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Opinion | Features
What the hell is transmedia?
From advertising campaigns to online video series, the term ‘transmedia’ gets quite the work out. But what does it actually mean? Cathie McGinn trawls the media landscape for a definitive definition.
Transmedia, all media and multiplatform are terms often used interchangeably when referencing modern storytelling techniques. Yet, depending who you speak to, there are distinct differences between them.
According to industry experts Encore spoke to, the key elements that define transmedia can be summarised as follows: platform, time, audience, adaptation, and creative collaboration.
Innovation is the remedy for the ailing magazine industry
With magazine circulations plummeting, FHM closing and rumours rife on future ownership of ACP Magazines, Paul Merrill says the only way forward is launching new titles.Eight years ago in the UK, nearly a quarter of all magazine sales came from magazines that were less than four years old. In Australia, the figure was slightly lower, but still significant. Today, the situation is very different. For a start there are so few new magazines. Yes, Masterchef briefly flared, and Top Gear made an initial impact. But Grazia and Alpha fizzled, and now ACP has shelved their plans to launch Elle.
More than a game: broadcasting the Olympics
The 2012 London Olympics will be the biggest televised sporting event of our time. Brooke Hemphill discovers the logistical challenges and technical requirements of producing the event.
From July 27 to August 12, the Australian media will go sport crazy as the Games of the XXX Olympiad, aka the 2012 London Summer Olympics, unfold. The games will be the most televised sporting event of our time as broadcasters look to master every manner of technology at their disposal.
The Voice - Australia's best example yet of social TV
In this guest post, Sputnik’s Rodd Messent has a theory on why audiences have taken to The Voice .I am an addict of Channel Nine’s hit show The Voice. Such is the extent of my addiction I seriously think my housemate might kick me out of our apartment for the semi-frenzied yelling and tweeting that ensues in our lounge room each time the show airs.It’s the first time in almost three years that such disagreement has resulted in less than civil behaviour towards one another, and it’s made me think it might be a microcosm of the large volume of online debate about the show and, correspondingly, an explanation for its success as a social TV experience.Why brands are the US Army - and culture jammers are the Viet Cong
In this guest posting, Dave Burgess, who painted ‘No War’ on the Sydney Opera House, claims that ‘amoral’ advertisers have copied his idea.
Culture jamming is a 28-year-old term coined by the San Francisco-based band Negativland, who declared that the ‘Studio for the cultural jammer is the world at large’.
Branded content is dead. Long live branded content
In this guest posting, Anthony Freedman argues why branded content is making a comeback.
A few short years ago, probably concurrent with the advent of the PVR, a new term emerged within the marketing communications industry; branded content. This was really synonymous with advertiser funded TV shows where programming was created by brands and deals struck with networks to broadcast them.
There were varying degrees of success with this model.
Shock advertising: 30 ads that would give Australia's ad watchdog a coronary
Is shock an underused weapon in Australian advertising, asks Robin HicksToday, Sydney agency The Cabana Boys used an image of a mouth sewn together to shock people with the idea that problem gamblers lie to conceal their habit. Is it the most disturbing image ever? No. Will it get banned by the Advertising Standards Bureau? No. But it did make me wonder why shock is not used more often in Australia – and not just by charities and government bodies. (WARNING: NSFW)
The making of ratings blockbuster The Voice
Jason Mountney goes on the set of Channel Nine’s talent search series, The Voice, to see how the format, based on an international franchise, has come together. What ingredients have gone into making this certified hit that’s rated more than two million viewers on three consecutive nights?
Mike Goldman has one of the toughest jobs on the set of the Nine network’s new talent show, The Voice. He not only has to narrate the show, but also keep the audience from losing their enthusiasm as they realise shooting TV programs takes a lot longer than the one-hour bursts they see in their lounge rooms. A lot longer.
Nine problems stopping The Global Mail from getting an audience
While it’s a shame The Global Mail has failed to make an impact on the media landscape, the signs have been there for some time.I love the concept of a well resourced, philanthropically-funded independent news site. Anywhere in the world, that’s a rare and wonderful thing. In Australia even more so. So I hope that Grame Wood gets to see his investment make a difference.
And I have no inside info on whether Monica Attard’s sudden departure is linked to the site’s failure to find an audience so far.
Regardless, here are nine areas they can easily start to address:
Journalism’s new model?
Does the launch of philanthropically funded news site The Global Mail signal a new era for journalism or is the model destined to be a passing fad, asks Cathie McGinn in this article first published in Encore magazine.With little fanfare, philanthropically funded news site The Global Mail launched in February this year.
The online-only title received a generous five-year funding commitment from businessman Graeme Wood, founder of accommodation website wotif.com, who donated $15million.
Five things that make a great suit
In this guest posting, Gareth Collins argues that the role of a great account manager is to make the work betterI’m surprised at how many suits I meet who don’t know their role in the advertising business. The question ‘what does an advertising account manager or director do?’ is frequently met with answers such as project manager, relationship manager, plate spinner or go between … and those are the nice ones.
Success is judged on the ability to manage a process, be strong administratively and get stuff done. And while a good suit needs to do all of these things brilliantly, if these are the traits that define a great suit, then I’m in the wrong job.
What the hell is transmedia?
From advertising campaigns to online video series, the term ‘transmedia’ gets quite the work out. But what does it actually mean? Cathie McGinn trawls the media landscape for a definitive definition.
Transmedia, all media and multiplatform are terms often used interchangeably when referencing modern storytelling techniques. Yet, depending who you speak to, there are distinct differences between them.
The top seven...most patronising pieces of communication
Sometimes brands have big ideas. Sometimes marketers get so caught up with a grandiose idea that instead of finding engaging ways to sell breakfast cereal, they start to believe their own rhetoric. And sometimes it’s just lazy marketing. Here are my top seven inadvertently patronising pieces of communication…
1) Last night thousands of women gathered in Sydney’s Centennial Park to take part in She Runs the Night, an event created by Nike.
TV audience measurement – why big isn’t always beautiful
In this guest post, Chris Walton argues that the media industry needs to take a new approach to TV tradingThere has been a significant amount of coverage recently about how successful The Voice has been. Indeed, audience figures of 2.6m+ people are very impressive these days. Based on reports, this is apparently double the size of audience that Nine was hoping for in the lead up to the programme launching.
How do you solve a problem like Blunty?
So if you were the proposed News Standards Body, how would you regulate Blunty?The News Standards Body, in case you didn’t notice, is the new organisation proposed by the Convergence Review this week to regulate news and commentary, regardless of platform.
Blunty, in case you didn’t notice, is the video blogger who this week went viral after he filmed a guerrilla marketing demo outside Apple’s Sydney store apparently as a coincidental bystander, but later admitted he’d been put up to it by BlackBerry.
A Few Best Men to get British distribution
An Australian film centred around Brits Down Under has been picked up for UK and Irish distribution.
Negotiated by Arclight Films, A Few Best Men will be released across Britain and Ireland at the end of August by Buena Vista International.
Directed by Priscilla: Queen of the Desert’s Stephan Elliott, A Few Best Men is about three British best men visiting NSW’s Blue Mountains to support their friend as he marries into a rich Australian political family.
Joel Edgerton and Matthew Saville set for new thriller
Following the success of The Sapphires at Cannes, production company Goalpost Pictures has secured a new film written by a prominent Australian actor/writer and directed by an award-winning Australian director.
Felony is written by, and set to star Joel Edgerton. The film will be directed by Matthew Saville.
Celebrity Apprentice finale down on last year
Last night’s finale of Celebrity Apprentice saw a big drop in the ratings on last season’s final episode, possibly due to the winner being published on Nine’s website a day early accidentally.
Time-coded over three episodes, the series’ top episode was the seventh highest rating show for the night.
With just over 1m metro viewers, Celebrity Apprentice – Winner Announced took 1.036m, according to preliminary metro results from OzTam.
Snowtown team to discuss making of the film at Mumbrella360
The ABC’s head of arts Katrina Sedgwick and the team behind the award-winning Australian film Snowtown are to appear at Mumbrella360 to talk about the making of the controversial film.
Prior to her new role at the ABC, Sedgwick was director of the Adelaide Film Festival which backed the award-winning film through its investment fund.
Also joining Sedgwick are Sarah Shaw and Anna McLeish from Warp Films Australia, who produced the controversial film. They will be joined by Allison Meadows, senior casting director, Mullinars Casting Consultants.
Snowtown tells the story of Adelaides bodies in barrels murders. Unusually, the casting included a large number of local people who had not acted previously. Read more »
Film about a man who turns into a puffer fish seeks sponsor
A short film about a man who turns into a puffer fish is looking for a sponsor with a view to the film becoming a series.
Directed by Ben West, who comes from a visual effects background, the film follows the fortunes of a Japanese salaryman who turns into a puffer fish after eating a live one in a restaurant.
West’s production company @Radicalmedia, is shopping around for a distributor and considering looking for a sponsorship tie-up.
West told Mumbrella: Read more »
Aussie film The Sapphires sells international distribution rights
An American film company have acquired the worldwide rights to Australian film The Sapphires.
Goalpost Films sold the rights to The Weinstein Company for North American and international distribution rights with the exception of the UK and Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, France, Canada, Israel, Portugal and airlines. Read more »
Bikie Wars debuts with 1.261m on Ten, but MasterChef dips below 1m
Once Upon a Time: 1.35m
Bikie Wars: 1.26m
Ten’s new show Bikie Wars: Brothers in arms rated with 1.261m on its debut last night.
It was the most watched show in the 18-49, 16-39 and 25-54 demographics, and won the 8.30pm time slot against Packed to the Rafters on Seven, which got 1.21m, and The Big Bang Theory on Nine, which rated below 1m.
However, the show, from the creators of Underbelly, was beaten by Seven’s Once Upon a Time, which rated with 1.35m in the 7.30pm time slot, according to preliminary overnight ratings from OzTam.
Ten’s MasterChef dipped below 1m viewers, and ranked outside of the top ten with 954,000.
Ausfilm appoints Bob McMullan as chairman
The organisation charged with promoting Australian film and television creation internationally has appointed a new chairperson.
As part of this week’s Ausfilm Week in London, former Labor minister, Bob McMullan has been appointed to the newly created role of independent chairperson for the Ausfilm board.
While being independent of Ausfilm, McMullan will replace former chairperson Alaric McAusland, who steps down from the role.
McAusland said: Read more »
The Sapphires set for August release
A new Australian film, The Sapphires, has been scheduled for 9 August nationwide release.
Its world premiere is scheduled for a Midnight screening in official selection at Cannes Film Festival with the Australian premiere announced as the opening film of Melbourne International Film Festival on 2 August
Directed by first time feature film-maker Wayne Blair, the film is produced by Goalpost Pictures’ Rosemary Blight and Kylie de Fresne with investment from Screen Australia.
Aussie directing brothers to bring sci-fi production home
The Spierig brothers
A new science fiction film by two Australian brothers will be filmed in Australia next year.
The film, Predestination by Peter and Michael Spierig, who wrote and directed vampire film Daybreakers with Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe and Sam Neill, is scheduled for 2013 with pre-production and casting underway.
On the international sales front, Arclight Films has picked up the film and will be representing it at the Cannes film market over the next week.
The film is an adaptation of short story All You Zombies by classic sci-fi writer Robert A Heinlein.
Nine’s Tricky Business debuts under 1m
Nine’s debut of family drama Tricky Business took under 1m viewers on Monday night.
The show, which aired after the network’s successful singing contest, The Voice, had preliminary ratings of 1.16m and was scheduled for a 9.30pm start.
However, as the show didn’t begin until 9.42pm, the true average ratings stand at 0.987m between 9.42pm and 10.42pm.
Iron Sky posts $116k opening weekend as Avengers stays top
Nazi science fiction film Iron Sky has posted a $116,000 opening weekend at the box office.
Distributed by Hoyts, the Australian/German/Finnish co-production was backed by an online marketing campaign that saw the first teaser going online 4 may 2008 and a crowd-funding model that got the producers $1.28m towards the budget.
The Finnish production company, Blindspot Pictures and director Timo Vuorensola also used its online fan-base from previous sci-fi comedy, Star Wreck to create interest.
Screen Australia funds 16 new projects, including Sleeping Beauty director’s film Disquiet
Some of Australia’s biggest names in film-making have received funding for new projects in the latest round of Screen Australia’s single-project feature development.
The funding round for script development has supported 16 projects totalling $400,000, ten new projects and six which receive continued support.
Martha Coleman, Screen Australia’s head of development said: “The calibre of feature projects coming to the Development Department is outstanding. There’s a general acknowledgement from the marketplace that our film-makers have raised the bar and I think the next wave of films in the coming years will be really interesting.”
Film-makers include Julia Leigh, the Edgerton brothers, Abe Forsythe and Kriv Stenders.
Odin’s Eye Entertainment acquires Chinese creature feature
An Australian based sales agent has acquired the international rights to a big budget, Chinese creature feature.
Odin’s Eye Entertainment has acquired the rights from Beijing’s Geliang Media’s Million Dollar Crocodile.
The film, about a crocodile running rampant in Beijing, is produced by Li Rui and directed by Li Sheng Lin and is currently in post-production.
Sydney post house Mirage VFX launches
Patrick Felgueras and Jeff Jaffers
A new post production company has launched in Sydney, offering ‘cinema quality’ visual effects for both feature films and advertising.
Called Mirage VFX, the company will be helmed by veteran producer Jeff Jaffers and visual effect specialist Patrick Felgueras.
The duo’s experience includes working on features films Happy Feet and King Kong, and recent commercials such as Bank Mandiri in Indonesia and Bird’s Eye in Australia.
Nine claims three of top four most-watched Sunday shows, but Seven wins the night
A strong performance by Nine had the network in three of the top four spots on Sunday night.
Winning the night was Nine News Sunday in the 6pm slot, followed by The Block at 6.30pm.
Nine News Sunday took 1.525m across the five city metro markets, according to OzTam for total viewers.
However, Seven won the night overall, by 0.8% share.
Following on from Nine News, The Block took 1.429m, and 60 Minutes in fourth place on 1.198m.
Australian Directors’ Guild Awards: Julia Leigh wins for Sleeping Beauty, Sydney Dogs and Cats Home is best directed TV ad
Sleeping Beauty: won best direction in a feature
This evening’s Australian Directors’ Guild Awards saw Julia Leigh claim the best direction in a feature film gong for Sleeping Beauty.
Matthew Saville won two awards – for best direction in a TV mini series for Cloudstreet and best direction in a TV drama series for The Slap.
SBS series Go Back To Where You Came From, which has just won international acclaim at the Rose d’Or Festival in Switzerland, took the best direction of a documentary series award for Ivan O’Mahoney.
Best direction of a TV ad went to Damien Toogood for Sydney Dogs and Cats Home.
Go Back To Where You Came From wins at Rose d’Or Festival
An Australian series has won two awards at an international TV festival over night.
The Rose d’Or Festival in Lucerne Switzerland awarded Go Back To Where You Came From in the Best Factual Entertainment category followed by the coveted Golden Rose for best of 2012 across all platforms and categories.
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