Overman's Blog

What Moviestorm Can Learn From Magnatune

Submitted by Overman on Wed, 03/17/2010 - 14:13

John Buckman from Magnatune announced today a change in their business model: they're moving away from the sales of individual albums, and fully embracing a no-limits subscription model. For one monthly subscription price, users get unlimited access to their music catalog.

The fact that a relatively small player like Magnatune can get away with this at prices competitive with Rhapsody and other music services with millions of popular songs is a powerful affirmation of what today's music consumers really want. And in fact, Buckman states their data conclusively suggested that, when users were presented with a "pay-what-you-will" per-album model vs. a flat rate subscription model, users overwhelmingly went for the subscription.

Second Wind

Submitted by Overman on Tue, 03/16/2010 - 06:30

I found this short by Ian Worrel delightfully unpredictable, hope you enjoy it too! According to him in one of its Vimeo comments:

material used: straight pencil and paper for the man and cat line animation. colored in photoshop, composited in after effects onto backgrounds constructed in photoshop out of various pieces of media (pen/ink, pencil, paint, photos, etc.)

Animation

ARK

Submitted by Overman on Mon, 03/15/2010 - 10:38

A magnificent bit of storytelling in a beautifully crafted package, directed by Grzegorz Jonkajtys. From his description:

An unknown virus has destroyed almost the entire human population. Oblivious to the true nature of the disease, the only remaining survivors escape to the sea. In great ships, they set off in search of uninhabited land. So begins the exodus, led by one man ...

Animation

The New ZS (continued)

Submitted by Overman on Fri, 03/12/2010 - 12:39

All in all I'm very pleased with the new layout and functionality, both for you as visitors and myself as administrator. Feedback seems to suggest many of you feel the same way, which is so great to hear. Below is an overview of new features I don't think I've talked about yet, and a progress report on the features that are still getting wrapped up.

website

Internet Premiere of Tom Jantol's "The Remake"

Submitted by Overman on Thu, 03/11/2010 - 11:48

Starring Charlie Chaplin, and featuring musical score by Phil Rice.

Premieres March 28, 2010

4:00 PM PST / 7:00 P.M. EST / 11:59 P.M. GMT

At TMUTheater.com

Tom Jantol will be present at the premiere chat to observe and interact.

6 comments

Stop, Rewind

Submitted by Overman on Tue, 03/09/2010 - 23:03

Director Harrison Heller tells me this short was in part inspired by Intervention, which I found very flattering. It's not without imperfections, but being a huge fan of the whole Memento sub-genre, I found this very enjoyable.

Hosoi Ichiba Machinima Competition 2010

Submitted by Overman on Tue, 03/09/2010 - 11:36

The owners of a Second Life sim named Hosoi Ichiba have announced a competition to create a machinima video that best captures the spirit of their virtual world location. According to their description, "Hosoi Ichiba is an asian-themed market surrounding a meditation garden located on a traditional asian-themed island called Japan Kanto." From the look of the pictures on their blog, it's a really beautiful location.

3D is (Very Nearly) Here

Submitted by Overman on Fri, 03/05/2010 - 15:27

I had an entirely different post planned for today, but it can wait because this is huge.

Still got your 3d glasses from when you went to see Avatar? Go get them. Seriously.

Ninjai: Geniuses or Jerks?

Submitted by Overman on Tue, 03/02/2010 - 12:12

Well the Ninjai Gang have put out an update suggesting a Little Ninja feature-length motion picture is imminent. This news is, on the surface, immensely exciting... but a good friend of mine recently greeted the news with a barrage of curses.

Because you've already taken all the good "eye" puns

Submitted by Overman on Mon, 03/01/2010 - 11:37

One of the big additions to the new ZS website was the addition of an e-store / marketplace. As I mentioned Friday, there's currently only one item in that store, but it's already receiving some very positive attention thanks to some generous promotion efforts from Moviestorm.

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