HITS

When discussing the future of storytelling in the media and entertainment (M&E) industry, experiences in augment reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and the metaverse have to be part of the conversation.

During the Metaverse panel session “The Future of Storytelling” at the Hollywood Innovation and Transformation Summit (HITS) on May 19, a key player in the creation of such cutting-edge experiences discussed the subject with representatives of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Web3 Advisory Council, which is providing guidance and expertise in developing educational content about new technologies, content models and consumer behaviors driven by the next generation of the internet.

Media.Monks is a digital-first marketing and advertising services company connecting the dots across content, data/digital media and technology services that works in partnership with innovators across multiple metaverse platforms, and with leading influencers and celebrities, to create new experiences.

During the session, Eric Shamlin, EVP and global head of entertainment at Media.Monks, provided attendees with details on one metaverse case study.

That case study highlighted how Media.Monks delivered on what represents an “entertainment opportunity in the metaverse,” according to moderator Lori H. Schwartz, an industry consultant who is CEO and founder of Los Angeles-based experiential marketing firm StoryTech, as well as engagement officer for the NAB Web3 Advisory Council.

When we’re talking about storytelling in the M&E industry and “we’re looking at all this new technology for the future, we have to kind of land the plane a little bit,” she said.

While doing some work with NAB Show, “we were really talking about what should M&E companies be concerned about – how do they set themselves up for the future in this crazy world?” she noted.

“We all know there’s a lot of hype with the word metaverse” and non-fungible token (NFT) “being thrown out all over the place, and we’ve all lived through different hype cycles like this. But I think it’s a time where we have to actually be smart and think about what we’re doing,” she said.

That is why NAB decided to create an advisory council “where we bring together a lot of thought leaders who represent different pieces of the ecosystem and start to get them together to talk about what is the industry need” and “how do we move through this,” she said.

Shamlin went on to provide details on the Song Breaker Awards, presented by Logitech For Creators, which has been billed as “the metaverse’s first music award show.”

Logitech’s goal with the program is to “connect with the entertainment industry” and social media influencers and creators, Shamlin noted. Logitech approached Media.Monks several months ago to assist it in the second Song Breaker Awards metaverse presentation on Roblox, he said.

Shamlin went on to describe the virtual world created for the program, which included an interactive virtual theme park where viewers could be entertained in addition to the award show. For the show itself, motion-captured versions of the nominees performed and viewers were able to interact with what they saw, he explained.

As viewers of the program explored the virtual city created for it, they were met with a series of experiences designed to build excitement before the show, according to Media.Monks. Meanwhile, a rollercoaster was designed to look like Logitech mice, which presented one of many ways in which viewers could immerse themselves in the virtual city.

Seth Shapiro, chairman of the NAB Web3 Advisory Council, noted that he worked for Disney as a game producer back when Web1 was introduced and “one of the main issues that concerned senior management at the time was whether the internet was worthy of consideration – whether it would be a game changer for the media industry.” He conceded that “sounds ridiculous if you’re young” now but it was a real concern at the time.

“We’re at another one of those moments where you just have to accept that things happen really slowly and then all at once, and this stuff is going to be the next major issue for our industry,” Shapiro told attendees.

To view the entire presentation, click here.

The Hollywood Innovation and Transformation Summit event was produced by MESA in association with the Hollywood IT Society (HITS), Media & Entertainment Data Center Alliance (MEDCA), presented by ICVR and sponsored by Genpact, MicroStrategy, Whip Media, Convergent Risks, Perforce, Richey May Technology Solutions, Signiant, Softtek, Bluescape, Databricks, KeyCode Media, Metal Toad, Shift, Zendesk, EIDR, Fortinet, Arch Platform Technologies and Amazon Studios.