HYPtv News Blog

Watching tops the 2008 Skyscraper Festival

Bob Palmer — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 11:31:34 +0100

On Friday night Graham Fink, Creative Director of M&C Saatchi, Designer Peter Saville and HYPtv’s Creative Director Bob Palmer finally sat down to review the shortlist. After 90 minutes, a few beers and the odd heated debate the judges chose a winner.

Congratulations to KAL for Watching. ‘An ironic comment on life in a modern city…you’re watching it while it’s watching you’ said Peter. Graham thought the winning entry made great use of the space and position of the screen. Bob enjoyed the graphic simplicity and impact of the piece.

It was a close run thing though. Amalgamide Tide pt.04 by tarasik81 came a close second. The judges were impressed by the beautiful choreography of the elements to form a mesmerising piece of work.

In 3rd place was Filmcollins’ Sky. A very simple concept that employed the screen proportions to very good effect.

Others singled out for praise were Time Flies, Egg & Chips, Battleships, Paterson 2, Iron Bridge, XYZ, History Dumped, Amalgamide Tide 03, The Box and Landing Lights.

Finally, congratulations to all those who reached the shortlist and thank you to all who entered.

The top 24 entries will be screened for a week each on the Manchester Tower while work from the winner will be seen for the entire 6 months of the Festival. Please take time to check them out right now.

the 2008 skyscraper festival

Bob Palmer — Mon, 12 May 2008 08:06:29 +0100

Creatives go large in Manchester.

Calling all digital designers, flash, motion and video artists and experimental film makers! Over £400,000 worth of free publicity up for grabs.

Welcome to the 2008 skyscraper festival.

What’s it all about?

A dazzling array of video & animation creativity on Europe’s tallest outdoor screen, situated in the heart of Manchester. Kicking off in July for 6 months, it’s a unique opportunity to get your work on something that’s higher than 5 double decker buses. The Skyscraper screen is 19m high x 3.6 m wide – similar proportions to a standard web skyscraper. It operates 24/7 with a daily audience of around 200,000.

What's the brief?

Just have some fun by creating a 25” piece of video / animation that's really going to show off the unique proportions of the screen. Feel free to include your own URL / logo so everyone knows who created that work of genius.

Prizes

The 25 most highly-rated entries, as voted for by the HYPtv.com community, will be showcased on the Skyscraper screen. 24 of them will get a week’s showcase each on the screen. The overall winner, voted by the judges, will be entitled to a showcase / new upload every week for 25 weeks! That’s a lot of free publicity! The judges include M&C Saatchi’s creative director Graham Fink and legendary designer Peter Saville.

How do I enter?

Visit hyptv.com/skyscraper, register and upload your work. You can also view, rate and comment on other entries.

See you there.

And the winner is...

Bob Palmer — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 11:15:45 +0100

Jamie Childs...for his video entry, 'The Transfer Tube'. Jamie wins £2,500 and will see his entry on air with Channel 5.

View Jamie's winning ad here: http://bookofthedead.hyptv.com/?l=viewer&sm=pv&tf=1&v=1084&p=3

Patricia Cornwell, who selected the piece from a shortlist of 6, said: 'I think The Transfer Tube is a fine piece of work that really captures the essence of my book and shows a great deal of imagination and flair.'

Jamie says: 'The credibility of being recognised by experienced professionals means so much to me. It's more important than money, though I'm excited that the prize will help me complete the feature film I've been writing.'

Graham Fink, Creative Director of M&C Saatchi and one of the judges, commented, 'The lighting is superb...it reminded me a bit of the title sequence of 'Se7en', which, on a budget probably a hundred times smaller, is no mean feat...'

'Patricia's work stimulated a fantastic response with over 200 entries submitted, of a high standard. They showed what huge talent and enthusiasm for creativity there is out there. Jamie created an atmospheric and highly stylized vignette, which will create considerable impact.' David Cook, HYPtv Programme Director

Congratulations, Jamie. We think you have a great career in film ahead of you!

It’s over!...almost.

Bob Palmer — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 18:19:14 +0100

The Patricia Cornwell 'Book of the Dead' TV ad competition is now being judged by Patricia Cornwell herself.

A big thanks to everyone who entered. A fantastic response – and we had some quality submissions. Please feel free to view the work, discuss and rate (for fun) at http://bookofthedead.hyptv.com/

If you didn’t make the shortlist (see below) don’t get angry, get even. We’ll have plenty more opportunities for you to show off your creative talent in the near future. Watch this space.

We'll be announcing the final winner on Monday 17th March and it’s hoped that the winning entry will be broadcast on TV in the Spring.

The Shortlist

It was tough – but after much deliberating, debating and cross-referencing, we have a final short-list of 6 pieces. Congratulations to all. Here they are (in no particular order), as judged by Little, Brown Book Group, HYPtv, M&C Saatchi and Channel 5. Check them out.

• Pages of your Life - Peter Falloon (storyboard)

• Dead Good Read - Richard Parkin (storyboard)

• Breathless - Ian Allardyce & Mark J Blackman (script)

• Every Body - Liam Tate (Video)

• Mega -Montage Adrian Mewett (video)

• Transfer Tube (with titles) - Jamie Childs (video)

The judgments were made on a number of criteria. But the priority was that anything submitted had to be able to be shown before the watershed - so suitable for family viewing. Also to convey that this is a crime thriller novel, not horror.

There were some powerful & interesting entries - here's some worth a mention:

Black Bag by PaulJ (nice and simple, made the longlist)
Found by psylander (nice idea - made the longlist)
Names - John Soanes (good...another longlister)
Candlelight - Katherine (ditto)
Le Diner by alexade (very ‘Cook, the Thief...'. Nasty and erudite)
Victim Line-up (nice idea but expensive)
Abattoir - Chris Berry (almost funny)
Sand - Felix Weidemann (beautifully done)
Necropsy - jugglinbob (bob was very chatty - and made a nice film)
Book of the Dead advert - frank huang (nice eye)
Back with a Vengeance - jbubya (nicely paced and made the longlist)
Book of the dead - Natalie Armstrong (neat - and made the longlist)
Within the Book of the Dead - Matt Sandbrook (again, made the longlist)

And some more x-rated ones:

The Sandman 3 with quotes - nige & keith (powerful but...)
It was inevitable - Jules Stevens (nice but couldn't make out the voice very well)
Three Murders - paulc (very professional...close)

Don’t forget to look out for the winner on 17th March!

Opting out of HYPtv promotions

Bob Palmer — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 17:14:34 +0100

When you upload a piece of content we give you the opportunity of opting out of some of the HYPtv promotional areas such as Sky TV, downloads, talent agency etc.

If you wish to change your opt outs, say because you want to licence a piece of work elsewhere, you can now do this from your Personal Space. Roll over the relevant piece of work and click 'Edit'. This opens the Media Info page where, at the bottom. you'll find 'Promotion Exclusions'. Click 'Change' and you can opt in or out of any promotional area.

IMPORTANT: If you have previously given us permission to promote your work in areas that involve third parties, and your work is being used by a third party, you will not be able to opt out until the end of the agreement that HYPtv has with that party. This would be a maximum of 12 months.

Slideshows that just go on...and on...

Bob Palmer — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 17:00:47 +0100

Previously we limited the number of items in a slideshow to 10. Now we've taken the brakes off, so if you have a particularly big album it'll play all of the content.

Got your own site? Now you can add a link from HYPtv.com

Bob Palmer — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 16:57:36 +0100

Just go to your Personal Space, click 'Edit Profile' and type in your URL into the Website field.

Discuss work!

Bob Palmer — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 14:27:10 +0100

Ever watched a piece of content and felt the need to start a discussion? Now there's a handy link under under each piece: Discuss this work on the boards. That'll take you to the Discussion page where you can create a new board. Go on, get it off your chest...

More features for an even better experience

Bob Palmer — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 10:10:34 +0100

HYPtv – now improved for lazy people

By now you should have noticed our new Homepage feature: some of the very best of HYPtv, selected by us here at HYP HQ, playing out in a single stream – so you don't have to lift a finger to view about 20 minutes of great stuff. We change the content regularly so just about any time you visit you'll see something new. Is your work featured here?

Where's my web TV gone?

To allow room for the new HYPtv Choice player on the Homepage we've moved our web TV channel to a place of its very own. Just click the 'Live Feed' link on the Homepage to access it. There's some great new programming we're in the process of finishing off. Check back in mid-October – you won't be disappointed.

Some Mac users are still experiencing problems with the stream (us too, on our Intel Macs in the office). Rest assured we're doing what we can, and maybe Mozilla's yet to be released new web browser for the Mac will help.

Much more on-demand options from the Browser

In addition to the ubiquitous 'Top-rated' and Latest submissions' plus our HYPtv Choice, we're now featuring spotlights on an individual HYPtv contributors and a focus on specific genres/subject matter...all to make your time online with us more interesting.

You'll also notice that when you click to browse in different areas, the work you're currently viewing won't disappear until you select a specific piece of work.

New upload timer

No quicker, no slower. But at least we can let you know how long it's going to take so you can do something useful while you wait...like make a cup of coffee, cook a meal or, if you're still using dial-up, go away for a long weekend.

Advice on uploading images

Now we have our fancy full-screen slideshow thingy, we strongly recommend you upload your work into an album or multiple albums. Otherwise, in order to see all your fine work, viewers will have to click more – and we've spent a lot of time and money designing this site so people have to click less.

Watermarking your images

One or two photographers (you know who you are) requested this feature and, as we like to please, here it is. Once you've uploaded an image you now have an option to add our 'copyright' watermark to the top left-hand corner of the iamge. You'll find this tick-box option on the Media Information page, which opens immedialtely after upload or at anytime by clicking the 'Edit' link on a piece of work in your Personal Space. Please note that once you enable the watermark it is permanent. To remove the watermark you would need to re-upload the original.

Still to come...

More personal space features and personalisation

Even simpler searching

Some major Mobile broadcast opportunities

A TV commercial competition, in association with a major UK/US publisher, for a book launch for one of the world's best-selling crime authors. Stay tuned for news

In the meantime...

Thanks for all your support. We really couldn't have reached this stage without you. Keep on creating!

It's HYPtv.com but still beta!

Bob Palmer — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 13:46:43 +0100

The passwords are off, the beta prefix has been deleted and HYPtv.com is officially 'out there'. That doesn't mean we've put our feet up, though. We've been testing, testing, testing. And then we've tested some more. As a result we've cleared quite a few bugs. It's still not perfect, so please bear with us during this development period.

We've also created some new features:

RSS feeds for this News Blog and new and selected Submissions so you can keep in touch with what's happening on the site. Click the orange icon in the main navigation and subscribe now
Personalisation options for your Personal Space (we'll be adding some more cool stuff for this over the coming weeks). Just go to Personal Space>Edit profile>Theme – and experiment
Full-screen image slide shows so you can click once, relax and enjoy. Select an album and click the camera icon under the Viewer

And there's lots more to come, including a new way to view the very best (in our opinion!) of HYPtv without you lifting a finger.

As always, please let us have feedback / suggestions on any aspect of HYPtv. It's very important to us.

Welcome to the new HYPtv site!

David Cook — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 11:16:25 +0100

Willkommen, Bienvenue, Benvenuto, Bienvenida.

A big WELCOME to all those new visitors who have been checking our old HYPtv site over the last 12 months.

You'll notice the new HYPtv.com has a totally new design and look - with a whole host of new features and functionality to play with. Sign up and join - and upload your work for all to enjoy, rate and comment on. You'll have your own space where you can write, edit and control all details and that of your work.

You can start or join a discussion, start or join a group - and leave messages for contributors to reply to. There's a web channel stream which we''ll be adding to soon, full screen functionality, a slideshow for images plus a whole lot more.

We'll be adding more functionality in the next few weeks - so look out for RSS, blogs, podcasts and more personalisation to your own space.

Enjoy.

LATEST SITE ADDITIONS

David Cook — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:20:43 +0100

Polls - now you can vote on a given subject. For the moment we've asked what you think about the site. What's your view? Let us know.

Friends - you can request to be friends with someone. When you see something you like, go to that person's space and click 'add to my friends'. They'll automatically be sent an email which they need to confirm by clicking a link within it...once they do that you'll each appear on the other's personal page.

Searching for similarly tagged work - when you're viewing someone's work, you can now find other work with similar genres and tags. Just click on one and you'll see the browser on the right appear with that type of work.

LATEST NEW FEATURES!

David Cook — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 16:00:40 +0100

Look out for the latest additions to the site which include:

COMMENTS - you can now pass comment on a piece of work. The person whose work it is will be emailed to let them know you've commented. And if someone comments on your comments, you can be emailed too. Just opt in for that function.

SEND TO FRIEND - Like a piece of work (it could even be your own)? Now you can send it on. Just look for the feature under the work.

More coming very soon.

Full screen functionality & Thumbnails

David Cook — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 16:08:59 +0100

HYPtv now has a full screen option on Video on Demand moving image. Once you've selected the piece of work you'd like to view, you'll see an X icon to the bottom right of the player/screen. Click that to go full screen.

We've also addressed the issue of uploading your own thumbnail. Please give it a go and let us know if it worked OK.

Mac users and the Live Feed

Bob Palmer — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 08:25:54 +0100

Mac users may be experiencing problems with the HYPtv Live video stream. If the content you're watching loops, freezes or stutters please be aware we are working hard to correct the problem. Thanks for your patience.

Welcome to the HYPtv Beta Site

Bob Palmer — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 12:00:13 +0100

This site is in a closed beta phase and community/networking functions are still in development. These will be launched soon.

HYPtv welcomes feedback on any aspect of the site, including its design, functionality and opportunities for both contributors and brands. Thanks in advance for your help.