3D With KC Blake

posted by David Wolf on May 10, 2009 | Comments (4) | Permalink | Trackback URL

KC Blake is the Director of Business Development at the Entertainment Technology Center at the University of Southern California (USC).

The Entertainment Technology Center at USC, founded in 1993 with the help of George Lucas, is a non-profit organization within USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. The ETC brings together the top entertainment, technology and consumer electronic companies to evaluate what consumers really want, which is then translated to the companies that make technology products. The ETC strives to show how technology impacts the next generation consumer, which will improve the consumer experience and will uncover new revenue streams for entertainment-related products. Current ETC sponsor participants include; Disney, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox, Viacom/Paramount, Warner Bros., along with Alcatel-Lucent, LG Electronics, Inc., Cisco, Deluxe Entertainment Services Group, Inc., Lucasfilm Ltd, Sharp, TATA Consultancy Services, Thomson and Volkswagen of America.

KC also heads the ongoing research efforts in the ETC’s Anytime/Anywhere Content Laboratory (AACL) where the entertainment, consumer electronics and technology services industries explore how consumers will interact with high-quality entertainment in an integrated environment. This research identifies consumer trends and opportunities that facilitate cross-industry discussions about today’s reality and tomorrow’s potential digital entertainment offerings.

Prior to joining the ETC, KC worked in content development both as a supervising sound designer on numerous feature films and as the producer of the animated DVD series Junior’s Giants. KC has a BS in Film from Brigham Young University and an MBA from the University of Southern California.

Here are some of the questions we covered:

1. How did you first get involved with the work you now do at ETC?
2. Content is king and digital technology is the way we deliver it. When these companies get together to evaluate and consumer behaviors at ETC, what does that process look like?
3. In terms of consumer preferences—-what’s the most compelling or exciting trend you’re now seeing around the corner—-what would it be?
4. You also head up the research at the ETC’s Anytime/Anywhere Content Lab—-what happens there?—-is this is “alot about mobile”?
5. Let’s talk 3-D. When we think of 3D, that image of those funky glasses comes to mind. How does the new 3D work?
6. Is the 3D Super Bowl ad for Monsters vs. Aliens a sign of the mainstreaming of 3D?
7. What is the future of 3D?

FILED IN: Communication, News & Events, New Thinking, Marketing