dianafilms

All About Diana Films: Who we are, what we do and how we do it

Who We Are
Established by Francesca Prada, Diana Films was founded to provide high quality talent to creative projects in the advertising and entertainment industry.  Diana Films also remains committed to creating more opportunities for women, emerging talent, and self-identified minorities.

The award winning independent film work, as well the multi-award winning ad campaigns we've produced have all benefited from the judicious and well timed deployment of resources, talent and content.  On message, on time and on budget for 18 years.

What We Do
We serve as a part-incubator and creative engine for most media centric projects, as well as serving production, agency and start-up clients in the film, advertising, gaming, digital media and TV industry.  Our bilingual staff can handle the full cycle of production, supporting clients in need of production services for English and Spanish language projects.

We also develop and produce independent films, advertising campaigns, integrated branding initiatives, documentaries and transmedia projects that put technology in the service of art and the brand story.

How We Do it
Our productions embrace the triple bottom line and make every effort to deploy best practices involving: green production methods, value engineering, effective workflows, leadership development and mentoring.  Many of the projects we've managed had "many tentacles" and in addition to relying on traditional media, we have also used social and earned media (free media) to both promote and in some instances execute the work.

How can we help your next great project exceed expectations?

Services:

• Project Consulting: Production, Marketing and Content Strategy for Media & Entertainment Start Ups, Independent Filmmakers, Documentary Projects, Non-Traditional Marketing Campaigns, Mid-Sized Branding Consultancies
  
  
• Content strategy for Online Ventures including digital content programming initiatives, curatorial services; as well as talent & member acquisition, community engagement and retention strategy 
  
  
• Agency Producing for TV/Radio/Integrated Campaigns in the General and Hispanic Market. We can take your campaign from as early as the research & pitch phase all the way through to QC and site launch and/or shipping/uploading for air 
  

• Producing & Production Services for Commercial Production Companies (Union & Non)

• Script & Story: Consulting & Editing, as well as subject area research & dramaturgy
  
  
• Proposal drafting, bidding, budgeting & scheduling, P & L, marketing and film festival outreach for independent films and documentaries

• Spanish Language Production

• Internationalization
  
  
• Mentoring, Training, Teaching and coaching
  
  
• Directing talent for audio sessions, on camera, live performance or public speaking
  

 

 

 

What If The Male Avengers Posed Like The Female One?

What If The Male Avengers Posed Like The Female One?.

What If The Male Avengers Posed Like The Female One?

Alice Herz-Sommer-- Holocaust Survivor thanks music & teaches much

"I am alone but not lonely because my life is rich with music. Music saved my life" AHS

Her optimisim, her dedication to music and her ability to be present are an inspiration.  Music saves lives and helps our brains to stay flexible, adaptable and brings such a sense of wellbeing, especially for those fortunate enough to make music.

When I hear people complaining, sometimes I will send them a link or simply tell her story.  We all have our own moments in hell, how we get through them and who we help along the way makes a difference at the time, and almost always in the future.

only connect

 

John Cleese Holds forth on Creativity--

great video, kind of corporate but interesting.

Are you in open mode or closed mode? I've called this the open focus work style, encouraging directors in development to use their intuition, stay slightly fuzzy and let the work evolve.  That is a luxury we often don't give directors, but when we do, they tend to deliver more authentic and original work.

Can you be more playful and relaxed, even when under deadline pressure to deliver copy, boards, scripts, shots, dialogue, proposals, etc...?

the Last Express: through the eyes of an artist

ANALYSIS – VIDEO GAME: The Last Express (1997) – VERONIKA ZÝKOVÁ -

The Last Express (1997) is a video game created by Jordan Mechner and Smoking Car Productions, set on the Orient Express in 1914. This videogame was very innovative in the adventure games genre. The Last Express was the first “real-time adventure game” and until these days it remains an example of combining deep story with high artistic values, 3D environment based on detailed historical research, rotoscoped Art Nouveau stylized characters, international cast with great voice acting in multiple languages and other praised aspects I will mention further. The game has taken 4 years to develop, with budget over 5 million dollars.¹

This article will balance between serious analysis and a long-time love to this video game (or interactive media). Although it has been 15 years since its release, The Last Express is undoubtedly considered a piece of art and very accomplished narrative, which was examined in The End of Books – Or Books Without End? Reading Interactive Narratives by J. Yellowlees Douglas and other studies. Just like in the time of its release, when it received rave reviews, the game still makes it to various charts and polls of the best adventure games of all times.³ Now that The Last Express is available as a digital download on various sites⁴ and recently [on March 16th 2012] its version for iPad and iPhone was announced,⁵ lets have a detailed look at what The Last Express offers to a gamer.

"So far, I have not been talking about visuals and voices of characters. It would be shame not to mention, at least briefly, that characters are rotoscoped in 2D stylized Art Nouveau look. Not only Mucha’s and Toulous-Lautrec’s paintings were inspiration, but also comic books by such authors as Hugo Pratt, François Schuiten or Enki Bilal.²⁵ Comic book style reminds also the way creators dealt with limited 3 CDs space²⁶ and in many cases had to use not full motion, but more slide-show style, capturing significant gestures and mimics. It works surprisingly well, partly because you just accept this style and get used to it. But full motion used for character’s walking, facing you in the corridor, looking to your eyes with emotions, this is just priceless; surely one of the greatest efforts of The Last Express. You can observe characters from different angles, their actions are little animations similar to loops; they repeat certain moves. It is not too impressive, but sufficient enough to create the illusion of action."

"The voice acting is perfect and gamer can enjoy various languages in their beauty. High level of authenticity was accomplished even in this field; Russians are speaking old Russian, you can say when Austrian is speaking German and so forth. For example, character leads conversation in German and in the middle of a sentence he/she starts to speak English with strong German accent. Richness of languages is exceptional.²⁷ When I mentioned that The Last Express was going against some aspects of „interactive movies“, it was because of the difference between FMV used in these games and rotoscoped cartoon-style technique that creators of The Last Express used. It does exactly what they intended: player does not concentrate on acting that much, because he/she sees only key frames of characters talking, he/she rather listens to dialogues and focuses on story. But The Last Express is highly cinematic, as well as very interactive, so if we call it „interactive movie“, „interactive media“, or simply „video game“, it won’t make much difference.^28"

Link to the deep and compelling article here:

http://25fps.cz/2012/the-last-express/

 

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

I love everything about this little film. 

The Last Express has been voted #7 of the top 100 Adventure Games of All Time

This Highly Cinematic Game has just been listed on the top 100 adventure games of all time,
#7:

Where do the accolades start for Smoking Car Productions’ The Last Express? Is it the rotoscoped graphics that give the game a uniquely classy sense of style? Is it the painstaking historical recreation of the final voyage of the Orient Express before World War I? Is it the stunningly immersive real-time progression of gameplay? Or is it the thrilling and extraordinarily literate writing? Why choose? There really isn't anything quite like Jordan Mechner’s 1997 adventure. While the story of American doctor Robert Cath and the international intrigue he encounters on a train journey from Paris to Constantinople does head to some pretty fantastical places, it is equally balanced by a genuine sense of realism and authenticity. Mechner's team went to great lengths to portray everything from foreign languages to daily weather patterns with historical accuracy. The characters portray the broad and tumultuous sociopolitical climate of the era, as Cath encounters everyone from German businessmen to Serbian militants. And in a still-unparalleled design decision, live actors were filmed and then hand-traced in a style reminiscent of early 20th century illustration.

Making things feel even more authentic is the game’s real-time progression: The Last Express doesn't wait for you. The train barrels relentlessly toward Constantinople, stopping at several famous locales along the way. Similarly, the other passengers have their own agendas to attend to; they move around the train, have conversations, go to sleep, eat dinner, conduct secret meetings, and so on. As Cath, players have more or less total freedom to explore the train and observe, interact with fellow passengers, or sneak around trying to find information. This gives the game an astounding level of replayability for an adventure game, since you'll never be able to see everything in a given playthrough; while you're off exploring one car, something else (something probably very interesting) is going on in another. And if you don’t like the direction your recent choices have taken, rather than simply restore an old save file, simply rewind time and begin that segment of the journey all over again. It all adds up to a tense, immersive, and innovative adventure that few other games have equaled.

Read about the other great games here

http://www.adventuregamers.com/article/id,1401/p,20

conflict resolution

Remove blame, present the problem, express the goal and ask for the best way to go about achieving it collectively and co-responsibly.

 

Rethink Breast cancer, ad that really works!

 

This is a great reminder, very sexy PSA and totally works as a viral on so many levels.  Great work and so good to see things like this.  Know your audience and give them what they need in ways they would not expect. 

Film Incentives and Production Activity Map (US based)

this is a pretty handy tool brought to you by Credit Scouts