A Letter to the Premier

March 28th, 2012
To: The Honourable Brad Wall
Premier of Saskatchewan
226 Legislative Building
Regina, Saskatchewan
CANADA S4S 0B3

Re: Running a competitive business in Saskatchewan

Honourable Premier Wall,

I am the owner of Talking Dog Studios, which in 1999 became the only studio between Toronto and Vancouver authorized for Dolby 5.1 theatrical mixing. Five years ago I had 24 skilled technicians working for me, now I am down to a fraction of that.

When your party assumed power, as a business owner I celebrated the fact that a business-friendly government was now in charge. You have clearly stated time and time again that you understand the need for incentives to attract business, and that it would be foolish to want to re-negotiate Saskatchewan into a position where neighbouring provinces and regions were more attractive. Why, then, would you want to kill my industry by making us the only province in Canada not offering incentives for film and television production?

My business is not easy to relocate to a film-friendly province – the facility I own will cost over a million dollars to re-build elsewhere, because of the highly demanding construction methods required. As a former president of the Saskatchewan Motion Picture Industry Association, and as an industry participant, I have heard statements from every Minister previously assigned this portfolio since 2007 that the Brad Wall government supports the film industry, and that this government understands the importance of jobs that make young people want to stay in the province. Believing those assurances, and knowing that my studio is an important part of the infrastructure that will be more in demand again when our industry gets back on its feet, I have continued to operate my business at a loss for the last four years. During that four year period there have been several studies done of our industry, all of which identified the need for adjustments, and an industry task force also submitted a list of proposed changes that would have revived the industry at little or no cost to the government. Why have these all been ignored? The failure to keep us competitive is costing this industry and our province tens of millions of dollars a year in productions that would have come here if only minor adjustments had been made to our incentive programs.

The worldwide economic downturn in 2008 did cause a nationwide reduction in the amount of film and television production. In 2009 and 2010, Ontario, B.C, Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Quebec all recognized the important cultural and economic spinoff benefits that a healthy film industry brings, and by offering enhancements to their incentive programs they were able to revive their film industries. To point to our industry and ask why we haven’t grown since 2008 is to ignore the competitive reality. Using even the stingiest interpretations available shows that the film employment tax credit is more or less revenue neutral, and the reality of a more than 6-to-1 return to the province on this investment is easily seen by numerous small business owners around the province whenever a film or television production is happening nearby. An industry that enhances pride of place, makes young people want to stay, attracts tourism, and creates jobs should be celebrated, not destroyed.

As a life-long resident of Saskatchewan I have often been asked why I didn’t move away. After five decades of saying that this is my home and the place where I have chosen to build my business, you are forcing me to ask why I have invested so heavily in this province. Clearly if my industry was oil or potash and we were in our fourth year of a 70% downturn in production volumes because of competition from other provinces, it would be unthinkable that this government wouldn’t be trying to fix the problem. While it’s wonderful to hear that you are open to new ideas for supporting the industry, it’s important that these new initiatives provide at least as much leverage to producers as the existing program or much work will continue to go elsewhere. Also, these new initiatives need to be worked out and ready to implement before the SFETC is dismantled, not a year or two later when much of the remaining infrastructure of skilled technicians and businesses have been forced to take jobs elsewhere or leave the industry.

I care about my province and I know that you do as well. I would respectfully request that you give careful consideration to the future of our industry and the role that government policy plays in that future.

Sincerely,

Rob Bryanton, President
Talking Dog Studios

Happy Hallowe'en!

A direct link to the above video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeDNdBl6PV4

Here's a little augmented reality gag for your iPhone or Android phone from the fun-loving gang here at Talking Dog. Go to www.talkingdogstudios.com/ar/halloween and use your phone to scan the QR tag there to get started. Happy Hallowe'en!

"Create Your Mayo Clinic Health Experience"

A direct link to the above video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z7jDY3sbrs

When US company GoConvergence was hired by The Mayo Clinic to supervise the creation of a new permanent installation at the Mall of America, they knew one of the elements they wanted to add was Augmented Reality (AR). They put out a call for proposals to the major players in this exciting new industry, and who did they hire? Talking Dog Studios, from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.

What is AR? Talking Dog president Rob Bryanton explains: “If you’ve ever watched a football game and seen that yellow down line superimposed on the field, then you’ve seen a form of Augmented Reality. That down line isn’t really there, but sophisticated technology superimposes it on the video to make it seem as if it’s real. Any time you see real-time information or graphics superimposed in a way that connects them to the world of what the camera or the user is seeing, that’s AR”.

 Create Your Mayo Clinic Health Experience is a permanent installation now open at The Mall of America. Amongst the various interactive displays throughout the installation encouraging healthy living, there are three kiosks which feature software designed by Talking Dog Studios in collaboration with Regina's Asmoteknologies Ltd. These kiosks invite visitors to interact with highly detailed animated 3D models of the heart, the head, and various joints. Users can rotate the models to see them from any side they choose, and labels identifying various parts of the model or providing interesting facts fly in and out as the models rotate.

The 3D models were developed in collaboration with the Mayo Clinic’s team of illustrators, and are both medically accurate and photo-realistic. Optimizing our software and these models so they would display at their full resolution and frame rate within the display was a unique challenge, and is one of the things that people find most exciting when they first experience these remarkable kiosks. This level of realism represents a major leap forward in Augmented Reality, and many hours of hard work by the Talking Dog team of programmers and designers, which include Rene Dufour-Contreras, Ryan Hill, plus Tony Mountjoy and Aaron Thompson of Asmotek.com.

For more information please contact Rob Bryanton at Talking Dog Studios, 306-790-4008.

47 Countries Playing Our New Game Within a Week!

SMPIA Announces Augmented Reality Game Results

SMPIA, in partnership with Saskatchewan's Talking Dog Studios is happy to announce that Trilight Entertainment is the winner of Multi-PlatFORUM - The Game, an augmented reality mobile experience launched at the Multi-PlatFORUM conference on April 14th in Regina. Playable on either Android phones or the iPhone, the game superimposed a constantly changing random selection of the logos of all the companies and associations participating in the Multi-PlatFORUM event onto the phone's camera view so that it appeared as if the logos are really floating in space around the player. Within 6 hours of launch the game was being played in 26 countries. To date, over 10,000 logos have been displayed in 47 countries around the world.

The contest finished at 8 am (CST) this morning. While players will continue to be able to play for fun, Trilight Entertainment of Regina, SK had collected 615 logos by contest close to claim the first prize Augmented Reality package worth $500 from Talking Dog Studios.

Talking Dog Studios president Rob Bryanton had this to say about the game: "When we saw that people all over the world were playing, it really opened up the possibility that the winner was going to be from the other side of the planet! But Trilight took the bull by the horns, they grabbed the lead early and managed to outwit their competition all week. Way to go Trilight, we're looking forward to seeing how you want to use your prize."

"We are excited to explore the potential of using Augmented Reality and Digital Media to compliment the Film projects we have in development, "said Trilight Entertainment's Shayne Putzlocher upon learning of his win, "and we had a lot of fun participating in the game".

SMPIA Digital Media Initiative Manager Nova Alberts was thrilled with the response to the game. "This was a wonderful way to demonstrate the speed and reach of digital media when you engage your audience. And I love that we were able to put Saskatchewan and Canadian logos in front of so many international players."

Just a reminder, the game can still be played by using the browser on your iPhone or Android phone to go to this link: http://www.bit.ly/multiplatforum. An added feature is that all companies and sponsors participating in the event will now have a fixed logo floating at their business location.

Find the Love in ScavengAR Hunt

It's almost that time of year again where we show the people we love just how much they mean to us. Here comes Valentine's Day!! And it looks like little winged cupid has aimed an arrow straight at our developers' behinds because they are so overflowing with love and appreciation for our ScavengARs that they couldn't resist giving them the best gift of all....AR CHOCOLATE!!!

However, these just aren't any chocolates like the kind you buy last minute at the gas station on your way home because you forgot it was Valentine's Day. No, no, no, these are chocolates filled with love...and points! Up until midnight on Valentine's Day, you'll be able to find individual chocolates worth 5 points each. How's that for love?

What? You want more? Because we love you THAT MUCH, we're also including an elusive Box o' Chocolate worth MEGA points. Not only do you get mucho amor when you find this pretty box, but look inside and BOOM! More chocolate!! And you guessed it, more points.

See, we really really do love you! So much so, that we're trying to help you make it to the top of the Leader Board.

So get scavenging and find that sweet, sweet chocolate! If you're new to our game, go to scavengarhunt.com to learn how to start playing!

Happy Valentine's Day!

The Talking Dog AR Team

Pirate Attack: Talking Dog takes ScavengAR Hunt to the next level

Avast ye land lubbers! There be rotten, no good pirates in these here waters! Arrrrrrr!

The scurvey scallywags here at Talking Dog Studios have stirred up trouble and this time we have engaged the wrath of the feisty pirates from ScavengAR Hunt!

Ok not really, but what we have done is develop a little interactive demo with Unity 3D (a game development environment) using a few pirate themed objects from our ScavengAR Hunt game. We have been curious about Unity for some time and thought now was a great time to get in and try something fun with it. Also, it seemed like a logical next step to take some of the things we made for ScavengAR and put it into more rounded out game scenario.

In our Pirates demo, you try to sink the pirate ship by pointing the cannon and firing at it. You have to hit that ship 10 times in order to sink it and we've provided a limited number of cannon balls to take it out. The demo is nice simple example of gaming 101 just to get our feet wet in this area a bit more. There is still some room for improvement, but if you think this type of game could work into one of your projects please contact us for a quote.

Be sure to check out the demo here - http://www.talkingdogstudios.com/unity/pirates

So put on your eye patch and grab a cup o' grog. It's time to send these bilge rats to Davy Jones' locker!

The Talking Dog ARrrrrrrrrr Team

Hey We Made the Top 10 AR Projects by the Music Industry!

Thank you! You shouldn't have, no really...ok, ok we accept! First of all, we'd like to thank our mothers without whom this wouldn't have been possible...

Ori Inbar at Games Alfresco put together a list of the top 10 Augmented Reality projects created by the music industry...and lo and behold, we made the list! He names the top projects that he feels best showcase the combination of Augmented Reality and the music industry. Collaborations with artists like John Mayer, Rhianna, and Eminem all made the list, so we're stoked to be amongst such superstars (both in the music industry and AR development)! The top spot on the list went to Black Eyed Peas 360, which is a truly awesome AR project and well-deserved leader of the pack.

Our project, 10th Dimension Music Video for Rob Bryanton's Imagining the Tenth Dimension project, landed us at #5 on Ori's list.

You can create your own AR interactive music video in real time using two of the songs from the 10th Dimension project. Go to www.talkingdogstudios.com/10thdim to check it out!

This was actually one of our first AR projects that we attempted to create back in early 2009. Glad to see that it still is generating some interest! We enjoyed exploring the combination of music, user-controlled animation, and particle effects and would love to delve deeper into this area in the future. So if you have any projects in mind please contact us at ar@talkingdogstudios.com and we'll see what cool AR stuff we can imagine for you.

So thanks to Ori for the recognition of our project! Here's hoping me make some other top 10 lists (maybe top 10 AR companies with attractive developers....we can wish right?)

The Talking Dog AR Team