NESTA suggestions:
"Think carefully about the skills required for the proposal to be a success (e.g. management, technical, marketing). Tell us about the key team members who will be working on the project in the NESTA funded phase and what their specific roles and responsibilities will be in relation to the skills required. We want to know who the team members are, all about their track record and experience to date and how this is relevant to the NESTA funded phase. We want to know what their level of commitment to the project will be during the NESTA funded phase e.g. full or part-time. It is important for us to know whether any members of the team have other claims on their time. Please provide this information and contact details for all key team members.
We also need two references for each team member. The referees should be independent and be in a position to comment on the team member's skills and experiences that are relevant to this project. These references will help us to assess the overall project management and capacity of the team and its members.
You should also use this section to explain the management structure (either planned or existing) for the NESTA funded phase.
If any individual team member has a website please include the web address.
This question is also an opportunity for you to tell us what type of person that you might be looking for as a Project Champion. As we explain in the guidance notes an important part of a NESTA support package is that we aim to provide a Project Champion to support you in achieving the aims of you project.
We also want to know about other facilities and support that you will have access to during this phase. This might include key suppliers / third parties that will be crucial to the development of your idea for the immediate plan and why you regard them as crucial."
I am seeking support as an individual artist to kick-start a sustainable re-mixable film community.
Please see "Team" attachment for biography and references of key people in this community.
KEY TEAM MEMBERS
Director/Producer/Architect:
Michela Ledwidge is me; the artist seeking funding. I hold the creative and technical vision for the project. I will design the story and story framework so that it can be played with as performance tool. This is a full-time role with hands-on involvement in all areas including singing and programming.
Art Director:
Damon O'Connell is responsible for ensuring that the visual aesthetic for the project is achievable across film and console. He will be responsible for visual-related prototyping (e.g. 3D animation/effects tests, 35mm pipeline tests) and visual art creation. This will be a full-time role.
Console Architect:
Mike Roberts is responsible for ensuring that the console demo fully supports the vision for film as an open-ended creative tool. He will pay particular attention to how proprietary code and open source code is structured. He will build prototype software tools for modifying the film and assist Michela in hiring additional programming support as required. This will be a full-time role.
Script Editor/Producer:
Ann-Kristin Glenster will responsible for script revisions and editing leading up to the shooting script. Once the shooting script is finalised, she will help secure production funding for SANCTUARY and other projects. This will be a part-time role.
KEY SUPPORT
A number of advisors, all of whom have signed non-disclosure agreements with thequality.com, will be involved during the development phase. This activity is largely unfunded but of key importance in establishing a real community around the project.
The following advisors will also be suppliers as required:
Director's assistant:
Ken Thompson Marchesi will assist Michela in researching and executing all stages of the project.
Sound producer:
John Broomhall will advise on the pipeline for recording and distributing interactive sound assets.
Concept artist:
Simon Millgate contribute concept artwork to the project in the form of sketches and digital artwork.
Virtual Set consultant:
Michael Eleftheriades will advise the project on virtual and captured paranomic environments.
Technical Architect :
Robert Bowerman will advise on project planning, relevent academic research, and overall technical architecture.
Project Accountant:
Christine Coorey will manage the finances of the project. She will advise on all financial planning (production funding and company investment), monitor cashflow and ensure that the development phase is adhering to budgets.
Legal Counsel:
Archie Maddan will advise me on general legal issues and manage the relationship with the law firm Osborne Clarke.
System Administrator:
This role is responsible for supporting all IT used by the project team. Specific skills will be needed at different times, sometimes requiring specialists to be sourced for a particular issue. This role ensures that there is support for invevitable IT issues.
thequality.com has two specialist system administrators who work as required on a freelance basis, Paul Makepeace and Cameron Bartlett.
INFRASTRUCTURE
thequality.com will provide online platforms (intranet, extranet and public internet) to the new company under an ASP (Application Service Provider) arrangement. In general, existing IT infrastructure (in-house and co-located) will be sufficient, as will the thequality.com office space. All online systems established for the new company will be co-hosted with thequality.com until capacity is reached.
http://thequality.com
ONLINE DISTRIBUTORS
Crucial to the development of the idea will be an online distribution partner and a preferred online distribution channel for MODs and perhaps even for the entire DVD (though not essential). There are various online distribution models being considered for this project with the intention to not limit distribution by other means. The ultimate strategy for online distribution will depend on further discussions with suppliers.
Steam (Valve Software)
Steam is an online delivery system for games. Steam was designed to enable Valve to better manage the complexities of supporting very popular MODable games. As such, Steam is one of the few options for online distribution of the re-mixable film itself (as well as smaller MOD bundles). The popularity of Valve's game, Half-life, and the upcoming sequel, Half-life 2, means that Steam attracts phenomenal amounst of traffic, 500,000 user accounts at launch. Product distributed through Steam would leverage the high profile of the vendor. Countering the appeal of Steam is a backlash from parts of the game community. Not everybody wants that requires user authentication (i.e. tracking) before a game can be played.
http://www.steampowered.com/
Kazaa (Sherman Enterprises)
Kazaa is the most popular P2P file sharing network on which most file sharing occurs (largely illegally). Deploying legal content on Kazaa is an increasingly popular form of online distribution. Kazaa's popularity is offset by its reputation for tacitly encouraging copyright enfringement. Highlighting Kazaa in any distribution strategy may be a risk to other partnerships, particularily with more traditional media companies.
http://www.kazaa.com/
Altnet (Brilliant Digital Entertainment)
Altnet sells a "Premium Content" DRM service which prepares and places content on Kazaa and other P2P (peer-to-peer) oneline distribution systems solely with the permission of the copyright holder. Altnet (and its parent company Brilliant Digital) were subject to widespread criticism in the press in 2001 after CNN revealed that, contained within an Altnet shareholders report, that any Kazaa user who had accepted the Terms and Conditions of Kazaa had explicitly allowed Altnet technology to re-use their local PC resources across the net (like computing power). Interestingly enough, this was an idea explored in my script (commissioned by the now-head of Altnet). Despite the consumer backlash that year, Altnet remains ideally placed to enable wider access to re-mixes. BDE management could secure favourable terms for this project.
However my experience on Horses for Courses (where playback relied on BDE technology and BDE discontinued support shortly after the film release) means that any distribution strategy will never rely solely on the availability of these businesses.
http://www.altnet.com/
On Demand Distribution (OD2)
OD2 is arguably the most successful online distribution system for digital music. Used by major labels and retailers such as HMV, Universal, Virgin, and Ministry of Sound. THe system relies on the Microsoft DRM system which means that incorporation into an Xbox title will be easier than into a Sony title. Reliance on Microsoft DRM is a weakness given the relatively low take-up of this format and widespread suspicion of DRM in general. OD2 is best placed to provide the audience with a commercial channel through which to distribute MODs. It is in the interest of the project to encourage commercial re-use and distribution of re-mixable film assets via arbitrary distribution systems because this is an opportunity for royalty revenue.
http://www.ondemanddistribution.com
Bit Torrent
Bit Torrent is an open source online distribution system released under the MIT License which, in the words of its sole author, "basically lets you do anything you want with it so long as you leave the license notification in the source."
http://bitconjurer.org/BitTorrent/
Freenet
Freenet is a free content distribution system which, in the words of its original creator, "is free software designed to ensure true freedom of communication over the Internet. It allows anybody to publish and read information with complete anonymity." Freenet has obtained considerable press over the last four years but a lack of user-friendly tools has limited its take-up.
http://freenet.sourceforge.net/
Posted by .M. at October 17, 2003 01:15 PM