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MovieLabs - Advancing the Flow of Consumer Media
The Challenge
Over the last ten years the rapid evolution of technology has dramatically affected the way content is created. We have all been witness to the increasingly amazing use of computer-generated effects in blockbuster releases. Entire new genres of content have come to life as a result.
More recently, technology is having an equally massive effect on the way creative content is distributed, sold, and used. From a business perspective, the tried-and-true business models of the past are giving way to a rapid proliferation of untested new business models and opportunities. From a consumer perspective, the existing platforms are being joined by new technologies granting portability, flexible playback, huge selection, and new uses like consumer-generated content.
Tagging along with this change is the equally rapid growth of piracy. Piracy is fueled by the same new technologies that stand to revolutionize the future of creative content. Left unchecked, piracy can prove fatal to the fledgling means of digital distribution that could offer unprecedented new value to mainstream consumers. The etiology of piracy can often be traced to unfulfilled consumer demand and unsupported leading-edge use.
The Vision
MovieLabs charter is to lead the evaluation, introduction and development of key distribution and usage technologies that may be critical to the studios and broader media market. This includes championing novel, game-changing technologies as well as ensuring that key technologies that are orphaned, under-appreciated, or in need of a catalyst are not overlooked.
Distribution, consumer use, and piracy all stand to benefit from the incorporation of new technologies. It is our vision to reduce this randomness. We foster the development of new technologies which selectively amplify this effect on healthy distribution and legal consumer use, while reducing both the capabilities of, and driving forces behind, piracy.
As a research and development center, MovieLabs maintains project engineering, technology market analysis, standards evangelism, and intellectual property development among its core areas of focus. MovieLabs partners with leading universities, corporations, technology startups, service providers, and standards bodies. Where appropriate, MovieLabs offers research grants and financial assistance towards the fulfillment of its mandate.
MovieLabs casts a wide net to locate technologies which have the potential to change the consumer media landscape, assessing opportunity by:
- Technological Impact
- Need for focus and assistance
- ROI potential and business viability
- Likelihood of market adoption
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