Hey, Digital LA peeps !

TONIGHT- Get on the Digital LA guest list for the 

Tues Jan 28, 6:30p
PhaseTwo, Culver City 

Executives from Verizon, MGM, Lionsgate, Warner Bros. and more followed by early stage Startup pitches. The panelists will discuss how the new network capabilities brought by 5G will go well beyond enhanced mobile media. It will disrupt the industry on many levels, enabling new business models and new immersive interactive experiences. The German American Business Association invites Digital LA peeps to attend!

REGISTER by 5pm today to get on the guest list!


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Digital at Awards

Annie Awards. Netflix was the big winner, beating out Disney, DreamWorks and other big studios by taking home  19 awards, at the annual Annie Awards honoring best animation in film, TV, games and more January 25, 2020 at UCLA Royce Hall in Los Angeles. The Netflix film Klaus cleaned house, winning the most, 7 awards, including: Best Animated Feature, Directing, Editing, Production Design, Character design, Character animation, and Storyboarding. The film follows the origin story of Santa Claus. Wealthy slacker kid Jesper's dad wants him to get a job - as a letter deliverer. Jesper ends up delivering letters to toymaker Klaus, who is Santa hiding out. Klaus is 2D drawn-animated, directed by Sergio Pablos, by the Spa Studios and Atresmedia Cine. See our article.
Other Awards this past weekend included. GRAMMYs, Directors Guild Awards, and ASC Cinematographers awards. 

UPCOMING AWARDS THIS WEEK:

- VES Awards honoring VFX achievements in film, TV, games, ads, is tmrw Wed Jan 29. We will be live tweeting from the show. Follow @VFXsociety #VESawards @DigitalLA

- WGA Awards honoring Writing achievements in film, TV and more is Sat Feb 1. We will be live tweeting from the show. Follow @WGAwest #WGAawards @DigitalLA

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LA TECH NEWS

Scopely acquires Disney's FoxNext. Scopely  mobile games company (Culver City) acquires FoxNext Games, maker of Marvel Strike Force, from Disney. Marvel Strike Force generated more than $150 million in sales in its first year. Scopely has been increasingly making mobile games with established creative IP, with great success. 
T ikTok moves into new building for 1,000 . TikTok staff of about 400 employees moves into new Culver City office with room for 1,000 employees. See LA Times article.

NAMM Show. Music AI, podcasting, social media, and streaming marketing were among the digital topics covered at the annual NAMM show for music instruments and products, held Jan 16-19, 2020 at the Anaheim Convention Center.

Conference Discount:  Digital Entertainment World
returns to LA on Feb 6-7, 2020! Don't miss this two day event dedicated to the rise of the digital content ecosystem. Get 20% off with our discount code embedded here

Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance: 7 Tips to Ride. The new ride is open at Disneyland! It's an 18-minute immersive adventure with at least four parts, three ride mechanisms, in-character immersive theatre cast members, and cutting-edge animatronics. It's been called the best ride in this galaxy by fans. And it just won the Best Location Based Entertainment at the  Lumiere Awards. Some say it transcends 'ride' and is an 'experience.' In 2020, the primary way to get in is not by standing in a long line for hours. It's via your phone and the Disneyland app.  The app's virtual queue let thousands of fans explore the park, ride other rides, buy food, go to restrooms, and more, instead of being stuck in a physical line. But it's tricky to get a Boarding Pass when thousands of people are in the park at the same time, trying to get one at park open. We did the ride on Opening Day 1 (Boarding Group 20), and Day 2 (Boarding Group 49), so we have some pro tips on how to make sure you can get a Boarding Pass in the first minute, before they're gone for the day. It depends o your phone dexterity, nearest cell tower, crowds, and practice! See our 7 Tips to ride Rise of the Resistance.


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Past Digital at Awards

The Lumiere Awards honored Director James Mangold, Frozen 2, Aladdin, Star Wars Galaxy's Edge and other technical filmmaking achievement winners on Jan. 22, 2020 at the Warner Bros. lot. The 11th annual Lumiere Awards, hosted by the Advanced Imaging Society, recognizes outstanding international achievement in the creation of immersive storytelling using advanced visual technologies like Music and immersive audio categories: Stereo 3D, 360 Video, High Frame Rate, Artificial Intelligence, Real-Time Rendering, Augmented Reality, High Dynamic Range, Virtual Reality, and more.

Congrats digital at Oscars nominations:
  Animated Feature Film :
- Toy Story 4
- How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
Visual Effects:
- Avengers: Endgame
- Irishman
- Lion King
- 1917
- Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
  Other digital related nominees are in the Sound Design and Sound Mixing categories. Oscars are Feb 9, for a shortened Oscar season compared to previous years. We will be tracking digital at awards in our annual Digital at  Awards Tracker 2020!

    
MUAHS Awards. Patrick Stewart, Joker, Bombshell and more won at the Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Awards in Downtown LA. Patrick Stewart won the Distinguished Artist award, presented by fellow Star Trek: The Next Generation actor Brent Spiner. While Patrick said he lost his hair at age 19, he has always enjoyed the company of the Hair and Makeup teams he worked with, who did the aliens and other hair and makeup on Star Trek. Patrick stars in Star Trek: Picard. Joker won the Period Film Makeup award, saying that Joaquim Phoenix helped makeup become an additional character in the film, when it could have been a hot mess. In Television, Deadwood and Chernobyl won several awards. See list of  winners.

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OUR RECENT EVENTS


Digital LA - Digital Drinks @ Mama Rabbit. For our annual Digital LA - Digital Drinks during CES, we enjoyed tequila, mezcal, and networking at the new Mama Rabbit bar at Park MGM in Las Vegas.  Mama Rabbit is Park MGM's newest venue, serving tequila, mezcal and Mexican food in a vibrant colorful Southwest theme decor. Lady Gaga has been known to stop by after her residency shows at Park MGM (currently on hiatus). Our Digital LA attendees traded notes on best CES tech, booths, swag and parties as they tasted the food and drink. We enjoyed some comp chips and guac, quesadillas, and our Digital Drinks Special: a red margarita for $10. Attendees included startup app founders, graphic designers, video experts, gaming companies, Canadian entertainment startups, and more. See  article with pics.

We had a blast at our Digital LA - Holiday Party in Toyland theme at the new Funko Hollywood store.
We got an exclusive VIP tour of the new Funko Hollywood, taking pics with dozens of Avengers, Star Wars, Disney, Game of Thrones and more characters all around the 44,000 square foot store. And we learned several Easter Eggs and trivia about the store. And got a tour of the secret VIP room with a Disney Consumer Products exec.
We met Thanos, Star-Lord, Gamora, Yondu, Rocket and Baby Groot in the Guardians of the Galaxy theme room. The room is decorated to look like the Guardians of the Galaxy tech world.
The set designers went through junkyards to repurpose and paint existing objects. For example, there's a VW bus roof on the wall which looks like machinery parts. Easter Egg: There's a Stan Lee Funko Pop character appropriately looking down from above. See more in our  a
rticle.
  
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Digital LA - Tiktok 101. TikTok creators and agencies discussed how creators make content and partner with brands at our first TikTok related event, on Nov. 14 at Studio Beverly Hills. See 7 tips in our  article.

Virtual kitchens, hot chicken, and healthy-food seeking AI ML algorithms, are trends discussed at our pre-Thanksgiving Digital LA - Food Startups panel at Ordermark's new HQ in Playa Vista. Ordermark CEO Alex Canter described how brought his family's Canter's Deli restaurant into the digital age with an online order consolidating platform that combines Postmates, GrubHub, DoorDash, and other ordering platforms into one system, resulting in increased food orders and revenue for restaurants that implement it. ChowNow's Jessica Springer described how she works with restaurants to provide excellent customer service. Dr. Stephen Tam created EatID Speakers shared their trends in startups in this Facebook live  video   from the panel. See more trends in our  article.



Digital LA - Immersive Attractions and Theme Parks with Mycotoo.  Cliff Warner, founder of Mycotoo, discussed creating immersive attractions and theme parks at the Mycotoo offices in Pasadena, CA last Thursday.  Cliff shared how he has worked with Disney, Universal, HBO, and other entertainment companies and brands to develop, create and implement immersive attractions in the U.S. and around the world.  Mycotoo worked with HBO and Giant Spoon to help implement the award-winning activations SXSW Westworld in 2018, and Game of Throne: Bleed for the Throne in 2019. See more details our  article.  

Digital LA - VR Games Experts from Survios, Hologate, HP and indie game companies described how to create good content, work with Hollywood brands, engage communities, and maximize influencer marketing at our Digital LA - VR Games panel at Phase Two coworking space October 28 in Culver City, LA.  Speakers summarized what you need to know about VR Games in our Facebook live  video .  Some VR game companies are working with Hollywood Studios like Hologate with Angry Birds, and Survios with Creed and Walking Dead. Then partner with influencers and use Discord and Liv platforms to promote See more in our article. 
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Digital LA - Halloween Party, we celebrated with an Internet 50th birthday cake, costumes, and VR games at Phase Two coworking space in Culver City, LA.  The event was held on October 28, on the eve of the date October 29, when UCLA researchers sent the first packed of data to Stanford on a network that would evolve into the Internet. So, we celebrated with a chocolate Internet 50 birthday cake. Attendees played free VR games in Hologate VR, a four-person social VR system housed at Phase Two. Attendees played Angry Birds, based on the Sony Pictures film, and Zombyte, a high-action zombie-shooter game, perfect for Halloween. See  photos.
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Esports: Sports, Startups, Players, Teams Arabian Prince, NWA co-founder turned games investor, startup founders and coaches discussed trends in Esports including startups, investment, players, teams, and similarities and differences from sports at our panel at the LA Stadium Premiere Center in Playa Vista. Esports is not as mature as regular sports, but some of the same brand deals and player training and management skills can apply. And some are new and particular to Esports. It's important to know the differences. See article.
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Experts from Digital Domain, VFX startups and artists discussed modeling and volcap pros and cons at our Digital LA - Virtual Humans: Modeling v Volumetric Capture panel at Phase Two in Culver City. Which technique you use depends on how your virtual human will be seen or distributed, budget, time and how human-realistic you want it. In general, mocap is faster and provides more realistic human animation, if that's the end goal. See speakers advice in our article.
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Speakers from Verizon 5G Lab, Yahoo! News XR, and Ryot discussed how 5G's fast speeds are a transformational tech shift that can enable existing and new industries. Then, they judged pitches from LA based startups with the vision to do just that at our Verizon - Digital LA - Built on 5G panel and pitch at the new Verizon 5G Lab in Playa Vista.  Speakers shared what you need to know about 5G in this Facebook live  video.   Joshua  Ness of Verizon 5G Lab NY, described the Verizon Built on 5G Challenge, a "nationwide search for the best products, services, and applications that will bring the true power of 5G to life." The winners will be awarded up to $1 million, access to the Verizon 5G Lab, and an opportunity for Verizon to invest in a future fundraising round.  See more in our  article.
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Our Digital LA - Virtual Humans panel featured award-winning speakers from Google VR, USC, Digital Domain, startups, and more discussing their work in virtual humans, including VFX, AI, emotion, and more at our Digital LA - Virtual Humans panel at PhaseTwo in Culver City. See article
Paul Debevec, winner of two Academy Scientific and Technical Achievement awards, provided a concise overview of virtual humans, from Benjamin Button to Avatar to Digital Domain's "Doug" at SIGGRAPH last year, to the upcoming Will Smith movie. Speakers described things you need to know about Virtual Humans in our Facebook live  video.  See our Virtual Humans article http://digitalla.net/virtualhumans  
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