Category Archives: Podcasts

Donna Thomas, an expert in the digital media space, Joins Visual Data Media Services as Senior VP of Sales, Americas

Donna Thomas, an expert in the digital media space, Joins Visual Data Media Services as Senior VP of Sales, Americas

LOS ANGELES, Calif., United States, 26-Jan-2021 — /EPR INTERNET NEWS/ — Visual Data Media Services, a leading entertainment services company serving studios and distributors globally with end-to-end content management and digital media supply chain solutions, announced today that industry veteran Donna Thomas has joined the company’s senior leadership team as Senior Vice President of Sales, Americas.

Prior to joining Visual Data, Thomas was Senior Vice President of Sales at Vubiquity. She has also been responsible for formidable revenue growth at global brands such as Technicolor, Deluxe, Ascent Media and Discovery Networks. An expert in the digital media space, Thomas has worked in every aspect of the content supply chain from creation through distribution. Thomas’s addition to Visual Data’s senior leadership team is the latest move in the company’s next phase of growth. Late last year, Visual Data announced a strategic investment from Endeavour Capital to build on Visual Data’s industry leadership and support its continued momentum.

“Putting the customer first is my main priority. I’ve long admired Visual Data for embodying its commitment to providing world-class customer service,” said Thomas. “I see our role in the industry as listening to our customers and providing them with solutions to grow their business. It’s particularly critical now as the media industry is experiencing unprecedented change. I believe that Visual Data is perfectly positioned to rise to the challenge of leading the industry by providing innovative, scalable offerings and serving its customers with excellence.”

“Donna is a highly respected and experienced industry leader, and is the perfect addition to our senior leadership team,” said Kim Lawrence, Executive Vice President, Global Client Operations, Visual Data. “Donna has a proven ability to resolve complex issues and manage high performing teams. We are confident that her extensive experience and deep industry knowledge will be key to delivering unparalleled value to our customers. Donna inherently understands that the customer is the single most valuable asset a company can have and she is driven by an unrelenting pursuit of customer-driven focus and an unrivaled customer experience. This aligns perfectly with Visual Data’s values.”

SOURCE: EuropaWire

EMMY WINNERS GIVE KUDOS TO THECGBROS CGINSIDER PODCAST

Using an Animated Avatar of Himself, Digital Media Professional, Bill Johnston, Co-founder of the Popular TheCGBros YouTube Channel, Earns Praise for His Performance in a Video Podcast Preview Provided to a Special Panel of Members of the Voice Acting Academy.

SAN DIEGO, CA, 2021-Jan-06 — /EPR INTERNET NEWS/ — TheCGBros, a Third-party aggregation YouTube Channel becoming an integral part of many short films’ release strategies, conducted a highly successful beta test of the first episode of their now-in-production podcast series, TheCGBros CGInsider Podcast. Bill Johnston, co-founder of TheCGBros YouTube Channel with his brother, Shaun Johnston, delivered the program content solo, in “talking head” format, but future episodes will see participation from Shaun and from influential guests, as well. Of special interest is that, although Bill spoke as himself, he did it through the novel medium of an animated avatar, possibly a first in the industry. The avatar was designed and executed by co-founder, Shaun Johnston.

The program content is intended for consumption by people with a wide variety of tastes and interests, especially fans of short videos. The subject matter will also be of general interest to students of CGI as well as both entry-level and professionals in the field. The premiere episode in the podcast series was released to the public on TheCGBros YouTube Channel at Midnight January 5, 2021. The series will be rolled out on other streaming platforms weekly on Tuesdays.

The test episode, which runs approximately 20 minutes long, is entitled “What is CGI?” Podcast titles scheduled for the remainder of January include: “Can You Describe the Different Jobs That Relate to Creating a CGI Film,” “Are There Examples of Current CGI in Films That Are So Well Done That They are Undetectable?” and “How Can I Get a Job in Gaming?”

The venue used for the test was an online weekly meeting of the Voice Acting Academy’s “Conductors Club” (VAACC.) The VAACC is a membership support service open to voiceover talent at all levels of experience for the purpose of helping them to advance their voiceover career and to help them get more work. Membership in the VAACC includes weekly live coaching sessions directed by Voiceover Guru, James Alburger, who says that the monthly cost of membership is a lot less than the usual cost of a single hour of private coaching. ConductorsClub sessions are conducted using Zoom, a cloud-based peer-to-peer software platform app that allows virtual video and audio conferencing, webinars, live chats, screen-sharing, and other collaborative capabilities. Information on VAACC is available at https://voiceacting.com/conductorsclub.

The test involved a three-member panel of long-time members of the VAACC. Participating in the test were James Alburger, Tom Daniels, and George Asteri. Senior member of the panel, James Alburger, of San Diego, author of the book commonly used as a required text in college-level voiceover classes, “The Art of Voice Acting,” now in its 6th edition, asserted, “That’s really nice. Very interesting, very thorough, very effective.” Alburger is an 11-Time Emmy® Winner for Sound Design, and owner of The Voice Acting Academy and CIGMA Media. He is also an Engineer, Voice Acting Coach, and Executive Producer/Director for Film, Video, and other media. Alburger operates the websites VoiceActing.com and at cigmamedia.com. Panelist Tom Daniels averred, “That was awesome. Very informative and entertaining. It held my attention all the way through. What surprised me most was that the first use of computer generated imagery dates all the way back to 1958 in the Alfred Hitchcock film, Vertigo.” Daniels is an Emmy®-winning Voice Actor/Executive Producer who lives in Massillon, Ohio. You can listen to Tom’s sound demos here TomDanielsVoiceDemos and reach him at tomdanielsvoice@gmail.com. The third member of the panel, George Asteri, opined, “That was an excellent summary and gave a really good understanding of CGI. It really informed me.” Asteri, who lives in Saginaw, Michigan, has been acting for his entire life. As a Shakespearean trained actor, Asteri has performed on stage with such notable stars as Christopher Walken in Richard II, and Nicholas Pennell in Richard III. He has also played leading roles in many stage plays, including Shakespeare’s Hamlet. As a voice actor, Asteri has voiced national, local and cable commercials, shared his narration talent with a large Michigan school district film production, narrated for audiobooks, and has made several recordings for Internet clients. Asteri operates a website at https://www.GeorgeAsteri.com where he has provided his email address and telephone number.

Bill, when asked to describe his company’s vision for entering the wildly-expanding, somewhat chaotic podcast marketplace responded, “Well, we believe that mounting up a podcast series not only continues, but builds on our long-standing mission, which from Day-One has been to curate the highest quality professional-level CG content from around the world, as well as to provide insights and inspiration to our two main constituencies: the producers of video content and the consumers of that content. Simply stated, we help the second group — the consumers — by providing them with high quality video content, and we help the first group — the producers of video content — or as we call them,‘New Media Producers,’ by providing them access to a ‘destination site’ where members of the second group can come and discover their works. And by destination, we mean, specifically, a proven, well-established place, with a great reputation for streaming quality videos, where people who love our content know they can come to see outstanding videos that were created with the ‘blood, sweat, and tears’ suffering (not to mention loss-of-sleep) of artists with great talent but with little-to-no prospects to obtain timely significant Media Reach on their own. The proof is in the pudding — as we speak, we have more than 3.5 Million subscribers to our channel; that number is increasing by approximately 40,000 per month, and we are averaging more than 20 million views per month. And, we’ve aggregated almost 1.25 Billion views since we launched our channel. These statistics don’t tell the whole story, of course, but they put us, according to SocialBlade, the social media statistics website that tracks and measures growth, near the top 4,000 in YouTube subscriber ranking and near the top 3,000 in YouTube video view ranking.”

Responding to a further question, “How, specifically, will your podcast series contribute to the accomplishment of your mission,” Johnston explained, “As a forward-looking company in the entertainment business, we’re always on the alert to detect changes that are happening in the entertainment marketplace. What we’ve seen is a growing trend that people want more engagement with great Internet sites that they have gotten to know and have grown to love. Given the rapid increase in the number of podcasts available in the marketplace, we figured a podcast would be a great way, not only to meet our fans’ desires for a higher level of engagement with us, it would also be a great way for us to enhance the value we can add to providing curated videos to our viewers. We are also creating the company infrastructure necessary to support a fan club. We think that will provide even more of the engagement
that fans want.”

Bill Johnston is an established Digital Media Professional with 22 years of experience, the last 18 years within the console-gaming industry. There, he has been involved in Creative Direction/Supervision, Project/Team Management, Dynamic Simulations, and Fluid Dynamics involving Rigid Bodies and Soft Bodies, Particles, and Sprites. He has also managed the production of cinematic FX animation for industry leaders such as Activision/Blizzard, Sony Computer Entertainment of America, and Bungie. He has specialized in in-depth work in the areas of Pre-Visualization, Pre-Rendered FX/Cinematic Cut-Scenes, Promotional Projects and Real-Time Future-Gen FX for Game Environments. Johnston has worked on more than 45 AAA game titles played on personal computers, as well as on Sony’s Playstation, and Microsoft’s Xbox consoles. The titles include, among others, game series such as the CALL OF DUTY,DESTINY, RESISTANCE, UNCHARTED 2, LAIR, WARHAWK, GOD OF WAR, and SOCOM 3. He is currently working on another high-profile game franchise creating FUTURE-GEN FX for next-gen Platforms.

Shaun Johnston is a professional CGI artist and animator in the video games industry with over 27 years of experience, with a broad background in creating 3D animation including previsualization, VFX, and cinematic sequences for PC and Console game trailers, and in-game Cut-Scenes. Today, he is a full-time 3D Animator. He has worked for several industry-leading video game companies including Sony Computer Entertainment America, Gearbox Software, Sony Online Entertainment, Daybreak Game Company. Shaun has also worked on numerous game titles including the billion-dollar Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMO) franchise EVERQUEST, the Guinness World Record-holding FPS PLANETSIDE 2, and one of first successful battle royale games, H1Z1.

Via EPR Network
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Podcast Keeps Co-operative Staff Informed Of Head Office Developments

The podcast, which will be produced periodically between now and the opening of the Group’s new £100m home, is part of a commitment to communicate progress to both staff and the public.

The Group will move into the 325,000 sq ft of open plan office and support space on Miller Street in 2012.

Produced by the Internal Communications team, the podcast includes interviews with the Group’s Programme Director for the new building, Peter Cookson, and Ian Fleming from its construction partners BAM.

Robert Cohen, Senior Communications Manager at the Group said: “We’re really excited to be able to launch this podcast, which will give people across the country the chance to find out about some of the qualities that will make our new home such an exciting and unique place to work. The podcast allows the people involved with the project to really bring it to life and there is a lot of fascinating information that you can only get through the podcast.”

Via EPR Network
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UK SMEs Sell Themselves Short On Internet Shopping Bonanza Revealed by BT Tradespace

New research from BT Tradespace indicates that six out of 10 small businesses are missing out on their share of a £20 billion-a-year* web shopping boom because they are not selling their products and services online.

The new Voice of Small Business report from BT Tradespace shows that 67% have little faith they can find customers on the internet, even though more than two thirds (69%) shop online at least once a month.

The survey found that the number of SMEs with a website rose by 20% between 2007 and 2008. However, just 13% of small businesses consider websites integral to marketing strategy and only three per cent use their site to communicate with consumers.

Mick Hegarty, head of bttradespace.com, said: “Small companies can benefit greatly by exploiting the marketing and sales opportunities afforded by the internet.

“During these challenging times, more people than ever are using the web to shop because of the choice, convenience and cost savings it provides. A professional and credible online presence can open up a world of opportunities and provides a great platform to engage with customers.”

The Voice of Small Business report, commissioned to discover how SMEs can best communicate and conduct business in the current economic climate, found that 92% are aware of blogging but just 18% use it for business purposes.

The research also found that the smallest companies (up to five employees) were least likely to interact with other local businesses with 47% admitting to not knowing the companies in their area.

Hegarty said: “The internet opens up a global marketplace for SMEs helping them to compete and prosper.”

“Free business social networking websites and social media tools like blogging and podcasting can transform a company’s fortunes at the click of a button.

“Entrepreneurs can showcase goods, enhance their online marketing profiles, maintain an ongoing dialogue with customers, and share information and expertise with like-minded companies.”

* Verdict Research estimates that in 2008 online spending by consumers on retail purchases rose by a substantial 32% to £19.4bn. With Internet access growing and users purchasing more frequently and more heavily online, this strong growth is set to continue, albeit at a more subdued rate. By 2012, online retail is set to reach £42.4 billion, 12.4% of total online spending.

About BT Tradespace
BTTradespace.com is a 300,000-member online community, which enables businesses to sell products and services and connect with other people effectively – both building business and customer relationships.

BT Tradespace provides social networking for businesses and free website set-up.

About BT
BT is one of the world’s leading providers of communications solutions and services operating in 170 countries. Its principal activities include the provision of networked IT services globally; local, national and international telecommunications services to customers for use at home, at work and on the move; broadband and internet products and services and converged fixed/mobile products and services.

In the year ended 31 March 2008, BT Group plc’s revenue was £20,704 million with profit before taxation and specific items of £2,506 million. British Telecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group. BT Group plc is listed on stock exchanges in London and New York.

Via EPR Network
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Welcome to EPR Internet News

EPR Internet News is a new blog, part of EPR Network, that is going to be focused on and will be covering the Internet news and stories from press releases published on EPR Network.

EPR Network (EPR stands for express press release) is one of the nation’s largest press release distribution networks on Web. The EPR’s nationwide network includes 12 State based PR sites, one major PR forum and a number of industry specific PR blogs and what started as a hobby on Internet years ago turned out to be a rapidly growing business today. EPR Network is also known as one of the most trusted (human optimized, published, edited and monitored, spam/scam/low quality PR content free) PR sites on the web with more than 10,000 company and individual press releases distributed per month. EPR Network is putting your press releases on top of all major search engines’ results and is reaching thousands of individuals, companies, PR specialists, media professionals, bloggers and journalists every day.

EPR Network has thousands of clients around the world including global 500 corporations like Hilton Hotels, Barclays Bank, AXA Insurance, Tesco UK, eBay/Skype, Emirates, just to name a few. The network’s PR web sites are currently reaching from 150,000 to sometimes 500,000 unique visitors per month while our viral reach could possibly go to as much as 1M people per month through our presence across various social media sites. EPR Network was established in 2004 and as of May 2008 it had more than 800,000 press releases (pages) published on its network.

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