Created in Birmingham

iD is a show by Cirque Eloize, a contemporary circus outfit from Montreal that’s coming over to Birmingham Hippodrome from 2-5 November. I met the company back in May and have explained why here.

The performers in the show are phenomenal (and nice folks too) so as well as doing interviews and things I tried out a bit of trampolining and juggling with them. I also suggested they use me for one of the routines that trial biker Thibault Phillipe performs. We videoed it and the Hippodrome stuck it on their YouTube account the other day.

At the time of typing, the video’s racked up 157,00 views. It’s also been picked up by CBS News, The Huffington Post, The Daily What, ABC Eyewitness News and The Mirror so far.  I’m pretty chuffed with that.

Anyway, here’s a video of me putting myself in peril for your amusement:

Continuum is an evening of experimental full dome, 360-degree, dance and visual arts based work taking place this evening at Thinktank Planetarium, Millennium Point.

Continuum is a meditation on notions of beauty, perfection and difference. The focus is the human body, physically and digitally modified and transformed.

Developed during residencies with the Medical Research Council, Virology Unit; Allenheads Contemporary Arts and Dance City, the evening will also host a screening of Written on the Body and Dance360, groundbreaking fulldome pieces created with local artists.

Tickets are £3, and doors open at 6.30pm, for a prompt 7pm start. For more info and a preview video, visit Thinktank’s website.

Synth Eastwood come to Birmingham for the Flatpack Festival. They turned up early, ran around taking photos (some in the CiB Shop – hello Aaron and Pete) and used them in the visuals for their show.

This video (spotted by More Canals) explains things better:

James Tate has been practising with timelapse photography around Birmingham:

Marketing Birmingham have a new vid for selling the city. It was put together by Fullrange and, among others, features Birmingham Royal Ballet, Clusta and Made Media

From a cursory search, this video doesn’t seem to have been featured on CiB before. This is me rectifying that.

Domestica are based in Moseley and they sell white goods. The video they made to promote themselves is just wonderful:

This is one for all you Google Street View fanatics out there (you know who you are). Photographer and filmmaker Matt Murtagh has painstakingly pasted together the journey from Moseley to St Phillips Cathedral to create a stunning example with what can be done with free online tools, a huge amount of patience and a bit of love for Birmingham.

VIVID are giving you the chance to do something different with your weekend are are hosting a series of Saturday screenings of independent video work.George Barber / Beyond Language &  introduction by George Barber
Saturday 28th March 2pm £3/2

A pioneer of British video art, George Barber was a founding member of ZG Magazine and a leading figure in the Scratch Video phenomenon of the 1980s. Moving away from Scratch in the early ’90s, Barber created many lo-tech video pieces and was influential in defining the then emergent ‘slacker’ aesthetic. Narrative is at the centre of much of his work, whether deconstructing it as in Scratch, or creating humorous and absurd situations to find existential meaning in the margins of modern life.

Gazwrx: The Films of Jeff Keen & ntroduction by Will Fowler, Curator (BFI)
Saturday 4th April 2pm £3/2

Jeff Keen‘s unique and imaginative filmmaking has outlived the various scenes in which it thrived - the Sixties counter-culture, punk and beyond. Making work of immediate power and raw intensity on a range of film stocks, this World War II veteran, self-taught artist and pioneer of radical British independent filmmaking continues to defy categorisation.

The twelve short films in this programme, made between 1960 and 1993, reveal the astonishingly tireless talent of a filmmaker not afraid to grapple with sex and war, or to experiment with visceral soundtracks and brutal animation techniques. Truly inspired and inspiring, this programme is a testament to the irrepressible force that is Jeff Keen.

Light House in Wolverhampton are offering a video production workshop just for women which will be delivered by Film & TV Director Nerina Villa on Wednesday 11th March from 10am – 4pm.

The 1 day workshop will be a ‘hands-on’ introduction to video production techniques, exploring camera operation, lighting and sound. The workshop is designed for all skills levels; beginners, enthusiasts or those with more experience who may be in need of a refresher.

Cost: £35 + VAT (10% discount for earlybird bookings taken before Fri 27 Feb).

For more information or to book contact: Kelly Jeffs on t: 01902 716055 e: kelly@light-house.co.uk

Back in September I mentioned the new series from Eccentric City publishers Harry Palmer and Simon Walker. Episodes 5-8 (of a total 24) are now out and are here for your viewing pleasure:

Episode 5:

Episode 6:

Episode 7:

Episode 8:

Beautifully put by Jon over at Birmingham: It’s Not Shit:

Fritz Lang’s 1927 film Metropolis is set in “the extraordinary Gothic skyscrapers of a corporate city-state, the Metropolis of the title. Society has been divided into two rigid groups: one of planners or thinkers, who live high above the earth in luxury, and another of workers who live underground toiling to sustain the lives of the privileged.”

Birmingham 2008 has parallels according to this clip on the ol’ YouTubes:

Vid made by vjdelsyd.