Month: July 2009

Fury of Solace: Doing Evil So You Don’t Have To

July 16, 2009 / Michael Andersen

fury-of-solace Emmett Furey, co-creator of the web-series Bumps in the Night and a staff writer for Comic-Book Resources wondered, “[d]id Bruce Wayne become Batman because he saw his parents murdered in an alley, or were his parents murdered in an alley to facilitate him becoming Batman, the protector that Gotham needed?” To explore the question, Furey donned the villain’s mask, assuming the titular role in Fury of Solace, a transmedia superhero experience.

Furey and his team released the first episode as a musical video entry to Dr Horrible’s Evil League of Evil application video process. The video introduced Fury of Solace, a supervillain who learned from an oracle named Augur that a young girl would save many lives as a superhero, but only if he killed her parents. By getting his hands dirty for the greater good, Fury of Solace helped create the superhero The Orphan (played by Laurel Rankin).

Episode 1.5 brought the audience into the action through an alternate reality game: Fury of Solace kidnapped Max Mason (played by Todd Livingston), the president and CEO of Mason International, and the video with clues to his location was password protected. A photo of a mysterious belt buckle helped players piece together the clues and unlock the newest video, where Fury of Solace listed out Max Mason’s many crimes. The adventure was concluded in Episode 2, an eight page online comic.

ARGFest-o-Con 2009 Only Days Away, Auction Tomorrow

July 15, 2009 / Jonathan Waite

As most of you are undoubtedly aware, ARGFest-o-Con 2009 starts this Friday in Portland, Oregon, and those attending are in for an amazing time. With a Must Love Robots speed dating event, a stellar line-up of panel discussions and presentations on Saturday, and a keynote dinner featuring Jordan Weisman of Smith & Tinker, this year’s event looks to be an entertaining and exciting event. Of course, you can get the latest information at the official conference web site, and we will have panel summaries and event news here starting next week.

One of the things that the public may not realize is that the costs involved in presenting and producing ARGFest-o-Con are high. I know from being part of the Directing Committee that it’s more than just blood, sweat and tears being poured into the planning of this year’s event. There would be no conference if not for the generous donations of so many (including the conference sponsors) and the hours of work put in by volunteers. Now, you have a chance to be an important contributor to ARGFest-o-Con and Unfiction by bidding on rare, valuable ARG swag! Tomorrow night, starting at 5:30 pm PT, ARGNet is hosting an auction that will take place live at the Courtyard by Marriott Portland City Center. The auction will involve those in attendance both at the hotel and in the #arg-netcast chat room on chat1.ustream.tv. The auction will be streamed live at live.argnetcast.com and is estimated to last just over an hour. You can see all of the items at the ARGFest-o-Con wiki, and if you are keen on a particular item or three, send in a pre-auction bid to [email protected].

All proceeds from the auction go directly to ARGFest-o-Con, so bid early and bid often. There are a lot of one-of-a-kind and rare items in the auction, and items left over after tomorrow’s auction will go into a separate silent auction available only to ARGFest-o-Con attendees on Saturday. We hope to see many of our readers at live.argnetcast.com tomorrow night for this event!

Zombie Truth: Preparing for the Z1 Pandemic

July 14, 2009 / Brandie Minchew

Since news of the H1N1 (swine flu) virus broke this past March, the world has been watching and waiting for signs of the next devastating pandemic. But what if H1N1 is only one mutation of a human-engineered virus more deadly and infectious than any that has yet emerged? One group of researchers has turned to the internet to alert the world to the terrible possibility of a new biological threat – Z1, the Zombie Virus.

According to ZombieTruth.com, in 2001 a medical research team died at the hands of their patients, who had succumbed to a “viral-induced psychosis”. Researchers in the rescue teams tasked with retrieving the victims managed to salvage some of the data gathered by their dead colleagues. After several years of subsequent study, the troubling characteristics of the virus have worried researchers enough to go public with some of their findings and their continuing progress in order to help the world prepare for a possible outbreak.

Power to the Pixel Pitch

July 10, 2009 / Michael Andersen

Cross-Media will be king at this year’s London Film Festival on October 14-16. For the third year in a row, Power to the Pixel will be holding a forum that will allow digital innovators to rub shoulders with fellow practitioners and get in touch with potential finance partners through workshops, the conference, and a think tank. Capping off the experience, up to ten cross-media projects worldwide will pitch their stories to an open forum of financiers, commissioners, tech companies, online portals, media companies, and conference attendees. This year is the first year that the best pitch will be awarded the Babelgum Pixel Pitch Prize of Â£6,000, to help turn your dream into a reality.

Last year, four cross-media producers participated in the Pixel Pitch in order to gauge interest in the program. Lance Weiler presented his upcoming transmedia project HIM, while Yomi Ayeni presented his multi-media murder mystery Breathe. Jamie King presented his fictional documentary DARK FIBRE, and Arin Crumley presented As the Dust Settles, a multi-perspective documentary filmed at Burning Man 2008.

Since “360Â° Commissioning” is becoming increasingly popular in Europe, the projects were well received. Jamie King noted that “Power to the Pixel was directly responsible for putting DARK FIBRE in front of investors to help make our project possible.” Lance Weiler explained that the panel also provided a great opportunity to discuss ideas with other panelists. “That’s what’s great about Power to the Pixel. Not only does it help to make those connections, but you end up staying in touch with these people.”

Applications for the Pixel Pitch are due by August 14th at 6pm BST. Power to the Pixel will provide 3 night’s accommodation for successful applicants, and arrange for one-to-one meetings with potential financiers and partners. Submission guidelines and application forms are available at the Pixel Pitch website, and are open to cross-media stories spanning film, TV, online, mobile, and gaming platforms.

In addition to sponsoring the Â£6,000 prize for the best cross-media project, Babelgum will be making the sessions available on their website.

Month: July 2009

Fury of Solace: Doing Evil So You Don’t Have To

ARGFest-o-Con 2009 Only Days Away, Auction Tomorrow

Zombie Truth: Preparing for the Z1 Pandemic

Power to the Pixel Pitch

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