Bluevend + Pocket Shorts

Single Shot

2007-01-18T13:56:00.000Z

NOW AT The Cornerhouse www.cornerhouse.org sharing Film and Video Umbrella's Single Shot Commissions

DIGITAL FUTURES

2006-06-23T13:36:00.000Z

Blink will give a talk at the Kinsgton University Digital Future event on 29 June 2- 5pm.

Find out more -
Lisa will talk about Pocket Shorts, films for mobile phones and Bluevend ; the evolution of an idea and the importance of ?made-for? content.

Contact Amanda Sleet for details.

Pocket Shortsagogo

2006-03-28T19:07:00.000Z

The next Pocket Shorts and Bluevend presentation is set for this thursday at the Mobile Arts and Experiments Seminar at the Pixelache - the festival of electronic arts and subcultures. Check out the programme and drop if you want to hear all about it.

One Take films

2006-02-02T12:47:00.000Z

Rotterdam International Film Festival

2006-01-29T11:55:00.000Z

We have been in Rotterdam for four days now and Bluevend is being hammered like never before. I am happy to say it is presented well in a prime festival loctaion, in the entrance of the Lanterens Venster Cinema cafe. It is busy from 9am till 2pm and there never seems to be a time when BV is left alone. The One Take Competition is going well too. Festival registered directors from all over the world are using N70 Nokias to make films of up to 2 mins. Nicky Cogan from Dark Light and I will be part of the One Take selection panel tomorrow night - there should be about 17 films to choose from by then - the winner will receive a 500Euro prize fund. Aart Helder - our man in Rotterdam and manager of One Take - has been working night and day to sign up new directors, and with us is learning how to shoot and edit film on mobiles and make them compatible with Bluevend. Some mean task. As always though Dan is doing the monster share of work - programming and reprogramming, making the transfer faster and all this in a busy cafe full of curious filmsters. It's been hard though not without reward - today we are looking forward to some Exploding television today www.explodingtelevision.net.

l

Brief Encounters

2005-11-29T11:21:00.000Z

Bluevend has just made its second appearance at the last but undoubeltler the best UK short film festival of the year Bristol at Brief Encounters.

Good news for BLUEVEND
We are just about to start the next round of Pocket Shorts commissions and enjoyed a growing micro short filmmaking boom both for cinema and mobile phone audiences - there are even film festivals dedicated to the cause springing up such as the Pocket Film Festival in Paris and Taiwan . We are currently negotiating with some of the world top film festivals who have expressed an interest in having Bluevend as part of their programme in 2006. If all goes well our passports are going to be red hot.

MELT
Blink have recently applied for a MELT award a unique fund managed by The Culture Company which supports South Yorkshire creative companies and their partners to devlop new cross platform ideas. We hoep to work again with The Designers Republic, artists and product designers to take Bluevend to its second stage of development to make new cases for a range of contexts.

Back at the ranch

2005-08-28T14:03:00.000Z

Today is the last day of the EIFF which marks the end of Bluevends first successful outing. We left on the 24th after a thorough presentation on mobile phone film making facilitated by Jason Hall our Pocket Shorts counterpart from Scotland. Bluevend is to be packed up and sent back to us tomorrow. Fingers crossed it will get back to us in one piece. The Bluevend 2005 tour will be announced soon as will any associated presentations made by ourselves. At the moment we will be in Bradford (illuminate October05 launch), Leeds International Film Festival. We are talking with Brief Encounters, Bristol too but full details will be released soon.

Location Shots

2005-08-19T18:30:00.000Z

Screen Shot

Day Off

2005-08-19T18:11:00.000Z

As Bluevend is now bug free and fitted with a log file we decided to take a day off and get ourselves on the free gallery tour bus. The sun shone, Henri Cartier Bresson http://www.nationalgalleries.org/ delivered as always and we have a new guest. The lovley Hugh Wilson, brother of our very own Andrew. Andy Sykes left today after putting in some Bluevend attendance which we thank him for along with his company last night around the carefully considered pubs of Edinburgh. http://www.bestpubs.co.uk/layout0.asp?pub=105816

Jimmy Carr : Off The Telly tonight let's hope he is a little sharper than Richard Herring who was only entertaining. Star spotting Hilly from Red Dwarf beakfasting in Cafe Italia, Jerry Sadowitz striding about incognito in a black top hat and Alan Davies zipping up his jacket outside the Assembly Hall. Showbiz.

Full day of work tomorrow.

Day Three

2005-08-18T13:43:00.000Z

Andy Sykes the director of Evil Fun with Zimmy joined the crusade today. Bluevend after a few more code chnges is working consistently well. Dan has added a log file so we can check on activity during the day. We stopped short of installing a BV web cam so we could user watch from the flat, though it was tempting for a while. Two Andy's and I are planning a hard sell approach tomorrow and maybe consider a new location as BV is on a plinth instead of a wall (as originally hoped) we can move it around the place. Maybe in the delegates cafe maybe near Scottish Screen to be with our Celtic counterparts. We could even disguise it as a bush so it can creep up on unsuspecting video phone owners. Tec - progress report : Some of the films are taking longer to download than originaly expected the shorter 15 second films coming down within 1 minute and the longer films using more action and complex imagery on occasion taking as long at 3 minutes. The success rate is near 100% though now. Off to watch Richard Herring tonight as we are all in need of some light entertainment.

Day One

2005-08-17T06:32:00.000Z

Today from 8.30am we will be watching over Bluevend and generally checking it is working as it should, logging the models of phones that work or don't work, which films people choose and if they enjoy them. Bring your Bluetooth enabled video phone and try it out. www.point-hotel.co.uk

Success

2005-08-17T05:54:00.000Z

After days of burning vats of midnight oil Dan, Andy, me and Bluevend caught the 8.57am train to Edinburgh. Dan still coding en route we grew more confident by the hour that our little Bluevend would survive its first public test with maybe just a fewscr minor scrapes. At the moment it doesn't display images so the film descriptions needed fine tuning but by the time we loaded up the final version after it was put safely on its own wall at POINT Conference Centre we were more than pleased with baby beta Bluevend.

Evening drinking partners : Morgan from Scottish Screen and Jason from Pocket Shorts Scotland
Vene : The Blue Blazer

2005-08-12T09:56:00.000Z

BLUEVEND presents

While You Are Waiting is one of the Pocket Shorts Commissions 2005 by the boys from Slack Video, Andrew Quinn and Gary McKeown. It is a series of 4 x 15 seconds of sound and image montages which reveal what can be done during those idle moments waiting for a telephone, making tea, sitting for a photograph and hanging around for friends. The result is a really succesful piece of work which looks great on a mobile.

Bluevend branding

2005-08-12T09:46:00.000Z

Thanks to Nick and Dan at The Designers Republic for their help branding Bluevend.

POCKET SHORTS PREMIERE AT EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 05

2005-08-12T09:42:00.000Z

With over 65 million videophones already in use, most of us have the means to shoot, edit, screen and distribute our own films. Also, manufacturers such as Mitsubishi are designing projectors which they expect to be used in mobiles within 5 years. This means filmmakers will have the ability to show films anywhere and everywhere. Network operators and major broadcasters are starting to recognise the potential of mobile phone filmmaking, a fact that offers a rare opportunity for creatives to actually make money.

In Nov 05, NESTA enabled Yorkshire creative technology company BLINK to launch Pocket Shorts commissions. Eight new shorts made especially for a small screen audience will be available for free download to phones at EIFF 05 this August.

Among the mix of live action and animation shorts on offer is Andy Sykes? ?Evil Fun With Zimmy?, a 60 second tale about being disillusioned with a novelty bar of soap. ?My Inner Short?, by Matthew Austin, is a series of 4 x 15 second shorts based on four of the most popular text messages - such as ?Where are You?? Last but not least is ?While You Are Waiting? by Andrew Quinn and Gary McKeown, a series of 4 x 15? live action sound scapes which reveal that rhythm is all around us even when we are waiting for a kettle to boil.

To retain the integrity of these mini works of art Pocket Shorts films will be presented via a brand new custom-made device. BLUEVEND is a wall-mounted Bluetooth vending machine designed for the wireless distribution of creative mobile phone content. POCKETS SHORTS and BLUEVEND is for everyone who baffled with WAP, tired of ?Crazy Frog? and who is unsure of the safety of buying anything by mobile.

Get your free Pocket Shorts films via BLUEVEND from 17-28 August in the EIFF Delegates Centre.

Director of BLINK Lisa Roberts said,

?Our vision is to break down the barriers to success such as lack of money and resources. Pocket shorts and Bluevend offer new opportunities for filmmakers who want to explore new, exiting and more pervasive platforms?

Pocket Shorts Scotland was launched this year with additional partners expecting to join the scheme in 2006.

POCKET SHORTS presentation
Filmhouse Cinema, Lothian Road, Edinburgh - Tue 23 Aug - 5:45pm
With a panel of industry experts and a premiere screening of the English Pocket Shorts films, this event promises a unique insight into the prospects, pitfalls and the pocket-sized wonders of this burgeoning new field.

Useful links www.pocketshorts.co.uk: www.blinkmedia.org: www.edfilmfest.org.uk
www.nesta.org.uk: www.textually.org/picturephoning: www.filmhousecinema.com

Lisa Roberts lisa@blinkmedia.org
01484 301805

2005-08-11T15:20:00.000Z

The case, made from Perspex was designed and cut by DTBS www.dtbs.net

Work in progress

2005-08-11T14:55:00.000Z

Share and share alike

2005-08-09T14:54:00.000Z

We will be joined in Edinburgh in the EIFF Delegates Centre by a number of our commissioned filmmakers so come along to the Bluevend stand and find out everything you want to know about of mobile phone movie making.

Bluevend

2005-07-19T14:10:00.000Z

BLUEVEND is a new purpose-built vending machine with touch screen and Bluetooth technology designed for the wireless distribution of creative mobile phone content.

BLUEVEND will present Pocket Shorts at its EIFF debut in August 05.Pocket Shorts gives new filmmakers the opportunity to experiment with new platforms. Look out for news of the second commissioning round in the Autumn 05.

Pocket Shorts Scotland will also be commissioning this year. All Pocket Shorts films are either 60 seconds or 4x15 seconds in length and will be freely available to everyone with a Bluetooth enabled videophone. So if you are in Edinburgh between 17th and 28th August come and try it out - we will be in the EIFF Delegates Centre at The Point Hotel on Lothian Road.

We will also be sharing our practical research into making original content for mobile phones at a presentation at The Filmhouse, Lothian Road, Edinburgh on Tuesday 23rd August at 5.30pm. Book your tickets now www.edfilmfest.org.uk.

Pocket Shorts is a NESTA funded initiative devised and managed by Blink. www.pocketshorts.co.uk

Bluevend will be touring the UK throughout 2005/6. If you would like to be a host venue or festival and need more information please contact Lisa Roberts lisa@blinkmedia.org