ITV

Tag: Film

  • Cartoon Network to celebrate Republic Day with premiere of ‘Krishna: Makhan Chor’

    Cartoon Network to celebrate Republic Day with premiere of ‘Krishna: Makhan Chor’

    MUMBAI: Cartoon Network will celebrate Republic Day with the Indian television premiere of Green Gold Animation Studio’s second 2-D animation feature Krishna: Makhan Chor on 26 January at 12 noon and 7:30 p.m. This also marks the worldwide premiere of the 2-D animated feature film.

    This is Cartoon Network’s third acquisition from Hyderabad-based Green Gold Animation Studio, the earlier being Vikram Betaal in 2005 and Krishna: the Birth which was premiered on Janamashtami last year, informs an official release.

    Turner International India Pvt. Ltd. VP advertising sales and networks, India and South Asia Monica Tata said, “There has been no looking back on local acquisitions since 2001, when Cartoon Network was the first kids’ channel to premiere Indian animation. Indian animations on the Network have been a hit with kids. In fact, the premiere of Krishna: the Birth, rated exceptionally well with a 1.2 TVR in the kids’ segment and its telecast positioned Cartoon Network not only as a leader in the kids’ segment, but also as the #2 National Channel in the 15+ audience (across general interest channels, all India, for the telecast time of 2p.m. on August 16, 2006).”

    PMI Green Gold Animation Pvt. Ltd Managing Director Rajiv Chilakalapudi said, “Green Gold is dedicated to creating high quality original animation content for Television and Film. Our passion and commitment to Indian Animation has yielded fruitful results with the overwhelming success of Krishna: the Birth, our first part of the Krishna series. Indeed we are equally confident that its sequel Krishna:Makhan Chor will also be a huge success and resonate with kids and families alike. Over 100 professionals at Green Gold worked on this project and the passion and energy created was exemplary – it was unbelievable teamwork. We are extremely happy that our creations are seen on the number one channel for kids, Cartoon Network.”

    Krishna: Makhan Chor which is the second part of a four part series, narrates the story of Lord Krishna in his childhood. It is set against the backdrop of his growing years under the love and care of his foster parents, Nandlal and Yashoda, to become the popular, mischievous but lovable “Kanha” of Gokul. This part also includes Krishna’s tryst with various demons, which have been sent by his uncle, Kansa.

  • China to have over 32 million mobile video users in 2008

    China to have over 32 million mobile video users in 2008

    MUMBAI: The mobile video market in China will take off in 2008, driven by interest in the Beijing Olympics.

    A new study from ABI Research published out of Singapore forecasts total mobile video users at more than 32 million in 2008. About 27 per cent of these consumers will use broadcasting technology, and 73 per cent will use unicast streaming technology, while a number of viewers are likely to use both.

    In 2006, SARFT, the Chinese State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television, announced two handset-related standards. DAB is likely to be the first phase of mobile multimedia broadcasting standards development in China. DAB paves the way for upgrading to China’s proposed mobile multimedia broadcasting standard, T-DMB, a terrestrial implementation of SK Telecom’s mobile video format.

    Because both standards are voluntary, there are questions surrounding their effect in the market. “It is likely that local media groups and TV stations will deploy DAB initially, and implement T-DMB at a later date,” 3g.co.uk quotes ABI research director Jake Saunders as saying. “The Chinese government will give preference to a standard that will be used in the 2008 Olympics, and DAB has been listed as one of the broadcast services that will be available at the Beijing Games.”

    “Although lack of content is still deemed to be a bottleneck for mobile video in mainland China, the problem will be solved in the next two years,” adds Saunders. “The current content shortage is caused by the limited number of handset TV SP licenses. When more companies obtain licenses, competition will become the lubricant to drive up the market.”

    Meanwhile in Hong Kong, mobile operators are active in mobile video streaming. Their international operations backgrounds allow them to provide diversified content to users.

    PCCW’s experience in operating its IPTV business will boost its performance in the 3G market. ABI Research forecasts approximately 715,000 mobile video users in Hong Kong in 2008, of which 99 per cent will be streaming users. In Taiwan, ABI Research forecasts that there will be over 1.5 million mobile video users in 2008, with 97 per cent receiving content via streaming.

    “Mobile Video in China” analyzes the mobile video market in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. It lists the streaming mobile services offered by mobile operators in the three areas, discusses the regulatory environment in mainland China, and charts the directions that will be taken by mobile video development based on different technologies.

  • Google launches a search product for film, television

    Google launches a search product for film, television

    MUMBAI: The world’s most valuable media firm Google has launched a new search interface, specifically created for the film, television and performing arts communities. It is currently under phase three beta development and is now available for use by the general public and entertainment-industry professionals.

    The development team is also releasing the code for the search box so it can be added to related websites.

    Currently titled ‘The Google Film, Theatre, Casting and Performing Arts Search’ this new film and performing arts search engine is an optimised Google search for topics related to film, television and the dramatic and performing arts, including topics such as movies, multimedia, musicals, dancing, singing, and modelling, with a special emphasis on websites focusing on acting, casting, news/gossip, auditions, and jobs in the entertainment industry.

    The Film and Performing Arts Search allows users to filter out irrelevant content and spam, concentrating on search results that are truly relevant to their needs and interests. Although the Google Film and Performing Arts Search will be improved and tweaked significantly over the next year, the site is now ready for use by all entertainment industry professionals and related websites, including actors, casting directors, producers, models, singers, dancers, writers, and directors.

    This new search engine is being developed using customisation tools and options provided by Google, and the search results are presented using Google’s servers and Google-hosted pages. Although Google is not directly funding or legally responsible for the development of the Google Film and Performing Arts Search Engine or for the engine’s independent development team, the developers are enthusiastic about the possibilities of these new niche search tools and resources recently opened up to businesses, programmers, and the general public by Google Inc.

    Entertainment-industry websites can add the Google Film, Theatre, Casting and Performing Arts Search to their websites either as a stand-alone search box or as an integrated part of their current search options. The technology is entirely free, with no options or obligations involved. All entertainment-industry professionals, webmasters, and enthusiasts are encouraged to submit feedback for continued improvements to this new search engine.

    Users will be able to use the Google Performing Arts search box (on any website site that offers the search box, or from the Google Film, Theatre, Casting & Performing Arts Search homepage) to find content that’s uniquely relevant to the site’s readership. Google will bulk up the results using a worldwide search of all sites, with the results weighted by which sites have been added to the engine as “Preferred sites,” along with weights based upon specific tags/refinements/filters and keywords relevant to the entertainment industry. Full sites and/or specific pages of sites are added as “Preferred pages” for the search engine to weight in a positive or negative manner.

    Users and webmasters can recommend what Refinements (aka, tags, filters, or labels) they’d like associated with any given website as a whole, or specific pages of the sites. That way, when users drill-down the search results using Google Refinements/Labels, they’ll be more likely to find relevant pages in the search results. Current Google Refinements under development for the site include the following category labels: Casting, Auditions, Entertainment Jobs, Acting, Dance, Singing, Comedians, Film, Theatre, Cabaret, Writing, Musicians, Models, Television, Entertainment Industry News, and Reviews and Gossip.

    Webmasters that add the Google Performing Arts search-box to their site should contact the search-development team via email; the team will in turn add the site’s URL to the current rotation of websites that link directly from the main graphic that appears at the top of every search-results page. Currently the main graphic links to a Back Stage MySpace page where this Google Search is already being used (www.myspace.com/casting_calls_auditions), but the plan is to change the link once every few weeks to showcase other relevant websites.

    The Google Film, Theatre, Casting & Performing Arts Search Development Team is led by award-winning writer and content-developer Luke Crowe, the co-founder of the now-defunct RoboFilms.com (a pioneer of offering short films and animation online in the 1990s) who is currently the New York editor of the Casting Departments of Back Stage Magazine and BackStage.com.

  • China celebrates 80th birthday of cartoon & animation industry

    China celebrates 80th birthday of cartoon & animation industry

    MUMBAI: The second edition of the China International Cartoon and Animation Festival was kicked off in China on Thursday. The highlight of the festival is the 80th birthday celebrations of China’s cartoon and animation industry.

    The week-long festival has chosen “cartoon and animation make life wonderful” as its theme. The event is co-sponsored by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television and Zhejiang provincial government.

    Eminent cartoon producers from France, Japan, the United States, Hong Kong and Croatia are participating in the festival.

    The festival will take a look at the progress made by China international cartoon and animation industry, apart from debating on the prospect the industry. A competition on cartoon and animation works in China will also be held.

  • Indians notch up MipTV success

    Indians notch up MipTV success

    MUMBAI: MipTV, the world’s biggest content marketplace, which ended last week in Cannes, proved to be a very successful one for India’s content creators, distributors and aggregators.

    Some 43 production, broadcasting and mobile phone companies jetted their way down to Cannes to keep a tab on content trends in Europe and globally, buy and sell films, series and formats, find co-production partners and schmooze with the world’s most important players in the TV, animation, film and mobile content sweepstakes.
    The change this time around was that TV producers have invested in buying formats as against just broadcasters doing so. “The power has been weighing heavily in the hands of TV channel programming executives who have been behaving in a high handed manner with TV producers ordering them around as if they were serfs and they – the programmers – the fount of all that is creative,” one of the producers was candid enough to say. “Now with us buying formats, we will also be able to have our say. The times have to change. More power has to come to TV producers’ hands.”
    And mobile players from India aggressively scoured the landscape looking to do deals for video. Among these: Reliance Infocomm, Hungama Mobile, and Cellnext Solutions.

    Almost everyone who attended the market from India went back with a smile on their faces. Krishna Durbha Head of Business and Marketing – Reliance Infocomm Ltd., Applications Solutions Group (India), a panelist at a session on Asian markets, received a standing ovation and was spoken of as one of the more eloquent and candid speakers during the conference programme. Says Durbha: “It’s been a major eye opener for us. We are in the content space for the mobile and I got at least half a dozen leads which will lead to positive results.”

    Sahara Motion Pictures, which took a stand for the first time, was so delighted with the response that it has evinced interest in exhibiting in MipCom as well. “MipTV proved a great platform for us for creating business opportunities,” says Sandeep Bhargava, Chief. Operating Officer, Sahara One Motion Pictures. “We get to meet the who’s who of content in the world in one place and get results.”

    Sony Entertainment Television India, which took a stand, too had a rewarding market. Led by Kaushal Modi on the sales and syndication side, and by programming head Anupama Mandloi on acquisition, the content owner had a very busy market.

    WEG India, Eros and Suman – three other companies that have been attending and exhibiting at MipTV and MipCom for several years now – too had a good market. “Both MipCom and MipTV to be honest are great ways for us to meet, greet and service all our clients at one place,” says Vimal Gupta of the UK based distributor Suman Film.

    Zee TV, which was represented by Deblina Chakrabarty, Parul Chatruvedi and digital head Abhijit Saxena, too, made its mark. While Chakrabarty was sizing up opportunites for content acquisition – though she had a fall from the stairs in the Palais des Festivals and was even taken to hospital – Chatturvedi was exploring how India’s largest network could up its syndication revenues. Saxena – like a lone ranger – moved around in the shadows meeting all and sundry trying to further milk the potential of the 60,000 hours or so of the Zee TV content library, which is currently being digitized by IBM. Watch out for action in this space from Saxena as Zee TV chairman Subhash Chandra is himself driving the digital initiative with Saxena as his lieutenant.

    Star India, which used to have a separate stand until a year and a half ago when it was brought under the umbrella of Hong Kong based centralized syndication arm Fortune Star, too had a sizeable presence. Viren Popley, Ravi Menon and Manju Nair were at the forefront of the Star TV charge. Syndication experts however point out that it would be better if Star India’s Hindi content were not subsumed by the larger interests of Fortune Star’s huge Chinese library. A separate stand with a separate identity for Star India would help it further exploit its syndication potential.

    Other broadcasters who made their way to the market included NDTV (represented by KVL Narayan Rao and I.P. “Baj” Bajpai) and Aaj Tak (CEO G Krishnan).

    The buzz this year from the Indian delegation was centered around the production companies. Optimystix, Contiloe, Miditech, Maverick, Clapstem, AIM Television, UTV, ESP Films were amongst those who made waves. ESP is on the verge of signing a huge deal with a European producer for co-producing a new documentary.

    Sorely missed at MipTV were the two other big players Balaji Telefilms and BAG Films, who, are missing out on several opportunities in the global content marketplace. “Agreed they are more than busy in the domestic marketplace,” says a Cannes veteran. “But not being present internationally means that not many people in the world know you at a time when boundaries between nations are dissolving and cultures are beginning to merge. That is a huge opportunity loss.”

    The animation presence at MipTV came in the shape of Maya, Crest, Toonz Animation, Graphiti Multimedia which continued with their efforts to make themselves better understood by the world at large. And in the process snap up some co-production, original IP deals.

    Indian presence at MipTV:

    Aim Television Pvt. Ltd.
    Broadcast Worldwide Limited
    Cellnext Solutions Limited
    Clapstem Productions
    Color Chips India Limited
    Contiloe Films Pvt Ltd.
    Dawsen Infotech Private Limited
    Dessin Works
    Digikore Studios Limited
    Digimate Productions
    DQ Entertainment Ltd
    Escotoonz Entertainment Pvt Ltd (Subsidiary Of Escosoft Tech)
    ESP Films
    Fortune Star
    Fusion Films Inc. (Part Of Giriraj Group)
    Graphiti Multimedia Pvt Ltd
    HTMT
    I Stylus
    Maverick Productions Pvt. Ltd.
    Maya Entertainment Ltd.
    Miditech Pvt. Ltd.
    New Delhi Television Limited
    Optimystix Entertainment India Pvt. Ltd.
    Oxigen Infovision Pvt. Ltd
    Percept Picture Company Pvt Ltd
    React Media Pvt Ltd
    Sahara One Media And Entertainment Limited
    Sony Entertainment Television India (P) Ltd
    Super Cassettes Industries Limited Aka-T-Series
    Toonz Animation India Pvt. Ltd
    TV Today Network Ltd
    UTV / Hungama TV
    Video Movie International
    Weg India Pictures Pvt Ltd
    Zee Telefilms Limited