Re: FLASH: FlashForward 2000 response? (astounding turn-out)

[Franke James]

Joe Sparks wrote:

>Flash Forward 2000 was astounding, if only for the special, high-powered

>turn-out...I met people from Sony, FOX, Disney, many others


Hi all,


Joe's summary is closer to my experience as well. It was far and away the

best trade show I've attended. 


I was there as an attendee (flash artist), and also to write an article for

the advertising trade. I spoke with people from NBC, Disney, Macromedia,

Shockwave, independent producers, animators and lots more. The people I

spoke with we're totally pumped about the opportunities they were facing

thanks to Flash software. There was a hunger and impatience to soak up

everything at the conference and then go back to the drawing board and play

with the new concepts. 


For Flash artists, this fleeting moment in time is our window of opportunity

to leverage our creative skills to our best advantage. It's not going to

last and we have to move fast to position ourselves for the best

opportunities. Just looking at one segment -- Flash artists who have

animation skills -- we can now create cartoons, characters, stories etc.

that compete with Tim Burton, SouthPark, StanLee, Michael Lipman and even

Joe Sparks. Those characters can then be spun off into merchandising

opportunities. Talent is the start button.


The flash film festival gave me a better perspective on what's out there,

and what other people like (you come up against your own taste barriers!). I

played spot the "fashion" flash trends: Who's hot? Who's not. What style is

overused? What's popular? Why? What "licks" and gimmicks to avoid.


The one thing that was missing for me (and I'll be writing Lynda about it)

was a sharper business focus. I wanted more information on how the licensing

deals are being put together. Natalie Zee's presentation (from USweb/CKS now

MarchFirst) was billed as "Selling Flash to Your Clients". She gave a nice

presentation of their San Francisco Airport website but she completely

sidestepped the issue of billing. In response to someone's question "How do

you charge the client?" she responded with wide eyes, and a flip of her hair

that she was just a designer...Yeah, maybe she's not privy to that info (or

didn't want to disclose it), but let's get someone who WILL speak to the

realities of Flash artists everywhere. We need to know how to be better

business people, understand licensing, syndication, and use the ins and outs

of copyright to cut better deals for ourselves.


The FlashForward conference was a resounding success as far as our company

is concerned. 


See you in New York,



Franke



The James Gang [art+tech]

http://www.jamesgang.com

416-256-9166

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