We got a new design for the Skill transfer device from our skilled Community-Member Joe…..!

Check out the Forum for the 3D Model…

International filmmakers,
a multitude of ideas and little time.
In 36 or 60 hours per session short
films are drafted, shot and edited.
Professionalism meets improvisation,
film meets music, video artists meet the audience.
We would love to invite you to our 8th KinoDynamique in Vienna!

From the 16th to the 25th of May 2012 people will get together and produce short films in 36 or 60 hours, then show them on a cinematographic screen.
Join us as a director, actor, DOP, editor, sound designer, musician, make up artist, scriptwriter, whatever you can or would like to do in a film production.

If you want to join us please register on our website
www.kino5.net

See here our KinoLab for this year
www.brick-5.at/bilder.php

Register until the 1th of May and show us you´re colours!

21 team members of the BATESIAN project met at the WRITERS SUMMIT in Vienna (22 February – 1 March 2012) where they were working on weaving together the episodes for the feature film, creating the background World of Batesian, discussing the production of BATESIAN Universe short films, talking about production aspects and pitching the film to the professionals.

These interviews were taken during the Writers Summit. The team members are explaining how does the international collaboration approach works in reality and what are the advantages, disadvantages and reasons why they joined the project.

Help us design billboard advertisements for the World of BATESIAN that will be featured in the film and the BATESIAN Universe short films!

In the feature film, the streets of Vienna will be full of advertisements of various skill transfer companies. There might be high-class skill transfer companies that only sell premium skills and then there might be low-budget skill transfer companies. When you design an advertisement, you can also design a logo for a fictional skill transfer company and come up with a name and slogan.

Don’t worry about the language of your slogans… obviously, in Vienna it would be German, but English (or any other language) could be great for the short films and we can still translate a great slogan to German if we want it to be in the feature film, too…

For inspiration, have a look at the treatments we received: they already contain many suggestions for skill transfer company names and slogans. And for the current status on the design of the skill transfer device itself, check this topic.

Post your designs and suggestions for slogans and skill company names here!

While some of us are fiercely rewriting the stories accordingly to the input at the writers summit, others are incessantly speculating on glueing them together in a harmonious organic manner…

But let’s stroll together through the hot topics of the moment with a cool beverage of your choice in your hand. Ready? Set. Go! (and remember to breathe!)

Number one: You’re probably wondering what in the name of B∆TESI∆N are we getting at with „the 6th element” thingy?
Here’s what:
Resulting from a call for treatments to populate and stir the World of B∆TESI∆N, 5 treatments have been selected to create the story of one feature film. In addition to this, another 7 treatments were chosen to become independent short films which would enlarge the scope of the World of BATESIAN to the scale of a Universe. The 6th element is what binds the first 5 treatments together in the same world. Following the same logic, the 6th element will also connect the feature with another 7 short films, which would enlarge the scope of the World of BATESIAN to the scale of a Universe.

You might as well look at it like a mood piece which flows in the backdrop, occasionally surfacing to air just to sink back again and beckon with its ubiquitous smirk while we watch the stories of our heroes unfold in the foreground. Like an unifying force behind the 5 stories.

In a nutshell, this is what our 6th element will do: it will accompany the existing stories in the forms of visual elements and sound effects active in the background of the different scenes in the 5 stories, also including the background display of news reports, interviews and footage that will draw the World of BATESIAN as a full-fledged world where people produce/donate and consume skills on a daily basis, with the corresponding effects. People and skill transfer technology co-exist and interact, in an organic exchange of forces and dependencies.

Skill transfer has many startling possible outcomes, since it plays with the dual (as in utopian/dystopian) concept of redefining human authenticity and identity. And our discussions in the forum have been bustling with ideas on how it may influence society, politics, economy, psychology and human daily life. This is only logical, since one cannot throw a new technology on the market without speculating on its effects on the entire humanity.  So let’s put our minds together and figure out what could happen in the World of B∆TESI∆N.  What’s the background? What’s the climate? You tell us!

Number two:  follow us step by step! Catch up and…(you guessed!) JOIN!

Mark these dates in your calendars for they will beckon you straight from the WoB! Read and interact with us upon the very posting of the hyperfresh materials we are so eager to share and create with you!
Number three:

Before you press reply post or engage in whatever else way of communicating your precious ideas to us, there’s one more little thing!

Please note that the use of “we” is not generic; you’re included! Yes, that’s right, you there, reading this right here.  By continuing to read and post you are officially taking the B∆TESI∆N pledge  to contribute and collaborate in the creation of a film project rising from today’s emerging wave of online internationally outsourced artistic endeavors by enthusiastic communities!

Are you ready for us?

We’ve been expecting you!

You are the 6th element!

You are B∆TESI∆N!

To give you an idea of what the atmosphere was like we uploaded a video documenting the 5th day of the summit. People are working on the script, talking to the Vienna Film Commission about shooting permissions and discussing a proposal for the skill transfer (ST) device design with Joe from the BATESIAN forum who happens to live in Vienna and decided to join us.

Although this was a local offline meeting we were always open to international online collaborators. Meaning people from all over the world could follow the summit and access records of the discussions and their results on the forum.

So what’s next?  Well, there is a roadmap for writing the script (with a first draft going online on Sunday, March 18th), an urgent need for fresh funds, several ideas for developing new ways of online collaboration, a strategy for promotion and so on. Also there’s the recent release of the BATESIAN UNIVERSE short film project. So we’re looking into a busy future.

Related to this near future some remaining participants had a talk with each other in a more relaxed environment after the Summit ended (video beneath).

Again this is more work than we can handle ourselves. So we welcome you with open arms to join the forum and become a part of the project. Together we can make this happen!

Inspired by the feature-film, the BATESIAN Team decided at the end of 2011 to take on a parallel project, a companion piece called BATESIAN Universe. We selected six treatments to develop as 10 – 20 minute short films. This collection of shorts could potentially link together, like the feature film, but this will shift more towards an anthology structure, in which each film will maintain it’s distinct style and storylines. The films will likely take place outside Vienna, in numerous settings, and, therefore, languages. But they will exist alongside the feature-film in the World of the BATESIAN (similar to what Animatrix is to the Matrix, just without the animation).

We have discussed this privately in a hidden message board, but we have decided to go public with this project to involve the community, share our excitement and seek production possibilities. These two projects (and maybe others) will help create buzz for one another and lead to a greater, more involved and more diverse BATESIAN world!

Read more about this second project here! Be sure to check the BATESIAN Universe forum regularly to stay informed and give your thoughts, post questions or give input to this project.

we proudly present a short video about our collaborative approach and explain ways how you can join the project. The people in the video are just a few of the whole community.
It’s a crowdsourced project with collaborators from all over the world.

The main idea of the film is based on leaked information we found on the internet about technology that enables skill transfer. The presumed existence of this technology inspired us to make a feature film about it.

The work continues online and on our forum. YOU can also take part in creating the WORLD OF BATESIAN.

They’ve got a tight schedule. The Summit is dealing with issues like funding, preproduction, online collaboration, distribution, developing a shared vision and so on…

The Participants are also meeting with several experts to pitch the project and receive feedback.

But most importantly they’re not working behind closed doors. You can play an active role in the summit as well. The discussions taking place in Vienna are being mirrored on the blog and the forum.

So join the community if you haven’t already done so yet and be a part of BATESIAN!

DAY 1

The major topic of today was to find a common theme that could be further explored and developed in scriptwriting. This is work in progress. You still have the chance to join the discussion!

DAY 2

Some big issues were scheduled for this day. All the different scenarios of funding were examined resulting in long pros and cons lists. In the afternoon the participants dug deeper into the matter of linking elements for the stories. Those discussions are still missing your voice. Jump into the forum now!

DAY 3

We are usually cautious using big words like milestones. But today it seems appropriate. Intensive experiments proved our assumption that the selected treatments are combineable to be actually true. We hold in our hands the material for a feature film (Yeah)! Also we developed the concept of collaborative scriptwriting which is going to start shortly after summit a bit further. It includes ideas on how to involve the community in a more direct way, too. You can read all about it on the forum!

DAY 4

One work-group again focused on interweaving the episodes. The method applied was similar to the BATESIAN GAME. Considering those provisional results several groups developed the idea of a background story (6th element) further. There is a tendency to tell this chain of events in a subtle way of using media, commercials and side characters. Here is the full transcript of the discussion.

DAY 5

We were visited by the Vienna Film Commission. Talked about sound and camera in the film. David a sound recordist and designer gave his input. Then we moved on to a general discussion about the collaborative approach in the project and how to achieve and communicate it. We did our first group photo :-) Worked in small groups on each treatment. Joe, an industrial designer and community member visited us. We discussed his first ideas for the skill extractor interface, that he had already posted in the forum. Here you find the protocol of today to get detailed information.

DAY 6

In the morning there was a brainstorming on how we can revise our online presence so it reflects the BATESIAN philosophy more understandably. There were also some ideas tossed around for viral marketing. You can read more about this on the forum. In the afternoon there was a new attempt on assembling the scene cards of the episodes and also the big leap of developing a roadmap for the scriptwriting process. We got some moving pictures for you today, enjoy!

DAY 7

Building on the results of the last day the BATESIAN team presented their ideas to two independent screen-play experts (Ip Wischin, Alex Schneider). We’ve got a video for you about that. This marks the end of the summit but also the starting point of many new parallel processes. One word: online collaboration. So stay tuned!

Arrange them in your unique way!
Add your own stories!
And have fun!

This video shows you how to do that.

There are three links you need to access the game and upload your results. The video instructs you when and how to use them:

1. Register

2. Start

3. Upload

Looking forward to discussing your vision!