ITV

Tag: Spiderman

  • ‘World War Z’ director to helm ‘The Amazing Spiderman’ spin-off ‘Sinister Six’

    ‘World War Z’ director to helm ‘The Amazing Spiderman’ spin-off ‘Sinister Six’

    MUMBAI: Back In December, Sony hired Drew Goddard to pen the script for the spin-off of the blockbuster film franchise, which will focus on the villains in Spider-Man’s world. Also hired in December were Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, and Ed Solomon to work on another spinoff, titled Venom, centred on the black-costumed villain that already made his big-screen debut in the third Spider-Man movie of the Sam Raimi trilogy.

     

    When Goddard was tapped to write the script for Sinister Six, there was the possibility that he also could direct. Those plans seem to be falling into place, according to The Hollywood Reporter (THR).

     

    The Sinister Six has had several permutations in the comics but originally featured Doctor Octopus, Electro, Sandman, Mysterio, Vulture and Kraven the Hunter. Octopus already appeared in Raimi’s Spider-Man 2, while Sandman was the villain (along with Venom) in Spider-Man 3. Electro (Jamie Foxx), the Rhino (Paul Giamatti) and the Green Goblin (Dane DeHaan) are the villains in Amazing Spider-Man 2.

     

    The Amazing Spider-Man 2, starring Andrew Garfield will hit Indian theatres 1 May, before its US release a day later. Kurtzman and Orci, who did rewrites for Spider-Man 2, are already working on a third instalment of Amazing Spider-Man.

     

    Goddard, wrote and made his directorial debut with the 2012 horror film The Cabin in the Woods, and will write and executive producer Netflix’s Daredevil.

  • Sony Pix’s ‘Pixathon’ will showcase various celebrated movies of popular franchises back to back

    Sony Pix’s ‘Pixathon’ will showcase various celebrated movies of popular franchises back to back

    Mumbai, July 24: Sony PIX has come up with yet another original and innovative property for its viewers. ‘PIXATHON’ will showcase various celebrated movies of popular franchises back to back which will have the audience glued to their seats. Watch your favourite movie series such as Rocky, Shrek, Iron Man, Spiderman, Mission Impossible and all of Bond series back to back only on Sony PIX. The channel is also carrying out innovative campaigns to promote the premiere of their blockbuster movies.

    To start with, the viewers got a chance to meet the ‘Green Hero’. The organic eating and eco-friendly hero Shrek launched the ‘Go Green’ project to promote the premiere of the movie. The viewers took part in the first ever Shrek PIXATHON and watched all 4 Shreks back to back on July 21.

    For the first time in India the viewer’s also got the chance to watch the sexy, hot and stylish Robert Downey as Iron Man 1 and 2 back to back only on Sony PIX. Tony Stark’s stylish and charismatic mean machine livened up the small screen on July 13.

    In future, the fans will also get the opportunity to be part of the Rocky legacy as they participate in ‘Discover the Rocky in You’ campaign. The motivational, inspiring and emotional story of the boxing icon will come alive on Sony PIX on August 4 as it premieres Rocky 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6. Also, swinging its way to the small screen is the Spiderman PIXATHON. The fans can catch all four parts of the web slinging superhero back to back on August 15. It doesn’t stop here…very soon; viewers will also get a chance to watch all of Mission Impossible and Bond series.

    To break the clutter around channel association the property has been termed PIXATHON.

    Saurabh Yagnik, EVP & Business Head, Sony PIX added, “This year we have enthralled our audiences with the two biggest premieres on television, Men in Black 3 and The Amazing Spiderman – the highest rated premieres of 2013. We have significantly stepped up our investments in acquiring high quality content and popular franchises. We also constantly strive to interact and engage with our viewers, by not just offering exceptional titles but also presenting them a completely memorable viewing experience. PIXATHON is one such initiative by us that will bring us another step closer to our audience.”

    So with titles like Shrek, Rocky, Spiderman, Mission Impossible and the entire Bond series to showcase in their library, Sony PIX is sure to pose a stiff competition to the other English movie channels.

  • Marvel to bolster Spiderman with consumer products

    MUMBAI: Marvel Entertainment has announced consumer product plans for Spiderman.

    The lineup will cover toys, apparel, home goods, etc. Licensees include Hasbro, Lego, Huffy and Street Flyers.

    Spiderman-themed products to be showcased at the Toy Fair in London include action figures, building sets, bicycles and sporting goods.

  • Latest issue of Spiderman has Peter Parker dying at the hands of Dr Octopus

    Latest issue of Spiderman has Peter Parker dying at the hands of Dr Octopus

    MUMBAI: In a news that will break the hearts of many Spider-Man followers, who kept themselves hooked to his exploits in New York for close to 50 years, Spider-Man‘s geeky alter-ego, Peter Parker, dies in a major battle with his rival Doctor Octopus in the latest issue of the popular comic series.

    Parker loses a major battle with Doctor Octopus, who spent the last year fighting to destroy the world as his own body slowly died in the latest issue. However, this doesn‘t spell the end for the legacy of Spider-Man.

    In a moment of clarity, Dr Octopus realises that his longtime nemesis was a force for good. Having swapped his mind into Parker‘s body, Octopus takes on the life and exploits of the superhero for himself.

    Marvel writer Dan Slott, who wrote the finale of the comic series set to explain the transformation thus, "This is Moriarty in the head of Sherlock. This is Prince John inside of Robin Hood. This is the greatest villain inside the body of the greatest hero and trying to do good. This is a guy who was a couple steps way from a bucket list, and now he‘s got a whole new lease on life. That‘s really going to change him."

    However, Spider-Man fans need not lose heart as the world of comics is an uncertain one where superheroes have a way of returning from their graves.

  • ‘Zee Studio has concrete plans to beef up its original programming’ : Sujay Kutty – Zee Studio senior VP, business head

    ‘Zee Studio has concrete plans to beef up its original programming’ : Sujay Kutty – Zee Studio senior VP, business head

    The fight among the English movie channels is getting fiercer as new players have entered the battleground. Zee Studio has decided to go aggressive this year by upping its premiere runs on the channel. The plan is also to launch an original show every month.

     

    The focus this year will be to grow particularly in the smaller towns. Zee Studio is also launching a wap application to take advantage of new media opportunities.

     

    In an interview with Indiantelevision.com’s Ashwin Pinto, Zee Studio senior VP, business head Sujay Kutty talks about the challenges of the English movie broadcasting business and the channel’s growth plans.

     

    Excerpts:

    With more players joining the fray, has the English movie genre seen growth in terms of viewership and advertisers?
    As of now, there are seven players in this market. With the advent of new players, the quality and variety of movies on the small screen has definitely improved.

     

    We will also see unique niches being created where you will have some channels showing big premieres and others sticking to popular titles which get ratings despite being aired many times like Terminator 2, Spiderman, Pirates Of The Caribbean.

    So will you be increasing your premiere runs on the channel?
    The number of premieres has grown considerably. We have 18 premieres lined up for the year with the likes of Vicky Cristina Barcelona, The Wrestler and How to Lose Friends – all close to their theatrical release.

    Is that the key to growing your share?
    Premieres bring an element of freshness to the channel and are definitely more saleable as the films have not been exploited earlier by other channels. Also, most of the satellite premieres we pick are scheduled very close to their theatrical release which helps in ensuring a quick recall in the viewers’ minds and helps create buzz around them.

    But isn’t sourcing big title content difficult as market leaders Star Movies and HBO have the big studios behind them?
    We buy content from all the major studios and have a great relationship with Disney, Warner and Sony. Also, we have done business with studios like Fox and NBCU in the past. Moreover, a lot of independent distributors have access to first runs. There are also cinematic gems from various festivals that we pick up.

    Is a trend emerging to spruce up the English movie channels with original content?
    There is a gap in terms of local content being done in this genre. Zee Studio has concrete plans to beef up its original programming. We will unveil our second product in October-November. A host-based quiz show around movies is on the cards. While talks are on with a number of production houses, it’s a little too early to discuss the show.

     

    The plan is to have one show every six months. If you do it more, then the novelty can get lost. We will get into many formats except reality shows. Original content helps connect with the consumers and opens up marketing opportunities.
    ‘With newer players entering the markets and major studios coming up with their own channels, content availability will be a source of concern‘

    How successful have you been in your earlier endeavour?
    As far as local programming goes, we already have Get Shorty, our short film contest for the audience. We ask aspiring filmmakers to submit their entries between 2-10 minutes in length. It is a four half-hour episode show. The filmmakers talk about their short film and why they made it. The jury includes personalities from the industry like Anurag Kashyap. Last time around 17,0000 viewers voted for what they felt was the best entry out of the 18 films that were aired.

     

    We are planning the third season for this show and it goes on air later this year. Currently, we are planning more shows with the basic aim of involving our audience.

    Your sister channel Zee Cafe tried localisation but the response was mixed. What lessons have been learnt from this?
    On the contrary, local productions always create talking points and an instant connect with the audience. We have got a positive response to Zee Café’s Café Mic Testing. The trick is to make the ‘homegrown’ content as interesting and unique as the shows we acquire abroad. With Café Mic Testing, we tried a unique blend of a talent hunt and a game show.

    But doesn’t your budget go up with local content?
    It does! However there are different ways to do local content. You can create a huge programme like a GEC. For us there is no need to be extravagant and have a big budget. Our aim is to get to a specific audience.

     

    The purpose is two fold. Firstly you create affinity for the channel among viewers by showcasing homegrown talent. Secondly you build local talent as a base that can be used for the future. The ad revenue that we earn more or less take care of programming costs.

    While the share of Zee Studio has gone up marginally, it is still in the fourth spot among the English movie channels. What is the gameplan to bridge the gap?
    Zee Studio has been in the third spot for more than three weeks now. Our strategy focuses on initiatives that help us create direct consumer connect. This can be done through out-of-home marketing activities, SMS, mailers and, of course, our film club.

     

    We intend to partner with film societies to showcase cinemas across metropolitan cities as an extension of our movie club initiative.

     

    In the coming times, we are also launching an application on Wap-enabled phones that will let viewers download our weekly schedules.

    Tam data shows that the time spent on English movie channels has gone up slightly. Zee Studio has also grown slightly but not much. What would you say are the reasons for this?
    With more channels entering the genre, a viewer has many more options to choose from. Moreover, viewers have a wider choice for entertainment that is not restricted to television alone. So the time spent is not likely to show a significant increase across any channel in the genre.

    Going forward, do you see viewership growth coming in from the small towns and cities or would metros be the main focus?
    There is potential in the small towns and cities as well. Our subtitling speaks to this segment of audience. It is about targetting people who understand English, but have difficulty following the dialect. Subtitling helps them associate what is being said to the story. We have, thus, built our second rung base in places like Jaipur and Gujarat.

    What role has subtitling played in growing the channel’s reach?
    We pioneered the initiative of subtitling for English films in India, starting it as early as August 2007. We realised that English is spoken very differently in different parts of the world, especially when you take into account colloquialisms, local slang and even sentence construction.

     

    Subtitles invariably aid the user in tiding over these differences and absorbing the film in its entirety. Post introduction of subtitling, our films have most definitely reached out to a larger audience base.

    What is the focus area of Zee Studio this year?
    This year our focus is on on-ground initiatives, Shut Up and Watch film Club (Saw) and Studio Nites, the movie song karaoke championship.

     

    Saw is aimed at taking quality cinema to the genuine movie enthusiasts across the country in the unique setting of a bookstore. Meanwhile, Studio Nites are evenings of ‘Karaoke,’ conducted at popular restaurants and clubs celebrating “music from the movies”. Here, patrons win prizes from the channel for singing along to movie soundtracks.

    What are the programming initiatives you have taken in the recent past?
    Over the last six months, Zee Studio has made constant efforts to bring its audience some great programming content. January saw three weekends with the telecast of High School Musical 1 and 2 and a back-to-back telecast of the two films with just one commercial break. To generate excitement around High School Musical, Zee Studio announced Music For Charity. This was an online auction of a guitar autographed by Farhan Akhtar, Luke Kenny, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and Vishal-Shekhar on its official website, www.zeedio.tv. High School Musical had an instant connect with the younger audience.

     

    Moreover, we created some properties keeping the audience’s needs in mind. One of these was ‘Two Timing’ where we would telecast two movies of a popular superstar back-to-back. The other is the ‘In Express Highway’ wherein a movie and its sequel are telecast back-to-back with just one break on Saturday afternoons.

     

    From 1 April, Zee Studio moved its primetime to 9 pm following research findings that a majority of the audience tune in at 9. April also saw the introduction of Sunday Noonatics. This is a slot for light/entertaining flicks keeping the relaxed Sunday mood in mind.

    What can we expect going forward?
    We plan on introducing new festivals every month to give the channel a fresh and ever-changing look. This month Zee Studio will air Desi Tadka, a festival of films with an Indian connect.

     

    September will have a lot of family movies. Going forward, viewers can look out for a Woody Allen Fest, Cinematic Jewels (critically acclaimed films) and more.
    In a genre that is title-driven, how big a challenge is it to build brand loyalty?
    At the end of the day, content is king. Marketing initiatives go a long way in driving brand awareness – be it on-ground initiatives, radio activations, print ads, hoardings, mobile marketing. They all ensure that a channel enjoys top-of-the-mind-recall when viewers are surfing the box for English movies.
    Some English film channels do programming blocks for different TGs. Others do not. What are the pros and cons of this?
    Programming blocks work well if one has a large library of films targeted towards each target group, absence of which results in repetition. It does help in clear communication, though, and also appointment viewing.
    To what extent have acquisition costs gone up in recent times with new entrants?
    It all depends on what you buy, keeping in mind the RoI as well as the channel image. So the acquisition cost keeps varying every year.
    What are the challenges that English movie channels face in India?
    With newer players entering the markets and major studios coming up with their own channels, content availability will be a source of concern. However, one has to wait and watch.
  • ‘Burgeoning distribution costs eating into money that should have been spent on content’

    ‘Burgeoning distribution costs eating into money that should have been spent on content’

    Marvel Entertainment is tapping the comics business in India. Holding the rights to iconic characters like Spiderman, X-Men and Hulk, it has appointed Kids Media India (KMI) as a subsidiary of Spacetoon Media to represent its licensing, merchandising, publishing and promotional rights in the country.

    Marvel superheroes will be immediately available for licensing on a wide range of consumer products including apparel, stationery, publications, toys and games, party goods and accessories.

    In an interview with Indiantelevision.com’s Ashwin Pinto, Marvel Entertainment International president Simon Phillips talks about the company’s plans for India.

    Excerpts:

    And while the arguments for and against regulation are many, the fundamental thing is that any attempt to legislate a free media has to be done with a great deal of care. It is at the heart of Indian democracy. And as the world acknowledges, we may have a myriad problems but we are a robust democracy despite all odds: it is too valuable to risk.

    On the Content Code there has been a discussion for well over a year, and the government has been open to dialogue, which is excellent. The broadcasters have offered to create their own Code for self-regulation.

    The government has welcomed the offer of the industry to develop its own Code, as it has accepted and notified the ASCI Code for advertising. ASCI is a voluntary body, so the government has encouraged self-regulation, which is great.

    The single biggest problem in the industry today is distribution. It is getting more and more competitive, as more and more channels come into business. The cost is enormous and growing wildly, and it is hurting every broadcaster from the biggest to the smallest, FTA or pay.

    In this battle MSOs and LCOs point fingers at each other, but either way it is costing the broadcaster. And money that could and should have been spent on content is getting spent on distribution instead, and it weakens the industry.

    And as that burgeoning cost is eating into money that could and should have been spent on content, in the end it is affecting the viewer, with no medium term solution in sight.

    Digitisation is the only real answer. Digitisation is slowly coming in the non-CAS areas, but the operative word is ‘slowly’. Anything that the government can do to accelerate digitisation will be for the good of all, mostly for the good of the consumer.

    The other important thing with growing competition is the issue of audience measurement. Periodically there is heated debate, and everyone has an expert opinion on the subject. But listen to what each broadcaster says, and you know how good their ratings are: why else are yesterday’s critics silent today and why were today’s critics silent yesterday, when the system has been the same for years?

    And even as broadcasters and agencies criticize the measurement system they continue to use the data to help in buying and selling Rs 5-6,000 crore worth of advertising, on the nonsensical plea that some data is better than no data.

    There have been impassioned complaints about how the broadcasters and production houses are victims of the rating system, how every Friday when those wretched numbers come in they have to slog overnight to fix the content according to what the numbers tell them.

    That’s like a hypochondriac taking his temperature and blaming the thermometer. No one is forcing anyone to use the data, much less what to do about it. If you choose to be tyrannised by it, that’s your choice.

    That is not to say the current system is perfect. That it needs upgrading is beyond doubt. The industry has taken the initiative in that, with the formation of the Broadcast Audience Research Council.

    Whatever the outcome, it can only lead to a better, more robust measurement system.

    The best thing that has happened this year?

    It may sound like a strange thing to say, but to my mind the best thing that has happened is the ongoing debate about the Broadcast Bill and the Content Code. It brings many issues to the fore, many things that we need to be more aware of and many that we need to engage with the government about.

  • ‘The game development and design visualisation markets have grown the quickest for us’ : Rob Hoffman- Autodesk Global product marketing manager media and entertainment division

    ‘The game development and design visualisation markets have grown the quickest for us’ : Rob Hoffman- Autodesk Global product marketing manager media and entertainment division

    Autodesk which manufactures software technologies for the media and entertainment industry as one of its major activities, is looking to grow the business in India.

     

    Realising that a lot of production facilities in the US are doing their film, TV and gaming work from India, the company is keen to aggressively tap this market segment.

     

    Indiantelevision.com’s Ashwin Pinto caught up with Autodesk Global product marketing manager media and entertainment division Rob Hoffman to find out more on how the firm’s software is helping the media industry.

     

    Excerpts:

    For a software solutions company catering to manufacturing, building and construction, how much of revenue does the media and entertainment segment contribute?
    The 3D entertainment space is a sizeable business for Autodesk. Our core areas have always been R&D and designing products like Autocast. We cover the areas of film, television, game development and design visualisation.

     

    For us, the game development and design visualisation markets have grown the quickest. You now have next generation gaming consoles like Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo. There is a huge demand for game titles.

    Could you shed light on how your solutions accelerate collaborative digital content creation workflow?
    We have 3Ds Max 2008 and Maya 2008. We have done a lot of work to accelerate the creative work that our clients do. We do this in two ways. We have worked on the two softwares so that they perform much faster on the new generation of hardware – whether they be multicore or multiprocessor workstations, latest operating systems or graphics cardsware.

     

    We are trying to take advantage of new technologies coming out and take advantage of the speed these technologies give our software. We have also done a lot of work with the user interface and the workflows of both our softwares. The aim is that artists complete their projects much faster. Something that takes six steps to complete in the past we have managed to reduce to three steps.

     

    This is a very important goal for us as it represents time savings for the artist. Modelling and animation type features have helped us achieve this. Our aim is to enable clients achieve their tasks with much more efficient tools.

    In what manner have your products been used to enhance films?
    Our 3D products are used extensively on films like Pirates Of The Caribbean, Shrek, Spiderman. Maya has been used a lot here. It has been an extensible software from the standpoint that production facilities and artists are able to enhance the software or extend its capabilities through different kinds of scripting. The software also has rich features in animation, modelling and the ability to create different types of visual effects.

    You mentioned gaming as growing the quickest. What is the work being done here?
    We work closely with the large game facilities globally to find out what challenges they face and then we try to address that within our software. We have added games specific features and functionality in the 2008 releases of our software.

    Could you shed more light on how the two products have been enhanced?
    With Maya one of the big things that artists and production facilities have been telling us is that they needed the product to run faster not just on existing hardware but also on new hardware.

     

    They also need the artists to work faster on the software in terms of the graphic user interface and the workflow. We have done work on modelling capabilities. We have enhanced the functionality of features that artists are used to.

     

    We have also done a lot of work on performance. So we have done a lot of work to take advantage of either a single core or a multicore workstation. We have rewritten a lot of the software algorithms to make it inherently faster.

     

    The Maya Mesh Smooth workflow, for instance, has been dramatically streamlined. You can now preview a smoothed mesh while editing the mesh cage – with a strong performance, particularly on multiprocessor workstations. Other much-requested workflow enhancements include the ability to position objects along a curve, replace objects within a scene, and convert instances to objects.

     

    To make it more effective on game consoles we have a new hardware shader API. With Maya clients can effectively create and display sophisticated looks for content destined for the next-generation game consoles. In particular, native support for DirectX HLSL shaders in addition to the existing CgFX support lets clients work with assets in the viewport and see them as they will be seen on the target console. Artists get better representation of the content they are creating using Maya. They don’t have to continuously go back and forth between Maya and the game engine.

     

    We have also done work on character animation. We have new rigging and skinning capabilities. We have got new non-destructive skin editing capabilities. The animator can now add more bones to an arm without disturbing the surface object. Maya also supports a large number of operating systems from Windows to Linux. We now also support Windows Vista 32 and 64
    bit.

    What about 3Ds Max?
    For 3Ds Max we have worked on the viewing of a large, complex scene. It has been known to work with large amounts of data. Artists can have a character with several million polygons. The performance is really good. The issue was that if the artist had tens of thousands of objects with millions of polygons the performance would be slow.

     

    We have worked on 3DS Max so that the artists will get the same performance with several objects that they would get working with one object.

     

    It is about being faster and working with larger amounts of data. Our aim is to allow the artist to focus on the art itself as opposed to focussing on the tools and spending time trying to find out how to use them. Our product also allows artists to get a better representation within the interactive environment. Clients also do not have to go through a trial and error process.

     

    We have done a lot of work on the pipeline. A lot of artists have used scripting as a way to automate or enhance 3Ds Max. We have made the software become more intuitive for artists who are not as technically savvy. This way the scripting capabilities are opened up for artists who traditionally would not have used it in the past.

    What advantages does Autodesk provide vis-?-vis the competition?
    Our products are industry standard software. So there are more people trained on our software. This is because our software is used widely. Artists can get a job more easily if they know how to use our software. We also spend heavily on education. We invest in building an education curriculum for schools.

     

    We also print our own learning tools. We have DVDs. We do community work as well. We have a community website where artists can come and share ideas. Since Autodesk is a big and stable company it allows to invest in supporting software development or customer service or technical assistance.
    ‘Due to education programmes we are seeing the number of artists grow rapidly in India. We see India as a market that has come in and will help out the rest of the world create content‘

    What potential do you see in India for growing the business?
    The potential is great. Right now you are seeing more work being done in India not just to create local content but also for the global market. A large number of talented artists can be found in India. So a lot of production facilities in the US are doing their film, TV and games work from India.

     

    Due to education programmes we are seeing the number of artists grow rapidly in India. We see India as a market that has come in and will help out the rest of the world create content.

    How many Indian clients do you have and what is the strategy being followed to grow the business here?
    We have a huge number of artists using our software. It is growing daily. We are doing different types of awareness activities. We will be conducting roadshows across the country. We will have super user events where we will bring customers from large production facilities like Industrial Light and Magic. People will talk about projects like Pirates Of the Caribbean.

     

    A lot of development work for our software has been done in India. As far as partnering with Indian software firms to enhance our offerings, this is something we will always look into. It is a question of whether or not it makes sense at a certain time to do so.

    Globally who are some of your major clients and what have been the key learnings working with them?
    We have clients throughout the world. Some of them are Planet Digital in New Zealand, Industrial Light and Magic, Disney, Dreamworks in the US, The Moving Picture Company in Europe. These firms really push the capabilities of the software. So we constantly learn about their requirements and challenges.

     

    They do things never done before. It is about learning where the industry is going and what are the issues that will come up.

    What are some of these issues?
    There are two challenges right now. The first one is that there is a need for talented artists. If an artist has talent, any job they want can be done with any production facility in the world. This is why we work on education initiatives. We do a lot of work on learning tools and work with schools and universities.

     

    The other challenge is that the entertainment industry’s work is getting more complex. Films like Lord Of The Rings mean that viewers expect to see bigger and more beautiful effects. So production facilities have to constantly outdo themselves. In television we are moving from standard definition to high definition.

     

    The themes and characters are more complex. On the games front, the amount of data the consoles can handle is larger than the amount of content that the companies had to deal with in the past. Can software work with these large amounts of data in an efficient manner? That is what clients look for.

     

    With the transition from standard to high definition in television, there is a need for new software capabilities. For those working in traditional broadcasting they have to now adopt a more film like production process. The data complexity that they work with is starting to come close to film.

     

    The other issue that they run into is that although they are working with more complex data, their budgets are much smaller compared to film. The timelines to finish the production are much shorter. Our aim has been to see that artists get high quality of work in a less amount of time. Our software has been used in commercials, interviews as well as episodic TV shows.

    Could you talk about Autodesk’s R&D facilities?
    For 3Ds Max we have development facilities in Montreal, and Toronto. We have development groups working on the software. We also have a pure science group that works on new technologies. They work on different ways to approach problems.

     

    The other thing to remember is that when we develop software, we work closely with the production facilities using them. We use their knowledge to help our developers create better software. Production facilities give us their perspective and ideas on how we can better serve them.

    What role does the Autodesk reseller network play in expanding your presence globally?
    They play an important role globally for us. They are the ones who work and talk with our customers on a day to day basis. We have a close relationship with our resellers throughout the world.

     

    Resellers give us feedback on customer’s opinions. We also ensure that our resellers are knowledgeable and skilled. They have to be familiar with the industry they are addressing.
    What is Autodesk University?
    This is a networking event held annually. As of now, we only hold it in the US. This year it will be in Las Vegas. The event allows us to better understand the requirements of clients.
  • Sony Pictures looking to release TV titles on DVD, VCD

    Sony Pictures looking to release TV titles on DVD, VCD

    MUMBAI: A little over a year has gone by since Sony Pictures Releasing of India set up its home video unit.

    The company has put out around 200 films so far. It also has dubbed 80 films into Hindi for VCDs (the highest amongst any of the Hollywood players the company says) and 18 VCD Tamil titles.
    Speaking to indiantelevision.com on the company’s plans Sony Pictures Releasing of India Home Entertainment country head N Muthuram says, “We are currently launching some titles in Telugu and Bengali and exploring if there is a possibility to expand our business in these markets. We are also looking to release titles from the world of television.

    ” We are considering this option seriously. We are presently working on the operational aspects of this and will soon have some releases of our catalogue of TV shows. This should happen sometime next year. Our aim was to establish our film products first which we have been able to do.” 

    Muthuram adds that each month Sony releases about 10 -12 titles and this generally amounts to about 25 SKU’s. “The major titles coming up are Open Season for family and Kids, Monster House, Click – Adam Sandlers most successful film. Next year Casino Royale, Ghost Rider with Nicholas Cage will be released. We also release titles that go straight to video. They bypass the theatres. We have Robert Ludlum’s Hades Factor, Final Fantasy VI as well as action titles with Steven Segal, Cuba Gooding Jr, Wisley Snipes and Van Damme. Of course for a few premium theatrical titles like The White Countess we only release the DVD.”

    When asked as to whether classics also sell or if the demand is mainly for oven fresh titles he points out that India is a great catalogue market and classics sell well here for all studios. “In our case Makenna’s Gold, Bridge on the River Kwai, Guns of Navarone etc do very well and these are steady sellers. Fresh titles do contribute to the business in a big way. But the key is to work on the catalogue and push sales in this category.”

    He reiterates the point that dubbed products are an important part of the business. Hindi is a mainstay now. “We have actually dubbed titles in Hindi that were not done theatrically and met with good sales. And we have also dubbed products like Fun with Dick and Jane and released in Hindi.

    “The other focus dubbed markets are Tamil and we are working on cracking the Telugu market. More languages are being considered and we will explore possibilities from a business point of view. As a studio we will continue to focus on the dubbed market and expand the business.”

    When asked as to whether Sony is also talking to other film companies both from India and abroad to distribute their products in India he says that having had a good first year there are plans of expanding and growing the business. “We are looking at various options to do so.”

    In terms of manufacturing the products he says that Sony has had its manufacturing plant for a while in India. They operate as a separate company and replicate audio CD’s, VCDs and for the last year DVD’s also. This plant is in the same class as the world wide Sony manufacturing plants.

    “We are the only studio who replicate all our DVD titles and most of the titles are locally authored. By this we customise the product to suit our markets and a lot of our titles on DVD have the Hindi, Tamil, Telugu dubs on the DVD (not sub titles but language dubs).”

    Distribution and marketing: Distribution of course is the key to this business. Sony has a strategic tie up with Sony BMG to use their supply chain infrastructure and systems. This gives a nation wide network with warehouses across 12 locations. Muthuram says that Sony has a focussed sales team that work out of the metros and service the regions to ensure supply and sales from the regions. “We also do ties ups with the likes of planet M, Crossroads. However we do not plan to set up our own retail outlets. This is not a core business area for us. The logistics are very different.”

    One area that Sony has worked hard on to push its DVDs and VCDs has been in marketing. Sony Pictures Releasing of India Home Entertainment marketing head Anupam Sengupta says that the firm has aimed at setting benchmarks in marketing video products.

    ” For starters we have been able to differentiate our packaging from the competition. The colours , the genre bands , the graphic icons all contribute to excellent visibility at the retail level. Secondly we have been aggressive in visual merchandising and have given it a new dimension, which our competitors now follow.

    ” We have done inovations like the 500+ product standee at landmark or Lama standees for The Da Vinci Code, Flex vinyls , Translites , Sunpack mini stands, innovative counter tops etc,. window displays at Music world Delhi , Music Land Delhi , Landmark Bangalore and Chennai. All these are now being copied by our competitors.”

    He goes on to add that Sony does not use television blindly to push home entertainment products. Television gives great reach but the effective reach may not be that good for home entertainment which is more niche compared to theatrical releases.

    He elaborates further saying, “Contrary to TV advertising our focussed advertising approach has yielded better deliveries in our media spends. Full Page Press advertising across key publications like Mumbai Mirror, Hindustan Times, Deccan Chronicle, Internet buys, localised radio campaigns on stations like Power Fm, Radio One and focussed outdoor campaigns like having a presence in multiplexes and mall branding are new trends set by us.”

    He goes on to add that at a time when piracy is a serious threat it is important to give the consumer a solid reason to buy a product that will cost more. For instance it offered a bonus disk with The Da vinci Code. It also offers merchandise, price benefits on the catalogue. “This way there is always a compelling reason to purchase a so called ‘second hand product’. We had The Da Vinci code bonus disk of never-before-seen features , Spiderman Animated series came with the Stuart Little 3 DVD, Kate Beckinsale Pin-Up posters came with with Underworld DVD/VCD” he adds.

    Sony also ties up with different parties to push products. “On our local dubbed products we innovate in packaging so as to suit local tastes and local media like Navbharat Times, Punjab kesri, Daily thanthi etc are used to drive awareness and media weights” says Sengupta.

    Television is used is when kids/family films have to be pushed. Ads are done on kids channels. Radio spots on the other hand give parents a reason why the product is good for their children. Ads are also carried in kids specific medias like Tinkle, Champak,Chutti Vikatan along with packaging and merchandise. 

    The internet is used a lot. Sony has done tie ups with MSN, Yahoo! and Sify. For instance for The Da Vinci Code Sony had given an exclusive bonus video feature to MSN to use as a platform to push the home video release of the film. With Yahoo! it did a contest for the film. Content is also given to these sites like interviews. It also did an initiative with Cafe Coffee Day where visitors could see posters of trhe film. The net result is that Planet M alone has sold 2500 DVD copies of The Da Vinci Code in two weeks he says.

    It also helps that Sony goes a step further by positioning films differently for the home video release. For instance for The Da Vinci Code it used ‘ Get inside the code’ as a strategic positioning stmt rather than unlock the code. The aim was to get the message across that the DVD is offereing more dope about the film. Then for the Jim Carrey comedy Fun with Dick and Jane Sony gave it a local spin with the tagline ‘ Move over Bunty and Babli’,

    Sony also has its website which Sengupta says logs more than 5000 hits per day. “We create exciting rich media content, sweepstakes, trivia to drive traffic and plug our url www.sonypictures.in in all possible advertising.”

  • Spiderman creator Stan Lee working on a reality show

    Spiderman creator Stan Lee working on a reality show

    MUMBAI: Comic creator legend Stan Lee, who created Spiderman and X-Men among other superheroes, will premiere a reality show from his company Pow! Entertainment on US broadcaster NBC’s Sci Fi Channel later this month.

    Who Wants To Be A Superhero? kicks off on 27 July 2006. This is a six-episode, one-hour weekly competition reality series that will challenge a lucky few to create their very own superhero and reward the winner with the best reality competition prize yet: immortality. Each contestant begins

    with an original idea for a superhero, a self-made costume, and their best superhero mojo. From thousands of hopefuls, Stan Lee chooses 11 finalists who must live together during the entire competition in a secret lair. There they will begin their transformations — and the competition begins for the opportunity to become real-life superheroes. Over the course of the series, they will test their mettle, try to overcome their limitations, and do what it takes to prove that they truly are super.

    The finalists will leave their former lives behind and live as their brainchild heroes 24/7. Stan Lee, who is taking a leaf from Donald Trump’s Apprentice, will be both judge and jury. As each week progresses, Pow!’s aspiring heroes will be challenged with competitions designed to test their true natures. The superhero contestants will be tested for courage, integrity, self-sacrifice, compassion, and resourcefulness — all traits that every true Stan Lee superhero must possess.

    In the end, only one aspiring superhero will have the inner strength and nobility to open the gates to comic-book immortality. The winner of this six-week competition will walk away with their character immortaliaed in a new comic book created by Stan Lee. The winning character will also appear in a Sci Fi Channel movie.

  • Vijay TV to telecast Spiderman

    Vijay TV to telecast Spiderman

    An ordinary boy bitten by a radioactive spider gets superhuman powers… “Spidey” can climb walls, walk on ceilings, has great reflexes and the spider sense for trouble. He vows to use his power for the good of mankind and wages his war against rampant crime in the city of New York. A great adaptation of the popular comic strip with thundering action sequences and amazing special effects!

     

    Starring Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Willem Dafoe among others. Elements of action, comedy, drama and horror combined skillfully in this great flick!

    Did You Know?:

    – Spiderman was popularized by comic books, newspaper strips, TV series and full-length feature films.
    – Spiderman was first introduced in the comic Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962)
    – The movie ranks #6 in the All Time USA Box Office grossing over $400 million, Spiderman in India
    – The superhero saga earned Rs 67 million in it’s first four days of release in India
    – The movie was released in regional languages – Hindi, Tamil and Telugu – as well
    – Immense viewer recall in Tamilnadu.

     

    After Titanic and Jurasic Park, Spiderman is hitting the small screen Vijay TV for the first time in Tamil on 25 June 2006 at 11 am. Plenty of watch and win contests for the film through poster cards and SMS. The keyword of the sms contest is ACTION and send to 7827.