Curating the Week's Best in Film, TV, Video, Transmedia & Digital Business

Each week I offer my own (human) curation of links, posts, and articles that have informed me in the markets in which I actively consult -- film, television, video, transmedia, and digital business. You can scan the summary, click through, or go to my Twitter account (@nickdemartino), where the items below are among those "favorited" with a star. 

TELEVISION AND VIDEO

• It will be interesting to watch the new TV venture from Mark Cuban, Ryan Seacrest, CAA and AEG, reported here in Variety (a gated community). 

• Long Tail Video created a really excellent overview of HTML5 by cramming a ton of info into easy-to-digest charts and graphics. This is a model of clarity in presentation, especially  if you're into tech subjects.

• Cable networks are emerging as the most innovative users of social TV apps, as noted in Mashable's rundown of efforts by FX and USA.

• As part of Netflix's resurrection campaign the company noted that its streaming service is now available on more than 800 devices (!) and that mobile is taking over. 

• Think Netflix is worried about Hulu and Amazon catching up? Nope, the threat is "TV Everywhere," according to this TNW post.

• Maybe they should worry more about Apple TV, which GigaOm asserts is finally gaining marketplace traction. 

• I loved this piece on the impact of VOD binge viewing on future TV business models, posted on WIRED. I'm a binger, aren't you?  

• YouTube's Reach Begins to Eclipse Television, claims Read Write Web, based upon recent data.

• As it shifts towards more professional content and a channel-based interface, YouTube reached out to its base of member-creators this week. 

• John Seabrook's analysis of Robert Kyncl and YouTube: Will it Revolutionize Television? New Yorker 

• Tribune Media Services Special Report on Online Video. Register to download free copy

• Perhaps in reaction to YouTube's strategy, Vimeo this week released new features, including a new player and a streamlined look. 

• One YouTuber who is jumping quite a shark is Dane Beodigheimer's ANNOYING ORANGE, which announced a deal with Cartoon Network this week. 

• Video is powering a global classroom, according to this story from Mashable.

STORYTELLING AND TRANSMEDIA

• O'Reilly's interview of Narrative Science CTO Kristian Hammond was the week's eye-opener for me, starting with the title: "Transforming Data into Narrative Content." http://radar.oreilly.com/2012/01/narrative-science-kristian-hammond-data-content-generation.html 

• RealScreen reports on the initiation of production on a new "transmedia documentary" dealing with the Arab Spring from a team of Portuguese journalists. http://realscreen.com/2012/01/25/transmedia-doc-series-about-arab-spring-begins-production/

• PSFK spotlights a new AR app-enabled interactive doc from the National Film Board of Canada called "BEAR-71" that makes powerful use of augmented reality.http://www.psfk.com/2012/01/interactive-ar-documentary-nfb.html

• Canada is in the transmedia spotlight in this rave post in the Hollywood Reporter: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/expert-canada-primed-become-major-282926

• Check out this beautiful display of components that comprised the "multilayered transmedia campaign" in support of HBO's GAME OF THRONES by Steve Coulson who presented this week at the newly named STORYCODE meet up group at Lincoln Center. http://work.stevecoulson.com/portfolio/game-of-thrones 

• If you have the time, check out this 26-minute video offering a case study of BZRK, the transmedia story by young adult author Michael Grant, from Pixel Report in London. http://thepixelreport.org/2012/01/24/case-study-bzrk/

• Finally, SXSW announced the finalists for its Interactive Awards with a list of links to products in each area, including activism, amusement, art, business, community, education, experimental, film/TV, music, motion graphics and so forth. So helpful if one wishes to actually check out the sites. http://sxsw.com/interactive/awards/finalists

FILM

• With the announcement of the Oscar nominations, we move into the home-stretch of the movie biz annual race. the web awash with analysis and predictions, like this one from the Reporter, offering "key factoids." 

• At the other end of the biz --perhaps in honor of Sundance which is in session-- check this out: Jeffrey Winter, Sheri Candler, and Orly Ravid, three of the four authors of "Selling Your Film Without Selling Your Soul" offer another batch of DIY distribution success stories, posted on Ted Hope's blog.

• Indeed, Sundance's Robert Redford opened the festival with a nod to alternate distribution. 

• Cinedigm joint venture seeks to help indie filmmakers compete in the digital space. 

DIGITAL BUSINESS 

• Apple's entry into the textbook market got lots of attention last week, including a nice post from the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard, "The Day the Bookshelf Shook." 

• Though "the network effect" may be the holy grail for digital business, maybe not so much, according to this really smart post from the Business Insider. 

• The impact of the epic struggle over SOPA has resulted in some interesting long-view posts, including Chris Dorr's analysis, which centers on the fundamental differences between the technological networks employed by the adversaries (Hollywood, Internet). 

• The Hollywood Reporter dives into "what went wrong" for Hollywood in a nice piece of reporting by Kim Masters. 

• One sign that a company is important is how much new it makes when it introduces change to its user base. Hence, Twitter made news with a shift in how it "withholds" certain tweets -- is it censorship? The twitterati are atwitter.

• That will be nothing, however, compared to the online flutter that will attend to the long-awaited filing by Facebook of its long-awaited Initial Public Offering, rumored to be as early as next week.