Simon Oliver shares his Lessons for Independent Developers at BAF Game

Blogger: Emma James, Web Content Coordinator

Simon Oliver is the founder of Hand Circus, creators of the hit Rolando series of games for the iPhone and Okabu on the Playstation 3. He was at BAF Game to advise anyone who wants to get into independent games development.



Simon spoke about the history of indie, entwined with a bit of personal history.

The first computer he used was programmable, at a time when there was no divide between the people who created the games, and the machines they were created on. The government encouraged computer literacy, and for schools to teach ICT at a deeper level - not just Microsoft Word, but the basics of computer science.

When games consoles were released they were just machines for consumption. There was no concept of open source, which was a huge barrier to entry.

The release of the iPhone was a key moment for Simon, who wanted to grasp the opportunities and meet the challenges presented by this new gaming platform. And so, Hand Circus was born.

Simon is obviously concerned about the future of independent games development, given the expectation that games will deliver hyper real experiences which simply can't be created by a small team.

However, he cites David Braben's Rapberry Pi, which will teach children the building blocks of computer science and Codea (formerly Codify), which lets you create games on the iPad using a simple, easy to learn coding language, as two developments of the kind that Simon is really excited about.



The vast number of tools on the market gives developers freedom through access to these technologies. Unity stands out for Simon; it gives you a very sophisticated tool set, without which Hand Circus would not be able to create their games.

Freedom is a concept that Simon keeps on repeating...

• The lure of independent development is freedom
• Freedom through technology
• Freedom to work differently
• Freedom of expression
• Freedom to meander

Is this why people are moving away from the AAA console space?

For Simon, this is the best work ever, and that's his message for today. It's the most challenging, and the level of personal involvement can make it an emotional experience, but Simon has some advice from fellow indie developers to help you along the way, which you can read about on his blog.

Or, to listen to the full presentation, here's the podcast which you're free to download and share.

Jay Grenier from Image Metrics presents Faceware 3.0 at BAF Game

Blogger: Emma James, Web Content Coordinator

Image Metrics is the creator of Faceware, an award-winning facial animation technology used throughout the games, film and entertainment industries to streamline animation. Jay was at BAF to talk about how facial animation technologies can create an enhanced gaming experience and tackle the most demanding of schedules and rigging processes.



According to Jay, the biggest challenge in games development is realistic facial animation, and there are two things which impact on the developers' ability to meet this challenge: cost and performance; and while facial motion capture is fast and gives a great result, there's a lot of set up and equipment involved.

Faceware has tried to take all these challenges head on and give users a turnkey solution to create good facial animation. To illustrate this this, Jay gave a demonstration of the Faceware workflow.

A trained animator, Jay worked on facial animation for Grand Theft Auto. He's had a lot of experience with Faceware and tells us with confidence that it's fun, easy to use and gives you a huge amount of artistic control.

There's more to motion capture than an animator creating an entire performance - their animation augments the work of an actor. With Faceware, the animator still gets to define what that performance will look like.

Your instinct when working with a new tool is to panic, but with Faceware, you're still using the software you know and love. Whatever type of rig or character you're using can be driven by Faceware - it's designed to neatly plug in to whatever you're doing.



Lip sync can be a really big problem for animators. It doesn't matter how good your rig or your rendering is if your timing is off. Faceware makes this much easier - you can let the software take care of all the heavy lifting and spend 90% of your time polishing the animation.

Plus, this is not a traditional animation workflow because you're not posing the whole face on every frame, which means you can get a lot more animation done in less time.

Faceware separates the face into three groups:

• Eyes - what direction they're looking and the movement of the eyelids
• Brows - everything above the eyes
• Mouth - everything below the cheeks and around the mouth

Jay says that the most important thing about facial animation is the eyes, and getting this wrong can immediately draw the gamer out of the performance.

He demonstrated Faceware autopose. This tool knows where the key poses are, so you can go straight to them and set up the poses to match the performance. Using a simple example of two poses (blink and look), with about 30 seconds of work, Jay had created 277 frames of blinks.

While it's not a particularly difficult job to hand animate eyes, all the subtle little eye darts might be missed by an animator. Faceware picks these up - another example of how the software can save you time and still result in a more realistic animation.

There was a workshop later on in the day to give delegates the opportunity to play with the software. If you want to have a go, you can download Faceware for free. The cost comes in when you upload your files, but the good news is that student rates are available.

Did anyone attend the workshop? What did you think of Faceware?

Get ready for the 18th Bradford Animation Festival

Blogger: Emma James, Web Content Coordinator

Finally, it's here! The Bradford Animation Festival team have been busy bees getting everything ready for tomorrow. We even have some new displays up in Pictureville cinema, the festival hub. These wall panels feature Steven Appleby's artwork, and of course his fabulous ident created especially for this year's festival.



In case you missed the animated sting, a film by Steven Appleby and Linda McCarthy, here it is again...



Another chap you'll spot when you arrive at the Museum this week is Barry Purves' wonderful model from his latest short film.



Tchaikovsky - an Elegy is screening as part of the BAF Official Selection in the Professional Films Category, and Barry will also be deconstructing his latest films in Frame by Frame, Note by Note on Friday 11th November at 6.30pm.

Our team of volunteers, the BAFettes (unofficially though affectionately named) arrived at the Museum this morning for training. They've been put through their paces filling out forms, getting to grips with world class customer service, making sure they know their health from their safety, and that all important delegate bag stuffing.

There are one or two familiar faces amongst the volunteers, and what a nice bunch they are. From tomorrow they'll be kitted out in their official yellow BAF t-shirts, so you'll be able to spot them easily. Ask them anything, though we can only guarantee they'll be able to assist you with BAF-related enquiries.

Our BAF 2011 Festival Brochures have also arrived, and you can download a copy of the brochure from our website.

The task of making sure that everyone has the right tickets is in the very capable hands of Jeni, Rebecca and Gill - here are Rebecca and Gill taking a break from all that hard work. Go team!



Right, I'm off for a restful evening ahead of all the blog posting and photo sharing, video linking and podcast uploading that's to come this week. It's going to be busy, but BAF is always such a buzz.

Make sure you let us know what you think of the festival, and what you've been enjoying by commenting on this blog. We have a team of dedicated bloggers from Bradford College, as well as myself and a few special guests.

Don't forget to like our festival Facebook page, and follow old Osgood on Twitter for all those lovely links, bits of news and festival chatter. See you tomorrow!

How to... Take photographs with a 5x4 plate camera - Simon Roberts

Blogger: Emma James, Web Content Coordinator

In the first of our series of 'how to' videos, Simon Roberts takes us through the process of photographing with a 5x4 plate camera (Ebony).

He explains how the camera works and why this process forces the photographer to think about composition.

For Simon, it's about crafting something that people will study, rather than the snapshot aesthetic.

Simon explains how the film is processed, and why that results in a better quality print.

In the lab, get a glimpse into the printing process, testing, and finally, the photographs' presentation.



Simon Roberts: We English exhibited at the Museum in 2010, and the exhibition is now part of our touring programme.

Art in Yorkshire iPhone app - Supported by Tate

We recently contributed to the Art in Yorkshire iPhone app - Supported by Tate, and we're pleased to announce that it features in the iTunes app store as 'New and Noteworthy'. A well-deserved success!

The app is a guide and interpretive tool for exhibitions and events taking place in museums and galleries throughout Yorkshire.

You can browse exhibitions, artists, venues and themes, recommend with a like, share with your friends, and find the code at the venue to leave your appinion (love this!)

It is an absolute pleasure to use. But don't take my word for it - here are some of the reviews on iTunes:

"I used this at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park... Fantastic app, really well put together with loads of info. If you like art, you'll love this!"

This app is extremely well designed. Great for finding details and reviews of art exhibitions in Yorkshire. I would love for this platform to be expanded to cover the whole UK. Great work!"

"Great little app: easy to use, loads of info, and smashing design. Just a shame there aren't more Appinions about. Love to unlock more of that content!"

Congratulations to Axisweb who developed the app in collaboration with fuse8, and in partnership with Leeds Met Gallery & Studio Theatre.

Art in Yorkshire Supported by Tate is a year long celebration of the visual arts in 19 art galleries throughout Yorkshire.

Have you spotted us on television yet?

Summer is here, hoards of children will soon be let loose from the nation's classrooms, and we would love for you all to visit us and Discover the Full Story.

That's the name of our Summer campaign, and if you live in Manchester, the Humber, or Yorkshire in you may have already seen our brightly coloured posters featuring some of the classic characters from television, gaming and film, so look out for them.

We'll also be beaming into your living rooms with our new television advert.

It will air for the very first time today (between ITV News and Emmerdale), and run until mid-August on ITV Yorkshire during prime time.

You can also see us on the big screen, because selected Vue and Odeon cinemas across Yorkshire will be showing our advert throughout August.

Visit our website to Discover the Full Story and find out what's on at the Museum over the Summer Holidays - keep checking back because there's more to come.

Photographs from the TV Advert Shoot

Picture a Museum Day 2011

Blogger: Emma James, Web Content Coordinator

Thursday 17 March was the very first global Picture a Museum Day - the purpose of which was to give people behind-the-scenes access to the world's museums and galleries through Flickr and Twitter.

What a success! The MuseumPics Flickr group now has more than 500 members. Institutions and individuals from across the globe have shared over 6,000 photographs of art, objects, people and spaces from some of the world's best cultural destinations.

Thursday also saw people using their smart phones to post photographs to Twitter using the #MuseumPics hashtag, and days later, it's still generating quite a bit of traffic - another coup for collaborative content creation through social media.

Let's hope the day becomes an annual fixture on the museum calendar. Here's a selection of our photographs from the day - see the rest on our Flickr channel, or go straight to the MuseumPics group to see images from around the world.

Mind the Gap Theatre Group Photographed in the Foyer for Denis Darzacq Project

A very well known French artist, Denis Darzacq, stopped by the Museum today with Bradford based theatre group Mind the Gap to take some photographs for a new project they are working on together.

Museum visitors watched as the group was photographed moving across the Museum floor together.

Denis has been capturing similar images across the city which will feature in an exhibition he plans to show across large scale exhibitions in Bradford and Paris.

More of his work can be found on Denis' website:

http://www.denis-darzacq.com/

Nexus Retrospective - BAF 2010 Part 5

Professor Paul Wells sat in conversation with three of the Nexus team: Alan Smith, Adam Foulkes and Jim Le Feuvre, before which the audience were treated to a retrospective of their work, which includes (impressively), an Oscar nominated short, Grammy Nominated and MTV Award winning music videos, and Cannes Grand Prix, Gold Lions and Black D&AD pencil winning commercials.

The three talked about how they got into animation, and early successes during the Channel 4 animation boom. At this time, animation was embraced by the commercial market, and though there is an assumed schism between arts culture and commerce, the commercial world provides the necessary revenue to move individual talents forward.

Despite this, Nexus advocate choosing work wisely and trying out new styles wherever possible rather than returning to a comfort zone. All three are still very much exploring the craft of animation, remembering that 'form follows feasibility'.

When asked about the tension between old and new school animation styles, their resounding opinion is 'Digital Tools? Bring them on!". For Jim, sometimes the most satisfying thing is the context of the animation, not the visual finish - he cites as an example the Beefy and Lamby series of adverts.

An interesting discussion took place around the issue of archiving - obviously something that's very close to the Museum's heart. Adam, Alan and Jim say that they almost never think about it, though they recognise the importance of preserving their output for future generations, having experienced animation being exhibited alongside art which is generally considered as belonging to 'high culture'.

Somewhat surprisingly, according to the three, animators don't consider that their work is worth saving even though they realise the importance of other people's work.

Thanks to Adam, Alan and Jim, for their insight into animating for the commercial world, and their resounding passion for the art of 'making stuff move'.

Enslaved: Ninja Theory - BAF2010 Part 3

Based on an ancient chinese story, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is the latest game produced by Cambridge-based studio Ninja Theory whose Lead Animator, Guy Midgeley and Senior Animator, James Stevenson joined us to talk about character animation, narrative, and the involvement of actor Andy Serkis and writer Alex Garland in the project.

It was important to consider character interaction and realism: Originally Monkey had a brutish nature and Trip was a futuristic goth, but the two characters need to relate to each other as their relationship builds, and so their physical forms were toned down for congruity.

For fidelity, ease and so the characters can perform actions in-game that you can't recreate in real life, the in-game animation was hand drawn rather than produced using motion capture. We were shown a series of videos shot at Ninja Theory HQ with the team acting out some character motions used as a reference point for their animations - a process which the team highly recommend in order to understand how the body works and create realistic looking in-game movement.

To avoid videogame cliches, Alex was brought in as a story writer, and Andy Serkis came on board as cinematic director and actor for the cut scenes which were shot using motion capture - he had worked with the team previously on Heavenly Sword. The cut scenes drive the story, develop characters and give the game a cinematic feel. To avoid the pitfall of disconnction between cut scenes and game play, Alex was involved throughout the process and played through the game to ensure its integrity.

In summary, the talk was a useful lesson in story and character development with the audience being taken through Ninja Theory's creative process and what to consider when you want a cinematic game with a decent story.

BAF 2010 day one came to a close with the Guardian Tech weekly podcast captured live in Pictureville cinema. Hosted by the Guardian's games columnist Keith Stuart, the session featured interviews with the aforementioned games guru Charles Cecil, writer and journalist Keiron Gillen. and games artist Dan Pinchbeck.

Look out for the podcast or listen from the Guardian Tech Weekly Podcast page.

Doctor Who: Adventure Games - BAF 2010 Part 2

BAF welcomed back legendary games developer Charles Cecil (last seen at the Museum acting as an official invigilator when we beat the World Record for simultaneous Nintendo DS gaming) alongside Sean Millard from Sumo Digital and Anwen Aspden, BBC Executive Producer - all here to talk about their involvement on the Doctor Who: Adventure Games series.

So why did they do it? The BBC had planned on producing four interactive episodes for the latest reincarnation of the series, but went one step further and created something special with free downloadable games - over 1.6 million downloads so far, and more episodes to come.

The pitch went out all over the world, but landed in Sumo's lap. Charles had worked successfully with the Sheffield based company before (Broken Sword) but it was their grasp of the brand and production values in only two scenes of their pitch video which sealed the deal.

The Doctor - with sonic screwdriver acting as a skeleton key allowing him to go virtually anywhere, and his tendency to negotiate rather than fight, is an unlikely game hero, but Sumo overcame these issues by using avoidance, discovery and infiltration. The developers also need to ensure that they didn't assume gaming knowledge nor make the game too complex for Doctor Who's expansive audience range.

Sean is obviously thrilled that he was given the opportunity to create a Doctor Who character - the Cyberslaves - which could potentially appear in a televised episode; he claims it's the coolest thing he's done during his 20 year career. Charles went through the process of creating the cyberslaves under the protective guidance of the Beeb, and concluded that it is the human behind the monster which is most frightening.

The actors movements (Matt Smith and Karen Gillan) were shot using rotoscope rather than motion capture, which enabled Sumo to animate the characters in game. The resulting facial textures were too realistic and the BBC felt that it was "too dark", so removing the texture and smoothing out any lines was the computer equivalent of putting the actors into make up. An interesting analogy.

"The second coolest thing" for Sean is seeing his company's game advertised during primetime - this level of publicity is generally a rap on the knuckles for disrupting the nation's youth.

Charles revealed that his experiences working with the BBC on the Doctor Who Adventure Games are "a lesson in how to market": Keep it a secret, then blitz it and surprise everybody.

During the Q&A we learned that the funding for the game came from public service money, but it created such a buzz at Comic-con that there are plans in place to sell it abroad.

The audience expressed a desire to see some of the Doctor's previous incarnations crop up in the game, and the team, as passionate as they are about the brand and their product, clearly hope so too. And so the celebrated heritage of the Doctor continues.

Brink: Splash Damage - BAF 2010 Part 1

Bradford Animation Festival is here once again. Day one of the biggest annual event at the Museum, indeed the biggest animation festival in the UK, and the crowds alreading gathering in the foyer and Pictureville show signs of this being yet another successful year.

BAF's audience is always a joy to see - a devoted bunch of enthusiasts, industry professionals, industry hopefuls and students just starting out on the road to a hopefully brilliant career. Enough of the scene setting... on with the show.

The first session of the day was an exclusive with Tim Appleby and Lauren Austin from Splash Damage who talked about the concept art and character design behind one of the 'most queued-for' games at this year's Eurogamer Expo: Brink.

A round of applause followed the cinematic trailer - there is a definite buzz surrounding this game. The pair took us through the story, the style of the two main factions, how they developed those styles, and then on body types, character customisation, overlays and tints. Everything from initial concepts to facial hair.

One thing which does stand out about Brink is that there is not one recognisable character - but about twenty of them, each with their own name and identity - a useful tip for game character designers.

"Customisation doesn't lend itself to quality", but Splash Damage wanted to focus on the quality, and in doing so discovered that "limitation spurs invention". Now, I couldn't go into too much technical detail* - partly because you might not understand it, mostly because I certainly don't, but it does make a lot of sense.

For example - all heads need to be the same width to ensure the head gear can be used for all characters, so instead they played about with length.

Lauren clearly had a lot of fun developing these characters, sometimes taking her inspiration from celebrity mashups (Danny Trejo vs Jason Statham, anyone? Sounds post-apocalyptic to me!)

And in a sea of post-apocalyptic first person shooters, this game stands out. Not only is it colourful, but it has a whole range of characters and customisation options which helps with player investment and gives Brink an instantly recognisable look.

So, here's Splash Damage's three golden nuggets:

1. Start simple and protoype early.
2. Make sure there is close collaboration as you develop your characters.
3. Designs need to reflect technical limitations.

*If you want to hear the finer technical detail, look out for all the podcasts from BAF 2010 which will appear on the new National Media Museum website in the very near future.

Simon Roberts: We English Exhibition on Tour

Our temporary exhibition galleries are now closed while we prepare for two brand new exhibitions to open on 15 October.
Robbie Cooper's Immersion will be replaced by Land: Revisited, to mark the 25th anniversary of Fay Godwin's Land, a celebration of the British landscape.
Simon Roberts' We English will be replaced by From Back Home, a body of work by contemporary Swedish photographers Anders Petersen and JH Engström, which became an award-winning book and is being exhibited in this country for the first time in our Gallery One space.
If you enjoyed We English, you'll have another opportunity to view the work when it tours to Croyden Clock Tower - not the only National Media Museum exhibition to go on tour...
Ruth Haycock, our Senior Exhibitions and Partnerships Organiser, has developed a Touring Exhibitions strand whose aim is to increase public access to our Collections both here and abroad, develop cultural partnerships, boost the profile of the Museum and champion our world-class Collections.
We English and three other exhibitions taken from our photography Collections are available to tour: Lives of the Great Photographers, The British Landscape and The Art of Arrangement: Still Life and the Photographic Tradition.
Our exhibition and design teams will create a graphics and identity package for the exhibition, and while we provide core pieces, the host venue may extend and compliment the exhibition with work from their own collections to make it their own - we can work with the host venue to develop layered interpretations to meet their requirements and the needs of their audiences.
If you're interested in hosting a National Media Museum exhibition, or would like to find out more about our Touring Exhibitions programme, talk to Ruth Haycock:
Tel: 01274 203 343
Email: ruth.haycock@nationalmediamuseum.org.uk.

The National Media Museum Breaks a World Record

On Wednesday we broke the World Record for the number of people playing Nintendo DS games simultaneously in the same place for 10 minutes. The record was previously held by the MCM Expo in London with 586 DS players. We beat their record with an impressive 659 gamers. Here's the video to prove it.

We opened the doors for registration at 10.00 and saw hundreds of people flock to the Museum throughout the day to enjoy a barbeque, have their face painted, try their hand at big screen gaming in our cinema, join in with family events, and watch Toy Story 3D in our IMAX theatre. But most importantly, they were there to sign up for the World Record attempt that evening.

We were joined by Real Radio who pumped out the latest chart hits from the balcony above the Media Wall. Presenter Dixie was our compère for the day, and he did a grand job of rallying up the crowd and telling them where to go and when to be there.

Super Mario himself arrived at around 15.00 to the delight of all the kids who converged upon the Nintendo icon for hugs and photographs as soon as they caught sight of him.

We also welcomed some of the Bradford Bulls and local PCSOs to help us supervise the event, Bulls' Chief Executive Ryan Ducket and gaming guru Charles Cecil who were official invigilators, and Gaz Deaves, Gaming Editor of Guinness World Records, who was there to make sure everything was above board, and of course, to present us with our certificate when we claimed victory.

It was fantastic to see so many people come down to the Museum to be part of the attempt - so many that they spilled out to the front of the building - but that's not to say it was easy to pull together. Our event coordinators Kat Martin, Elaine Richmond and Sophie Choudry certainly had one or two sleepless nights in the run up to the event, but I daresay they would agree that it was all worth it in the end.

Sarah Mumford, Learning Manager, who originally conceived the idea describes the moment of truth:

"The atmosphere was electric and the excitement was palpable. We didn’t know 'til immediately after the attempt whether we had broken the record or not and when the man from Guinness announced we had broken it everyone cheered. And what a relief that was!"

I was stood in the crowd when Gaz announced that we had broken the record, and it certainly was exciting - I don't know what we would have done had we not taken the record, but no doubt everyone would have held their consoles in the air to celebrate a good try.

When it was all over, the proud participants collected a badge and certificate, but some remained for the Street Fighter 2 tournament in our Games Lounge. I had escaped back to the office to upload my photographs so I missed it, but I asked organiser Foz Bano for a quick report:

"The [tournament] went really well with 32 players competing and Tom (Woolley - New Media Curator) got Mario to join in! It was a tightly fought contest and over the course of an hour 31 games were played. All ages got involved and Gaz Deaves from Guinness got through to the semi final but was beaten by Dhaood who went on to win."

Congratulations, Dhaood - and well done to everyone who came down on the day to support or take part in the World Record attem... no, VICTORY!

If you want to see Tom's video of Mario playing in the Street Fighter 2 tournament, I've selected it as a favourite on our YouTube channel.

Photographs from the day can be found on our Flickr channel, and you can upload your photographs to our DS World Record Breakers group.

Don't forget to check out our programme of Summer Fun, and if you would like to receive news about events, films and the latest IMAX blockbusters, sign up to our e-newsletter online.

Leslie Grantham Visits the EastEnders25 Display in TV Heaven

Leslie Grantham, most famous for playing Dirty Den in EastEnders, is currently starring as Pte. Walker in Dad's Army at the Alhambra Theatre in Bradford. He took a break between rehearsals and performing to visit the National Media Museum today.

We invited Leslie to view our EastEnders25 display in TV Heaven, which celebrates the 25th anniversary of one of Britain's best-loved television programmes, and is part of our year-long Soap Season, dedicated to examining the impact, popularity and longevity of British soap opera.

Looking casual, Leslie arrived in the TV Heaven gallery accompanied by Claire Thomas, Assistant Curator of Television. The Museum's Photographer, Media Developers and I ran around with cameras while Leslie chatted to Claire about the EastEnders props on display.

The opportunity to photograph Leslie on the 'bench of tears', holding the dog doorstop which killed Dirty Den, or sitting next to Den's gravestone, was too good to miss. We were joined by a photographer from the Telegraph & Argus and a reporter from Pulse Radio.

View some of the photographs taken on the National Media Museum's Flickr channel.

Soap Season began in February with the launch of the EastEnders25 display, and is set to continue throughout the summer months with an exciting programme of events and activities.

For more information, please visit Soap Season on our website.

As part of our summer programme for families, this coming weekend (10 - 11 July) and next month (9 - 15 August) we will be hosting some special events to tie in with our soap celebration.

Highlights include Soap Comes to Life in which you can help us produce a scene from EastEnders, Animated Soaps Workshop in which you can use stop-motion techniques to create an animated soap scene, Create a Soap Soundtrack, and the chance to test your knowledge in our Super Soap Quiz.

For more information about family friendly activities at the National Media Museum, please visit our Family Events page.

Hussain Currimbhoy Introduces Errol Morris Documentary The Fog of War

Last week, Hussain Currimbhoy from Sheffield Doc/Fest visited the National Media Museum to introduce Academy Award® winning documentary The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara.

The Fog of War, directed by Errol Morris, is the story of American foreign policy as seen through the eyes of the former Secretary of Defense, Robert S. McNamara. It was selected to complement our current Gallery Two exhibition - Robbie Cooper: Immersion.

Immersion considers the many ways in which people choose to engage with screen media and disengage from everyday life, and to present this concept, Cooper adopted the same Interrotron technique used by Errol Morris in his groundbreaking film.

This method enables the subject to retain eye contact with the camera and the audience, which results in emotionally powerful footage.

Find out more about the Immersion exhibition by visiting our website, or follow the Immersion Project on Robbie Cooper's blog.

You can listen to a podcast of this event by visiting the National Media Museum Podcasts page.

Simon Roberts in Conversation with Greg Hobson

Simon Roberts, whose We English exhibition is currently running in Gallery One, returned to the Museum yesterday to sit in conversation with Greg Hobson, curator of photographs.

The event is one of many organised by the Museum to complement our temporary exhibitions, and yesterday began with Greg asking Simon why he took up photography.

When he was 14, Simon went on a family holiday to Yosemite National Park, California and during their stay visited the Ansel Adams Gallery. Simon described the ‘extraordinary experience’ of viewing YNP through the eyes of Adams, which opened up the landscape and revealed elements which Simon hadn’t previously observed.

Simon studied Human Geography, at Sheffield University - a useful framework for documentary photography. He described himself as a ‘transient person’ interested in exploring social issues; photography enabled him to adopt his preferred lifestyle.

Simon explained that he didn’t enjoy the ‘quick turnaround’ nature of newspaper photography, so he began working on his own project, following the career of a young boxer from Sheffield. This earned him the Sunday Times Magazine Young Photographer of the Year Award in 1998.

After a bad experience with a John Prescott photograph, Simon decided to take a departure from magazine work and produce his first major project, Motherland. Simon and his wife travelled across the country for a year, cataloguing the landscapes and people they came across, trying to capture the spirit of ‘Russianness’.

Simon had preconceived ideas of what the experience would be, but wanted to challenge these stereotypes. Published images of Russia tend to focus on the despondent, and Simon wanted to move away from this, without trying to paint a ‘rosy picture’. “I was trying to make the person complicit in the act of representation.”

During the event, Simon described his technical choices, logistical planning, and the obstacles he met along the way, including an undesirable camping trip, and several short stays in prison!

Find out more about the Motherland project by visiting www.motherlandbook.com

Experiencing the ‘unbelievable sense of patriotism’ which exists in Russia led Simon to begin questioning his own sense of belonging, and this influenced Simon’s decision to being a similar project back home, We English.

Currently on display in Gallery One of the National Media Museum, We English is a very personal exploration of the English at leisure, which opens up a dialogue between people and the landscapes in which they choose to spend their free time.

Simon and Greg discussed technical aspects of the project, including the decision to photograph from an elevated position, and revisited the notion of representation. During his tour of England, Simon encouraged people to invite him to events all over the country, which helped build an audience, and acts as an archival document in its own right.

Simon presented a selection of the images, explained how he is fascinated by the editing process, and talked about the framing decisions he made for some of the photographs.

“We’re so saturated with images all the time so I try to create images where you’re rewarded the more you look at it.”

You can find out more about We English by visiting our exhibition website www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/simonroberts.

Simon was selected as the official election artist for 2010, the results of which will be exhibited in the House of Commons this summer.

With this project, Simon took the idea of representation even further, by inviting people to produce their own images of what the election process means to them. These pictures will be displayed alongside Simon’s own work.

Simon used social media to generate as many photographs as possible in a short space of time, the results of which can be seen at www.theelectionproject.co.uk. Simon feels that this process helped generate an archive of the political landscape created by the public.

After the discussion, Simon and Greg led the audience on a tour of We English to further discuss his work, and the images he drew on for inspiration.

You can download or listen to a podcast of the event on the National Media Museum Podcasts page.

Today, Simon returned to the Museum for a Portfolio Review Session, which gives aspiring photographers the opportunity to have their work reviewed by a panel of experts who offer guidance, a personal perspective, and advice on how to succeed in the field.

To find out about forthcoming events at the National Media Museum, sign up to our newsletter and tell us what you’re interested in by visiting http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/TalkToUs.

Stanley Long on Roman Polanski & Tony Earnshaw's Review: FFW2010 Day 3

First of all, an apology; I promised I would deliver the Fantasma podcasts on Wednesday, however the audio/visual key-keepers have been otherwise engaged until today. By the time this blog is posted, I’m hoping it will include a link to the newly updated podcasts page. Fingers crossed…

First film of the day was Psycho. The screening was preceded by an original trailer featuring Alfred Hitchcock, which I would have liked to have seen, but alas, 11.00 was not a sensible hour for me to get into Bradford that day.

Sarah Crowther (aforementioned horror expert) managed to make it in a little earlier and watched Patrick, a rarely screened Aussie horror which pays homage to Hitchcock in its visual style.

On Sunday evening, I attended the Stanley Long Screentalk. Stanley is a veteran of British sexploitation movies; credited as director, producer, writer and/or cinematographer during a 46-year career in movies. He is responsible for the “Adventures of…” series, and dipped his toes into the world of horror with The Sorcerers, The Blood Beast Terror and Screamtime.

Stanley also worked on Repulsion with Roman Polanski. In the following clip from the Screentalk, Stanley discusses the infamous writer-director and his pranking tendencies.

During the conversation with Benjamin Halligan, Senior lecturer at the University of Salford, Stanley also talked about the science of making people jump (though he doesn’t reveal the tricks of the trade), his healthy attitude toward sexuality in films, and the obstacle of today’s health and safety laws.

Stanley offered this advice to budding film-makers: “A small budget film starts with the script; it has to take the budget into account from the start... You wanna know how to make a low budget film? Keep it in one place.” Which invited a fitting conclusion from Benjamin: “It’s not the size of your budget, but what you do with it.”

After the Screentalk, Stanley stayed to sign copies of his new book “X-Rated: Adventures of an Exploitation Film-maker”.

To hear more from Stanley A. Long, please visit the National Media Museum podcasts page. As promised, you can now download the podcasts from Friday’s Fantasma symposium.

I spoke to Sarah the following day about what she’d seen during FFW2010 day 3. She only managed to only catch the last half of Robocop, a National Media Museum archive print which received high praise for its quality.

Here’s what Sarah had to say about The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue:

“[The film] proved a fitting closure for the Fantastic Films Weekend, which celebrates rare, classic – and dare we say kitsch - horror and fantasy alongside new and exclusive releases. Although shot in England (the film’s key scenes were filmed in St Michael’s Church in Hathersage), the 1974 film has the very European feel of 1970s zombie films. Indeed, director Jorge Grau is Spanish and the cast hail from all over Europe. Interestingly, the film’s original title Don’t Open the Window is rumoured to have inspired Edgar Wright’s 2007 fake trailer Don’t which featured in Grindhouse.”

I asked Tony Earnshaw, FFW Artistic Director, about his festival highlights. He offered the following:

“Two veterans of the once booming ‘60s/’70s UK horror scene were reunited at the 9th Fantastic Films Weekend. Exploitation king Stanley Long and writer/director Michael Armstrong recalled the gory, glory days of movies like The Sorcerers and Mark of the Devil, both of which screened during the weekend. Personal faves of the artistic director included Jorge Grau’s tremendous zombie shocker The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue and a spankingly good re-release of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. Undoubtedly the film of the festival was the rarely-seen portmanteau gem Three Cases of Murder, featuring Alan Badel in three roles and a deliciously sinister rendering of Roderick Wilkinson’s short story In the Picture. FFW regulars also lapped up Horror Express, a perennial favourite and one of many titles forming part of the National Media Museum’s growing and unique print archive.”

That’s all for FFW2010. Thanks to all the regulars and new faces for your support. Don’t forget that you can add your photos from the event to the FFW flickr group, and check out videos from the festival on the National Media Museum YouTube page.

Michael Armstrong on David Bowie & Hanger Attacks: FFW2010 Day 2

On Saturday afternoon at FFW2010, the Screentalk with Michael Armstrong was preceded by a screening of The Image, which stars a young David Bowie in his first role. In this video clip, Michael talks about his working relationship with David, and how the filming was beset with difficulties.

The writer-director in our midst is a prolific and eloquent story teller -- indeed, the ‘conversation’ was almost a monologue -- and I was genuinely fascinated by what he had to say.

When asked about his influences, Michael told us he was enamoured with fairytales, folklore and mythology from an early age. He believes that “the only carnal sin [in art] is to bore.”

Michael was fervent on the issues of actor training -- “Acting is a craft, as skill… [a part] is not something [actors] can ‘make they’re own’” -- and the screenwriting business today -- “They now start the screenplay with the merchandising” -- neither of which received high praise from a man who is well-versed in both.

The decline of the British Film Industry during the 1970s, combined with the Eady Levy tax on box office receipts, meant that British films needed to fill a quota, so new production companies were given opportunities, and “horror was their best bet…independents gave opportunities to young film-makers, which was a very exciting time.”

Today, however, “[the film industry] is very nepotistic and based on networking…it’s like television, it’s very cliquey, and if you’re not part of the clique you’re an outsider.”

“The problem in the UK has always been investment, and that falls on producers. The good ones go to America. We lack film-thinking, creative producers based in the UK.”

Michael told the story of the making of Mark of the Devil, which had some audience members crying out with laughter. The original script included some ghastly character names amidst an unnecessary proliferation of S&M torture scenes and unintentional plot metamorphosis. On top of which, the filming in Germany with translators gone AWOL meant that it was a real Tower of Babel production.

Perhaps surprisingly, Michael describes himself as a very anti-violent man. His aim in making Mark of the Devil was to “make people feel sick…to show the crassness and unpleasantness… One tends for a comfortable life to put these things aside… This film shows the cruelty of what man is doing to man.” He told us about screenings of the film in America, which were accompanied by nurses waiting to attend to fainters, and vacated auditoriums smelling of vomit.

So I wasn’t going to stick around for the film itself, and decided instead to go and watch the zombie-tastic 28 Weeks Later. I asked our resident horror expert, Sarah, what she had managed to watch that day amidst all the hobnobbing.

First film of the day for Sarah was The Giant Spider Invasion, which was “very kitsch, got big laughs, and was a good warm-up for Birdemic…a giant furry spider on wheels with some horrendous acting.”

Sarah attended the two director-accompanied films on Saturday evening: David Gregory’s Plague Town, and James Nguyen’s Birdemic. Both guests were affable in the bar before and after the films, staying to chat and discuss their offerings with FFW attendees.

“David was a guest at the Museum ten years ago when he brought a double bill of Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Last House on the Left, so it was like welcoming an old friend. The film had some spectacularly creepy touches – he has clearly learned from the masters throughout his career as horror documentary film-maker.”

Birdemic was, by all accounts, the star of the show but for all the wrong reasons. Audience members were inexplicably given coat-hangers on their way in, which was clarified when characters attempted to fight off killer birds with this as their chosen weapon. It certainly invited some great audience interaction in the style of Rocky Horror.

Sarah tells me there were cheers and howls of laughter, however the director absolutely believes it’s a romantic thriller and is quite surprised it’s been taken on at horror festivals. He is currently in talks with Hollywood about doing a sequel, which he hopes to bring to our screens in 3-D! You heard it here first.

Day 3 is the next and final blog about the Fantastic Films Weekend. Look out for a video clip of Stanley Long’s Screentalk, and closing reviews from Sarah, and the Festival’s Artistic Director, Tony Earnshaw.

If you want to hear more from Michael Armstrong, please visit the National Media Museum podcasts page, where you can listen to or download an audio podcast of the event.

Fantasy in Academia & Lizard in a Woman’s Skin: FFW2010 Day 1

A 60°F June morning was a far from allegorical setting for the launch of the 9th Fantastic Films Weekend on Friday, but nevertheless, here we are on the last day of what has been a great weekend with some fantastic turn-outs for our film selections.

I only managed to make it to a splattering of events, but I had resident horror fan and dedicated FFW attendee Sarah Crowther acting as reconnoiter – more from Sarah later.

The main event on Friday was the Fantasma symposium of speakers discussing everything from Italian Horror to British Sex Films. Mark Goodall from Bradford University introduced the event which he organised in partnership with the National Media Museum, due to the recognition of a growing community interested in and treating the subject seriously.

First up was Ian Hunter, who talked on the subject of British Sex Films – an apt subject as we welcomed veteran director of said genre, Stanley Long, to FFW2010 earlier on today. Despite once being described as having “no redeeming features whatsoever”, Hunter pointed to the genre’s importance, as it was sex films which propped up the British film industry during its collapse in the 1970s.

Ian talked us through the key genres, and showed how, like horror films, they responded to changing social trends, for example, the emerging discourse of a consumerist attitude toward sex, and how they often played out a conflict between an older repressed, and younger permissive generations.

From the carnal to the incorporeal, the next guest was David Robinson talking on his paper The Infected Idyll: The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue, a film which is showing tonight.

David spoke about the film in terms of the cultural anxieties of the age, all of which are hinted at in the “crass juxtaposition” of the opening scene, and concluded with a reading of the film which posits an enduring conflict between urban and rural. The film although set in England, is European, and is evidently worth seeing for the confused geography and variety of regional accents alone!

I ducked out just before Russ Hunter took centre stage with his whistle stop tour of Italian horror films, which I’m not sorry I missed since he had apparently chosen some particularly gory clips to entertain us with just before lunch! I also missed Gail-Nina Anderson’s Dracula’s Cape. But not to worry – all the talks will be available as podcasts to listen to or download from our podcasts page on Wednesday.

Last speaker of the day, and star of the event in my book, was Jeremy Dyson. I’m only really familiar with Dyson’s work on The League of Gentlemen, as I’m sure most of you are, but what a sweet-natured and engaging man he is!

In Shadows and Fog, Jeremy considered the feelings evoked by watching horror and fantasy cinema from childhood, and explored the question of how terror sensations are created within cinema and television productions, when they are often so difficult to articulate. What is it that makes I Walked With a Zombie chill-inducing, while LOTR: The Return of the King leaves him cold? Obviously the answer doesn’t lie with special effects and a huge budget, instead “what you need to get this sensation is a space between what’s being shown and what’s being represented.”

Dyson took some questions from the crowd, and the use of CGI came up on more than one occasion. On this subject, Dyson was enthusiastic.

“I think we’re living in amazing times. It has to be looked back on as a golden age…we have incredible resources, but you can be swamped with choice. This is the challenge now, how you navigate that [choice]. It would be foolish to be luddite about it.”

Fantasma concluded with a screening of Secret Rites, and this was only one of a few films on offer on Friday, as the symposium was the focus for Day 1. I asked our resident horror geek, about what she had seen, and Giallo being Sarah’s favourite genre, top of the list was always going to be Lizard in a Woman’s Skin.

“Lizard in a Woman's Skin is the film that nearly caused the incarceration of its director, Lucio Fulci. The notorious director only escaped jail time thanks to the testimony of his special effects artists who produced the mannequins of the film's gore-soaked dead dogs that the court had believed to be real. Ironically, Lizard is one of Fulci's less visceral films, instead a psychadelic trip into giallo as a woman struggles to separate dream and reality following a gruesome murder. A busy house at the Museum certainly enjoyed the Festival's first foray into Fulci - and can look out for more from the horror maestro at future fests.”

More fantastic films in the next post, along with a video clip of the scintillating screentalk from Michael Armstrong.

Don’t forget that podcasts of all the talks will be available on the National Media Museum’s podcasts page from Wednesday, and are yours to download and listen to at your leisure.