week-to-week.

Profitable Webisodes Downunder

The local version of this type of online serial is the Melbourne based “Forget the Rules”. Their second series is uploading as we speak. 

They started out in the first series offering viewer participation by giving a choice of 3 endings which would be voted on, chosen, written, filmed, edited and uploaded all within a week. Loads of fun and very vital filmmaking.

They are linked with Optus for the second series and also received development funding  from Film Victoria.

Portable Screen Academy

We produced in two teams of 12, two separate on-line serial formats. Then we broke our teams down and in smaller groups to create individual episodes. Bearing in mind that we filmed in about an hour and half, and edited in an hour then compressed and uploaded all in one day, a mighty effort. All our work was fitted around seminars and speakers, but it feels great to have put it into practice and see how possible it all is. The other West Australian on the course was Kane Jason. He was on the Help Me Get Karen team, and I was on the Forever storyline. 

Follow the links below to learn more about these on-line serials. And if you are going to look at my story (Forever – Episode 3) please put in a comment and favourite it, and give it 5 stars. Support local content, harnessing these new delivery forms.

Cheers,

Justine
 

YOU TUBE

Forever – Episode 1 http://youtube.com/watch?v=x0mwaCd5yY0

Forever – Episode 2 http://youtube.com/watch?v=HqYPZwQLlBU

Forever – Episode 3 http://youtube.com/watch?v=zjLB8luUDRQ

 

Forever Productions http://youtube.com/user/foreverproductions20

 

YOU TUBE

Help Me Get Karen – Episode 1 http://youtube.com/watch?v=SN-pvoTA9vQ

Help Me Get Karen – Episode 2 http://youtube.com/watch?v=oBuklV1YA70

Help Me Get Karen – Episode 3 http://youtube.com/watch?v=W6Kfkj6I1ZI

Help Me Get Karen – Episode 4 http://youtube.com/watch?v=pzq5k6JI5m8

 

It is what it is what it is http://youtube.com/user/itiswhatitiswhatitis

 

PORTABLE FILM FESTIVAL

http://portablefilmfestival.com/

 

Forever – Episode 1 http://portablefilmfestival.com/video.php?video=206

Forever – Episode 2 http://portablefilmfestival.com/video.php?video=209

Forever – Episode 3 http://portablefilmfestival.com/video.php?video=207

 

Help Me Get Karen – Episode 1

http://portablefilmfestival.com/video.php?video=202

Help Me Get Karen – Episode 2 http://portablefilmfestival.com/video.php?video=203

Help Me Get Karen – Episode 3

http://portablefilmfestival.com/video.php?video=204

Help Me Get Karen – Episode 4

http://portablefilmfestival.com/video.php?video=205

 

Also of interest:

Have a look at our actor Oliver Clark, in another online creation…

http://portablefilmfestival.com/video.php?video=167

 

Australian made webisodes, generating an income, and harnessing the form.

http://www.forgettherules.com/

 

Lonely Girl 15 – from the USA

http://youtube.com/user/lonelygirl15

www.lg15.com

 

Kate Modern – the UK spin-off

http://youtube.com/user/KateModernLG15

http://www.bebo.com/katemodern

 

A new study has just revealed what visual content Australians were downloading via bit-torrent in 2007, television programs 'Heroes', 'Lost', 'Battlestar Galatica', 'Top Gear' and 'Prison Break' were popular.    While in Australia it is easy to draw a comparison between TV programming delays and downloading in the USA downloading still reamins a problem, so it's not just the fact that we get the shows months later.

Obviously in Australia one of the biggest contributing factors to a high level is downloading is the many months or even years between when a show airs in the USA or UK and when it finally reaches Australia.   Australians have always been frustrated to wait, before we just lived with it, now we don't have too.

That dosen't explain why people download so much in the US though.   The real reason for this is not just changes to technology, but changes to the way we live.   The days when people worked 9-5 and Monday to Friday are long gone.   Many people now are not getting home until late in the evening - yet both free to air and PAY-TV still fail to cater audiences outside the standard primetime viewing hours.   

If I'm free to watch TV from mindnight to 2am, what are my choices,

1. Get a DVD
2. Record things on my VHS
3. Wait for Tivo to arrive
4. Turn to my computer

The point is that I wouldn't reach choice number 4 unless all my other options are closed.   Televison providers who want to build and maintain audiences in the future will have to open up some options for me.   Bring the advertising dollar to where I'm watching, rather than sheparding me to 'traditional appointment viewing'.   I'd like my appointment to be at 2am please.   

The SYDNEY MORNING HERALD has an article about Foxtel using advocates to build hype around new shows.   In the USA around 10% of a marketing budget for a product may be spent on swaying the influentials - the people who tell the other people.   FOXTEL has used the approach to build audiences for it's new show 'The Gossip Girl'.

We've seen similar approaches in Australia before, earlier this year Channel 9 allowed people to see the first episode of 'Sea Patrol' in advance online, hoping the reactions of the people who logged on would generate buzz ahead of the shows launch.

FOXTELS approach takes it one step further though, they are targeting the influentials, the people who form opinions and influence other people.    The people who have enough friends to invite around to  a opening night house party for a new TV show.

In the SMH article others are quick to dismiss this as an effective approach for marketing television in the free to air world because of it's reliance on making big numbers quickly to guarantee the success of a show.   BUT this is the model that needs to change in the new media world.

For a television show to be success there are two models of program development, firstly you can do the big bang approach, start big and get a big audience.   That plane crashed in Episode 1 of 'Lost' for precisely this reason.   A nuclear bomb went off in Jericho.   The new BBC soapie set in Manly is going to start with a murder.   Alternatively you can stick with a show for a period of time and allow it to develop.   Everyone is chasing 'The Chaser' at the moment. It’s a ratings powerhouse and it's on the ABC - strangely commercial networks were never chasing the same team as CNNN four years ago.   The ABC stuck with the Chaser boys and let them grow.

So if your going to let a show grow, the media world is all set for you - you just have to change everything in your programming mentality.   You have to show a new show several times in it's first week, give me lots of chances to tune in.   You have to let me know a new show is on, give me lots of notice - I'm busy and not really paying attention.   I need a countdown - 5 days to the new Jimmy Smits show.    I need a chance to catch up if I decide I did want to watch the show after all - 5 weeks into it's run - so give me a marathon of episodes on a Saturday afternoon.    Re-play the show on your Digital channel or time shifted channel a few hours or days later.   Before Season Two starts - replay Season one late at night.    Basically give me lots of chances to engage.   

If your working in that world - which Foxtel and to a lesser extent Channel 7 are, the use of advocates makes so much more sense.    

There are lots of books recently on this topic, 'The Tipping Point' by Malcolm Gladwell, 'The Influentials' by John Berry and Ed Keller or 'Cool Hunting' by Peter Gloor and Scott Cooper.   There a good read if you want to delve further.