biennialFreerunner: Plan B

Friday, 23 May 2008

Plan B: ICDC Green Screen

Hi Jo, Adam et al,

I've just been to ICDC (International Centre for Digital Content) to see their green screen room. It is bigger than I initially imagined. My contact Mark Smith estimates it to be "green screen is about 2.8m high 6m wide and curves to the floor with about 2-3 m of floor". Check out the video I took (ok it is shaky).

Adam what is your thoughts on the facility?

Ian Bradley, who showed me around thinks it is free-ish in June and it is free. I need to check with Mark about availability.

ICDC has their degree show next Wednesday. I have invites for everyone on the team. ICDC is on Edge Lane in Liverpool in Liverpool Digital (straight down the M62 or the 7 bus from the city centre). You could then check out the facility. Let me know who wants to go.

Wednesday, 21 May 2008

Plan B & Plan D as well as Plan C

Hi Jo, et al (including Adam who has now been given author rights to this blog),

Plan D: Toxteth TV
I have received this email reply from Toxteth TV which can form Plan D:

"Hi Dave,

We have a green screen which I am told is just the same as a blue screen, I would need to know exactly what you need....for instance will you need lighting with the screen, if you do then you will need to use our technician and I am afraid we would have to charge you as they are only employed when we have a studio booking and paid accordingly.If you just wish to use the space with the house lights then I would only charge 50% of the usual costs which would be £7.50 per hour +vat. The cost of the studio with a technician is normally £250 per day + vat for 8 hours, I could reduce this cost to £175 + vat .Please let me know if this is of any use,

Kind Regards"

Obviously there is a financial cost here. What do you and Adam think about this facility?

Plan B: ICDC

I will pop into ICDC to recce their green screen facility on Friday to check suitabilty/availability.

Plan C: St Helens College Blue Screen

Adam and I had a chat with Millard last night and we have the space probably available. So I think next Thursday is certainly on. The day will only be about test shots, taking footage to evaluate what we can do on a proper shoot in June. Maybe we could even shoot the kids going through some moves elsewhere for research. Adam has some really positive ideas. But I'll let him blog them (over to you Adam)...

Jocan you bring some crash mats with you and let me know when you can get here. Now that it is at college we can potentially have between 9:30 and 5:00.

Matt, Dave and Jenny can you remember to pick up a CRB form from me to complete.

I think that's all for now.

PS: Jo I've given you Admin rights to this blog so you can add your students' emails to the permissions page to allow them to read the blog. Click Customize > Settings > Permissions from the main blog page.

The Project

Traceur Tag
De La Salle School in collaboration with St Helens College

The theme for the schools project, Future, Fiction and Fantasy, seemed to instantly form a connection with our idea to produce a piece of work using Parkour and the virtual world as the concept. This film was a collaborative effort between De La Salle School and St Helens College and it was only through this collaboration that the desire to create a film based on the computer game genre was realised.

It was at the initial stages of the collaboration that contemporary artworks such as Matthew Barney’s Cremaster Cycle proved influential along with the film Jump Britain and a variety of computer games such as Halo and Unreal, which helped us to establish the kinds of environment that could form the basis for the film.

Without a doubt the vehicle which supported this project’s creative growth and encouraged clear communication throughout was this blog, instigated by Dave Wood. This blog became a hub of activity which maintained consistency in content during the six month period. Ideas, thoughts, concerns, artistic references and discussions were posted daily, hourly and often by the minute in pursuit of our collective goal.

The most interesting element of the blog, from an educational perspective, was the innovative approach to formative assessment, providing rapid responses to creative problems in a contemporary manner aiding motivation and communication. Both De La Salle School and St Helens College are now exploring ways in which blogs can impact upon student’s development and bring assessment methods into the 21st Century.

This film explores a passion for an activity that in society can be considered as subversive or anti social and channels that enthusiasm into a creative medium. From a school’s point of view the boys were given an opportunity to express themselves in a language that is comfortable to them but in a safe environment, they worked with students witnessing the creative process in action but also what vocational links art can provide.

Finally, working on the School’s Project with the Biennial team has provided us with a fantastic opportunity to investigate contemporary approaches to schemes of work, work collaboratively between different institutions and the community and develop effective forms of communication, all of which have supported our personal development for the delivery of new initiatives such as the re-launch of the Secondary Curriculum and the introduction of the Creative and Media Diploma.

Joanne Millea

Whois biennialFreerunner?

biennialFreerunner Productions is the creative collective formed out of this Biennial project. It soon became apparent to Dave and Jo that the pooled talent, the excitement and the dedication of the students and graduates had naturally formed into a "Hot Group" of multi-disciplinary creatives. As such, the project Jo had brought to Dave had evolved beyond its original scope and remit. It was therefore only natural to give this multi-disciplinary team a collective identity. The biennialFreerunner blog had actually become biennialFreerunner Productions.

There are 6 core collective members and 1 associate member of this collective: co-founders Dave Wood and Jo Millea, Adam Hamilton, Matt Frodsham, Dave Bentick and Stas Krakiewicz. Jose Flores is based in Brighton and his opening scenes were produced remotely.

Already one member of this collective has gone onto make a music video for a band as a result of his experiences as part of this collective.

See www.biennialfreerunner.com for more information or email info@biennialfreerunner.com.

Books by Dave Wood