Faraday Cage Fight

Like a virgin…

commuter_dirge — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:18:19 +0000

image copyright Aaron Diaz

It’s official; the 42 Essential 3rd Act Twists project has been deflowered, and in wonderful fashion.

The last time I wrote was to remind (read: harangue) everybody participating in the project that the deadline was drawing near, that Kino #32 was soon upon us, that you needed to finish your films and get them to me as soon as possible…

…and the result of that post was a bit…underwhelming, shall we say.

Out of the officially nominated films on the list:

“Unreliable Narrator”

“Unreliable Reader”

“God Did it”

“Vampires Repel Daylight”

“It was a Dream”

“It wasn’t a Dream”

“Toy Actually Magic Wand”

“Wand Actually Handgun”

“Conspiracy Actually Kinda Boring”

“Stolen Identity Not Worth It”

“Autistic Boy Grants Wishes”

“Government is in on it”

“Government is Actually Autistic Boy”

“Dark Lord Reasonable”

I received:

“God Did it”

See, now, you’d think I’d be upset about this result or at least a little disenheartened; but I’m not, and for three very good reasons.

I never finished my film either (I was planning on doing “Dark Lord Reasonable” but never found the time) so not wanting to be quite the massive hypocrite, I can hardly criticise others for not finishing theirs can I?
The person responsible for “God Did it”, Ang (with a little acting help from her partner Dan) has created a mini-masterpiece and I couldn’t be happier to have this as the first film in the 42 Essential 3rd Act Twists project. Everything from the missing “Madame Tinklepot” to the Accusing Parlour to the final cameo distinctly (deliberately?) reminiscent of Daren Rabinovitch’s masterful short “Tactical Advantage” makes “God Did It” very very special, and very very good.
It looks like Ang (and everyone else involved) had fun making it. And without getting too wishy-washy with you here, if you’re not having fun with this project, then you’re doing it wrong. In fact, it’s the only way to get this project “wrong”. So if you’re one of the folks who nominated to complete a vignette and didn’t get it finished (or started) then don’t fret; you’ve the summer ahead of you, Kino’s not on again until February, you’ve probably got a camera lying round somewhere, a couple of friends, a quiet afternoon…

So again, as a reminder if you do get your films finished: the original Diaz image can be found here and the specs that I need for the video file are:

Length: 1-2 minutes (3 if you’re feeling keen)

Compression: H.264

Dimensions: PAL 720×576 4:3

Frame rate: 24fps

Deinterlaced Source Video

Sound at 44.100 kHz, 16-Bit Stereo

The best of luck to everyone participating, and for inspiration you can check out Ang’s film as well as Rabinovitch’s Tactical Advantage below.

Time’s Running Out!

commuter_dirge — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 02:11:57 +0000

Image Copyright Aaron Diaz

Just a quick post today guys, and a final reminder that the due date for your vignettes is fast approaching!

Hopefully you’ve been busy working on your scenes over the past month, but if you haven’t you’ve still got up until December 14th to finish them and get them to me so they can be shown at KINO #32.

Another reminder is the format that your films will need to be sent in; the specs again are:

Length: 1-2 minutes (3 if you’re feeling keen)

Compression: H.264

Dimensions: PAL 720×576 4:3

Deinterlaced Source Video

Sound at 44.100 kHz, 16-Bit Stereo

I think the best way to send me your finished films (like I discussed in the last post) would be:

first, email me at dermotmcguire[at]gmail[dot]com
if your final .mov file is less than 100MB then you should send it to me via YouSendIt. It’s a very straightforward service to use and it’s free to send if the file is less than 100MB.
if your final .mov is more than 100MB I can then add you to a private folder on my DropBox account. It’s a little more fiddly than the YouSendIt method, but it’s free to upload much bigger files this way.

Finally, here again is the list of all the vignettes that I’m expecting to get in the next few days:

“Unreliable Narrator”

“Unreliable Reader”

“God Did it”

“Vampires Repel Daylight”

“It was a Dream”

“It wasn’t a Dream”

“Toy Actually Magic Wand”

“Wand Actually Handgun”

“Conspiracy Actually Kinda Boring”

“Stolen Identity Not Worth It”

“Autistic Boy Grants Wishes”

“Government is in on it”

“Government is Actually Autistic Boy”

“Dark Lord Reasonable”

If I’ve missed the one you’re doing, or you want to nominate a different vignette (remember Aaron Diaz’s original artwork is here) then let me know as soon as possible.

Have fun guys, and best of luck getting your films finished!

Moving right along…

commuter_dirge — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:17:40 +0000

image copyright Aaron Diaz

The project moves ahead, and it seems I’ve a few questions that need answerin’…

Apologies for the lack of updates to the project over the last week. I was hoping to provide updates and to answer any queries daily but that hasn’t really been possible, so instead there’s quite a back log of issues to address and clarify.

First, and this is really a small housekeeping reminder really, as each of the 42 vignettes are being gradually taken up by participants in the project, please make sure you get in quick and nominate which one you’d like to complete. I’ve had quite a lot of ‘maybes’ and half-decisions come my way, but I really need you to confirm your nominations with me either via email (dermotmcguire@gmail.com) or twitter so you can secure the vignette you want. I’d hate for someone to miss out on participating in the project because they didn’t get the vignette they were after. Moreover, confirming which one you’re going to complete also helps me keep track of how the project is evolving and what genres or dramatic devices are proving popular and which aren’t.

Second, and this is a big one, I’ve had a lot of questions regarding how I wanted the vignettes to look, or how I wanted them scripted, or what relationship did I want the filmed vignettes to have with the original Diaz images. The short answer to all these is whatever you like; I am in no way putting stipulations or conditions on the sort of films that you produce, nor on the way that you choose to interpret the initial Diaz image.

image copyright Aaron Diaz

Which is to say, do what you feel like, just so long as it’s identifiable as the hypothetical scenario that you’ve picked.

Say you’ve picked “Amnesiac Villain Kidnaps Self“. Obviously, something about the scenario has appealed to you, and you’ve probably got an idea in mind already of what your film will be and how you want it to look, and because you’re terribly clever and you recognise the filmic and theatrical tropes that Diaz is playing with here (both in the “thriller” format, and in the dramatic use of peripeteia), you not only get the original joke, but you can flesh out in your mind’s eye the rest of the storyline to that scenario leading to that specific still image.

So, because you’ll have that all in your mind already, I’m not going to impose any restrictions on the way you choose to make that hypothetical scene a reality. Go for it. Do it however you feel like. Have fun with it. Play around with form and method; make a stop motion film, make a claymation, make it with a crew and a HD camera, make it with your mobile phone, whatever.

I’m not the creator here; you are. I am, at best, a custodian or a steward for your efforts, a participant playing a slightly different role to the rest of you, putting all your pieces together in order to assemble the whole. Which is a rather long way of saying: do what you want, just make it recognisable as that specific scenario.

image copyright Aaron Diaz

If I watch your film and think “yep, that’s totally a sci-fi reverse MacGuffin about an ancient alien pyramid scheme” then you’ve succeeded.

The rest is entirely up to you.

Something else I’d like to cover here briefly are some of the technical aspects of the project. I’ve said before that I want the project to be as accessible to non-specialists or artists as possible, so I’m keeping technical requirements to a bare minimum. For example: you’ve just completed your 1-2 minute film about unintentional incest. What then? Well, you’re going to have to get your film to me, and deliver it in a way that I can work with. The technical specifications for the export that I’d like to see are:

Compression: H.264

Dimensions: PAL 720×576 4:3

Deinterlaced Source Video

Sound at 44.100 kHz, 16-Bit Stereo

If the above mean nothing to you, send me an email or DM on twitter and I’ll be more than happy to walk you through the export process. For those of you who might have a little more experience, you might be wondering why I’ve asked for those specifications, specifically the H.264 compression and not, say, ProRes 422 or Motion Jpeg. This is largely because the finished films will have to be delivered to me via an FTP service. I won’t be able to receive DVDs in the mail, and I certainly won’t be able to receive your films in person, so the best way to get your film to me will be using a service like YouSendIt or Drop Box (there are plenty of other services out there, but those are two that I use regularly) where you’ll be able to upload your film to their servers and I’ll be able to download a copy of it at my end.

image copyright Aaron Diaz

Hence the need for your film to be exported with the H.264 compression; it will keep the file size down significantly and will save you a lot of time and ISP charges when you upload it.

Sorry for the very long update, hopefully though that’s cleared up a few queries you might’ve had. Again, feel free to send an email to dermotmcguire@gmail.com or DM me on twitter if you’ve any questions or suggestions. Good luck with getting your films finished guys, and please, keep spreading the word to any and all who might be interested in taking part in the project.

To update the list from my last post, the scenes that have been nominated (which is to say taken but not yet completed) are:

“Unreliable Narrator“

“Unreliable Reader“

“God Did it“

“Vampires Repel Daylight“

“It was a Dream“

“It wasn’t a Dream“

“Toy Actually Magic Wand“

“Wand Actually Handgun“

“Conspiracy Actually Kinda Boring”

“Stolen Identity Not Worth It”

“Autistic Boy Grants Wishes” (thank you Clare!)

“Government is in on it”

“Government is Actually Autistic Boy”

“Dark Lord Reasonable”

If you’ve nominated a scenario to me and it’s not on this list, please let me know right away as I must’ve forgot…

42 Essential 3rd Act Twists (an update)

commuter_dirge — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:21:18 +0000

image copyright Aaron Diaz

Hey guys,

Thanks for the incredible response to yesterday’s post; it’s great to see so many people getting excited about a project so quickly. Kudos to you all; many, many kudos.

I’m going to be posting here pretty regularly to keep people updated about the project, and especially which of the 42 scenes have been nominated by participants so far (there’s already been some fighting over the best ones…)

So as it stands, the scenes that have been nominated (which is to say taken but not yet completed) are:

“Unreliable Narrator“

“Unreliable Reader“

“God Did it“

“Vampires Repel Daylight“

“It was a Dream“

“It wasn’t a Dream“

“Toy Actually Magic Wand“

“Wand Actually Handgun“

That’s an awesome response for something that was only launched yesterday, I’m stoked. But we’re not there yet: if you’ve nominated to create a vignette, then it’s time to get cracking on scripting and filming; if you’ve not nominated yet but are interested then it’s time to put your hand up before you miss out; and if you reckon you’ve got a friend who would be interested, then it’s time to let them know about all this.

Again, you can contact me via email (dermotmcguire@gmail.com) or twitter (@commuter_dirge) to nominate yourself or your group or if you have any questions about the project.

42 Essential 3rd Act Twists and an experiment in something different…

commuter_dirge — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:10:30 +0000

I’m going to have a stab at something new.

Those of you who know me will know that I regularly make films for the Kino Sydney collective’s film nights that are open to everyone from professionals to amateurs and everyone in between (and yes, I’m definitely somewhere in between). Since first being introduced to Kino in 2007, I’ve been an especially big fan of its inclusive, experimental ethos and its dedication to creating a supportive space for artists to try new things and play with new forms of filmmaking and storytelling.

If you’ve never heard of Kino before, I’d strongly suggest you check it out now or perhaps read this homage from Kino regular Clare.

For everyone else who’s heard of Kino before, let me get right to the point.

The last Kino event (#32) for 2009 will be on the 14th of December and I have a plan for a film (of sorts) but I need your help.

I’ve been interested for some time in trying out different forms of film production as well as different ways of approaching traditional narratology. Which is to say, making something that isn’t necessarily a story with a beginning, middle and an end (in whatever order) made by an individual or by a crew.

Most efforts that I’ve seen so far tend to up a glorious mess, as a smear of “crowd-sourced” (erf…) participants attempt to reinvent the wheel, while driving, while juggling, and while trying to keep their collective egos in check…

So bearing in mind that I’ve just said that such (communal? collective? anything but “crowd-sourced”, please) efforts tend to either fail abjectly or result in something thoroughly unappealing, I’m asking you to help me do just that.

So this is a collective call-to-arms then. Except we’re not making a film. Or not making a single film.

What I’d like to make is a multi-narrative, parallelised and cross-referenced matrix of vignettes that will be produced by a number of individuals or by individual teams and then collated into a final interactive document/artefact/filmscape(?).

Which is really an overly complex way of saying that I’d like to make this:

: Image copyright Aaron Diaz

Some of you might recognise this as a comic by the incredible Aaron Diaz, the man responsible for the beautiful Dresden Codak. Apart from being an awesome artist, Diaz is also thoroughly clever; what we have here is Diaz cross-referencing a variety of standard genres with some classic narrative devices, some of which are as old as Western narratology itself (peripeteia, anagnorisis, deus ex machina) while others are decidedly more modern (the reverse macguffin and the Shyamalan), to produce a series of potential 3rd act plot-resolving twists (for a hypothetical amateur theatre company).

You’ve probably noticed that some of these refer to actual or existing film, theatre or literature plots (for instance, the deus ex machina entry in the fantasy genre “Eagles” is a reference to the resolution of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which has always pissed me off…) whereas others are simply theoretical (or at least, I’ve never seen a film in which all the butlers did it).

So what I’d like to do is to bring these 42 scenarios to life. I want your help to produce short vignettes (maybe thirty seconds to a minute, longer if you’re feeling braver) for each of the 42; from “Land Assaulted by Ghost Boats” to “Reverse Robot Reveal” (my personal favourite). And then we’ll put them all together in an awesome living vibrant version of what you’ve got there in front you in static .jpegedness.

Don’t worry too much about quality; we want this to be organic and for anyone to be able contribute a piece of the bigger puzzle. If you’re not a professional, don’t worry; grab a camera and some friends and muck around with it, have fun first and foremost. We’ll worry about an overall aesthetic direction to each of the pieces later once I have a sense of how many people would like to participate and contribute.

For now, if you’re interested and want to help make this happen (thank you, you’re awesome), send me an email (dermotmcguire@gmail.com) or DM me on twitter (twitter.com/commuter_dirge) and nominate what scenario/s you’d like to complete. I’ll post back here once I have a sense of the numbers of people participating, and we’ll look at what ones still need to be done.

Again, this could be very cool and I’d love your help to make it happen. Send me an email, DM me, make my day for me.

Thanks in advance…