Amazon Storyteller To Bring Indie Content To Life On A Known Ecosystem
As the modern era of technology and mobility forges on, one thing is becoming ever clearer: it's not a war over hardware, nor over software. It's an ecosystem war. Apple is leading the charge in many ways when it comes to an interconnected, well-supported ecosystem, but Google, Microsoft and even Amazon are holding their own. While Amazon began as an online e-tailer, the company has pivoted part of its business in recent years in order to produce e-readers, tablets, and the Amazon ecosystem -- which technically resides in the Android universe.
Now, Amazon is tapping into both segments with the introduction of Storyteller. It's a new tool designed to assist writers and filmmakers bring their stories and creations to life, and on one of the world's most well-known platforms. Amazon Studios is already making a dent on the TV side by airing exclusives on Prime Instant Video, and now that's being extended with Storyteller. Currently in beta, Storyteller is a free online tool that turns scripts into storyboards, complete with characters and dialogue that can then be shared with others for feedback.
"We've found that many writers want to see their story up on its feet in visual form but find it harder than it should be to create a storyboard," said Roy Price, Director of Amazon Studios. "Storyteller provides a digital backlot, acting troupe, prop department and assistant editor-everything you need to bring your story to life. We want to see great stories turned into movies and television shows and we'll continue to develop new features and tools that help people develop great stories."
Storyteller begins by scanning a movie script that has been uploaded to Amazon Studios. It identifies the scenes, locations and characters from scene descriptions, and "casts" them from a library of thousands of characters, props and backgrounds. Filmmakers can recast or change locations, or they can upload their own images. Storyteller places the cast in front of the right background so that filmmakers can focus their time on the emotion and energy of scenes by using pan and zoom, changing the facial expressions and positions of characters, adding vehicles or props or adding captions with descriptions or additional dialogue. Once completed, the storyboard can be published on Amazon Studios where other users are able to view it and give feedback on the project. Amazon Storyteller is free-anyone can visit AmazonStudios.com and use this new tool to visualize their movie script and share it with others.
Are Amazon and Netflix going to replace your pay-TV subscription? Don't blink, because they just might.
Now, Amazon is tapping into both segments with the introduction of Storyteller. It's a new tool designed to assist writers and filmmakers bring their stories and creations to life, and on one of the world's most well-known platforms. Amazon Studios is already making a dent on the TV side by airing exclusives on Prime Instant Video, and now that's being extended with Storyteller. Currently in beta, Storyteller is a free online tool that turns scripts into storyboards, complete with characters and dialogue that can then be shared with others for feedback.
"We've found that many writers want to see their story up on its feet in visual form but find it harder than it should be to create a storyboard," said Roy Price, Director of Amazon Studios. "Storyteller provides a digital backlot, acting troupe, prop department and assistant editor-everything you need to bring your story to life. We want to see great stories turned into movies and television shows and we'll continue to develop new features and tools that help people develop great stories."
Storyteller begins by scanning a movie script that has been uploaded to Amazon Studios. It identifies the scenes, locations and characters from scene descriptions, and "casts" them from a library of thousands of characters, props and backgrounds. Filmmakers can recast or change locations, or they can upload their own images. Storyteller places the cast in front of the right background so that filmmakers can focus their time on the emotion and energy of scenes by using pan and zoom, changing the facial expressions and positions of characters, adding vehicles or props or adding captions with descriptions or additional dialogue. Once completed, the storyboard can be published on Amazon Studios where other users are able to view it and give feedback on the project. Amazon Storyteller is free-anyone can visit AmazonStudios.com and use this new tool to visualize their movie script and share it with others.
Are Amazon and Netflix going to replace your pay-TV subscription? Don't blink, because they just might.
