Editing Changes Everything: Editors Gone Wild!

What happens when an editor is turned loose on film material without the boundaries the Director sets for the film? Hilarity! Let's start a list of your favorite examples of films that were re-edited to completely change the nature of the original. Here are a few starters (thank you Jeff Piotrowski for your contribution):

Top Gun, as a romantic gay comedy

Mrs. Doubtfire, as a thriller

Big Lebowski Recut

my blog entry on "The Sining" as a romantic comedy

Groundhog Day as a thriller

NY Times Ad: Apple Switcher Cams

With the launch of Windows 7 apple has just gained an unlimited supply of ammunition for their never ending microsoft-bashing campaign. The latest is a great example of a site takeover in which the full video ad is split to two parts: the apple/mac guys talking and interaction with another video panel on the top of the page. Here is the link:

http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/ny-times-takeover-apple-switcher-cams/

"The Shining": A masterful comedy

As advertising models are shattered and advertisers pursue the audience in bold new ways, lets not forget the power of the image. Here is a video I came across that demonstrates how editing can radically change the tone of a film. I present to you "The Shining" (a cult Stanley Kubric horror film from 1980 starring Jack Nicholson) recut as a romantic comedy. This video clip was created by Robert Ryang of ps260 production studios. Enjoy!

Innovation as a Process

I would like to thank my friend, Gary Swanson, of Universal Parks for point me in the direction of a great online speach by author and Carnegie Mellon alum Scott Berkun. Scott was a project manager at Microsoft where he was expected to "deliver" creativity as part of his job.

Over time he studies the success of leading innovators such as Newton, Edison and Van Goghand crytsalized his thought about the difference between the "spark" of creativity that is an epiphany and creative or true innovative thinking as a process. Look at the presentation and gain real knowledge!

My most favorable part of the presentation is a quote by William McKnight, Chairman of 3M:

"As our business grows, it becomes increasingly necessary to
delegate responsibility and to encourage men and women to exercise their
initiative. This requires considerable tolerance. Those men and women, to whom
we delegate authority and responsibility, if they are good people, are going to
want to do their jobs in their own way. Mistakes will be made. But if a person
is essentially right, the mistakes he or she makes are not as serious in the
long run as the mistakes management will make if it undertakes to tell those in
authority exactly how they must do their jobs. Management that is destructively
critical when mistakes are made kills initiative. And it's essential that we
have many people with initiative if we are to continue to grow."

William McKnight, 3M, Chairman, 1948

Visualizations for Music Discovery

Using Visualizations for Music Discovery

View more documents from Paul Lamere.

p>As you probably know, I am very keen on visualization and information design. I recently came across a fabulous presentation on visualizing the history of music. The presentation you see in embedded here was shared by the author, Paul Lamere. You will find in it a brief history of visualization, leaning strong on Ed Tufte's writings and then some great examples of visual representations in the form of trees, maps, time series, connection maps, and more.

The presentation is nearly 240 slides long and gets pretty technical later on when it examines the visualization of aural information. Enjoy!

Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality (also known as total immersive augmented reality) is a term that has been around nearly a decade but recent technology innovation puts the power of AR in the hands of any cell phone user. So what is AR?

AR is the convergence between the physical world and the world of information. It is a class of applications that marry contextual information with location based data so the result is that your computer interface (PC screen or mobile device) delivers a composite that overlays the data world with the real world. One recent example application is GE's "Plug Into the Smart Grid":



With advances in processor speed for mobile devices the complex calculations necessary to deliver the same experience on a handheld device are now a..."reality". Here are a few examples that were recently reviewed by "Fast Company":

1. Yelp has an Easter Egg (hidden feature) in its latest release of the Yelp Application for iPhone 3GS. Walk down a city street and launch Monocle (the name of their hidden feature) and Yelp information is superimposed on the image of the street, including user ratings and restaurant reviews.



2. Trulia (real-estate search site) layers listings on top of the google android's camera image so you can walk around a neighborhood and spot buildings where apartments are for sale/rent. This is one of 150+ implementations on the "Layar Reality Browser" platform:



3. "Tat" is an Augmented ID application which incorporates AR with visual recognition and social networks. In the demo for this application (for Google Android) users can point their phone at a presenter and get links to their profile, facebook, twitter account, etc - all based on the visual recognition established with the service:



How will AR affect marketing?

The capabilities of mobile platforms have significant applications for marketers (as well as security and manufacturing). Here are some ideas for you to consider:

1. Indirect: viral promotion: leverage the buzz around the use of an AR "toy" to draw attention to your product. Embed your product in the AR and let users share their AR screen with other users to leverage the power of community.

2. Direct: Product Demonstrations: I noticed the Lego store in New York has an augmented reality application which displays the assembled product laid out on top of the box. Imagine an animation that shows how easy/complex the assembly is?