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August 13, 2017
Luc Besson Says That Captain America Is ‘Propaganda’: ‘It’s Always Here to Show the Supremacy of America’
Luc Besson isn’t the biggest fan of superhero movies. The “Valerian” director, who’s previously said that he finds it difficult to relate to such characters, went further in a CinePop interview by calling Captain America “propaganda” that’s uniquely American — and not in a good way. Watch the full discussion below.
“What bothers me most is it’s always here to show the supremacy of America and how they are great,” he said. “I mean, which country in the world would have the guts to call a film ‘Captain Brazil’ or ‘Captain France’? I mean, no one! We would be like so ashamed and say, ‘No, no, come on, we can’t do that.’ They can. They can call it ‘Captain America’ and everybody think it’s normal. I’m not here for propaganda, I’m here to tell a story.”
Despite his problems with the genre, Besson did make a movie about a kind of superhero: “Lucy,” which stars Scarlett Johansson as a woman who develops psychic abilities and superhuman intelligence after ingesting a highly advanced drug.
Source: IndieWire film
August 13, 2017
Leonardo DiCaprio to Play His Namesake Leonardo da Vinci in Upcoming Biopic, Because Nominative Determinism Is Real
You might say that Leonardo DiCaprio was born to play Leonardo da Vinci. The actor is said to have been named for the Italian artist after his pregnant mother first felt him kick while she was looking upon a da Vinci at Florence’s Uffizi Gallery way back in 1974, and now he’ll live up to his namesake by playing him in an upcoming biopic. According to Deadline, that movie now has a home in Paramount Pictures.
The studio beat out Universal for the rights to Walter Isaacson’s creatively titled book “Leonardo da Vinci,” apparently paying seven figures in the process; said tome has yet to actually be published. Isaacson has previously authored books about Benjamin Franklin, Steve Jobs, and Albert Einstein, among others; “Einstein: His Life and Genius” was adapted into “Genius,” starring another Oscar-winning thesp. That actor’s name? Geoffrey Rush.
Elsewhere in adaptations, DiCaprio is set to star in frequent collaborator Martin Scorsese’s take on David Grann’s book “Killers of the Flower Moon.” No one else is attached to “Leonardo da Vinci” yet. The book is scheduled for release on October 17.
Source: IndieWire film
August 13, 2017
Tom Cruise Potentially Injured While Filming ‘Mission: Impossible 6’ Stunt — Watch
Tom Cruise’s well-known habit of performing his own stunts appears to have resulted in an injury, though thankfully not a serious one. TMZ has a video of the 55-year-old actor coming up short while jumping from one building to another as part of a stunt for “Mission: Impossible 6”; after getting up, Cruise briefly collapses while attempting to walk it off. Watch the video here.
He then walks away under his own power, suggesting that whatever injury he might have sustained is mild. Cruise recently performed 64 takes of a zero-gravity plane-crash sequence for “The Mummy,” which wasn’t exactly enough to make that reboot a success; he also held on to the side of a plane for “Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation.”
Michelle Monaghan, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Michelle Monaghan, Henry Cavill, Angela Bassett, and Alec Baldwin co-star in the untitled “Mission: Impossible 6.” Despite not having a name, it does have a release date: July 27, 2018.
Source: IndieWire film
August 10, 2017
#TBT: 25 Years of SXSW Film – Joe Swanberg
The 2017 SXSW Film Festival was one for the books, but now it’s time to look ahead to 2018 which marks the 25th edition of the SXSW Film Festival. To commemorate this milestone in our history we will spotlight careers launched, artists discovered, and some of the greatest projects, powerful performances, and unlikely collaborations we’ve had the honor to bring to audiences!
Our first artist is filmmaker Joe Swanberg. Swanberg has had over ten features screen at the film festival, many of them being world premieres. In 2016, we were honored to have him as one of our Film Keynotes. His most recent feature, Win It All premiered at this year’s festival and is available on Netflix. His original series Easy, is also available to watch on the streaming service. Read his #SXSWFilm25 story, and take a walk down memory lane featuring Swanberg at the festival throughout the years.
“SXSW changed my life by inviting my first feature, Kissing on the Mouth, in 2005. Within the span of a few days, I went from feeling like an isolated crazy person in Chicago to feeling like part of a vibrant and exciting film scene. That year I met David Lowery, Ti West, Spencer Parsons, Jay and Mark Duplass, Bryan Poyser, Andrew Bujalski, Dan Brown, Janet Pierson and many other people who are still close friends and collaborators. The word “mumblecore” was also invented at the festival that year, which, despite the love/hate relationship I have with it, allowed our work to register collectively in a much bigger way than I suspect it would have individually. Matt Dentler, who programmed our work that year, gave us the gift of exposure and community, things I believe all artists desperately need, especially when getting started. Many of us still refer to him as our guardian angel.
I’ve had too many life and career changing moments at SXSW in the decade since then to fully document them all, but the world premieres of Hannah Takes the Stairs in 2007 and Drinking Buddies in 2013 were both defining moments for me that seemed to mark time as “before” and “after.” I see my life as a filmmaker inextricably linked to the festival, and literally can’t imagine where I would be without it.”
Stay tuned to SXSW each Thursday for more 25th anniversary stories.
Join Us For SXSW 2018
Learn how to successfully enter your film to the 2018 SXSW Film Festival with our How to Submit Your Film video and find out more information about deadlines and fees here.
Join us for SXSW 2018 – register to attend by Friday, September 8 for the biggest savings of the season. Make your hotel reservations through SXSW Housing & Travel for the best available rates. A film badge remains your best bet with primary access to all SXSW Film events including world premieres, roundtables, workshops and parties. We hope to see you in March!
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and SXSW News for the latest SXSW coverage, announcements, application tips, and updates.
Joe Swanberg Keynote – Photo by Danny Matson
The post #TBT: 25 Years of SXSW Film – Joe Swanberg appeared first on SXSW.
Source: SxSW Film
August 10, 2017
Why User Generated Content Marketing is On the Rise and How to Harness Its Power with Visual Storytelling
Travel Story
In 2017, I’ve been traveling a lot to explore various countries and learning new skills. Whether it was going to Australia to trek some the mountains of Tasmania or flying to Colombia to learn 30 hours of salsa dancing, I’ve become a digital nomad to satiate my wanderlust.
Trekking the mountains of Tasmania
One problem though: last month, I realized my travel bag wore down, and I was in the market of purchasing a new bag. My one caveat: this new bag would have to be super durable and last me for at least 5+ years.
Naturally, I went to Google and started searching for ‘best digital nomad backpacks’ and narrowed my search to about 4 options, one of which was Minaal. I clicked on their website and liked what I saw. A few minutes after looking at their options, I stumbled upon a page called “Pages of Love.”
In this page was a beautiful gallery and social media testimonials from real customers on their experience with their bag. Scrolling through a few of these photos, I really enjoyed what I saw, built more trust with the Minaal brand, and took the plunge to purchase the $300 bag within 20 minutes.
Thinking I was crazy to make a big purchase like that so quickly, I did another Google search on other Minaal customers experience and found another customer’s story of purchasing the bag within 10 minutes — whew! Of the 5 main reasons that convinced him to make the purchase, #3 stood out to me: real customer testimonials. The real customers’ photos from social media Minaal was willing to showcase on their website convinced us two buyers to take the plunge, and after 1 month of purchasing, I am still very satisfied with my purchase.
“Half the fun of bringing gear into the world is seeing what our users get up to with it. We wanted to create a space to share their stories and the awesome images that go along with them. At this point there’s way too much to showcase in one spot so ‘Page of Love’ content is all over Instagram and our other social channels.” – Jimmy & Doug, Co-Founder at Minaal
Why UGC Marketing is on the Rise
In the last 50 years, the amount of ads and brand content we get exposed to on a daily basis has increased from 500/day to ~5000/day. Unbelievable? Think through your day. When you first wake up, you touch your alarm clock. Logo on it? Ad. When you go brush your teeth, you touch your toothbrush and toothpaste. Logo on them? Ads. When you grab your coffee and start commuting to work, what do you see? Ads on your coffee cup and on the freeway or bus or subway. The list goes on as you go through the rest of your day.
We all know there is a lot of marketing noise today. Yes we’ve trained our brains to tune them out as consumers, but that’s bad news for brand marketers.
This is a big problem for consumers. The more this happens, the more we will tune out.
That’s why marketing is shifting. No longer can we rely on sneaky tactics like the snakeoil salesman. No longer can we rely on fictional characters like the Marlboro Man to sell on behalf of a brand. We are entering into an era of consumer advocates being the real marketers of a brand. Why and how? 2 things: mobile phone + social networks. The combination of those two have unlocked a big medium for us to share our opinions about our experiences or thoughts about a brand.
How to Start Harnessing UGC for your Marketing
So how can marketers start to incorporate their customer content into their brand story? Here are two simple ways:
When FedEx launched their Instagram presence a couple years ago, they failed. According to their team, they thought all social networks were created equally, so they repurposed content from their other social channels with no real strategy. Results were flat.
So they decided to relaunch their Instagram strategy in 2016, with the core focus that “showcased FedEx in an authentic tone and voice,” pivoting away from stock imagery photography to a fully “user-generated content strategy which let our fans become our global photographers.”
The call-to-action was simple: for all their customers to capture photos of FedEx trucks or planes and share it on their Instagram profile with #FedEx. Their team would go through 1000s of pictures a week to find the best one and re-share on their own Instagram channel after clearing the rights.
The results? Follower growth rate has skyrocketed by 404% in first 9 months! How come?
The FedEx team also saw their customers tell their friends “FedEx found my picture and wants to share it — how cool is that!” The beauty is that this strategy is completely free and decreases content creation costs as their customers are creating the content for FedEx. There is a clear ROI win.
“At the end of the day, by letting our customers and fans across the globe be our brand storytellers, we have been able to transform our perception from being an out-of-reach corporate entity to an authentic, personable friend that our audience can trust.” – Julie Clement Cochran , Global Social Media at FedEx Services
#WeAreCisco – Showcasing Employees
Cisco is a large corporation that may not be the most attractive to future talent. Knowing this, the Cisco social media team set out “to make a personal connection with future talent” by showcasing authentic stories created by their own employees. Why? According to Edelman’s 2017 Trust Barometer, employees are trusted 16 points more than their CEO.
The strategy was simple: ask all employees to showcase how their daily life is like at Cisco on Twitter or Instagram with #WeAreCisco. If the photo was strong enough, they would clear the rights and repurpose onto their own @WeAreCisco social channels and on their ‘Life at Cisco blog.’
Beyond that, they allowed employees to take over their Snapchat and Instagram stories to show what their work is like at Cisco. This creates a very genuine opportunity for future talent to see what it’s like to work at Cisco through the lens of their current employees. No staged actors. No scripted prompts. Raw, authentic stories of what Cisco life is like.
The results? Twitter following ballooned from 5k to 20k followers with 2-3x the industry engagement. Instagram followers grew from 1500 to 15K followers with 2-3x industry engagement rates. Traffic to careers site increased by 6%, which translates to an increase of 500,000 visits per month.
“These strategies not only help us recruit new talent and display the authentic culture at Cisco, but also help us retain and energize existing talent, who feel that they are even more a part of the Cisco story.” – Cisco Culture and Talent team
Leveraging UGC for your customer journey
With all this amazing content created by customers and employees, marketers are starting to leverage that content beyond just their social channels. Why is this important and valuable? Your customers are not just engaging with your brand on the social networks. Social channels are just one stage of the buying journey, and only one part of your brand story.
Remember my buying experience with Minaal? Their integration of customer content into their website helped ease my concerns and accelerated my consideration and purchase decision in my buying journey.
Companies like Loews Hotels are repurposing their customer content across all their owned marketing channels (advertisements, homepage, booking pages, lobby TV screens, email newsletters, etc.) to create more trust with their potential guests regardless of which stage they are in the buying journey.
Case in point:
Joe from Boston wants to book a trip to Chicago and is looking for a nice hotel to stay in. He sees a Facebook ad from Loews that showcases a genuine photo from Instagram of a previous guest Tom in front of the pool sipping on his Mai Tai (Awareness). Joe clicks on that ad and lands on the Loews homepage website where he sees 10 other guest photos from Twitter showcasing fun activities to do near the Chicago Loews Hotel (Consideration). Joe likes what he sees so he goes to the booking page, where he sees 3 other photos from Facebook of what the rooms look like submitted from previous guests (Purchase). He books, visits the Chicago Loews, and enters into the lobby where he sees TV screens highlighting what there is to do, again powered by previous Loews guests’ photos shared on Instagram. He sees how much fun a family is having fun at the pool, visits it, and shares his great photo on Instagram with #travelforreal. Loews messages him to ask if they can get rights to repurpose his great content onto their websites and screens in return for a free one night stay next time he re-visits (Advocacy)!
Like marketing tech evangelist Travis Wright says in his argument on why brands should embrace UGC as part of their content marketing strategy, “The utility of UGC transcends individual marketing campaigns and can send a consistent message at every touch point where your customer interacts with your brand. The result is a greater likelihood of increased social engagement, higher conversion rates and better ad performance.”
Within a year, Loews has seen over 35,000 submissions come in, with a 62% engagement rate, and an increase of 35% in site bookings! How? By humanizing their marketing with authentic customer content so potential guests feel confident to book with Loews throughout their buying journey!
“To be a successful brand in this day and age, it’s really important to have an authentic presence on all of your communications — so whether it’s social or anywhere else, we’ve included these images.” – Piper Stevens, VP Loyalty & Marketing at Loews
The Future of Brand Storytelling
Edelman released their 2017 Trust Barometer report earlier this year, and the main takeaway was that the general population’s trust in business, government, media, and NGOs has broadly declined. “Media is distrusted in 82% of countries.”
How can brand marketers fix this?
“When people are overwhelmed with information and develop immunity to traditional forms of communication, they turn… to the people… they respect, admire, and trust.” – Malcolm Gladwell
“To climb back from a position of deteriorated trust, and to ultimately restore belief in a system that too many people believe has failed them, institutions must operate as a people-centric, integrated part of the broader societal fabric.” – Edelman Trust Barometer 2017
Our interpretation: humanize your marketing by inviting genuine customer content into all your marketing communications.
David Berkowitz from MRY shared a great chart on how marketers can start shifting their mindset from storytelling to storymaking:
Instead of your traditional corporate storytelling that is fueled by proprietary, centralized, predetermined content, can we shift our mindsets to a more participatory, decentralized, and unpredictable storymaking with our customers?
I believe so, and we are starting to see some of the biggest brands in the world start. What are you waiting for?
Want to know more?
Please join me on August 31st on the Visual Storytelling Today show. I will chat about why UGC marketing powered by visual storytelling is your must-have strategy to break through the clutter, the end-to-end process and actionable tips – and you’re going to want to hear this.
Already have questions you want me to address during the show?
Sweet! Tweet your questions using: #myVSI
Source: Visual Storytelling
August 10, 2017
Using a Track Matte Key for See-Through Graphics in Premiere Pro
In this quick video tutorial, learn how to see footage through transparent text graphics using a track matte key in Premiere Pro.<p><i>Top image via</i> …
Source: CW’s Flipboard Feed
August 10, 2017
Facebook introduces new video service
<b>Social media giant Facebook has made a move into dedicated video, pitting it against YouTube and TV networks.</b><p>Users will soon see a new Watch tab that will offer a range of shows, some of which have been funded by the social network<p>Watch will be personalised so that users can discover new shows, …
Source: CW’s Flipboard Feed
August 9, 2017
The 2018 SXSW Conference and Festivals Marks 25 Years of SXSW Film
For nine days in March, creatives of all stripes gather for the acclaimed SXSW Film Festival to celebrate raw innovation and emerging talent both behind and in front of the camera. The 2017 SXSW Film Festival was one for the books, but now it’s time to look ahead to 2018 — which marks a historic 25 years for the SXSW Film Festival.
The film festival is known for a high caliber and diverse film lineup with programming ranging from world premieres, independent films by new filmmakers, including top documentaries, narratives, Hollywood comedies and genre standouts. The festival is uniquely able to help both established and emerging storytellers achieve their goals. Whether by launching a film or episodic on the global stage in front of press, industry and smart, enthusiastic audiences, or by providing unparalleled opportunities for creative and business connections and learning at our concurrent SXSW Conference. There is simply nowhere else in the world where the film, music, and tech industries cross – pollinate like at SXSW.
Every Thursday, we will have special #TBT posts which take a look back at the past 25 years of the SXSW Film Festival, and feature numerous milestones to commemorate this important moment in our history. Stay tuned!
Join Us For SXSW 2018
Learn how to successfully enter your film to the 2018 SXSW Film Festival with our How to Submit Your Film video and find out more information about deadlines and fees here.
Join us for SXSW 2018 – register to attend by Friday, September 8 for the biggest savings of the season. Make your hotel reservations through SXSW Housing & Travel for the best available rates. Platinum badge remains your best bet with primary access to all of SXSW. We hope to see you in March!
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and SXSW News for the latest SXSW coverage, announcements, application tips, and updates.
World Premiere of Baby Driver – Photo by Amanda Stronza
The post The 2018 SXSW Conference and Festivals Marks 25 Years of SXSW Film appeared first on SXSW.
Source: SxSW Film
August 9, 2017
How To Shoot Cinematic iPhone Footage – a Tutorial by Richard Lackey
This is an awesome How To Shoot Cinematic iPhone Footage tutorial that was recently created by Richard Lackey.<p>Who is Richard Lackey and should we …
Source: CW’s Flipboard Feed
August 8, 2017
SouthBites Trailer Park Now Accepting Applications for SXSW 2018
The ever-popular food truck extravaganza is returning to SXSW 2018! SouthBites Trailer Park will be back in its sixth year with another eclectic mix of delicious cuisine from Austin and beyond.
Currently, we’re looking for another equally impressive batch of food trucks for SXSW 2018. We’re accepting applications now through October 15.
To learn more about this opportunity and be considered for a spot on the lot, fill out the SouthBites Vendor Application Form.
Deadline to apply is October 15.
Photo by Randy and Jackie Smith
The post SouthBites Trailer Park Now Accepting Applications for SXSW 2018 appeared first on SXSW.
Source: SxSW Film