Here‘s what Mentors and the project teams at the X|Media|Lab, India had to say about their experience of three days.
Paul Strickland – Director investment Banking, Crusader Financial Group
Mentor
X|Media|Lab has been a valuable experience for me. FICCI FRAMES as a partner was a very strategic, obvious and clear synergies. The location is very amazing, specially there is lots to discover. People here are wonderful, so is the food and hospitality. I have mentored some very interesting companies and have spent time with them. Some amazing work is happening here.
Tom Kennedy- Director Digital Strategy, Legion Interactive
Mentor
It has been really good. The projects we have come across are fabulous. The discussions were very enjoyable. Meeting and hearing local issues, sharing our experiences, it has been great. Lot of projects presented here have real potential.
Mark Ollila- Director Technology & Strategy head of Nokia Games publishing Multimedia, Finland
Mentor
It was really wonderful to attend XML in India.The interactions with each other in a cultural potch has been very exciting. The projects are great. The amount of heritage, history and creativity in the projects is fabulous. the passion for their ork is very high and impressive. the core value of Nokia is ‘Connecting People‘ and I think XML does exactly that. Here friendships have been formed that will go on for years.
Alexander Grunsteidl- Digital well being lab
Mentor
I think the benefits to all the teams is tremendous and overwhelming. All three days have been very interesting, you get the global people together. The challenge for me was to think local as in to apply global knowledge on a local level. The enthusiasm I have seen here is great. The other thing very challenging was to switch modes every hour as there were different stories. The most interesting part was that it was very much about story telling.
Isaac Kerlow- Board of the Media Development Authority (MDA) Singapore, and National Research Foundation
Mentor
XML India was an effervescent combination of ideas, methodology and innovation.
Matt Costello- Writer, Doom 3 (Game Critics Award: Best of E3 2005) (New York)
Mentor
It is always amazing to engage with other people with creativity and is also challenging and humbling. This was an experience to learn and to give as it was also in the totally new part of the world for me. The culture and the projects have been excellent here.
Elina Koivisto- Senior Researcher,Nokia Research Centre (Finland)
Mentor
It has been absolutly fabulous for me here. It was a learning experience both sides. The variety of projects was great. I think the sessions were enlightening for the projects with bigger goals.
Dale Herigstad- Four times Emmy Award Winner, and Winner of the inaugural Interactive Emmy Award (Los Angeles)
Mentor
It is always invigorating talking about people. I also got to know whats going on in India and got to compare ideas.
Marcelino Ford-Livene- General Manager, Digital Home Group, Intel, and Governor of Interactive Media, Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (Los Angeles)
Mentor
It was fantastic. All the projects were superb. FICCI and XML are doing a great job.
Priya Prakash- Innovation Executive, Future Media and Technology, BBC (London)
Mentor
It is amazing to see the Indian content market gearing up. It is also great to see them moving away from outsourcing stuff, they know how to be confident but there will be sharp learning curves.
Christopher Stenhouse & Jonathan D. Overall- Partners, Switch TV Australia
Project- Switch TV
We found it realy good. It was a rewarding opportunity to meet dynamic, entrepreneurial teams. It was an opportunity to share ideas and experience. The interesting thing is that we came in with different idea and are going back with a totally different one.
We are also amazed at the diversity and the balance of the mentors and the project groups.
Gaurav Jain- Producer, illusion interactive animation, Mumbai
Project- Aryaman
At XML, I have gathered million dollors worth of advice on evrything from production to marketing. the best part is the mentors make you answer your own questions and if you have any more questions even after the sessions you can always go back to them.
Robert Hutchinson- Partner, Suma Media Consulting, Australia
Project- The Billionaire Sleep
My project has been turned upside down but, it is looking much better now.
Low Jun Jek- Yolk, Singapore
Project- Interactive publishing platform
Have designedthe website for X Media Lab earlier. Its been en enriching experience and an eye opener. The experience of the international experts is has helped us immensely and we are grateful to then for their valuable opinions.
Jay Maroo- Director, Shemaroo
Project- Ghatotkach
Quality, Experience and interaction! Great learnings, high energy.
Chand and Nikhil- Ettamina Studios
Project- Mundoo Hunt
The lab has proved to be good for us since we now see our projects from different perspectives. We have got a chance to network with really nice people who have helped us to think big. The mentors have helped us set new milestones.
Priya Mathews- Filmkaar Productions, Delhi
Project- Stories from the slums
The lab has been brilliant. The mentors were forthcoming with information and shared their know how with us. We are really thankful to Brendan and Megan. The mentors have given us the assurance that if they believe in us they will support us in the future.
Greg Acuna- Pala Flicks Pvt. Ltd., Goa
Project- Earthlings
The sessions have been very intensive. The atmosphere has been incredible and the people are really warm. The mentors have been helpful at many levels and their insightful comments helped us to concentrate on the development.
Sandeep Gangatkar- Adlabs
Project- Gini and Jony
“X media lab is a really very good initiative and has been taken at a very good point of time where animation industry is in growing stage. We got an excellent opportunity to meet the renowned mentors from overseas and also with Shekhar Kapoor. X media lab brought the expertise of this area and the chance we got to share the knowledge with mentors was terrific. I wish that X media lab should be continued in coming years and also other people should get exposure of X media lab who can get benefit from it.”
Anand Gurnani – AnimationXpress.com
Project- AnimationXpress.com
The advice we got was priceless. The seriousness and full attention that the mentors gave to the project was a great feeling. Besides being a friend of Brendan & Megan, I have been a big fan of the lab since the past two years and i look forward to attending many more such labs across the world in the time to come. Everyone including Big Daddy Anil Wanvari as well as our core AnimationXpress.com team of young and dynamic professionals like Esha, Divya and Money benefitted from the Mentoring recieved.
Seema Pherwani – TellyChakkar.com
Project- TellyChakkar.com
It was a great experience to present my project Tellychakkar.com to all the mentors from Xmedialab. The lab has a mix of some of the best professionals from across the world. I think, couple with inspiration, all great ideas need a push in the right direction.
I particularly enjoyed my interaction with Marcelino Ford Livene who had some great insights and suggestions on new age web designs and Priya Prakash who understands that innovation is all about understanding people and handling them the right way Also would like to thank Mark Ollila who very patiently took us through the changing face of mobile entertainment round the world, and Tom Kennedy who has his pulse on the growing interactive communities round the world.
