Submitted by yourname Tanya Vale
AFTRS and X|Media|Lab Host Seminar Exploring the Future of Television and Interactivity
The future of television and its expansion into interactivity will be explored at a seminar hosted by the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) on Tuesday, October 26, 2004 in partnership with X|Media|Lab.
AFTRS Head of Digital Media, Peter Giles said the lunchtime seminar would feature two pioneers in the emerging field of interactive television, Dale Herigstad and Marcia Zellers.
?Our two guest speakers will provide a detailed focus on their work on an enhanced TV prototype they completed recently for the Battlestar Galactica series which was a collaboration between the AFI, Sci Fi Channel, Microsoft, Vivendi Universal Games and Schematic,? he said.
?The prototype is designed so that viewers can watch the television series through a next-generation Xbox console and are able to drop into gameplay mode during battle sequences or explore characters and environments in more depth.
?Television of the future will be interactive - whether accessed through a set top box, free to air broadcast, a personal video recorder, games console or computer. New forms of television are rapidly turning a one-way medium into a participatory experience.?
In an interview last year with Wired Magazine, Dale Herigstad described the project:
?We asked, 'If you watched TV with your Xbox, what would that feel like?' and went from there? We're trying to get rid of the rectangle and move people inside the TV and into the show. We aren't uprooting the story line, and we're not just going behind the scenes as you would with a DVD -- instead, we want the viewer to be plunged right into that scene.?
Details
Date: Tuesday, 26 October, 2004
Time: 12noon ? 1:30 pm
Venue: Main Theatre, AFTRS, corner Balaclava and Epping Roads, North Ryde
Fee: $50/25 (concession) including GST. Discount rate ($40/20) for bookings paid on or before 24 October)
Lunch will be provided after the seminar.
For further information regarding applications email info_nsw@aftrs.edu.au, call the AFTRS Student Centre on 9805 6444 or visit www.aftrs.edu.au
Media information: AFTRS Media Manager Rachel Gleeson on 9805 6629 or 0417 009 694
Biographies
Dale Herigstad has twenty-five years of experience as a broadcast designer and has won three Emmy Awards for his work on three CBS Winter Olympics. He is currently Executive Creative Director of Schematic, based in Los Angeles.
For the past twelve years Dale has worked in the field of interactive user interface design and his client list includes Microsoft, Sony, Warner Bros , Fox, MTV, Turner, Comcast, National Geographic, Paramount and ESPN.
Dale has designed interfaces for interactive TV, the world wide web and emerging wireless networks. Dale is one of the leaders in the development of interactive television and he designed the interface for Time Warner's groundbreaking Full Service Network in Orlando. He pioneered new spatial navigation interfaces for Sony and has directed Enhanced TV applications for CSI, Survivor Africa, Life 360, TCM and Battlestar Galactica.
Dale has taught design, information architecture, and animation at California Institute of the Arts, Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, and UCLA. He served on the board of the Broadcast Designers Association, and is currently on the board of the Interactive Television Alliance.
Marcia Zellers is the Director of Enhanced Television for the American Film Institute (AFI). Now in its seventh year, AFI's Enhanced TV Workshop has produced nearly 50 enhanced TV prototypes. AFI eTV is the gathering place for the American eTV creative and technology communities, and is renowned as the premier environment for eTV exploration and development.
Zellers has pursued the challenge of a cutting edge, consumer-friendly marriage of television and interactivity since she joined MTV Interactive's New York headquarters as a founding member in 1994. As a Senior Producer and Director heading up all MTV's music-related Web strategy, programming and development, creative direction, talent relations, and convergence programming with MTV's on-air operations.
In 1999 Zellers moved to Los Angeles, where she spearheaded Warner Bros. Online's Entertaindom project, one of the Web's then-highest profile entertainment destinations and the first planned broadcast-style distribution model. As Supervising Producer, she oversaw all aspects of the department and helped develop original programming intended for eventual cross-platform and enhanced development.
A published writer and editor Zellers has been a new media consultant for entities like New Line Cinema and composer Giorgio Moroder, and previous to AFI was the Vice President of Web Development and Creative Director for Greater Relations Worldwide, a nascent dotcom.