In the past several years, more and more franchises add a fourth chapter to their production line. As more screens compete for people’s attention – from Youtube to Facebook, the need for pre-awareness in the form of franchises is one of the few sure-fire models for getting butts in cinema seats.

As an aside, it’s interesting to note the explosive growth of online poker games that has in turn fueled brick-and-mortar tournaments and thriving casinos. New poker websites pop up every day, such as poker.dk, where people practice making money in the privacy of their own home. The industry booms, despite legal action against some of the most high-profile sites such as Full Tilt Poker. What used to be an intimidating game for pros, suddenly has become a private game where people gamble anonymously. Meanwhile, real-life poker has become a booming business. Similarly, I see a potential strategy for film producers to cultivate audiences with online shows and made-for-online movies that gradually build a franchise and following. These properties can then be produced for the big cinematic experience once the audience is sufficiently proven.

Here are three franchises that have ‘unexpectedly’ gone over the threequel limit:

Pirates of the Caribbean

For a film idea that had so many sceptics in the beginning, this franchise has certainly had legs. Based on the Disney theme park ride, the first film, spawned two immediate sequels, Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s End. The third concluded the plot-line of two of the central characters who carried the weight of the films. It would have been enough. And then they made the fourth, On Stranger Tides without them.

Ice Age

It would appear that Ice Age are planning to make films up until the present day. So far they have had the ice age begin, a meltdown, and an adventure somewhere under the ice where the Dinosaurs still reign supreme. Have they left it there? Of course not. In Ice Age number four we will get to see the continents split.

X Men

The first film was OK. The second film was better, and the third was brilliant. The X Men franchise did the unusual and got better rather than worse with each release. So, of course they had to round it out with a fourth one. Only this time they went back in the past and made the prequel X Men: First Class. Different actors playing younger versions of the same characters. Genius.

The trend toward developing intellectual property with pre-awareness is quickly going to meld with the power of online audience-building. Small-scale, niche productions funded by brands and product placement will grown audiences that can then be tapped for bigger productions. A sea-change is just around the corner.

A great interview with Mark Cousins here.

“Between the dawn of civilization and 2003, we only created five exabytes; now we’re creating that amount every two days. By 2020, that figure is predicted to sit at 53 zettabytes (53 trillion gigabytes) – an increase of 50 times.”

From Facebook posts to tweets to blog ramblings, vast amounts of human communication data are being stored.  How that data is put to use is a key question that statisticians are exploring in droves.  It’s the new sexy job – applicable to Marketing, Economics, Consumer Behavior, Psychology, Market Prediction and pretty much anything to do with human life on earth.

Imagine accessing consumer behavior data in real time – and adapting online marketing strategies immediately to correspond with consumer trends, day by day, hour by hour.  Imagine the possibilities for interactive TV marketing (eventually to be mostly an online medium).  Or consumer reactions to movie trailer releases.  The ability for a company to adapt a marketing strategy in almost real time will be key to finding more precise placement.

Anyway, it’s a fascinating piece.  Thanks Google, for sharing some of your incredible employees’ insights with us.  About the positive reaction, Google says:

Like most companies, Google regularly communicates with our business customers via email newsletters, updates on our official blogs, and printed materials.

On this occasion, we’ve sent a short book about data, called Think Quarterly, to a small number of our UK partners and advertisers. You’re now on the companion website, thinkquarterly.co.uk (also available at m.thinkquarterly.co.uk, if you’re on the move).

We’re flattered by the positive reaction but have no plans to start selling copies! Although Think Quarterly remains firmly aimed at Google’s partners and advertisers, if you’re interested in the subject of data then please feel free to read on…

“Remember how we used to dream as children of the delicious freedom and power of being grown-up? And somehow the dream vanished along the way, and we were energized only here and there by a job well-done, a spirited gathering, or an occasional week in the sun?…The possibility we saw so clearly as children got lost in the downward spiral, and we forgot the promise of our birth.  How fascinating!  Look around.  This day, these people in your life, a baby’s cry, an upcoming meeting — suddenly they seem neither good nor bad.  They shine forth brilliantly as they are.  Awake restored!  … to the dream revived.”

That concluding paragraph from The Art of Possibility” by Roz and Ben Zander, sums up the book’s unabashed inclusiveness, ecumenism, “power of we,” and realistic optimism.  I was struck by the central theme’s relevance to filmmaking — film shows us how things are (we see a story told in images with our own eyes) and yet film also creates its own world.  Some may call this fantasy world a lie.  But this book emphasizes how our perception creates much of the world (and problems) we see — and that by consciously choosing to step outside the “game” and realign our self-imposed boundaries, we can see new realms of possibility.

In the same way, film allows us to vividly portray imagined worlds of possibility.  Films like The Matrix, Avatar, Inception, The Game — they all allow us a jump into new worlds of possibility.  Too easily we forget that this flesh and blood world of matter is equally open to possibility.

I’ve been victim of so called realistic thinking and I’ve been apt to scoff at the naivete of theories like “The Secret.”  But real world examples of excellence give me pause.   Where does genius find its wellspring of vision?  Where does Steve Jobs get the audacity to “make a dent in the universe?” Where does Mother Theresa find selfless love even in human misery?  Where does Einstein find the passion to discover a unified theory behind the physical laws of nature?  Where does Mark Zuckerberg get the drive and inspiration to create a world-changing, multi-billion dollar company by age 25?  As in the magical realm of movies, the real world is open to possibilities only to be imagined.  And film helps us literally to see possibility.

Highly recommended: The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life

Visual beauty combined with story and the power of music all align to sweep us into seeing the “art of possibility.”  (I’ll spare you the overused Keats quote about Truth and Beauty.)  The possibility of arresting visual perspectives can communicate beauty, can communicate truth.  I think this is why visual inventiveness fascinates me.  The following little videos speak for themselves.

Phantom Flex Slow Motion

Locked in a Vegas Hotel Room with a Phantom Flex from Tom Guilmette on Vimeo.

Perspective of an Arrow