On 24 January 2011, the BBC announced cuts of 25% to its online budget and that it wanted to close or dispose of 200 websites... including H2G2.com. The H2G2 researchers soon gathered in The H2G2 Community Consortium to try to save H2G2.com
After months of anguish, yesterday, 21th June, The BBC have confirmed the success of the three-way bid by Robbie Stamp, the Community Consortium and Noesis.
As you certainly know, Robbie Stamp was the former chairman of The Digital Village, the e-company co-founded by Douglas Adams and which released the Starship Titanic computer game and launched h2g2.com in 1999.
Other members of the winning team are Noesis Systems (http://noesify.com/) is an international social media provider and the the h2g2c3 (the interim H2G2 comunity consortium comitee!) which acts on behalf of the h2g2 community.
It's great to have Robbie Stamp on board again, ant the team seems very enthusiasts.
"Our primary objective in this first phase will be to transition h2g2 from the BBC onto Noesis servers. This part of the operation has been dubbed 'No Researcher Left Behind'. We will migrate entries and conversations to Noesis servers and match researchers with their personal spaces. More details of this project are forthcoming, but in the meantime, Don't Panic.
Once h2g2 is running stably and researchers settled into our new home, Phase Two begins and it will be time to focus our attention on building traffic, publishing more official entries more quickly, improving user experience and seeking ways to build revenue, which are likely to include sponsorship and advertising. The original h2g2 was supported by advertising.
Volunteerism has always played a major role in the success of h2g2. Soon teams of volunteers will be assuming the duties currently performed by BBC staff: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/A85803384
An overview of the current volunteer schemes can be found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A42623219. Your help is very welcome.
If Phase Two is successful then it is the clear intention to move to Phase Three, which will mean the creation of a fully commercial 'for profit' entity, with its own Board. This company will assume operational control of the site, will be granted an exclusive world wide license to develop the assets held by the Foundation and will be able to seek external investors.
The Commercial 'trading arm' will be mandated to return a percentage of profits and/or a royalty to the Foundation, which will also be free to fund raise to support its activities in the way that any Charity would be.
It also is our intention to find a 'felt fair' mechanism to reward researchers building the Guide, should we all have created significant value at some stage in the future. Indeed now we have won the bid, we are working with the lawyers to establish the deeds for the Trust and to create the best way of doing just that.
The Community will also have the right to elect a Board Member to the Commercial Company and to elect a Trustee to the Charity Board.
At this stage we would intend that some paid staff be taken on to work full- and part-time with the volunteers. There will also be business development activities as we look for partners, sponsors and advertisers.
Alongside the development of the site, the emphasis in Phase Three will very much be on mobile development. It is this phase, the ability to deliver the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on smart phones, that will really take us a big step closer to realizing Douglas's original vision.
One thing that h2g2 has always done very well is develop writers. Through the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Foundation we can develop writers not only through the tried-and-true Peer Review process here on the site but also through schools, online tutorials and other charitable trusts. As more writers join our ranks we can build our Guide to Life, The Universe and Everything faster.
This strategy gives us a chance to build on Douglas Adams's original vision. It shows deep respect for and includes the Community, is broken down into realistic steps and has social responsibility at its heart with the creation of the Foundation."
The full text is here : http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/forums/A639056/conversation/view/F77636/T8244180
Showing posts with label robbie stamp. Show all posts
Showing posts with label robbie stamp. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2005
Robbie Stamp's presentation in Brussels
Robby (Stuck Chocolat) has seen Robbie Stamp in Bruxells. He kindly sent me his report - There are indeed several interesting informations (don't forget to read five and six) :
"Today I went to Robbie Stamps presentation in Brussels. Since it was at 4 o'clock in the afternoon there were only about 50 people as audiencee; I know that's not really much, but giving we're a tiny country and the fact that decent Belgians have to work on 4 o'clock on thursday; I thought 50 was a reasonable number.
I didn't learn much new, but I think Robbie said some things we didn't know up till now. I'll keep it short.
1) Robbie showed us a 360° view of the HOG escape pod. These 360° views should be available on the internet in a few weeks 2) Robbie watched part of the movie yesterday. Some pieces are completely finished now: the soundtrack has been recorded completely is and now being mixed.
3) We got to see a rough cut of the demolition of earth. No CGI, and the score not completly finished in that part. After the Earth exploxed we got to hear the first notes of the Yourney of the Sorcerer. The video clip was than stopped. I think we can be sure though, that the Yourney of the Sorcerer wil be there after Earth is demolished
4) To the question if it was Douglas' idea of the way the arranged Zaphods 2 heads Robbie didn't give a clear answer. He said Douglas wanted it done differently from the TV-series since the 2nd head was horrible. Robbie said Douglas was "higly involved" if it came to the way they've arranged the heads now.
5) the HOG will have speaking doors as it should be. The voices of the doors are not done by famous people but just by the audio crew. The voice of Eddy the shipboard computer will be "Tom Lennon". I don't know who Tom Lennon is, but could it be this guy? http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0502073/
6) Since the internet trailer seems to be such a big success, also in the USA; it has been decided that not the USA international, but the internet trailers will be played in the cinemas in the US...
For the rest I thought it was a very interesting afternoon. We've seen a lot of footage which could be part of bonus material for the DVD (behind the scenes, the actors talking, ...). Most of the time Robbie spoke so we actually didn't got to see a lot of pieces of the movie...
"Today I went to Robbie Stamps presentation in Brussels. Since it was at 4 o'clock in the afternoon there were only about 50 people as audiencee; I know that's not really much, but giving we're a tiny country and the fact that decent Belgians have to work on 4 o'clock on thursday; I thought 50 was a reasonable number.
I didn't learn much new, but I think Robbie said some things we didn't know up till now. I'll keep it short.
1) Robbie showed us a 360° view of the HOG escape pod. These 360° views should be available on the internet in a few weeks 2) Robbie watched part of the movie yesterday. Some pieces are completely finished now: the soundtrack has been recorded completely is and now being mixed.
3) We got to see a rough cut of the demolition of earth. No CGI, and the score not completly finished in that part. After the Earth exploxed we got to hear the first notes of the Yourney of the Sorcerer. The video clip was than stopped. I think we can be sure though, that the Yourney of the Sorcerer wil be there after Earth is demolished
4) To the question if it was Douglas' idea of the way the arranged Zaphods 2 heads Robbie didn't give a clear answer. He said Douglas wanted it done differently from the TV-series since the 2nd head was horrible. Robbie said Douglas was "higly involved" if it came to the way they've arranged the heads now.
5) the HOG will have speaking doors as it should be. The voices of the doors are not done by famous people but just by the audio crew. The voice of Eddy the shipboard computer will be "Tom Lennon". I don't know who Tom Lennon is, but could it be this guy? http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0502073/
6) Since the internet trailer seems to be such a big success, also in the USA; it has been decided that not the USA international, but the internet trailers will be played in the cinemas in the US...
For the rest I thought it was a very interesting afternoon. We've seen a lot of footage which could be part of bonus material for the DVD (behind the scenes, the actors talking, ...). Most of the time Robbie spoke so we actually didn't got to see a lot of pieces of the movie...
Friday, February 25, 2005
A new trailer will be shown in UK on saturday the 26th ! + Interesting quotes from Robbie Stamp on Scfi.com
A UK trailer will be shown on Sky Movies News, Sky Movies 1 at 7:30 pm this Saturday evening. It will be online on Monday and I'll publish the link to the new trailer here as soon as I've got it! But if you can't wait, Sky Movie is publishing a one minute long small size preview (windows media player needed). UPDATE : The version on sky Movies is slightly different from the one on UGO (no girl in bikini but with the Journey Of the Sorcerer theme !). All these are small windows media player files. We should have a BETTER version on monday.
It is quite a different trailer than the one that has been shown in the US theatres and on amazon.com. It seems to be the one Robbie Stamp, executive producer of the movie, shown at Wondercon the 19th February, in San Francisco. It's also the one, or almost the same one anyway, that I saw one month ago... somewhere on a strange planet lost in space.
And now... The guys at scfi.com have interviewed executive producer Robbie Stamp and quotes him in two news on their website. One, entitled "Hitchhiker Thumbs Down On CG" is about the fact that Hitchhikers use the less computer-generated imagery possible because Garth Jennings "wanted something which had a sort of a heart and soul and a charm to it." In this news, Robbie also talks about Marvin and composer Joby Talbot.
The other scfi.com news is entitled "Adams Added To Hitchhiker Film". In that one, Robbie talks about Douglas appearing (in a quite strange and funny way in the movie), Kavula and the guide entries.
There are some spoilers in both articles but not too much.
It is quite a different trailer than the one that has been shown in the US theatres and on amazon.com. It seems to be the one Robbie Stamp, executive producer of the movie, shown at Wondercon the 19th February, in San Francisco. It's also the one, or almost the same one anyway, that I saw one month ago... somewhere on a strange planet lost in space.
And now... The guys at scfi.com have interviewed executive producer Robbie Stamp and quotes him in two news on their website. One, entitled "Hitchhiker Thumbs Down On CG" is about the fact that Hitchhikers use the less computer-generated imagery possible because Garth Jennings "wanted something which had a sort of a heart and soul and a charm to it." In this news, Robbie also talks about Marvin and composer Joby Talbot.
The other scfi.com news is entitled "Adams Added To Hitchhiker Film". In that one, Robbie talks about Douglas appearing (in a quite strange and funny way in the movie), Kavula and the guide entries.
There are some spoilers in both articles but not too much.
Sunday, February 20, 2005
Wondercon movie presentation by Robbie Stamp - an other tailer & a few more infos
Robbie Stamp was at Wondercon the 19th February, in San Francisco, to give a pesentation of the Hitchhikers movie.
The lucky attenders saw a 'sizzler reel', a four minutes thing which is according to ING Filmforce "simultaneously entertaining yet annoyingly brief, providing the rabid fan base of Adam's universe with nothing more than a quick fix to tide them over until the end of April".l
Bu the most interseting thing was the fact that Robbie came to the Wondercon with a brand new trailer quite different from the one which has been released a few days ago on amazon and now on the official website.
This different trailler, called by Robbie an "Internet trailer" could be thus released just on Internet (the actual trailer shown on amazon has apparently already been shown in american movie theaters just before "Constantine", the new Keanu Reaves movie)
According to Boynamedsue (who was at the Wondercom and posted his report on the Douglasadams.se forum, "It was a total parody on normal hollywood trailers. It opens with the guide opening and says "This is what the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy has to say about trailers..."
And from there its wonderful satire. a few of the aspects i can recall are the "Often trailers contain a deep voice saying "IN A WORLD...." and then they show the earth explode, and the guides voice continues "But sometimes not."
Another great bit is in the middle they say something like. "And then a random shot of a girl in a binkini" (non movie footage.) then immediately after marvin hangs his head and says "That did absolutely nothing for me."
It was uttlerly fantastic and had the audience cracking up the entire time. It concludes talking about how most trailers conclude with a montage usually set to rock music, and listing what it contains "Action, heroes, villians, dolphins," etc. and even a brief shot of a whale dropping from space."
This new trailer seems to be far much better than the other, and it seems also quite similar (but not entirely I don't remerber the Bikini footage - which I would surely remember if I saw it !!!) to the one I've seen one month ago.
SMALL SPOILERS
Other good news have been announced by Robbie during the Wondercon. He said that everyone should need to wear 3D glasses at one peculiar moment in the movie because Simon Jones' cameo as the Magrathean hologram will be in 3D !
There is a grey grey banner on front of Heart Of Gold that wraps around tells whole process of the infinite probability drive creation. On this banner, we can see Douglas and almost all the guys who made the movie (Hammer & Tongs, the producers,...) . Took 4 months to do but will only be on screen for a short time. But I think you will be able to see it very closely in the DVD.
Robbie Stamp has also explained why the Vogons have a flat nose "He said that they were an idea of Douglas's - they are very plentiful, across the Vogon homeworld (I hope I'm remembering this right), and their purpose is to come up and thwak you in the face whenever you have an original thought. In hopes of stifling that sort of thing. That's at least the gist of what he said. So basically, questioning why you were smacked in the face would result in nothing but another smacking" (from TheFuture2000 on DouglasAdams.se forum). This could explain the smacking bit at the end of the Amazon Trailer !
The lucky attenders saw a 'sizzler reel', a four minutes thing which is according to ING Filmforce "simultaneously entertaining yet annoyingly brief, providing the rabid fan base of Adam's universe with nothing more than a quick fix to tide them over until the end of April".l
Bu the most interseting thing was the fact that Robbie came to the Wondercon with a brand new trailer quite different from the one which has been released a few days ago on amazon and now on the official website.
This different trailler, called by Robbie an "Internet trailer" could be thus released just on Internet (the actual trailer shown on amazon has apparently already been shown in american movie theaters just before "Constantine", the new Keanu Reaves movie)
According to Boynamedsue (who was at the Wondercom and posted his report on the Douglasadams.se forum, "It was a total parody on normal hollywood trailers. It opens with the guide opening and says "This is what the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy has to say about trailers..."
And from there its wonderful satire. a few of the aspects i can recall are the "Often trailers contain a deep voice saying "IN A WORLD...." and then they show the earth explode, and the guides voice continues "But sometimes not."
Another great bit is in the middle they say something like. "And then a random shot of a girl in a binkini" (non movie footage.) then immediately after marvin hangs his head and says "That did absolutely nothing for me."
It was uttlerly fantastic and had the audience cracking up the entire time. It concludes talking about how most trailers conclude with a montage usually set to rock music, and listing what it contains "Action, heroes, villians, dolphins," etc. and even a brief shot of a whale dropping from space."
This new trailer seems to be far much better than the other, and it seems also quite similar (but not entirely I don't remerber the Bikini footage - which I would surely remember if I saw it !!!) to the one I've seen one month ago.
SMALL SPOILERS
Other good news have been announced by Robbie during the Wondercon. He said that everyone should need to wear 3D glasses at one peculiar moment in the movie because Simon Jones' cameo as the Magrathean hologram will be in 3D !
There is a grey grey banner on front of Heart Of Gold that wraps around tells whole process of the infinite probability drive creation. On this banner, we can see Douglas and almost all the guys who made the movie (Hammer & Tongs, the producers,...) . Took 4 months to do but will only be on screen for a short time. But I think you will be able to see it very closely in the DVD.
Robbie Stamp has also explained why the Vogons have a flat nose "He said that they were an idea of Douglas's - they are very plentiful, across the Vogon homeworld (I hope I'm remembering this right), and their purpose is to come up and thwak you in the face whenever you have an original thought. In hopes of stifling that sort of thing. That's at least the gist of what he said. So basically, questioning why you were smacked in the face would result in nothing but another smacking" (from TheFuture2000 on DouglasAdams.se forum). This could explain the smacking bit at the end of the Amazon Trailer !
Sunday, January 4, 2004
Susie Figgis is the casting director and Hugh Laurie wont be Arthur
Mj Simpson revealed on his website that Susie Figgis that "the important job of finding potential actors for the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy movie is in the safe hands of Susie Figgis, one of the most experienced and highly respected casting directos in the UK". Her filmography as a casting director is indeed impressive. She worked on many, many succes movies as "Sleepy hollow" (99), "The full Monty" (1997), "Interview with a vampire" (94), Cry Freedom (87), "The Mission" (86) "Gandhi" (82) or "Killing fields" (84)... She also worked with many great directors as her brother Mike Figgis (for the excellent Time Code), Ken Loach (Hidden Agenda, Land of Freedom), Steven Soderbergh (Kafka)...
She also worked as a casting director for "Harry Potter and the sorcerer's stone", but she left because she was unhappy with her relationship with US director Chris Colombus, and they disagreed about the choice of the actor for Harry's part. But she did a huge work, being swamped with 40.000 applications!
So i think we can be confident in her casting choices. And with Hammer & Tongs at the direction/production, and with the help of executive producer and douglas friend' Robbie Stamp, just think of all the marvelous things that can be done with the casting thing! We all know that the casting choices will be vital in the success of the movie, as they have been for the original radio series.
HUGH LAURIE WONT BE ARTHUR
Robbie Stamp has also given an other clue regarding the casting. After telling me that Stephen Moore (the only real Marvin) will once again incarnate the maniaco depressive robot, he told my friend Jenz (owner of the douglasadams.se website) that, regarding Arthur role, "Hugh Laurie has not really been in the running this time. I think the feeling is that he is just a little too old now – if there was to be a sequel he would be nearly 50 – just too old for Arthur I suspect.” British actor Hugh Laurie was Douglas' favourite choice, but as the original Arthur, Simon Jones, is now regarded as too old. An other famous name for Arthur part, is Hugh Grant. But is he not too old too? One thing is sure : we've been several times promised that Arthur will be english.
She also worked as a casting director for "Harry Potter and the sorcerer's stone", but she left because she was unhappy with her relationship with US director Chris Colombus, and they disagreed about the choice of the actor for Harry's part. But she did a huge work, being swamped with 40.000 applications!
So i think we can be confident in her casting choices. And with Hammer & Tongs at the direction/production, and with the help of executive producer and douglas friend' Robbie Stamp, just think of all the marvelous things that can be done with the casting thing! We all know that the casting choices will be vital in the success of the movie, as they have been for the original radio series.
HUGH LAURIE WONT BE ARTHUR
Robbie Stamp has also given an other clue regarding the casting. After telling me that Stephen Moore (the only real Marvin) will once again incarnate the maniaco depressive robot, he told my friend Jenz (owner of the douglasadams.se website) that, regarding Arthur role, "Hugh Laurie has not really been in the running this time. I think the feeling is that he is just a little too old now – if there was to be a sequel he would be nearly 50 – just too old for Arthur I suspect.” British actor Hugh Laurie was Douglas' favourite choice, but as the original Arthur, Simon Jones, is now regarded as too old. An other famous name for Arthur part, is Hugh Grant. But is he not too old too? One thing is sure : we've been several times promised that Arthur will be english.
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