May
13
KICKSTARTER LINK:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/steamforged/dark-soulstm-the-board-game
Dark Souls™, Dark Souls™ II, and Dark Souls™ III & ©BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc. / ©FromSoftware, Inc.
May
13
75 per cent kids prefer animated content over live action: Turner’s New Generations report 2016
Posted in: AnimationIt’s no surprise that kids have the power to influence their parents when it comes to purchasing anything. They are no longer mere consumers but rather high purchase influencers today. To understand their behavioural pattern, Turner has released its flagship research study, New Generations 2016, which puts the spotlight on lifestyle, opinion, behavioural pattern and spending habits of over 6,690 kids ranging from the age of 7 to 14 years and parents of 4 to 14 years old kids, across 1 million towns were surveyed in India. New Generations is a guide for brands, marketers and advertisers to decode the trends and consumption patterns that define the New Generation kids. This year’s research focuses on the ‘The Plurals’, who by definition, are those born between 1997 and 2015.
The report highlights that even in the growing digital age, television ranks as the number one form of media consumption at 97 per cent with cartoons being the most watched genre by kids and parents alike. Turner International India, MD, South Asia, Siddharth Jain said, “We are pioneers in setting benchmarks in the kids’ entertainment industry and are constantly innovating to create unique worlds for them. This means engaging them beyond the linear screen to entertaining them on apps, games (web and mobile) to mega-events on the ground and an extensive range of licensed and merchandised product.”
Key Highlights of New Generations 2016
Media Consumption: Television ranks as the number one media consumption
New Technology: Use of technology amplified exceptionally as kids live in connected homes. Gaming—the number one online activity for children
Purchasing power: Pocket money given to kids in 2015 has grown a 100 per cent
Kids and their environment: Kids chose to eliminate poverty and promote peace. Aware and want to participate in ‘Swachch Bharat Abhiyan’
Advertisements: Ads consisting of their favourite cartoon character top the charts along with character based product packaging
Future perspective: Kids are ready to take on the world and are up for exploring non-traditional careers.
Favourite Icons: Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Sachin Tendulkar and Sania Mirza rule the hearts of the kids
“Kids primarily want to get wholesome entertainment and are not picky about the genre. They prefer watching homegrown shows which is why you will see two out of the top three shows that are coming up in animation space are homegrown local shows: Chhota Bheem and Motu Patlu,” said Turner International India, director and South Asia research head, Rahul Sachdev.
“About 75 per cent kids prefer animated content over live action content,” added Sachdev. “The time when kids watch TV during weekends are in the morning and currently as summer vacations are going on, on weekdays they watch it in the daytime.”
As far as the statistic go, television viewing activity ranks the highest in media consumption at 97 per cent, followed by reading newspapers and books (49 per cent and 44 per cent respectively), surfing the internet – 29 per cent, reading comics – 25 per cent, listening to radio – 21 per cent, watching DVDs – 15 per cent and films – 7 per cent are also amongst the preferred choices of kids. More than 50 per cent kids use computers and 25 per cent access the internet. 84 per cent children ranging from the age group of 7 to 14 years use a desktop, whereas, 33 per cent kids aged between 4 to 6 years seem to be open to using and are well versant with newer technologies. Gaming and Information sourcing are most popular activities for kids.
62 per cent Indian kids are using their parents or other family member’s mobile devices whereas, 4 per cent of the kids share their handsets with their siblings. The survey has derived the fact that 32 per cent children download applications out of which 70 per cent download the paid applications. The study has also revealed insights that both boys and games enjoy playing video games, with the ration of boys to girls being almost equal (53:44).
Turner International India, executive director and network head – Kids, Krishna Desai shared, “Kids can’t really differentiate between what’s Indian content and what’s international as all the shows are now dubbed in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. As far as shows and genre is concerned, the most enduring shows we see are in the category of ‘Humour’. The like watching light, funny shows like Roll No. 21. The important aspect in any show is the storytelling as it’s the crucial thread which connects the audience to the series.”
Keeping this vital data and statistics in mind, animation studios can tap into these findings to come up with their own content and pitch it to the various kids channels. And we hope to see more of Indian animated content on our small screens in the coming months.
Click to open the complete Turner’s New Generations 2016 report
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May
13
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. gets a green signal for renewal from ABC while Agent Carter gets a red
Posted in: AnimationThe investigation road for Peggy Carter seems to have come to a halt as ABC is bidding adieu to its critically acclaimed series ‘Agent Carter’. The series created by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely started its development in 2013 inspired from a short film of the same name. In May 2014, ABC took up the series and starred James D’Arcy, Chad Michael Murray, and Enver Gjokaj.
The first season of the Marvel comics based series had eight episodes and the second season had 10 episodes, which concluded in March, this year. Although the series was critically appreciated, it failed to garner viewership and thus it came as quite a surprise to many, when the show was renewed for a second season, during the mid season breaks of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
But, it seems like ABC will no longer support the series, as they have cancelled the renewal of the show few days back. But Hayley Atwell will still be seen on screens as she has bagged a lead role in the new upcoming show ‘Conviction’, where she would be donning the robes of Hayes Morrison, a lawyer who has to take up a job in order to evade jail time for the possession of cocaine and avoid tampering the senate campaign for her mother.
In August it was confirmed that ABC has passed on ordering the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. spin-off Marvel’s Most Wanted, however ABC revealed that the show has been passed on. There’s a good news for the Marvel fans though as Agents of SHIELD has been renewed for another season from ABC. This means that ABC will now air only one Marvel comic based TV series as of now.
The post Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. gets a green signal for renewal from ABC while Agent Carter gets a red appeared first on AnimationXpress.
May
13
Tools like Direct Carrier billing makes payment easy, leading to a lot of new opportunities for the ecosystem to flourish: Google Play, head of BD, Kunal Soni
Posted in: AnimationConsidered to be one of the easiest modes of payment, direct carrier billing has had a history with India when feature phones were dominating. But with a shift to smartphones, carrier billing did not tow along. Google on various occasions was on the verge of announcing carrier billing on its Play Store but due to certain difficulties, things did not materialise with telecom operators and it remained the same until now.
Idea Cellular became the first telecom company to bring carrier billing to Google in India and with this Google has extended its carrier billing offering to 41 countries now. AnimationXpress.com had chat with Google Play, head of business development – South East Asia, India and Australia, Kunal Soni, about the recent partnership and how could it stir things up for the developers and Indian consumers.
Will the carrier billing solve the revenue inflow of the apps when people still are sceptical when it comes to digital spending?
Kunal: One of the biggest challenges we always hear about from the developers is ‘payment’. Indians have had a hard time paying for digital content, even though they have smartphones and are downloading lots of apps. Because they don’t have readily available methods of payment like credit cards; it restricts their ability to purchase digital content. As more and more people rely on their smart devices, tools like Direct Carrier billing (DCB), which makes payment easy, will mean a lot of new opportunities for the ecosystem to flourish. DCB has the potential to reach millions of people who don’t have access to other forms of payment in the country. In our experience Direct Carrier billing is a popular form of payment method. Whenever we have launched DCB in other countries we have seen tremendous growth for both developers and users. We saw 4x in buyers in Indonesia in the past 18 months.
Last year Google had introduced offline Gift Cards which one could buy and then redeem the code on the store for the credit to buy things digitally. Even the prices of the apps were slashed to minimum being Rs 10. With the introduction of these vouchers and lowered prices have the things seen an upward trend in spending?
Kunal: Google Play Gift Card was an important moment for consumers to be able to access content they love without needing a credit card. The response has been great but the offline model has limited reach. Idea Cellular has over 150 million subscribers. Not only does this kind of reach make it easier for people to access the content they love, it also has the potential to nurture the developer ecosystem and help Indian developers grow and innovate.
Earlier this year we launched sub-dollar pricing in India and it surely attracted a wider user base. The combination of DCB along with sub dollar pricing creates a whole new level of opportunity for Indian developers to innovate and create great content that can be used both locally and globally. For example Indian game developers like Games2Win has seen a significant improvement in transactions within their Cricket-based games, such as ‘Power Cricket T20′ and ‘World T20 Cricket Champs’, after adopting these new pricing levels.
What is the trend when it comes to spending on apps in India?
Kunal: Google Play has experienced exponential growth in installs over the last few years in India. We continue to see strong momentum across all categories available. Some of the most popular ones are communication (messaging apps), social platforms, shopping, games, entertainment and utility apps. Just like in other countries, we really see a mix between local and international game developers growing in India. Additionally, food, music and photography apps are being installed. Subscriptions are another fast growing area to watch out for.
With over a billion subscriptions in India, right now over 350 million people own a smartphone and major chunk are android users. The smartphone and its app stores have left people with plenty of options to explore and download. Even the paid apps have free ad-laden alternatives which people have accepted over the years and are happy to watch a few ads here and there. Carrier billing has come late in a country where credit card penetration is under 3 per cent.
It could be a while before people embrace this method of spending on digital content let alone spending. But like it is said once you had the taste of it, you are never going back. This was something first seen during the first wave of e-commerce websites in India and today we have a chunk of people buying things online. Carrier billing will not only make payment much easier through one-click checkout but will also introduce people to superior apps. The inclination towards spending on digital content increased in developing markets when carrier billing was introduced and something similar could also be the case here when more telecom operators will join the bandwagon.
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May
13
Private parties invited to provide investments and technology for National Centre on Animation and Gaming
Posted in: AnimationMinister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore said today that the Government will only ‘focus on providing land and infrastructure’ for the proposed National Centre of Excellence for Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics.
He called upon private partners to utilise this initiative with investment, technology and faculty.
The Minister was speaking while inaugurating the India Pavilion at the Cannes International Film Festival. He also released the poster of the International Film Festival of India to be held in Goa in November.
(The Maharashtra Government has already offered to give land in the film city in Goregaon in Mumbai for the Centre, though the Central Government has not received any concrete proposal.)
He said the Film Facilitation Office (FFO) set up by the government was a step towards facilitating single window clearance for film makers, promote India as a filming destination and provide the platform for film tourism in the country.
He said that this initiative also addressed the requirement of prospective film makers who were keen to utilize India’s platform for filming purposes. The FFO would act as a facilitation point for film producers and assist them in obtaining requisite permissions, disseminate information on shooting locales as well as the facilities available with the Indian film industry for production/post production.
He said the primary objective of the Film Facilitation Office was to create an environment that inspired filmmakers and tap the vast talent available in the Indian film industry. The FFO would also identify and recommend such policy changes at the Central and State levels that would make India a more film-friendly destination.
As part of perspective planning, the Minister said that a dedicated web portal to take this application process online, which would be operational in the next few months. The portal would not only enable online submission of application, and enlist Guidelines of key central government ministries/departments regarding shooting of films in one place, but also create a Location’s Guide and a Service Provider’s Directory, so as to become a single window for the international film community who were looking to shoot their films in India.
The Minister also outlined the steps being taken by the Ministry to streamline the process of permission in States. In this regard he mentioned that the Ministry had requested state governments to appoint a nodal officer for purpose of promoting and facilitating film shootings in their state. He added that the FFO would regularly engage with these Nodal Officers to remove any roadblocks and ease out the process of permissions as well as promote the states internationally through initiatives such as conducting Familiarisation (FAM) tours for foreign filmmakers, participation at international markets.
The Minister specifically highlighted the Government’s recent initiative of instituting the “Most Film Friendly State” award as part of the National Film Awards with the objective to encourage the state governments to support the film industry. He stated that the award aims to sensitise the Indian states towards film tourism, advantages of bringing in foreign filmmakers to shoot in their state, promote India as a preferred filming destination as well as encourage the growth of the film industry.
The Minister touched upon the criteria for the award which included presence of single window clearance facility, presence of state government backed film studio complex consisting of dedicated locations for film shoots, production and post production infrastructure, incentives offered by the state, presence of a dedicated web portal, database of facilities available, efforts being made to develop talent for the film industry, connectivity in the state and international marketing initiatives.
The post Private parties invited to provide investments and technology for National Centre on Animation and Gaming appeared first on AnimationXpress.
May
13
“Digital provides a different opportunity. There is no restriction when it comes to producing content for the digital space. The traditional 26 x 30 series doesn’t come into picture as even a 3 minute series can be put it on the digital platform and then we can see whether there is an audience engagement and if it can become a hit,” expressed Toonz Media Group, CEO, P. Jayakumar.
Toonz Media Group, CEO, P. Jayakumar
Toonz Media Group has taken the digital way to upscale their business on the animation front. With the launch of their WebTv for kids called ‘Chotoonz’ in late 2014, which reached over 50 million views per month in just the first six to seven months, the company now plans to strengthen their digital content library. He believed, “At a fraction of a cost you can launch an idea on digital platform and if it’s good then it can be turned into a franchise. We recently bought a company in Spain called Imira Entertainment to strengthen our content library. Now, we control almost 4000 hours of kids content library across the world.”
Toonz Animation has created a scripted series of the world’s largest kids property – Gummy Bear. Toonz approached Google to create a complete scripted series for the same and Google agreed to fund it. “We are now producing 39 x 7 minutes of scripted series of Gummy Bear exclusively for the digital space.”
“Along with this we are creating exclusive digital content for Fruit Ninja which is one of the top 5 mobile game brands in the world. We are currently working with one Australian creator for Cutie Pops Girls which is again an original IP.”
While Toonz is going digital so vigorously, there are around 25 to 30 artists working for the digital wing focusing primarily on 3D content. Most of the digital activity is for pre school audience.
“We want to create things where there is a possibility of creating franchises. The idea is to create franchises and then involve licensing and merchandising around it.”
Currently, they are working on a R.L. Stine movie for a live action feature film with a group in the US. Also, they are creating a 52 episode live action TV series for BBC called Jamillah Aladdin.
In terms of animated feature film, “We will finish a US movie called Bunyan and Babe in July. Cinedigm will distribute the film in the US theatrical front while, GFM Films will distribute it worldwide.”
“We are also starting a new animated feature film called Beijing Safari which is a spin off of Delhi Safari (2012).” It is a co-production between India, China and New Zealand. Toonz Media Group will be collaborating with the major owners of Krayon.
When asked on the idea of creating a complete Indian animated feature film Jayakumar answered, “I don’t think Indian audience is matured enough for a big budget animated movie. A Jungle Book is okay because they spend millions of dollars because the quality is so high but whether it works in India or no doesn’t really matter to the producers because their money making territories are very different. I don’t think we (Indian producers) are yet ready to put in an experimentation of a 100 crore budget Indian animated feature and see whether it will work or not.”
Toonz Media Group is therefore channelising its potential resources towards the digital platform in order to cater to the large audience available at these platforms. Also, it is all a matter of changing trends as the world is moving towards digital platforms for content and now every major player in the industry is seen adapting to the new age technology.
The post Go and Grow digital – Toonz Media Group’s new content strategy appeared first on AnimationXpress.
May
13
Talking Bones on Torture
Posted in: AnimationThe Dignity Institute is running “Talking Bones”, a direct advertising campaign designed to raise awareness of the replies faced by more than 125,000 political violence and torture victims living in France. Medical x-rays, pressed into vinyl records, hold sound recordings of testimonies by three victims, Arta, Adnan and Fidele. The records were sent to key French influencers to create a conversation about the subject, with the goal of calling the French government to implement a health and social security policy to help or assist victims.
Hearing the victims stories, whilst seeing with your own eyes their physical injuries, forces you to face their reality. It is impossible to ignore. Suddenly, you become brutally aware that torture is not exactly as you imagined. It is not a distant issue but a tangible reality in France.
Talking Bones Credits
The Talking Bones campaign was developed at Grey Paris by executive creative director Thierry Astier, art director Romain Arrigoni, copywriter Nicolas Richard, and head of communication Charlotte Buisson.
Vinyl was made at Lathe Cuts. Illustration was by Abril Castillo. Photography was by Studio Lacen. Sound was produced at Ipanema Music by sound designer Philippe Hebrard. Music is by Franck Delabre and Stéphane Martin at Possible. Filming was shot by director François Bricage and director of photography Fabio Caldironi.
May
12
Youtubers Life Trailer
Posted in: Animation
Youtubers Life is the ultimate vlogger tycoon/life-sim video game.
The main aim of this title is to become the world’s greatest youtuber in history. To achieve it, you will have to edit videos, get in touch with other video bloggers and try that fame doesn’t overload you.
Create your own online video channel and upload videos to increase your fanbase… but keep an eye on your daily tasks while you don’t lose track of your social life! You’ll have to deal with fans, friends, family and time management! Increase your popularity so you can move to a new place and manage your own video content creators network company.
https://www.facebook.com/youtuberslifegame
Tweets by youtubers_uplay
May
12
Sharing space
Posted in: Animation
My love for the ocean has no bounds. Freediving has set me free. Cover Photo by Chris Gillette @gatorboys_chris
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