(7 February 2009 9:30 pm)

MUMBAI: The software major Microsoft’s end-to-end music and entertainment service Zune has partnered with Mean Magazine to produce digital series Cinemash.

Mean (Music, Entertainment, Art, News) is a monthly magazine focussing on trailblazers in the fields of fashion, art and cinema.

The series will take a comedic approach to reinventing classic scenes from popular movies. The premiere of Cinemash will be the first in a series of ad-supported episodic video shorts that Zune plans to develop and distribute. The first episode will be available exclusively at Zune Marketplace for free download.

Zune lead video and original content producer Paul Davidson says, “Video is an important part of the Zune experience, and by working with partners like Mean, we are expanding our offering to give our customers original programming they can’t get anywhere else. We will also look to expand distribution across other Microsoft platforms to make the series available to an even larger audience.”

Zune will work with actors, directors and producers to develop additional pilots over the next 12 months ranging from live-action and animated comedy to urban and music programming. In addition to being offered as free downloads from the Zune Marketplace online store, the digital series may also be available on other Microsoft platforms such as MSN and Xbox Live - the future.

Mean has previously produced shorts featuring talent such as James McAvoy, Elizabeth Banks, Kate Beckinsale, Sir Ben Kingsley and Seth Rogen.

Mean Magazine publisher/creative director Kashy Khaledi says, “Zune and Mean are joining forces to move the bar forward and create the most progressive, inspired series that will knock cinephiles off their feet. Cinemash will give talent a new platform for creative collaboration, bringing together state-of-the-art production quality with digital distribution to millions of viewers.”