Happy Friday! Welcome to Issue 30 of Rerun, your weekly digest of digital storytelling, interactive media and the future of TV curated by Axonista.
In our Top Pick this week we have a Pixar veteran, Saschka Unseld, who is now shaping the future of storytelling at Oculus. We also have Netflix's findings on which episode is the one that really gets you hooked on a TV show; Facebook introducing 360 degree video; a personalised short film with 100,000 variations; a new VR game from the makers of Monument Valley; the latest news from Oculus' Connect conference; a new theme park by anime legend Hayao Miyazaki; and much more!
Let's get straight to it!
Top Pick
How a Pixar veteran is shaping the future of VR storytelling
Pixar's Saschka Unseld, who is now the director of Oculus Story Studio, is trying to find new ways for filmmaking and storytelling through VR headsets. âLost" and âHenryâ are two of Story Studioâs first VR films which have helped in understanding the grammar of what works well within a headset. Unseld says that the they are grasping the idea of a fourth wall being taken apart in order for views to immerse themselves within a film and have âthat kind of one-on-one relationshipâ with VR.
Future of TV
Netflix knows the exact episode of a TV show that gets you hooked
Netflix have crunched the numbers on 25 of their top TV shows in order to find out which episode is the one that gets viewers hooked. They looked for the episode that, after viewing, kept 70 percent of people on board for the rest of the season, if not more. For most shows it was early in the season, while a few didn't sink their hooks in until mid/late season. One thing they all had in common; no-one got hooked on the pilot.
Netflix's point, of course, is that its method of releasing an entire season of a TV show all at once is a much better way to win over fans. "We found that no one was ever hooked on the pilot," says Ted Sarandos, Netflix's content chief. "This gives us confidence that giving our members all episodes at once is more aligned with how fans are made."
Netflix CEO: All TV will be Internet in 10-20 yrs
"The Internet is transforming so many sectors of our economy, and we are Internet TV; and that sector has grown from very small 15 years ago to starting to be significant now".
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings was chatting to CNBC's Jim Cramer this week and was his usual confident self about the future of TV. He also attributed the success among viewers and critics of Netflix's original programming, like "Orange Is The New Black" and "House of Cards", to the way they can draw upon powerful data analytics that just aren't possible on cable.
"We are just a learning machine. Every time we put out a new show we are analyzing it, figuring out what worked and what didn't so we get better next time"
Interactive Media
Facebook introduces 360 degree video
Hot on the heels of YouTube, Facebook have released support for 360 degree videos. For now you'll only see them on the web and on newer Android phones, but they'll be making their way to iOS very shortly. The initial batch of content is high quality and comes from sources like National Geographic, GoPro, and even Star Wars.
When viewing the videos on mobile your phone acts like a viewfinder into a 360 degree world unfolding around you. It's a very immersive and engaging way of watching a video, and it's something that Mark Zuckerberg sees as the future of communication.
Storytelling
Netflix taps Wall Street Journal to hype 'Narcos'
The latest content marketing collaboration between Netflix and a reputable publication, in this case with the WSJ for its cocaine trafficking original series 'Narcos', is one of the best we've seen here at Rerun. This alternative to the same-old advertising model is undeniably more fun and engaging and we expect more and more brands to divert media spend to the format.
Of course, as with any commercial format, the downside is an inevitable race to the bottom and we wonder how the profession of journalism will fare as journalists are attracted by the dollars on offer.
"...one of the biggest things for me as an editor is making certain that what we wrote ... would be something our audiences wanted to read," - Fara Warner, global editorial director, WSJ Custom Studios.
It used to be that journalists reported the truth and left "what audiences want to read" to authors, but as the line blurs, so comes the opportunity for not-so benevolent forces to seed propaganda, influence policy, and even sway public opinion around elections. We're keeping our đ on this one.
'Romeo Reboot': Axe remakes the story of Romeo -- 100,000 times
In other content marketing news, last month Unilever's Axe brand debuted an online campaign dubbed 'Romeo Reboot' in Brazil.
The campaign features a short film that programmatically adapts to each online viewerâs interests (factoring music taste, previous purchases and more) to give everyone who views it a custom view of the story. There are a total of 100,000 variations of the advertisement that include changes to the music, the story and even the setting, which can change from office to sci-fi.
It takes programmatic advertising to a whole new level and it will be interesting to see this approach translate into longer form storytelling.
Virtual Reality
Landâs End is Monument Valley maker ustwoâs first careful foray into VR gaming
Ustwo are making a VR game and it looks incredible! Based on their famous game Monument Valley, the makers have been experimenting with virtual reality for Samsung's GearVR headset. The new game titled âLands Endâ will feature isolated landscapes from Iceland to neolithic regions.
The storyline is based around discovering the history about what happened to an ancient civilisation by exploring the landscape. Techcrunch says âIt's kind of what we think of as a spiritual cousin to Monument Valley.â
Oculus Connect 2 shows off the next steps on the road to VR
Oculus renewed excitement surrounding its Oculus Rift this week with more announcements than you can shake Oculus Touch at.
With VR TV news coming from Netflix, Hulu and Twitch, game reveals from Mojang and Epic Games and hardware announcements from Samsung, Dell, Alienware and Asus, Oculus's partners are competing to sate the public's hunger for VR products with the lowest latency.
On top of all this, Oculus had a few announcements of it's own to make. The new SDK comes with built in drivers to save having to set up the rift as an external monitor. "Medium" is Oculus's 3D art environment. Oculus Touch has a release date. And to make your software browsing as convenient as possible, a virtual reality app store is on its way.
Briefs
- Watch people try VR porn for the first time (NSFW)
- ITV is launching a new streaming service to take on BBC's iPlayer and Channel 4's All4
- NBC launch a streaming channel on Roku
- ABC's TGIT use emoji to unlock exclusive content on Twitter
- Applications for the VR Launchpad Startup Showcase are now open
- We can't believe this amazing CableRobot Simulator hasn't been used to simulate giant fighting robots
Hayao Miyazaki to Open a Theme Park in Okinawa, Japan
We're huge anime fans here at Rerun and Hayao Miyazaki is one of the all time masters of the art. When we heard that the creator of such classics as 'Howl's Moving Castle', 'Spirited Away', and 'Princess Mononoke' was building a theme park, we collectively cheered đ. It doesn't open until 2018, but that gives us plenty of time to plan our trip :-)