Happy Holidays!

Here's a picture of the Nativity in from the front room of my house. Hope you have a lovely Xmas, whatever you get up to! x

ARGhhh!

When I was writing Digital Me, I had to stop myself including new things and ideas that seemed to pop up on the internet all the time thanks to some excellent blogs I'm subscribed to...

Throughout the last year, I've been stumbling on increasing mentions of ARGs or Alternate Reality Games, mainly through posts on Clickable Culture. ARGs are essentially participatory stories, which we access through layers of media simultaneously, eg, TV, newspaper ads, email etc. In a sense, I guess, they are guided versions of fan cultures, which have always extended, played with, and re-sited favourite shows. The internet has enabled fan cultures to thrive, through forums, fan/slash fiction, and often, in the case of ARGs it's hard to see where the fan culture and corporate product are seperated. I never took part in the Lost Experience, which placed elements of Lost in the real world, led by an online conspiracy theory that suggests that the Dharma initiative and the Hanso foundation are real. Over a period of 6 months, online and TV clues were seeded throughout the media, leading to answers to the meaning if the numbers. Dan Hill wrote an excellent article about it, Why Lost is Genuinely New Media, which describes the layers of participation in the programme and surrounding media.

I think we've always got involved in the wider stories in TV and film, for example, Doctor Who and Star Wars have long since had books and media set in the wider 'universe' of the story, and I remember ages ago some geeky friends of mine who would write, produce and film their own Doctor Who stories. The internet has enabled these communities to develop the stories further, and to create their own world in which the stories exist. It's like an over-developed version of water-cooler gossip, where we can all share our experiences of the shows we love. I think, as we prepare to lose the sense of communal experience that TV can offer as we move into an IPTV future, we potentially will need to create these spaces more. I remember when I first got e4, I didn't watch the Sopranos until it was repeated on terrestrial telly, because I wanted to talk about it with my non digital telly mates! It's a fairly obvious point, but it's not about the programme per se, but about a sense of community, something to talk about, something to oil the wheels of our social interactions. That's why spaces like Second Life and World of Warcraft are so popular, it's not just about the 'game' experience, but about the culture and community that grows around it.

IGDA have just released a white paper about ARGs which explain how they work, and why people play them. Although it focusses on a computer game centred view of ARGs, it's got lots of useful ideas and tips in it. It's easy to see the roots of ARGs all over the place, from Fantasty Football leagues and Celebdaq to the Lost Experience.

A few weeks ago, too there was an SL Future Salon podcast about alternate reality games which was really interesting, especially as the discussion opened up to wider ideas about what ARGs might be, and where they originated, at one point citing the cover art and freebies included with the release of Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band as an example of ARG.

As I've been thinking about it more, I've been thinking about ARG as a perfect way of articulating 'convergent media'. Convergence has been a big buzzword that's been floating around for years and always seemed to be relating to the idea that I can watch a movie on my mobile as well as the telly, but I think it's become much more than that, it's become about the possiblity for participation and shared experience, through performance, telly, radio, blogs, games, whatever it takes to tell your story. And sometimes, it's not even obvious you're in an ARG, as the definition is so wooly (not a bad thing, either!). I'm working with John Newling at the moment on a project based around mystery stories in Preston Market. It's weird but exciting, as Preston is my home town, and it's been odd watching documentation of a huge piece of work on a market place that I spent too much of my youth hanging around on! Check out the website at www.lossofmystery.com...

I think this project has all the hallmarks of an ARG, but it's also coming from performance and visual art traditions. I'm thinking that ARG storytelling becomes a perfect stage for a 'theatre' built from all forms of media. I've been increasingly stumbling on links and ideas that seem to fit into the ARG framework, and I'm going to add them here as I go, and perhaps begin a new article for Digital Me, which tries to make sense of them. In the meantime, here's some links to good sites/articles about convergence and ARGs;

Clickable Culture - Tony Walsh's Blog.

Confessions of an Aca/Fan - Henry Jenkins' Blog.


In Real Life:
It's the last week of the shop in Nottingham next week, hence the picture above. It's a shame, because I've really enjoyed it, and it's so full of lovely things which I'm going to miss. I love sitting here listen to my Be Good Tanyas records and nattering with the customers, like an arty Arkwright. Oh well, movin' on... I hope Nicola is able to reopen the shop in Wales, cos it would be such a shame to just let it go. Oh, and I passed my MA with a distinction, which I think makes me clever now (scratches chin, adjusts mortar board). Steven is finally shooting his new film, 'Deliver Me', which promises to be a great lo-budget British horror, and is blogging his progress on his site - see Steve's blog on the sidebar. Read the whole lot if you can, it's a great story of how film-making works, and a great perspective on horror as a genre.

Back to the drawing board...

Christ, that was a bad pun, sorry about that.

Well. It's over. We had the opening of the MA exposition last night, which seemed to go well, then our group went and got nicely drunk! It was really nice to see everyone, especially as it doesn't happen that often, and nice to see everyone relaxed and having a laugh...

So now, it's on to new things... I'm hoping to carry Digital Me on, and write some more articles and do more interviews. It's really made me enthusiastic about the web again, and about understanding how it works, not technically, but as a network and all the things that might include...

Anyway, the next thing is a new comic! I haven't made a comic in years, not since 1994 when I made Eek! Comic, spending my dole money on photocopying and graphics pens. The idea for a new comic started when i did some illustrations for Plug Magazine, and they spoke about giving me a page a month to develop a strip. I spoke about it with Steve and Chris, and asked them if they wanted to do some writing, so we're meeting next week to start to put some ideas down. I really like the idea of using the tracing drawings I made from Second Life, so I'm going to use Second Life as a photographers studio, and set up shots in there. Good ol' Second Life!

I'm really glad to be getting back to comics, I love 'em! Every time I move house, I rediscover my collection of favourite comics and they always get a re-read. Recently, I re-read three books from Love and Rockets, Jaime stories mainly, set in a fictional hispanic area of LA. They are amazing, and the drawing is so beautiful. Jaime's characters are so beautifully realised, but so comic-y and graphic at the same time. When I first read them, they were a real relief from the emerging 'serious' comics scene. At the time, Superheroes were getting the - ooh, but aren't they a bit dark treatment, which has become the standard for nearly all comic characters since. That's not to say that stuff like Watchmen and Dark Knight aren't brilliant, it's just that they provided a template for a lot of much worse comics to follow! Love and Rockets though, had an amazing mix of comedy, wrestling, old-style superheroes, punk rockers all brilliantly realised in a believable if occasionally surreal world. They were also comics with really strong female characters, something all but non-existent in the other comics I was reading, especially Gilbert's Love and Rockets strips, which are beautiful. Of course I know that that's a huge generalisation, there have always been strong female characters in comics, but I suspect not so many you wished were your mates. They had a massive influence on me when I was younger, and having re-read them, I realise they still have an intense power. I can just look at the pages for hours. This one pic doesn't begin to do it justice, but you can see how great the drawing is;

I can't wait to get started on this new comic, I think I'm going to head home and get doodling right now!

Back to the Daft

When Nicola and Stu left, they had a party. The theme was Black and White. Here's my costume, fashioned from some flipchart paper, marker pen and Oatibix box.

Looking at it now, I think it was a wee bit sinister.

It's the opening of the MA exposition on Friday...

100+ MA Exposition 06

Nottingham Trent University is pleased to announce the opening of 100+, the 2006 Exposition of Masters work in the School of Art and Design.

We have a comprehensive range of one-year, modular MA courses, offering a unique structure for postgraduate art and design study in the UK.

Exposition opening times:

Saturday 25 November: 1pm-5pm
Monday 27 November to Friday 1 December: 11am-4pm
The venues for this inspirational collection of work are the newly refurbished Bonington building and the Victoria studios, both of which are located in close proximity on the Nottingham Trent University City campus.





Update :
Just heard on the news that Robert Altman has died. I know he had a good innings and that, but it's very sad. Short Cuts has to be one of my favourite films, but I also love Popeye, which is darker and more subversive than you imagine. He made a really amazing tv series, Tanner 88, about a republican candidate on the campaign trail. Brilliant. I think Bob Roberts may be based on it...

So Much I Want To Say

Hello! Long time no blog.

I've been really busy the past few weeks, finishing up my MA, and I'm glad to say that finally it's all over.

It's been the usual mad rush to get everything finished the way I want, and inevitably ended up with many late nights, typing in the darkness, and the usual computer problems that only appear when you've got a deadline to hit.

Digital Me is finished, and I'll be launching it officially next week as the MA exposition. I'm really pleased with how it's turned out, and the interviews have gone really well, I'm so grateful to all the people who took part. It's been quite a ride making the project, looking back on ten years of work on the Internet, and realising how important it's been in all my work.

It's also made me think long and hard about 'me on the web', which is why I've not blogged for a bit, because thinking about why we blog and who for has raised a lot of questions - is this blog a sketchbook, is it a portfolio, or is it a diary? I think I've used it for all those things. I've certainly used it as a portfolio, I've begun giving the URL to people who are interested in my work. I've used it as a sketchbook too, and a little bit as a diary. I've avoided mostly talking about my personal life, as I'm not sure how appropriate or interesting it is to talk about your life on the Internet. At the same time, I think the Internet invites honesty, so maybe it's important to reveal at least some aspects of yourself. Hmmm, I'm really not sure.

Nicola and Stuart

One of the main reasons I haven't blogged for a little while is a personal one. Nicola and Stuart, who are two of my closest friends, have moved away. It's hit me quite hard, harder than I though it would and I miss them terribly. I feel a bit lost wihout them to be honest, and a bit lonely too. Every time I tried to write a blog post about doodles or Second Life, what I really wanted to write about was that, but I felt uncomfortable about putting that out there. My draft folder on Blogger is full of draft posts of what I wanted to write!

So there. I've said it. I'm sad about Nicola and Stuart moving away. Next week, back to doodles and adventures in Second Life.

A couple of weeks ago, I started a new job as research associate at Animation Academy at Loughborough University. It's great! We've been doing loads of motion capture, but so far I haven't been brave enough to don the Lycra suit with the ping pong balls on, need to do some sit ups first! I'm going to start blogging the work there as I go, because it's really interesting and we're doing so much stuff. We've also got some great students coming through, and I'll post links to their films if they let me.

I think that's all I have to say for now, I'm off to begin Christmas shopping, as my Mum keeps reminding me how close it is.

By the way, the title of this post is from the title of a video broadcast performance by Mona Hatoum. Isn't that very arty of me?

Digital Me!

For the final part of my MA, I'm making a project called Digital Me. I'm going to be interviewing people in Second Life, so I thought I'd need a suitable avatar. Following in the footsteps of Jeremy Paxman, who presented newsnight from Second Life a while ago, I created this little feller!

Yeh, ok, it's a little less bashed about than real life me, but I don't care, that's what avatars are for!

Plug Magazine

A Good Day!

Just made these for Plug Magazine Student Special...

Plus, I got my new job today at Loughborough University!

Plus... Machinima Island Trailer is nominated for Best Visual Design at the Machinima Film Festival!

Plus, Angels is going to be screened at the Avalon Film Festival in Second Life! I'm going to make a new avatar like Spook, one of the character in the film!

If only Karen MacDonald was back in Corro, it would be a perfect day!

The Rise of the Creative Classes

Matt just sent me this.

It's no wonder we're all so poor!

Bullet Train

I've decided to escape to the North for a few days to get the bones of my web-essay written.

I've had a load of responses from people to get involved, and I'm going to do one of the interviews in Second Life and video it!

Ricard made a trailer for Machinima-Island the other day, and it'll be available to view just as soon as the guy who's making his site publishes it - watch out for the new link down the side next week!

I nipped into Second Life today, to see if Cory Edo (who I'll be interviewing) was about. She wasn't, so I decided to take a trip on the mini bullet train in Nakama, a Japanese themed sim.

Also, we (me n Ricard) discovered a slow motion animation setting in Second Life the other day, which give more frames per movement, so you get better walk-cycles etc., which will be great for the tracing project!

Do Avatars dream of Crocheted Sheep?

I just made this image for the MA booklet. I've decided that instead of a paper dissertation, I'm going to make a website about the internet and creative process and practice on the web. It seems to make more sense to use the web to write about the web.

I'm going to include skype chats, podcasts and second life in world meetings with other web users, to find out how the web has developed and perhaps changed the way they approach their work and even the work they make. - It will be at www.digital-me.co.uk, which I'm about to register today, and I'll post the link down the side when it's available to view (or try this one).

If you're interested in being interviewed, or contributing comments to the new site, let me know, and I'll set you an account up.

The other elements of the MA are a study of my shop, and animation processes using Second Life as a live space. Yesterday, me and Andy captured some Second Life footage of my latest avatar (above) moving around, which I'm going to trace over like I have been doing with these pics.

More tracing paper pictures, played with a bit in Flash;

Tracing Paper

Hmmmm... I'm glad now that I didn't go for that September deadline for Pictoplasma - Mainly because I stumbled on this!

It hit me yesterday, while we were playing on MAYA toon settings (a set of lines and fills that give a cell-rendered effect in 3-d modelling), that what I actually wanted was a scruffy pen line, so that the characters look like doodles.

The idea is to capture footage from Second Life, then redraw over the frames on animation paper and scan them back in. It sounds long winded, but I really like the drawn look - I like it when pens don't always give an even flow of ink, so you end up with scratchy lines, then sudden bursts of ink.

So, last night, I printed out a few of the Machinima images I've posted previously, and traced over them. I really like the effect. In a nostalgia note -when I was little, my mum used to dry out the bits of greaseproof paper you get between frozen slices of meat, and give them to me and my brother to use as tracing paper. "I'm not saying we were poor" (Les Dawson voice goes here). It wasn't as bad as it sounds.

Then again, I am a vegetarian now, so maybe it was!

Next week, I'll post a short animated sequence to test it out. Let me know what you think!

Spooky Second Life Ghost Picture

More messing about with image editing from second life screen grabs...

Ok, I realise it's all just lame filter nonsense, but it's quite nice all the same I reckon, and done in a rush.

4 real?

For a while now, I've been mulling over the idea of using afictional blog as a space for developing stories and characters for my animations. It seems to offer a number of advantages as a development space - I can post short experimental video clips up there, pictures - start and stop story threads as i wish, and also generate direct feedback through comments etc.

I originally thought I might build my own system, so that i could easily post things like video panoramas, as I can do all that geeky stuff - but as I spend time writing my own blog, using mainstream web 2.0 technoligies like blogger, youtube and so on, it seems to me that what a fictional blog might need is 'realism' - in that if it is to be convincing, it should use available technology and services.

For example, although Inanimate Alice is a crafted piece of rich media which is immersive, it is made believable as a web fiction by 'Alice' posting a real life blog, and as she is a game designer, it's not too hard to believe that she would be able to come up with a nice piece of interactive Flash. - However, if i were to follow this route entirely, all my characters would have to be computer programmers!

I guess the reason I'm posting this is because I'd like to hear your feedback about whether it's necessary or desirable in web fiction for it to be embedded in the reality of the web. I've noticed increasingly in print fiction that a first person author will offer a context for why you are hearing their story. In Hey! Nostradamus -the main character describes the Invoice paper he is writing the story on - and in the 'Curious incident of the dog in the night-time', the story is told as a school report - so we are increasingly conscious of the author's world and where these words are being placed, rather than reading the voice as an inner monologue. Both examples would be great if you could actually buy them on invoice paper or bound in a plastic sleeve from 'stationery box' - but obviously too costly!

On the web though, we have that relationship and context straight away - if I write to a generic 'you' in a post - each reader assumes they are being spoken too, and the blog wraps a realism around it - it doesn't matter if it is fiction or not, the blog reader knows howto read it, how it was written and who it is for. I wonder how far this will go - are there any computer games where i'm not the character, but the character speaks to me and explains why they are speaking to me through a game?

Anyway, bit of a ramble there, but hopefully something that some of you may be able to feed back on. - Which is better for web fiction, bespoke application or existing tools?

Second Life on Channel 4

A couple of weeks ago, Channel 4 showed a series on short films about Second Life and the people who live there(?). Check them out here... If you haven't been into Second Life before, it's quite a good introduction to the whole thing - with links to good places to visit. If you join Second Life, let me know, and I'll give you a tour of the set of Ricard's film.

I've read a lot of articles about Second Life lately, and I'm still unsure as to how good it is. Actually, it obviously is good, maybe I've just got a problem with the amount of time people seem to spend in there, aimlessly swapping dance animations and virtual hair. I know that's not representative of the whole space or community, but there is a load of that. It's summer - get out and play! (Yikes, I have finally become my parents)

http://www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/S/second_lives

Today in Second Life...

Hooray! We are finally working with the characters to create Episode 1! Ricard has bought Comic Life, which adds speech bubbles to video and images.

I'm not sure how it'll work, as I think comic art is a personal thing - ie, You can tell an artist or writer by the style of the bubbles, lettering etc., it's as much a part of the creation and aesthetic as everything else.

So to have clip-art style bubbles and lettering seems to de-personalise it. But maybe not, we're playing with it now and we'll see how it goes.

We've achieved really nice capture from second life, which produced a really strong image with good colours - we hoped for High-definition capture originally, but couldn't get it, but I think it'll be ok as DV.












I took these screen grabs today, trying to look at how we might grade the final footage - i think the sepia with a bit of blur might work - makes it look less like a computer game, and more like something Smallfilms might have made with some ping-pong balls and a bit of felt!

Oops

Hi. Sorry for not posting for a while - It's been a really busy time. I've decided not to aim to complete 'The Trouble with Flying' before September 1st, as I don't think it's anywhere near formed enough. I'm a bit embarrassed that I said that's what I'd do, as time was clearly against me, and what with holidays, wedding season and the Eye Candy event, it just proved impossible - the major factor is that the computer I have in the shop (the one I'm writing on) is rubbish, and the thought of trying to run Second Life (let alone edit) on it is enough to make it weep.

Anyhow, my holiday in Abersoch was great - I've been going there since I was a kid, and I still love it as a grown-up. One day I'd love to go and live there, but since it's turned into holiday homeland for the Cheshire set, I'd need at least a quarter of a million pounds just to get a bedsit over the corner shop! Not a joke, I'm sad to say. We have a caravan which has been on the same site for nearly 40 years now, and that's about as close as I can get. Matt gave me his old mobile the other week which has a camera with a panorama feature on it, and I took loads of pics, which I'll post soon. I went there with Alan (my friend from since I was about 16), and his wife Emma - they're about to have a baby. Alan was excited about showing me a scan of the baby. Normally, at this point, you have to grit your teeth and feign interest as they show you a smudge which you can't make sense of, but this scan was spectacular - it was like a baby made in MAYA, really detailed and everything. One day, you will be able to design your child in MAYA and get it printed out in Rapid Prototyping. Mine would look like Pocoyo. Probably.

Anyway, back to cartoons. Ricard is back from his trip, and we are about to make episode 1 of the story - to be honest, I've been waiting ages to get onto it, but Ricard has been really busy - the plan is to get it into the Machinima Film Festival in New York in November. Of course, I expect Ricard to be furnishing me with a first class ticket to attend.

Back soon with a proper post, including Love and Rockets, Peanuts, and Why I'm sorely tempted to go and work with Monkeys - in the meantime, why not read this

More snow!

Here's some video capture from Second Life showing the snow and the head design for the main character. (You'll need Flash 8 to view it)

Snow!

I found this great snow in Second Life for the opening of the The Trouble with Flying!

The Trouble with Flying

I went home from the shop last night excited by the prospect of this quick Machinima project (see previous post). I've decided to call it 'The Trouble with Flying' - I think that's a nice title, and similar in tone to 'The Truth about Cats and Dogs' and 'Because of Winn Dixie' - both of which I haven't seen but I think the titles are sweet.

Nothing is formed yet, but here's a list of ideas that popped into my head, some of which will naturally be dumped as time goes by. These are in random order, just as thought about and jotted down.

• Mr. Vertigo by Paul Auster.
• Is it too much like Ricard's project?
• Picaresque - I love that word! It should be episodic - the episodes ultimately more important than the framing story.
• How do I make snow in Second Life?
• How much to put in trailer? - Needs to tell a story in itself.
• Some ideas; Girl meets Oracle at bus stop - is given power to fly - Monster is called Pinky, and tells the girl the future, between munching on buildings - Maybe Spook from Angels is in it, as a ghost.
• Maybe at the end of the trailer, it flicks to game controls on the screen (life meter etc.), like you've just watched the opening video on a computer game. Maybe that is just wrong.

I'm also excited (I never thought I'd say this) by an essay I am writing about the web and its effect on practice and process - it's for my MA. Initially it was basically an overview of tools and how to use them, but after talking to Frank (my MA tutor, not the scary rabbit from Donnie Darko or the drugs advisory service), I think there's a bigger essay in there. Why do these things always have to happen when all I want to do is go paddling and eat choc-ice?

By the way, me and Nicola are organising this; Come along if you can! (You may recognise the character from earlier posts!

Lovely Day Out!

Pictoplasma is coming, look busy!

Hi there. I have a long post hiding in my draft folder about exactly why cartoons for grown ups should be allowed to be cute (see Pocoyo post), plus some great quotes from Charles Schulz. It's proving to be a bit of a difficult one, but I'll post it as soon as it's done. In the meantime - I got an email from Pictoplasma today, calling for film submissions for their upcoming conference. 'Angels' was in the Characters in Motion screenings last year, and also in the book and DVD that accompanied it.

So, I need to make an animation before 1st Sept! I'm desperate to do it, even if it's just to justify a holiday in Berlin in October! I've decided to work in Machinima, using a character design which didn't make it to the final cast for Ricard's project.

She sort of looks like this;

To make character development simple, I'm going to exploit Second Life to the full, and take advantage of it's in-built tools. I'm also going to pretty much use this doodle as the beginnings of the character/story. This gives me a set of rules.
Here they are;

1. She is a bit sad to begin with.
2. It is cold where she lives.
3. She can fly.
4. She can teleport to new places.
5. She can change into anything.

I'm going to develop the piece as a 3 minute trailer. The rules suggest a longer story with episodic sub-stories. The teleport immediately allows for 'Quantum Leap' (that's not me being clever or fancy in any way, I mean the 80's sci-fi series with Scott Bakula) story development - she can be anything/anywhere each time, framed within a larger journey.

And that's all I have, although I'd like to include a monster. Maybe one that eats towns. But it's pink - and really cute. She is friends with it. I think I'd like ghosts in it. I'd also like a baby faced oracle who lives in the sky - maybe the narrator?. It should also have some romance in it, because that would be lovely. Maybe the episodes are true stories. So it's a documentary, set in Second Life. Narrated/presented by a girl who can fly. Er...Oh. I don't know, I might be getting carried away.

That monster I was telling you about.
Baby faced oracle who lives in the sky...

Ok, here goes - it starts like a fairy tale, a girl in a cold, gloomy Northern town wants to get away. One day she discovers/is given the power to fly - and change into things. She flies off. The trouble with flying is she doesn't know how long she can fly for, so occasionally she drops from the sky and lands in places she knows nothing about. And then all sorts of crazy adventures ensue.

I just thought - this might be a way to start off the fictional blog stuff too. I'm sure this is just cos I'm off on holiday next week - I'm already getting into the beach ideas flow.

Any ideas? - Seriously, if you have any - please let me know! I'll credit you on the film - you can even come and do a voice if you like! Anything - plots - tales, character ideas, new places to visit...whatever!

All apologies...

All apologies to Pocoyo, Where the Wild Things Are, BatImp etc. - Thought I'd post this doodle as I'm trying out some new character design ideas - I think it's quite sweet though! I've made some wallpapers of it - if you want one, contact me and tell me what size and I'll mail you one.

One of the artists, Alula (Sherry Pollitt and Andrea Scott), who sells work through our shop introduced me to the Japanese word Zakka, which they described as 'products that make you feel happy and light as air'.

I looked it upon Wikipedia, and got this;

"Zakka has also been described as "the art of seeing the savvy in the ordinary and mundane". On one level the zakka boom is just another in a series of consumer fads, but on another it's plugged into something spiritual. Cute, corny and kitsch is not enough. To qualify as a zakka, a product must be attractive, sensitive, laden with subtexts."

Finally, I have found a doctrine to live by!

Pocoyo!

I just discovered Pocoyo! Andy at work told me about it. It's the cutest thing I've seen in years, beautifully made and animated. Why aren't people making stuff like this for grown ups?!

A little flash doodle

Ooh, get me! I do writing now

I went to the NLAB Open Seminar on Friday in Leicester, where there were various workshops dedicated to online and digital writing. I've really enjoyed the NLAB sessions over the past few months, and they've helped me to filter some ideas about writing for my films and reconnected me to the web as an art space.

Now, I have to admit I'm a bit of a goon. The first session was called 'Writing games for grown-ups'. I got really excited - I'd love to write games for grown-ups. Wrong! This was games to help grown-ups write. What an idiot. I kept my disappointment and embarrasment to myself, but then we got started, and it turned out to be a great session. We had to do two main exercises, and here are the results - unedited, and perhaps not as good as I thought they were on Friday!

OK, so the first exercise started by describing an object in the seminar room - then describing it's journey to the venue. Remember, we had only five minutes for this, so it's understandably a bit rough!

"The TV snoozes peacefully, the standby light the only clue that it is still alive. It makes a loud yawn and click, and crackles as light becomes brighter behind its single glass eye. It consumes breakfast hungrily, on BBC, ITV and sometimes on the cable channels. It flicks to the travel channel, and sets off on a bus journey through the far off reaches of the world, a young, enthusiastic presenter as it's guide. Surfing through, it eventually arrives at the college. PR+ guides it up through the channels until it reaches a new place, "308: Seminar Room". Finally settled on the channel, the TV pretends to sleep, listening in on writers struggling to describe inanimate objects. It looks across and spies a black shirted man busily scribbling. It begins to feel uncomfortable; "He's writing about me", thinks the TV. He stares ahead. "I'll just pretend I'm not here"".

The second exercise involved us describing a place, either fictional or real (I chose a beer garden in St. Davids). Halfway through, the workshop leader gave us a prop, which we had to incorporate into the story. Here goes...

"This place is the place where the friendliest dog in the world tried to lick everyone once, in turn. It's the place where Stuart knocked over his beer and ruined at least one pack of cigarettes. It's a place where you can completely forget there's a world beyond, a place where low level drug dealers, happy campers and barbequed families jostle for bench space, next to the parrafin heaters (once the sun drops, it'll be cold), and munch away on crinkle-cut crisps and Nobby's Nuts. We've been here for hours, and to be honest, if time stopped now, forever, I'd be perfectly happy. Jason is using his glasses to chase an ant around the table, focussing the dying sun through the lens to make a death ray. It's like a B-Movie ending, 'Antor' finally chased down by the laser-eyed hero. We all shout, laughing, for him to stop. He does, and puts his glasses back on. Stuart drops yet another glass of beer on the floor - it shatters loudly and the whole place erupts in cheers. Stuart takes a bow - even he thinks it's funny"

Ahem. Anyway, the other sessions were less practical, but equally useful. Kate Pullinger introduced her new project, Inanimate Alice - www.inanimatealice.com. You should check it out. The day ended with a screening of a web film called EPIC 2014 - http://www.robinsloan.com/epic/ - a scary but funny vision of the future of the web. I am trying to wean myself off Google and Amazon as we speak.

Space....Man

I doodled this yesterday. I'm going to colour it up in Flash, and I'll post the finished version next week. I just thought you might like to see it. I might even turn the spaceman into a Machinima character.

Ricard has posted some stuff about the machinima project on his site - http://www.la-interactiva.co.uk

I felt the fear...

Yesterday, Me, Steve Sheil, Chris Cooke and John Ross went to Bradford for the last day of the 5th Fantastic Films Weekend. It was a great day, and we saw some great stuff, and heard some great people speak, all topped off by a great curry before driving home!

Steve's new film, 'Through a Vulture Eye', was on as part of the shorts screening, and there were archive screenings of 'The Final Programme', 'Theatre of Blood', and 'The Wicker Man', with introductions. - A sideshow highlight was an exhibition of original drawings, models and clips by Ray Harryhausen.

There are so many highlights to write about, but the key things that stood out for me were;

• The Harryhausen Exhibit - It goes without saying that one of the formative movie experiences of any child are Harryhausen's films. So it was great to see models of the skeletons, and clips of favourite moments. There qwere some beautiful models of heads from an old hansel and gretel stop motion project and clips of a king midas film I'd not seen before, which were great, with a much more children's look and feel. What was really good was watching a group of kids watching the shorts and loving the dinosaurs, which was something of a relief in our cgi soaked age. It's great to be reminded of how beautiful and effective stop motion is.
• Theatre of Blood - If you've never seen this film, you should treat yourself, because it's a pure delight! Vincent Price is an old ham called Edward Lionheart who exacts bloody revenge on his critics in the form of Shakespearean murders. It's so great to see a film where everybody is clearly loving their work, and acting up like it's the last reel of film left on earth. It's so good, and everyone is great in it, but Eric Sykes quietly steals the show for me, sneaking in comedy business all over the place. If you ever see it in the telly guide, ring in sick, and email me so I can ring in sick too.
• The Final Programme - I've never seen this film before, but the write up sounded great:
  
  The Final Programme is an unsettling slice of apocalyptic future shock that combines the talents of novelist Michael Moorcock and director Robert Fuest. Jon Finch is Jerry Cornelius, a sexually ambiguous anti-hero and playboy scientist seeking a vital piece of microfilm that can assist a giant computer in achieving the final programme: a self-fertilising, self-regenerating, immortal hermaphrodite, retaining all of mankind’s knowledge. With its messianic sub-plot and stunning production design this is a movie that is both of its time and ahead of its time – a psychedelic bad trip with a quasi Avengers feel. Bizarre ain’t the word.
  
  It was one of those great films that could never be made now; completely mad, but filled with it's own bizarre logic, and brilliant characters - my favourite being the three bumbling scientists. If it was made now, it would have to be a spoof, probably with Mike Myers in it. A while a go, Steve wrote a blog post called 'Fear of The Daft', about the fear that film-makers seem to feel now about going out on a limb and trying out mad ideas - funding has led the industry down a road of smoothing out the edgier ideas, and film-makers are seemingly forced to reference previously innovative ideas. None of that here! Robert Feust, the director of the film spoke at the beginning about the film and making it. He regaled us with great stories of how he got the film financed and how they worked around the constraints of a low budget, by coming up with ideas, not by calming his vision down. It was an inspiration to hear those tales, and made even better by the fact that he was a proper old school luvvie, and a bit like the old drunk from the Fast Show!

So, today, I'm inspired - I'm drawing away for 'In Spite of All the Damage..', working on the Bash Street kids - style project, and despite all the hurdles that the university where i work chucks in the way, feeling the fear and doing it anyway! On Friday, I'm off to a creative narrative workshop day in Leicester, as part of a group called NLAB I joined. - I'm really looking forward to it - the previous days I've been to have been great, and coffee is in constant supply, which is worth the admission price (actually, it's free) alone. I'll post about it later, should be good.

Don't put your avatar on the stage, Mrs. Worthington

I was in Second Life yesterday, tidying up the final bits on the avatars so Ricard can start filming, and started thinking about the whole game/animation/art/performance sphere that I've touched on briefly before.

Ok, so what's happening in second life is this - I've created costumes that the avatars (actors) wear. Then the puppeteers (players) control the actors who play the characters. That's quite a few layers - like playing a superhero; Christopher Reeve plays Kal El plays Clark Kent plays Superman.

It feels like a stage/game space. I am in a game, building objects. - However, I'm not building objects like i would in, say, Maya - I'm standing there (- or at least my avatar is) physically building objects, and adding textures and moving them around. Once I've made these objects, they exist and mimic the real world, but they are toys - props. That is, if I build a car in Second Life, it is only pretend - I don't need the car to get around, I can fly and teleport, so it's just a nice made up thing.

When I was at 'May You Live in Interesting Times' in Cardiff last October, the group I was with were talking about the difference between gaming/performance and art. Blast Theory were at the festival presenting Can You See Me Now, a performance game that exists both in the real world and virtually. It's a kind of 'tig' game, with players on the streets and online occupying the city and a 3-d representation of the city respectively. If you compare it to, for example, a Zelda game, there is a subtle difference. In Can You See Me Now, you play as yourself, and your tactical and even moral choices within the game are yours. If you play Zelda, you are a player 'playing' Link, in Link's world, with Link's concerns and character traits.

Second Life strikes a strange space in-between. In the world, I can have a Virtual Cardiff if I want, and an almost completely open ended experience. I can't however play as myself. That is, I can't go in as Gareth Howell, there are a set of predefined names I must use. To my constant regret and embarrasment, I am now Gareth Shatner in Second Life. Then there is the generic avatar, which looks nothing like me, which is probably a good thing! - And if I change my hair, jacket, bum and belly size or whatever in SL, it's unlikely I'm going to choose my standard issue George @ ASDA jeans, so I become a character. Like if I'm in a game. Or a play.

So then, if I'm in the game, as a character, then make that character dress up and act as another character, we're back to the Superman analogy. In Machinima, we're making characters who serve a narrative, and have motivations, gestures and 'voice' which are not me (as the player).
However, I guess Gareth Shatner is me. Or is he? I'd never dream of saying 'LOL' to anyone, or breakdancing at a meeting, and try as I might, I can't fly. Gareth Shatner can. And he can build things, and he can lose 10lbs just by dragging a slider. And he's an actor. In Machinima films. I hate him!

So where do I sit in this? I'm not the director, 'cos I can only control Shatner, not the rest of the cast. I've decided that in Second Life, I'm like Jiminy Crickett, or the Numskulls. And the monitor in my office is actually inside Shatner's head, just behind the eyes. That makes me feel good, because I was getting all confused!

Remember the Golem I was on about? Here's the doodle of him and the magician that sprang my insomnia last week.

Here's him a bit nicer...












And here's him cynically reworked to cash in on another card frenzy invented by Clinton's.













The other night when I was walking home (and not even drunk!), I found myself trying to walk like him, practising for the day I don the ultra-lycra Motion Capture suit. I really do wish I could lose 10lbs by dragging a slider!

Getting to know you...

Sometimes, it's a bit difficult to talk about the work I'm making, cos I don't want to spill every bean, sometimes I'm sworn to secrecy, and sometimes I don't know how to fully articulate where I'm going or how I'm arriving at the results I'm arriving at.

However, I'm currently working on some new characters for a range of projects, and have been thinking about that quite a lot.

I read an interview with Jon Burgerman the other week (who did a great talk at our latest 'Loving your Work' event at Eye Candy), and he talked about how a doodle can sometimes take a long time just to get right. It's easy to think that a doodle is a doodle, and the time it takes to come out of the pen is the entire time of the process attached to it. But in a way, it's like casting/acting and wardrobe all at the same time - it takes a while to find the character you want. It's a bit like that thing where hammy old actors talk about how they 'always start with the shoes, darling' - I kind of always start with the heads. I guess it's then that you can see the person you are trying to bring to life. My heads are always really simple - kind of playmobil style spheres in a way with contour lines on them. I like the simplicity of it, and the kind of deadpan expression. - It's oddly naturalistic, in that animation characters are so often exaggerated to express a stereotype, but these simple heads are more like real life because most people spend most of their time with their faces fairly straight. The deadpan face somehow allows you to look deeper to understand the character.

I read so many animation and cartooning books that say things like - a posh lady walks like this, a fat man is this kind of character etc., and it drives me mad. Animation so rarely gets beyond first impressions. - So, if you strip the face of all the cliches, potentially you can give more depth. I hope so!

For the Second Life project, I was working to a brief, and had to 'characterise' to personality types. It was a fight to get across the need not to give the whole character away from first impressions, but Ricard had seen the characters from 'Angels', so we were able to reach a point where the characters were enough 'mine' and enough 'his' to work well.

I'm currently working with another film-maker, Mark Devenport, to develop a new cartoon, set in a primary school, a kind of Peanuts meets Bash Street Kids, by way of Last of the Summer Wine, and last night I started some character design for a new short called 'In Spite of all the Damage I've Done', which is a really simple story, a kind of sequel (I think) to Angels, based around a Be Good Tanyas track.

The most exciting new project though, may be a new fictional blog I'm working on. I was trying to find a way to loosen up the whole animation process, which is in a way linked to my thoughts about live art and spontaneous animation. The idea is to be able to develop characters and stories 'live', through creating a blog by a fictional character, who just happens to be a cartoon.

The blog allows for slower development of character, from 'Hi, Welcome to my Blog' to 'Yesterday, my heart got broke', and allows me to sneak in narrative ideas that can be developed, or abandoned as I work out what works. I don't know what the blog will lead to, whether I'll pull strands out to turn into scripts, or whether I'll just let it go where it wants to go for it's own sake. The idea is to give me a space to work through animation and illustration ideas, and post them within a context. -I've written a few pieces to start the story, and I'll post the URL when it's set up.

Oh, yes - last night I accidentally came up with a new idea for a short, I can't tell you much about it for now, but it involves a Golem. - I was doodling and one of my standard monster characters came out (I generally ignore the standard monster character, it's like my phone doodle), but this time I thought it looked really nice, especially when I drew a Victorian magician next to it, which looked a bit like the Pringles man. From then, it was a simple case of a bit of common insomnia, and the seed of a new film was sown.

In real life...
I moved house last week; cheated by watching sneak preview Lost while babysitting (therefore destroying tonight's TV); and as you know, went to see Douglas Coupland, which was good, but ruined by a rubbish interviewer, who didn't even touch on the big themes of Coup Land. Oh, and Be Good Tanyas announced their new album! - It's been a long wait, nearly as long as the wait for the Breeders 3rd album.