Media Musings

Georgia law aims to lure video game makers | Tech news blog - CNET News.com:

“Under the 2008 Entertainment Industry Investment Act, eligible companies that spent at least $500,000 on production costs in the state would be eligible for a 20 percent tax credit on that investment, up from the 9 percent that was previously on the books.

The companies can qualify for an extra 10 percent tax credit, too, but only if they agree to embed promotional ads and animated Georgia logos in their content.”

I can only hope to spend $500,000 on production in a year, but if I did, then I would get a tax credit.

Study: Kids Think Eyeglasses Make Other Kids Look Smart:

Walline said the findings suggest that media portrayals associating spectacles with intelligence may be reinforcing a stereotype that even young children accept.

Visual Affection | The New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/movies/20080511_FALL_FEATURE/index.html

Very interesting look into some of the visual ideas behind the movie “The Fall”, from the director of “The Cell”

YouTube - Who’s That Hiding In My Fox 5 News Logo?:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSAOQuLxSdY

Shows the Fox bias toward McCain.

‘Sex and the City’ director addresses death rumor - CNN.com:

“It’s a summer movie,” he said. “Why would I want to kill anyone?”

Interesting revelation on the mentality behind these media products and their usefulness in our lives.

Recession Diet Just One Way to Tighten Belt - New York Times:

(In a survey conducted this month by the NPD Group, a research firm, consumers suggested that they would sooner cut spending on clothing, furniture and eating out than on video games.)

U.S. Spies Use Custom Videogames to Learn How to Think :

“And games as teaching tools are only as effective as the assumptions behind them, says John Prados, a designer of hobby war games as well as an historian who has studied U.S. intelligence. For example, prescripted events in a game will tend to reflect the biases of the game’s designers as they steer the player toward certain decisions.”

Smartest thing I have read today.

Hollywood Sci-Fi’s Bronze Age - Comic Book Movies - Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, The Dark Knight - Popular Mechanics:

“the 1984 David Lynch film adaptation of Frank Herbert’s classic Dune was so incomprehensible to the uninitiated that some theaters passed out a glossary of the film’s lingo to moviegoers.”

Anyone know a reference for this? I think more movies should use a job aid or study guide.

20 (Rare) Questions for Google Search Guru Udi Manber - Popular Mechanics:

“You don’t think that when someone searches for New York Times address that they’re not looking for the address. Language is like that. Intention can be ambiguous.”

If we want unambiguous results in life, not just in searches on the internet, then I would guess we need unambiguous communication.

Tim linked to this -
Viacom Vet Herb Scannell: Act 2.0 - from shey.net

“We’re creating an audience that’s not huge but deep,” says [Jed] Simmons. “These audiences will be very valuable to sponsors. There is a huge burden on us how we present advertising.” Branded integration is perfect for some series, but as the company starts generating 100 million views in a year, “the question is,” he says, “how do you scale all that [for brands]?”

Yet Simmons is confident some innovator will come along with a product that streamlines and standardizes online video advertising for the industry. He points to Next New’s experience with its syndication model. “One thing we thought was going to break us was the actual physical requirements of delivering our episodes to syndicators,” he recalls. Then along came Tube Mogul, a company that automates the process. “Monetization will come along,” he adds.

This is not well thought through, yet, but I would think that advertising industry and new media content companies need to retool to take advantage of online ad opportunities, most of which are like flash floods, or big waves. They would have relationships in place so that when something hits, the ads are in place to take advantage of the traffic, not just the brand getting a rise to their popularity.