dj school live on justin tv

Watch live video from The DJ School on Justin.tv

Myebook - Future Artists behind the scenes

Check out our very first behind the scenes ebook, for our latest film.

Myebook - Future Artists behind the scenes

100 Best Blogs for Film and Theater Students

100 Best Blogs for Film and Theater Students

check out this fantastic resource for 100 best links for film and acting students

Manchester open data city

Manchester Open Data City

FutureEverything is leading the charge to make Manchester an Open Data City. Following the example set by cities such as San Francisco and Vancouver, we are championing a global movement calling for the opening up of publicly held datasets. We are bringing together organisations and individuals through the FutureEverything Festival and Conference to spark change. Through advocacy, artworks, toolkits, development support and public discussion we aim to enable Manchester to become an exemplar of Open Data practice.

The cities in which we exist are vast repositories of information, endlessly collecting and storing. There is a growing movement calling for the opening up of these publicly held datasets to enable meaningful interpretation. This has been lead from a social change and transparent governance perspective with OpenData seen as a way of reengaging a sceptical populace. The potential for more innovative and novel interpretations of this landscape by creative invention, social innovation and scientific intervention is there to be explored.

The opening up publicly held datasets will create enormous benefit for Manchester - its citizens, its digital community, its public bodies and its image. The potential is huge but the challenges are equally sizeable. Whilst most organisations understand the benefits of making this data available, many don't have the systems in place and others don't know what data they hold. It is to this end that FutureEverything will develop ways for organisations to identify and standardise the data for release to the community, and make Manchester a city at the forefront of the OpenData movement.

In the beginning our aim was to make Manchester the UK's first Open Data City. Now we are emboldened by the news that London has taken a massive step towards making its data systems open by creating the London Data Store similar to OpenData initiatives in San Francisco and Vancouver, and we feel that change is inevitable. The FutureEverything Conference will explore the potential and consequence of the move to an OpenData society

Director Mark Ashmore on Broken Britain and his new film

Video Cast from FACEBOOK, Mark Ashmore Director of BROKEN BRITAIN 

telling you how to get involved with the film and where to get the DVD.

Actors Guide to survival - out now £10 + FREE P+P

Watch the trailer now 

Order your copy now... directly from us

Buy securely through Paypal

 

Just £10 including FREE DELIVERY (Worldwide)

"So you want to be an actor? Acting is an insane profession and every summer thousands of graduate students leave the cosy world of education, fame hunters quit their jobs, in an attempt to make a living as an actor."

Acclaimed director/producer Mark Ashmore (Broken Britain, Your State of Emergency) follows actor Jody K, as he prepares for his one man comedy show at the biggest arts festival in the world, the Edinburgh festival.

Follow Jody, half Iranian stand up comic and actor, as he prepares for the biggest run of shows in his career, 28 performances in 24 days. Jody only needs to survive the critics, get an audience, and make sure his stage tech and right hand man Rob is not drunk on the job.

Director Mark Ashmore started his career as an actor, and in this film he captures the drama and the comedy beyond the stage and what it takes to really make it.

So instead of wanting to be an actor, watch this film, get inspired and go put on your one actor show, and show the world what you can do, but be warned you'll have to do everything yourself!!!

Running time: 1 hour Audio: Stereo Aspect ratio: 16x9 letterbox Region: Worldwide

Credits

Director/Producer - Mark Ashmore Editor - Roheen Abdulla Sound Design - Rob Humor Music composed by TheDJschool.org

Starring  Jody Kamali Vivien Taylor

Artwork  www.iainreid.co.uk

Asha media 2009

Related Links

www.asha-media.com www.myspace.com/jodykamali

Video Streaming Eradicates Piracy, Threatens Traditional Distribution

Video Streaming Eradicates Piracy, Threatens Traditional Distribution

 

Video streaming in the US market is quickly eradicating illegal content downloading, but also is threatening traditional packaged sales of music, TV and film, according to the most recent findings from the Global Web Index, a collaboration between Lightspeed Research and Trendstream.

According to the research, watching online video has become mainstream, with almost 70% of US internet users watching video clips, 28% watching full-length TV and video programming and 19% sharing videos. Nearly three in 10 (29%) of US internet users have downloaded free TV shows/films.

US Leads in Paid Music

The global research showed that after South Korea, the US is the most advanced market in terms of the purchasing content online. It has the highest number of internet active users - those who spend more than four hours a day online - that are willing to pay for online content. The results suggest that 39 million internet users have paid to download legal music and 33 million have streamed music through a personalized music platform. In comparison, 28.9 million have downloaded illegally either through a peer-to-peer sharing network or a website offering free illegal downloads.

“Thanks to the rise of online services such as Spotify, Hulu and of course YouTube, the environment has been created where you can stream almost all the content you would ever want,” said Tom Smith, managing director of Trendstream. ” If everything I want is available on demand, the concept of ownership is diminished. I no longer need to have it on my hard drive. I just play what I want when I want.”

Free and Instant Top Factors

Although the US market has less issue with staggered content released and benefits from more legal outlets than do other countries, the lack of legal online alternatives has nonetheless created a market for piracy. However, the research shows that more than half of people downloading illegal media content are not driven by the desire to access it for free. Many are more interested in viewing the content as soon as it is available. While consumers don’t like using peer-to-peer sites to access content, they will use them when they can’t find what they want any other way, the study found.

“This does not mean consumers won’t pay for their online content,” Smith said. “When content is great and it can be accessed when and how people want, they will pay.”

Smith suggests that instead of taking legal action against isolated individuals, content providers should take the opportunity to get their content online in a relevant format and at a fair price. “If they do that, people will no longer seek illegal alternatives. In a world of instant information and content, media owners are missing out on millions of dollars of revenue by restricting content through time delays or by relying purely on traditional media delivery,” he concluded.

Earlier research by Ipsos revealed similar insights about people’s willlingness to pay for music if it is legally available for a fee. It found that though nearly one-third of digital music downloaders and streamers in the US currently acquire songs illegally using peer-to-peer networks, new ad-supported models for music delivery are gaining momentum as an alternative and have helped to cut down on illegitimate file sharing.

About the index: The Global Web Index was created to derive insights on the global impact of web usage and social web involvement. The research involves twice-yearly interviews with 16,000 web users in 16 markets to provide perspective on web behavior and its impact on consumer behaviour, technology involvement, purchasing, content consumption, the effectiveness of marketing communications and the role for brands.

Future Artists Communique 2010

Future Artists – Communiqué

 

‘Without Deviation from the norm, PROGRESS is not Possible’ Frank Zappa.

 

Future Artists are 6 months old!!! – We launched in the middle of the Manchester international festival on July 11^th2009… with two tiny grants from the Prince’s Trust and North west vision and media, Born out of a need, two digital natives

Mark Ashmore and Jenny Inchbald met at a NW Vision and media ‘meet’ the film industry event, only the panel couldn’t answer our questions on digital content?

 

This was the moment we realised that the multi-million pound corporation knew about as much about this as the youtube generation of kids making digital content in the bedroom.

 

Its our revolution so lets cut out the middleman..

 

Future Artists is a digital film studio which use’s a massive mesh network to operate as a hub and a cross roads for a virtual community of over 60,000 people (and growing), we solve problems together, educate, share ideas and support each other, we believe in a reciprocity community, and we also believe in the bottom line.

 

We produce content with our audience, we engage them from the start, and they help us create, build, make and distribute our stories, our remit is to challenge and engage our friends, fans and followers which make up our audience.

 

We are also distributors, and we operate across every platform, from the theatre space to the Twitter tweet.

 

We believe in education through transparency and reciprocity, and play.

 

The past 6 months of us being has seen us collerbate with Shootingpeople on their national cross platform events, international co-production with Spanish producer Manuel Cristobal, and be selected for take 12 by skillset and the UK Film council, and run a series of live event called Future Artists live.

 

2010 is a year of direct action… get involved.

 

Future Artists Live is rolling out nationally in the UK and Ireland, at film festivals, at Colleges and University’s and at Business to Business seminars, with a pool of talent speaking, giving case studies from the Northwest New Wave, we will also be hosting unconferences and workshops.

 

Demand an event in your area/uni/workplace/

E-mail ‘Demand’ to Mark.Ashmore@futureartists.co.uk

 

We will also be releasing 3 Transmedia projects that combine Film with live events, social networking and social change. To get involved all you have got to do is plug yourself into our network.

 

Our website (redesign coming in 2 weeks) http://www.futureartists.co.uk

Facebook fan page http://www.facebook.com/futureartists?ref=ts

Twitter http://www.twitter.com/futureartists

Linkedin http://tinyurl.com/yzkoca5

e-mail list info@futureartists.co.uk

or in person, come to one of our workshops, events, screenings, or pub social’s.

Coming soon ‘Foursquare’ event!!!! http://www.foursquare.com

 

See our projects:

 

Big Boys Don’t Send Postcards : a film by our UK armed forces in Afghan.

http://www.indygogo.com/bigboysdontsendpostcards

 

Secret Cinema and the Northwest New Wave. http://www.northwestnewwave.com

 

Actors Guide to Survival : Doc and live workshop events for actors.

http://tiny.cc/ovrtZ

 

Want to make some cash! Or know of any grants we can fill loads of paperwork in for then let us know, we are open for Investment :

E-mail Mark.Ashmore@Futureartists.co.uk

 

A big thank you to our Strategic Partners, Fixers, and fellow future artists.

 

Panalux, Provision (ITV), InfocusTV, AV Aiplay, NWDA, shootingpeople, for.films, jon Williams, Northwest New Wave, Urbis, Allan McNicoll, smithandsmithPR, Colin Wurhurst, Salford Film Festival, Strasburg Film Festival, Manchester Film festival, Kino, Filmonik, Social media café, Islington mill, Northwest Vision and media, Film Council and Manuel Cristobal

 

Mark Ashmore would also like to say a special thank you to Colin Gore, Mark’s Mentor at the Prince’s Trust.

 

2010 a year of direct action… so get on your dancing shoes…

Actors Guide to survival : Trailer for my new doc Play video on Bing

Broken Britain Play video on Bing

Actors guide to survival at the edinburgh fringe theatre festival

Actors Guide to survival blog – part one

 

The actors guide to survival is a fly on the wall doc following actor Jody Kamali at the biggest fringe theatre event in the world, and details of the film can be seen here, we also thought we would share some info on fringe theatre and the benefits for performers with this blog. Enjoy.

http://www.futureartists.co.uk/actorsguidetosurvival.php

 

Actors Guide to Survival, directed by Mark Ashmore of Future Artists

 

http://www.futureartists.co.uk

 

Get yourself seen at a fringe theatre festival.

 

First step, which fringe festival?

 

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (founded 1947) is the largest arts festival in the world. Though many shows at the Edinburgh Fringe could be considered fringe theatre, its remit also covers mainstream theatre, comedy, music and many other genres.

http://www.edfringe.com/

The second-largest fringe festival in the world is the Adelaide Fringe Festival. The Adelaide Fringe evolved in the early 1970s as a reaction against the establishment and the then 'mainstream' Adelaide Festival of Arts. Today, although two events are now inextricably linked, the Fringe Festival has overtaken the main Festival of Arts in terms of attendance. The Adelaide Fringe is renowned for its innovation, spontaneity and carnival atmosphere, and is widely regarded as one of the best events of its kind in the world.

 

This is how actor and stand up comic Jody Kamali started his career at the Edinburgh theatre festival, with his sell out show ‘Backpacker’ in 2008, from this base he has become one of the biggest stars on the internet,

 

Jody Kamali makes the rest of the male population look like a bunch of clumsy apes." Dave TV

’Funny, warm and authentic’ Omid Djalilli

’Fantastic character comedy’ MTV

’The clown Prince of Persia’ Edinburgh Evening News

’Ridiculously fun’ Three Weeks

’Very funny’ Capital FM

’Inspiring’ The Stage

’There’s no denying the comedians talent and his range of accents are brilliant’ Hairline

’Comedy accent’ The Sun

’Dodgy DIY’ The London Paper

’Really funny’ Scott Mills ’An Internet star’ Evening Standard

 

 

So how did Jody do at his first fringe, well below is his first review of his show, also you can check out the film ‘the actors guide to survival’ directed and produced by Mark Ashmore of Asha Films and Future Artists.

 

http://www.futureartists.co.uk/actorsguidetosurvival.php

 

Review of the show from ‘stage.com’

Jody Kamali’s character-based comedy show is based on his recent trip around Central America.

The actor plays five people he encountered on his travels, and the piece is set in a grimy, cockroach-infested youth hostel in Guatemala.

While some of the characters are carefully observed and have good comic mileage, such as Matt, a Bristolian plasterer, others seem a little forlorn and tragic, while one is simply a crude caricature.

 

It’s not clear what tone Kamali is trying to strike with the show, although there’s a genuineness about the performance which is inspiring.

Filmed interludes with the characters allow Kamali to change costume into a vastly padded nightdress for self-pleasuring food addict Toni or to appear suited and booted as preppy American Roddy.

The pokey performance space is apt for the youth hostel and Kamali usually, but not always, avoids falling into cultural stereotypes. Also, we learn through a photo series at the end who the real people behind the performance are, which is unsettling. Kamali’s performance of them is often far from flattering. It’s an enjoyable show but not if you are one of the people he portrays.

 

Want to see Jody surviving the fringe, check out ‘the actors guide to survival’ a fly on the wall documentary, that follows Jody K with all the dramas on stage and off, more info here

 

http://www.futureartists.co.uk/actorsguidetosurvival.php

reinventing the music business: will artists and fans even need record companies

Reinventing the Music Business: Will Artists and Fans Even Need Record Companies in the Future?

archve from:  http://www.futureartists.co.uk 

The music industry continues to reel from the slow-burning

demise of the major-label system and the meteoric rise of ubiquitous content, peer-to-peer file sharing, and newer, easier ways to produce, promote, and distribute work digitally. Finding a sustainable long-term model for the digital age has not been easy. Recently, musicians, industry leaders, and policy makers gathered to search for innovative solutions at the Future of Music Coalition Policy Summit in Washington, D.C.

"It's chaos, the music industry right now," said Greg Kot, music critic for the Chicago Tribune, during a panel discussion. "But chaos is not necessarily a bad thing."

In the old days, bands signed to a label, recorded an album, and toured in support of it. Nowadays, musicians have the option of signing to a label (large or small), relying on outside investment, or finding the time, energy, and money to manage everything themselves--the do-it-yourself approach. Convincing fans to microfinance their efforts is a fourth possibility, and a bit riskier. Each choice comes with its own set of advantages and disadvantages. Speaking at the conference, Emily White of Whitesmith Entertainment emphasized that what's best for an artist depends on a number of factors, including where artists are in terms of their careers and where they ultimately want to be.

In other words, just because independent musicians now have the power to tap into the global marketplace from their laptops doesn't mean that the "middle man" is obsolete. On the contrary, White pointed out that having to constantly promote and market one's own music takes a great deal of effort and leaves less time to focus on actually making music. It is probably a task better left to others.

Nevertheless, even with an army of publicists behind them, bands need to take advantage of social networking sites to connect with fans, spread the word about their music, and gain support. As a number of speakers and panelists pointed out, social networking is a huge component of a successful promotional strategy that also includes giving away MP3s for free.

Ariel Hyatt of Cyber PR insisted that musicians should view MP3s first and foremost as a method of self-promotion that can lead to other financial opportunities. Music sales form only a small fraction (possibly even the smallest fraction) of a band's revenue. There is greater financial opportunity in licensing recordings (for use in movies, television shows, games like Rock Band, and commercials, for example).

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Legendary band manager and artist advocate Peter Jenner predicted that music sales will never recover now that anyone can effortlessly copy an MP3 file, arguing that music producers need to move beyond outdated industrial models of mass production. The Internet is a communications medium, and actually functions more like a radio station than a large store, he said. In other words, music is a service rather than a product.

The popular European Web site Spotify is one of a small handful of recent start-ups intent on offering music as a service under a blanket licensing system. As co-founder Daniel Ek explained, Spotify offers subscribers the opportunity to stream millions of recordings for a monthly fee. There is also a more limited, ad-supported free version.

Such online music services, which enable users to access virtually any music at any time without having to download it, could render peer-to-peer file sharing--the industry's white whale--a thing of the past. Spotify users can share and collaborate on playlists, there are applications for Facebook and other social media, and the basic interface is simple to use. One music critic has said that it's like having the entire iTunes library on your laptop or phone. So far, Spotify has been enthusiastically received in France, Spain, and the U.K.

There are no gatekeepers, so independent artists' creative output is just as easily accessed as that of those on major labels. Ek pointed out that independent music makes up approximately 25% of what users are listening to. A more even playing field for musicians is one of the great advantages of digital media, but it faces a potentially large challenge.

Net Neutrality

Internet service providers, in the interest of increasing profits, could put bumps in that level playing field, warned Michael Bracy, co-founder and policy director of the Future of Music Coalition and co-owner of Austin, Texas-based independent record label Misra. Bracy noted that ISPs can make exclusive arrangements that direct consumers to certain large, corporate marketplace sites and slow down or even block access to competitors' sites. Some ISPs might offer different tiers of service, where consumers would pay a premium in return for increased options.

The result might be a few large corporations controlling the digital music sphere in much the same way that they have American commercial radio, where independent and local artists face insurmountable obstacles in order to get airplay. Summit speaker Senator Al Franken pointed out that, without regulation, ISPs would have the power to transform a free, open, democratic system into a corporate pay-to-play system where those who can't compete financially simply aren't allowed in. Currently, "a garage band can stream songs just as easily as a multiplatinum super-band," he said, "but recently, business executives from top ISPs have declared their interest in offering prioritized Internet service to companies that can pay for it."

This wouldn't just affect the music industry. Determining what content moves at what speed across servers threatens innovation across the board, Franken warned. And restricting innovation would adversely affect the economy as a whole. In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission is currently working on regulations to keep the Internet neutral.

see how we are doing this in the film industry join our fan page: 

http://www.facebook.com/futureartists?ref=ts

Reform the VRA Act

As a member of the 'North west new wave' we are fully behind this.....

Hi folks, As you may or may not be aware, making films isn't enough these days. It seems that to be a film-maker in the UK, we have to campaign for some basic freedoms which we shockingly do not have. So for not just the right for UK film-makers to sell their own film works, but to also stand up for the freedom of speech and the possibility of DRAMATICALLY increasing the number of indegenous, genuine and relevant films with plots, characters, stories and issues from the UK to become available to you the viewer and resident of this "51st American Film State" I humbly ask, beg and implore you to sign our e-petition. The voices of a film generation are being silenced. You can help us change it by simply adding your name. Who knows, one day you could then legally buy films made under similar circumstances to Mancattan and all the other films being made right now by you, your friends, your peers or perhaps even your children in the future. Thank you, Col http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/unrated18/ 

PLEASE PASS THIS ON - Mark Ashmore, ASHA MEDIA and FUTURE ARTISTS