Digital Media Labs
Tools:
In 2010 we have reached a cinematic milestone with James Cameron’s Avatar surpassing James Cameron’s Titanic to become the biggest movie of all time in terms of world-wide box office revenue. Avatar, by selling out thousands of shows of IMAX 3D for $15, gives an indication of the power and profit that can be generated by creating rich, vivid, colorful, exotic cinematic creations using new and novel technology. While James Cameron will not say exactly what Avatar cost (and FNC asked him face to face), estimates range as high as $400 million, and few think it cost less than $300 million to make.
There are currently about 100,000 cinema screens world-wide, with about 6,500 digital cinema screens. There are nearly two billion television screens, and four billion mobile phone subscriptions, with over one billion color screens that can be used to view video clips and other rich media. High definition television is now the rule in the US, the largest media market, with the oft delayed but finally implemented Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rule requiring all networks to broadcast in HD. All of this creates a massive appetite to fill those screens with content that meets standards and requirements, technological, social, and governmental, to get the right content to the right person in the right format at the right time in the right place for the right price.
FNC is collaborating with experienced partners to do just that, via Digital Media Labs and Studios that will provide enabling tools and applications to enhance communication, interaction and persuasion. Media creation/authoring, production/manipulation, and distribution will leverage off the interplay and synchronization of many technologies. Digital Media Labs and Studios together with other projects such as enhanced telecommunication broadband capabilities, 4G wireless broadband, and the Super Grid will contribute to FNC’s efforts to create a unifying family of applications and their underlying technologies that will be major driving elements of the New Economy.
Powered by digital media and associated technologies, the proposed Media Labs will be able to connect the dots of the associated digital technologies to create a singular moment of opportunity. FNC and partners intend to harness the powers of digital technologies to create powerful new culture and gain soft power and influence internationally. Media Labs will establish a platform for advancing innovations to commercial successes through sought after applications, which would help countries were the Media Labs are hosted to tap into the global knowledge economy, and transform into a global pioneer in the application of digital technologies, develop and implement more imaginative, culture-oriented, economic development policy to enhance the host region’s position as a global hub for business, investment and talent.
The ultimate goal of this project is to achieve a two-fold increase in real disposable income by generating skilled employment within the Science/Cultural Park and the Digital Media Labs. Economic benefits will ripple through the entire society enabling the creation of sustainable GDP growth with good jobs and business opportunities, building a high valued added knowledge based economy that is based on imagination and culture. Media Labs will provide a platform for the thriving private sector to create new employment opportunities through innovation and entrepreneurship, transforming the economy from heavy reliance on the public sector to encouraging the private sector to create jobs based on global competitiveness and increased productivity, transform the society from exporting raw resources to exporting culture and services and attract inbound investments and tourism.
Using advanced technology to increase the quantity and quality while reducing the cost of digital media content and delivery will also enable the transformation of education to be upgraded to focus on individual creativity and to engender a new synthesis of knowledge for applications, thereby positively impacting education, training and commerce in the New Economy.
Some nations, particularly those in Asia with long histories, lament the fact that American media, particularly movies, television shows, and computer games, are more popular than local products, and would are exploring ways to wage and win a cultural war in the digital age, knowing that this requires the latest in technology, talent and marketing know-how. They understand that a country cannot win a cultural war today with outdated technologies, concepts, and ideas. The solution to this problem is to develop Digital Media Labs and use advanced digital media production technology supported by clusters of supercomputers to build the most advanced digital content production facility in the world for film, video, animation and other electronic or print media. Such a facility should have the ability, with financing, to attract top talents from Hollywood and elsewhere for world class content creation for entertainment, education and advertising.
A Digital Media Lab can be seen as a platform for launching “Soft Power”, and an essential tool to win the cultural wars and to help maintain a unique national cultural heritage and identity, promulgate and broadcast local, regional and national culture worldwide and assist in the transformation of global media from America-centric to multi-polar world culture
In FNC’s vision, our Digital Media Lab will develop new technologies, pioneer new and compelling applications, work with master story tellers to transform their ideas and concepts into commercial successes, train new generations of knowledge-based work force, and create the ability to generate export ideas and influence
Digital Media Labs will have a significant economic impact by dramatically lowering the entry barrier for producing high quality media. Our studies indicate that, with sufficiently advanced technology, it is possible to produce a $50 million feature film will rival Hollywood productions that cost $250 million or more. We also believe it is possible to further reduce the cost of feature length films to under $10 million and even down to $5 million and to empower a whole generations of film and video makers to make their mark on the world stage, with greater chances of attracting an audience via higher quality production values and effects, while still not exceeding a budget.
Creating a successful media company can be very rewarding financially. Pixar was worth 7.4 billion when Disney purchased it over $8 million per employee.