15th FICCI FRAMES (Mar 12-14, 2014) A Round-up of activities, Discussions, Glamour, Politics and Fun.

Brands need to be smart to deploy big data analytics

FICCI FRAMES 2014

Mumbai, 14 March 2014: Ratings may not always be perfect, but brands need to use them smartly. This is what emerged from a lively panel discussion on “Measurement Miasma, TVTs, Readerships, Clicks and Such: The Great Love/Hate Epic” at the FICCI FRAMES 2014 convention  that concluded here today.

The panellists comprised Mr Sanjay Tripathy, Sr Executive VP, HDFC Life; Mr Prashant Panday, Executive Director & CEO, ENIL; Mr Partho Dasgupta, CEO, Broadcast Audience Research Council; and Ms Punitha Arumugam, Director, Agency Business, Google India. The session was anchored by Mr Paritosh Joshi, Principal, Provocateur Advocacy. 

The discussions commenced  with an observation by Mr Joshi that media owners do not like measurement. Mr Panday qualified that by saying that media owners like measurement, but they like it to be credible. Data from different sources was often conflicting. In the case of radio in the city of Delhi, one research figure puts the number of listeners as 40 lakh, while the other puts it at 1.4 crores. Common consensus would help in building credibility.

Faced with the question of how the Internet has become the greatest threat to intellectual property in general, and is disrupting all business models of conventional content creators, Ms Arumgum differed. She explained that Google has a monetisation sharing policy with all its content creators. They monetise content in a way that is better than content providers would be able to do on their own. Information about the number of impressions and revenue generated rests with the publisher, but they are willing to look for neutral solutions for this.

Speaking about the dissatisfaction of media houses with the recent IRS figures, the panellists observed that media owners were taken by surprise because of the huge gap that existed between the last and latest research. This indicated that either the previous, or new research was wrong. IRS should communicate what new process they followed to convince media houses that their data is consistent. Data can be believed if there is a gradual change, but when the change is not gradual, it is not believable.

Another factor that is important is sample size. The size of the sample will decide the relative errors. Smaller the sample, greater the error. The community that is involved in buying and selling media inventories is not numerate and does not understand statistical phenomena. They tend to be myopic about the process of validation. They are focussed on the process but do not try to validate the data from external sources. Validation is critical.

In keeping with the times, the audience interacted with the panellists through tweets, and soon a conversation among individual audience members got underway. The session, in a way, reflected the digital environment that the world is moving into.

INK founder and curator Lakshmi Pratury took the stage to kick-off INK Salon at the 15th FICCI FRAMES, 2014The FICCI FRAMES INK Salon was the best thing that happened to FICCI.

The INK Salon featured innovators from different walks of life. From techno-blend dress designers to apps innovators to social Tech evangelists. And each innovation was displayed in fab detail with the audience aaahing and oohing at the sheer out-of-the-box thinking  that these innovators displayed! 

Archie Comics' Nancy Silberkleit, gave us a visual essay about her journey from a homemaker to head of Archie comics and her attempt to transform the crude culture rep to a more socially aware one!

Robin Chaurasiya and her band of extra-ordinary girls from Kranti NGO

CuteCircuit

Company

CuteCircuit is a fashion company based in London founded in 2004 by Ryan Genz and Francesca Rosella. CuteCircuit designs wearable technology and interactive fashion. All CuteCircuit garments are designed by Francesca Rosella and Ryan Genz

Internationally-known fashion house, CuteCircuit, has been pushing the boundaries of wearable technology since its launch in 2004.

A global leader in interactive fashion, CuteCircuit has introduced many ground-breaking ideas to the fashion world by integrating new beauty and functionality through the use of smart textiles and micro-electronics.

The Designers

CuteCircuit is headquartered in Shoreditch, artistic heart of London, where the Creative Director Francesca Rosella, and CEO Ryan Genz are the design duo behind all of CuteCircuit’s amazing creations.

CuteCircuit come with a host of internationally fashionable and fabulous celebrity fans. Most recently, Nicole Scherzinger debuted the world’s first haute couture dress to feature Tweets, designed and created by CuteCircuit. CuteCircuit is also the high end fashion designer of choice for Katy Perry, who has worn their creations at a number of her stage shows and red carpet appearances.


The label launched its Prêt-á-Porter line in 2010, bringing the first-ever technologically infused ready to wear to major fashion retailers.

For more details on the INK innovators do check out http://www.inktalks.com/blog/

The Most Entertaining session at The 15th FICCI FRAMES, 2014, was the discussion on Live Events and shows and the hurdles faced by Event organisers to get their shows LIVE!

The Panelists comprised of Live performers and event mnagement heads including Shailendra Singh from Percept and Sunburn, Vir Das, Gaurav Kapoor, Brian Tellis, Pratap Roy, Terence Lewis . It was an acerbic letting off of hoarded angst and deserved a prize for the liveliest wit of the entire 3 Days of the convention!

The Entertainment sessions received a short in the arm with VIACOM 18 sharing it's IGT talent for the stage performances and they were all little powerhouses from the ages of 7 to 16 performing with nary a care in the world and with a chutzpah that would put even a seasoned professional performer to shame. Followed by  networking dinner and cocktails, the event was a huge success by any standards! 

Awards for best animated films announced

Mumbai, 12 March 2014: The FICCI BAF (Best Animated Film) awards were announced here at a glittering function at the end of day 1 of the FICCI FRAMES 2014 conference. FRAMES is a three day global convention organised by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). It covers the entire gamut of media and entertainment like films, broadcast, digital entertainment, animation, gaming, and visual effects. This is the 15^th year of FICCI FRAMES.

Since 2004, FICCI has been recognising outstanding students and professionals in the animation field. Over the years, the awards grew to include the VFX and gaming fields. Applications come in from all over the world, and the standard gets better each year.

This year, the categories included animation, visual effects and gaming. Out of hundreds of entries, 27 were finally selected. Participants were given the choice of entering in the Indian category, international category or both. The latter option was open to Indian candidates.

As the awardees came up to receive their prizes, they spoke a few words about the effort and passion that they had put into their work. The recognition of their merit came as a well-deserved culmination to months of frustration and inspiration alike. Included among the winners were seven international entries from China, Denmark, the United Kingdom and Ukraine.

The awards function was followed by a grand reception where the conference delegates interacted informally with the awardees. A list of the award winners is attached.  

FICCI BAF AWARDS 2014 - WINNERS LIST

CATEGORY ENTRANT ENTRY TITLE COUNTRY

Animated Short Film - Student [International]

Communication University of China Train of thought China

Animated Short Film - Student [Indian]

DSK Supinfocom International Campus Masque India

SPECIAL JURY AWARD [Animated Short Film - Student]

Ecole Modiale World School; Toon Club For The Love Of A Cat India

Animated Promos [International]

Animagic Special Effects Pvt. Ltd & Toonz Animation India Pvt. Ltd

Swami Ayyappan India

Animated Promos [Indian]

Spellbound Productions pvt Ltd Signature Tune India

Animated Ad Film [International]

Studio Eeksaurus Productions Pvt. Ltd. Rasna India

Animated Ad Film [Indian]

Pratima Pal, Digitalclay Studios

Things your child can learn from the godfather

India

Animated Short Film - Professional [International]

Climb Media KOMAL India

Animated Short Film - Professional [Indian]

Charuvi Design Labs Pvt. Ltd Shri Hanuman Chalisa India

Animated TV Episode [International] M2 Films, Prime Focus Legends of Chima Denmark

Animated TV Episode [Indian]

Toonz Animation India Pvt. Ltd. Pakdam Pakdai - Safari Don India

Animated Video)] Film [Direct-to-DVD [International]

(Home

Framestore Tooned 50 United Kingdom

Animated Video)] Film [Direct-to-DVD [Indian]

(Home

Agaram Infotech Private Limited The Turboosters India

Animated Feature Film [Theatrical Release] [Indian]

Childrens Film Society,India, Paperboat Animation Studios

Goopi Gawaiya Bagha Bajaiya India

---

PRINCE Mobile and Tablet Game [Touch

Screen] [International]

Ubisoft Entertainment Pune

FLAME

OF PERSIA - The SHADOW The

India

Mobile and Tablet Game [Touch Screen] [Indian]

Janmajaya Mohanty BalleBalle Ride India

Cross Platform Game [Indian] 99 Games Online Private Limited Dhoom 3: The Game India

Social Game-Online/Mobile [International]

7Seas Entertainment Limited BLOB BROTHERS India

VFX in a Commercial [International] Framestore Galaxy 'Chauffeur' United Kingdom

VFX in a Commercial [Indian] FutureWorks Media ltd Royale Touche India

VFX in a Motion Picture [International]

Framestore Gravity United Kingdom

VFX in a Motion Picture [Indian] Redchillies.vfx Krrish 3 India

VFX Shot of the Year [International] Framestore Gravity United Kingdom

VFX Shot of the Year [Indian] Redchillies.vfx Krrish 3 - Building Destruction India

VFX in a TV Episode [International] Film.UA Production, Postmodern Inseparable Ukraine

VFX in a TV Episode [India] RDP Television, Prime Focus 24 Series India India

Open Category

ITG- MORPH (India Today Group - MORPH Information Technologies )

So Sorry India

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Experts throw light on IPR and copyright issues Mumbai, 14 March 2014: Should the intellectual property or creative content be barred from widespread dissemination to protect the hard work of producers, or should it be freely spread around the world in a global economic era that often doesn’t have boundaries? These and similar questions were discussed at a panel discussion on “Intellectual Property, Piracy and the Creative Industries” on the third and final day of the FICCI FRAMES convention being held here. The session, anchored by Mr Vishnu Som, Editor and Senior Anchor, NDTV, highlighted issues around intellectual property and the dynamics of its ownership in an industry that is rapidly becoming characterised by multiple content distributors over multiple delivery platforms. Present on the panel was Dr G Raghavender, Registrar of Copyrights, Government of India. He spoke about the Copyright Amendment Act, 2012. The amendments were designed to extend copyright protection to the digital environment in harmony with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Phonograms Treaty, 1996. The bill introduced exclusive economic rights for performance, and, for the first time, moral rights for performers. But Mr Deepak Jacob, President and General Counsel, Star India, differed in his view about the bill. He said that it had a fundamental problem: Of the five key stakeholders that come under copyright, viz. the print , film, television, radio and animation and gaming sectors, not a single one was consulted when these amendments were proposed. They were proposed at the behest of certain vested interests, primarily authors of literary and musical works, and certain performers. The amendments have actually created an impasse in the film and television industry, where authors have become trade unions holding film and television producers and content creators to ransom by demanding exorbitant royalties. Mr Ameet Datta, Partner, Saikrishna & Associates, felt that the statutory requirement that when government evolves policy, it will focus on multiple stakeholders, is a positive development. Yet, there was bound to be friction between the expanding numbers of stakeholders and levels of dissemination; he suggested that involuntary licensing could provide industry with seamless access to works.  He also flagged up the issue about the biggest brands being advertised on pirate websites.  “The dumber you act, the less responsibility you will have,” is what the law is suggesting, said Mr Nandan Kamath of Copyright Integrity International. The laws need to take  ripple effects into the monetisation of content. Piracy itself is not well defined, and has lots of grey areas. Ms Annie Luo, Director, Media, Entertainment and Information Industries, World Economic Forum, discussed about her work on intellectual property in the digital context, that identified cultural differences as an element affecting how people related to the digital media. Mr Benoit Ginisty, Director General, FIAPF, felt that it was important for producers to enjoy full contractual freedom to produce films and robust operate in a high risk financial environment. Questions from the audience revolved around who in a team would be the “owner” of a script, how young people could be educated about piracy, and when permissions were needed to use content.

Creating and developing characters critical aspect of film franchise: Abhishek Bachchan 'Make a franchise to tell a story, not to cash in on the success of a brand'

Creating and developing characters critical aspect of film franchise: Abhishek Bachchan

'Make a franchise to tell a story, not to cash in on the success of a brand'

MUMBAI, March 13, 2014. Mr. Abhishek Bachchan, renowned Film Actor, associated with the 'Dhoom' Franchise for the past 10 years and Mr. Vijay Krishna Acharya, Director of the third the most successful film franchise 'Dhoom' in India, which broke the box office records of many films, deliberated on 'Making of a Successful Film Franchise', on Day 2 of FICCI FRAMES here today.

Mr. Bachchan said that characterization was one of the most critical aspects of a franchise as the characters needed to evolve with time and must take a natural course while doing so. He admitted that a lot of deliberations take place to develop the growth of characters.
 

For him, he said, every project was an independent piece of work. Hence, working in a franchise such as 'Dhoom' and 'Sarkar' is no different from working in any other project. Mr. Bachchan added that 'Dhoom' franchise owed its existence to the success it garnered, the film almost doubled its collections with every franchise.

Speaking on performing the stunts, Mr. Bachchan said that he usually preferred to perform his stunts himself. However, he added, that there were some stunts that he had performed in Doom himself 10 years ago but with the mandatory insurance of a film and actors, he was not allowed to perform those stunts in his latest 'Dhoom' franchise.
 

Mr. Acharya who directed the third installment of the 'Dhoom' series and was actively involved in the making of the earlier 'Dhoom' versions, said that  a franchise should be made only if there is a story to tell and not just to cash in on the success of the brand.

He said that for creating a successful franchise, innovation and creative content was a necessity. The viewers must be told a story that is new and carries a fresh approach.
 

The session was anchored by Ms. Bhawana Somaaya, Journalist, Author and Critic.

Lack of privacy literacy high among digital natives, say experts

 Lack of privacy literacy high among digital natives, say experts

Mumbai, 13 March 2014: Experts at a panel discussion on “Internet and Democracy: Interloper or Catalyst?” at the FICCI FRAMES 2014 convention here today cautioned that internet privacy was misunderstood.  While businesses in general were not interested in mining data that was not relevant to their sales, customers were reluctant to share their details largely so that they would not be spammed. It was important for website developers to showcase their privacy policy properly. This has implications for youngsters’ relationship with Facebook and Twitter after they realise that potential employers have access to their posts. In this regard, the panel felt that there is a lack of privacy literacy especially among young people. They seem unable to interpret the privacy policies of the various platforms. Even if they can interpret the policy, they are cognitively not yet adept at understanding its implications. Hence it is important to develop privacy literacy in the social media age.

The panellists included Roger Fisk, PR Expert , President Obama’s Campaign; Chetan Krishnaswamy, Head, Public Policy and Govt Relations, Google India; Suparna Singh, Director of Strategy, NDTV, and Managing Editor, NDTV.com;  Ronak Samantray, Founder, NowFloats.com; and Mike Best, Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Harvard University. The session was anchored by Jon Sopel, Senior Anchor person, BBC Global News.

Mr Fisk described the internet as something that amplifies human nature. As a tool, it allows organisations to have a dialogue with people and be transparent. In their first election campaign, they gave people the tools to self organise and personalise their involvement in the campaign. It was the first time that an American campaign had opened up its web page and allowed people to come online and personalise their involvement in the campaign. The second campaign saw a shift from the desktop online existence to a mobile online existence. The campaign managers had to create the tools to adapt to that transition.

Mr Krishnaswamy  described the story of the growth of the Internet in India. This growth led to a lot of opportunity. With four million users coming online every month, almost all of them on mobiles, the mobile is now the real tool of empowerment. Future users would largely be from the non English speaking populace. Already, language websites are growing faster than English websites. As far as the government is concerned, there is an increasing belief in connecting with the average citizen through the Internet. “Poverty is linked to information poverty,” he said, “and this is believed by the government too.” The Internet has great power and it can only make democracy a better social catalyst, he felt.

But the Internet still has very limited exchange of actual opinion or dialogue, in the view of Ms Suparna Singh. She felt that India is one election away from the social media becoming an apparatus of change. Presently it is mainly a platform for crowd based anger and there is a marked reluctance of prime ministerial candidates to appear on a ‘town hall’ and take questions. Politicians still talk ‘at’ people, not ‘to’ them. The Internet would have more relevance during the next election, she predicted.

Mr Samantray discussed how his company had helped businesses tap into the power of the Internet through simple sms. While regular businesses update their sites once or twice a year, sms messages are updated about four times a month because they are simple.

“We have been focusing on elections and election monitoring,” said Mr Mike Best. Describing how they began in 2011 with the Nigerian election that was a ‘make or break’ election much like the present Indian election, he discussed how they analysed, flagged and tagged reports for electoral irregularity using Internet tools. They are now keen to explore ways to ensure free and fair elections in India.

There was time given to the audience to interact with the panellists, and questions revolved around harmonisation of Internet laws globally  to verification of data.

FICCI –Frames 2014 opens in Mumbai ; Digitization has ushered in a new era in broadcasting, says I&B Secretary

FICCI –Frames 2014 opens in Mumbai ;

Digitization has ushered in a new era in broadcasting, says I&B Secretary

 The annual mega event of the media and entertainment industry – FICCI Frames 2014, opened in Mumbai today, with calls for recognizing the role of media industry as a potential economic growth engine. The theme of the three day meet is “Media and Entertainment : Transforming Lives’. A broad spectrum of issues covering films, broadcasting – both television and radio,  digital entertainment, animation, gaming, visual effects, etc. would be discussed and deliberated over the next three days.

 

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, the Secretary, Information & Broadcasting, Mr Bimal Julka outlined facilitation initiatives taken by his Ministry for the development of broadcast and film sectors. He said, the digitization process that is being extensively implemented in India, would promote transparency and usher in a new era in broadcasting. “The biggest gain of digitization is going to be transparency in the broadcasting sector which will increase investments, including FDI inflow, encourage cleaner and innovative businesses and above all give consumers a choice of a-la-carte channels” he added. Mr. Julka said, the first 2 phases of digitization have been successfully completed in 42 cities, and over 30 million set top boxes (STBs) installed. Another 110 million STBs would be required to complete the digitization process in remaining two phases.

 

The I&B Secretary also spoke about the need for a credible television rating system in India. He informed the media and entertainment fraternity that the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has brought out a comprehensive regulatory framework in the form of guidelines for television rating agencies in India. He however, underlined that self regulation by the industry body is the best option in so far as TV ratings are concerned.

 

In his opening remarks, Mr. Uday Shankar, CEO, STAR India said the media and entertainment industry grew by 12 per cent in 2013 despite economic headwinds and added “it is a testament to the tenacity of the industry.” He said the media industry and the government, despite holding adversarial positions due to their very nature, must form constructive partnership to further economic growth and social development.

 

The key-note address was delivered by Ajit Pai, the first Indian-American to be appointed Commissioner of the Federal Communication Commission of the United States by the Obama administration. Pai spoke about balancing regulatory framework and promoting creativity and free speech.

The FICCI-KPMG Indian Media & Entertainment Industry Report 2014 was released at the inaugural ceremony.  The report says, the Media & Entertainment Industry registered a 11.8% growth during 2013. The size of the M&E industry in India has touched Rs 91,800 crores, up from Rs 82,100 crores during 2012. Television industry accounts for 45% with Rs 41,720 crore revenue, followed by print at Rs 24,310 crores. In terms of year-on-year growth, however, the Rs 3,000 crore digital advertising (38.7% growth) and Rs 2,000 crore (25.5% growth) gaming sectors lead the way.

 

More than 2000 Indian and foreign delegates encompassing the entire media and entertainment sector are participating in FICC-Frames 2014.  Australia is the ‘partner country’, while Karnataka is the ‘partner state’ at this year’s summit.

 

Self regulation best option for TV ratings: I&B Ministry(FICCI FRAMES 2014)

Self regulation best option for TV ratings: I&B Ministry

Mumbai, 12 March 2014: The government has recently notified TRP guidelines that cover a detailed procedure for registration of rating agencies, eligibility norms, terms and conditions of registration, cross holdings, methodology for audience measurement, complaint redressal mechanisms, sale and use of the audit, disclosure, reporting requirements and action against non compliance. This was disclosed by Mr Bimal Julka, Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, at the opening of the 15^th FICCI FRAMES Conference here today.

FRAMES is a three day global convention organised by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). It covers the entire gamut of media and entertainment like films, broadcast, digital entertainment, animation, gaming, and visual effects. About 200 Indian and overseas speakers will address nearly 2000 Indian and 800 foreign delegates from the media and entertainment industry. This year marks the 15^th anniversary of FICCI FRAMES and assumes importance since it comes just before the general elections.

In his opening remarks, Mr Uday Shankar, Chairman, FICCI Media and Entertainment Committee and CEO, Star India, complimented the FICCI team for putting up such a spectacular show. He expressed happiness that the media had recorded a growth of 12 percent last year, amidst an environment of gloom and doom. That is a testimony to the tenacity of the media, he said.

Mr Shankar also described media and entertainment as key to the inspiration of one billion Indians, and hence felt that an event like this was extremely important, especially since it took place at a time leading to the elections. The industry had run through its course of exploiting the first set of economic reforms in 1991. It now faces a complex set of economic and social choices, including the role of the government and private sector. He was of the view that no relationship is more important than that between the government and the media, since they are conditioned to be adversarial. Hence these weeks before the elections call for a rethink of their respective roles.

“We are of the firm view that self regulation by the industry is the best option as far as TV ratings are concerned,” said Mr Bimal Julka. Delivering the vision statement at the inaugural session, he announced that the Indian Broadcasting Foundation had set up a Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC)) High Table and was going ahead with appointing a rating agency. He urged BARC to speed up the process so that ratings may be generated without delay. He described the issue of TRPs as critical for the broadcasting sector and said it had been under discussion for the last few months.

Regarding FM radio, Mr Julka said that the ministry’s policies had ensured vibrant growth in the sector, with 245 FM channels launched in 86 cities since 2005. The third phase of FM auction for 839 channels is currently underway. He also discussed the challenges facing the sector, including complete digitisation throughout the country, rationalisation of taxes, control of vertical monopoly and cross holdings and content monitoring. Mr Julka also announced that the National Museum of Indian Cinema in Mumbai is ready for inauguration and the first phase will be dedicated to the nation very shortly.

Mr Ajit Pai, Commissioner, FCC, USA, was the guest of honour at the event. He began on a personal note, describing how his parents migrated to the US in 1971 and taught him the value of hard work and sacrifice. As a child growing up in the US, he found it difficult to communicate with his grandparents back home because there were no phones, no email and no YouTube. Today’s world is unrecognisable from those days, he observed.  Thanks to technology, families that are separated geographically feel a lot closer today than they did in the ‘70s.

Mr Pai was clearly of the view that regulators must not impose their preferences on others. It was the role of the marketplace to sort success from failure. Describing the phenomenal progress made by the entertainment and media industry in America, he said that this progress happened not by government fiats, but because the private sector took risks to innovate, spending over one trillion dollars on upgrading and deploying core broadcast infrastructure. The US Government created the regulatory framework for the industry to take these risks. That is the story behind their success.

FICCI Frames always has a partner country and a partner state. This year, the partner country is Australia, and the partner state Karnataka. Mr Patrick Suckling, Australian High Commissioner to India, delivered the Partner Country Keynote Address.  He felt that Australia’s film credentials are not as well recognised in India as they should be. His country has won about 50 Oscars, out of which three have been this year. The industry is adept in both front and back end cinema quality. There are four major production houses, with modern infrastructure, technological expertise, and post production, animation and music facilities. Australia is famous for its locations, and he called upon Bollywood producers to consider shooting in Australia. He also announce that Australia’s interests go beyond film making to education, and can make a good contribution to Indian film institutes. However, there still remain areas of mistrust and lack of understanding between the two countries, and these must be addressed through interaction.

Karnataka, the partner state, was represented by Mr Srivatsa Krishna, Secretary, Department of IT, BT & ST, Government of Karnataka. In a dramatic multimedia presentation, he showcased the state-of-the-art  facilities available in Karnataka, and revealed that many famous Hollywood film sets were actually created at Whitefield in Bengaluru. He invited Indian and international film makers to take advantage of the facilities offered by his state.

Mr Harshvardhan Neotia, Vice President, FICCI, welcomed the gathering to the three-day event and Mr Ramesh Sippi, Co-Chairman, FICCI Media and Entertainment Committee, delivered the vote of thanks. The session also saw the release of the FICCI-KPMG Report and the FICCI Amarchand Lawbook. The entire session was anchored by Dr A Didar Singh, Secretary General, FICCI.