July 13, 2010

by mrmcq5

NFB launches interactive.nfb.ca

nfb_interactive_site_570

We are happy to echo the announcement last month where at Banff 2010 the NFB introduced the new site that will house a collection of innovative projects and interactive documentaries/essays that we developed aka ‘the framework’.

This framework was initially noodled over a year ago by our creative and technical team along with the NFB and when late last year the NFB approached us to develop the site to contain mini-sites we were excited to renew the creative relationship that had produced the multi-award winning Waterlife.

Not only did we have the pleasure of designing and developing the front end we participated in developing projects that would reside in it, namely “Flub and Utter”.

From the Banff2010.com site:
nfb_interactive

Interactive.NFB.ca is a site that hosts a growing "collection of projects - interactive documentaries, video and animations, photographic art and essays, data visualization, mobile and locative media, community media and user-generated media," which aims to support content that has yet to be, or may never be broadcast . Not without risks, the site is an ingenious way to facilitate conversations and collaborations for creatives in this new media landscape.

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June 24, 2010

by mrmcq5

Waterlife makes Cyber Lions Short-List

Well this is just icing on the cake for the storied web site about the Great Lakes – an interactive documentary we developed with the NFB presenting Kevin McMahon’s film in a new way.

To be recognized internationally like this is really the tops. Thank you to the jury for your consideration, we are truly honoured.

It’s getting awkward writing a lot about this site in the last year. See below for an executive summary about it and it’s impact:


What is Waterlife?
Waterlife is the story of the last great supply of fresh drinking water on earth—The Great Lakes. The site is an interactive documentary that blends stunning footage with Flash, Papervision, and an amazing soundtrack, it tells the story of the extreme state of distress that the Great Lakes are in and how it affects the water that 35 million people drink every day.

The navigation is based on a free-flowing, water-like interface in which exploration feels smooth and effortless, like swimming. the site is broken down into 23 sections that contain interactive content, illustrated animations and documentary footage; it’s an online experience that caters to both those wanting a beautiful visual digital experience as well as those passionate about the environment.

The site's goal is also to reach an audience beyond those who are just interested in water issues. We wanted to be able to reach people and create an interactive experience that could stand on its own, from a creative and educational perspective.

Despite being launched with no advertising in may 2009, a nerve was struck and the people spoke. 10 months later Waterlife amazingly continues to be talked about and spread through websites, blogs and social media. With 2,100,000 page views, 450,000 visits and astonishing bounce rate of 1.5%. Waterlife could not be ignored.

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June 24, 2010

by mrmcq5

Figure3 – Interior Design Toronto is moving!

As we have grown and moved, we are happy to see that one of our first clients is on the move yet again. Figure3 Designers of form, space and experiences of Toronto are one of Toronto’s leading interior design firms and are moving from Bay and Bloor to 200 University.

If you have walked Queen St. West you may have been inside some of their finest work – the Umbra concept store (Winner of the ARIDO Project of the Year 2007).

We are really excited to see the new digs, their current office was an incredible inspiration for our own new office. Good luck with the move!

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June 14, 2010

by mrmcq5

Spinder Blocks – The Amazing Color Matching Game

Months of game design, graphic design, coding, marketing, testing, (repeat these steps at least 4 times) are finally coming to fruition. With our sister company Capricorn8, Jam3 is extremely proud to announce the imminent release of Spinder Blocks – the amazing color matching game for iPad and iPhone soon to be in uHands! See the video after the break. Here is the press release:

Spinder Blocks is finger twisting Tetris-style puzzle game exclusively designed for the multi-touch experience of the iPad and iPhone!
Spinder Blocks is a Color Matching game that is fun, fast and addictive!

The concept is simple: Spin or Tap the blocks to match colors. Match 4 or more to make them disappear. Easy, right? Until you add a second column… or FIVE!

Along the way, ‘Hazard Blocks’ will try to ruin your plan by mixing-up colors! Thankfully, ‘Bomb Blocks’ will assist in getting you out of a jam, eliminating all blocks of a specific color! Use them quickly, they only last a few seconds!

You’ll need to use both halves of your brains when you start playing with both hands! All of this Making Spinder Blocks unique playing experience and a contender for best new Action/Puzzle iPad and iPhone game!

Spinder Blocks is a universal app, and can be played on the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch!

Screenshot from the iPhone Version

Screenshot from the iPhone Version

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April 25, 2010

by mrmcq5

FITC, it’s that time of year again

FITC_adobe_keynoteFITC has arrived! We are always excited about FITC here at Jam3. For Pablo, Adrian and myself, I know the excitement stems from our initial visit 7 years ago as students and it left an indelible mark. The speakers back then were internet superstars, virtual unknowns to the general public in an industry and technological space that is ever changing. The speakers are still not household names but the excitement is as very real as it was all those years ago.

This year the company is not just attending and volunteering en masse we are speaking in three separate sessions. Mikko is speaking on Monday at 2:30pm “Radiohead Thinks This Stuff is Cool” and again at 10:50am Tuesday at “The Cool Shit Hour”. At the same time on Tuesday, Adrian’s session “Standing out in a Sea of Interactive” will be across the hall.

Be sure to check out the sessions, there is something for everyone creative and developers alike.

See you at FITC, and welcome to Toronto!

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Case Study #1: Adrian Belina’s presentation will discuss Jam3’s recent award-winning website for the NFB’s Waterlife and the development of past & recent projects, including Autotopsy.com the stand-out web-extension of the TV series, Crash and Burn.

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Radiohead’s House of Cards was made entirely out of Voxels, they must be cool right? What on earth is a Voxel? During this presentation Mikko will go into more detail on the Voxel Engine he built called Fancy Engine, which will also be featured during the “Cool Shit Hour”. Along with voxels he will delve into the technical side of Jam3’s latest award winning projects Waterlife.nfb.ca and autotopsy.ca. While getting down with Voxels Mikko will be talking about the following: Inspiration for the Fancy Engine, Under the hood of the Fancy Engine, Datasets and Parsers, Optimization optimization optimization

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March 15, 2010

by pablo

Waterlife Wins at SXSW


What a way to take it in Mark! Glad to see the excitement Waterlife has brought the team with all of it’s success.

Activism Award  for green and nonprofit websites that are striving to make the world a better place.

Link: Waterlife.nfb.ca

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March 7, 2010

by Viologica

Buick FWA site of the day

I never thought I would be saying this but YES!, that’s 2 FWA’s in one week. Great hustle guys!

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March 3, 2010

by Viologica

It is official, Autotopsy wins SOTD on FWA

I’m very proud to announce that we hit gold again on FWA. It is the third one in the last 6 months, not that I’m counting or anything. Psst…between me and you if you visit back this Sunday we’ll have some other great news to announce.

Link: http://www.autotopsy.ca

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February 28, 2010

by mrmcq5

10 useful iPhone app review sites

Apps for the iPhone are arguably more important than the phone itself. It’s become a jack-of-all trades device that consumers, business playas, and technogeeks all die for. But where do you go to find those apps in the rough? or the elephant in the room you somehow didn’t notice? We’ve prepared a short list of links we’ve been finding incredibly useful to do just that: find great iphone apps.

http://iphoneapppodcast.com/
Perfect for viewing on your iPhone/iPod Touch before you buy or download the app contains video reviews of apps.

http://www.iphonetoolbox.com/
This site is cool in that it shows what the app looks like on the phone itself. When visitors roll over, they get a quick snippet about the app. Clicking on it brings you to another quick introduction and a link to the app’s website or something else with a more in-depth review.

http://www.iphoneappreviews.net/
Clean appearance featuring quick blurbs on apps and always important comparisons against other apps that provide similar services. Got to love honesty: “one of the dullest games I’ve ever played.”

http://www.appleiphoneschool.com/category/appstore/
iPhone School has quick glances and typically uses video and pictures to help

http://www.iphonealley.com/reviews/apps/
iPhone Alley offers reviews and probably the best snapshot summaries with pros, cons, and the bottom line.

http://iphone-apps.toptenreviews.com/business/
Looking for apps for business? Need to say anymore?

http://www.imedicalapps.com
Quickly becoming an important market segment in application development on the phone OS, this site like the link above specializes in apps and news in the medical industry. This segment should explode with the advent of the iPad.

http://www.apprater.com/
Taking a different approach, apprater allows developers to submit apps for review through a form. Quite a nifty discovery engine at work here.

http://www.148apps.com/
A well polished site with an editorial review process. Well written reviews will keep us coming back.

http://www.appstorehq.com/
A personal fav, this site pulls in blog posts from around the blogosphere – fairly Spartan design doesn’t distract too much from the sheer utility of the site.

Definitely worth doing a follow-up post with respect to sites that focus in on specific markets like books, games, business, medical etc.

Follow me on Twitter @mrmcq5

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February 24, 2010

by adrian

Shots selects Autotopsy as the ‘Top Feature of the Week’

SHOTS

Autotopsy: “Point of Impact” from Jam3 on Vimeo.

For this week’s Hotshot Toronto-based collaborative studio Jam3 craft an immersive online experience to showcase gritty TV drama Crash & Burn.

The online experience at autotopsy.ca puts the viewer in the driving seat as the show’s main character and a young insurance claims adjuster Jimmy Burns is hot on the tail of a multi-vehicle pile-up. The viewer is taken through his journey step-by-step to piece together the complex jigsaw, and invited into a hellish crash scene that allows them to delve deeper and witness the moments leading up to the crash.

Part-game, part-narrative experiment, the sophisticated site serves up an array of interactive video content alongside character case studies that provide hints and distractions alike.

“We knew this had to be more than just an online video, and we wanted users to be able to experience in whatever order to their liking,” explains Jam3 creative director Adrian Belina. “It begins with the end or ‘aftermath’ and essentially sets up the ‘WTF?’ premise of the site. From there viewers fly through our frozen moment in time and can stop at any person involved in the accident and view three things: the approach, Jimmy’s two cents, and the case study.”

These are essentially the before, during and after elements of the site, which evolve the more the viewer explores. Users are given different options to interact with the site, such as a stylized 3D overview of the accident built in Papervision that allows people to jump to any point within the accident. Users can also drag the scene frame-by-frame with their cursor, jump to a point on the timeline or fast-forward with the mini-navigator.

The site took five months to complete from conception to the finished product, and Jam3 had the challenge of fitting the construction of the site in with the show’s timeline schedule. “We spent about a month conceiving the story, working out how to make it interactive and how the accident would unfold. We essentially sat in a boardroom with dinky cars running over different scenarios of who hit who first,” recalls Belina. “Interactive fiction is a fairly new concept and I think what attracts people to it is the notion of piecing together a puzzle. They are controlling what they see and how they see it.”

You can check out the intro film from the site below, and if you’d like to play detective and experience the interactive elements in full, visit the site at autotopsy.ca.

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