2013年6月8日 星期六

Amazon New Storyteller Tool

Amazon New Storyteller Tool Turns Scripts Into Storyboards


By Saabira Chaudhuri
Amazon.com Inc.’s original content arm on Friday unveiled a new tool that will help writers and film makers create and distribute their work online, while also strengthening the company’s pool of ideas for potential features or TV shows.
Called Amazon Storyteller, the free online tool turns scripts into storyboards, complete with characters and dialogue that can then be shared with others for feedback.
The tool is currently in beta.
“We’ve found that many writers want to see their story up on its feet in visual form but find it harder than it should be to create a storyboard,” Roy Price, director of Amazon Studios said. “Storyteller provides a digital backlot, acting troupe, prop department and assistant editor–everything you need to bring your story to life.
Storyteller begins by scanning a movie script that has been uploaded to Amazon Studios. It identifies the scenes, locations and characters from scene descriptions, and “casts” them from a library of thousands of characters, props and backgrounds.
Filmmakers can recast or change locations, or they can upload their own images. Amazon said Storyteller places the cast in front of the right background so that filmmakers can focus their time on the emotion and energy of scenes by using pan and zoom, changing the facial expressions and positions of characters, adding vehicles or props or adding captions with descriptions or additional dialogue.
Once completed, the storyboard can be published on Amazon Studios where other users are able to view it and give feedback on the project.
Amazon Studios was launched in 2010 to develop feature films and episodic series. Anyone can upload a script and will then be notified within 45 days if that script is optioned by Amazon.
In October of last year, Amazon optioned the rights to a novel, a first for the company which until then had optioned only movie-script and episodic-series projects submitted to Amazon Studios.
Amazon has been ramping up its original content creation as well as content partnerships as it battles with rival streaming services such as Netflix Inc. (NFLX) to gain an edge in the content streaming space. Both Netflix and Amazon regularly announce new content deals, and Amazon earlier this week announced a multiyear deal with Viacom Inc. (VIA) to stream hundreds of its shows to Amazon customers, just days after many of Viacom’s disappeared from Netflix’s catalog.
Shares rose $1.99 to $269.82 in recent trading. The stock has risen 24% in the past 12 months.
Write to Saabira Chaudhuri at saabira.chaudhuri@dowjones.com

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