Betabeat » next media animation

And the Tears Flowed Like Sports Drink: NMA Jokesters Take on Manti Te’o and His Imaginary Dead Girlfriend

Patrick Clark — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 14:01:19 -0400

Well, that didn't take long: One day after Deadspin unfurled the sad and sordid tale of Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o's imaginary dead girlfriend, the merry pranksters at Taiwanese studio Next Media Animation heaped another dose of scorn on the football star.

Mr. Te'o, if you haven't been following, was the Heisman Award finalist who spent the fall telling reporters the tragic tale of Lennay Kekua, his supposed 22-year-old girlfriend who supposedly died of leukemia early in the college football season. The rub, as Deadspin uncovered, was that Mr. Kekua didn't exist, and was either a cruel hoax perpetuated on or by the Notre Dame star.

As you'd imagine, NMA didn't exactly paint a flattering portrait of Mr. Te'o, who's mostly shown pouring tears out of his eyes like so much Gatorade from a sideline cooler.

On the other hand, it's not as biting as the recent rash of #Te'oing.

Bongs, Babes and Vice: Next Media Animation Immortalizes the John McAfee Saga in Amazing Video

Jessica Roy — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 10:04:41 -0400

It was only a matter of time before the endless John McAfee saga became forever immortalized in the Internet's consciousness by Next Media Animation, the Taiwanese studio that serves as a barometer for all things pop culture. And boy did they do Mr. McAfee's bizarre, erratic behavior justice.

There are drawers full of women, bong hits with Vice reporters, Mr. McAfee's beloved 20-year-old girlfriend wearing a diaper and an emergency disguise kit comprised solely of weird facial hair. It's basically everything you'd want from a Next Media Animation. Watch and enjoy.

Startup News: Brooklyn Tech Triangle Seeks Master Plan; Reuters is Now Distributing Animated Content

Erica Schwiegershausen — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 09:30:06 -0400

"Master Your DSLR Camera:" now available for iOS from Open Air Publishing.

Animated news Reuters has announced the launch of an exclusive partnership with Next Media Animation. Starting this week, Reuters will offer around 20 animated news stories a week produced by Next Media Animation News Direct service, intended to offer visual chronologies of events not captured on video—such as the sinking of the Costa Concordia—as well as present clear illustrations of more technical news.

Master plan The Brooklyn Tech Triangle is seeking proposals for an area-wide strategic plan to support the growing tech sector, which is expected to nearly double in the next three years. Objectives of the designated planning team include improving transportation between the tech triangle and surrounding communities and developing implementable land-use strategies. An information session for potential respondents will take place on July 20 at the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership office; proposals are due August 10.

How-to Open Air Publishing, an innovative digital publisher which produces interactive how-to ebooks for iOS, including Master Your DSLR Camera and The Better Bacon Book, just raised $800,000 in seed round funding from Digital Entertainment Ventures, SV Angel, Charles River Ventures and 500 Startups.

Freelancing PeoplePerHour, Europe’s most popular online freelance-work marketplace, just opened its first American office in New York. This week the company debuts Hourlies, listings where users can market services they will sell by the hour. The move is aimed at attracting more Americans to the marketplace, which currently has over 300,000 registered members.

Ads The activity-based advertising company appssavvy just released its adtivity publisher portal, which provides web, social and mobile publishing partners with a comprehensive dashboard and analytics to create and manage display advertising opportunities.

Fresh produce NYC-based task management app Producteev just announced updates for Android and iPhone, including improvements to its export and print features for Producteev task lists. An iPad app is on the way.

Apparel JackThreads’ Adam Gianotti just launched his second clothing brand, Vive Shirt—a collection of blank apparel which he claims is, “my approach to the ‘American Apparel’ line without the expensive price tag.”

Demo day Tomorrow is the second annual FinTech Innovation Lab Demo Day Introduction. Run by the New York City Investment Fund and Accenture, the lab is a 12-week mentorship program for early stage startups in the financial services industry. Tomorrow, the six accepted companies will present their innovations to an audience of potential investors and senior tech executives from companies including Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan and American Express.

Get Animated! The Taiwanese Animators Have Launched a New York News Site

Adrianne Jeffries — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 12:49:26 -0400

(Next Media)

Next Media Animation, the Taiwanese speed-animation shop known for making news stories look like scenes from Grand Theft Auto and following on Betabeat's stories, has launched a New York-specific news site, Big Apple Daily TV. New York is getting animated!

This morning, this blogger received a note from Taipei with love:

Your story titled the 'Jack the Cat, Facebook-Famous Feline, Has Been Found at JFK' has been animated by us!!

I'd like to introduce to you our newest creation, Big Apple Daily TV, Next Media Animation's NYCentric site that will feature all the latest animated news from NYC. You can expect the craziest "only in New York" news that you read in the newspapers to be animated. The best way to "read" the news nowadays is to watch it!

Please check out our latest video Jack the Cat Found at JFK and let me know what you think!

The videos on Daily Apple TV seem to be playing it straighter than the typical NMA fare, which often takes artistic liberties, adding flying unicorns and blood splattering to spice up the news. "Next Media Media, and how we consume it, is constantly evolving," the Big Apple TV site says. "Communities have always depended on television and newspapers for their news. Today, everyone has gravitated to the Internet. People don’t just want to read the news online, they need to see it, too. We’ve fused animation and video to bring the latest New York buzz to life."

Next Media hosts its videos on YouTube, with embedded ads.

Turntable.fm Gets the Taiwanese Animator Treatment [VIDEO] [UNICORNS]

Adrianne Jeffries — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 12:52:37 -0400

Those Taiwanese animators don't miss a meme, do they? Next Media Animation has a short segment on Turntable.fm (perhaps the first Next Media animation of something that is already an animation?), giving a brief explainer of the service, throwing in a unicorn and some Justin Bieber, and comparing the service to Spotify.

The script:

Listening to music at home with friends has long been popular. Now Americans have a better place to do it: Turntable.fm

Turntable.fm allows people to DJ in chat rooms. Users score each other on their song choices.

The site is currently invite-only and is a hangout for 'cool kids", it's perfect for music snobs.

But Turntable.fm isn't just an Internet fad, high profile investors are pouring money into it.

Will Turntable.fm crash Spotify's party?

This is a high honor and we're not sure any New York start-up has received it before (commenters: let us know if we're wrong). Hey Turntable--you guys gotta slow down!