The concept and proposal was presented to Slate in January 2007. Its concept helped set the main principles of slatev.com, and helped engage Microsoft as the founding sponsor.
THE CONCEPT
Slate B is the first all-Web video magazine from the folks who brought you the first all-Internet magazine.
Slate B is an outlet for a new generation of “anthro-pop” journalists whose tools are video cameras and other multimedia technology instead of pens and notebooks.
Slate B is a filter for the very best in short-form video content: from the hidden gems of YouTube and other user-generated sites to the most interesting new film and music trailers to the forgotten treasures of short animation and film archives.
Slate B is a lab for rethinking the rules of visual-based narrative: mixing video with stills, audio commentary with soundtracks, information graphics and animated maps with behind the scenes coverage of political and cultural events.
Slate B is a virtual, international production network. From Cape Town to Hong Kong, London to Buenos Aires, a worldwide team of “connectors” will recruit promising film and documentary directors, emerging talents from film schools and camera-wielding visual artists.
Slate B is a community for anyone interested using the emerging world of Internet media to produce and promote video content of real quality.
THE AUDIENCE
YOUTUBE GENERATION (+20)
They grew up in affluent families and have gone to good colleges, but aren’t shy about asserting their individuality, from their Urban Outfitter T-shirts to their experiments with dyed hair and tattoo. Part of their identity is an ease and fascinating with multimedia. The have taken film history and production classes, post video tags on YouTube, DailyMotion and Uth.tv, watch trailers rather than news on Yahoo! Movies and have a Netflix subscription for four films a month. They dream of exploring the world with a camera and would rather have coffee with cult actress Charlotte Gainsbourg than socialite Paris Hilton.
Y X GENERATION (+30)
Creative, hip, informed, curious and often still single, they are in their 30s but still wear sweaters with hoods and DC sneakers. They communicate with Blackberrys, buy GapRED to support Africa and can’t wait to be among the first to test the new iPhone. They work in the media and music business, fashion and advertising, if they’re not architects or Internet entrepreneurs or investors. They are media addicts, but bypass mainstream TV to get their news online and through hand-picked RSS and SMS feeds. They would rather travel to exotic new places than go to resorts and take cruises, and wherever they go they take their cameras, posting snaps on Lomography and Flick’r.
THINK GLOBAL / ACT LOCAL GENERATION (+40)
They are 45 to 65, working in international trade and finance, media,e-commerce, world organizations, industrial design or are free lance writers and artists. Rebels in the 60’s and 70’s, Yuppies in the 80’s and 90’s, executives or entrepreneurs today, they have grown up seeped in visual memories, from comic books to modern art to every genre of movie. On their flights from New York or LA to Toyko and Beijing, they are likely to be leafing through the Wall Street Journal while cueing up their favourite movie and audio downloads on their video iPods.
CYB GENERATION (+15)
The next generation of Slate B users, they are already fluent in text messaging, spend several hours a day on MySpace and high school Facebook, and have grown up with a Dell in their bedroom, a PlayStation in their family room and a cell phone and iPod in their backpack. In love with horror movies and Japanese anime, they are also starting to be curious about serious issues like global warming and ethnic cleansing in Darfur. Always eager to be sophisticated beyond their years, they will hear about Slate B from their older brothers and sisters and soon be regular visitors themselves.