I have been waiting in vain to find some time to try Klynt out so I’m just going to post the info here so YOU can all try it.

Give it a go and let us know how it is.

This was a presentation given at the end of 2010 as part of Internet Week Europe. BBH Labs and Google Creative Labs put this together not, as Google’s Tom Uglow points out, “to “teach” HTML or anything like it – but to just open up the engine and have a look, reduce the fear factor, and break down some barriers.”

We should do lots more of these kinds of workshops in the film world I think! If the 21st Century is all about the interface then getting familiar with a little bit of code feels increasingly essential. During the Transmedia Lab at Silverdocs last week, some filmmakers expressed interest in taking part in a WordPress bootcamp. What other kinds of web/tech workshops would you like to see more of?

Join the Mozilla Foundation’s Brett Gaylor on Tuesday, May 17th at 12.30pm EST (5.30pm GMT for those of you in the UK) to discuss how filmmakers and media producers can use Mozilla’s Popcorn.js to create HTML5 video pages. You’ll learn how to merge and synchronize any web element (for example Twitter feeds, Flickr photos, Wikipedia entries, Google Maps) to your video across all devices. For an example of how this works check out the demo at Web Made Movies.

Brett will show you examples and answer your questions about how to get started.

Go here for the video demo (there won’t be much to see here until 12.30pm EST on Tuesday, May 17th when the Webinar begins) http://www.webmademovies.org/seminar

For audio you will need to call in at +1 650 903 0800 x 92, room 7600#

Toll Free (US Only) +1 800 707 2533 x 92, room 7600#

If you’re interested in how HTML5 video can work for you as a filmmaker then don’t miss this. This is particularly relevant for anyone thinking of applying to the TFI New Media Fund. You won’t need to be a tech geek to get stuck in!

You’ll need Firefox to view the demo.

An interesting talk from Kevin Kelly, most recently author of What Technology Wants. Kevin focuses on 6 key verbs in this talk:

• Screening
• Interacting
• Sharing
• Accessing
• Flowing
• Generating

Even if you disagree with some of Kelly’s conclusions, I think these are all very salient points for filmmakers to consider too.

Lance Weiler gave a keynote presentation on transmedia storytelling at the Darklight Festival in Ireland at the end of last year. It’s worth a listen if you are interested in new forms of storytelling and connecting with audiences.

As filmmakers you may not think that HTML5 has much to do with you but a quick perusal of Mozilla’s Web Made Movies may convince you otherwise. Web Made Movies is an open video lab, working to produce a new cinema that works like the web. To do this they have developed Popcorn, an HTML5 video framework that allows you to incorporate elements of the web (like Google Maps, Twitter, Wikipedia and Flickr for example) with your videos. Popcorn provides a simple API for synchronizing this interactive and immersive content through an open source JavaScript library that you can get here. If you’re thinking “what the hell is JavaScript?” then have no fear – you can use Butter, a graphical user interface for Popcorn that you can use without any knowledge of code whatsoever. Just be aware that this is all currently a work-in-progress and Butter is somewhat buggy and unintuitive (for now). It’s going to be game-changer soon though I think.

I attended Buttercamp a few weeks ago, a day long event that brought together developers and and filmmakers to work on Popcorn/Butter (geddit?!) stuff together. It was incredibly exciting to see what people could come up with in a single day and it reinforced my belief that filmmakers and developers (and designers) need to get in a room together more often and MAKE STUFF. It frees filmmakers up from the sometimes paralyzingly slow approach to creating and showing work and it helps developers and designers think about the story and impact of their code and design. New ideas and approaches emerge as a result.

If you’d like to read more about the projects at Buttercamp, Web Made Movies project lead Brett Gaylor has written a good recap of the event, as has Anna Sobiepanek.

I was very impressed with Danfung Dennis’ fluid and perceptive camera work in Hell and Back Again – if you see the film it is hard to believe that he was shooting solo in Afghanistan on an overheating Canon 5D with limited memory cards that he had to keep switching out (often in the heat of battle). When I heard he was working on a new media technology project I knew we would be in for something very, very cool. Condition One will allow people to view images and footage in a more immersive, “human-view” way using tablets like the iPad. How will this change what filmmakers and photojournalists can do – and what the images they capture can do to us?

My Freedom Or Death – Condition ONE Beta from Danfung Dennis on Vimeo.

I can finally attend one of these forums! Despite my obsession with interactive geekery, I never seem to be in the same city as the Power to the Pixel events. This year the lovely people at IFP have partnered with PttP to bring the Cross-Media Forum to NYC. Hooray! Speakers include Starlight Runner’s Jeff Gomez, GMD Studio’s Brian Clark and advertising guru Ty Montague. I’ll be on a panel with Lance Weiler (The Workbook Project) and Hughes Sweeney (NFB Interactive) on financing CrossMedia work.

Get a 20% discount to the Forum with this code: %PART20D

I’ve been consulting on the TFI New Media Fund, a new fund for non-fiction interactive or cross-platform projects that focus on a social issue. I’ve been interested in this space for the last few years and it’s fantastic that funders are now coming to the table to support this kind of work. If you’re interested in applying read the FAQ for more information about the kind of work the Fund will support. The idea is to bring storytelling, design and impact together through technology. When this stuff works it is very exciting and it brings new audiences to documentary!

If you’re interested in looking at some projects to give you an idea of the kind of work I’ve been inspired by here are a few sites to check out (these aren’t necessarily the sort of projects the Fund would support by the way, but they are examples of interesting interactive storytelling – some, like The Waiting Room and 18 Days in Egypt are works in progress):

Out My Window

Welcome to Pine Point

The Waiting Room

Prison Valley

The Wilderness Downtown

Crowdsourcing:

18 Days in Egypt

Star Wars Uncut

The Johnny Cash Project

Life in a Day

If you have other great examples please leave a comment.

And there’s digital joy in London this weekend too – Digital Bootcamp is coming back to the Frontline Club (where it all started back in 2009 – which is a long time in technology years!) Digital Bootcamp is a master class designed to help you and your film navigate the rapidly evolving digital landscape. Shooting People’s James Mullighan will guide you through a series of case studies and practical examples (with a focus on documentaries) to help you get up to speed with many of the digital tools now available to storytellers.