Ones & Zeroes

We are lucky enough to be up here at EMPAC (pictured) in Troy (also pictured) for Brent's residency during another Onedotzero program, part of their traveling film festival Adventures In Motion. I had never heard of Onedotzero until coming to EMPAC but they seem to be a London based organization that seeks to explore new forms of motion making through commissions, showcases and general platform building- mostly leaving you wondering how a computer made that or did a computer make that, blurring the lines between our eye & brains capabilities and those of new technology. It is pretty incredible! The program we just saw was Extended Play 10 that featured a series of stories being played out through all kinds of animated protagonists in all kinds of, mostly animated, forms- something Brent is quite familiar with!

Michael Please's The Eagleman Stag was insanely gorgeous- a styrofoam and paper wonder, all in a strictly white hue (somehow sterile yet lush all at once) whose story of a man's life as a scientist afflicted with the worst of all, time, was both breathtaking and beautiful! Another beauty was Brent Bonacorso's West of the Moon- a seamless blend of computer animation and live action about an aging dreamer with a hand grenade heart.

Also interesting was the call for social change in Coalition of the Willing, produced by Knife Party but created by many teams of animators in multiple styles, the piece explained how capitalism has corrupted our planet and how open source idea hubs can help us to use advertising techniques for us instead of against us: swarm together to save the world from global warming! O, and I almost forgot The Wonder Hospital a darkly pop look into the desolate landscape of self improvement, including an endearing, twisted face protagonist looking for change in an eerie, unloving hospital of creepy. I didn't stick around for the second screening (which I heard contained a ton of gore) due to intense tiredness & a tickly throat but I have a feeling fake blood was made all the more real through computer technology! By the way, Onedotzero has an open call policy in order to get as many new ideas from as many places as possible- send them your work! Ok, now where did I leave that Echinacea...?