Social Impact Meets the Future of Hollywood in the Metaverse
@crypt_sannin and @davidBianchi at the red carpet premier of Breaking The Bars inside Decentraland.

Social Impact Meets the Future of Hollywood in the Metaverse


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David Bianchi makes NFTs for social good. David Bianchi is a Hollywood actor, artist, and filmmaker. His latest NFT film, “Break the Bars,” is available for auction on September 24, 2021, through October 1st, 2021 on Makers Place.

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A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the New Earth Foundation to support inner-city youth development programs. Bianchi’s film is part of a new art genre he created and holds trademark to called SpinemaTM, what he defines as “spinning cinema through spoken word.” Bianchi uses SpinemaTM in a ground-breaking way showcasing the massive potential of crypto art. He is not only supporting philanthropic efforts but also trail-blazing a path to new frontiers in digital art through cinema and poetry.

 Is “Social impact and the Future of Hollywood” an appropriate title for you?

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Bianchi: Not only does that apply to me as an individual, it applies to a large part of the future of Hollywood in the metaverse. We can already see the transition happening to a meta-universe, where media, content, film, streaming platforms, etc., are already moving into these virtual environments. 

So it's an inevitable future, and I'm grateful to be a part of that movement from a social impact perspective, where I'm creating content that not only is elevating the conversation but is doing its job in helping change the world (in the metaverse) but also in the physical world because there is a charitable component to all of my NFT drops. I have donated tens of thousands of dollars to charities in 2021 alone and will continue to help non-profits realize their vision of making the world a better place.

I think we're always hungry for progress. We're always hungry for equality. We're always hungry for ways to be loved and be nurtured as human beings. I'm really excited to be a part of this community pushing Hollywood into the metaverse but through the socially conscious messages of which my projects speak.

Do you think the metaverse will revolutionize Hollywood?

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Bianchi: As it relates to Hollywood in the metaverse, not only is it an inevitable future, anyone who isn’t thinking about it already is, unfortunately, going to be left in the dust. We look at great movies like Ready Player One. Spielberg sort of envisioned what the world is going to look like somewhere down the road, where so much of our escapism will happen in this virtual space, where we get to be our human selves in the physical world, but we get to be whatever we want in the meta world. 

We have a variety of things to not only germinate this but make this incredibly successful. We have distribution, which is the blockchain and also the metaverse. We have equity with cryptocurrencies. The money in the NFT community is booming. We have the writers, Directors, and actors (these are all disciplines I excel at). 

We will continue to attract bigger directors, bigger actors, and we'll be able to eventually produce feature films and streaming shows that will be released strictly on the blockchain and viewed on televisions and cinemas last. 

Ashton Kutcher is already doing these things. David Cronenberg just dropped a short film on Super Rare. A lot of the leaders, veterans, and noobs are coming into the space really, really hungry to find the next evolution of what entertainment is going to be.

What is “Break the Bars”?

Bianchi: “Break the Bars” is my third SpinemaTM drop on the blockchain. It’s an award-winning spoken word film that’s been minted as an NFT. It's appropriately called “Break the Bars” inspired by my early days in Hollywood in one-bedroom apartment, with no AC and cockroaches in the kitchen, and a torn leather couch. I remember looking out the window and realizing I was looking out of barred windows. I soon noticed children in the parking lot of my building playing handball against a dumpster. I started to recall other cities, housing projects, tenement projects, and it hurt me that our children are raised behind barred windows, interlink fences, razor wire fences, and what does that do to the psyche of our children? And so the idea is “break the bars”. 

It's the first spinemaTM project I've minted that I directed and edited. So every frame of this project has my fingerprints on it. I'm very excited to see how people respond to the premiere in the metaverse. We have really gone a long way to make it special. The Maker's Place team has been a dream! Aisha Arif is an epic curator and collaborator while the executive team members Tony Depa, Dannie Chu, Yash Nelapati, Ryoma Ito gave me creative freedom to be me and honored my work every step of the way.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention my dear friend, co-producer, co-writer and co-star Chris Wood. I've known and worked with his incredible talent since 2005. When I was inspired by the idea for the poem he was the first person I called. We have performed this poem nationwide and nationally on television as well. Chris is a phenomenal poet and human being who works closely with non-profits to build a better world and keeps the charity ecosystem alive on our team. I am blessed to know him and call him a brother and we build in the NFT space for greater good.

What are the drop mechanics of “Break the Bars”?

Bianchi: Every drop has to be curated based on not only what the drop is asking for but what platforms can give you what the drop is asking for; in this case, Makers Place was the ideal place to drop it. They have a unique approach that fits my work. They were able to offer me a really high megabyte capacity on chain on the mint. So they gave me over 500 megabytes, which meant that I minted the entire film in 2K resolution at 14 mbps, basically a lossless film that is five and a half minutes total run time. 

The auction began on September 24 and will run for seven days. It'll be a one of one auction for the entire film, as well as limited edition NFTS which are high-resolution still images extracted from the film that have been embellished in After Effects to create camera moves within them underscored by the soundscape of the actual film. I am minting a total of three one of fours of these special editions, these were delicately mastered by one of my visual effects artists Ciro Ayala.

Finally, visually and sonically augmented posters designed by veteran artist B. Creative. We will hold an open edition on these and sell them at a low community price of 0.08 ETH.

Why should Hollywood and brands pay attention to the metaverse?

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Bianchi: Hollywood not only needs to follow trends and audiences. More and more people are paying attention to the world through an Oculus or in the meta world on their mobile devices. And I envision a day that Oculus will be dated technology that somehow there'll be some integration without the bulkiness of an Oculus.

We will have customizable meta rooms in our homes and rather than sit and watch a screen you'll enter your meta room rather than your living room, most flattened images will be augmented reality affected, anything in print will be AR activatable. So if Hollywood wants to keep with where people are going, they need to absolutely pay attention to what's going on in the metaverse. 

Brands need to also pay attention. when you're in the metaverse, not only is it an immersive experience, it's also a commerce experience. Any step you turn, you can see a billboard, you could see an ad slick. You can customize branding to a person's user experience and their behaviors within the metaverse and it's a marketplace. You can buy collectibles; you can buy wearables; you can do all these things. So brands absolutely need to be paying attention because this is where the influx of the next generations are already at, but also the generations to come will be raised with some sort of VR integration device that will be an extension of their physical lifestyle. 

As much as the newer generations now were raised with iPhones find it hard to believe phones actually had cords 30 years ago, there's going to be a generation that won't understand that virtual reality never existed.

Why are you doing social impact work in the metaverse?

Bianchi: I've been producing spoken word films on SpinemaTM for almost 20 years. Not only has the blockchain made NFTs possible, it has made it possible for my art to be absorbed by an incredibly sophisticated, advanced, highly educated, influential, affluent community of people that otherwise never knew that SpinemaTM existed. So I am on a mission to continue to create socially impactful NFTs that will always donate money to charities, and that will work to change the world. 

The blockchain and the metaverse makes it possible. It makes it possible in a way that I never even thought imaginable six months ago. So I owe this success, this interview, to the blockchain. And I will continue to honor this technology, not just at the NFT level but also at the coin level, in a way that is knowing that the blockchain is changing everything in the world as we know it. The metaverse is just an extension of that. 


Andrew Klein

Web3 Brand Strategy & Innovation | Connecting People, Tech & Brands

2y

Last Slice puts on the best DCL events!

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🚀 🚀 🚀

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David Bianchi

Actor / Producer Founder Exertion3 Films

2y

Great to be a part of the eco-system for change!

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Carolina Majollo

Customer Success | The Cross | GameTech

2y
Fredrik "Fritte" Pettersson

Business Matters: Commodity Trade Specialist, Petroleum Trade, Jet A1, EN590, D6 and Copper cathodes.

2y

NFT is moving really fast, have tried to get involved, not easy for a Swedish guy like me, everyone is launching their NFTs and on OpenSea

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