On a more pure social collaboration level, Stage 32, a new site for filmmakers, screenwriters, actors, crew, agents, etc., is quite live and active, with over 10,000 members in more than 120 countries.  While getting funding is part of what the site enables with networking, it’s also about casting, getting crew, finding directors and classes, and just getting advice.  We love the registration via Facebook and how easily it’s integrated there.

The founders of Stage 32 are in the filmmaker’s corner.  The two are Richard “RB” Botto, a screenwriter/actor/producer and Curt Blakeney, president of Edge Public Relations.  They’ve made it a very personal experience, with your home page containing all the things you have added and want to add, suggestions of networking, wall communications.

We’ll be watching in the months ahead to see how it grows, but it’s certainly active, with multiple projects being added at all hours.  Any social network is only as strong as the socializing it attracts, but the tools are here on Stage 32 for filmmakers to connect in meaningful ways — not just in a contest.

We have a couple upcoming projects that we’re very excited about and can’t wait to share with you. But before we dive into those, I’d like to introduce myself as the newest member of the UC team. My name is Adam and I’m going to be helping out with anything and everything that the head honchos are too busy for.  Born and raised on the west side, I am a true product of Los Angeles. Having just graduated from the University of Arizona with some amazing work and cultural experiences, I am eager to hop on the bandwagon of UC success.

But enough about me, let’s get you guys up to speed. Our latest project involves the psychedelic hipster band known as Empire Of The Sun. If the name doesn’t ring a bell, just listen to their hit single “Walking On A Dream”.  If that still doesn’t ring a bell, get with the times. Having just saw them at Coachella a few months ago, I can assure you that these guys are going to be around for a long time and have some major influence on the industry. They’re known for their unique sound, mysterious and psychedelic stage presence, and their funny costumes. Put it all together and they’ve got what we like to call swag.

So we’re giving you guys a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet the band in two different areas of the world. One lucky fan will get the chance to be flown to Los Angeles in October to meet the band and attend their sold-out show right in the heart of Downtown LA.  Our second lucky winner will have the same luxury however this time the show is in Melbourne, Australia. Sounds like a good deal to me. Here is a link to the contest and a little promo clip that we made to help you guys get pumped up for what could be an awesome weekend getaway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XRgXMWdioRs

So what were these drastic changes that turned the world upside down for a few days? In their effort to take over the world, Facebook added a few applications to make the site more efficient and competitive. Their new system of “Top Stories” and “Most Recent” posts  makes it easier for users to block out the people and or business’s that they don’t wish to read as often. It introduced a “Live Feed Ticker” to compete with Twitter, giving you an updated feed of what everyone is doing at all times (as if Facebook wasn’t already creepy enough). It has an application to check-in to locations to compete with Foursquare. They’ve also integrated Hulu, Spotify, and Yahoo News so that friends can watch movies, share music, and stay up to date on news stories with each other. These are just a few changes in the first wave of things to come.

While these changes may have a temporary effect on consumers, they will have a much stronger effect on brands.

The “Like” button will play a much smaller role in publishing content. Previously when a consumer “liked” a photo, video, or post on a brand’s page, it would be displayed on their page so that all of their friends could see this. This is no longer the case, giving brands less of an influence on Facebook. Furthermore, consumers now have the ability to decide what they wish to mark as a “top story”. Facebook algorithms can now use this information to filter out stories over time that seem of no importance to the user. This puts much more pressure on brands to come up with creative and engaging content. The more clicks and interactions a brand has with its fans,   the more top stories that brand will have with that specific user. This sets the foundations for better brand relationships.

On the upside, brands also now have the ability to promote a specific post, not just the most recent. This can be highly effective if they are trying to reach the widest audience possible with something that is extremely important to them. Previously, messages only reached 5-20% of their fan base. With this feature, they have the potential to reach everyone.

It is human nature to complain about something new. But the fact is that we use Facebook so much that three weeks from now our attitudes will have changed and we will have gotten used to the newer, sexier Facebook that replaced our ex-girlfriend.

Then, a while back, an amateur historian/real estate agent came across 30,000 of her negatives, got sucked in by the sheer awesomeness of her work (and it is awesome, in the truest sense of the word), became obsessed, and tracked down another 70,000 of her completely unseen photos (as well as some of her hats and shoes). If have time for the longer story, I highly recommend you take the nine minutes and forty seconds to watch the segment, though you could always just wait until they do an award-baiting meta-biopic about the whole thing.

After watching the segment, I was scanned through the website her archivists have put together for her, and the work is truly, unambiguously remarkable. Like, 15 years from now, 1 out of every 2 artsy college kids will have a poster of one of her photos up in there dorm room remarkable. Take the time to check the video.

The second half of the episode features innovator Jeff Linnell of Bot & Dolly, a local production company that specializes in using robotics in advertising.  Combining crowdsourcing and digital art, their  Halo “Reach” project is one of a kind: it required specialized software to be built to translate interactive data from web users into plotting points, as a robot laser moves and is read by cameras to create a 3D monument of light. Their work on the  Louis Vuitton Journeys campaign is another highlight, which uses their bots for  fancy camerawork and other-worldy shots.

Urgent’s team has been working with GOOD magazine + Ford to produce a series that follows a journalist across the country to interview some of today’s most influential innovators, stopping in NY, Austin, SF, LA, and Detroit.  The latest installment in the Edge of Progress tour takes place in Austin, a city that is big but still has a lot of potential for growth.  MacKenzie Fegan chats with artist William Hundley during one of his photography sessions for his latest project, Entoptic Phenomena, that involves capturing a moment as if it is frozen in time. It’s really cool to see actually see the artistic process that goes into making these images that are both beautiful and eerie at the same time.  My personal favorite of Hundley’s work is his “w/cheeseburgers” series (see above), where he puts random objects on top of big macs. The other Austin innovator, Thomas Chen of Bercy Chen Studio, invites William into one of the homes he has designed.  His architecture and urban planning firm is committed to collaborating with clients in identifying a uniquely modern design solution, and creating designs based on environmentally sustainable models.  Check out some of their environmentally sound and sustainable project features here.

Urgent Content teamed up with Good Magazine and Ford to produce the Edge of Progress Innovator Sessions. Here’s the first video of the series profiling two innovators in New York City: food blogger/writer/rooftop gardener, Cathy Erway, and metal worker/artist, Josh Hadar. Check out the vid and see what they had to say…

Name: Chris Martz

Job: Motion Graphics Artist / Interactive Designer

Favorite food: Bojangles Biscuits

Weapon of choice: Wacom Pen

Craziest moment of the past year: Probably pulling multiple all nighters in a row working on commercials with Autofuss.  The team over there is totally awesome and really taught me that despite how technically hard a project can be, working with the right people can make it okay.  I gotta give a big shout out to Jeff and Randy and everyone over there for really pushing creativity and innovation while making TV commercials and dealing with agencies.  Also, their team looks really good, which is really important when you have to spend 10+ hours a day with people.

The exact moment was on the 2nd or 3rd all-nighter we just started playing the song “Sandstorm” by Darude, and blasting it. No one actually likes that song, but it gets you hyped and is probably one of the first things I downloaded on Napster when I was in middle school.

I was gonna say JAMNESIA Festival in NC but I blacked out and don’t remember alot of it.

What are you currently working on?

I am designing and building a site for a sound design company Super Fuzzy in LA and doing freelance motion work for some smaller studios and my friends.  I also DJ with my friend Paul Goerner (Magic Places) and make electronic music under the name Manatee.

Links: Website / Vimeo / Twitter

Reel:

Tonight marks the night we will welcome Conan back to late night.  Following his departure from NBC, the premiere on TBS is sure to be a special one, especially considering the promotional content that’s been created around his debut: Also airing tonight will be a new American Express ad starring Conan in a clever spot set in Mumbai, India.  I loved watching him bumble around a foreign country in a setting where he looks especially oversized and awkward.  There’s also Danger Conan, another promotional vid for tonight’s premiere, where Coco drives a Dodge Dart full of 80 pounds of C4 off of a cliff.  He says, “Watch my show…or don’t,” with the same casual attitude from his tweet from earlier today, “I feel like I have something to do tonight that I keep forgetting.” With almost 2 million twitter followers and so much online promo material (see also:”The Pale Whale” logo here, Conan seems to have a sizeable grasp on his social media outlets.  Tonight’s lineup features Seth Rogan and musical guest Jack White, along with a third “surprise” guest that viewers will decide on from a list of ten, narrowed down to 3 by Conan in his guest poll update.  Fingers crossed for Jack Nicholson!

I missed out on the YouTube Play live webcast last night (Giants game), but I’ve been going over some of the clips today and it looks like the event was pretty amazing. We’ve already started acknowledging the talents of creators on YouTube, but getting the Guggenheim involved kicks it up a major notch. I’d happily explain the event to you in more detail, but I suggest watching this video with cool people like Andy Berndt (VP of Google Creative Labs) and Nancy Spector (Chief Curator of the Guggenheim), plus epic jurors like artist Marilyn Minter and uber-designer Stefan Sagmeister. Also check out the crazy projections that were set up for the event in the second video. Don’t we all wish we had a Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece as our projection canvas?

See more videos here.