Non-Fungible Tokens have been appearing in business journals for the last several weeks, but what are they and how do they work? Non-Fungible Tokens, or NFTs for short, are units of data on a blockchain that represent a particular and unique item.
This item can come in the form of visual art, audio files, items in a video game, or any other sort of digital visual media. The NFTs can be purchased on an NFT market (like Open Sea, Rarible or SuperRare) creating a copy of the original NFT. This allows blockchains to track, verify authenticity, and provide proof of ownership to the purchaser.
How does this relate to the entertainment industry? NFTs were originally intended to commodify digital “fine” art but have now moved into other niches. The gaming industry has been using NFTs to represent in-game assists such as cosmetic costumes or digital properties. NFTs have appeared in the music industry as well with some musicians tokenizing their songs and albums on blockchain.
The film and entertainment industry could start using NFTs as a way to “unlock” content to early adopters or exclusive viewers–especially as the move towards same day streaming releases continues. NFTs could also be used to allow owners to stream content within virtual homes and spaces. What do you see for Blockchain and NFT in the entertainment space? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
Even as the pandemic seems to be abating, exhibitors and film festivals are still innovating. There’s a great article here that explains in detail how exhibitors are turning to VOD (Video On Demand) for sharing films and increasing revenue. Naturally, we recommend you connect with Stream In Cinema and our colleagues at NAGRA for rock-solid VOD solutions that are fully secured and streamed out to more than 50 million households per day. Interested in hearing more? Send us an email here, and we’ll get right back to you!
One year into the Covid-19 pandemic, theaters are beginning to open back up. As of March 22nd, AMC has reopened 52 of their 54 California theaters at reduced capacity in accordance with state and county Covid-19 procedures. AMC has also announced that an estimated 98% of their U.S. theater locations will open at reduced capacity by Friday, March 26th.
With in-person events and theaters returning at reduced capacity, what does that mean for your event? The transition from in-person to online premieres and releases was difficult enough, but now the challenge of managing a hybrid approach to film festivals and premieres arises.
We’ve held our ears to the ground on what’s needed to take these new challenges head on. Stream In Cinema and AutoDCP have the tools to help you Festival Fearlessly. AutoDCP is the only DCP company that can create an OTT and DCP from the same master video so that way you can be prepared for all your events.
They can access the Nagra Go Live OTT platform via browser or on the apps available to Apple iOS and Android. It can then be displayed on a TV via HDMI, Airplay, Roku, or Chromecast.
Each audience member will receive a unique username (their email) and password, which they can use to log in and watch your festival.
We know that it can be time-consuming and tedious to manage information and graphics for all of your filmmakers, especially if your festival is large. AutoDCP and Stream In Cinema make it possible to push much of that work to the filmmakers themselves who can manage their own uploads. This also puts filmmakers at ease, knowing they can update and manage their information at will and they can check it firsthand.
Description, Director, Cast, and poster images are all maintained by the filmmaker on the AutoDCP platform. A filmmaker logs into their account on AutoDCP, navigates to their film and edits the form seen below, adding images and making any needed edits.
As festival organizer, you have constant access to check the media and information if needed.
