Category — SILVERDOCS 2008

A friend emailed and asked the following question:

What the hell has happened to you? You are among the most critical thinkers I know. Your movie festival writing is so happy, I think you need to cut back on your prozac. What is going on down there?

So, right off the bat, I know that even my friends don’t read my policies page.

More to the point, I think making art is hard as hell. I don’t want to spend my time tearing work apart, when I can be bringing my readers stuff I think is great. That doesn’t mean I can’t be critical of works that I love, but I haven’t been digging in for analysis for SILVERDOCS, since I’ve been mostly posting quick bits. I’ll have some more analytical writing following the festival, as the panels and fellow festival-goers typically give me lots to think about.

And to the particular writer of that question, I note that you know what I do if I want to rant, rave, criticize and attack–I write about politics.

If you are looking for a great film to see this weekend, consider Lucio and steep yourself in a fascinating modern political story that is unknown to many. Lucio Urtubia is a humble man of modest means who supported himself through the hard work of bricklaying. Did I mention that he is suspected to be at the center of a massive counterfeiting ring that appeared to exist primarily to fund anarchist political movements all over the world? A few years and tens of millions of dollars later, Citibank came to the bargaining table to get him to stop. He did 6 months in prison and sealed his reputation as the Robin Hood of Anarchism.

Did I mention he is alive and well and living in Paris, where he runs a radical bookstore? Capitalism may be trying to eat Che, but I doubt they will be able to swallow Lucio anytime soon. Viva Lucio!  Viva La Revolución!

There is plenty of hustling going on at your average film festival, but this was something different. Guerilla marketing hit SILVERDOCS yesterday when the woman in the photograph showed up to promote Jon Hotchkiss’ latest project, Obscene Movie. If you are fans of Penn & Teller or “Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher” (where he was one of the original writers), you probably recognize his name. Hotchkiss wasn’t present, but the promotional attempt seemed to get a less than warm reception at the Cinema Lounge, where the manager politely asked them to leave (and they politely complied).

It definitely got people’s attention. People were asking if she was a real sex worker or a porn star, but I asked the first question that came to my mind–how do you walk in those crazy shoes? Apparently it helps if you take small steps.

For the session It’s Not Just A Game: Storytelling In The Virtual Space, Denise Dilannim, Founding Director of WGBH Lab and Executive in Charge at Boston Media Productions moderated a panel composed of Trisha Creekmore (Discovery.com), Nonny De La Pena (Producer and Director of Gitmo Gone–Virtual Guantanamo), Ken Ellis (Executive Producer, Edutopia, The George Lucas Educational Foundation), Wendy Levy (Director of Creative Programming, Bay Area Video Coalition), Suzanne Seggerman (President and Co-founder, Games for Change), Sharon Sloane (WILL Interactive, Inc.) and, serving as respondent, David Johnson (Assistant Professor, School of Communication, American University and co-Editor-in-Chief, The American Spectator).

The panel looked primarily at “serious games”–computer games that are designed to promote political, social or behavioral change, or to serve a function that goes beyond play alone.

Suzanne Seggerman opened the session, and introduced her organization, which promotes the use of games for social issues and social change. She pointed out that games are a young medium. They are still evolving and growing–maturing as a form. Gaming, said Seggerman, is where film was in the 60s and 70s: beginning to be studied in the academy, shown in museums, getting foundation interest.

Seggerman made the interesting point that unlike films, you have agency in games. So how you tell a story in a game has to account for that difference.

While Sharon Sloane previewed her company’s technology–the Virtual Experience Immersive Learning Simulations–which seem to be like old-style games: a set of decision tree scenarios, with video segments. While there is likely more to it than that, you couldn’t tell from the demo.

Wendy Levy talked about BAVC’s ability to bring together mediamakers, technologists, and storytellers for developing new tools and approaches–and to serve as an incubator for innovation with independent producers. She then showed a brief machinima, generated in Second Life. It seemed like it was the first exposure to machinima for several members of the audience, and she. seemed surprised by the machinima Then showed a brief machima–oops technical problems–ok, then did the piece. The piece was nice–all second life

Ken Ellis stepped in to briefly introduce Edutopia–which has a site, a magazine, and a research agenda. He showed a brief sample work. They have over 150 docs available on their site.

In my opinion, Nonny De La Pena’s project was both the most innovative and interesting. She created an interactive Gitmo experience in Second Life, where visitors get bound, hooded, transported, caged, etc. It seemed like a brilliant way to inform and change people’s perspective on what is going on inside Camp X-Ray.

Then Trisha Creekmore demonstrated one of Discovery.com’s projects–the game Shark Runners, built by AreaCode– which is a social game where you do shark research and gather info, get funding, etc. Creekmore noted that the challenge to her was how to make an interesting game that is fun, will keep people coming back and also help them learn something.

In the Q&A that followed, a number of interesting ideas arose:

Sloane observed that games must bring a perspective shift to bring change. The game must be personal enough to open people up, to lower their defenses while providing better tools, information, and behaviors. To be successful, you “must capture brain space and heart space at the same time.”

De La Pena spoke about the idea of “spatial narrative”: when you move into a virtual space, how do you get people to follow you? How do you build that narrative? Do we show you video? Take control of the avatar? How do you marry image and story?

Creekmore reminded us of the iron rule of gamers: the users totally hack what the designers plan. With her Sharkrunners game, players created their own HQ, gave their own awards, etc. She emphasized that this is something to be expected and embraced (Her best quote? “I like the unpredictable.”)

Respondent David Johnson set out an interesting framework for thinking about gaming. He said there are four considerations: the culture of play, the money of play, the storytelling of play, and the ethics of play.

Johnson said if you take a tool and play with it, you get a toy. So, that also works in reverse–we learn from play. Start as play, then toys may become tools (or, if playing with tools, new uses arise).

The money of play is a really big force–the push for faster, more powerful tech raises the bar for entry into making games.

Yet, Johnson noted, it is still about telling a story. The new tech engages people at a whole new level–simulation as the most powerful communication tool ever. (All games, he argued, are storytelling platforms. Chess itself is a teaching tool to teach war.)

And then, finally, gamemakers need to consider the ethics of what you create. Once you select some aspect, you are leaving something out–every choice limits, and so, in a sense, every choice speaks of intent.

Johnson’s closing point really seemed to reiterate what many of the panelists have already grasped. It is time for storytellers to embrace the gaming platform and its power to make visual worlds, use it to craft stories, and then to let people play with it.

OK, in the interest of full disclosure let me state categorically: I think banjo genius Béla Fleck is the tops.¹ That said, my mind still would have been blown by Throw Down Your Heart even if it wasn’t Bela Fleck.²

Filmmaker Sascha Paladino has created a delight of a film as he joins his brother Fleck on a trip to Africa to explore the roots of the banjo.³ Their multi-country trip brings Fleck together with many talented musicians and remarkable collaborations result. The energy of the musicians is infectious, the music joyous to behold, and Paladino gives you the experience of being right in the mix.

Following the screening, the audience got an opportunity to hear Fleck play, joined by Cheick Hamala Diabaté, a terrific n’goni player and star in his own right (see photo below). For the second night in a row, SILVERDOCS hits it out of the park.⁴

1. I’m not exaggerating. I had the guy sign my mandolin today. How pathetically fanboy is that?
2. That it is Béla Fleck? Awesome! See footnote one re: my pathetic-ness.
3. I had a chance to hear the two speak at length earlier in the day about the process of making the film, and hopefully I will get a chance to write up those comments soon.
4. Look! A sports analogy! How did that happen? Answer: it’s a baseball analogy. Even I know from baseball.