Australia’s leading screen conference, run by SPAA, is in Sydney this week and many multi-platform folk associated with LAMP & AFTRS in the past are in force with a record number of panels and sessions. The heavily featured 360 Media (and by implication Social Media) track sits nicely in the theme of this years conference ‘Reaching Your Audience’. LAMP’s Gary Hayes is listed as a key advisor to this years event and the following are a taste of some of the great sessions worth checking out. Lots more detail on the downloadable PDF on the SPAA Conference site.
The sessions below are the LAMP best 360, multi platform picks for the 3 days
It is always hard to decide on a good video sharing network for longer format material as YouTube & many others have time and quality limitations. LAMP has put up its videos via iTunes store since 2005 as well as running a JWPlayer on it’s own virtual server. So we also just started an AFTRSTalks channel on Vimeo where seminars, lectures, interviews etc: will be uploaded. Here is the first batch from LAMP across a few recent seminars or interviews (at least 15 more to be added shortly to this gallery!).
LAMP’s Gary Hayes created, posted & paged (on his top 5 Australian AdAge blog, Personalizemedia) this simple flash app a few weeks ago to demonstrate the tsunami of content, communication and commercial activity across Social Media, Mobile and Games. The widget, embedded below, rather ironically went viral itself as it is was linked to from Wired, Guardian, other major sites and was re-tweeted over 2000 times which generated a reach around 15 million! It is now embedded in over 450 sites (over 150 shown in the video below the counter) and Gary is keeping it constantly updated with the latest stats across the 40+ metrics.
Australians now spend an average of 16.1 hours on the internet each week, 12.9 hours watching TV, 8.8 hours listening to the radio, 3.7 hours on a mobile phone and 2.8 hours reading newspapers according to The Nielsen Online Internet and Technology Report quoted in The Australian earlier this year. With internet use now eclipsing TV viewing Australian broadcasters are in for a bumpy ride over the next few years. In this environment, how well prepared are our content producers for a world of participatory media, social networking and transmedia storytelling?
AFTRS are running a new post graduate course in 2010 which has been designed for content producers of all persuasions to combine the practical skills of traditional media with those of the online world. What’s clear is there is a huge appetite by global audiences for rich media content and we need skilled producers to start the conversations.
More information about this groundbreaking new course is available here and applications close on November 1, 2009
The course has been developed utilising the knowledge and experience gained through LAMP workshops, seminars and residentials and the pool of national and international experts who have contributed to its success. To get an idea of the calibre of our industry speakers here is a list of links to some of the most pertinent LAMP podcasts, vodcasts and slideshares about Multi Platform Content innovation. And finally, some of our industry testimonials and more stats to help you ponder your future.
Huge poisonous spiders lie ready to pounce as you carefully traverse a forest lit only by moonlight. This is one of the initiation rights you will face in One Night, a new game that has been prototyped by AFTRS lecturer Ian Brown using Unity3D software. He recently gave a presentation of the project at Gamejam09, the games pitch and demo event initiated by LAMP in 2008.
It took Ian about a month to create a level of One Night including the design of all the assets from scratch. He did modelling and texturing in Mudbox software, the animation in Maya and it was exported to Unity3D where all the gameplay was scripted in Javascript. Unity 3D is a multi platform tool and its relatively easy to create games for Mac, PC, web or iPhone. There is a rapidly growing list of great games being created in Unity3D which you can find here.
You can see a gameplay capture of the One Night on our YouTube channel AFTRSgames or you can play through the prototype by downloading a zipped executable for Mac OSX or Windows.
For those interested in creating their own games like One Night, AFTRS are running a Graduate Certificate in Games and Virtual Worlds in 2010 and we’re looking for visionaries who can create innovative games and rich immersive social virtual worlds. Applications for the course close on November 1 2009 and more information is available here.
AFTRS in conjunction with the IGDA Sydney are running GameJam 09.
An interactive event by gamers for gamers – a day of playing, learning about and making games. Come be a spectator, play to win, or get involved in the creative jam session. This free one day event features gaming competitions, seminars, networking and creative activities. The JAM starts with a gaming forum where anyone can register to be a presenter – share YOUR latest discoveries, opinions & ideas for games and virtual worlds. The JAM ends with a workshop & competition – where creative teams engage in a battle of ideas & rapid game-design, with prizes for best pitch!
LAMP has been an integral part of the interactive cross media & digital curriculum at AFTRS for the past four years. As well as its external facing activities works closely with all aspects of social and cross media in the Graduate Diploma for Directors & Production students, Foundation ‘Creating Experiences and Designing Worlds modules’ and MA specialist courses in Virtual Worlds, Social Media and Games.
Next year there are some great Graduate Certificate courses starting and LAMP will be very active in the Multiplatform and Games & Virtual Worlds offerings and recommend you to pass these around. More info here:
All video and audio below recorded at the AFTRS Theatre April 2009. LAMP pod and vodcasts are published through iTunes – click on the icon on the right if you have iTunes to subscribe now!
SIX SEMINAR VIDEOS – Click the skip arrows to move between presentations
Original seminar link – All video and audio below recorded at the AFTRS Theatre May 2009. Machinima is a dynamic new form of storytelling that will be explored in a seminar and interactive workshop at AFTRS this week. This unique event will feature leading international experts speaking about the exciting future of this new form which utilises games and virtual worlds as new tools of filmmaking.
A quick ‘tour of tools’ machinima created in only 3 hours using wowmodelviewer as part of the intro presentation, featuring @SilkCharm character and voice over.
AUDIO ONLY VERSIONS OF ABOVE – Click the skip arrows to move between presentations
All video and audio below recorded at the AFTRS Theatre April 2009. LAMP pod and vodcasts are published through iTunes – click on the icon on the right if you have iTunes to subscribe now!
FOUR SEMINAR VIDEOS – Click the skip arrows to move between presentations
Original seminar link – All video and audio below recorded at the AFTRS Theatre April 2009. The intersection between documentary filmmaking and games will be explored in this half seminar and half rapid development workshop, providing deep insight into the potential of Serious Games. Both games and stories have long been recognised as powerful learning tools. Their combination in the 21st century has the potential to provide learning experiences that are collaborative and globally connected. What are the best examples of Serious Games and where are they heading? How can Serious Games be employed by educators, corporations or non-profit organizations?
AUDIO ONLY VERSIONS OF ABOVE – Click the skip arrows to move between presentations
The Practise of Interactive Narratives – Mark Stephen Meadows Mark provides us with a very accesible and compelling investigation into new forms of interactive narrative – alternate perspectives, interaction and user journeys. Using the analogy of “stories are about someone who has a problem more interesting than your own” he takes us through the conceptual development aspects of creating journeys that even under viewer control can still engage by providing decision and nodal points. Mark goes further to talk about the historical stages that human narrative have been through and looks at a richer AI based, modulated future of personal story.
Accompanying presentation “The Practise of Interactive Narratives” – Mark Stephen Meadows – HTML page link
PODCAST SUBSCRIPTION
All LAMP podcasts are also published through the iTunes store. You can subscribe automatically to these if you have iTunes installed by clicking here.
Mark Stephen Meadows is a painter that writes. He’s also engineers interactive systems, develops games, designs artificial emotion software and leads groups of designers into burning buildings, and then out again, unscathed. As an architect of interactive content he designs problem sets, characters, and the worlds in which they operate. As an educator he lectures on this work at universities, conferences, and private research institutions. His work of the last thirteen years has included work as Artist-in-Residence at Xerox-PARC, Creative Director for a venture of Stanford Research Institute, and co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of a VR and Internet company named Construct. Meadows has spent time as artist/researcher at the Waag Society, in Holland, and has worked as a consultant for dozens of companies, both large and small.
AGSM Sydney 05 Dec 2005 Click to listen Audio preparation by James Christopher Murty
Mark provides us with a very accesible and compelling investigation into new forms of interactive narrative – alternate perspectives, interaction and user journeys. Using the analogy of “stories are about someone who has a problem more interesting than your own” he takes us through the conceptual development aspects of creating journeys that even under viewer control can still engage by providing decision and nodal points. Mark goes further to talk about the historical stages that human narrative have been through and looks at a richer AI based, modulated future of personal story.