headbin

AV demo for Westminster uni

Westminister Uni have approve the submission we made in September for some further demo funding.

Here is the video produced.

modfilms: AV demo

Consider this a work-in-progress. Feedback to-date suggests it still isn't totally clear what we're doing.

LAFVA awards

I've submitted a completion funding proposal to the London Artist's Film and Video Awards (LAFVA)

ProjectFunding < Sanctuary < TWiki

Film Funding

A couple of last-minute completion fund applications are being worked on at the moment in order to fund the remain post production activities. I wouldn't have known about the re-structured London Artists' Film and Video Awards if I hadn't been talking to the Arts Council today. Application for that is due on Friday *gulp*

Any more leads to ProjectFunding?

Within The Woods

Sam Raimi made a 30-minute test video for Evil Dead called Within The Woods

Enter the Dragons

I've applied to the BBC show the Dragon's Den. Here's what I put in the application for £200K.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dragonsden/

One line: The future of films is sampling culture. We make subscription-based film worlds that turn any film into interactive entertainment.

Exec Summary: MOD Films is a production company developing a new paradigm - "re-mixable film DVD" titles for home theatres and an online subscription model that works for entertainment, education and corporate video titles. Our patent-ready business methods enable productions of any sized budget to be purpose-built for wider interactivity and be made more directly re-usable, more distribute-able and of course more profitable for a wider range of purposes.

MOD Films received a NESTA Inventions award in 2004 to develop a world-first pilot. The product is a "film world" - a short 35mm film, a software demo, and a film distribution system in one.

We seek further investment to consolidate our team and technology.

Biz dev meeting minutes

MINUTES BIZ DEV MEETING 1st Dec 2004

Aladin, Michela Ledwidge, Phil Chang

AGENDA

1) Status

Approaching next milestone (Film Pre-Production). Two heads of department appointed (Art, Visual Effects).

ML suggested that recent developments suggest that the original plan, to consider Sanctuary the first official product demo, could be reviewed in light of "simpler" product potential emerging. This may not derail the overall plan and final demo experience but allow other demos to be created earlier.

PC suggested that there are in fact two businesses within MOD Films which can ideally bootstrap each other - a project-based production company and a technology company.

Aladin pointed out three key elements of the project to keep focus on

• Reach NESTA milestones to maintain 1st phase cashflow
• Concretise the idea into a capsule that stands on its own (e.g. stand-alone package)
• Constrain the spread of the idea so others (apart from ML) can focus on the idea and work out the potential and business opportunity for themselves

2) Leads

Movieaudit (William Latham) looking for database to hold film data "hoovered" from a production. ML was approached to do this. ML has told Movieaudit that MOD Films will have a product to license early 2005 and would be able to quote from being given a vertical slice of film data (all asset types). ML feels we should have a demonstrable tool for data asset mining mid-Jan.

The Movieaudit discussions identified three key questions for the business

Q) What are the most pressing commercial needs for re-use of old production assets? Q) What is the best way to demonstrate re-use value to existing asset IP holders? Q) What is the right price point for asset IP holders?

National Computing Centre keen to on Manchester Whispers proposal for Manchester Broadband Fund.

Grant Dean (in advisory team) has put forward lead for mobile development.

Aladin has a contact from Tiger Aspect Productions interested in this area.

Next steps

3.1 PC to start work on business plan for 2nd round funding. First stage of this will be to prepare short-form plan (approx 5 pages) to be ready end of December for NESTA and Team review.

3.2 ML to continue progressing the film and demo as planned.

3.3 PC and WL to discuss the provision of feature film sample data to the company for testing.

3.4 PC and A to put together a "pragmatic" group of advisors (a subset of the team) to guide ML on business development and come back to ML with a name. ML to then appoint someone to head that group.

3.5 ML to submit Mancunian Whispers proposal for Monday 6th

3.6 Plan for expanding modfilms.com web site with materials that explain the concept clearly "Dummies guide" including video of Science Museum pitch (need to check permission with NESTA).

3.7 PC to help ML set up equity deal structure - deadline, end of Dec.

Sponsorship ideas

Flights

QANTAS

Hosting

http://www.ukfsn.org/

FUNDING APPROVED

We got it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Phase 1 ++++++++ SANCTUARY production funding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks everyone! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx .M.

Feedback from EA

Your proposal is very interesting. One of the key aims for us and the rest of the games industry at the moment, is trying to draw in people who are not current gamesplayers. What you are suggesting may well be a way to attract new consumers and reach that Holy Grail of the non-gameplaying market.

At the moment I see what you are proposing but I am not clear how exactly you can make this work. Without having a protoype to demonstrate that you can make this work in a compelling manner it is difficult to visualise and therefore drive the development any further. I would also like to use a prototype to focus test this with targeted groups of consumers to see how compelling it is for them.

I would be delighted to see your protoype if you can get the funding together to do it.

Please keep me up to date on how you progress

Thanks

Nick
Nick Button-Brown
EAP Business Development Manager
+44 (0)1932 450770
MB +44 (0)7958 579 467

NESTA project summary

Ian Poitier from NESTA has helpfully provide a section of his final report (see below) for comment on by Tuesday to ensure that the project is fairly represented.

Any comments on whether these sections fairly represent the proposal from your angle, please advice via comment.

THE PROJECT

The proposal is to develop tools and resources, which will allow film sampling (audio/visual assets) to become as commonplace as music sampling.
The idea is to produce a short film, ‘Sanctuary’, which will act as a demo to show how it can be experienced as passive entertainment (a DVD film) as well as a re-mixable film to be played with on a gaming console as well as in an online environment.

Key Features & Benefits

A re-mixable film product will allow the consumer to:
o Watch a film as normal on DVD
o Play a rhythm game to experience how the cinema mix is constructed in real-time (out of video, audio, 360 degree panoramas and 3D animation) and explore how it is malleable
o Re-cut the film or extract elements of the film for use elsewhere
o Insert content from elsewhere into the film experience
o Re-mix (and even re-code) the film experience for performance and gameplay
o Share re-mixes by uploading them to the Internet

THE MARKET

Three key markets exist:

1. Filmmakers who can generate additional revenue streams by shooting films in a way which allows elements to be re-mixed by consumers in a gaming environment, or exploit their existing film libraries further by finding new uses for films which are otherwise past their active shelf life. Merchandising opportunities will also be enhanced.
2. Game developers who will have additional tools to provide a wider range of gaming products
3. Consumers who can interact with films in new ways

Market Trends

In line with the overall trend for entertainment products, both the film & game markets are still growing, with even the sleepier demographics (35yrs+) displaying growth for appropriately targeted products.
As ever, most revenue is channelled back to distributors with small producers (films & games) relying more on ancillary products for revenue (e.g. DVD sales, merchandise etc)
These observations hold true at global, regional and national levels, although with the global market for licensed entertainment property generating $42.5 billion in worldwide retail sales in 2002 (interestingly at the tail end of the global economic downturn), trying to put valuations on the market potential of individual products is not very meaningful (e.g. the Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings/Matrix film & games products while generating strong individual performances have arguably also helped to grow the categories significantly)

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

At this stage, technology IP will be protected via copyright and confidentiality agreements.
Software patents are, at present, not considered the most viable form of protection for this idea given the requisite costs and the social dimension of the project, which concerns wider sharing. Legal advisors will be monitoring the project and this position may change based on the outcome of the development phase. Traditionally game developers have not patented technology and game publishers often take the view that "ideas are cheap, development is expensive".
The project will carry out "defensive publication" of the technology to avoid someone else patenting the idea. Websites and key industry publications will be used defensively as a place to publish research in order to make it "prior art". The principal revenue stream will come from copyrighted assets but this tactic will protect against the possibility that someone else patents the relevant material.
It will be at the company's later discretion as to what modules of the eventual console software (excluding whatever engine is licensed) will be released as open source code to support wider take-up. The remainder of the code base will be a key asset.
The company will allow unprecedented access to film assets in order to maximise public exposure to the business model in order to encourage take-up of assets for commercial use (under license for further interactive development and with clearance fees for broadcast and synch rights).

Compromises

The original scope for the project is proving difficult for people to absorb. I'm thinking about the following ways to simplify the concept.

Sell film assets for commercial re-use via the web

Shoot SANCTUARY on high-definition video

Cut out the SWITCH (plug-in an existing open source DJ/VJ tool)

Do a deal with Lionhead to create "The Movies" compliant assets

Final NESTA page

I see a need for:

* a new framework for making and distributing stories
* an open pool of film-making resources that can drive creativity, business and education in a more sustainable way

No one else is doing this because:

* I am one of the few cross-over artists with experience in online film production, management and distribution.
* Classical film training doesn't identify the gap we are exploiting
* Games focus on giving the player control, not narrative and story-telling
* Interactive business focus is technology, not content
* Film assets which remain unused in the final cut are typically viewed as disposable rather than re-cyclable
* Film-makers fear the intrusion of an alien discipline into their craft
The target audience would like this because:
* re-mixable films allow the movie-going public to match their own tastes more closely
* people like mastering technology
* people crave original stories that appeal to their own particular tastes
* family interactive (digital) entertainment is rare
* subcultures are actively dabbling in this field "under the radar"

What we sell is:

* Films in the form of re-usable art on DVD
* Commerical spin-offs generated from films on demand - e.g. ring-tones, chat line capability
* Subscription to a development community based around re-usable film assets
* Professional services to help others exploit their film assets in a similar framework
* Events to promote the framework and build a community

to people who buy:

1) film and interactive products
2) consultancy services in media production
3) education and training resources

Brands/teams interested in this:

1,3) British Council
1) BAFTA Interactive Festival

2) Marc Evans (Dir. My Little Eye)
2) Simon Pummell (Dir. Bodysong
2)Andrew Mason (City Productions)
2) David Minkowski (Stillking Productions - AVP, XXX, etc.)
2) Filmbank Distributors

3) Nesta Fellowships
3) Artemis-Digital/Edinbrough Games Festival
3) EURIMAGE

Round-up from What's the Story?

For those who didn't come to the event I hosted mid-week or any other BAFTA Interactive Festival events, here's an update. My event was reasonably well attended, overall people seemed to find it interesting and I've had quite a few new leads and introductions. No one (so far) has disputed the premise of re-mixable films although I tried not to couch the debate in those terms.

Some observations:

* "The Movies" game that was previewed by Peter Molyneux can be thought of as a 3rd party editing application in terms of the NESTA proposal. Not only would it be feasible and desirable to license SANCTUARY assets to Lionhead Studios if the film was mega-successful (e.g. so people could stage scenes in the sanctuary) but Peter suggested I talk to the development team later on to explore the technicalities.

* Support from the IPR specialists Farrer & Co who apparently also provide legal advice to NESTA. The guy we spoke to said that the idea was sound, albeit "mind-stretching" and that we were in a position to write our own licensing terms and business model because there was none out there to share. Christine discovered to her surprise that the games industry, on a whole, don't pay any mechanical royalties due to the logistical nightmare and costs that would entail in this kind of business. It suggests (to me at least) that NESTA need to consider the creative appeal of the end product over and above the risk of the business model as businesses evolve to this kind of thing.

* Strong support from e-learning practitioners who keep repeating the mantra that there are "huge pots of money for e-learning". The idea that the re-mixable film is in itself a tool for open ended (almost anarchical) creativity was suggested as a potential antidote to the widespread apathy within the school system between the ages of 14 and 18.

* A surprisingly small number of game industry developers attended the festival, suggesting a certain degree of inward focus and a reason for the technology-driven approach. If you rarely see your peers, how do you share ideas?

* There is contention between game executives as to whether film assets are directly re-usable or not. The person with the most experience of film production(e.g. Jason Kingsley from Rebellion) seemed to think it was possible.

* Only one person in the audience (and no-one on the panel) had ever experienced the Sing-along Sound of Music.

* Real-time 3D avatar manipulation during the discussion split the audience. Some felt it was a bit distracting, others loved it.

* Hardly anyone from the film industry attended the BAFTA Interactve Festival.
* The game industry are ill-equipped to think about live applications yet many small interactive industry companies are trying to work closer to theatre groups.

* Considerable surprise by many people as to how long this project has been in gestation. Suggesting it is really time to get on with the demo, NESTA funding not-withstanding. The theory kinda stops here. {:-)

Since the event I have also been in discussion with a mo-cap company that has been asking similar questions that we have been asking ourselves for this project. I'm also being sounded out about chairing an event produced by them for the Edinburough Games Festival on this theme.

I think it's interesting (and promising) that a technical services company (to both film and game companies) saying that they want to compare the business structure and the technical standards of the two industries. I take it as some validation of my idea that there is a HUGE market awaiting the earlier adopters of convergent tools.

I'm not particular excited about mo-cap in creative terms but I think it's a great indictor of the kinds of activities which film and game companies are mad not to consider unifying up-front.

The mo-cap guys want to explore the following:

What are the major differences in the technology used for making games and movies?

It seems that certainly on the graphics front the use of 3D Max and Maya is common across both. What other similarities are there and are there fundamental differences of application?

Can Movie assets be used in Games or visa versa? .

If not what could be done to make it possible in the future?

What is the structure of the film production business?

Is their ability to grow and shrink production companies a model that could be adopted more by developers?

Is there the wealth of freelance talent and service companies out there to support developers?

If not why not?

Is it their unique technology that which differentiates developers?

Is this always a good thing?

Is it due to the unique technology employed in each developer which makes hiring freelancers and interfacing with supply companies difficult?

Mortal Combat, Final Fantasy and Tomb Raider are three examples of games IP that have been exploited as films, why has The Getaway and more games like this not spawned more?

What were these companies experiences like?

How could it be done better?

Similar slant also on Games companies that have licence IP from the film business, are the deals equitable, what are the the do's and don'ts about managing the relationship?

Notes on meeting with Simon Pummell (Director)

The Bodysong website won a BAFTA Interactive award last night (Online Learning) and I met Simon, the Director, this morning. Simon conceived of the film (which had a six week cinema release in Dec 2003) as a film/web project. The website presents a 3D graphical browser of every scene in the film, arranged into thematic loops. Each scene also has a page of accompanying text which can be viewed online.

Notes on Bodysong. Budget 1.1Million from Film Four. Film Four, despite supposedly greenlighting the film/web concept then decided that they didn't have to pay for film (because "you can get the money elsewhere"). As a result, the site ended up being sponsored by The Hospital (Paul Allan's creative investor).

Notes on pitch. Liked the idea that this approach does not require film-makers to change their ways of working. Film companies are quite conservative.

Quote from Jeremy Heath-Smith

Jeremy Heath-Smith (CEO Core - Tomb Raider) writes in Develop magazine (Feb 2004):

It was only on the last Tomb Raider that we got it right, with a complex in-house Intranet. This afforded the marketing and PR people throughout the territories a certain level of freedom within the centre of the development process; they had access to company specific details which made them feel much closer to the process. It also enabled us to feed information out at a more controlled pace. It's this sort of level of understanding and commitment that will be required to make the transition to the upcoming round of hardware.

His tips for getting publishers interested:

Timekeeping: don't be late

Have a plan: think beyond the pitch... publishers want overall team experience... look at using middleware

Have a team: your team should be already employed

Finances: if you can finance the work on a project for up to 12 months and produce an awesome demo, you immediately got to the top of the food chain... there is not a publisher in the industry who does not want to work closely with their developers... go through a company cashflow and projection with them, figuring out how you can work together to finance the project... by having your overheads covered - with a small amount of fat built in - you and the publisher have a common goal.

AK comments on proposal

Dear Michela,

I have carefully read the NESTA proposal and I must tell you it is quite impressive. The amount of work that has gone into that thing is astonishing. It is bursting with information. I see why they have been enthusiastic about the vision.

I have also, as you asked me to, jotted down some thoughts about the things I found a bit unclear or unfocused:

• My overall impression is that it is great, but I am not sure what to do with it. How will this actually work?
• MISSING LINKS: All the components are explained, but not always the link in between such as how does development lead directly to sales and distribution. And how does that distribution lead to customers using the product.
• GAP IDENTIFICATION: You have done a fantastic job in identifying the cross-over gap, but not quite convinced me of the need to fill it. You might tell me we don’t have a hybrid of a fish and a bicycle, but that does not meant that I will automatically go out and buy one. The opportunity is clear, but why do people want it? I think the market NEED is a crucial component as I don’t see how these dinosaurs of media conglomerates today will be willing to risk any of their traditional markets. I can therefore envision that they will indeed do anything to STOP this development out from a tradition of conservation. They might actually create more hurdles specifically to bring you down!
• PIRACY: One of the most exciting words in your proposal was piracy as this is something I can see to be crucial in convincing the majors that this is another way for them to exploit their royalties and licences in a market that is rapidly changing and where they will inevitable lose control. I think this is one of the most alluring economic arguments in the proposal and could easily be played up more.
• There is an eerie lack of critical approach to the saturation of the market. There is an underlying assumption that consumers will naturally jump at this, rather than have to discover the fun. It seems a bit easy when we see a trend in television which has started to slow down and abandoned ideas about letting the audience program and mix their own TV diet or fragmentation of the market into various specialised digital platforms simply because people are saturated by CHOICE. How will this be different, and why do consumers need it? We are already inundated with content. There also seems to be an assumption that every link in between will also think this is great and be willing to take a risk on it. Some of these components are already hard to access, and it seems a bit naïve to assume the film will be invited to festivals and claim the script will fetch $700,000 when so many films and scripts are clamouring for this market. How is this miracle going to happen?
• THE CONSUMER, the end customer, is not very clear to me. Sometimes he or she appears to belong to the popcorn demographic, sometimes he or she is just referred to as people.
• ECONOMICS: Show me the money! One of the hottest areas I had a difficulty figuring out was the money. I can’t extract from the proposal how the money works. There is no point asking for money for something that will be a charity without sustainable economic feet of its own. So, there are several revenue streams mentioned, but not particularly explained how one rolls into another. I read words like DVD sale, advertising, subscription, royalties, but I don’t see how they are structured in the process, how much they are worth for each product, how the money will be divided, and what time it will take to get back into MOD films pockets. This part of the proposal seems to me to be weak if not non-existing.
• There are sections for technical hurdles and creative hurdles, but none for distribution or consumer access.
• The proposal seems to be based entirely on game research. There is very little in it that pertains to the film industry.
• The exit strategy is very good.
• There is a noticeable discrepancy between your personal goal and the company goal. This is where the proposal gets very murky as it is not clear how the relationship between Sanctuary and the company vision is built. Is Sanctuary the overall goal, and the company simply there to support the film project? Or is the company project there to be sustainable in and of itself and will use Sanctuary to prove its own merit? There are two parallel tracks here. It becomes particularly clear when you describe your own reasons for doing the project is to promote your own work. With the lack of overall financial projections for the company, it can make it sound like you simply could not get an agent on your own so you’re making a short film instead to convince the majors to do your film. There are parts of the proposal that sounds like you are waiting for the Hollywood to just come pay you out and that leaves the rest of the idea and us hanging. It will not be popular with NESTA as it not only neglects to support sustainable development in the interactive industry in Britain, it goes directly against it! Remember the Film Council created the greenlight film fund to keep talent here so they would not go to Hollywood.
• The implementation stage of the project is a bit hazy. The timelines do not follow all the way through to money going back into your coffers. The timeline is not broken down into clear stages with cut-off and revision dates.
• It is not clear how the company will work with other projects than your own. As you aptly put it: you want to be the lead singer for a few years, but then what? For the other projects, will they be taken on by consensus governed by economic or quality concerns? How will this be a resource to the rest of the film community? What exactly are you offering: content consultation of how to remix teaching artists about the potential of their story? How to access the technology? How to distribute and find their audience?
• I think your idea about dropping the console is a good one.
• There are references to the old copyright being out-dated, but there is very little explanation of how this will work in the future. What are the legal trends?
• There is lots in the proposal about what you are going to do and with what, but little about how you are going to do it, for whom, and for what in return.

I hope this can be of some use to you!

Revenue Streams that need quantifying

MOD Films production service for 3rd party film projects

Direct DVD sales to home users

MOD Films production service for 3rd party production libraries

SANCTUARY clearance fees for producers

Online community advertising

Technology licensing for 3rd party developers

Film IP option for film producer

SANCTUARY royalties (indirect sales) from games publisher

Meeting with Adrian Curry (Microsoft)

Adrian says that given the impending release of XBox Music Mixer, the timing is right to try this concept.

The concept is also more timely as the XBox is entering its end of life cycle meaning 1) lower price titles 2) opportunity for niche markets 3) opportunity for quirkier titles 4) small publishers are coming on-board

He (along with Grant and MikeE) suggests that the demo should be developed firstly for PC. I'm sold!

The project could get console developer status (to allow MOD Films to buy XBox development hardware and write the demo for this) but an application is likely to be refused at this time on the basis that no game code has yet been written by the company. By developing a demo for the PC and establishing the business during the NESTA phase, the company would be in a realistic position to apply for a console license.

The key criteria for getting licensed developer status are staffing experience and current plans for the business.

He is interested in seeing the completed PC demo and being kept abreast of the project. He is coming to the What's the Story event.

He is happy to be a listed contact for NESTA but Microsoft cannot give "concept approval" because that is something that is only typically given to licensed publishers. Concept approval is a formal process in the games industry, the first step towards getting a title released. Microsoft doesn't normally give concept approval direct to developers because that could be used to the business advantage of an unlicensed publisher (seeking to become XBox licensed) who had signed up the developer already.

Agreed that a licensed publisher would need to see a demo before serious interest.

Suggested a large publisher like EA is unlikely to be interested in the title because their business model is to only publish titles that are likely to sell one million+ copies (i.e. tried-and-true formulae)

Unconvinced that XBOx Music Mixer will be a big-seller but confirmed that Microsoft is keen to using that product as a market opener which this product could follow through on.

Interested in the idea that the film would function as a glorified game lobby (one of the more basic ideas in the proposal). Microsoft are finding that XBox Live players have "friends lists" bigger than they expected and that there is a demand for game lobby areas outside the games themselves (e.g. like Sony's model).

Interested in the idea that the title would give a rationale for using the voice masking feature (make your voice sound like something else). It is a feature of XBOx Live which is underused because people seem to want to sound like themselves. In SANCTUARY, the voice masking feature could useful to enable the MODder to more easily make a seamless voice MOD (e.g. we provide voice masks for key characters like State troopers, CD etc...)

New issue raised: Security issue of letting users download something into console. MODs would need to be certified to go onto console, with community acting as the gatekeeper. Would moderators have to review code? Would this be cost-feasible to do? --- All good reasons to steer clear of console in first release.

Access to XBox Live development environment is limited to titles with concept approval (i.e. that have a publisher). "Partner Net" is a copy of XBoxLive network for developers. The architecture is revised every 6-8 months.

NESTA new deadline

All auxilary materials need to be with NESTA by February 27th.

NESTA proposal submitted

The NESTA full proposal (for year 1 funding) was submitted today. Thanks to everyone who contributed. There has been a lot of good energy around this project from lots of people and thanks to that, 2004 is going to be an exciting year.

Respect,

.M.

Michela MODs for Tuesday

Stuff I've modified tonight

2.1
2.2
3.5a
3.6a

Cashflow

Predicted cashflow for 4 quarters of NESTA involvement

http://thequality.com/flics/10weeks/blog/archives/docs/Cashflow.xls

Expenditure to Date

Breakdown of Expenditure on Sanctuary/head bin project to date

http://thequality.com/flics/10weeks/blog/archives/docs/expenditure_to_date.xls

Team

Biog and Referees of all involved in the project

http://thequality.com/flics/10weeks/blog/archives/docs/Team.doc

Project glossary

http://thequality.com/flics/10weeks/blog/archives/docs/Glossary.doc

Bios for Friday

Can I get a short bio approx 200 words on each of you by Friday? If you could blog a people category entry with your name as a title that would be fab. Just send an email if you prefer. Let's get this community 'appening! Yee hah!

"Tell us about the key team members who have been working on the project so far, about their track records and relevant experience, and what their roles and responsibilities were."
NESTA Proposal

Devil's advocate FAQ

Questions that answers we need to be ready for. I've got mine. Have you?

Q) Who is going to bother re-mixing a film?

Q) Why not film at lower cost (i.e. not 35mm)?

Q) Why not develop a PC product instead of console to make it more widely accessible?

Q) Why doesn't someone else direct this so Michela can concentrate on architecture and technical design?

Q) Is the budget realistic?

Q) Why hasn't anyone done this before?

Quotes

http://thequality.com/flics/10weeks/blog/archives/docs/Quotes.doc

"People aren't looking or not looking for a specific thing - they really just want something that's good... What people want are good things. Quality, I guess."
Toby Gard, game designer (Tomb Raider)
p.20 Academy - Issue 23 - The Journal of BAFTA

"As video games as a leisure concept is absorbed into the wider artistic community, shrugging off the "youth-culture lifestyle" ahngers-on that blight any advancement, a broader and more intelligent base of consumer will emerge".
Stefen Walters (spong.com), "They're not idiots"
MCV - The Marketing for Home Computing and Video Games, Feb 14, 2003

"Through the 1990s, as game budgets grew, publishers became more risk-averse. ... Messing with core gameplay is extremely risky, so they don't want to do that. They do want to improve the gameplay of existing games - they're not trying to make bad games, after all. But they want to do that by making small, incremental changes to established successes."
Jonathan Blow, Experimental Gameplay Workshop

"When one thinks of Star Wars, one usually thinks “action.” I would rate that factor at about 10 percent. The other 90 percent is in the little things, and while I admire, respect and even enjoy those little things, it doesn’t help the fact that we’re looking at a total experience that’s roughly analogous to watching water boil."
Keith Durocher
Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided (review)
http://www.avault.com/reviews/review_temp.asp?game=swg

"We want to equip film-makers, theatres and distributors with tools"
Erin Cullen, product manager, Windows Digital Media division, Microsoft Corp.
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,59107,00.html

"Are fan films legal? Legal in the sense that you won't get in trouble for them- yes. Most fan films do include material that is copywrited by Lucasfilm, but the wonderful people there know that it is the fans that keep them going so they pretty much let fan films get away with using trademark characters, locations, ect. When making a film be careful if you are going to use characters from movies or books that are not covered by Lucasfilm, such as Star Trek or Superman, as those companies may not be so generous. A recent Superman fan film what shut down because of copyright infringement.

Can I buy/sell fan film? NO. No, no, no, no, no. Films may be distributed without profit only. If you make money from a film it will be considered copywrite infringement and may force Lucasfilm to come down hard on not only your film but EVERY fan film. This is a sensitive issue and for the sake of fan film makers everywhere please do not attempt to sell a fan film on Ebay or anywhere else. If you want to give your film out on a format other than the internet it is suggested that the individual give you a disk or VHS tape for you to copy the film on to and give back to them. There is a very thin line between making a profit and not, for which it is better to play it safe. "
Tony the Jedi
http://www.theforce.net/theater/faq/filmfaq.shtml

"What we will be doing in large parts with our first party publishing relationships - is trying to look for new creative concepts... the only way you will get there is by engaging a broader audience, with games that are easier to get started with, as well as having concepts that are broader then the seven ideas tha most of the games build on today."
Robbie Bach, chief Xbox officer, Microsoft
MCV - The Marketing for Home Computing and Video Games, Nov 28, 2003

"While development continues on making the World Wide Web more sophisticated, efforts should be made to put this technology to other uses -- some more relevant to the arts than to the sciences."
Michela Ledwidge
http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/Mosaic/Docs/old-whats-new/whats-new-1193.html

NESTA proposal on Blog

The Full Nesta Proposal as it currently stands has now been uploaded to the blog.

The aim is for everyone to contribute to the proposal, so that we end up with the most rounded application possible. Please add comments on your thoughts, suggestions, warnings, and recommendations.

The main text of each blog entry is an overview of the NESTA guidelines and suggestions for that question. To see the corresponding answer click on MORE.

Should you wish to view them all, entries will be filed under the category "NESTA Proposal". Any missing questions (e.g section 1, Q3.2) are either factual (i.e. company details,. figures, etc.) or multiple choice.

Looking forward to reading your contributions,

Ken.

Development

Welcome to Ken Thompson Marchesi who has come on board as my Development Assistant. With 11 people signed up to the headbin and double that number in the pipeline (sorry again for the dreadfully formality about this NDA process), we're definitely starting to get this proposal into shape. Any general comments or contacts to do with the development process, please contact Ken or myself.

ken@thequality.com
0779 604 2733

NESTA full proposal index

View print version | View list of people

2.1 - Executive Entry
2.2 - Please describe your idea
2.3 - What is novel or inventive about your idea?
2.4 -What need or purpose does your idea/product fulfil?
2.5 - Describe the various strengths and weaknesses of competing technologies/products/ideas.
2.6 - How does your project/idea improve on the performance of existing competition?
2.7 - What is the potential for future development of this idea/product?
3.1 - How do you plan to commercialise or exploit your idea?
3.4a - What overall progress have you made to date with your idea? - IDEA
3.4b - What overall progress have you made to date with your idea? - TEAM & INFRASTRUCTURE
3.4c - What overall progress have you made to date with your idea? - TIMETABLE
3.4d - What overall progress have you made to date with your idea? - COST
3.5a - What progress do you expect to make during the NESTA funded phase of your project? - IDEA
3.5b - What progress do you expect to make during the NESTA funded phase of your project? - Team and infrastructure
3.5c - What progress do you expect to make during the NESTA funded phase of your project? - timetable
3.6a - what work will remain to be done at the end of the Nesta funded phase in order to reach your overall aims? - idea
3.6b - what work will remain to be done at the end of the Nesta funded phase in order to reach your overall aims? - team & infrastructure
3.6c - what work will remain to be done at the end of the Nesta funded phase in order to reach your overall aims? - timetable
3.6d - what work will remain to be done at the end of the Nesta funded phase in order to reach your overall aims? - cost
3.7 - what is your exit strategy?
4.1 - Details of all types of intellectual property protection that are relevant to your project
4.2 - Who owns the idea / product?
4.3 Explain your overall intellectual property protection strategy.
5.1 Describe the overall market for your idea / product.
5.2 What are the key factors for success in this market?
5.3 What are the main barriers to entry to this market?
5.4 Tell us about the performance of your key competitors.
5.5 What is your planned route to market?
6.1 Does your idea have any particular social and /or environmental benefits?
6.2 Are there any potential negative social and / or environmental impacts as a result of this project?
6.3 Do you think that your project and its outcomes might extend or cross over traditional boundaries between fields and disciplines in a novel and creative way? If so, how?
7.1 Project cashflow of project
7.2 Explain the key assumptions underlying your income and expenditure tables.
7.3 If you are expecting any sales revenue within the next 36 months, please provide details here
8.1 Tell us about the ownership structure of your company.
8.2 Have you been through a valuation exercise? And if so, who did it and what were the results?
8.3 How would you want to structure any NESTA investment?
8.4 Are you in discussions with other potential investors? If so, what is the status of these discussions?
9.1 Do you have other information that you feel is relevant to your proposal?
9.2 Did you receive any support/advice in preparing this proposal?

Cinema Extreme (Film Council)

SANCTUARY has been submitted as an interactive audio film project to the Film Council's Cinema Extremeshort film scheme, reference C818. The Director's statement from the proposal.

NESTA I&I proposal for SANCTUARY

Full proposal NESTA application form for Sanctuary

login: ML26093
password: tv4me

DEADLINE 3 DECEMBER

20030728 Submitted to NESTA I&I Download file

EC funding lead - Cordis FP6

CORDIS FP6: Calls: Areas and Instruments

"I wonder whether you could get some funding for your idea under the EU's 6th framework?

talk to you soon
cheers
ikj
--
ian jindal | m: +44 [0] 7776 207308
chief executive officer | p: +44 [0] 20 7961 0322
3 Waterhouse Square, Holborn Bars, 142 Holborn, London, EC1N 2NX www.businesseurope.com | www.venturedome.com | www.icpeurope.net"

SMART feasibility study proposal

SMART feasibility study proposal submitted 20030530.

Download file