Listen to ASI on their website and see more of Alex’s work on her website.

Our lovely new space

Support act was a dance item choreographed by Paul Cordeiro (right)

L to R: Shakthi, Marc, Iynkaran, Aimee (live drawing) from ASI

This time including Robin (left).

Robin Dixon

Aimee on the live drawing

Shakthi appearing thoughtful

The lovely audience

]]> http://www.curiousworks.com.au/2008/12/photos-from-the-waiting-album-launch-at-curiousworks-hq/feed/ http://www.curiousworks.com.au/2008/11/creating-short-films-with-high-school-students/ http://www.curiousworks.com.au/2008/11/creating-short-films-with-high-school-students/#comments Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:51:13 +0000 Elias http://www.curiousworks.com.au/?p=684 The Refill kids at Miller Technology High have been working with CuriousWorks over the past 5 workshops to create their own short film. Below we feature some sneak peak stills of the currently untitled production!

The film deals with their chosen theme of bullying, and will premiere at a Multimedia Extravaganza at the Liverpool PCYC on the 28th of November. This event will showcase the students’ work with CuriousWorks this year including several short videos, their personal speaker systems and interactive digital spray cans! Come along!

Check out the short film production stills:

Dean, Daniel & Mohammed as The Nerds

Hani, Moustafah & Mohammed as The Bullies

Behind the scenes: Rached, Mohammed and Elias

Aimee giving some last minute acting tips to the boys on set

Behind the scenes: Moustafah behind the camera, Elias clutching the precious shot list

Action shot: Hani and Mohamed

Action shot: Dean being lifted by Moustafah!

Dean moves in for an extreme close-up point-of-view shot of Daniel

Khaled portraying the film's mysterious narrator, El Khaledo

Dean recording Khaled's voice-over, Bilel taking photos

Burn them All - The Couch Clip from Shakthi Sivanathan on Vimeo.

CuriousWorks does not own a truck. So, one fine morning, when Aimee and Shakthi spied a free couch in Paddington, they hatched a plan to get the couch down to Randle St. They took a camera along for the ride…

Music: ‘Burn them All’ - ASI
Filmed by Aimee and Shakthi while getting a free couch for the office!

‘The Waiting’ Album Launch
8-11pm, 22nd November 2008
402/11 Randle St, Surry Hills
(a minute’s walk from the Devonshire st exit of Central train station)
$10 entry
(buy the album for $15 on the night and get free entry + an organic treat!)

———-
8pm: Doors open
8-9pm: Lounge and visuals
9-9:30pm: Dance act by Paul Cordeiro
9:30-10:30pm: ‘The Waiting’ Album Launch
11pm: Doors close

———-
In this ASI concert, images are drawn and projected in real time, and sidle up to folk, rock and the influences of classical Indian vocals and percussion. The concert takes you through ASI’s journey away from home and to the city inside his head, delivered through a series of songs with live, illustrated visuals.

Listen to the single, ‘The Waiting Turned’ from the album here:

Or check out more of the music on the ASI website.

Our myspace site, for those who prefer it, is http://www.myspace.com/digitalasi

Here are my three favourite theatre warm-up games for you.

Perhaps there will be one fine day where people will propose ‘game-breaks’ at their next board meetings or conferences - to awaken the body’s senses and juicy-up the mind!

Please use the following with reckless abandon:

1. The Amazing Chair Game!

This is a spiffy warm-up game. A good workshop starter that gets you thinking with the whole body!

Put all of the participants on chairs spaced randomly - but somewhat evenly - throughout a space. The chairs should be facing all different directions and should not be moved from this position.

One participant gets out of their chair and moves to the opposite side of the space, furthest away from their empty chair.

This person is in.  Lets call her Ezmarelda.

Ezmarelda’s objective is to plant her bottom on that empty chair.  However she can only walk very, very, slowly.

All the other participants (Errol, Dylan, Camille and Nadia) want to prevent Ezmarelda from sitting down on any empty chair.  They must not do this by tackling, biting, head-butting or injuring Ezmarelda in any way… the only means that the other participants have to prevent Ezma from sitting down in that empty chair is to sit in the empty chair themselves. Yes!  But you see, that will prevent her for only a moment, because by sitting down in that empty seat you have now left your original seat EMPTY! oh no!
That’s right.
Ezmarelda is slowly making her way towards your original seat.
Because Ezmarelda can win by planting her bottom in any empty seat.
Quick Errol! go sit in that newly vacated seat!
Take that Ezma!
Remember to stay nice and slow there Ezma - don’t get too excited.
Oh! Now someone needs to get into Errol’s seat! Go Camille!!!…

So… you get the idea.  Keep Ezmarelda on her feet. She musn’t find a seat. If she does get a seat then the last person to move from their chair becomes in.

To raise the difficulty up a notch, the participants must not verbally communicate - so that the game is played in zen-like silence.

For another notch add the rule that if your bum raises off the seat ever so slightly then you MUST leave your seat and find a new one. You MUST NOT return to your original seat or sit back down. In other words, you must follow through with your impulses.

2. Truth Telling

Being able to connect to a story and tell it with conviction is one of the keystones of good theatre.  But how convincing can you be when the story isn’t your own?  Can you tell when someone is being honest with you or making something up?

Get the participants into groups of three.  Each group needs to secret themselves away and covertly plan….

Now in their groups, one of the three will tell a true personal story to the other two members of their group.  The story needs to be something that has happened to them (as opposed to some guy called Yusef that they know) - keep it personal.

For example: when I was five I used to live on a big farm and we had lots of chickens.  There was big red shed out the back where we kept all the animal food and one day I imagined that I was this famous chef like on TV ….(etc. etc.)…. horribly ill and my brother was in the loo for two whole hours but he kept yelling at me from there inbetween the vomiting.

The other two members of the group need to be paying attention to the story and taking in all the details - because in a moment they will be telling it to all the other participants as though it’s their own story.

Allow some time for people to get their details right, then bring all of the participants back together.
Three chairs are placed ‘on-stage’ and one group of three goes to sit in them. One at a time each member of the group tells the same story as though it is their personal story.

The others participants must observe as a cunning audience and look out for signs of falsity.

When the three have completed the story telling ask the audience who they think the real ‘owner’ of the story is.
Once the audience has deliberated ask the storytellers to reveal themselves.  You may be quite surprised at the answers.

Discuss the results with everyone.  What was the body language like? the eyes? Why did you think one person was false and another honest? What indications were there? etc.

Now bring on your next group of three for the next story!

I love this game because you’ll always get some really funny and insightful stories emerging.

3. Snake

Darken the space, all eyes are closed…. all you can hear is its hisssss…

Prepare to get very immersed in this game - and very scared!  This one is great for firing up the imagination, listening with the body  and investigating ‘objectives’.

Start by marking out a large space for the group.  You need to have something soft and tactile around the boundaries of the space - gym mats are great for this.  People will be running around with their eyes closed so the space needs to be clear and safe and the edges of the space entirely marked out with something that the feet can feel as soon as one is heading out of bounds.

Shoes off is best.

All the participants should enter into the marked out space and with their eyes still open familiarise their feet with the touch of the boundary-line (if no gym mats you could use rope laid on the floor, towels or rugs etc.)

You’re about to choose the snake. Get everybody shoulder to shoulder in a circle, inside the marked space, heads down and eyes closed. Darken the space - turn off lights, close blinds etc.

Tell the participants “I am about to choose the snake.. mwhaahahahahah! I will give you a light tap on the shoulder and you will be the snake. don’t tell anyone!”

Everyone MUST keep their eyes closed (if people are having trouble keeping their eyes closed you can use blind-folds)

Once you have chosen the snake, tell everyone “keep your eyes closed, the snake has been chosen. Stay calm and stay still for now. Snake, you are after your prey - to attack your hand must squeeze a persons’ shoulder.  People, if your shoulder is squeezed by the snake, you must die a most loud and horrible death!  Once you are dead you can open your eyes and come to the boundaries of the space with me to watch and sometimes guide the others still left in the game.  Snake - you can move only if you are hissing at the same time.  Snake - you may be still and silent, or move and hiss towards your prey.  All of you can start to move now.”

This is an amazing game to be watching from the sidelines.  People become quite terrified by the hissing, people huddle together in fear, arms reaching out, heads angled to best catch all the sounds.  Keep an eye on the safety of participants. Make sure they keep moving - don’t let people hide in a corner for to long.

Don’t be afraid to let this game play out for a while - the participants will become increasing absorbed.

Afterwards, allow the snake and the last person to be caught to extrapolate on their experiences, also talk about what it looked like from the sidelines - there will be lots of close shaves! Those who died early would have seen some really interesting ’scenarios’ played out in the space just through this game.

From 2005 - 2007, The Migrant Project was a series of live performances and forums. In 2008 it has been in its final stage of development as a feature film and interactive CD/DVD.

It was great to unpack the soundscapes developed for the shows and turn them into some beautiful musical pieces. With a number of tracks now down, it’s up to Mick and Shakthi to slowly mix them into short compositions that can be used in the film and DVD - coming out January 2009!

Robin at his best

Mahesh looking dapper

Mick in bass heaven

Bala in the booth

Shakthi at the desk

Aimee the documenter is documented!

The view from the porch

And that’s just a few of them

Tomorrow’s breed of award-winning chooks

Illustrations and motion: Aimee Falzon
Assembly, edit & post-production: Shakthidharan
Sound: Quarterbit, under a creative commons license

Find this video on:
YouTube
Facebook
Vimeo

Image from The Waiting by Aimee Falzon

In this ASI concert, images are drawn and projected in real time, and sidle up to folk, rock and the influences of classical Indian vocals and percussion. The concert takes you through ASI’s journey away from home and to the city inside his head, delivered through a series of songs with live, illustrated visuals.

Listen to the single, ‘The Waiting Turned’ from the album here:

Or check out more of the music on the ASI website.

Our myspace site, for those who prefer it, is http://www.myspace.com/digitalasi

Details:
8-11pm, 22nd November 2008
402/11 Randle St, Surry Hills (a minute’s walk from the Devonshire st exit of Central train station)
$10 entry (buy the album for $15 on the night and get free entry!)
shakthi[at]curiousworks.com.au for more information

The Waiting front cover

The Waiting back cover

I am also CuriousWorks administration officer. And I love lists. So - I have created a list of Things Aimee Knows After Drawing for 4 Weeks Straight:

1. Animating is possibly the most ridiculously labour intensive pursuit in the world

I had the illusion as a child that being an animator meant that you could swan about in glorious artist filled studios reclining in your ergonomic chair pondering and doodling. You’d be drawing for a living, it couldn’t get much better than that, right? Truth is, animation studios can be one of the most time pressured, intense environments to work in - full of hunched and frantic figures poured over their work.

I’m starting to discover why.

The facts:
For the non-hardcore animators:
one second of animation = 12 frames (ie 12 individual drawings if you’re old-school)
For the hardcore Disney-esque types:one second of animation = 24 frames!
That’s right. When Princess Jasmine bats her eyes at Aladdin – that one second – someone has drawn, coloured, and captured 24 individual pictures!

It’s actually amazing that any feature animations get made considering the amount of work that has to go into them.

2. ‘istopmotion’ is magical.

I love this program. It’s what I used to create ‘Overflow’, it’s very easy to use and quite addictive.
Unfortunately it’s only for macs though. You can find out more on their website. The basic version will set you back about fifty bucks. It’s marketed as obviously, stop-motion animation software (think ‘Wallace & Grommit’ and ‘Chicken Run’) but you can also use it to do cell animation (think Disney’s ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarves’ where pictures are drawn for each frame)
Another useful animation program worth checking out is ‘Pencil’. Best thing is - it’s free!

3. ‘Blu’ will blow your mind.

Just watch it.

4. Biologist are ‘growing’ virtual characters so we don’t have to draw them anymore anyway.

Computer animators are working with biologist and neurologist and they’re building animated people from the inside out, with bones, muscles and a nervous system!

5. ‘The Animators Survival Kit’ is the word.

This tome was written by Richard Williams the animation director of ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’. If you want to pursue animation seriously or casually this book will be invaluable. The man is actually obsessed in a way that you need to be if you enter seriously into this field. It’s very practical, he breaks things down very usefully and often waxes inspirational. Highly recommended.

6. Find a dark, quiet den. And stay there.

If you’re drawing and capturing your pictures as you go, sunlight becomes your enemy. Sunlight’s inconsistencies will create flickers and shadows on your work if you let it.

I had arrived at the workspace provided for me by Fed Square in Mebourne, and to my horror, discovered glorious natural light streaming through the broad windows. I asked if there was a dark quiet hole someplace where I, my camera, sketchpad and computer could fit… we found the First Aid room down in the trenches.

It smelt like hospital.

So instead we brought in some big lights around the original light-filled desk to battle the sun somewhat… and my working hours became somewhat like a vampires’.

7. I wouldn’t mind being a bricklayer. (for a couple of weeks….)

At least you’re out in the sun. My dad was a bricklayer. When he finished a days’ work there’d be a whole wall in front of him and that feeling of utterly justified exhaustion from his ample moustache down to his bootstraps. It’s a wall. You can run into it and hurt your whole self because it’s so solid and in fact. You can’t knock something like that down too easily.

At the end of my day, a man I had drawn finally took one full animated step. Just one.

I felt like the proudest mother, I wanted to shout to the world my joy and relief! But it was 4am in an office above Melbourne’s Federation Square. Only the giant SBS TV screen blinked back at me. I had lost track of time sitting the whole time in front of my computer and sketch pad ignoring the numbness creeping through my bum cheeks. On my computer screen I could see my drawing take its first step. I had given birth it seemed – but I wasn’t exhausted somehow - just twitchy. The street sweeping machines whirred away below - pushed by glum, florescent-vested men.

I watched one.

How his feet fell, how his hands grasped and his knees bent… trying to hold in my eyes the precise rhythm of all these things combined in a man – the singular percussion of my unwitting flouro muse-man.

8.This is what happens when you’re an animator: You become a STARER.

You can’t help it.
The world becomes a fresh and infinitely watchable place.
Watching people becomes most interesting.
But you stop noticing the odd looks that people give you.
You stop noticing the “Oi! What the f*** are you looking at?!” from the guy across the street
…but you stare at their lips instead… How might you animate such speech?
…and then you slowly start mouthing out those particular sounds and shapes for yourself:
“ooooii-waaaathafffaaakaayuuuuuluukiiinad”
“fff” = upper teeth on lower lip.
“y” = Keira Knightly’s lips
“w” = slight ‘cats-bum’ effect on the lips.

9. The Kids Get It.

In CuriousWorks we’re working on incorporating animation skills with literacy and numeracy skills for young people. Remember those cool little animations from Sesame Street that would spell out words and numbers? Sure, it’s fine to watch them…. But at CuriousWorks, we think it’s much more fun to actually teach kids how to make them on their own!

Check out what the kids in Liverpool and Roebourne made one afternoon - and keep watching, because there’s going to be more where that came from….

Instead of human actors performing on the stage, the play is performed by a dog, with related text spoken by an actor seated in the audience.The dog’s movements on stage have been rehearsed and are guided by a dog coach also seated in the audience. As the website itself states, Timbuktu’s creative team is made up of a handful of professional creatives, along with “fifteen abandoned dogs and fifteen homeless people, not only as extras but as the guest stars of the performance.”

As a theatrical device, giving voice and space to an abandoned creature that cannot normally speak or make itself heard seems to me an excellent method for referencing all in our society who struggle to make themselves heard or their experiences known. Actually seeing a dog in the flesh, live on stage, is a visceral experience that film or animation just can’t match - a wonderful use of the medium.

Unfortunately the show is not from Australia, or touring here, but Timbuktu’s website contains plenty of information on the development of the work, so if you’re intrigued, head over and check it out.

If I’m going to start using the internet as a computing platform for all my media, my contacts, my social calendar then I need it to be available at home, at work, the shops and when I’m out. Network ubiquity came about from lots of different places, mobile phones with internet access, cheap broadband and a growth in laptops. Since 2004 there have been even more changes and even more buzzwords. At the moment it’s all about the “Cloud” which is another blog post altogether. There is a special place in the blogosphere that is reserved for these topics but a friend recently asked about a Web 2.0 reading list (yes, actual physical books!) so I asked people on Twitter and some associates and this is the list I came up with (in no particular order):

• The Long Tail - by Chris Anderson
• Wikinomics - by Taps Don
• Here Comes Everybody - by Clay Shirky
• The Wisdom of Crowds - by James Surowiecki
• Groundswell - by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff
• Small Is the New Big - by Seth Godin
• The Cluetrain Manifesto - by Christopher Locke
• Everything is Miscellaneous - by David Weinberger
• Small Pieces Loosely Joined - David Weinberger
• The Wealth of Networks - by Yochai Benkler
• The Starfish and the Spider - by Ori Brafman
• Rule the Web - by Mark Frauenfelder

I’ve read some of these titles but not all of them. I’ve included “Rule the Web” to act as somewhat of a glossary for the others. Most of these books would fit into the business category and some of them started from blogs themselves. Although they do try to account for the Web 2.0 phenomenon you might have to read between some of the marketing speak to get to the core ideas.

I don’t think “Web 2.0″ is that usefull a term to describe how the web has been transforming over the last few years and I hate using it but I think it will be around for a while. If you’ve got a blog suggestion or a landmark book that I’ve missed, put it in the comments.