Last month, the whole team at Resnick Interactive ventured over to the studio for a Motion Capture (MOCAP) test for a video game we’ll be working with in the near future. With the help of the always charming JB Blanc, we all had a great day in the studio filled with new technology and lots of eyeliner. Eyeliner? Yep, eyeliner. The MOCAP camera uses dots (in this case, provided by liquid eyeliner) to pick up on and track facial movements. Phillip from MOCAP Design was the lucky gentleman that got to dot eyeliner all over JB’s face. For those of us not getting outfitted with little black dots across our faces, the entire process was pretty hilarious.

By Tim Kridel

Android has a bigger market share than iOS, so a bigger pool of potential users should mean that Android apps drive more revenue, right? Not necessarily. For example, at the LeWeb conference earlier this year, Evernote CEO Phil Libin said that his app’s average revenue per user (ARPU) for Android is $1.06 versus $1.79 for the iPhone and $2.01 for BlackBerry. Its iPad ARPU, meanwhile, is $2.18.

Why such big differences by OS and form factor? To find out, we asked Ken Gullicksen, Evernote’s vice president of corporate development. One takeaway echoes our Q&A with FourBros Studios earlier this year regarding Windows Phone: When developers fixate on OS market shares, they risk overlooking nuances that point to revenue opportunities.

We all like to be right.  Some like it for the sake of being right as others like to just make a point.  When you are on a job interview or perhaps when you are presenting to a client, you may not always see eye to eye. It’s okay to disagree because guess what, despite what you may have heard, the client isn’t ALWAYS right.  It may be hard to put yourself in a position where you have to argue your case, especially if you are on a job interview, but knowing where you stand and what you stand for depends upon how secure you are in your beliefs.  It might be nice to placate your client but in some cases, realizing you know best and following your instincts may be your best defense.

 

 

 

 

Much has been written about the subject of BE-DO-HAVE in the self-help arena. But applying it to screenwriting can be very helpful as well.

 

Last month marked the third edition of the AniMazSpot Festival in Glendale, California.  It’s a small, non-profit boutique festival that celebrates the best animated short films from around the world.

The event, founded and organized by Tee Bosustow, was held over the course of one week.  It featured studio tours to fifteen area animation studios, screenings of nominated films at the Woodbury University Theatre, and an education forum also held at Woodbury. A highlight of the fest was a special screening of 20 restored, classic Mr. Magoo shorts from UPA at the Alex Theatre in Glendale.

Have you ever lost something or someone that you care deeply about? Victor Frankenstein, a quiet, thin, and clever young inventor has only one true friend – his beloved dog, Sparky. Together, Victor and Sparky have many adventures, such as making a movie together, building inventions in Victor’s secret lab in the attic, and playing fetch in the yard. Victor’s parents are a bit concerned for him, since he has no friends besides Sparky. But, Victor has no interest in befriending the children in his neighborhood. The kids there are Edgar, a nosy hunchback who can never keep a secret, Nassor, a dark, skeptical, and competitive bully, and a weird, unnamed girl who never blinks and rambles on about omens of the future found in her cat’s excrement, among others.

 

By John Moore

 Mobile emulators and simulators can help developers test their apps on different devices without having to actually have them on hand. The testing tools can make testing easier, particularly where there are lots of variations in device types, screen sizes and operating systems. But they also face some limitations.

When you think about the past year what are you most grateful for?  Are you grateful for the job you have or the one you expect will come?  Are you still wishing for something big and wonderful to come into your life?  Opportunities abound and the future lay bright and sunny but do you ever stop and give thanks to what you have today?

In the past I conducted my workshops and presentations in not just the different states within the USA, which in itself offers insightful dissimilarities, but also in such countries as Poland, Germany, France, Canada, Venezuela, Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, Hong Kong, Costa Rica, Turkey, Japan... You cannot imagine how contrasting the experiences of working with Mid-Western students is from that of those in New York City or even Boston, and how much more extreme these distinctions become in, for example, cases of Korea and Costa Rica.

Currently I am exploring possibilities of conducting my creative workshops in India. Based on my previous visit to this fascinating country, is would seem to me that students who are growing up in the environment that is so ancient, with such rich heritage,  and yet radically diverse and intensely vibrant, would be truly fascinating. If Indian art, legends, myths, film, dance, culture, ways of life, their energy, passion, spirit and “hot blood” are indicative of the imaginary potentials of the Indian students, than this could truly become a “mind blowing” experience. As such it could radically expand my sensibilities and horizons, and thus scope of future impact on those I hope to mentor over the years. And I am always ready for more.

 

Howard Stern, who at the time was in a real life feud with morning talk show host Kathie Lee Gifford, was tickled by our clay-animated version.  He described the battle blow by blow on his national radio show as it played in the background: “So I defeat Kathie Lee Gifford by farting…and there’s green noxious fumes coming out of my ass, and she melts down.  So it was pretty good.”