Entertainment
‘Birdman’, ‘The Grand Budapest…’ top ADG Awards
Los Angeles: “Birdman”, “The Grand Budapest Hotel” and “Guardians of the Galaxy” shine at the 19th Annual Excellence in Production Design Awards.
The award ceremony took place here at the Beverly Hilton Hotel Saturday, reports variety.com.
Michael Keaton-starrer black comedy-drama “Birdman” bagged the award for Contemporary Film while “The Grand Budapest Hotel” and “Guardians of the Galaxy” won in the Period Film and Fantasy Film categories, respectively.
Hosted by comedian Owen Benjamin, the Art Directors Guild also honoured Christopher Nolan with the Cinematic Imagery Award.
This year’s ceremony was the first time the ADG recognised each of its four crafts with a Lifetime Achievement Award. The first went to illustrator Camille Abbott, followed by scenic artist Will Ferrell, set designer John P. Bruce and production designer Jim Bissell.
The Production Designer in a fantasy film was awarded to Charles Wood for “Guardians of the Galaxy”.
Same award in the Period Film category was given to Adam Stockhausen for “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Kevin Thompson took the best Production Designer award in a Contemporary Film for “Birdman”.
The One-Hour Period or Fantasy Single-Camera Television Series award was bestowed upon production designer Deborah Riley for “Game of Thrones” – “The Laws of Gods and Men”, “The Mountain and the Viper”
Production Designer Alex DiGerlandotrue won the One-Hour Contemporary Single-Camera Television Series award for “True Detective” – “The Locked Room”, “Form and Void”.
The Television Movie or Mini-Series trophy was given to production designer Mark Worthington for “American Horror Story: Freak Show” – “Massacres and Matinees”.
Production Designer Richard Toyon got the Half Hour Single-Camera Television Series award for “Silicon Valley” – “Articles of Incorporation”, “Signaling Risk”, “Optimal Tip-To-Tip Efficiency”.
Production Designer Derek McLane was honoured with the Awards or Event Special for designing “86th Annual Academy Awards”.
In the Multi-Camera Television Series category production designer John Shaffner was chosen for “The Big Bang Theory” – “The Locomotive Manipulation”, “The Convention Conundrum”, “The Status Quo Combustion”.
For designing Variety, Competition, Reality, or Game Show Series, production designer Tyler B. Robinson received the trophy for “Portlandia” – “Celery”.
Production Designer Sean Hargreaves was given the Short Format: WebSeries, Music Video or Commercial designing award for Apple commercial – “Perspective”.
Entertainment
Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones
International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.
Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.
The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.
Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile
The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.
The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.
“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.
Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings
Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.
Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).
Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.
The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.
Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.
Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities
The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.
On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.
Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.
“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.
The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.
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