NBC-Universal updates: Guardian RSS feed added

This blog has a lot of gadgets and links lists ... and I've just added another (to appear under the 'Followers' gadget in the right margin for now): a constantly updated (that's what an RSS feed is/does) list of the latest 5 articles from the Guardian on NBC-Universal, majority stakeholder of Working Title alongside many other subsidiaries, notably StudioCanal (who are involved in the financing of most WT productions).

Many newspapers/magazines offer 'micro-sites', gathering stories on one topic

NBC UNIVERSAL expands social media with BuzzFeed $200m deal

Working Title's conglomerate owner NBC-U has announced another new media deal, putting $200m into a tie-in with BuzzFeed

NBC Universal invests $200m in BuzzFeed.

NBC-U are clearly comfortable with taking risky punts and developing new distribution outlets - just look at their rather ingenious Prima venture, seeking to extract considerable revenue from high-end home cinema.

NBC Universal said it was attracted to the opportunity to tap into BuzzFeed’s 200 million unique users and the 1.5bn video views they rack up each month.
“They reach a massive, loyal audience and have proven to be among the most creative, popular and influential new media players,” said Steve Burke, chief executive of NBC Universal. “BuzzFeed has built an exceptional global company that harmonises technology, data and superior editorial abilities to create and share content in innovative ways.”
For NBC Universal it is two deals in two weeks following an equivalent $200m investment in Vox Media, which owns eight brands including technology site The Verge and news site Vox.com.
In May, Vox expanded its portfolio with the takeover of Re/code, the well-regarded tech news site founded by former Wall Street Journal staffers.

VIRAL MARKETING Straight Outta Compton meme

The marketing for a film about 80s/90s old school gangsta rappers has been exemplary, creating a much stronger than usual excitement around a biopic.

At the heart of this has been a shareable font/logo that has taken Facebook and other social media by storm, and pushing the film's marketing to audiences it might otherwise have struggled to reach.

So, when considering digipak and magazine ad designs, don't underestimate the power of a downloadable and editable font/logo... and the very real power of audience interaction.

https://www.distractify.com/racheldicker-straight-outta-meme-1292664375.html?ts_pid=2

WEB CENSORSHIP Cracks in great firewall of China

Couple of articles highlighting the limitations of online censorship in even the world's most OTT censorship regime, useful for illustrating the wider point of the difficulty in enforcing film censorship in the web 2.0 era, and the convergence of film/video and social media. Gauntlett's point on the blurring of audience and producer is also evident from these examples.

First up, a 1 min sex clip, shot in a clothing store changing room, has caused government apoplexy but been viewed millions of times, sparked a selfie craze outside the store, and highlighted the limits of government/censor power.
China’s young people have spoken. And what they want is sex http://gu.com/p/4am8j

Uniqlo sex video: film shot in Beijing store goes viral and angers government

http://gu.com/p/4ayf4

Secondly, China has backed high end, tentpole level film production, producing films to take on US hegemony domestically and internationally which propagandise Communist Party rule and Chinese nationalism to some extent.

The latest example, Cairo, looks at a 1943 Allied conference in Cairo which saw China proclaimed as one of four global powers (with Russia, UK and USA). Chairman Mao features prominently. There's just one problem...

He wasn't there - his nationalist opponent was, and it would be years before the Communists seized power.

This has sparked what Stuart Hall would recognise as widespread 'oppositional reading', with this counter-hegemonic response even extending to some of the state media, and creating a mocking meme reflected in satirical tee-shirts and online Weibo (Chinese Facebook/Twitter equivalent) posts placing Gollum and suchlike at the conference.

'The text' becomes an absurd notion when audience interaction created such a multi-layered meta-text, warping and contesting the encoded ideology of the original.

Both these examples also showcase the increasing social and cultural power flexed by a large youth generation much more tech-savvy than the older generation who dominate state power and policy.

Bloggers ridicule Chinese film placing Mao Zedong at key wartime conference

http://gu.com/p/4bhty

Comcast to challenge YouTube through NBCU subsidiary

http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/major-cable-company-may-launch-video-platform-to-take-on-youtube-1301918

CGI Great when we DON'T see it...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bL6hp8BKB24&feature=youtu.be