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PICNIC ’06, Day Two: The Creative Process at Pixar Studios

September 28, 2006 / The ARGNet Staff

Written by Sean C. Stacey and Brooke Thompson

Opening the day with the Keynote Presentation was Dr. Michael B. Johnson, Pixar Animation Studios‘ Moving Picture Group Lead. His presentation explored creativity and collaboration, art vs. craft, design vs. engineering, and above all, a unique entertainment experience. As he carried us through the creative process mixed with clips from a variety of Pixar’s projects, the message was clear – “Story drives everything.”

From the pitch — which is essentially telling a story at the same time as you are selling it — to the big screen, the creation process is driven by the story. It starts with the team – the best team that you can find because, as he pointed out, “A good team can take a bad story and fix it or reject it; a poor team cannot.” It takes a team to work through the process of iteration and criticism which is essential to fixing issues with the story, the characters, the design, and so on. At Pixar, art is a team sport. You cannot make a film by yourself.

PICNIC ’06, Day One: Cities as Digital Communities

September 28, 2006 / The ARGNet Staff

Written by Sean C. Stacey and Brooke Thompson

Hosted by Sylvia Paull, founder of the Berkeley Cybersalon, who called it the inaugural session of the “Amsterdam Berkely Cybersalon,” this panel discussion centered around the future of large cities, dubbed “Megalopolises” containing around 10 million people, and how to provide digital access to everyone within them. The panel included Joaquin Alvarado, Director of the San Francisco State University’s Institute for Next Generation Internet and Co-Founder of the Digital Sister Cities Initiative, Chris Vein, Acting Executive Director of the Department of Telecommunications and Information Services for the City of San Francisco, Esme Guzman Vos, Founder of Muniwireless.com, Eckart Wintzen, Founder of Ex’tent Green Venture Capital, and Erik Fackeldey, Project Manager for the IT Sector of the Paris Development Agency.

PICNIC ’06, Day One: The IGDA Alternate Reality Gaming White Paper Presentation

September 28, 2006 / The ARGNet Staff

Written by Sean C. Stacey and Brooke Thompson

Our day began with the International Game Developers Association’s Alternate Reality Gaming Special Interest Group’s (or IGDA ARG SIG) White Paper presentation. Adam Martin, founder of the SIG, introduced the project and overall goals of the special interest group, to provide a network for potential ARG developers who might need advice on the various aspects of creation. He offered the group up as a networking resource for authors and producers, support with design, and advice on how to obtain funding. He then presented Brooke Thompson, who filled most of the first hour with an intriguing lecture on current trends in Alternate Reality Gaming. Brooke talked while Sean Stacey took notes and occasionally heckled.

We Came Out and We Played: A Weekend of Public Gaming in NYC

September 28, 2006 / Marie Lamb

Will is disdainful. “No way I’m running,” he declares, “I refuse.” We are moving in a group of four, myself, Will, Rose and EGo, trying to find the best way from West 21st to West 32nd, only using our feet or public transportation. We expect to be chased at any moment. We walk quickly, and manage to catch a crosstown bus. We make it to the first checkpoint safely. But then as we move towards Penn Station, we hear a sharp “Hey!” to our left. A man on a bike, with the dreaded yellow caution tape around his arm, has seen us. Will looks over. He stops in his tracks, and then… he starts running, bike man in pursuit. The game is now more real than we ever imagined.

For it is a game, one of many offered last weekend as part of the first Come Out and Play Festival, a celebration of street and other “big” games in New York City. Included in the weekend’s offerings are games of chase, espionage, assassins and familiar video game favorites, expanded and released into various public spaces around the city.

Where is Jason C?

September 27, 2006 / Michelle Senderhauf

An interesting viral campaign for the upcoming Grudge 2 has popped up on ARGN’s radar. While not really an ARG, the campaign does try to blur the lines between reality and fiction and is a fun little time waster.

A student filmmaker, Jason C, is filming his thesis documentary on the making of the Grudge 2 in Tokyo, Japan. The movie’s writer, Stephen Susco, tells him that the movie was based on real events and several pieces of the real Grudge house were used to build the set. Soon after, several of the actors, including Amber Tamblyn and Sarah Michelle Gellar, start experiencing strange phenomena similar to events in the Grudge movies. Jason C suddenly disappears and his roommate back home is left to scour through the documentary videos looking for clues to solve the mystery.

While the most recent post is from June, more updates may appear with the release of the movie set for October 13th.

PICNIC ’06 Cross Media Week Is Here!

September 26, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

Well, it is finally here – PICNIC ’06 is mere days away, and we have three ARGN community members at the conference, ready to report on events as they unfold. Sean C. Stacey (SpaceBass) and Brooke Thompson (imbri), long-time ARG community members and contributing writers to ARGN, are on location in Amsterdam and are eagerly anticipating the opening of the event later today (or tomorrow, depending on what time zone you are in). Joining them as an interpreter and associate is DaniÃ«l van Gool (giskard) who we are very fortunate to have on board for this project. ARGN is once again proud to be an official network partner of PICNIC ’06 Cross Media Week and we hope that any of you who are in attendance are able to catch up with Sean, Brooke and DaniÃ«l in their travels over the next few days.

If you’d like to keep tabs on the crew and want to get in touch with them, they have set up a thread at the unFiction forums dedicated to social gatherings at PICNIC (click here). If you can’t make it to see them or the event, check back here in the next few days, as we should have updates soon.