Imaginauts Manifesto

We are a group of people underneath the name of the Imaginauts, attempting to produce a show that we hope will influence our viewers in a positive way. But what does that mean? If someone looked at our About Us page, what would it say?

If we want to be successful in our mission, we should probably organize our goals and beliefs around some central themes, so that we're sure our show becomes what we want it to be.

Winnie the Pooh

Forget the Disney version--I'm talking about the original text by A. A. Milne and the illustrations by Ernest H. Shepherd. I recently found a copy of the complete stories in my house, and I think that it's a great resource for us.

More Excellent Color

Rice Boy by Evan Dahm is an epic webcomic, as is Tiny Kitten Teeth by Becky Dreistadt and Frank Gibson. Both use bright colors really well, particularly to emphasize the different moods of different locations/events/characters. (In Tiny Kitten teeth, I'm talking more about the storyline pages than the random single-panel paintings of Tigabuttah & co. You'll see what I mean if you follow the link :)

Examples after the jump.

Yo Gabba Gabba

So, until about three minutes ago, I had never seen Yo Gabba Gabba and only knew about it from you guys talking about it (so I guess everyone else has seen it, right?) From what I just looked at it is obviously really excellent, and there's some things they did that I think we could learn from. (You who know more about it could probably add to this list)

-Seamless incorporation of live video and animation (and several different kinds of animation at that)

-Simple but fun/colorful sets (looks just like what I was picturing when I commented on Ha's color post - our style could (should?) be simple, bright shapes made more interesting by adding texture, in our case via stamps.) http://yogabbagabba.com/#/come-out-and-play

-Having an online presence - okay so our whole thing is that we're gonna post these one youtube/vimeo, but we should make Imaginauts accounts on all those sites (facebook? vimeo? myspace? classmates.com?) if not an actual website (errrr too hard?) and design an Imaginauts logo / title that pops up at the beginning of the show (you know what I mean.)

-Maybe this is beyond our means, but should we have songs IN the show? maybe one song (besides opening/closing themes) per show about whatever that show's theme is? I think a lot of kids shows have that...

I love the way William Kentridge describes "finding" images in the studio. This is sort of an overview of his work, if you have an hour to kill.

http://www.pbs.org/art21/specials/anythingispossible/watch-now/

theme song brainstorming!

apparently you cant upload mp3 files to blogspot? so go to this link and download!

http://www.mediafire.com/?6mxrvmhxzqxufc9

So I wrote this the other night when a tune popped in my head, the lyrics are simple and generic because we don't know the specifics yet.

I daydream every day
Cuz pictures always have something to say
We're travelling far away
And all things change as time goes by
Let's open up our eyes
Imaginauts!

So this is just and idea. What do you think for the actual theme song? Lyrics or no lyrics? Should we wait until we can write more specific lyrics? Were you thinking a different kind of style/sound? Instruments?? Can you find theme songs from other tv shows that you like?

Surface/Texture/Color

Brendan Monroe:

Cynthia Camlin:

Notes on permissions:

My source in government says:

For art work, they need to see if it's in the collections of any museums and get permissions from the museums registrars office. I'd avoid anything that's not in collections because then you have to mess with estates and stuff. If they're talking about contemporary living artists, they may be able to approach the artist or their gallery also. For example, to use a Chuck Close, I would go through Pace in NY. Since they're looking for digital rights, it may be tricky as there are issues of downloading and perpetuity and stuff. But since this is for school, maybe they'll catch a break.

Also, check out:
http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter0/index.html
http://www.vlany.org/resources/index.php

And also:
http://creativecommons.org/

Once you read all about the issue, and then have a lis of artists/artwors you are considering using, then maybe call Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts to discuss your plan. Make sure they know its a school project.
http://www.vlany.org/legalservices/artlawline.php

Also check out:

Brian Bress.

http://www.brianbress.com/

He's coming to VCU in the Spring as a visiting artist in AFO.

Pilot

Matt Notes:

Ok, so think of the first episode as your "pilot." It can be longer than the other episodes (think: "The LOST 2-Hour Season Premier Event" so it fits better into the Short-Film Category and feels less like TV. 20 minutes would be great.

I'm curious about the timing of the Film Festival. When do you submit the film? When do you find out if its accepted? I'm assuming its not a guarantee. There's a jury? Do you know what percentage of submitted films get screened? And when is the actual event?

I'd suggest trying to talk to faculty in KI and Cinema about the permissions question at the very beginning of next semester. I spoke last night about it with my contact who knows a little about this issue, but she was unsure. You should have a list of which artists/works you would want use, and how you want to use them. Try to figure this out between now and when we meet next.

Here's a link to my friend's project that you might find interesting:
http://www.vibrantfuturesmovie.com/ The website component itself is worth considering.

Also, look at the early works of Tony Oursler.
You can get these from the VCU Library:
Cabell Media and Reserves DVDs PN1995.9.E96 O853 2007 DVD Loan
Cabell Media and Reserves DVDs PN1995.9.E96 O855 2007 DVD Loan
plus any books on him.

And here is a fun animation link that Liz King just sent me:
http://www.ted.com/talks/jeremy_rifkin_on_the_empathic_civilization.html

Also, look at old episodes of:
Land of the Lost
Captain Kangaroo
Pee-Wee's Playhouse