Take a look at the new Amazon Theater.
Come witness the future of entertainment media. Don't pay too much attention to the content of these short films, unless it is to notice the (sometimes painfully obvious) product placement.
So what is so exciting about these mediocre productions? Just wait for the credits. Here, products finally take their rightful places alongside actors as characters in the cast. Actors' names are hotlinked to their imdb pages and each product, harnessed with monikers such as "Orange Boy's Shades," is linked to its Amazon page. Roll over a name, and the list pauses.
This could be the future of TiVo, cable and DVD. The only thing that would be better is if you could actually click on the products as they are shown in the film. The show would pause, with enough time for you to complete your transaction and the show would begin again. Tying this in with a delivery service, such as Kozmo.com (R.I.P.), which would serve the impulse buyers and food industry sponsors. You could feasibly see a pizza in, say the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, click, pause, purchase, and have them deliver it before the final credits roll. There are more possibilities to be sure, and that's pretty extreme, but the technology is out there...what do you guys think?
We'll see the clickable version soon, I'll bet.
My thoughts from a few weeks ago are here:
http://texturl.net/index.php?p=401
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PermalinkOne problem with providing clickability as the film's playing is that it interrupts the flow of the film. When I'm watching a new episode of a show, I don't really want to pause in the middle of the show to order pizza or find out what kind of sunglasses the actor's wearing (that's what commercials are for, right?) The clickable credits are a lot less intrusive and are actually a timesaver if I noticed the product placement and was interested in more info about the products.
Oh, and the third film, "Do Geese See God" is by far the most interesting one in the series.
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PermalinkAlso, mapping out clickable areas within the film might be a pain in the ass if there are a lot of products.
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PermalinkRight! And the clickable widget might be part of teh explanation for the films hacking. Or to paraphrase another adgrunt Matt here: welcome to Am-Am-Amazo-zo-zo-zo-zon Theater-ter-ter-ter.. It did that for me. (Didn't bother watching more that 4 second to be honest).
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PermalinkI guess I imagined a system where you'd click the item and then just get a "page you made" filled not only with products but with info about actors you clicked etc. If it was made an "enhanced movie" resource into which the product info is woven, it would work well. Imagine watching a DVD on your computer/media center and clicking on 50 things that caught your eye, and then at the end of the movie being able to find out the story behind why that sweater was picked (told by the costume designer), and a link to where to buy it, plus the IMDB entry of the actor who wore it, etc. The ultimate resource, with commerce built right in--and treated more as a resource extender than as an opportunity for a hard sell.
Yes, the mapping would be a bitch, but I'll bet a system like this would make it worth the while.
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PermalinkMaybe an easier way would be to have some kind of hidden text-based product feed as the movie's playing. Then all you'd have to do is hit a button on your remote, it'd take a screenshot and match up the product feed entry to the counter time, and dump it into the "Page you made" at the end.
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PermalinkOoh, I like the "Page You Made" idea for the end of the show. Now, how hard do you think it would it be to implement the clickable Flash technology in DVD format? I am always dreaming of the future, where TVs and computers are one and the same. I suppose there could always be a separate button on the remote that would list the products used in a particular scene..... Hmm....
In other news...regarding the potential of pausing the program, I guess I was thinking of it as the replacement of a commercial break, for that imaginary time in the future when commercials have become obsolete. It would serve a similar purpose, but be more like "commercials on demand."
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Permalinkkweires has seen the future.
I think you've predicted it spot on.
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PermalinkP.S. With regards to the mapping nightmare, I suppose it would be easier for cartoons than for live action films. It came to my mind when I was watching some of the Strongbad e-mails onhomestarrunner.com, which make many of the words and characters clickable for bonus footage or images at various points throughout the episodes.
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PermalinkSTRONGBAD RULES!
sorry, got a little exited there, I just wanted to chime in and say, I think you're right too. The strongbad way is the clever way to do it as well.
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