Season Screen TV Review 2016 №6

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ISSUE 6, JUNE 2016

MARYSIA NIKITIUK: ‘‘HOW TO OVERCOME YOURSELF ON THE PATH TO SELF-REALIZATION AND NOT GIVE UP’’

MAIN TOPIC OF THE ISSUE: TV PROGRAMMING STRATEGY NEWS, BROADCASTING, SALES NEWS, INTERVIEW, MEDIA REPORTS

CONTENTS SPEAKERS

ISSUE 6, JUNE 2016

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BEHIND THE OTHER SIDE OF BLUE SCREENS: THE REAL LIFE OF THE TV “MAGICIAN BOX” Television channel grid: programming strategy, financial indicators, success factors, current trends

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FILMMAKER. THE PATH TO THE COVETED AIM

Marysia Nikitiuk, scriptwriter, about overcoming yourself on the path to self-realization

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BEHIND THE SCENES OF MEDIA AWARDS Ins and outs for participants

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Issue 6 JUNE 2016 ▪ 1

CONTENTS

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ISSUE 6, JUNE 2016

FREEDOM FOR TRAMPS: “HEADS & TAILS” The produce “a human dream”

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HOW OFTEN DO YOU HEAR THE WORD? In search of angel investments

VR/360 TECHNOLOGY BOOSTING THE WORLD OF VIRTUAL REALITY The complexity of work with content

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BEHIND THE SCENES OF “ANY DAY HOLYDAY” FALLING INTO THE SAME TRAPS THE HARD WAY To come out dry

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Season Screen TV Review

EDITORIAL

EDITOR’S NOTE

KATERINA DMITRIEVA MK Media Group CEO

The sixth issue of Season Screen TV Review was done in a completely new format. We came up with an entirely new and unique concept unlike any existing magazine in the TV industry. The whole SSTR team decided to put aside statistical interviews and articles, as well as standard questions. We dig dipper — into the very soul of television. And, according to SSTR, the soul of television is the people that create it, care about it, and devote all their energies to it. However, we seldom know what they actually feel, where they get their genius ideas to set the pace, how new people and startups emerge all of a sudden and break the markets at festivals. These stories inspire us, make us move on in tune with the times, create, and love our job!

SSTR is going to select the best TV professionals from ALL OVER THE WORLD in each article or interview. We shall ask them tricky and unusual questions based solely on their knowledge and experience. We shall tell you how complex projects are created, what obstacles people face, how they personally live through all that and what they get in return, reaping the fruits of their hellish toil. We shall help you make sense of new technologies and upcoming important events by highlighting the pros and cons, and shall attempt to predict their success and long-term longevity together with our partner experts.

Season Screen TV Review is ready to talk with anyone who has an interesting story and is ready to share it with the world. We should know who our TV heroes are!

sstrnews.com

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“HEADS & TAILS”

WORK OR FUN?

FREEDOM FOR TRAMPS:

“HEADS & TAILS”

It seems they produce “a human dream”, carefully packed at easygoing format with humor and interesting information which will be very important for travelers practically among their trip. What was the beginning of this success and how it was indeed, — we have asked to the finance director of the show Nikita Chizhov

Looking deep inside ourselves we should be fair to admit that all people actually want the same things: to be free, always young, and to burn their life in a flame of traveling adventures. Unfortunately, not every one of us can be brave enough to risk their life stability and go beyond the edge of their comfort to fulfill some uncertain dreams, but THEY did, yes, they really did it.

“Heads & Tails” tried to combine ordinary life with a dream, and, as a result, today we can enjoy an extraordinary product — the unique entertaining-educational project, which has quickly become one of the most highly-rated travel-shows.

It is a project created and produced since 2010

by Teen Spirit Studio video production company. The program was nominated and received TV “Taffy” Prize in the category “Best entertainment program” in 2014 and was honored in 2015 at a few nominations of Ukrainian prize “Triumph”: “Best information and entertainment”, “Best director of the television program”.

The most active audience in social networks among other TV shows is VKontakte with more than 650 thousands subscribers, YouTube — 406 thousands subscribers and 63 millions of views and Facebook with more than 122 thousands subscribers.

They seem to produce “the human dream”, carefully packed in easy-going format with humor and interesting 4 ▪ Issue 6 JUNE 2016

information, which will be of great practical value for travelers on their trips.

We have questioned the Financial Director of the show Nikita Chizhov about the beginning of this success and how it became so.

— Actually it started with Jana Badoeva and her wish to act in an unusual and exciting TV show. It was the beginning of everything; anyway, it was not as easy as it seems to people now. Our success today is the result of a lengthy process with a lot of fails which ended in a lot of money wasted uselessly. Now we are successful because after every new fail we continue our attempts.

Nowadays, being the most well-known and wellloved travel-show in the territory of almost all postSoviet states and broadcasting in the territory of modern Commonwealth of Independent States, it has become a favorite of all Russian-speaking states including Ukraine, Russia, Baltic States, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and even Kirgizstan.

The travel-show has already visited all continents providing the people on the other side of the TV screen with an amazing opportunity to travel with them all around the world without even leaving their houses.

The first steps were made from the most well-known Season Screen TV Review

cities of the world. Then the team decided to show the real traveling conditions of exotic countries spending a month for tour preparation. Usually the show covers 4 or 5 cities during the trip.

Furthermore, today “Heads & Tails” are working on a round-world trip which is expected to cover 40 cities and will last 270 days. It is the 12th season of the travel-show and it has been in preparation for 4 months.

Usually there are proximately 7 or 10 members of the team involved in a trip. They are divided into two groups with two trip directions and two storylines within the show. Two trip directions in accordance with the tossed coin: the luxury one and the limited one.

The idea was to show the audience that you can travel on a very modest budget. The experience gained after the launch of the show was fantastic, and the audience fell in love with it. It provides useful advice on how to see the whole world cheaply. You can spend the night not only in a cheap hostel, but for free, for example, in a monastery or by hospitable hosts.

At the same time, it shows the life and experience of the people who do not need to limit their budget, showing all pros and cons of luxury traveling.

As all great things grow from a small wish, the idea of the show emerged from the desire to create something extraordinary, combining fun and business. sstrnews.com

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“HEADS & TAILS”

WORK OR FUN?

The show storyline is always the same, but it is always unexpectedly marvelous and fun. One city and two anchormen with the lot deciding, who is going live on one hundred dollars, and who is going to use a golden bank card during their trip.

Heads or tails — and you are a millionaire or a pauper.

You live in luxury apartments or spend the night in an ordinary hostel. Dine in an exclusive restaurant or subsist on humble fast food.

Unfortunately for the one and for the good of the other hero of the show, the gold credit card does not mean a guarantee of an unforgettable vacation, as the practice shows that sometimes a hundred dollars is quite enough and even more than enough for you to have unforgettable impressions from the trip that will stay in your memory forever.

The course of every show always depends on the coin toss: heads or tails. We asked Nikita the question which interests our audience in the first place: “Indeed, is it really true that one person has no spending limit and uses the gold credit card during the trip and the other one has to get along with just 100$ for everything?”

“According to the rules, there are two anchors in the show and one of them has to get along only with a 100$ per two days: from the Saturday morning till the Sunday evening, but sometimes some anchors are trying to cheat the rules. They are contriving Nikita Chizhov to eat some unaccounted Financial Director hamburger or to use a taxy of “Heads & Tails” instead of a bus, but, frankly speaking, no more than this.

Concerning the credit card, it is really unlimited as it is the reason of our show. However, for purchases over 10,000$ it is necessary to have the permission of the producer from Kyiv. Frankly speaking, the possibility to spend money is very limited indeed. They can spend it on some service or entertainment, but in accordance to the inner rules of the show, it is strictly forbidden to buy any valuable goods: stocks, financial instruments, real estate, cars and jewelry – everything that could be converted into money at any time. There are also some restrictions concerning charity and gambling, but generally there are almost no limits to anything related to the traveling.

The aim we are trying to reach is to show that traveling can actually be available for everyone. The show stimulates people to travel and gives them really useful advice as well. The television is able to transmit only the third part of the perception, that`s why we can confirm that it is possible and not very complicated indeed to get along and to see the world as it is in any city all over the world. Moreover, all members of the team: operators, scriptwriters, directors and even anchors admit that it is possible to have much brighter impressions if you travel on a modest 6 ▪ Issue 6 JUNE 2016

budget. Luxury traveling is more comfortable but less interesting as all 5 stars hotels, best ever cars, yachts and helicopters are the same everywhere, no matter where you are, everything is very similar. Anyway, ordinary people like to pry into the life of the rich and they have such opportunity due to our show.”

Today, after a lot of challenges which they have met during the creation of the travel-show, Nikita Chizhov shares their secret with us.

— The main reason of their success is obviously the persistence of all team members whatever happened to do this the second one is a unique format of the show which combines humor and useful insider information for travelers highlighted from all angels.

There was an attempt to create something similar in Turkey, but the results were primitive, frankly speaking. They wanted to steal the idea, but they did not actually know how to create this kind of show format. I should say that, nevertheless, it is not as easy as it seems. But still, it is possible for any media production and for any region of the world, and TeenSpirit is even ready to share its secrets with those who want to repeat our trick. We are ready to couch media companies to create something similar using their sources.

Season Screen TV Review

The most attractive feature of the show is its excellent sense of humor: the show always chooses wonderful and charismatic anchors: Alan Badoev, Jana Badoeva, Andrei Bednyakov, Lesia Nikituk, Anastasia Korotkaiya, Nikolai Serga, Eugeniy Sinelnikov and Regina Todorenko — all of them make the show alive, and sometimes it even seems as if you personally know these people; they make the show bright and sparkling with fun dialogs and humor.

Combined with unique and extraordinary format, it makes the show an unbelievable sparkling adventure.

Sometimes, even forgoing restrictions and forbiddances during the creation of the video, the team unveils the hidden real life of the place and city they visit. It seems nothing can stop the team in their aspiration to show their audience the totally naked city, revealing its innards, and the most unexpected moments of the big city life, both charming and disgusting.

As we can see, the combination of two factors: creative and crazy people in love with their job and elegant humor and fearless desire to create for the sake of creation, — has given birth to a marvelous product which has hypnotized almost the entire adventure seeking audience in the major part of post-Soviet media space.

Best wishes to “Heads & Tails” for your future plans and we hope you still have something up your sleeve to surprise us. ▪ sstrnews.com

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In production, 100Ñ…3 min, 2016, HD

TV AWARDS

THE MOST SIGNIFICANT EVENTS AT THE MEDIA INDUSTRY

BEHIND THE SCENES OF MEDIA AWARDS The head on the pulse of best media awarding and their forthcoming ceremony of awarding to see who will be in one line with the best of the best this year. We have tried to highlight first of all awards which also have the wildest recognition of publicity.

“TELEVISION THAT SHINES ON THE NIGHT OF SATELLITES” Today our review is dedicated to some of the most significant events in the media industry, the greatest media awards all over the world.

The Eutelsat TV Awards (www.eutelsattvawards.com) is a special and unique annual international event in the media industry focusing on the creativity, innovation, energy and exceptional talent of thematic television globally.

“Television sits at the heart of the digital media industry, boosted by multi-screen viewing and social networks that are generating a global conversation.”

Duilio Giammaria, Jury Chairman of at the Eutelsat TV Awards ceremony For the last years it is held in Rome in Italy at November and gathers over 300 international broadcasting professionals.

The prize-giving ceremony called “The Night of Satellites” and the prize called Gaia (Greek goddess of the earth, and symbol of life and hope, produced the sky, mountains and sea. Constantly embracing the earth, her myth is a metaphor for satellites that silently encircle the world). This prize is a prestigious recognition of the 10 ▪ Issue 6 JUNE 2016

excellence and innovation of the thematic television channels enjoyed by millions of satellite TV homes over the last decade.

The Eutelsat TV Awards are aimed at promoting the finest broadcasting in the thematic satellite landscape, distinguishing excellence and innovation in thematic satellite television. They reveal where the talent is, what’s new in the market, who is nurturing creativity, leveraging technology and growing audience share.

The event was set up to reflect the volume and diversity of channels enabled by the emergence of digital technologies. Thematic channels are a major component of today’s broadcasting landscape and they deserve an event that shines a spotlight on their creativity.

The prize has gained more importance and credibility over the years, and has extended its presence well outside Europe. Registration is free and virtually open to channels from around the world, who are invited to submit their entry in one of the following 9 categories: CHILDREN’S: channels addressing younger audiences, children, and teenagers.

CINEMA: offerings of networks or specific services regarding cinema (including channels covering a specific genre or niche films: thriller, science-fiction, etc.)

Season Screen TV Review

CULTURE / DOCUMENTARIES: literature, enter-tainment, the arts and educational programmes and original documentaries (history, nature, discoveries, travels, etc.)

FICTION / GENERAL ENTERTAINMENT: channels that feature televised fiction and other entertainment genres, such as variety shows, quiz shows, comedies, reality shows, etc.

LIFESTYLE: tourism, cooking, fashion, socio-cultural trends.

MUSIC: all music categories and genres.

NEWS: ‘all-news’ channels (national, regional or international news).

SPORTS: general sport or specialist sport channels.

An Award also assigned to the Best Program among all the channels entered: the Best Program is considered a source of particular pride of each channel. This year, registrations for the competition will open early May and stay open until mid-July.

A shortlist of nominees per category is drawn up by an indepen-dent jury of media, who evaluate all entries and select a winner and two runners-up per category. They look at each channel’s programming strategy, how it engages with its audiences, including through social media, how it creates brand awareness and develops new programming and marketing concepts.

The event was created in 1998 by Eutelsat (www.eutelsat.com/en/home.html) to shine a spotlight on quality thematic television production and new concepts that capture audience attention, enrich the viewing experience and highlight the formats and programming that best represent the satellite broadcasting landscape across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Americas. Established in 1977, Eutelsat Communications is one of the world’s leading and most experienced operators of communications satellites.

Today this company provides capacity on 40 satellites to clients that include broadcasters and broadcasting associations, pay-tv operators, video, data and Internet service providers, enterprises and government agencies.

Over one billion viewers across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, watch channels broadcast by a Eutelsat satellites. A total of 6,000 TV channels are broadcast of which over 800 in High Definition as well as 1,100 radio stations.

Eutelsat’s satellites are also the key gateway into Europe and Africa for leading Asian and American broadcasters, and the main hub for distributing and exchanging programmes among broadcasters. The company has a worldwide network of offices in Brazil, China, Dubai, Germany, Italy, Madeira, Malta, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, the UK and the USA. sstrnews.com

‘The jury of the Eutelsat TV Awards is tasked with assessing talent, innovation and creativity across multiple genres of channels and regions of the world.

It is a responsibility we face with passion, each year measuring the progress of this exciting industry’Duilio Giammaria, Jury Chairman After the jury meeting, approximately three weeks before the prize-giving ceremony voting begins for the People’s Choice Award where viewers are invited to vote for their preferred channel. The winning channel is the one that obtains the highest number of votes from the viewing public.

Trying to throw more light to this important nomination we have asked some questions to Vanessa O’Connor, Eutelsat Director of Corporate Communications.

Mrs. O`Connor can clarify for us for whom exactly is held TV Awards?

The Eutelsat TV Awards is an annual event that distinguishes excellence and innovation in the world of thematic television. The event was set up to reflect the volume and diversity of channels enabled by the emergence of digital technologies. Thematic channels are a major component of today’s broadcasting landscape and they deserve an event that shines a spotlight on their creativity. After a longstanding relationship with the cities of Venice and Rome, the Eutelsat TV Awards is moving to Milan in 2016. We expect this year’s ceremony to assemble over 350 broadcast executives from around the world. The event will be on 25 November in the iconic Palazzo del Ghiaccio, one of Milan’s most interesting architectural jewels, designed and built in the 1920s.

And what is the main purpose of the organization of this event?

The objective of the annual Eutelsat TV Awards is to highlight the formats and programming that best represent the current satellite broadcasting landscape across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Americas.

The event reveals where the talent is, what’s new in the market, who is nurturing creativity, leveraging technology and growing audience share. Over the years, the Awards have recognized excellence in markets of all sizes, from powerhouse markets in the UK to emerging markets in Afghanistan.

Vanessa O’Connor Eutelsat Director of Corporate Communications Issue 6 JUNE 2016 ▪ 11

TV AWARDS

THE MOST SIGNIFICANT EVENTS AT THE MEDIA INDUSTRY

Which countries are able to perform their channels in the competition?

Because Eutelsat now has a global footprint, the competition is virtually open to channels from around the world. Registration is free; eligible channels are invited to submit their entry in one of the following categories: Children’s, Cinema, Culture / Documentaries, Fiction / General Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music, News, Sports.

There is no limit to the number of channels each broadcaster can enter. A jury of media experts will evaluate all entries and select a winner and two runnersup per category. All participating channels are also eligible to take part in the People’s Choice Award that opens after the jury meeting. This year, registrations for the competition will open early May and stay open until mid-July.

What criteria do you usually use for the selection of participants?

A shortlist of nominees per category is drawn up by an independent jury of media experts that this year meets in Paris in September. The jury is tasked with assessing talent, innovation and creativity across multiple genres and from diverse regions of the world. They look at each channel’s programming strategy, how it engages with its audiences, including through social media, how it creates brand awareness and develops new programming and marketing concepts. The jury picked finalists out of 100 channels from 27 countries using sample content and live viewing. For the People’s Choice Award, viewers are invited to vote for their preferred channel. Voting for this Award starts immediately after the jury meeting and closes approximately three weeks before the prizegiving ceremony. The winning channel is the one that obtains the highest number of votes from the viewing public. This year’s international jury will beas chaired

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by Duilio Giammaria, Rai (Italy) and included Jerzy Barski, TV-Sat Magazine (Poland); Frédéric Vaulpré, Eurodata TV (France); Robert Briel, Broadband TV News; Sergey Buntman, Echo of Moscow (Russia); Paolo Dalla Chiara, Pentastudio (Italy); Richard Izarra, Produ (USA); Giacomo Mazzone, EBU; Tayfun Atay, Cumhuriyet / Okan University (Turkey); Reem Nouss, Executive producer / TV consultant (UK) and Mauro Roffi, from Millecanali (Italy) also provides technical advice.

How is the competition itself? What does a victory in it? Do appear there any benefits for him?

The 2015 Awards ceremony brought together 350 executives from the international broadcasting and satellite communities in a ceremony where celebration was at the centre of everyone’s attention. Broadcasters make up the majority of the attendance, with the participation of market-leading TV platforms and broadcasters that include Sky Italia, Rai, NTV Plus, nc+, Digiturk, the BBC, Trace, MTV, Cyfrowy Polsat, Eurosport and Euronews. Other guests include executives from aerospace and communications companies, government representatives and international media.

Is there a similar event in the world?

There are many TV awards but the Eutelsat TV Awards is special and unique. It is the only international event focusing on the creativity, innovation, energy and exceptional talent of thematic television around the world.

We have no doubts that in future the television will shine even more bright at the light of Eutelsat satellites broadcasting and I am sure that you will join to me wishing them to overcome their own success in their great expectation for future. Let’s keep in touch and look forward for forthcoming ceremony of awarding to see who will be in one line with the best of the best this year.

Season Screen TV Review

“CELEBRATING VISION PASSIONAND DEDICATION” Another significant prize in media industry conceptualized for the television industry in Asia Pacific and delayed to an audience reach in excess of 300 million within the continent is The Asian Television Awards which is also the most significant and celebrated event, launched by in 1996, recognizing excellence in programming, production and performance. It is an Asia’s most widely participated television competition.

Asian TV Awards is organized by Television Asia Plus magazine, established in 1994 and formerly organized

by Singapore Broadcasting Corporation. Published 10 times a year, TV ASIA Plus offers complete coverage of the Asian TV industry, embracing the region’s vibrant broadcasting, production and distribution businesses, including free TV, pay TV and new media platforms.TV ASIA Plus has developed a reputation for being the essential source of news and information for the region’s broadcast, cable and programming markets. Based in Singapore with an expert team of journalists and regional correspondents, TV ASIA Plus offers professional industry news, analysis, information and the most effective access to broadcast and new media markets.

“The Asian Television Awards has evolved over the years to truly become one of Asia’s most definitive platforms for the regional television industry to acknowledge and reward creative and programming excellence. The caliber of participants and entries has advanced over these years and it is very heartening to see one forum that captures and showcases the evolution of the industry.”

Mark Whitehead, Executive Vice President & Managing Director, Asia • Viacom International Media Networks We decided to find out what is this award means for Asia and its media industry at interview with Managing Director Asian Television Awards, Cindy Ng. Mrs. Cindy can you explain to our audience who are able to participate, for which countries is it held and what is the purpose of it?

The Asian Television Awards was originally conceptualized for the television industry in Asia Pacific. Since last year (2015),we have introduced a public facing element.

Our event is also broadcast both “live” and delayed to sstrnews.com

an audience reach in excess of 300 million within the continent. The award recognises the best programmes and talents in Asia Pacific’s television industry. This includes not only the personalities in the public facing side of the business such as hosts, presenters, actors and actresses, but also those hard at work behind-the-scenes such as the directors, editors etc.All are equally important in making quality content and thus should receive their deserving recognition.

Tell us more about the criteria you usually use to select the dominants?

We have 41 trophies up-forgrabs in 2016. They range from Best Actor / Actress in a Leading Role, Best Actor / Actress in a Supporting Role to Best Cinematography etc.

For 2016, the Best Direction category has been re-categorized into Fiction and Non-Fiction genres.

An exhaustive list of award categories for this year is available at w w w. a s i a n t v a w a r d s . c o m / awards-categories.

Cindy Ng What are the benefits of Managing Director winning the nomination, does Asian Television it really matter for participants Awards and in which?

The fact that the award is judged in a peer reviewed format further lends credibility to the awards. Winners of our awards are thus well recognized for their efforts in producing excellent content.

What is new and unusual, you will have in TV Awards 2016?

As mentioned earlier, the Best Direction category has been re-categorized into Fiction and Non-Fiction genres. We are also looking to expand our list of broadcast partners in 2016. Our television audiences can expect to enjoy Asian Television Awards “live” in more countries this year and expect a brand new stellar cast of international and regional performing artiste.

As and when we have updates, we will announce them on www.asiantvawards.com.

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TV AWARDS

THE MOST SIGNIFICANT EVENTS AT THE MEDIA INDUSTRY

The Awards comprise over 40 categories and represent the industry’s foremost recognition by enjoying the support of every major industry player throughout the region.

The range of nomination for awarding varies from Best Actor/Actress in a Leading or Supporting Role to Best Cinematography: 26 nominations at Programming, 9 nominations at Performance, 6 nominations at Technic & Creativity (Cinematography, Direction (Non-Fiction), Direction (Fiction), Editing, Original Screenplay, and Theme Song), 2 nominations for Channels (Terrestrial

and Cable & Satellite) and 2 nominations for Broadcasters.

As we can see they do not omitted no one. This includes not only the personalities in the public facing side of the business such as hosts, presenters, actors and actresses, but also those hard at work behind-the-scenes such as the directors, editors.

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Every year, at least nine jury sessions are held in several Asian cities including Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, where the panel of judges of over 15 countries evaluate and select the entries in closed sessions.

Determined in a peer reviewed format by an expert panel of over 60 judges from across the region the results are tabulated and audited by international auditing firm Price Waterhouse Coopers, with the winners announced only during the Awards Ceremony generally performed in December. The registration for nomination entry usually opens until the end of June.

Asian Television Awards had a 20 years history and is positioned as the only event of its kind within the Asian region, and upholds a prestigious reputation of showcasing quality television production.

We have tried to highlight first of all the most general and wildly cowered regional awards which also have the wildest recognition of publicity. Any way media industry is permanently developing and creates more complicated structure of media landscape involving new specialists at their orbit and opens new possibilities for new nomination and new ideas to be fulfilled.

Despite the good manners and courtesy this industry holds the image of the most competitive and merciless sphere and demands the complete dedication of their actors. That is why Awards in this industry is highly appreciated and widely recognized by the audience and by the winners. The last thing to do is finally to watch and estimate from our critical position the annual results of the media professional’s hard work and to see the real life behind the screen. ▪

NATPE BUDAPEST 2016 MARKET & CONTENT SUMMIT REPORTS AN INCREASE IN BUYER NUMBERS TO 400+ ANNOUNCES SESSION PROGRAMMING

LOS ANGELES, May 11, 2016 – NATPE announced today that the success of several new initiatives has helped the forthcoming Budapest 2016 Market & Content Summit achieve a substantial rise in the number of pre-registrations by acquisitions executives. More than 400 key buyers from 217 companies and 49 territories, including buyers from all the major TV stations within 25 CEE countries, have already registered to attend.

Additionally, NATPE will host an extended lineup of conference sessions presented by both leading international and locallybased content executives, all of which will take place at the InterContinental Budapest 27 – 30 June.

NATPE Budapest will feature dedicated screenings to showcase new programming from major studios including CBS, Lionsgate, NBC and Warner Bros., as well as a diverse range of local and international exhibitors. Companies new to exhibit at the 2016 Budapest event include Bonneville Distribution (USA), Comarex SA de CV (Mexico), EastWest License Ltd. (Hong Kong), HNFF World Sales (Hungary), Horizon Film (Turkey), Newen Distribution (France), One Connxt (Jordan) and Sonar Entertainment (USA), with Paramount returning to the event after a five year hiatus.

Along with an increased number of delegates from across the CEE region, the market will host participants from Latin America with Caracol Television, Comarex SA de CV, Telemundo and Televisa, as well as many exhibitors from across the Middle East, Europe and Asia.

NATPE Budapest’s Content Summit will highlight both local and international, scripted and unscripted programming, kicking off on Monday 27 June with a CEE Content Showcase where Danny Kershaw, K7 Media’s International Research Manager, will shine the spotlight on the very best in Central and Eastern European original unscripted programming revealing the current tastes and cultural differences across content created in the region.

This is followed by a unique masterclass, designed to provide detailed information about the steps required to reach global co-production success. In The Practicalities of Making a European Co-Production, a leading panel of experts will cover all aspects of scripted co-production from how to best design an effective pitch right through to choosing the proper distribution platform. Issues specific to the CEE will be discussed, including financing plans, and union relations and understanding global co-production treaties.

Launching the programme on Tuesday 28 June NATPE Budapest will present a fireside keynote chat with Mr. Peter Kolosi, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of RTL Hungary at RTL Group SA who will discuss the opportunities and challenges of local scripted content in the CEE. Mr. Kolosi is responsible for the programming of RTL Hungary’s family of channels, including the market-leading flagship channel RTL Klub and the seven cable channels for Hungarian-speaking audiences.

Mid-day, participants will reconvene during lunch for a Case Study session spotlighting HBO’s “Aranyélet.” A criticallyacclaimed, eight-hour drama series produced by HBO Europe, “Aranyélet” (“Golden Life”) is based on the Finnish format “Helppo elämä” (“Easy Living”), with the story and characters adapted for Hungarian audiences by local writers. The case study will look at what drew HBO to the project, the necessary considerations for adaptation and how HBO Europe approached its production.

These and other matters will be examined by Antony Root, EVP, Original Programming and Production, HBO Europe, and Gabor Krigler, HBO Hungary’s Creative Executive who developed and oversaw the show creatively and HBO Europe Production Executive Anna Zavorszky. They will be joined for this special lunch session by the series’ producer Judit Stalter from Laokoon

Films, the production company behind SON OF SAUL, winner of the 2016 Oscar for Best Film in a Foreign Language, and other members of the production team.

On Wednesday, 29 June formats are again put under the microscope during the breakfast session Global Formats: What’s Working, What’s Failing, What’s Next? The session panel boasts a world-class lineup of industry executives including Mike Beale, ITV EVP Global Development and Formats; Merrily Ross, VP Formats & Content Development, Modern Times Group; Amos Neumann, COO Armoza Formats and Pascal Dalton, Regional Sales Director, TV Formats and New Media, CEE Endemol Shine Group. The panel will analyze the past, present and future of the global non-scripted business.

Of special interest to local producers within CEE is PITCH & PLAY LIVE, a session presented by NATPE in partnership with CEETV and TVBIZZ, which aims to showcase original non-scripted format ideas with international potential from across the region. Any non-scripted developed format created after June 1, 2015 in the CEE region may be submitted for consideration. Out of all entries, up to 10 titles will be selected and reviewed by a Finalist Selection Committee comprised of five TV industry professionals who will be charged with selecting three finalists. This committee includes George R. Chakarov, CEO at CEETV, TVBIZZ Group; Jordan Ryder, VP of Domestic & International Programming, NATPE; Pascal Dalton, Regional Sales Director, Formats: CEE at Endemol Shine Group; Nick Smith, SVP International Format Production at All3Media International; and Noelia Nicolas, Director European Formats at CBS Studios International. The top three finalist formats will then be identified and presented “live” by their creators during the session to a Blue Ribbon jury of three highly respected TV professionals including Can Okan, CEO & President, ITV Inter Medya; Amos Neumann, COO, Armoza Formats and Girts Licis, Head of CEE, Formats & Content Development, Modern Times Group. Collectively these three jurors will select and declare one format as the winner at the conclusion of the session. In addition to media coverage by CEETV, TVBIZZ and NATPE, the winning format will be awarded a development meeting.

For full details of PITCH & PLAY LIVE please email: pitch.play@ceetv.net “We are pleased that our return to Budapest, with an expanded market and content summit, has been met with such enthusiasm from all parts of the industry and we are delighted to see both buyer and exhibitor registration numbers continue to build,” said NATPE COO & Managing Director JP Bommel.

Adding, “Our focus is to promote a mutually-beneficial flow of programming across borders, encouraging local CEE producers to come together with international exhibitors, studio executives and acquisitions experts to explore the many opportunities benefitting the region and the wider global market. We believe there is a huge, untapped opportunity for content both entering and leaving the CEE, and NATPE Budapest is the perfect venue to learn about the current possibilities and optimize business prospects.”

For full details of the NATPE Budapest schedule please visit: www.natpe.com/budapest/schedule

PRESS CONTACTS: Debbie Lawrence The Lippin Group/London dlawrence@lippingroup.com +44 203 008 5406

Kevin Broderick/Megan Levy The Lippin Group/LA kevin@lippingroup.com megan@lippingroup.com +1 323 965 1990

ABOUT NATPE

Celebrating 54 years of service to the ever-evolving global television industry, NATPE inspires the growth and success of content development, creation, production, financing and distribution across all platforms through marketplaces where industry decisionmakers gather to offer insight and make deals.

For more information, please visit www.natpe.com

ANALYTICAL

BASIC PRINCIPLES OF THE TV-PROGRAMMING STRATEGY

BEHIND THE OTHER SIDE OF BLUE SCREENS:

THE REAL LIFE OF THE TV “MAGICIAN BOX” Programming schedule is a vital part of the channel efficiency and can be considered as a result of broadcasting coordination and transformation of audience demand in accordance to mission of the channel.

We chose 10 leading TV channels, independent media groups and independent distributors and asked them about the specific of their channel schedule elaboration and designing: how do they select the content and what are the factors which have an impact to their choice; which content is more highly rated and which is less among the audience and what expectation does it have today; what are the main tips helped them to develop their channel schedule for prime time and finally what are the challenges they meet today.

Thus we summarized an experience of the following media companies: International Producers Group (USA), Fox TV (Spain), HTV Fun (Malaysia), TV Globo (Brazil), Latina TV (Peru), Armenia TV (Armenia), 1+1 (Ukraine), TRACE Urban (France / Africa Region), DaVinci Media GmbH (Germany), NBC Universal (Asia) and Safe Media (Lebanon).

We couldn’t deny the fact that the television became today some kind of substitution of the reality.

It is obviously an inescapable part of modern culture.

We depend on TV for entertainment, news, education, culture, weather, sports — and even music. Television turned into some kind of social drugs and there are still no medicines to heal the society from the TV addiction.

Moreover, an old saying Meal’n’Real would be more actual in rephrasing Real’n’Meal — peoples devour media product with more and more hunger which growing daily in a progressive way.

At the same time modern media consumer became more selective and demands from TV channels to feed them with a new dainty. What is the “dainty” feed to modern audiences, — we were trying to discover by gathering some figures and summarizing general tendency.

Obviously that since the discovering of television the main task of TV management was to find a proper feed to fill their channels to attract more and more audience, but what were the reasons of their success and what instruments do they use to reach it — let’s take a look.

Analyzing all of them we can say that all channels oriented at the same, but use different approaches and strategies: for example Fox TV pay a lot of attention to precise content selection combining strong and popular franchises with wise brand policy; Latina TV and HTV 16 ▪ Issue 6 JUNE 2016

Fun make their main stresses at careful analysis of their audience, world trends, as well as innovative and fun production; Da Vinci Media and TRACE Urban choose one precise and limited segment of their audience; Safe Media trying to find a new approach to reach the audience challenging the new digital reality.

Let`s look to the whole picture step by step, carefully unveiling all important aspects: instruments of the channels schedule development; its strategies, approaches, tips and targeting of the audience.

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SPEAKERS David Babakhanyan General Director of Armenia TV, Film director, producer and screenwriter Armenia

Andrey Koval Program director TV channel 1+1 Ukraine

Yin Wah Kok Owner, HTV Entertainment Limited Malaysia

Donovan Castillo Mohlman Programming & Acquisitions Director NBC Universal Singapore

Olivier Laouchez Owner Trace TV France

Raphael Correa Netto Executive Director — International Business Division TV Globo, Brazil

Daniel Perez Director of content and programming at Fox International Channels (FIC) Spain

Una Suput Manager Programme Acquisitions & Scheduling Da Vinci Media GmbH, Germany

Richard Ellman President and CEO of International Producers Group USA

Milagros Tuccio Head of fiction Latina Television Peru

Adham Nasrallah Content Manager SAFE MEDIA SARL Lebanon

NBC Universal We’re very fortunate at NBC Universal to have a bouquet of complimentary channels whose brands have been meticulously cultivated and defined across not only our territory in Southeast Asia, but also across the globe. We have DIVA, which draws a very attractive female viewership for both our affiliate and advertising partners, and Universal Channel our flagship general entertainment channel. Pairing these two channels with our US channel brands, Syfy and E!, we’re able to offer a robust channel portfolio that reaches all audience segments, which afford us the opportunity to benefit from a distribution, scheduling, development, marketing / cross-promotion, and acquisitions perspective.

1+1 Media The first instrument we use for content selection is targeting of new products. It is used for finding precise matching with needs of our target audience.

The second is the audit combining with optimization of existing products; there is a tendency to reduce the number of products in daily playlist, choosing 3-4 as the most successful. It seems to be most optimal strategy — to increase the number of outlets and the timing of one or two of the most successful products.

HTV Entertainment Limited Why viewers have to choose your channel? We must have content that is uniquely valuable by providing content that’s unavailable sstrnews.com

or hard to get elsewhere plus great user experience. This means it’s easy and pleasurable to watch anywhere on any device. The issues that we need to consider are a massive upgrade versus what’s already available on the web in aggregation, accessibility, and/or design. We need to create the “wow” factor to everyone who views the content in our channel. The overall look-and-feel must be of highest quality too.

TRACE Urban We are remaining true to our brand and relevant at the same time. TRACE evolves with its audience; you witness this in both our platforms and content. Our channels were born out of a need to provide an under represented community with entertainment that celebrates urban culture in its greatest form — music. Each feed is closely monitored and adapted to the markets it serves, providing the right balance of TRACE values and cultural relevance.

TV Globo Our intention is to diversify, both in production/proposal of content as in the way how it gets for each viewer.

Da Vinci Media GmbH Over the years we’ve established Da Vinci Learning as the go-to place for educational content for families. We are very selective in both our acquisitions and productions, because we don’t just want to make sure kids learn great new things from all possible areas of life, but also that they do so in Issue 6 JUNE 2016 ▪ 17

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BASIC PRINCIPLES OF THE TV-PROGRAMMING STRATEGY

a safe and stimulating environment. Parents trust us and we have to constantly make sure to justify this. We really want family viewing to lead to engagement with the content — whether it’s building a volcano or going to the backyard to dig up some fossils. That’s why a lot of our shows emphasize creation, experimentation and exploration.

Latina TV There is only answer to the question about the secret of our programming effectiveness: it’s all about the wheel of fortune.There is almost no precise technique how to be successful at the screen, nobody knows this secret formula. Which approaches do we use? First of all we try to get to know our audience within the long period of time. We investigate the preferences and values of the audience. Moreover we are trying to be informed about the main world TV trends: how does the news all over the world are performed, which serials do family preferall of this help us to make our final decision concerning our programming. We also produce our own new and unique content. We also try never losing the spirit of our region being oriented at content with specific of national authenticity. Finally we are trying to keep our finger on a pulse of our competitors. It makes us more selfdemanding.

FOX TV A good selection of content, combining strong and popular franchises with brand. As we can see some of channels freely open their cards, other ones keep their tips in secret. Every company has its own approach and strategy. Any way all of them gave the same aim: to satisfy and to overcome the growing demands of their audience and to make it after all even larger. This task annually worked out by different departments from defining the audience values till financial statistics and dates.

As you can see, each has its own strategy for programming and individual approach. That is why all of them the giants and are at list at the top 3 of their region or state.

So how do they such results? Actually the secrets are on the top: they feed their audience with a delicate which has never been tried before mixing them with the most delicious content which is already known by the audience.

Obviously that the process of content selection depends on inner factors and the specific of the audience: if some region more patient and emotional or less, what preferences and priorities does it have — all this psychological factors pay a vital role. For analyzing demand and consumption the channels usually try to analyze their audience and in accordance with a general image they create a further strategy.

What is the process of the content selection, which factors do they pay their attention and which analysis do they usually perform before — our experts will try to answer at all this.

At the very beginning let’s give a word to distributors which cooperate with channels: International Producers Group On a regular basis, I contact most of the major US broadcasters and ask them straight out, “what is your current programming strategy “TODAY”. I do this because there are always new buyers and management to consider which seems to take place often. Each bring with them their own vision of what they 18 ▪ Issue 6 JUNE 2016

would consider as the type of programs (content) they see the channel gaining the most viewers. It often does not work which is another reason I am in touch with the buyer to find out exactly what kind of content for which they are open to screening as a possible license. This is a big challenge because what you often see on the channel is not necessarily what they are looking for. They may be running out the clock on a series or license agreement.

The one thing I do NOT want to do is send my customers new availabilities on programs that I know they would not have an interest. BUT... then I have what I call the “YA NEVER KNOW” category. I send them an availability of a program that almost fits into their strategy, but not quite. So, I ask them to take a look because, “Ya never Know”!!! It is a challenge trying to keep up to date on all the programming needs of my American Broadcaster and VOD customers and I spend a great deal of time doing this.

SAFE MEDIA SARL If there was a secret formula for everything nothing would ever fail, there’s a huge surprise part within! The psychology / emotions of the consumer behaviors is the key element! This can never be measured! Predicted may be but not measured. The recommendation is “Know your audience”, that will eventually lead to the content they want! The better you know them, the better you can cater them, sit with them, and listen! Give them attention, spend time, watch, observe this helps understand their needs and attend to their content needs.

It means that distributors and productions have never known how the audience will meet their product.

It seems like tightrope walking for them: one wrong step and they could fall down. It`s a kind of extreme activity especially if there are your asset which are at a stake.

Does it really so hard process indeed? What is the position of those who directly make a decision what are going to be at their channel schedule in prime-time?

HTV Entertainment Limited First of all, we will look for one of a kind unique content that isn’t available anywhere or hard to get elsewhere. Then we will see whether the content is relevant and appeal to the platform/channel mission, “Connects you with fun and unique content from the world”.This will attract audience although not a big audience but maybe others have not reached them yet.

Working with the right business partner is also part of the content selection criteria. Since we are a new channel, we want to build a strong business partnership with producers and distributors who can work together through thick and thin.

Financial models of distribution channel deals, legal rights to air and content suitability based on local requirements, for example no to nudity, story theme based on gay / lesbian or high level of violence in film is also banned.

Armenia TV We believe that except of news we need to broadcast comedy stand ups, sitcoms and soap operas of our national production. In addition, we actively use the Brazilian soap operas, which are already more than 20 years of presence in our market. 90% of the grid takes our content: sitcoms, morning shows, food-shows, socialoriented talk show. It is more reasonable to create our Season Screen TV Review

own content as we want it for ourselves.

Fox TV CHANNELS We work with two genres for prime time: series and feature films. In terms of films we always look for strong blockbusters, easily recognized for the audience. Regarding series we create our prime time plan with the more mainstream content in the slots with more consumption. We have a deep knowledge of the market, trends and – even programming is not an exact science – we have enough tools for creating a successful prime time.

Da Vinci Media GmbH Our channel is somewhat unique insofar as during the day our primary audience is children, while access primetime is reserved for joint family viewing and from 8 PM (or 9 PM in certain regions) onwards we present documentary content for adults.

Because we offer a wide range of educational content for all ages, we have different primetimes for different audiences.

TRACE TV Selecting the content for prime time is based on our own criteria of ‘heat’. We make sure that these evening slots are filled with content that is a hot topic amongst our young audiences at the time. With our urban music channels, the schedulers are working around the clock to determine the artists that will be trending at periods in the year, as well as continuing to monitor the popularity of urban singles around the world.

NBC Universal With the recent influx of VideoOn-Demand players in Asia and globally, we’ve had to take a stand of late with the type of content and the rights we require when choosing content for primetime.

The fight is no longer with other linear channels (new or established), but rather with these players who are spending an inordinate amount of money to snap up first run and exclusive global rights to prime time content. In the initial launch and investment stages, some of these companies are driving up the costs of content that has traditionally been the staple of Pan-Regional general entertainment channels — US studio based content.

We’re now forced to be creative in choosing our content, to ensure we’re still offering our subscribers something fresh, unique, and entertaining.

Thus, we can highlight a few key points we create our formula of success: it should be the high quality new unique product; someone relies on their intuition and experience; it happens that a key role to play for content is genre; for the world’s major channels it is also important to be recognized as brand; and sometimes, it is necessary to look at the competitors, to determine what makes them ratings, and create a similar or even better product.

That’s it to create a kind of new type of hamburger.

An important factor was the business partner requirements of reputation and financial transactions distribution model.

We decided to clarify in which extent is hard to work for TV channels with their “business partner”.

SAFE MEDIA SARL Handling a Channel is not an easy job or task! This clearly reflects on transactions with all its supply chain management, even more complicated when comes to content. The decision making process is long, takes a lot of time especially with a selection committee, then chasing the payment. As we are evolving so fast in TV into the unknown, audiences is harder to please, the risk factor is very high causing the advertisers to spend less. All this makes it not an easy! We all know that all TV channels when cutting down cost the first they take out is budget for content! The simplest would be government channels as all they do is media propaganda of the honoring the governments, and content to them is basic wall paper!

International Producers Group It is difficult importing foreign Independent documentary programming to an American channel mainly because they have a very high standard for the quality and the content must have a strong appeal to American audiences. Oh yes, it is also important to have English dubbed versions with a few sub titles as possible. AND... today only HD programs are acceptable.

All of them try to create their own unique product which would be able to differ qualitatively and concur at the world media market. All of them bet on horse of fun which traditionally winning and dark horse of national consciousness.

All of them have both as something in common as well precise differences.Thus all media companies, which were interviewed, in average give from 75% till 90% of their air-space to national content produced and released by themselves or their national fellow colleagues.

1+1 TV We try to invest approximately 75%-80% of our budget on prime, most off time filled with reruns of our old, proven products. The average cost of an hour of the product in prime off time more than 3-4 times.

Taking into consideration the optimistic estimation of the Ukrainian advertising market volumes in 2016 which is in average $200 million the most economically reasonable price for an hour of ready-made product is approximately $30-35 housed. Any way it’s quite hard to talk about some definite figures and content cost recovery by the advertiser. Sharp changes at the price of currency

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make this task even more complicated. It is clearly that no one from national channels is really profitable in recent moment and the tight times are getting over only due to the support of the stakeholders investments.

Armenia TV Depends on the type of content percentage of profits may vary from 30% to 150 %. At the case of Brazilian soap operas payback is 30%-40%, regarding our domestic sitcoms it could be even 150 %.

Da Vinci Media There is no significant difference in cost between prime-time and the rest of the day, as the content rotates. Apart from a few countries, we haven’t relied heavily on on-air advertising so far. Where possible, we want to be able to offer a safe environment for kids, which to a lot of parents also mean an ad-free environment.

NBC Universal In the past, we would look at content acquisition costs and compare these to the projected ratings performance and ad-sales revenue of a particular slot. In the case of my pay TV linear channels and in the face of the on-demand players coming into market, we no longer focus so much on this time slot. I believe it’s still somewhat relevant to free-to-air terrestrial channels, but for us our focus has slightly shifted to acquiring unique, appealing content, with a level of exclusivity no matter the time slot. We look at our channel as a whole, rather than varying day parts. We have a ranges of prices for which we’ll pay, that averages out. We try not to pigeon hole content into a specific price range, but rather if there is a series or film title that we feel strongly about we’ll step up and pay more than market rate. Likewise, for content that is more filler than driver, we’ll drop my acquisition costs anywhere from 25-50%. We’d all like our content costs to be covered by advertising and affiliate distribution revenue. Some of our channels internationally are able to go above and beyond these costs. Though, returning to my earlier point about what makes our channels so effective, it also comes down to variety of content and channel brand. Advertisers are more willing to support a programme or channel based upon the association of the brand vs. the performance of a specific title, as well 20 ▪ Issue 6 JUNE 2016

our ability to spreading their marketing message across a variety of channels for optimum reach.

FOX TV We play in a market where pay TV has a 30% of penetration, so it’s really complicate to find advertising investment for paying the content. We have started to work in branded content but the reality is that we are still far to find a model where the strategic content would be paid with advertising.

All of this confirms the fact that political and economic situation determine the state of business, especially it concerns media industry. After all, when there is a striving for bread there is no need in entertainment, but when everyone is sated it’s getting bored and it is already time for entertainment. It creates a base for advertising market, one of the sources of financing of TV industry.

Consummation demand is growing as well as the expenditures of the channels have an eager to satisfy the passion and the hunger of their tempted audience.

That is why the channels, especially those who have to be more careful with their budgets while the creating of their “magic potion” aggravated by the wild capitalism and economy recession, optimize their feed using new products targeting and reducing the number of old ones.

Whatever happened, the channels schedule should be filled out. So what are they the tips according to which the final decision about the content buy are made? What is the key point?

1+1 TV The key factor is the estimated effect of originality. We are interested to find something that will be perceived by our audience as something new. At the same time, the product should be understandable to our audience (for example, we are not interested in youth product, or a product of nostalgia for the audience).

In other words, the main task of programming is to see unique, unusual, new product potential mass-market trend for several seasons. We are trying to look at the product through the eyes of our target audience and understand how interesting topics are, in which extent Season Screen TV Review

BASIC PRINCIPLES OF THE TV-PROGRAMMING STRATEGY

characters are familiar and recognizable, whether the storylines are intriguing, if a proper proportions of the humorous element are exists, if there is a balance between optimistic degree and dramatic intensity. This requirement is valid for all time slots and t our attention is concentrated on this aspect first of all. For prime-time also becomes important potential of watching nontargeted audience, ideally — the possibility of family viewing. Obviously, there are areas, themes and conflicts are close and understandable to the masses in general. We have identified 3-4 areas for which we make purchases for, their mesh products — it is Ukraine, the CIS, Turkey, USA, Europe. We try to explore deeply the features of the products to understand the trends and main strengths of each Production. In order to be included in the focus, the product must be properly innovative, bright, with minimal localization or connected with our country.

NBC Universal The deciding factors are always: how does it fit into my current inventory, will it outperform content for which I currently have the rights acquired, and does it satisfy my ad-sales and affiliate commitments.

Ultimately, by the time it comes to making an offer I’ve already assessed the content strengths and weaknesses.

Utilizing previous ratings performance, stakeholder feedback, and brand fit we can quickly identify if a series is going to work for us. The challenge when acquiring a programme is determining whether or not the content is going to succeed in its original market. This is where the knowledge of global markets other than your own comes in to play, its crucial to be aware of content’s potential to be renewed before making an investment as an acquisition.

It’s not critically important from what country content, though it is a consideration based upon the known production quality for a specific territory. We are happy to source content from any country as long as it is strong creatively and works for our channel. For the most part, we do tend to look at English content only, simply because it’s a language a lot of our viewers in Asia speak or have some understanding, even though we subtitle everything in local language.

TRACE TV Purchasing content has become a very large part of our activities more recently because of our work on the TRACE Play platform. We are building this service for viewers who enjoy urban culture. It was important to identify content that would not just resonate with our audience, but also entertain, empower, and engage them. In each territory we will launch, the teams have been working on identifying unique, trendy, and popular programming that will make TRACE Play a must-have amongst the Afro-urban population in that region.

TRACE sources content from across the world, and makes sure it fits our urban music programming and sport lifestyle themes respectively. With TRACE Tropical and Toca, the source country, or region, will more than most times be the same, e.g Angola for Toca and Latin America as the music on this channel. TRACE Urban has hip-hop from across the world, with the South African and Rest Of Africa feed containing localised content.

These are just some examples of our views on the source country, we try and localize where possible but remain providing the best content from the channel’s vertical.

Da Vinci Our acquisitions committee evaluates the content based on educational and production value, sstrnews.com

ANALYTICAL

creativity, storyline, target audience and so on, but also how it complements the current channel offering in terms of genre, target audience or format. We also pay close attention to the needs of different markets — what may work really well in Singapore, won’t necessarily work in Russia or Romania. So we rely on feedback from our regional teams in all these countries and of course feedback from operators and above all viewers, which is the most precious.

Once all these factors come together, we decide on a programme for Da Vinci Learning. We won’t buy in bulk just because it’s easier or it may bring down the acquisitions cost, because a big part of having the best educational programming is hand-picking each show. And once picked, the prices vary significantly depending on the region, for which we acquire, whether the show is animation or live action, or for example whether it’s an observational documentary about animals or a lavish re-enacted docudrama.

Latina TV All materials that appear in Latin America are carefully tested. There is nothing to choose only ruling by “intuition” or with the assumption that “may or may not” like the audience, on the contrary, we must be sure of that. Thus, the solution adopted also by taking into account the opinion of our audience, because we are working for them!

Evaluations, which can make the area, solutions that can take the lead, always include the results of tests carried out for the target audience.

Fox TV First of all, when we are going to acquire of content we analyze, which are the lacks of the channel, what show has been cancelled, its profile and how to keep the same kind of viewer for its replacement. Once we have screened the content we also take in consideration where this product is going to be scheduled in US, when, the competition, etc. With all this information we are more comfortable to decide if the show is good for our channel or not.

Our schedule is built mainly with US content. Local scripted production is more successful in free TV and pay TV viewer is more receptive to the US shows Finally after analyzing all of them — the findings were quite predictable, the decisive factors are the potential of mass-market trend for several seasons (interesting and related topics, familiar characters, intuitive sense of humor); it is important to clearly match the interests of your audience by age and gender; minimal localization; quality and again quality; advancing trends — modern, fashionable, innovative. TV channels from the nearest countries are betting on their own production. Often, they have their own special tendencies which are based on the historical and cultural values. It is clear that the national or self-production is a feather in one’s cap for every country. Some, on the contrary conduct special tests to identify the interests of their audience and have the results of selected content. It’s quite unusual and interesting way of making decisions, especially if it works. For example, this approach uses a Latina TV. Some platforms are covering half of the world, guided only by western producers. On belief of many — that they set new trends in production.

At the same time they are all have their strictly ordered audience, thematic and sometimes completely Issue 6 JUNE 2016 ▪ 21

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different approaches in content selection. Some of them oriented at the global audience in accordance with their interests and demands such as Fox TV, Da Vinci Media, TRACE Urban.

For example, Da Vinci TV gives their preference to creative educational product of high quality predominantly oriented on children and family and TRACE Urban dedicated to the many means of expression of urban culture: music, fashion, sport, film, dance, etc.

As we can see both, as Da Vinci as well TRACE Urban, control their feed content very carefully trying to find balance between consumer demand and declared values of the channels.

Predominantly all channels agreed that the biggest rate they usually receive from national talent, comedy (stand ups) and reality shows as well as from quality serials. That’s why they use this main content in a prime time.

Concerning the sources which TV channels use to fill up their “magician box”, it depends on the regional, cultural tradition and off course their purse. Thus the region of Latin America used to buy media product at USA or make it by themselves.

Post-Soviet countries traditionally exchange their products or make it jointly such as Ukraine and Russia (there are still a lot of joint media projects despite the political disagreement between the states).

Most channels produce their own content, and those who want to establish new partnerships with the ability to enter new markets make their projects in co-production. Co-productions it is also a way to use for production common budget. Accordingly there are much more chances to release their movie or program in cooperation with one or two partners.

1+1 TV Our strategic goal is to fill the grid by over 80% of the national product and 65% — of our own. Localized product has a better ranking potential and own product best fits the brand.

We do not produce content ourselves at this moment but we have planned to work in co-production in the future. We are interested in web series suitable for the whole family. Our current plan is to focus on brand building since our channel is still young. We have many requests in co-production and we will surely consider it when the timing is right.

TRACE TV The positioning of TRACE Sport Stars has been largely characterized by our exclusive access to sport’s biggest names. With this in mind we produce a lot of content ourselves, involving traveling, partying, and celebrating with the stars. We also have a very beneficial partnership with Australian production company Inverliegh who supply about 100 hours of content per year. In total the content broadcast on our feeds is 60% production and 40% acquisition.

For our music channels, to accompany the streams of popular urban music, we regularly bring in the artists for interviews. This means that about 10% of content on the music channels is produced by TRACE. It’s important to be first and foremost music channels but also offer something different in our Guest Star interviews.

Also we have tried to localize our feeds when and where possible. You see this today with the multiple feeds across TRACE Urban, TRACE Sport Stars, and TRACE 22 ▪ Issue 6 JUNE 2016

Gospel. The programming is also adapted to the market it serves with regular celebrity features that are popular in the feed’s region.

TV GLOBO In co-productions, the highlight of 2015 was the novel “Salty Sea”, co-produced with SIC, Portugal, which was the most watched program in the country in 2015, with over 1.7 million viewers a day.

The client portfolio was enriched with 75 new companies. Thus, growth of the year, compared to 2014 was 10%.

DA VINCI MEDIA GMBH We decided to produce our own short-form series. We also wish to become more local in certain markets and introduce more diversity. This is why we are producing our own 26-episode children’s series on famous scientists which doesn’t cover the usual known Western European celebrities like Newton or Einstein, but also women which have so far been marginalized, as well as scientists and inventors from Asia, India or the Middle East.

Latina TV At the present time Latin America can be totally satisfied by the fact that here is almost 80% (not 90 %!) of national content at her TV screens.

Fox TV Currently we are working with 4-5 titles per year including The Walking Dead, Outcast or Wayward

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Pines. All this series are brand defining shows that have a lot of marketing effort behind, we premiere at the same time in all the markets and they have strongly contributed to the success of the channels around the world. I think that local scripted production on pay TV is one of the big factor successful in our market, but it’s an expensive format and we need to be sure of doing it without too many risks.

TV production is a continuous process, which needs a permanent modification at filing the stories and technical terms. But what remains the same in this process is an ever increasing consumer demand. And no matter how much we have of the finished product, there is always something missing. So, what the channels would like to handle with? — We asked this question to our experts and now can clearly understand their expectation and aspiration: TRACE TV Content that successfully represents the culture of a niche audience. This is a gap we are bridging with TRACE Play for the Afro-urban audiences.

Mainstream content is exactly that — mainstream. We have shown with our linear TV channels that serving a niche audience; serving them well, can give you the base for a successful multinational organization.

I would recommend manufacturers, especially those from a minority background to consider developing into more niche areas, cultures that are underserved by the mainstream media. Stay true to your culture, stay true to your brand and you can create something great, just like we have with TRACE.

their own American narrator and record over the one on the program.

We should also to mention concerning the localization: Fox TV I think that local scripted production on pay TV is one of the big lacks in our market, but it’s an expensive format and we need to be sure of doing it without too many risks.

Finally, there are some precise advises from our experts: NBC Universal I can’t wholly take credit for the answer to this question, as it comes from something Brandon Tartikoff once said in an interview 25yrs ago.

“The end of network television will come if all it is an endless sea of sitcoms and reality shows.”

It’s important to develop original ideas and content, don’t fall prey to the trap of chasing a trend. Viewers want to be entertained; they don’t want to have to sift through an endless schedule of content that is simply a variation of the same basic format.

That being said, I’ve always said you can’t go wrong with monkeys, people for some reason love monkeys!

Thus, if you’re still looking for a media market niche for realization or have a drive to grow up your business, Oliver`s the advises would be certainly useful for you.

Da Vinci In general, educational content for a 6+ audience isn’t easy to come by, with most producers still focusing on pre-school, especially when it comes to animation. We would love to see strong math programs for older kids, shows about different careers / professions but also programs about health and fitness that parents can watch together with their kids. There is no limitation in terms of genre or format for us — so long as it’s entertaining, educational and has that certain something to stand out, we’re happy to have it for Da Vinci Learning.

International Producers Group We have probably more than 400 channels in the US and each have their own demographics and programming. The broadcasters and VOD companies I deal with are looking for high quality newer HD programs and series about Science, History, Crime, Investigation, Medicine, Travel with People and Cultures including food, Current events, Sports, Military, Nature and Wildlife, Health and Retirement, Gay and Lesbian programming, programming for women, and the one I do not even bother with, Reality non scripted.

Programs with on camera hosts generally do not work unless they are speaking English and the host has to be enthusiastic, authoritative and look and sound like they know what they are talking about. If the programs have a voice over narrator, a mid Atlantic English voice is OK, but the narrator should have some acting ability to be convincing. In many cases, a broadcaster may want to use sstrnews.com

However, to be aware of the precise aim, we should be able to analyze the market and our target audience.

To be able to predict what will be important in a year at least. Naturally, without an understanding of the current favorites it would be difficult to do. Therefore, we offer you to get acquainted with some of the products that are holding the audience today. It will be useful as for production as well for TV channels.

NBC Universal We’ve recently acquired from Warner Bros. the unscripted series Little Big Shots, which airs originally on our sister channel domestically in the US. We identified this series early, prior to the launch in the US, where it quickly became the highest rated new unscripted series in 18-49 of the past 5 years. Here in Asia, the series also premiered to fantastic ratings on DIVA. What makes this show work is simple, KIDS. It’s not a programme that puts kids in unusual adult situations or is filmed in such a way to target only children viewers.

This is key; this is what makes the series appeal to audiences of all ages. There’s no pandering to a specific Issue 6 JUNE 2016 ▪ 23

ANALYTICAL

BASIC PRINCIPLES OF THE TV-PROGRAMMING STRATEGY

age or demographic. While it might sound easy to create such a series, it’s the gentle balance between adult humor and kids being kids. It’s a mix between Got Talent the classic US format Kids Say the Darndest Things, its pure genius. It’s not surprising though, as it comes from the godfather of reality and unscripted television, Mike Darnell.

HTV Entertainment Limited Asian Dramas has the most viewed so far in our channel followed by food and travel content. We see some promising signs in the ratings of the few food programs like Simple Food, Fun Food and Foodlab International distributed by MK-Distribution.

TRACE TV As you can imagine, celebrity features are always the biggest talking point. Our Guest Star programme is formed by exclusive interviews with the most popular urban artists in the world. In Guest Star, the celebs reveals their secrets and their plans for the future. With this programme, viewers get up close with their favourite artists, like never before.

Guest Star has been a firm favourite since TRACE’s inception and we will continue to provide the best artists a platform to promote their music and new ventures.

It also takes viewers into a space where they can reach an understanding with their musical heroes and role models, something not always possible through the medium of music.

Given the success of this show, we have expanded Guest Star programme to all of our music channels — TRACE Urban, TRACE Tropical, TRACE Africa, TRACE Toca. TRACE Gospel has its own GUEST STAR programme, which is called GLITZ, GLAM & GOSPEL where Mario Winans Jr, a key figure in the Gospel music world, meet up with famous Gospel personalities in Los Angeles, USA. LATINA TV While our great shows, entertainment formats and media content are extremely powerful on our screen, the most visited of the program belong to our stellar unit telenovelas (fiction content).

The reason is that an innovative product, the stories are the stories of light perception, the book (script) of our TV-novels are extremely powerful and have deep storylines. Every next chapter has a “sensation” in history, and thanks to these critical moments, our TV-novels are always full of new within the same story. Characters grow, develop, change, will melt known, do not remain as they were originally. Stories intertwine. And all this with great skill, which not only touches the audience and leads them to validate themselves through the main characters, which are reflected in them, and involved what is happening to them. We should also remember that literature is characterized by a special “intimacy” with the audience, as there is a continuity that makes the viewer to follow by it every day, to know that this time would happen to his “new friends”, which in practice they are; suffer with them, rejoice with them and live with them every day.

Fox TV The Walking Dead, Last Man on Earth, X-Files, NCIS LA, Bones, a combination of classic procedurals that usually works well in our market with worldwide big franchises like The Walking Dead and X Files.

SAFE MEDIA SARL Few years back in the MENA region it was all about Reality TV (Star Academy, Survivor), Gaming shows “Who want to be the millionaire?”, Then came in the Turkish Series 3 Shows a night back to back, 24 ▪ Issue 6 JUNE 2016

in the 90’s it was the Latino soaps, later came in FORMATS (The Voice and The Idol, Dancing with the Stars, now it’s sort of the Pan Arab Drama).

As you can see, all of the content selection factors that are listed in this article are totally and completely reasonable. The facts mentioned above approve this finding at the whole extent.

Another key point is the overall development of the media industry at each different country. It depends on growth rate and the possibility to implement and utilize innovation and new technology. It makes an impact not only to the demand of the audience and desire to earn money, but also to political, social and economic situation in general.

The way audiences watch television has transformed over the past ten years, more than it did for the past fifty.

No matter what name or technology used, the option of watching selected programs anytime & anywhere changed everything in TV forever.

NBC Universal On-demand, on-demand, ondemand. There’s been no bigger change in the industry over the past 10-15 years, full stop.

1+1 TV Due to the Russian occupation of the Crimea and the war with Russia at Donbas, the Russian content was statutory imitated. It is ought to be mentioned that some channels are elaborating their c grids for prime exceptionally on the basis of Russian content, so now you can imagine what will be the impact of such statutory limitation for them. Moreover due to global media market stagnation there is also reduction at sharing the reality show.

TRACE TV TRACE has always had a fairly young viewership, that being an audience consisting mostly of millenials. Research we did showed that 70% of our subscribers are watching our TV channels whilst using a second screen. For us, we felt an obligation to launch TRACE Play because the way in which our young fans are consuming content is increasingly digital.

HTV Entertainment Limited HTV Entertainment Limited: In our opinion, series and movies ratio of views are equally distributed between the 2 formats.

For example, Korean series and Hollywood movies are watched worldwide. For TV shows and cartoons ratio of views, it will depend on the content popularity and target audience. However, we believed cartoon has better views ratio because many viewers will watch cartoon no matter what is their age including me. Entertainment genre always stays on top of the popularity chart.

However, educational content has long shelf life and popular among parents. Parents prefer to let their young kids to watch edutainment content when they are busy.

Entertainment TV shows like reality program are gaining popularity among the young generations in recent years especially in Asia. Documentary genre always claimed a spot on the popularity chart although not the top but worth to watch genre.

What are the most challenges you meet nowadays?

And what are your plans for the future generally and for second part of the year 2016?

ARMENIA TV: We are continuing to be oriented Season Screen TV Review

at our home-made sitcoms and serials, and will try to implement at our live broadcasting some night-shows and stand ups.

NBC Universal We’ve had a lot of success so far in 2016, so thankfully we don’t feel an urgency to correct any glaring holes. Instead, we plan to work a little more closely with advertisers and agency in crafting concepts and ideas which can be fully funded through product integration. As mentioned earlier, original content is important but it’s necessary for us to work with our advertisers from the start and tailor a concept that fits both of our needs.

SAFE MEDIA SARL The main fact we can agree on is that audience are constantly changing. Multiple screens, devices or platforms have shifted the audiences into era far from the normal TV, as it had always been known. No one wants to wait behind a TV screen anymore to wait until their favorite show comes. Moreover, 80% of most audiences and views worldwide watch TV with another screen in the same room simultaneously. We spend approximately more the 50% of our time behind digital devices. When the very popular Ellen DeGeneres selfie on Twitter attracts 80,000 retweets in three minutes and over one million in less than an hour.

This is a perfect example for where audiences are shifting and going. Interesting question, ask yourself “If you had to give up on one of the two, rather give up on your TV or your Mobile phone?” The answer is simple I can’t live without my mobile! There you go that’s the new TV screen. It’s even a challenging process for viewers not everyone is very cooperative to pay money in order to watch TV. In the MENA audiences still need time to understand it, that something they always got for free or pirated they will be paying for. Individuals have not got into the habit of using or giving their credit card numbers to strangers or online! It will take a bit of time for them to relate paying per view.

HTV Entertainment Limited We are interested in web series suitable for the whole family. Our current plan is to focus on brand building since our channel is still young. We have many requests in co-production and we will surely consider it when the timing is right.

TRACE Urban In June this year, we will begin the international rollout of our SVOD platform TRACE Play.

Entirely dedicated to Afro-urban entertainment, it will be filled with series, films, documentaries, and even our linear TV channels. sstrnews.com

FOX Last years have been really exciting in our market. All the non-linear consumptions has completely changed the model of the channels, the type of content in the schedules, the ratings analysis and also the channels have strongly improved the timings for premiering the content, being close to US or UK premieres, trying to avoid piracy. We are living the best moment in terms of penetration and the entertainment is also living its best moment in terms of number of series and quality. So, go the market and find the best product for our channel is a challenge because there are hundreds of series that people are expecting or talking about.

Summarizing everything we can say that the era of television is still far from its sunset, obviously that despite the emerged challenges it is on a summit of its bright development. Hard times require conceptualizing all approaches and reconstructing all existing instruments at TV production.At the same time new challenges creates a favorable environment for productions to be unique and really extraordinary, to be real in its aspiration.

What do audiences want? In all areas of television they hunger for surprise.

With so many channels audience scatters its attention.

Furthermore, channels are initially limited in the offers.

Therefore, all oriented on the top content which can be put on repeat. And if you spend millions on a production then you must have a large quantity show, to cover costs and earn. And it’s a complete red herring to think that viewers never want to see a programme twice.

Digital channels also encourage experimentation and risk-taking from new writers. It’s a very interesting time for television, and the future is there to be thought for.

That’s all about shared experience. Television still has the ability to bring people together, to create communities with something in common on a scale no other medium can really rival. That remains incredibly potent because it means TV not only reflects popular culture but defines it. You only have to look at the success of list shows to see how integral iconic programmes are to our sense of history. As we can see the world of media is changing at a rapid pace and nothing will stop the growing love of audience to this sweet life substitution and barely Charls Kignsly and Karl Marks were right: It’s not the religion it is the television which is the opium for peoples and it obviously release their suffering indeed creating a sweet illusion in which re-live. ▪ Issue 6 JUNE 2016 ▪ 25

STARTUP

IN SEARCH OF ANGEL INVESTMENTS

HOW OFTEN DO YOU HEAR THE WORD? Startup. It whas become increasingly popular as of late. This platform creates fertile ground for collaboration of major players and young startuppers. The former have the power of their brand, access to audience and financial resources, and the latter possess ideas, flexibility, innovativeness, and can quickly adapt to the dynamic market. In our high-tech time, it’s a fact that media industry desperately needs startups.

Forseveral years, Startup.Network Investment Platform has been holding Startup Battle, a unique business event aimed to provide assistance to young entrepreneurs in assessment of the readiness and investment appeal of their projects and procurement of their first angel investments. Thanks to the event, several most fantastic projects have been already successfully implemented.

Aleksandr Soroka, CEO of Startup.Network: We hold our event, first of all, to popularize entrepreneurship and, of course, to help investors find really interesting startups. As a rule, winners of the Startup Battles end up finding the necessary investments, although it’s not the winning that is important in the Olympic Games, and if investors find out that the project has participated in such event, they take great interest in it. So, here is my advice: take part, train, and stand out to perfect your presentation.

Startup Battle participants have a unique opportunity to meet the major players of the global market of venture investment with more than one successful business project under their belts, adopt their best practices, learn of the latest trends in the world of investment, present their business ideas to experienced colleagues and hear their expert opinion and advice.

Dmitry Kuzmenko, CEO & founder of Startup.

Network: Startup Battle is held monthly. To participate, one must propose one’s own investment project to hundreds of potential investors, present it before the members of Startup.Network expert board, and then before business angels, representatives of venture capital funds and investment banks at the Project Battle Finale held by Startup.Network twice a year — in fall and in spring.

As a rule, the event has two stages: the entrepreneurial unit and the investment unit. During the first one,venture market experts with more than one successful business project under the belt share their experience with young colleagues, describe the trends of the investment world, give valuable advice, and answer the questions of the event guests and participants.

During the second unit, the participants present their 26 ▪ Issue 6 JUNE 2016

Aleksandr Soroka projects to owners and top managers of major Ukrainian companies, private investors, representative of venture and seed funds, and heads of incubation and acceleration programs. Presentation of one project takes 6 minutes, 3 of which are allocated to presentation itself, and another three are reserved for questions from experts and event guests.

Two projects that score the highest after the presentation win the Battle. One is the participant that has attracted most of attention from the investors, and the other is the participant that has received most votes from the event guests.

Startup.Network has successfully held 45th Startup Battle, and has certain results. Every second project from the Startup Battle is already a business, as well as 30% of those that have entered the Battle and subsequently received investments within half a year. It does not always happen at once; sometimes projects need more work.

The list of investors includes Ukraine, Russia, the Baltics.

Minimum amount invested into a project constitutes USD 10-15 ths., and the highest achieved investment constituted USD 300 ths.

Dmitry Bezkorovainy, CTO of Mymobstr: We ranked first in Startup Battle following the public voting. What did we get from it? Thanks to the Battle, we Season Screen TV Review

have found our investor. It is a great event for aspiring entrepreneurs, and its main appeal is in its availability.

Sergei Pasichnik, CEO of Vint Design Bureau: I presented my project at two Battles. The first one was followed by several interesting meetings. And the second one led to me meeting my investor. I entered the event with a definite purpose in mind — to get positive results.

And so I did: within several weeks after the Battle, I was already negotiating with investor and had the contract concluded by the New Year.

Roman Zadirako, CEO of Tooltip.io: A young entrepreneur has to make oneself visible, people should know about you, you should communicate with users and experts. Such events provide the possibility to interact with nice and useful people and meet investors and experts of their trade.

Today, there are special services to help startuppers and investors find each other. Startup.Network Investment Platform is one of them.

An event like Startup Battle is an excellent opportunity for entrepreneurs to obtain valuable experience of presenting their project, receive feedback from potential users and investors, and establish useful contacts.

Independent competent assessment is important in any business. And it is simply vital for startups, not only for the investor, but for the entrepreneur as well.

The former needs to assess the project correctly in order to make much of the investment or at least avoid losses; and the latter needs to know the criteria to match for procuring the required amount of investments.

Today, startup projects are an industry of their own.

Interest in them is expected to grow in the future.

However, we must not forget that, according to various estimates, only 5 to 10% of the projects achieve actual success. Media industry is considered to be one of the most promising ones for the next few years.

Startups should be viewed as an alternative to participation in film festivals. Often, young filmmakers with a short film and a ton of ambition run around film festivals searching for a sponsor. However, only few filmmakers managed to do their first feature film thanks to participation in a film festival. The others got nothing from their victories. Participation of media projects at such events is an excellent opportunity to find the missing resources. sstrnews.com

A new, original, unconventional idea in high demand at the market is important for a new business. Sometimes investors are prepared to pay for the idea itself, even without implementation. Most often they are interested in young startuppers who are usually completely engrossed in their project and are ready to stain every sinew for its success. Thus, key success factors are creative ideas and, of course, a good team.

Startup is a good opportunity to procure foreign investments. Today, many countries offer super-favorable terms for entrepreneurs to start their businesses. As you know, startups are responsible for around 40 ths. jobs in Europe every year. For example, in Chile startuppers don’t even have to look for money: if you have a good idea, the government shall give it to you. Great Britain and Canada have special funds operating that are ready to finance an aspiring company. We should adopt the experience of our colleagues, and we are on the right track. ▪

Issue 6 JUNE 2016 ▪ 27

45 min, 2016, HD

INTERVIEW

WE SHOULD HAVE A FAITH AT OURSELF

FILMMAKER. THE PATH TO THE COVETED AIM 30 â–ª Issue 6 JUNE 2016

Season Screen TV Review

Inspiration is a bird which comes to those who has a patience to catch it when it comes.

At the same time when the whole Ukraine was watching with bated breath Eurovision not least event took place at France: Cannes Festival where our incredibly gifted and talented writer Marysia Nikitiuk had been recognized as one of the best scriptwriter and awarded by the Krzysztof Kieslowski Scriptwriter Award for the Best Script from Central and Eastern Europe for ‘When Trees Fall’. Off course we couldn’t lose the chance to hold an interview with her and we dared to do this as soon as she came back from the Cannes Festival. Despite the haste and emotional stress, it was a fun and interesting experience. We should confirm that we were absolutely fascinated by Marysia. Here are some words that come to mind when talking to her: brave and beautiful, open-minded and extraordinary, incredibly talented winner. Moreover we have received some exceptional information that her next film will be shot in five languages. No typo there; these five languages are: Ukrainian, Russian, Surzhik, Polish, and Romanian. Now let’s take a closer look on the talent from Ukrainian and her amazing work.

Tell us a bit more about your triumphant work.

When Trees Fall is my first full-length script and film, and it marks the beginning of my way as a director. After writing the text, so close to my memories of my own childhood, I realized that I would never be able to give it to anyone. At that time, film critic Volodya Vojtenko, my cinematographic guardian angel, was putting ideas about directing into my head, and producer Igor Savichenko simply suggested that I try shooting shorts, just to see whether I can and want. By now, I have already done three shorts. They seem okay. ))

Marysia, you have won the Krzysztof Kieslowski ScripTeast Award for the Best Script from Eastern Europe at 2016 Cannes Festival. Tell us more about the award, please.

ScripTeast is a training program aimed to prepare scriptwriters to shooting and film project promotion at the development stage. Thus, the program is attached to the professional part of two major European film festivals — Berlinale and Cannes. We had three sessions: Warsaw, Berlin, and the final one in Cannes. Scripts from Eastern and Central Europe were selected for the program; we trained with the best film professionals from England, Spain, France, Germany, and North America. For example, I had my script read and commented by Academy Award-winning scriptwriter Mark Peploe, the author of Bertolucci’s Last Emperor and Antonion’s The Passenger.

During this time,we became friends with the program participants, completely forgetting about competition.

Yet in the end, one of us was to receive the Krzysztof Kieslowski Award for the Best Script.

Did you hope to win? What did you feel afterwards?

I wanted to receive the Award, I really did, because it is so beautiful. However, I did not set my hopes high, for all the disappointed expectations prove disastrous to creative energy. So, I was very surprised to receive the Award.

And yet, I was extremely happy, jumping on my heels like a little girl, but a big one and wearing a floor-length dress.

Tiniest moment of happiness, before you poison yourself thinking that now you’ll have to live up to this declaration of success. sstrnews.com

What is the film budget and what financial aid have you received from the State Film Agency?

The film budget is around UAH 22 mln. Half of that is provided by the state — we’ve won State Film Agency pitchings last fall. The other half should come from coproduction with Macedonia and Poland — Igor and I are currently waiting for several film funds to reply.

The project attracted a lot of interest — from French and Swedish producers; then, our Polish partners and Igor Savichenko continue negotiating. However, all missing specifics shall be made clear in June. Furthermore, Spanish distributors and several film markets tailored to search for lacking funds have also shown interest in the project.

When are you beginning the shooting?

The shooting is planned for August-September, within the territories of at least three countries: Ukraine, Poland, and Macedonia.

It will be a film about freedom, ideological triumph of good when evil seems to prevail. Attention is focused on the fate of three generations of women living in modern Ukraine who sacrifice their dreams to accommodate the society.

Marysia, does one need special education to become a successful scriptwriter? What personal traits must one possess for the same purpose?

I think, no. No, one doesn’t need special education. It might be even better without it. But certain professional skills would be certainly useful.There are lots of wonderful workshops, courses, master-classes for scriptwriters in Europe: for example, MAIYA workshops, the already mentioned ScripTeast, Torino FilmLab, and many others.

I’ve mentioned only the best ones. Then, there are lots Issue 6 JUNE 2016 ▪ 31

INTERVIEW

of books: Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces and Myths to Live By, McKee’s Story, and loads of professional literature on anthropology, psychology (psychopathology, psychological types, stories from actual practice etc.), philosophy, cosmology, physics and so on.

Without the knowledge, modern storyteller will only wallow in multiplying template stories. And to tell stories today, one must be the best. So, you have to read a lot, take interest in everything, observe people, listen in on them, even spy on them. All life, all lives, the entire world — that’s the source of a story. Intuition is also vital to creating a proper script, original and unconventional.

Story has its own logic, often called three-act structure.

In fact, it is the frame of any person’s life: birth, death, and something in between.

Give some tips for aspiring writers. What should they begin with? How does one introduce oneself to the right people and how does one meet them? How does one make a name for oneself? (and not only within one’s own country) A scriptwriter and a writer must be proficient in psychology and have interesting life experience. One also needs to read a lot, listen, want to tell and pass on not only one’s own grandeur and inflated ego, but something of value. That’s all one needs to become a good scriptwriter.

As for making a name for oneself, one can either produce one-hundred-percent-sure commercial hits, or adhere to one’s own unique and, thus, lonely and often painful road.

It depends on what you are looking for: money, women,

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WE SHOULD HAVE A FAITH AT OURSELF

and glory, or the happiness of being real and free, even if people do not accept or love you.

You are scriptwriter and director. Does it benefit the film if one person is responsible for both areas?

I’d say it happens. Or, sometimes, there are two persons working together. To each his own.

What is the key to creating a script that holds the audience today? What hooks must the plot have?

There must be no hooks from other films. People have advanced a lot in terms of perception. We watch, read, perceive too much; more than we live. Thus, the audience becomes more exacting, and the storyteller — less engaging. So, one needs to be sincere and righteous, while really breaking the logic. Complex characters are taking the center stage now — villains with kind hears and enormous guilt. The more complex is the inner world of the character, the more interesting is the story.

As a scriptwriter, what techniques do you use?

Do you have a role model among successful scriptwriters?

No authorities, no role models. I have favorite films, favorite books, favorite writers: Borges, Céline, Bukowski, Márquez, Jodorowsky, Virginia Woolf; favorite directors: Godard, Bertolucci, Béla Tarr, von Trier, Roy Andersson, Paul Thomas Anderson.I write as it goes, in a flow. But first, I carry the story, or the feeling of a story inside for a long time, it kind of stews within me. And while it stews, I create the narrative track, place markers and

Season Screen TV Review

flags, direct the story. Though, it often bursts its banks and makes its own and very different route to the end in the process of actual writing.

How important is rich life experience to cover this or that issue? For example, does one have to experience tragic love in order to depict it vividly?

Yes. Experience is everything. Life, in fact, is a sequence of experiences. As I have already said, dramaturgy did not appear from nowhere, simply because it’s pretty. Its roots are buried in life experience, structured by our brains into stories. The more experience you have, the richer and deeper the story is.

victims to my unreasonable expectations and inadequate self-perception. Those things are not easy to overcome, but there are two ways. Either you pull through and let yourself go, give yourself the right to make mistakes, to a bad film, to misunderstanding, to anything, and everything will be okay, you will become free from the thing you call ‘recognition.’ Or you don’t and simply break down.

In your opinion, what does the audience want today? What genre will be popular in the next few years?

The audience always wants one thing: to be enchanted.

Everyone comes to the cinema for magic. People give their attention to the director hoping to be scared, to laugh, to cry, to live another life, full of emotions. As for genre, it’s not really important. It’s just the question of mood and depends on individual preferences, sometimes on history phases.

What are some funny, awkward, interesting incidents from your work as a director?

A lot of them. Like when I was running with the crew after the actress, filming her jogging from the back, and I had pockets full of small change, of which I completely forgot. Then, during the shooting of Mandrake, seaweed plugged the motor of the boat with seven crew members.

We were shooting three people in the boat with one strong young actor doing the rowing. And then our boat kept drifting due to the wind. The only persons who happened to be “free,” i.e. have nothing in their hands, were camera mechanic and I. So, we rowed on both sides.

I was giving orders, throwing lines to actors, watching them act through the tiny camera monitor, and rowing, all at the same time. There you have it, experience.

It is not easy to become recognized in the film industry. Can you tell us about your failures on this road? How do you overcome them?

Well, I had my fights with directors. Then, some films didn’t work out, and my own films, as a director, fell

What unfulfilled dreams do you have today? :) I have great dreams, I have smaller ones, but none unfulfilled. I either have already achieved my goal, or am on the way. Even if I don’t reach them while alive, I will still consider them as “everything is possible.” ▪

sstrnews.com

Issue 6 JUNE 2016 ▪ 33

VR/360

NEW TECHNOLOGY

VR/360 TECHNOLOGY BOOSTING THE WORLD OF VIRTUAL REALITY

Obviously this new virtual reality technology will open new possibility for media business development. It will boost as well the possibility to tell the story more realistically as well to make the audience to believe on it. That is why we can predict a great future to this new segment of media production and hope that this technological step forwards the deep world of virtual reality would be able to make this real world much better and safer place.

Sabrina Hounas Sales & Marketing Manager Novovision France

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In March of this year well-known distributor of clips and shows Novovsion had presented its new virtual reality-focused distribution division — VRDistrib — offering to its clients “the widest range of cutting edge and innovative VR/360° programmes” and immersive experiences.

Novovision is best known as the industry’s funny clips distributor. Founded in 2002, it is the world’s largest provider of funny clips. Let’s find out what it is the VR/360 technologies and what is the gate it open for future of virtual reality?

360-degree VR (360-degree virtual reality) is an audiovisual simulation of an altered, augmented or substituted environment that surrounds the user, allowing them to look around them in all directions, just as they can in real life.

360-degree VR can be used for many purposes other than entertainment. The virtual reality technology can be used in most kinds of training that involve a physical environment, including pilot and driver training (as well as actual piloting or driving), surgery, and undersea and space exploration via remote-control robots.

There are a number of types of 360-degree VR, including live and previously captured video or real-time, real-time rendered 3D games, and pre-rendered computer graphics imagery (CGI). There are two key technologies in play: Virtual Reality (VR) and 360 degree video (360).

The VR setup requires dedicated technology while more affordable analog setups, such as Google Cardboard, create similar experiences with less visual depth. 360 degree video has the advantage of fitting within existing platforms, such as YouTube, while also translating seamlessly to virtual reality. All users have to do is hit play and then use the cursor to move the view around the shot. Here’s why these technologies are shaping travel marketing now and into the future.

All great marketing starts with a story and the ability to build a new kind of story is built into VR/360 technologies. Similar to the “choose your own adventure” classic book series, immersive storytelling is built upon choice.

VR/360 empowers the viewer to explore the scene withSeason Screen TV Review

out interference or guidance. This immersive experience triggers a hit of wanderlust when the viewer envisions themselves there.

Contrary to some skeptics’ claim that VR/360 will eliminate the desire to travel, the viewer is more apt to see themselves experiencing the adventure.

This delivers a deep connection and forges a bond with the destination that encourages that super-specific travel itch.

One of the most welcome benefits of VR/360 storytelling is that there’s less need for intensive editing and lighting. It’s an organic medium, as the viewer must be able to explore all angles without interference.

The absence of trickery is more trustworthy than slick, well-produced videos, building a conversion-friendly authenticity.

Trying to understand more about how it works and what are the solutions they offer to their clients we had asked some questions to Ms. Sabrina, Novovision`s Regional Sales Manager MENA & Marketing Manager.

Recently, you are very actively promoting content VR / 360 technologies. How did it all start?

Given Novovision’s history of international distribution in more than 140 countries, we maintain a strong relationship with content providers and broadcasters all over the world. A few months ago we started to feel that a demand for a new kind of content was rising: VR / 360° videos. We decided to create two subsidiaries: VRDistrib and Eyes in the Box, (respectively a distribution and a production company) to fill in this demand.

On the one side acquiring high quality and eye catching content to distribute on a worldwide scale, and on the other side producing original, innovative scripted content to embrace this new technology and all the possibilities it brings.

What is the most difficult in the production of programs VR/360? And what are the most important?

The most difficult thing in the production of VR/360 programs is also the most important thing. The writing! VR/360 brings a totally different way to tell stories: you don’t impose your storytelling to the audience as they chose to follow (or not to follow) what is happening in your video.

The final user is the master of the story, he is part of the immersive experience.

So you need to adapt the writing to captivate the attention of the audience in a brand new way, using everything that is at your disposal to bring him along where you want without forcing him (sound, acting, light effects…). Everything is to be invented. sstrnews.com

VR/360

NEW TECHNOLOGY

How much time is required for the production of a full cycle of one television program?

VR/360 is expanding in the broadcast TV market as evidenced by recent sports programs and the investment

by Comcast, Disney and Time Warner in VR startups.

The production is a bit more complex in that there is no 4th wall with these new shows. So, the direction for a compelling program will require a different type of camera direction and writing.

In average what budget is needed to create a single program? As far as cost-effective, such programs to date, given that this trend is only growing?

The budget needed really depends on the content that is produced, for example, a series in 360 CGI, the building of the 3D world, the animation around the “camera” are significant. It is like an animation movie or a video game, but you can also go out with a 360° camera at the nearest beach and take some beautiful 360° shots without a huge investment. However, the appeal of a non-scripted show will likely be less than a scripted version.

Who do you sell this content? Who is the main consumer of it today? Which countries have already adapted to this type of content, both technically and psychologically?

Today it’s mainly sold to VOD platforms that adapted and own a 360° player, or content applications available in App Stores (iTunes, GooglePlay, Occulus Store…).

However, we have many broadcast customers who are now exploring this enormous task. The early adopters are likely to be younger demos, smartphone owners, gamers, and tech friendly people, but manufacturers are doing everything to push it to the mass (the VR Samsung Gear is free if you buy the Galaxy 7). The countries that are the most advanced for this type of content are Canada, South Korea and China.

What changes in technology need to do TV channels to show such a video format? For how far is it an expensive process?

The technology switch needs to come from both side: TV Channels AND the audience. Indeed, the audience needs to be able to navigate in the VR/360° content so people will need controllers to this end. Apple is currently developing Apple TV 4 that will support 360° content, and thus bringing the controller to the public. The other challenge for TV Channels is to bring the VR/360 content to a linear approach, but then again, as I said earlier, everything is to be invented!

What genre is optimal for content VR/360?

There is no optimal genre for VR/360 content, as far as it is creative, but live event capture and extreme sports are pretty impressive right now. To date, we’ve seen higher interest in shorter programs. It’s difficult to expect someone to keep a headset on for more than 30 minutes.

What are the minimum and the maximum value of one such program for the buyer? What is the cost per hour?

The market is budding so the prices are not defined yet.

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Have you systematized you service in some extent? And what thematic are usually used for these programs?

We have categorized our content in 4 genres: Discovery, Sports, Event and Series, I invite you to visit www.vrdistrib.com to watch of few example of our catalog.

How do you think does it have any perspectives during the next 3-5 years? Will it be widely available to ordinary average people over the globe? Will it develop this technology and whether everyone is properly equipped to view VR / 360 at home?

In the next 3-5 years people will be more and more acquainted with the technology, and more and more will have access to it. According to a Goldman Sachs report on VR, the technology adoption curve is following the penetration rate of the smartphone, so you can imagine that it is coming pretty quickly, and video entertainment is far to be the only application of it! You will see VR/360° in education, health, retail, engineering… so basically everywhere!

For what audience is this content dedicated?

(Age, social status…)

It is going to be for everyone but currently it is not yet advisable to be allowed to children less than 13 years old watch VR/360° content for medical reason (brain development).

Are there any contraindications viewing for such video? (Possibly prohibited for people with unstable mentality) The main limitation is the Virtual Reality sickness which is close to the motion sickness. It starts when a disagreement exists between visually perceived movement and the vestibular system’s sense of movement, but it doesn’t affect everyone the same way. A lot of medical studies are being currently run, but as the technology is new contraindications are not defined yet. We must also think of ethical issues with some VR/360° applications such as torture, or military and thus we must always remember Rabelais’ wise words: “Science without conscience is but the ruin of the soul!” Obviously this new virtual reality technology will open new possibility for media business development. It will boost as well the possibility to tell the story more realistically as well to make the audience to believe on it. That is why we can predict a great future to this new segment of media production and hope that this technological step forwards the deep world of virtual reality would be able to make this real world much better and safer place. ▪ Season Screen TV Review

INFOTOY 26X7 MIN, 2015, HD

BEHIND THE SCENES

TO CONQUER THE GREATEST PROJECTS

BEHIND THE SCENES OF “ANY DAY HOLYDAY” FALLING INTO THE SAME TRAPS THE HARD WAY “Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement.” — C. S. Lewis Behind every success there are always many faults and mistakes and the story of our success is no exception. Whatever hard it was we always knew that we have no way to retreat we need to move only forward. It seems that we are so aware of what are we doing just because at the very begining it was extremely complicated to create the production studio which will produce something unique and extraordinary and will not be afraid to differ from all the rest. We are extremely proud to be real professionals at our sphere, especially due to the hard way we have passed and it gave us a solid background and the reason of self-esteem and self-appreciation. We do really appreciate what we are doing; ad now it is the reason of our lives and the star we are permanently oriented by just because the results which we had achieved after all came to us at great cost of many falls.

Large projects always demand loads of time and resources. The team appears to be flounder in chaos with everyone stretched thin. Of course, full immersion into such processes naturally entails sleepless nights and overwrought nerves. Every expert is like a rope-walker, balancing at the edge of his or her professionalism; one wrong step bodes a drastic plunge into the abyss of career failure.

However, gradually, step by step, the thorny path is left behind, and solid ground appears underfoot.

The cherished silhouette of a triumphal arc begins to glimmer ahead in form of a completed project with all its dividends. And believe it or not, the most important thing is not the profit, but the realization of one’s own professional growth.

One would think, this is the end, the project is done, time to rest now. Nothing like that! It is not yet time to relax, but to review the lessons learned and analyze the mistakes made during the process of product creation.

And, take our word for that, there was an improper lot of those! If we do not get to the bottom of all the troubles encountered and forgo drawing appropriate conclusions, we risk falling into the same traps when working on further projects.

Since most of our mistakes were quite common ones, many people and companies may find the tips below very useful. And not only for those who work in video content production, but also for people from totally different industries. The main point here is dealing with long-term projects.

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First, we should tell a bit about the project itself.

“ANY DAY HOLYDAY” is an edutainment animation program of 26 episodes. Each episode, 7 minutes long, tells the adventures of five fairy-tale helpers of Santa Claus traveling through different countries celebrating New Year. One of the main distinctive features of the program is its visual component: all characters and the interiors have been painted by hand in watercolor and then animated using SG technologies. This program is aimed at general target audience.

The project proved to be an extremely rough ride for our team. First of all, it was the first time we worked on something of that scale, and we simply didn’t know what to expect. If not for the atomic efforts of each team member, the project would have been a complete failure. Fortunately, we managed, but at what a price!

The production duration almost doubled, part of the team dropped out, and the ones left kept working on bare enthusiasm, at the end of their tether.

Was the result worth the effort? Yes, of course! After all, no obstacles mean no growth. Furthermore, one cannot form a really strong team without putting it through hell. Put crudely, we did not make the project, the project made us.

In order to grasp the full scope of the issues we had to face, let us go through individual production components, analyzing the mistakes made and identifying the most important aspects that will help to avoid many unfortunate situations in the future.

Season Screen TV Review

BEHIND THE SCENES

GENERAL CONCEPT AND DIRECTING Originally, “ANY DAY HOLYDAY” was envisaged as a collage animation, without main characters or any specific plot setting for each episode.

It was supposed to be a potpourri of New Year celebration customs and traditions from different countries in form of simple collage sketches, something in keeping with the best traditions of Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

However, following another session of brainstorming, we agreed that this idea was rather boring. We had done something technically similar already (see INFOTOY), so, in order to make the program more interesting, we decided to introduce characters that would unite the entire series and create a common visual feature. First, we thought up abstract circles wearing New Year hats without any distinct personalities. Yet, after a number of transformations and “morale building,” we got Santafleas — five little helpers of Santa Claus. Here they are, our beauties: Fatty, Long-Legs, Bully, Oddball, and Mister Fifth.

They made friends quickly, developed their own habits, special traits, mutual affinities, and became the “core” of the entire series. In the end, all 26 episodes focused on the funny and entertaining adventures of the Santafleas, presented in the light of New Year customs from different countries.

Each episode traditionally begins with our characters sitting at home and suddenly deciding to go to another country and help the locals prepare for New Year celebration. And have some fun along the way as well.

The idea seems nice and good. Presence of main characters is much more interesting, both in terms of dramaturgy and marketing. However, we continued to develop the original concept. Inspired by the works of Kharkiv artist Sasha Danilenko, who is currently living and working in the USA, we asked another artist, Vlad Tsvetkov, to help us make the Santafleas alive. The result was funny, detailed, and very far from collage style. And when Denis Voloshchuk, the art director of the project, saw the characters, he immediately suggested painting the entire project in watercolor and forgetting about collage.

The terms and budget were, to put it mildly, absolutely not accommodating, but the team, as if having conspired in advance, were ready to work 24/7 pushing themselves to their limits. As soon as we started working on the first episode, we realized we were in trouble. But it was too late, no turning back! At that time, we could not even fathom that it was just the beginning.

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TO CONQUER THE GREATEST PROJECTS

We had to learn the specifics of character animation, handle enormous volumes of dramaturgic solutions in scenarios, organize efficient communication between designer and animation artist, search for hundreds of compromises in sound,details,rendering,and other issues that kept coming from everywhere. All this continued from the very first day of work and until the very last one.

It also required monstrous time input — we forgot about weekends and got used to calls after midnight or at six am on Saturday concerning certain issues of design or animation.

There was no time to think; we just had to see this through to the end. I’d compare it to a train that is on the verge of breakdown, but repair works carried out on the go do not let it happen. If I were offered to go back and do the project based on the original concept, I’d refuse and leave everything as it is. It is only by trying something new, strange, and scary that you feel yourself growing as a professional and discover new dimensions of yourself.

Pavel Rymkevich — executive producer, Art Director of the project CONCLUSIONS and TIPS: All these problems stemmed from one simple truth — any change in project concept leads to drastic resource costs and technical complications. Increasing the number of main characters results in directly proportional increase of time required by the scriptwriter, director, designer, animation artist, and sound designer to complete the same timeline. Changing design methods means growing the team of designers several times. And then, it is far from certain that you will have enough time, budget, and stress resistance. Yet the most important thing is that it is a challenge for willpower and enthusiasm.

DRAMATURGY When the concept of the program was finally approved,the characters were through and drawn, new issues arose. Now — from scriptwriting.

The first issue concerned searching for information on New Year traditions from all over the world.

One would think our planet is so huge; there are so many countries, peoples, tribes, and ethnicities. And all of them have their own culture, customs, and traditions. Just spin the globe, point your finger at random – and there you have a new subject for an episode. In reality, it turned out to be much more complex.

The truth is that many New Year celebration tradiSeason Screen TV Review

tions are similar in different countries, and some do not celebrate New Year at all. This is due to religious, historical, and geographical factors that have influenced the culture and life of the people. For example, New Year traditions of France and Germany, Cambodia and Myanmar, Bolivia and Peru, although not without differences, are still very much alike. There are so few unique customs between these countries that they simply won’t be enough to make a story, even for a small timeline of 7 minutes. On the other hand, if we were to tell about the traditions of individual tribes and peoples, we would have to carry out major analytic work, dive into anthropologic research, and scramble for bits of necessary information. This was plainly impossible under the set schedule.

The second scriptwriting issue concerned the form. Initially, the program was to be educational first, entertaining second. It was conceived as a New Year video encyclopedia. Interesting facts about New Year traditions from different countries were to be accompanied by a vivid collage video sequence without any clear plot.

However, as characters were introduced and style was changed, visual component came to the fore.

As a result, “ANY DAY HOLYDAY” grew from a simple interstitial program into a hybrid of an educational program and a cartoon. According to the laws of dramaturgy, each historical fact had to be supported by a corresponding scene based on a gag, while creating a counterpoint between the video sequence and the voiceover. Of course, our five main characters came to rescue, each having their own specialty. Yet, bare character traits are not enough for a good story. Besides, we wanted to communicate the atmosphere of every country visited by the Santafleas. Not an easy task, this one.

The most difficult part was coming up with gags for the scenes. First, they had to match certain text blocks.

Second, I set myself a goal – avoid repeating myself at all costs. The problems blossomed somewhere around the 8th episode; I was simply out of ideas! However, several hours of persistent brainstorm with myself and art director gave me a second wind, and the search yielded the necessary result. Since every episode had at least 10 gags on the average, the entire series of 26 episodes provided us with a huge collection of unique gags easily adaptable for almost any story. This was some crucial experience!

Artyom Gordynia — project scriptwriter CONCLUSIONS and TIPS: Having faced and overcome the above-mentioned issues, we have learnt several important nuances to be considered prior to developing scripts for a series.

First of all, when you are thinking through the entire series, try to establish the subject of each episode in advance. Also, collect at least minimum information required to write the script. Otherwise, you risk losing a lot of time on research, and then you will have to choose between writing a good script and meeting deadlines.

Secondly, remember that the number of characters have no influence whatsoever on the quality of the story.

Sometimes, as few as one character is enough to enliven the scene. The more characters you use, the more difficult it is to work with them: each character must act, stay sstrnews.com

in character, and propel the plot. Character’s inactivity immediately gives the sense of something lacking and can spoil even the most interesting scene. Better not to put the character on screen at all, if you don’t know what to do with it.

Thirdly, the pilot episode (or the second one, but not later) is the key episode. It sets the style and atmosphere to be used throughout the series. Work it out with maximum details and attention. It is better to spend five times more time on the pilot episode than deviate from the style as the work progresses and turn the entire series from an integral product into a hodgepodge of different, although similar episodes.

DESIGN AND ANIMATION When we said we were in trouble, we meant first of all design and animation.

This is where all the major issues began.

The idea of going for watercolor seemed excellent at the approval phase, but the implementation turned into all-out nightmare. Of course, drawing ten-fifteen scenes with background, objects, items, secondary characters, and breaking them into layers is a very laborintensive process that requires a lot of time and resources.

Yet we had deadlines, and tight ones. As a result, our designer was physically incapable of managing the amount of work.

In order to save the project, we found several more designers in the shortest time possible. They had to get into the swing quickly and begin to work. This notwithstanding, our newly created design department was still overwhelmed. The only way to remedy the situation was to sacrifice the details in order to meet the deadlines. Over time, thanks to the efforts of our designers, we accumulated a sound collection of backgrounds, interiors, objects, and secondary characters that helped us out more than once. However, the beginning of work was pure hell in terms of design.

Yet, another nasty surprise was waiting for us. We had the video sequence drawn, but now we needed to animate it. Seeing that we switched from collage to character animation, implementation required much more time and efforts. Although our animation department was our largest one, it still couldn’t keep up with the task.

Character animation differs greatly from other types of applied animation, since it requires specific knowledge in the field of directing, scene arrangement, and physiology. Each element of the on-screen set-up must interact with the characters, highlight the story, and place emphasis on the important points.

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BEHIND THE SCENES

Next, we faced another problem that no one could have foreseen. It was the human factor. Animation artists began missing deadlines one after another. In order to escape responsibility, they started to disappear or leave the project entirely. New came in their place. Naturally, we did not have enough time to teach and properly brief them, so many of them simply could not manage the set tasks.

We were faced with a monstrous staff turnover. It was like public transport in rush hour, not an animation department. The problem stemmed from the complexity of the project and the schedule of its implementation.

Furthermore, the budget was already set, and we could not make adjustments. Thus, only someone absolutely desperate could agree to such cooperation conditions in their right mind. Yet, we are overjoyed that we have found such people and they have become a part of our team.

I’ll be honest – I’ve never worked with character animation, so I had to learn as I went. For me, the workflow included looking for necessary motion references, searching for literature and video lessons, which are, fortunately, abundant in our information space. While carrying out seemingly impossible tasks, I have formed clear understanding of many nuances in this animation area. The project made me realize — work, improve, and outdo yourself. This is the only way to grow your professional skills of a motion designer and become a real expert.

Ivan Marchenko — project animation artist CONCLUSIONS and TIPS: Having faced such a load of problems and spent incredible amounts of time and efforts to solve them, we realized that it is better to prevent than cure.

First of all, do not set the bar too high, even if it seems within reach. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t raise it ever.

Just be reasonable about it, pace yourself, and be clear about your capabilities. Creation of a series of programs is a complex process, where schedule is one of the key elements. It is a conveyor that must work without interruptions. Miss one deadline, however slightly, and you are up for an avalanche of blown deadlines. If you set a too difficult task for yourself, you will run out of time to accomplish it. This is exactly what happened to us.

Secondly, never start working on complex long-term projects, if you do not have yet a fully formed team or you are not completely sure in all members. Ideally, you should have some spare experts that can quickly get the hang of the things and begin working in case of emergency. Human factor is highly unpredictable and can let you down at the most inappropriate moment.

A good way to ensure some safety against it (especially if you are working with freelancers) is to sign a sworn written agreement specifying all possible nuances with all appropriate sanctions and penalties.

Thirdly, remember: even if a member of your team does not have enough knowledge or skill, do not panic and search for a replacement immediately. It is much more feasible to train a trusted employee than go for a full briefing with a new one. Besides, the Internet is full of available information and lessons. When faced with this problem in the animation process, we found lots of Internet resources with useful and valuable information: 42 ▪ Issue 6 JUNE 2016

TO CONQUER THE GREATEST PROJECTS

http://www.referencereference.com/ — one of the first resources to assist in character animation. Here you can find loads of motion samples: running, dancing, etc. http://www.biomotionlab.ca/Demos/BMLwalker. html — excellent software for setting various character parameters, such as sex, weight, mood, etc. Furthermore, you can watch each motion from different angles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz4qhRUyPsM — an excellent series of video lessons explaining the main rules of animation. Easy-to-understand style and nice colors. Enjoy! https://vimeo.com/20889371 — here you can familiarize yourself with an interesting technique for character rigging that enables creating pseudo-3D effect. http://animation-ua.com/ru/shkola/master-klassy/605richard-williams — Complete breakdown of the 12 rules of the animation artist with detailed description of many nuances. The course was developed by Richard Williams, a British cartoonist, film and animation director with two Academy awards for Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, for which he has our special gratitude.

DUBBING AND SOUND DESIGN Considering the above, this phase proved to be much more merciful to us.

Of course, it was not free of problems, with never-ending editsand sleepless night of our poor sound designer.

However, the phase went more or less smoothly, since we had learnt from our negative experience and done our best to optimize the process to prevent unforeseen situations. Nevertheless, we still could not avoid certain issues, despite all the efforts of our team.

Initially, we wanted to record all sounds and sound effects for the characters alive, so that they would have their unique voices. Yet, there were five of them, and then each episode had almost as many secondary characters, so the task required additional financial resources, while we had no more. Finally, we had to discard this concept and use the available sound libraries. It led to some serious issues. The thing is, ideally, any cartoon or character animation brims with various special and unusual sounds that highlight the on-screen action and create funny and comical background. Despite the abundance of libraries, we had to spend a lot of time and efforts to find suitable sounds.

For example, we decided to use Chinese rap in a certain scene of one episode. This is no easy task for people situated in Europe. Furthermore, there is the huge issue of copyright. Even were we to succeed in finding the necessary track, we’d have to search for the contacts of the performer, negotiate, sign papers, all the while Season Screen TV Review

making our way through the language barrier and legal technicalities of different countries. Besides, we were restricted by the budget and schedule. In the end, we had to abandon this idea.

The next issue arose from combining the final edit with the dubbing. There are two methods for mixing the dubbing and the video in video content production: either you edit the video to match the dubbing, or you make the dubbing to match the video sequence. Since we were dealing with a part cartoon, part education program, we considered the second option to be more appropriate, although it was more expensive than the first one.

At first, this is how we proceeded: the voice actor received an edited episode with sound design and recorded the text over it, placing emphasis where appropriate. However, by the tenth episode, pressing deadlines left no time to wait for the voice artist to receive a finished episode. Besides, we had to cut the budget due to additional expenses on animation. By the end of the series, scripts were written blindly, based solely on the scenario. As a result, the voice actor had to start working while the episode was still at the initial phase of animation, not to mention sound design and editing.

The voice actor had to rely on the text and timecodes, outlined by our manager in advance. By that time he had gotten the hang of it, since he understood that the project was falling apart and verging on the brink of complete failure if no measures were taken. Furthermore, our voice artist was outsourced from the USA, and the time difference posed a serious obstacle for the workflow.

After all production phases were completed, the dubbing was recorded over the video. This is when we could finally see all the shortcomings: sagging plot, obscured meanings, and weak video sequence. As a result, we were forced to invent laborious workarounds.

We had to make the dubbing match certain moments and, if necessary, amplify it by means of equalization, compression, etc. Only after all the adjustments had been made, we could get down to the long-awaited final episode rendering.

As I viewed every new finalized episode, I was overwhelmed with pride. All the innumerable problems we faced while working on the project showed us who is who. Many people dropped out, unable to bear the stress. As a result, only the most reliable professionals stayed, who believed into the final goal to the last sstrnews.com

and were ready to extend themselves 110%. They also came to the aid of each other, whether the issue was professional or personal. This is the real team, the one that can bring you to unprecedented heights!

Dmitry Martyniuk — project producer and head of the DMart Production Studio CONCLUSIONS and TIPS: As for the most vulnerable points of dubbing and sound design, we should mention the following: Since we were creating the project for the international market, translation was of critical importance. Some ordinary, word-for-word translation was unacceptable.

One should always aim at translation adapted for the specific foreign target audience, taking into account age, style, and slang language features.

Successful dubbing depends to a large extent on the voice actor and his or her readings style. Take great care when selecting the voice and pay attention to the general mood and nature of the program itself.

If the voice actor can bring out the funny side of the text, even the most boring information will be perceived easily and with pleasure. For better reception, order the dubbing from native speakers only. As for the English language, buyers and channels prefer British, not American accent. There is a nice resource https://www.fiverr.com where one can find the necessary voice actor at a reasonable price. Furthermore, most voice actors from this resource are quite understanding of the situations when it is necessary to rerecord the audio. *** In the end, we have only one thing left to say – do not be afraid of difficulties. If the circumstances are stronger than you and you cannot overcome them no matter what, you are simply not there yet. But don’t forget: any growth, personal or professional, is possible only when you face problems and make extra effort to solve them.

In our case, “ANY DAY HOLYDAY” project turned out to be an extraordinary challenge. Yet we persevered and got our invaluable reward – a tight-knit reliable team of likeminded professionals!

May you too find your own treasure on this thorny path! Best of luck! ▪

DMart Production Dream Team Issue 6 JUNE 2016 ▪ 43

1st season — 13x13 min, 2015, HD 2nd season — 13x13 min, 2016, HD or 13x26 min, 2016, HD

SEASON SCREEN TV REVIEW June 2016

Published by MK Media Group DENYS MIKHEIEV General Director & Publishing Director KATERYNA DMYTRIIEVA CEO & Editor In Chief SVETLANA KONAR Managing Editor YANA SEREDA ANASTASIIA KOLOMIIETS Editors ANDRIY BEZHYNOV Design sstrnews.com www.mkmediagroup.tv info@sstrnews.com content@mk-distribution.com www.facebook.com/tv.mkmediagroup www.linkedin.com/company/mk-distribution twitter.com/MK_Media_Group +38 (067) 236-55-73 Ukraine, 03680, Kyiv, 86G Kazimir Malevich st.