Meet Your Monsters: Solving Traditional Broadcast Webmares

“The digital world is not all that scary – despite the monsters under your mainframe! This panel will focus on successful case studies in how the medium is being used effectively. The players will present new models for the future.” [Bridging Media - Session]

Panelists:

Boris Mann: Raincity Studios and Bootup Labs
Robert Ouimet: At Large Media
Mark Rocchio: StudioB Productions
Chris Mizzoni: StudioB Productions

Boris starts off with Giant Ant Media as an example – they have an audience of 800,000 on some of their videos, “how many of you would like an audience of 800,000?” …”and did they wait for funding? No.”

Another example is CommonCraft – their business is explaining technologies in plain English and they started doing their videos for free. They were such a success online that big companies came up to them to ask if they can create these types of videos for them, and that’s how they started to make money.

Why do you have to sit and wait for someone to give you hundreds of thousands of dollars? Why can’t you start off small?

Mark from StudioB speaks about broadcasters and how they’re moving toward including digital shorts within the licensing deals for shows or films. They’re moving in the right direction but aren’t getting much traction with tons of funding and a fancy web department, so his point is you simply need to get content out there ie. those digital shorts, which serve as a jump start.

Chris is the traditional print guy on the panel who talks about all the other things that come with book publication these days such as including a multimedia CD, making a website or even producing a podcast about a book that is to be released.

Robert is a CBC veteran touching on how broadcasting is a single outlet. He started out getting a $3 million budget for a project, which he follows up by saying “woo!” Boris pipes up to ask him if the “woo” was facetious like, “oh that’s not much” or “oh wow that’s a lot” because I think most of us here would get pretty darn excited about getting $3 million for a project, I know I would at least. Trying to tap into getting a major broadcaster to fund a project is simply one outlet you can deal with. “Get help, talk to people who have business, that may not be web businesses but are good business people.” … “Take ideas, forge business deals (that may not even be sexy) but get it done.”

Mark addresses this issue from a digital animation studio perspective, “we brought animation production back to Canada that hadn’t been here since He-Man.” He mentions that it’s actually cheaper to animate here than in the Philippines, however in the early stages of their studio they were extremely dependent on funding. “We’re still in that traditional world,” but they needed to take control of their own destiny and lead the company where it needed to go. Mark also praises Vancouver as a true hub and leader in digital media and animation.

Chris confirms as a writer/author that he writes when he can, he doesn’t even have a publisher anymore, but he still does it. Boris to Chris, “how can yo afford to just sit there and create content?” he’s being a little silly of course as Boris’ point is to produce, make content, and the rest follows.

A commenter in the audience says he’s seeing two approaches here: “Sell your soul to the devil,” and the “Colonel Sanders model where you live out of your car until you sell your recipe.” Although, the conversation is moving over to the Radiohead model, “pay what you can” to get something you want to get.

Give you users more experience, the whole “bonus features” and added value concept. Why do people pay for wifi at some locations? Convenience factor. Have an entrepreneurial mind set, don’t think about how you’re a starving Canadian artist waiting to be funded – asserts Boris, “make the content, make it excellent, that’s what will get you the eyeballs.” Think about alternative distribution channels as well.

Mark brings up convergence – being able to watch whatever you want to watch on any given monitor. Movies on XBox or the computer? Sure.

Monique, who used to work at Raincoast books, says they used to think about the book as just the beginning of the story, there was so much more to create and generate to connect people with the ideas surrounding it.

A final comment from the audience thanks Megan and Erica for all their hard work with today’s conference. On to the thank yous, a big one to Vera’s for lunch, and everyone else listed on the sponsor page. Miss604.com was also the official media sponsor, with these here live blogs.

Monetize, Monetize, Monetize!

“Where’s the money? How do we get it? Changing the mentality of the traditional business model is the name of the game. Case study examples and conversation around how building an online presence and community strengthens producers’ abilities to monetize multi-media platforms and projects.” [Bridging Media - Session]

Panelists:

Jordan Behan: Tell Ten Friends and Strutta
James Sherrett: Work Industries
Jennifer Ouano: Elastic Entertainment
Monica Moore: Telefilm Canada

Kicking off the monetization talk, there’s an introduction about the history of websites and the idea of doing business online for an audience. The example given is the Seattle Mariners website, that was the first MLB team to have a website that featured ticket purchases and schedules. Early hurdles were as simple as getting a domain name that applied as their team name was already taken so it had to be bought out.

James is the first speaker who asserts making money is not a goal – having a valuable service, making money will follow – but it is an outcome. He also bring up an essay by Kevin Kelly about what you need to understand about the web that is different – essentially that the web is a copy machine. Jennifer follows up by stating she truly dislikes the term “monetization”. The focus should be how to get money to produce the content, followed by making money from that content. Just try concepts and “see what sticks.”

Jordan speaks to his experience selling print advertising – “local advertising works because it’s relevant to you.” He uses Google Ads as an example since they are relevant to what you have done when they are presented. Also, investors want a return on said investment therefor ads are an integral part of making that happen (as Jordan passes the mic to Monica from Telefilm). “How can we create a channel that allows the advertiser to find the audience it wants.” Which segues right into James talking about AdHack, which is basically user-generated advertising, using a sort of digital word of mouth. “Mass media and mass marketing to micro media and micro marketing.”

Comment from the audience, why is advertising the model that is being focused on when it comes to monetizing? He uses an example of how some people pay to not be bothered by something or to not see ads in the first place. Jennifer brings up the other option, which is funding, and passes the mic to Monica. “We want to see that the products that we finance get the eyeballs.”

The conversation is steering toward the effectiveness of advertising, but a comment from the audience brings it back to the fundamentals of monetizing and making money, which isn’t necessarily the same thing. Jennifer provides an example of adding value to the user experience through web marketing and media like creating an online game to captivate an audience and build a community that will coincide with the launch of a movie.

A rep from Dabbler.ca in the audience uses his company as an example to explain how they add value by producing TV-quality web videos available for the entire online world but his issue is that having that quality costs money. To get an audience you need to give content away, says Jordan, there has to be a return there.

Three comments from the audience then this session will wrap up. Carol asks Monica to speak about Telefilm and what they are doing for the community. From the audience, Boris asks, “what are you in the business of doing? You can build it first and bootstrap your way into getting funding to raise production values or maybe your business is getting contract video work. If you create good stuff and get it out and it’s generating millions or user views you may have people coming right to you.”

From the audience Monique also brings up the idea of subscription service, paying for that extra value ie. using a Flickr Pro account. Jennifer mentions that you first have to have something people will want to pay for and recognize as a good thing. Boris chimes in to say you can do it cheaper to begin with, and grow from there.

Erica goes back to talking about subscription service noting Club Penguin – a gaming site for children that the creators wanted to have free of advertising (which started out in BC then was bought out by Disney). They have games available for free and to have access to more features and more games, you then could pay for a subscription.

After a few more comments this session is coming to a close.

Buzz Builders: Using Multi-platforms To Build A Buzz and An Audience Around Your Project

“From film to television to the internet, defining your audience is an integral portion in the conceptualizing stage of a project. Are you using the accessible channels of communication to speak to your audience, draw a crowd and create buzz around your work? This panel will focus on, and show examples of, the use of various mediums and technologies to build a community and get your project to your audience.” [Bridging Media - Session]

Panelists:

Colleen Nystedt : Movieset.com
Darren Barefoot: Capulet Communications
Mark Leiren-Young: TheTyee and the film The Green Chain
Nilesh Patel: Roaming Pictures

Colleen gives an introduction about people are spellbound by the process of movie making, “people will pull over and watch us park the trucks.” Her goal was to put these insights into the film production world, online – so the filmmaker can draw in fan experience and it won’t have to interfere with the actual production of the movie. “You can build community around your film,” saying how exposing films to an audience in their infant stages you can get a feel for the audience, get stats, data metrics etc. you can take that information to the distributors.

Mark’s introduction gives his background in theatre and as a writer for local newspapers. He’s making a movie, writing on blogs, and even created a podcast series on The Tyee, which has ended up being longer than the movie and has been picked up on the National Film Board site. He’s got some insights about selling his columns online, and if he were to give the rights to one news organization he wouldn’t be able to sell it to another since it would then be syndicated online.

Darren’s talk was brief until Carol prompted him to speak about his eBook, the Social Media Marketing Playbook. He delves into social media, its powers, its downfalls, and brings up the “Scoble Starfish”.

Nilesh Patel is a filmmaker who directed a picture that is surrounded by much controversy but has thrived online, Brocket99.

Darren quickly mentions Kevin Kelly’s 1,000 true fans, an essay about how to be an innovator and have a true grasp on an audience, you need 1,000 true fans.

Colleen brings up a point that studios shouldn’t be building seperate websites for each picture but use social media tools instead, and quite of few of them are embracing this already. It’s about the content and engagement.

Mark follows up by saying the first thing he was told to do by his distributer was to build a Facebook page, MySpace page etc.

Comment from the audience notes that social media sites own the content you upload, so how do studios work around that. Darren states there are many sites that allow you to state your own license, like Flickr although you should check out the fine print on every site, Darren says he hasn’t heard of anyone who has said YouTube has hurt them… yet.

The topic is shifting from building a buzz, to the tools you use for the spin, and if these tools allow you to maintain all of your rights and content.

Someone from the audience is trying to explain that using the MPEG format costs money, which is why YouTube would never let you upload videos that were over 10 minutes long. Kris chimes in from across the room to say that’s not true at all, many video sharing sites use flash and you can find many videos on say, Google Video that are of varied lengths.

My own thoughts here, I just uploaded a 17 minute video on to Viddler and Blip.tv it was a .mov and on Viddler or Blip.tv it goes to flash format for embedding. Yeah, no issues about paying anything here. Darren explains that many familiar terms and formats like JPEG have governing bodies etc. but it’s just a big scary faceless monster.

Another comment from the crowd, how do you avoid audience fatigue or how do you avoid over saturating? Darren says it’s all about targeting your audience using an example of a documentary film about pianos and how he’d market it to a Facebook group about pianos, or about jazz, and break it down even further from there – focusing on the citizen journalists and fans that will drive your marketing machine for you – finding the people that would want to know about this.

Colleen states, over 70% of people research movies they want to see online, meanwhile studios spend about 4% of their budgets using online media and advertising.

With that, we’re going to wrap for lunch provided by Vera’s Burgers mmmm… more of this discussion will continue during the monetization session in the afternoon.

John and I were whisked off to the Bridging Media conference this morning thanks to PR queen (and fellow West End resident) Colleen Coplick. Upon our arrival at the Hanger (which really is a hanger… big huge loading doors, lack of sufficient power sources and heat) I ran into Kris, Darren, and of course organizer Megan Cole. It’s great to see these important players at these events, and it’s always nice to hear them speak on topics in which they are all well-versed.

We’ve just been informed that in order to power the screen behind the presenters the coffee maker will need to be turned off. I’m currently running on 47% battery life so hopefully I can boost that during a break sometime soon.

The speakers/panelists are sat in the middle of the room, in a casual semi-circle, with a comfy looking leather ottoman between them. We’re just waiting for a) some power and b) some wifi so that I can post this, then we’ll get underway.

First panel is Broadcast and Social Media 101: A Snapshot of Both Worlds

“This session is intended to act as an overview of both communities to help create an understanding of each industries’ process. This panel will consist of Broadcasters, Producers and Digital Media Leaders”.

Kate Trgovac – President, Lint Bucket Media (social media and co-creation) – OneDegree.ca
Kris – President, Raincity Studios – Drupal community development, working with big name media companies.
Leah Mallen – Producer, Twofold Films Inc.
Gary Marcuse- Programming Executive for the CBC in BC

Leah is up first speaking to how the government of Canada is supportive to media and film with many programs and grants, but how do you actually build a business around your productions and content? Going viral to getting licenses, subsidization, tax credits etc.

Television is driven by its audience and reality TV is taking over, but there are now initiatives to find more content online or it’s even driving people back into movie theatres to watch things like documentaries. Leah discusses the challenges, hurdles, rights management etc. when you are a producer of branding entertainment.

Kate chimes in to say the storyteller and the audience is moving away from broadcasters with things like YouTube and AppleTV, so how do broadcasters get their content out to these audiences if no one actually turns their TV on to watch the CBC?

Gary addresses the fact that broadcasters are faced with many issues especially now that anyone can start a television station on the internet. So how do you reach out and try to do other things and find an audience using a digital media platform?

Kris chimes in about JPod after Gary mentioned it as a television show, and if you didn’t already read on the web, the series based on Douglas Coupland’s book has been canceled from TV. Gary brings up the challenge of funding to get things like this on TV versus the web, and that they simply didn’t have the TV audience.

Kris’s point is “why did they even put it on TV in the first place”?

“The people that want to watch that show don’t watch TV”. It should have been kept online, viral, and if they would have launched a campaign online instead, it would still be going and we’d have new episodes.

The discussion moves back to Gary who discusses providing an interesting and entertaining, interactive online experience (something the CBC is trying to achieve). “It’s the story that drives the content.” Focus on stories, pitch us an idea and well try to get you funding or offer grants.

Kate says that anyone who wants to tell a story online, has done so, with many options available. “It’s about choosing the technology that will enhanced your story.”

Gary says it’s not all about the creative aspect, you also have to consider licensing, which Leah also speaks to. “They’re giving us the seed to get our content developed but then they take the license.” It’s more like seed money from investors, says Kate which Leah agrees is a new way to go for producers.

Kris uses AskANinja as a case study – guys who started a podcast in their basement, grew an audience, got some advertising but couldn’t find a way to get success with broadcasters or studios, until they finally got a deal with FOX who eventually produced DVDs of their old episodes, distributed t-shirts, merchandise etc. and now they’re prospering.

Megan, “what does someone like Leah (a producer) do then?” You need to be innovative, you can’t go back and ask for different funding based on the way new media is changing. Leah says we can’t simply rely on the government in Canada for this funding like film and music do as they haven’t yet moved into the web content realm.

Most of the discussion comes back to the point of, it’s all about storytelling. Anyone can be a storyteller but how do you open it up and actually move it forward with funding. Leah, “I don’t like that anyone can do it cause then I’m subjected to a bunch of crap.” Kris rebuts immediately with, this is exactly what he LIKES about new media, the fact that anyone can do anything and you don’t have to be a professional – there are so many gatekeepers that can filter this content for producers, which makes it a better experience as an audience member.

Kris also brings up how CNN is embracing citizen journalism – going on YouTube, mobile phone videos, photos and audio etc. It’s still a new way to filter and grab the best ideas it’s just that you’re getting more and it’s reaching outside of the normal “traditional” scope. However it seems traditional producers just think that creates tons of content that isn’t up to par, and that needs to be sifted out.

Update: I now have wifi access but I don’t know the password so photos will have to come later – sorry!

From the audience, we need to move away from needing to be culturally relevant and the stories that need to be told and simply entertaining. However, time is up and the next session will soon be starting. I have wifi AND power so stay tuned for the next post.