Morning Sessions

Keynote presentation by Lance Weiler, Transmedia Hero and pioneer of all things digital, film, art, games and beyond. Creator of Workbookproject.com, Lance is a writer and director and is currently producing Transmedia projects with Seize The Media.

Round table discussion with our International Heroes: Lance Weiler, Salford Film collective Future Artists’s Mark Ashmore and Jenny Inchbald; Tora Young, Head of Development with Production Company Imaginarium; Power to the Pixel founder Liz Rosenthal; South African producer Jeremy Nathan of DV8 films. A number of Irish experts and practitioners will also be invited to give their home grown perspective.

Afternoon Sessions:

Case studies: Four Irish projects currently in development or production will be selected to receive feedback from our International guests, the Irish experts and their peers in the audience.

Workshops: The day will end with four workshops led by our guests, Liz Rosenthal, Future Artists, Jeremy Nathan and Lance Weiler.

Liz Rosenthal: Adventures in Cross-Media

As audiences interact and engage with stories across ever-evolving platforms, devices and places, how can filmmakers and media companies extend their stories across media to extend the audience, life and the value proposition of their film properties? Liz Rosenthal, Founder and MD of Power to the Pixel will present a variety of international case studies to illustrate.

Future Artists: Working on a creative project in an online environment.

Using director/producers Mark Ashmore breakthrough transmedia film ‘Project Praxis’ as a starting point and case study, students will hear why the project was created as an online experiment to ‘test’ the future artists manifesto, how it was done using only two social media portals of facebook and twitter, and why all the media was generated by participants from around the world, all in 9 days as part of the filmonik film lab, with a live event, that generated ticket sales that covered the cost of the film, which was also broadcast around the world, with online participants using twitter to interact with those at the gig.

Jeremy Nathan: Towards a 3rd (3.0) World – Some initial thoughts on filmmaking in the brave new digital era

Is Africa struggling to bridge the digital divide, or is it exploding with possibilities? Are there lessons we can learn from its poverty, corruption, unlimited optimism and hope? Is Nollywood a new model, a glimpse into a digital filmic future? Or just another 419 scam?
How can a continent of over 900 million people, with an average annual per capita income of less than US$1 per day, have any use for the Internet, where electricity is still a priviledge. Yet with vertical mobile and Internet growth statistics, people are creating, consuming, converging.
If the Internet has been partially driven largely by a free economy, by the young and the poor, and underpinned by global piracy or free peer-to-peer sharing of content, then Africa, though its social and political DNA, is poised to make a significant impact on all our digital futures.
Will African filmmakers, and indeed all independents the world over, remain permanently relegated to the margins of the art-house festival ghettos, trapped in the systemic failure that is the global film industry, or will they break free, exploring and pioneering new ways to produce innovative stories, and creating and reaching new audiences?

Lance Weiler: Screening of his project Radar followed by a Q&A.

Selection from ‘Radar’, (Weiler, 2009) includes Q&A with Lance Weiler

As part of the Darklight Symposium Lance Weiler presents a selection from Radar, his stylised 24-part documentary that explores storytelling and creativity in the digital age. It was recently nominated for a Streamy Award for best doc series and co-creator Lance will be in attendance to answer your questions.

NB Participants will be asked to sign up for the afternoon workshop of their choice ON REGISTRATION on the morning of the 29 October at Filmbase, so come early to book your place!