Created in Birmingham

On Saturday semi-serious (i think) art group Digital Is Dangerous will be hosting a debate on digital technology’s role in the creative process. Conformed speakers include Robin Giorno, Jonathan Green, Keir Williams and artist and researcher for Wolverhampton uni Robert Grose (cant find a website sorry).

Event starts at 3pm and goes on till 5pm with D.I.D providing “a wonderful selection of edible digital nipples” and this all goes down at Jibbering Records in Mosley. I’ll be the one in with the long hair and mouth full of nipples.

The Big Picture are seeking artists/design teams to help with the following projects:

World Record Attempt (deadline for proposals 18th March)

Audiences Central wants to appoint an artist or artist/design team to break the world record for the largest photo mosaic in the world, as the culmination of our ‘Big Picture’ project.

The current record is 94,392 photographs covering an area of 562.85 m2 (6,058.46 ft2). Both numbers need to be surpassed in order to break the record.

MMS Upload Project (deadline for proposals 25th March)

Audiences Central wants to appoint an artist or artist/design team to produce an engaging online concept that will drive MMS photo uploads to the ‘Big Picture’ project.

The same artist/team may apply for both projects.

Broadcast magazine have an overview article of Birmingham digital media companies from the perspective of traditional television production. While not telling me anything new it’s a solid snapshot of the scene. Unfortunately Broadcast requires you to log in to read the thing, something I don’t usually have a problem with but the process here is so protracted and annoying that I’ve re-posted the article here to save you the heartache. via Stef

Up and to the left a bit, Creative Wolverhampton seem justly chuffed that SP/ARK, the “specialist business incubator for digital creative industries at Wolverhampton Science Park”, is up for the UK Business Incubation (UKBI) Best Established Incubator of the Year Award.

Birmingham a pioneer of the digital age is the mildly eyebrow raising headline of this Post feature by Culture Secretary James Purnell about our Digital Film and Media Festival scheduled to take place in October 2008.

The details of next year’s festival are still being put together, but I can reveal that it will be a four-day showcase and it will give everyone in the region the chance to really get stuck in to experimenting in a digital world.

When plans for this were being mooted earlier in the year there was a lot of emphasis on the weight of governmental support (both local, regional and national) behind it and, with this announcement that the city council has committed their portion of the cash it looks to be becoming a reality.

It’ll be interesting to see how this develops over the next year. There’s more to “digital” that just using computers - it’s about embracing the culture that digital environments encourage. One to watch.

4Talent are running a Commissioning Competition which also combines a talent search and training session. Sort of.

To enter submit “three ideas that you think could work as a 4Talent multimedia feature, along with a current CV and links to a showreel and/or examples of your work.” The successful 10 applicants will then be invited to a workshop featuring “a screening of some best-practice examples of our films, alongside an expert insight of what works for different formats, from talking-head profiles to thematic mini-docs.”

“You’ll then have the chance to introduce yourself and pitch your ideas to the rest of the group. At the end of the day, the best four will be picked by a 4Talent Commissioning Editor and one of our pro producers to receive a £500 commission, and they’ll explain the strengths and weaknesses of the various pitches.”

The Birmingham session is at Maverick Television on Tuesday 16th October. Full details, including examples of what they’re after, on the 4Talent site.

Antonio Gould reports from the Serious Virtual Worlds conference that took place in Coventry recently.

On Saturday there’s the monthly meeting of The Multipack at Lloyds No. 1, Regency Wharf, Broad Street from 2pm. (map).

The Multipack is a community of multi-talented individuals from across the Midlands UK, that come together to discuss all the things web and share their knowledge, skills and talents. It’s a great opportunity to meet like minded developers, designers and perhaps even the odd expert! Come along and share your ideas, and perhaps learn something new.

I’d imagine these are similar to the Flickrmeets and other events of that ilk that bring together disparate people who usually work in isolation and aren’t aware of others in their field working locally. I’ll be attending my first this weekend…

I picked up the above flyer from Ensemble Interakt in Jibbering today and thought it worth posting here. The details in text form:

New British Music with Live Electronics
Monday 30 April 2007, 6pm
Recital Hall, Birmingham Conservatoire
tickets £3 on the door

Surface Tension (flute, guitar & live electronics) Jamie Bullock
Feeding the Addiction (four piccolos) Stephen Mark Barchan
New Work (piano, percussion & video) Tom Littlewood
sevens (autoharp, sensors & live electronics) Cormac Faulkner
Piece for PowerBook and Cello Jonathan Green

I don’t generally post concert and gig details on this blog for one reason. There are far too many of them and if I draw and arbitrary line the accusations of bias and favouritism will legitimately fly. That said, if I come across something that strikes me as genuinely interesting, that appears to be doing something different, then I’ll mention it here. As good as ours are, every city has guitar bands. Not every city has a performance by “autoharp, sensors & live electronics”

Worth noting that I do post info about gigs that pass through my bias filter over on the BrumBlog and would encourage everyone else to do the same on their own blogs.

Congratulations to Tak! who have been recognised by the Webby Awards as an Official Honoree for their work on Tallis Talk for Thomas Talis college, “a platform for pupils and staff to discuss issues & promote creative writing”.

The Webby Awards are actually a rather big deal.

Hailed as the “Oscars of the Internet” by the New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet, including Websites, Interactive Advertising, Online Film & Video, and Mobile Websites. Established in 1996, the 11th Annual Webby Awards received a record 8,000 entries from over 60 countries worldwide. The Webby Awards is presented by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.

Tak’s third project for Thomas Tallis, a media archive, is expected to launch in June.

Clusta is a digital creative agency based in Digbeth now in their 10th year. They’ve got a very impressive client list, from local businesses to international brands all of which is innovative and, dare I say it, cutting edge. Their animation for last year’s Plus festival is probably the best introduction to their style. Click on the image below to view it.

They also have a blog spotlighting cool stuff they’ve found. No RSS feed though. Tut tut… Here ’tis.

Film Birmingham, the agency that, amongst other things, acts as a go-between for film companies and locations in the city along with promoting the local film and TV industries, has launched a new Digital section on their site and are looking for digital media projects to fill it. Get in touch at digital@filmbirmingham.co.uk if that covers what you’re up to.

A major part of this is the confirmation that Birmingham will have an International Digital Film Event in 2008 which will differ quite significantly from the traditional red carpet film festival.

“Birmingham is embracing and leading the UK, if not the world, with this approach to a film festival. The digital revolution in film means that the connection between the audience and the filmmaker can and will be ever more varied and closer. Festivals have the opportunity to tap into that, to move away from the ‘red carpet’, closed approach of the old world, into a ‘film for everyone’ new world. Birmingham is showing its commitment and drive with this announcement to host the UK’s leading digital festival.” - Pete Buckingham, Head of Distribution and Exhibition at the UK Film Council.

Key to this is a series of events and debates throughout 2007 which will build up to and presumably inform the structure of the festival. These aren’t just for industry insiders - the idea is to involve all residents of the city.

Here’s the full press release which really pushes the Digital Hub angle and is positively bursting with enthusiasm, declaring that this process, with the festival as its cherry on top, will make Birmingham the digital media capital of the UK, something that’s been mooted for a while now.

I’m going to be meeting with Suzie Norton, Director of Film Birmingham, on Tuesday to find out what this all means. If you have any suggestions for questions I should ask her, please let me know either by email or in the comments below.

5 Days of Apple is a series of five free hands-on workshops, seminars and demonstrations run by the New Technology Institute in Eastside. Topics covered include video editing and effects, photography, 3D model rendering and games creation. Booking is necessary as places are limited.

Link via Ten4.

My attention is drawn to Notion Studio, a multimedia production house based at UCE, thanks to a article on the Adobe site spotlighting their music video for Shimm1 in which the buildings of Birmingham transform into giant speakers.

Specialising in high definition video, DVD production and 2D/3D animation, Notion is one of a cluster of organisations based around UCE’s Media and Communications department Notion Studio is run as a commercial business with ties to the education and research environment along with channeling funding opportunities for small to medium sized businesses.