The conference was held on May 5, 2009 in Santa Monica, California. The video of this conference can be viewed at www.digitalhollywood.com. It was a day filled with panels of speakers about digital content and how it has changed the way businesses interact act with consumers of their products. This conference is entitled the Digital Hollywood Content Summit. This video of the conference had five speakers with five different background of entertainment. The people on these panels spoke about everything from the history of how entertainment is distributed to new innovative ways businesses can interact with the consumer. The main idea for this panel was the development of technology for entertainment when it comes to motion picture, television and the Internet.
The first speaker was Suzanne Stefanac and she works with the American Film Institute digital content lab. The lab consists of volunteers that are constantly trying to come up with innovative technology for film. To fully understand where entertainment is at now, one must know the history of entertainment. Stefanac discussed the history of motion picture. First, she spoke about Eadweard Muybridge. Muybridge was a famous photographer in the 1800’s. In 1872, the Governor of California, Leland Stanford enlisted Muybridge to help him prove a factor about a horse. Leland had placed a bet with some of his friends stating that all four of a horse’s hooves were off the ground at some point during a sprint. The friends disagreed heavily and a wager was made. The wager was $25,000 if Leland could prove he was actually correct with his theory (Abel, Richard 2005).
Technology in earlier years was not as sophisticated as it is today. One would have to stand still for a period of time to capture a photo so imagine the opposition Muybridge was up against with taking a picture of a horse trotting. The money motivated Muybridge with getting this done. After six years of development, Muybridge finally achieved his objective and proved Leland to be correct with his theory. Muybridge set up several cameras in a row that was triggered as the horse trotted by (Abel, Richard 2005). Some credit Muybridge as the father of motion picture.
Suzanne Stefanac next story in history was about Alexander Graham Bell. She discussed how Bell was not trying to invent the telephone. He was actually trying to make money from the company Western Union. Western Union stated at the time that a person could only send one telegram down a wire at a time. Bell achieved this goal (Moyer, 2009).
Finally, Suzanne Stefanac spoke about Thomas Edison. Stefanac called Edison the Microsoft of his day, meaning he did not always invent things but he knew how to commercialized them. Edison is most known for inventing the light bulb and the kinetoscope. In Stefanac power-point presentation, it showed people looking at motion pictures in a hole on a kinetoscope. She went on to say that Edison did not believe people would pay to sit in the dark with other people to watch a motion picture.
Today we see that millions of people all over the world go to the theater on a weekly basis.
The second speaker was John Gilles. Gilles is the Vice-President at a company called Method. Method is an entertainment company that consults businesses with its media needs. Some of Method clients include Nike, Visa, Comcast, Sony and Microsoft. According to Method’s website, Gilles is an internationally recognized expert on advanced television and Internet media (method.com). Gilles spoke about a new media called machinima. Machinima is when game developers cross over into television. He stated that it is still expensive to produce because of rendering and paying voice actors. Gilles spoke about how companies can tell a story with a machinima and integrate an ad into the story line. He said that he thinks even though this technology is only two years old, it will compete with pixar in the future when it comes to making film, television or internet products.
The third speaker was Alexis Rapo. Rapo is a representative from abc.com. She talked about how the Internet has been a huge part of the success of the show Dancing with the Stars. She said that the show is the number two online viewed show behind Lost. One thing she pointed out is to know your audience. Rapo pointed out that Dancing with the Stars target market were older females. Although she did not give a specific age of the females, she did say that the site tries to have features that would not be complicated to navigate. Abc.com has a social networking site that a fan can join and engage with other fans and the contestants of the show. She talked about how the show’s website has exclusive content to drive traffic to the site. Rapo says that this keeps the fans engage with the show the other six days it is not on air. Fans get to view behind the scene footage of their favorite contestant on the site. Rapo was thrilled to discuss the partnership with AT&T. This partnership launched mobile voting for the consumer’s favorite contestant. At first voters had to call in their vote but now they can vote through a mobile device, Internet or traditional calls. Alexia Rapo discussed how abc.com has implemented text alerts. Fans of show sign up for the text alerts by sending an initial text, then after that they receive details such as which contestant is injured or who will be performing on the show.
The fourth speaker was Danila Koverman. Koverman works for a company called Breakmedia. She said the company used to be HBO Digital Lab, but Breakmedia bought them out because HBO wanted their business model to remain subscription based and not advertising. Breakmedia makes its revenue through ads so it was the perfect acquisition according to Koverman. She spoke about how Breakmedia uses relationships to help the business. Breakmedia is a team of people than can edit, film and research. The small team produces original content on youtube and their own site. The business acquires unsigned actors and actresses that have a large amount of subscribers on youtube. This partnership with the actors and actresses drives large amounts of traffic to their site and this is how they attract companies to placed ads. She discussed that one of their successful shows is called Hooking Up. This show has a cast that has a total of 1.3 million subscribers on youtube. This drives traffic to the site and gains the actors and actresses more attention to Hollywood. She spoke about how the characters has a facebook profile that fans add as a friend. Danila Koverman finally discussed how youtube, facebook and their own website has had a huge impact with their sales with advertising.
The final speaker was David Gale. Gale is a former executive of MTV Films. He discussed how he made the switch from feature films to Internet content. He used his connections and relationships to get help with his project. His project is called 5 Dollar Cover. This project is a show that concentrates on music of a certain region or city. The first project took place in Memphis. He wanted everything on the show from this city. He enlisted a friend from his days at MTV Films director Craig Brewer who happens to be from Memphis. Craig Brewer is the director of Hustle and Flow, a film produced by MTV Films. The episodes feature local talent that does not have a label and the objective is create a fan-base for them. The first show was a hit and one of the artists was invited to tour with Fall Out Boy and 50 Cent. Gale discussed about how acquiring AT&T as a sponsor has help with funding his project. Gale’s goal is to franchise the project to different cities using local talent as well from those cities. Cites being discussed is Seattle, New Orleans and Austin and even some in foreign countries.
My business is a venue for old school R&B artist from the late 1980’s and 1990’s to perform their hits. One of things from this Summit I can take and use in my business model is to incorporate digital content. A website is a must and not just an informational website, but one where a fan can interact with artist that perform at my venue and with other fans. Using traditional social networking sites such as facebook can help market the venue. In addition, I take away from this Summit that building relationships and having partnerships helps a great amount. Also, finding sponsorship from businesses such as AT&T helps out especially for a start-up entertainment company. Lastly, attending conferences such as the Digital Hollywood Content Summit to network with other people in the entertainment industry.
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