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5 Weekend Ideas
cuz you may get an idea for an app, script or song
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Digital LA - Wonder Cocktails, tonite Fri Mar 31, 9p at HOB Anaheim. FREE RSVP for free appetizers, comics, and 5 free Ghost in the Shell posters at the new House of Blue Anaheim. Head to the bar and look for Kevin in the red Iron Man shirt. Steve Sievers of SPBH Animation will be singing and giving away free comic books. Catch up on the WonderCon panels and parties for the rest of the weekend. FREE RSVP
http://wondercocktails.eventbrite.com
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International Pillow Fight at Pershing Square. BYOPillow for this annual fight with lots of feathers. Get good video via Snapchat, Instagram, FB messenger or whatever you're using for quick vids! Sat 2:30p
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- Ghost in the Shell stars Scarlett Johansson in this sci-fi Blade Runner-esque adaptation from the Japanese manga. The film keeps high energy and amazing visuals throughout, like holograms thruout the city. Congrats VFX teams at Watch it at the Chinese Theater IMAX this weekend to get a free poster (limited supplies, photo right).
- Boss Baby, animated CGI
- Zookeepers Wife
SHOWS
- Ariana Grande @ Forum, Fri
- An American in Paris @ Pantages
- NCAA Final Four: Watch on Saturday.
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OUR EVENTS NEXT WEEK
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CALL FOR SPEAKERS: If you have a new fund with at least 25% focus in the LA market, email info@digitalla.net to speak on the panel.
REGISTER
http://dlameetvc.eventbrite.com
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REGISTER
http://dlasbsv.eventbrite.com
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LA TECH NEWS
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CinemaCon in Vegas features Hollywood studios pitching their upcoming slate to theater owners. Thursday is the VR panel with Sony Pictures Jake Zim, Fox futurist Ted Schilowitz and more. CinemaCon screened the next Pirates film. Talent from Pirates, Spider-Man Homecoming, Baywatch and other upcoming summer blockbusters attended.
Digital at the Box Office
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- Power Rangers was #2 at the Box Office this past wknd with $40M. Congrats VFX teams from Digital Domain, Scanline, Pixomondo, and Method Studios for working on the film, and pre-viz company The Third Floor.
JamCity announced a new Family Guy mobile game and plans to IPO later this year, said CEO Chris DeWolfe in this Variety
article. Jam City is based in LA and makes branded mobile games.
Pocketwatch
new content site for kids
launched last week, founded by former Maker Studios exec Chris Williams. The site will focus on digital content for kids 5-11. See Variety article.
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JOBS
Get or post a job on our job board http://digitalla.net/jobs
- Taxi Productions is looking for a Digital Coordinator.
- TaskUs is looking for a Content Marketing Director.
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OUR RECENT EVENTS
Digital LA - VR Access panel. Our VR experts described 15 ways to increase access to VR for mainstream, women and kids, diversity groups and more at our Digital LA - VR Access panel at CTRL Collective Playa Vista.
It's important to focus on increasing access to grow VR consumer base as a whole, and ensure niche communities and groups are not being left out of this much anticipated technology from consumption to creation of VR content.
12 Ways to Increase Access to VR
PERSONAL: SEEK IT OUT
1. Your Friends. "See if any of your friends already have VR, like the Sony PlayStation VR. Go over to their house and try it. It's the cheapest way to do it," said Phil Lelyveld, VR/AR project manager at the USC Entertainment Technology Center.
2. Try Venue VR. Go try VR at venue based VR. At the new IMAX VR at the Grove in LA, you can pay $7-10 to try a 10-15 VR experience. In Star Wars: Trials of Tatooine, you wield a light saber to battle Stormtroopers. In John Wick, you shoot bad guys on rooftops. Check out our article review of IMAX VR. More VR centers will pop up in LA, including a Steve Spielberg center at the new Westfield Century City.
Venue based VR works well when there is high quality content at tourist centers, like the Grove in LA, or Ghostbusters VR at Times Square NY. These tend to attract tourists and locals for one-time try-it experiences.
"Continue creating great content," said Wyatt Bushnell of Modal VR, which creates arena scale VR experiences. "Experience all the next generation out of home VR experiences that are out there to not support the people that are making them, but also keep yourself educated on the industry."
To increase recurring revenue and repeat businesses, VR content needs to become more game focused, more serialized with a story you want to come back to, or more social so you return to play with friends.
The hundreds of VR arcades in China with mediocre content are starting to see plateaus or drop offs in usage with mediocre content, and no reason to come back.
3. Location Events. Try VR at pop-up events like VR at movie theaters, conferences, film festivals, and other events.
As a partner of the VR Arcade, Gregg Katano helps curate free pop-up events where people can try VR demos for free, usually during conferences like CES, SXSW. During NAB, VR Arcade is going to have VR demos in the MGM Grand's Level Up Lounge in Las Vegas.
"We're going to curate some of the best experiences with all these amazing partners that we know from the community," Gregg said.
CONTENT
4. Great Content. Content is King in VR too. Compelling content is needed to give people reason to try VR beyond the "oh cool" one-time factor. VR content creators and storytellers should continue to make good content and experiment.
After two years, we still don't have the killer app for VR, the equivalent of Pokemon Go for AR, that kept people coming back.
The VR killer app will probably involve an entertainment brand, like Star Wars or Ready Player One, and be repeatable via game or episodic story.
5. Social VR. "Make more social VR. As it becomes more of a social activity, people are going to start driving their friends to start trying out VR," said Christine Song, Horizon Media, Associate Manager, Social Strategy and Influencers.
Friends driving friends to try and do VR together will help VR move beyond single player solo player VR, much like the Internet helped moved people beyond solo, to interacting with friends online via social media.
6. Web VR. "Web VR is really going to change the game because you're not going to have to develop an app. It's going to create the experience right from your phone in stereo mode," said Gregg Cardboard of Unofficial Cardboard which works with brands to crease inexpensive cardboards you insert your phone into to make access more affordable. "This eliminates another barrier to entry," he said.
Cardboards are freely distributed at events, or available for purchase online for under $10, much cheaper than a few hundred dollars for equipment or a few thousand for a computer to run VR.
PROGRAMS
7. Create / Attend Programs for Kids, Diverse Groups.
"Get diverse groups involved by including them in the experience of VR. Giving young kids, minorities a reason to use VR, because it's a powerful way to give them empathy about their experience. If you show them that, then they will use it," said Georgia Van Cuylenberg, Starbreeze Studios, producer of Location based VR including Walking Dead and John Wick.
Georgia is also founder of Arts Bridging the Gap, non-profit that uses arts education the bridge the achievement gap which uses VR for donor engagement and in programing with the students. And she founded Girls Make VR, which gives girls exposure to VR via workshops and programs.
Georgia worked with VR LA expo organizers to offer 25 free tickets to girls and minority groups who write an application essay on why they want to attend.
Kids can do VR for short burst, especially if age >6, only for 5-15 minutes per day, and more Google cardboard than big heavy headsets and controllers, panelists said. Kids can try headsets and controllers once, but shouldn't play in their regular or for long periods of time as their perception is still developing.
8. Tours and Workshops. Create or attend programs, workshops, and classes to learn more about VR. Radiant Images offers workshop and training courses at its facility to help VR newcomers see and purchase equipment, and scope out their project so it doesn't run out of budget.
"Visit us at Radiant Images. If you would like to have a tour," said Amanda Shelby, Radiant Images, Head of VR Production. You can see the equipment, and scope out your project. Make sure you lead with a good story.
9. Education. Educate people how to use VR. If you're going to give them a cardboard, show them that you can go online to buy a cardboard.
If you have VR cardboards at an event, don't just have them sitting in a stack on the table. Have someone show people how to fold them, download the app, insert their phone, and play.
10. Work with Brands, which are eager to try VR, and have resources to help spend to create access to VR.
"Do not be afraid to hit up brands. This is a field that all brands do want to get into," said Christine Song of Horizon Media.
"Hitting us up right now pretty much means you're going to have the full backing in terms of distribution and content creating and as much freedom and flexibly you will have with your content, than you possibly will have in the future."
Horizon Media worked with Jack in the Box to create a VR 360 program. Jack in the Box worked with influencers who helped promote and distribute Jack in the Box branded VR cardboards.
PROMOTION and MARKETING
11. Work with Influencers. Influencers can increase awareness and educate about access to VR. Video game YouTuber influencer MatPat created six immersive 360 VR experiences with Specular Theory, and told his large Game Theorists following about them. MatPat won the first Streamys Award for VR / Immersive content last year.
12. Social Media. Use social media, including Twitter and Facebook, to promote your VR and make it easy to access. Include a quick link to download the VR experience in a tweet or Facebook post, or visit the landing page. You can also use your newsletter or text messages to help promote.
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Digital LA @ SXSW
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We hosted our
Digital LA - Sunset Cocktails party at the Westin Azul pool with amazing views of the sunset. Yes, we discovered this pool with amazing downtown Austin views, cuz we love our rooftop pool parties!
We also hosted a
Digital LA - Digital Drinks on Saturday at Micheladas, across the street from the Austin Convention Center. Attendees from LA, New York, Germany and France attended and traded notes on favorite panels, parties, films, bands and more.
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Silicon Beach Housing Crisis. V
ote No on Measure S,
said speakers on our Digital LA - Silicon Beach Housing panel last Thursday. And it worked! Measure S did not pass. Speakers said tech startups need to get active to ensure affordable housing especially in Venice and Santa Monica, to avoid the disparity in San Francisco. Speakers included: William Quigley of Clearstone Ventures; Chris Hill of Siemer & Associates; Crystal Rose of Sensay, Brent Gaisford of Upwell Real Estate and Jason Islas, Santa Monica Next. Speakers said t
ech startups should connect via tech platforms like Slack, Facebook, Email to mobilize and get people to vote, make calls, go to council meetings to have a voice.
Civic Tech startups or hackathons should build apps and tools to make it easier to people to get involved.
More ideas in our
article.
Digital LA - VR Monetization panel
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- Sell Games: Nick Robinson of RLTY CHK is selling his Thirst VR fps game online and via the VR Junkers chain of VR arcades in the midwest
- Venue: IMAX VR is an arcade currently open by the Grove, where you can pay $10 to try VR experiences from Star Wars to John Wick. You can pay $55 to try the Ghostbusters VR at Madame Tussauds New York Times Square (including museum admission). Weirdly, there are no other location VR arcades in LA or NY. Spielberg announced he's launch a VR arcade at a mall in LA (we bet Century City) soon.
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- Subscription: Netflix for high quality VR service (can someone create that?)
- Licensing: Caspar of Navel.Live creates a livestream VR platform with annual licensing fees to companies
- Advertising: 360 and VR ads promote brands via load-screen logos to full VR experiences. Example: Instead of a watching trailer for a movie or product, create a mini-VR world for people to explore.
- VR tools and services: Dipak of Zeality creates VR tools that let you record your VR experience in a VR world, and share with friends, with reaction vids.
- Pre-Vis: Several VR companies are charging movie studio to build VR environments for directors and VFX team to enter as avatars to see how things will look in the world, and make changes in real time, rather than render and wait for feedback.
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Women Gamers panel. Thanks to our Digital LA - Women Gamers speakers for an inspirational discussion! Seven top game influencers described how they started to game for a living, build their audiences, engage fans, and work with brands. Thanks LolRenaynay, Mari, Emuhleet, Brizzy Voices, Amber Plaster, Briana White, and LilyPichu. Watch entire panel via our
Periscope. Article soon
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LA is the #1 city for dating apps and online dating, with a large number of single, busy, attractive people who like to date frequently.
LA's online dating companies help people connect from short term dates to long term relationships.
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Our Digital LA - Music Startups panel featured speakers from Techstars and Silicon Beach music startups. Music investment and startups are slowly coming back pianissimo, focusing on revenue from music services transactions and subscriptions, rather than actual song licensing. In LA, Troy Carter's SMASHD Labs accelerator had some music startups. And new Techstars Music accelerator will invest $1.2M in its first class of expected 10 startups to be announced later this month. After our panel, band
FOXTRAX, an official SXSW 2017 showcase band,
performed
. See our highlights recap in our
article.
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Chinese investors have increased interest in Silicon Beach, especially in entertainment, AR/VR, influencer data, and more, said speakers at our annual Chinese - LA Tech panel to celebrate Lunar New Year, held at Cross Campus Downtown LA. Speakers included Jiyuan Hu of ArcheMatrix Investment Group, and Stella Poon of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. Speakers discussed how startups can open operations in Hong Kong as a gateway to expanding into China. Silicon Beach startup Milk & Honey custom shoes did just that before founder Dori Howard sold it. We also talked what's hot in China, including eSports, games, and more, in our
article.
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Digital LA - Digital Health is increasing in LA and worldwide, said speakers at our annual Digital Health panel, timed to New Years health and fitness resolutions. Attendees included startups, PR, developers, and a cardiologist at CTRL Collective Playa Vista. See our
article.
Since our Digital Health panel last January, Techstars Cedars-Sinai Healthcare Accelerator has invested more than $1.2M in 11 startups. Eight of them were from the LA area. Techstars held a demo day with 600 attendees at the Wallis Annenberg Performing Arts Center in Beverly Hills, the largest digital health event in LA, with physicians, health and HMO administrators, entrepreneurs and more. Nearly all of the 11 startups announced deals with Cedars-Sinai hospital or affiliates at the demo day.
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Silicon Beach Fest celebrated 5th anniversary
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Thanks to speakers, sponsors, volunteers, organizers, vendors, and attendees for making our fifth summer Silicon Beach Fest such a success! Several attendees said and tweeted they found the panel topics that continued into engaging hallway and mixer conversations both information-packed and inspiring. Watch for our Silicon Beach Fest one-day event this fall.
Read article with SBF HIGHLIGHTS
Kitterly wins SBF Startup Showcase 2016 Title
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Kitterly won the Silicon Beach Fest Startup Showcase 2016 title. The crafting site is an alum of 500 Startups, and is founded by Mari Bower, CEO. Kitterly wins the prize package including the SBF 2016 title, $5,000 courtesy Media Temple, a Surf Air flight to its California destinations, two Air New Zealand tickets on its LA - London route, ten hours transactional legal services from Sheappard Mullin, and three months membership at CTRL Collective, at either its Playa Vista or new Downtown location (for a tour email tm@ctrlcollective.com) . Kitterly was first of the 20 startups pitched at the Silicon Beach Fest 2016 Startup Showcase. Five judges choice and one audience choice advanced to the finals on Friday. The six finalists were: Kitterly, Markett, Heal (doctor on demand), Heartbeat (women millennial marketing network), Canny (cannabis directory), and audience choice Vampr (music networking). Markett, an on demand marketing company that is part of Amplify accelerator, placed second. Watch the Friday Final pitches in this replay video.
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Silicon Beach Fest receives Certificate of Recognition from LA Mayor Eric Garcetti. At Downtown Day on Monday, Office of LA Mayor Eric Garcetti city officials presented Silicon Beach Fest founder Kevin Winston with a Certificate of Recognition, on the 5th annivesary of Silicon Beach Fest this year (photo right). Then, LA City Officials described the Mayor's tech initiatives, including attracting tech companies to move to LA, open data hackathons, digital divide programs, opportunities for startups to bid on city projects, and a huge job fair in January, which Jason Nazar is spearheading as LA City Entrepreneur In Residence.
