Digital Hollywood and Day One Review

There are so many sessions each day dealing with so many diverse topics that one would have to clone themselves at least two times to attend all the areas you want to gather knowledge from. What we have done is to give a general insight into what was done in but three of the dozens of panels.

IPad-Tablet-SmartPhone-PC-Game - TouchIt -Roundtable on the Immersive Consumer Experience. This session was for innovators and executives who are participants in the future.

Valuing and Financing Entertainment Content: Movies, Television and Online Video.

Merging Content with New Technologies -Content Reinvention with the Next Generation of Tablets, eReaders and Mobile Devices. This was a smaller panel where we had the most interaction with those on the panel and in a true sense got up closer to what they were talking about.

Cable, TV and Broadband - New Content -New Networks - Streams, Platforms, Devices.

All consumer devices are undergoing a revolution - both in the way that consumers interact with the device - as well as new and creative possibilities in the way that software and hardware developers understand the nature of their products. Touch screen, motion and immersive computing, Tablets, SmartPhones and Television devices are now only at the starting gate of innovation. The panel discussed their opinions on where the present round of convergence is leading, whether the app-based Tablet world introduces a new opportunity for monetizing content beyond ad-based revenue, and what new forms of interactive media we can expect for an app-based mobile audience.

Blogs, social networks, and online video have been in the ascendancy for the media industry for many years now - but with the recent turmoil with brick-and-mortar bookstores and the rapid adoption of Kindles, tablets, apps and the mobile web, we could very well finally be in the "convergence" moment that many people in digital media have discussed for years. The revolution in business models and digital distribution that disrupted the music industry is now turning publishing on its head, and TV and film aren't far behind. Beyond that, the world of tablets invites publishers to become interactive producers, TV execs to become print authors, and digital developers to build new business models around authors, publishers, and media. Our panel features leaders in all forms of media from publishing to television - exploring this new world of digital "convergence."

You often attend panels where you have as much knowledge about the topic as those on the panel such was the case with IPad-Tablet-SmartPhone-PC-Game - TouchIt -Roundtable on the Immersive Consumer Experience panel. I was busy listening about immersion which was an important topic of the panel and didn't realize what I was doing that showed how much I was immersed into the topic.

I had taken my LG Thrill out to use as a audio recorder of the panel. Then I put my Sprint broadband card on the table. This was followed by my Motorola Xoom to take notes and finished off with my Sony bloggie 3D to take pictures.

Without even thinking I had just proved much of what was being discussed on this panel as others in the room had also done.

Valuing and Financing Entertainment Content: Movies, Television and Online Video. This panel tended to bother us the most with what was said because there were things said that were in direct contradiction to what we and others have first-hand knowledge of.

Other facts such as a 50 million dollar movie is better than a 30 million dollar movie to finance. That long form video is preferred to short form.

Finally that when you get down to it financing for projects hasn't really changed that much since I first got into the business 70 years ago. Just the areas you can seek money from has expanded.

Merging Content with New Technologies -Content Reinvention with the Next Generation of Tablets, eReaders and Mobile Devices. This panel through a twist of fate ended up being a smaller panel. Small often means more in-depth material from those on the panel.

Apple and how it changed the industry and its strength and weakness were went over as was the thought that the Kindle Fire would also be a game changer.

An important fact from the panel was that we need some sort of uniformity out there went it comes what and how can be downloaded. Too many ways and too many competing companies. At the same time it was also mentioned that as soon as there is uniformity it is followed by the users wanting something new and different.

Cable, TV and Broadband - New Content -New Networks - Streams, Platforms, and Devices was our last panel for the day. Something's we already knew others we had heard rumors about. Digital rights for projects had been an afterthought and now scrambling is being done to secure many signatures to allow projects to be shown on the many digital platforms out there.

A better search system is needed to find what you are looking for to place on your device. That a 500 dollar produced weblog is more preferred then a viral video from your cellphone. That while 3D has its place there is a back off according to age divisions as to what its value is in the future. And content is still king.

We wished that we could go on and on and tell you all that we had heard day one at Digital Hollywood but it would take at least as long as our notes to do such.

So much information and not enough space to put it in.