FEMINISTA

Hi Well i forgot to tell you about ANIMFX which i attended last year...i wrote a piece for WIFT newsletter so thought i'd just put it here as a post and then you can follow the links yourselves. It was an awesome collection of heads and ideas around animation, sfx and games in nz with some interesting international guest speakers as you will see.... ANIMATORS & SPECIAL FX GURUS STRUT THEIR STUFF! The first symposium of animation, games and special effects was held in Wellington this weekend and many creative and technology wizards came out of the woodwork to show and discuss their work. Eric Roth, Executive Director of the Visual Effects Society (VES) opened the event and led an exciting array of speakers from leading feature film studios around the globe specialising in feature animation and sfx. Eric Roth, Kim Lavery with ‘Mr Fix-it” Jeff Okun at the ANIMFX Symposium. The VES provides members with a platform for communication, education and recognition of the current and futu...

I met Richard MacManus when consulting on the New Zealand Digital Content Strategy. see www.digitalstrategy.govt.nz Richard is well known in the web scene in Silicon Valley and was just listed as 51 on the top blogging sites in the world...from Lower Hutt! check out the latest thinking on web projections and future technorati thoughts at www.readwriteweb.com Of course, other blogs of note are found at www.publicaddress.net and cyberformance artists helen varely jamieson at www.creative-catalyst.com happy blogging.... clare

I went to the opening of The New Dowse on the weekend. It was a great vibe! Johanna Sanders invited me out to see her VJ installation - alongwith Rachel Tempest and sounds by the infamous Disaster Radio as well as Nick McGowan with his amazing Theramone! (sp?) an awesome machine that your body gestures create sound with, very Brian Eno'ish...the screen they had constructed had a number of weather balloons in front of it which distorted the vision, abstract, pictorial, text...it was a great show...surrounded by new space to breathe and see old works from their collection and new innovative design. Go check it out. www.dowse.org.nz Next stage development is to build more interactivity with the audience into the experience...like it! Beautiful architectural work by Athfield Architects too - a kind of retro contemporary and eco-friendly design with solar power integrated into the panels...have some pics to upload sometime too...

I'm re-reading Sheri Graner Rays book, Gender Inclusive Games Design - she has so many references to early female protagonists in the games world, starting with the first female characters like Ms Pacman and interesting weblinks like the Leather Godess of Phobos and Rosellas Peril as the first female protagonist who had a mission, rather than just being rescued by strange prince characters...she is still a princess however, but one who saves her father by finding a magical fruit...see the cover art at http://www.mobygames.com/game/covers/gameCoverId,16927/gameld,129/ . kiwi company next window has just landed a big deal with HP for their touch screen technology, they are reputed to have designed the largest touchscreen in the world - featured at Kelly Tarltons....also of interest is the NextMedia research lab set up by Right Hemisphere in Auckland..watch this space. www.righthemisphere.com www.nextwindow.com

hi so, i've been thinking about the interactive narrative idea and today i was researching a paper for the animation journal, a peer reviewed journal in the U.S. ...i am writing a paper on the nz games industry history and i came across an article on the Hollywood Reporter about peter jacksons announcement of the Weta Interactive Studios deal with Microsoft Games Studio...that was September 06 and since then HALO the film has been on hold after initial excitement in nz over its presence....wonder where its at now...but this is what pj had to say at the time in Barcelona...." "My vision, together with Microsoft Game Studios, is to push the boundaries of game development and the future of interactive entertainment. From a moviemaker's point of view, it is clear to me that the Xbox 360 platform is the stage where storytellers can work their craft in the same way they do today with movies and books but taking it further with interactivity." ...

Well - two full on days at the medianz conference in wellington means now i know what is going on the media studies world...of secondary school teachers and tertiary media studies ...seems there's a need for more dialogue across the secondary/tertiary divide and could be more sharing of resources as well. I found it really inspiring though - everyone was revelling in being on the edge of things in some ways, in a kind of interdisciplinary way from early days of media studies not being taken seriously - and even now - compared to some more traditional faculties such as classics or management..despite the fact that more than ever media and communications studies is affecting how society is changing... I presented in two sessions: A kind of personal/professional narrative of my work as a lesbian feminist researcher/documentary filmmaker in regards to a panel "The Cultures of Production and the Production of Culture"....and then my own history in a way of being invovled in n...

Tomorrow I'm giving a talk at the MediaNZ conference in Wellington about the emerging computer games industry in New Zealand. The programme seems pretty full but hopefully there will be a few punters in the theatre by the end of the day. Also on a panel "The Cultures of Production and the Production of Cultures" alongwith Deborah Jones, Rob Strathdee and Sarah Proctor Thomson from Victoria University of Wellington. www.vuw.ac.nz No website for the event as far as I know tho'.

So, I finally succumbed to the blogosphere. I'm a documentary filmmaker and researcher interested in new forms of engagement with digital media.I'm just starting to prepare for my PhD to explore a feminist gaze on the interactive narrative - from computer games to virtual and immersive experiences. This blog will document what i find, what amuses or disturbs me or just catches my attention online, offline and out in the big wide world. Take a trip into youtube, second ife, bliptv, artificial intelligence and human interface design.... see you out there...