brand-e

Converse’s music recording studio Rubber Tracks has gone on the road, with the cool apparel brand shooting a multi-episode series starring touring bands on their way to the studio. The show, the Rubber Meets the Road, features a tour of a band’s hometown and their experiences on the road to Brooklyn (home to Rubber Tracks).

Power To The Pixel is back with the third iteration of its cross-media course, The Pixel Lab, in Potsdam, Germany, at the beginning of July. Participants will develop the skills to create, finance and distribute cross-media stories spanning any combination of film, interactive, live event, mobile, gaming, TV, publishing and online.

The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas clearly revealed that the TV industry is changing rapidly and video content is shifting from computers to television sets, says Shirlene Chandrapal*.

From voice and gesture command technology, personalised content discovery to tailored advertising experiences based on preferences, CES exhibitors proved that TV is becoming increasingly interactive.  Manufacturers are beginning to think about how TV interacts with other devices, for example using a tablet or mobile as a remote control and incorporating social media into the viewing experience.

If Twitter were the news, the most high-profile person of last year would be Justin Bieber, whose tweets were retweeted an average of 5 million times, compared to President Obama’s mere 250,000. By the way, locks of Bieber hair sold for $40k on eBay back in March 2011.

Red Bull US has allied with NBC Sports to develop 35 hours of sports action, including snowboarding, mountain biking, motocross, ice cross, skiing and BMX events in 2012. Included in the mix are more than 20 of Red Bull’s get-together’s such as X-Fighters, Supernatural, Crashed Ice, Dream Line, Rampage and Cold Rush

Social video will be the format of choice for planners with an eye on the long game, according to Unruly’s What’s Next For Social Video report. “The honeymoon for the 15-second pre-roll ad is coming to an end as advertisers demand better execution and cut-through and move budgets from push formats towards pull solutions – even pre-roll is starting to morph into an interactive multichoice medium,” says Unruly.

Two thirds of UK consumers respondents are prepared to pay for films online, according to the Media & Entertainment Barometer from KPMG. The survey, conducted by YouGov, also indicates that BBC iPlayer has the highest level of awareness of steaming services, with nine in 10 people having heard of the offering, ahead of ITV Player and LoveFilm, writes Mark Terry.

YouTube has partnered with airline Emirates, Ridley Scott Free Productions and the Venice Film Festival to create an online film fest, writes Mark Terry.

The Your Film Festival is a global contest to find a single filmmaker who will get a cool half a million dollars’ worth of production grant. Participants need to submit their short – 15 minutes or less – story-driven videos to the dedicated YouTube channel. The viral-video outfit says all genres and formats are welcome, including live action, animation, documentary, web-series episode and TV pilot.