The Ma Machinima Salon 2016

27/09/2016 / ChantalHarvey / 3 Comments

On October 7, my new movie ‘Activate Your Higher Mind’ is premiering in San Francisco, California. The show is an exclusive event, if you want to attend you need to contact me so I can put you on the guest list. You are very welcome!

The film (machinima) is a one hour vision on Art in Virtual Reality, and perhaps a retrospect on 8 years in Second Life, but more so a very personal journey into the future.

Please send me an email (chantalharvey -at -outlook-dot-com) or personal message on Facebook, so I can put you on the guest list, and give you details about location and time.
Special thanks to Cathy and DC Spensley for hosting the Mamachinima Salon.

The Animaze Film Festival in Montreal

14/08/2016 / ChantalHarvey / Leave a comment

Animaze is an international film festival and conference exploring the world of animation in all its diversity. The 2016 focus is Virtual Reality.

The festival is bringing a world of animation to Montreal. With a selection of short and feature-length animated films at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, an outdoor 360º Dome with planetarium-style projection and a Virtual Reality Cinema, Animaze has an inspiring and dynamic range of content across platforms and mediums.

Filmmakers and professionals from over 65 countries will converge on Montreal from August 18-21. Over the course of four days Animaze celebrates animation with:

Screenings of over 160 films at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
The Animaze Industry Conference with an exhibition hall, panels and speakers, networking opportunities at HOTEL10
An outdoor 360º dome
The Virtual Reality Cinema
Free outdoor screenings at Parc des amériques on August 19 and 20.
Talks and special events

Rome 2016: Art, Friendship and Charlie

22/07/201622/07/2016 / ChantalHarvey / Leave a comment

Looking back at a great week in Rome, with Cathy Spensley, DC Spensley, Rubaiyat Shatner and his cousin David .

Occasion was the showing of DC Spensley‘s virtual world artwork and living ecosystem ‘ARS PLASTICA‘ , in Pineta’s unique gallery Pied à Terre 37788. Pied à Terre is owned by Laura Rossi and Paolo Monti.

We stayed in an AirBNB loft, that felt like home.

The lazy susan on the table (she served us all week), Cathy playing the piano, DC projecting his art and Fellini movies on the wall, Rubaiyat and David at the table doing their nerd stuff and appreciating our food 🙂 and Laura and Paolo Monti helping us out with grappa and limoncello and all of us partying . Huge pans of fresh tomato soup. The image of Paolo climbing the ladder and sitting in the window will always stay with me. Yes, we still have it, we know how to live !!!! New friendships were made, for live. And we met Charlie.

Ars Plastica (Download )

Ars Plastica (Facebook group)

Photographs at my flickr account

Rome, here I come!

01/07/2016 / ChantalHarvey / Leave a comment

I am traveling to Italy, to see the world debut of Ars Plastica projected live into Pied à Terre 37788, Rome the evening of July 4th, 2016.
The artist DC Spensley will be on hand to act as a guide. The application will be available for pubic download at www.arsplastica.xyz after July 5th.

If you are anywhere near, visit the expo and meet the artist, and say hi to me too!

This is not what it seems.
Ars Plastica, virtual world artwork and living ecosystem by DC Spensley

On the surface Ars Plastica is a downloadable virtual world, an experiential story about the remnants of an alien colony vessel discovered by an Earth exploration spacecraft. But Ars Plastica is also an exhibition of meta-sculptures, each a demonstration designed to engage the art viewer in reflexive and reactive experiences, nuances of what is generally considered “interactivity”.

To visit the sculptures requires the logged in art viewer to soar through an oxygen rich gas bubble wedged between stars far from our reality. On the way you will notice a world teeming with plant and animal life once intended to colonize and populate another planet. This is the story of a shipwreck, of invasive species, of a futile attempt at manufacturing homeostasis surrounding a catalog of artworks somewhere between inert and interactive.

Call Pied à Terre 37788, Rome (+39) 338 8.107.315 for information about informal evening guided tours on July 5th through 7th.

The International Machinima Convention 2016

18/06/201601/07/2016 / ChantalHarvey / Leave a comment

When – Saturday 25^th June. Registration from 10:00, event ends 17:15

Where – The Venue@DMU, Western Boulevard, Leicester, LE2 7BU

Website: http://MachinimaConvention.co.uk

Twitter: http://Twitter.com/Machinima_Con

Facebook: http://Facebook.com/InternationalMachinimaConvention

What is Machinima?

Machinima: Games-based filmmaking. Machinima is a filmmaking technique that uses video game assets to provide virtual environments and actors. This method has existed since 1996, and has rapidly evolved alongside developments in games, animation, and film.

What is the IMC?
The International Machinima Convention aims to bring together students, academics, and those with an interest in games, animation, and film, in order to discuss the potential for machinima as a medium. With a list of world-class academics, machinima producers, and YouTube content creators, this event will provide an amazing insight into the world of machinima.

Panels and Speakers;

11:00 – 12:00     (Screening) Machinima: A Virtual Retrospective (Dr Tracy Harwood, Jason Boomer)
12:30 – 13:30     The Culture and Cultural Impact of Machinima (Chantal Harvey, Dr Jenna Ng, Dr Michael Thomas)
13:40 – 14:20     Screening of hand-picked machinima content
14:30 – 14:40     Leveling the Playing Field: An Introduction to Special Effect (Mick Donegan)
14:45 – 15:45     Is Justice Blind, or Simply Turning a Blind Eye: Machinima and the Law (Dr Tracy Harwood, Caroline Coles, Hugh Hancock)
16:15 – 17:15     Professional Development: Machinima as a Career (Chantal Harvey, Hugh Hancock, Tomohawk1989, Nettyplays, InTheLittleWood)

No Way!

Re-edit of our 2011 official entry for the Doritos Super Bowl Contest.
Chantal Harvey & Tony Dyson, a mamachinima.com production.

Awesome voice over work from Brian Albury and Liat Reina!
Tony wrote the story-line, and directed. I filmed and edited. The filming was done in Second Life, and it was absolute fun to do. We ran into many problems, I remember the frustration as Tony and Judi Newall (who handled the dragon avatars) would position their avatars in a straight line, but I would see them pointing sideways. I saw the dragon distorted in crazy positions, while they both insisted the dragon was flying around and looking fine. My recording software (Fraps) ate the frame rate, and the scripts caused lag, it messed up my camera view – and as I am the camera, what I see is what will be on the film…. I ended up clearing cache and logging out and back in, at least 15 times an hour, to get maybe 8 seconds of good film. It all came together when Markus Parker-Rhodes (yes, the Monty Pythons Flying Circus animator) created the scripted breaking glass prop for us. Ok, the glass would break too soon or too late, but we got it in the end.

We submitted the film for the Superbowl Doritos Contest in 2011, and it was disappointing to hear we didn’t make the selection. We published it anyway, under the title: Dad saved the Day.

I found the original files when clearing one of my hard-drives, and decided to have another go at it. Tony, I hope i did justice to the film 🙂

(click the picture to watch)

No Way!

13/04/201614/04/2016 / ChantalHarvey / Leave a comment

Tony Dyson, my personal memorial tribute.

07/04/201606/12/2018 / ChantalHarvey / 5 Comments

In memory of Anthony John Dyson (1947 – 2016)
Best known for being R2-D2s ‘Dad’.

BBC Archives (1984) showing THIS

His website is gone, but archived here.
His facebook page.

Tony was honoured at the BAFTA 2017 ceremony. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts gave credits to the man that created R2D2 for Star Wars, and one of my own photographs was used for this. (with permission, of course!). Aired on BBC television on February 12, 2017. He would have loved this!

In memory of Tony Dyson

Special Effects Designer

13 April 1947 to 3 March 2016

A British special effects designer and expert in robotics, Dyson’s first film job came designing the jetpacks for Moonraker (1979). He was best known for the R2-D2 robots for Star Wars (1977), which included remote control versions, stunt versions, and models that could seat performer Kenny Baker.

I worked with Tony since 2011, we met online in Second Life, and he agreed to be head of jury for the 48 Hour Film Project Machinima. We soon started creating machinima together, which he called ‘real time animation’. In 2013 we met in Malta, and I quit my day-job to work full-time on producing animated shorts and e-books with Tony. We met again in Finland for the Robotics conference, and later in Gozo, Xlendi, where we rented an office together.

Tony was more than a tutor, he was my inspiration and best friend. There are plenty of stories to tell about him, and our projects, but today I will share a personal memory.

Today, March 7th, 2016 – just 6 days before his 69th birthday – his ashes will be spread in Gozo.

To honor Tony, and the bond we had, I am sharing the only photograph that shows both of us together (I took hundreds of photo’s of Tony) and a poem he wrote for me, years ago.

ChantalHarvey-TonyDyson-GOZO-2014

Dawn has gone
Dusk is upon us once again
Swallows are resting
Bats are hunting
The Night Angels prepare our spirits for flight

Only our soul knows the true journey ahead
Only our soul knows our deepest desires
So listen to my voice and see my dreams unfold
For I will be heard above life’s din
I am mortal of flesh and bone and will have my time before I die
To see the colors of the rainbow up high

Touch me not with gold so bright,
Touch me not with ebony so dark
Touch me not with marble so cold
Touch me not with hands so eager
But touch my heart with love and truth and I will be yours for ever, Chantal.

AJD

Victoria-tonydyson-chantalharvey©

The day we found PIP.

05/04/201602/06/2016 / ChantalHarvey / Leave a comment

A look-back – September 19, 2014.

That day my friend Janet and I found something in my garden, tiny tiny – and it moved. No, it was not a mouse, but a 4 day old kitten. We took her in, called her Pip, and she made it – against all odds.

Pip is named after Pippi Longstocking, the strongest girl in the world – she can lift a horse with one hand.

Well, Pip can’t lift a horse, but she sure is a fighter.

64 grams is not a lot to go on, poor little kitten.

After 48 hours of struggling to keep her alive, I decided to take her to the vet. And that is where we all got lucky – sometimes all it takes is a bit of luck. A mother cat was admitted that same day for a cesarean– and our little babylady joined that litter of kittens. Mummy cat Dimphy took good care of our little baby.

The lady that looked after Dimphy became a good friend. During the next 10 weeks, we were invited (weekly) to visit Pip at Marjolijn’s house, which gave us a perfect opportunity to bond, and for me to take photographs.

Pip’s survival tour in 8 pictures:

Then, one year later (24-01-2015) we found another stray in our garden, a little baby boy that now lives with us too, and we named him BenBen!
Pip and BenBen share the same mother 🙂

I always preferred dogs. But now I could not live without cats, too! Love for pets is a strange thing, it makes life so much better.

———————————————————————————————

A look back at my lost garden. New opportunities!

05/04/201605/04/2016 / ChantalHarvey / Leave a comment

January, 2015 – looking back.

I spent summer 2014 outside, in my garden, which is a plot that had over 40 neglected trees on it. Had, yes, – we chopped most of the trees as they were over 26 meters tall and it was becoming a dangerous situation, neighbors complaining and regular storm-damage. Yes, I am re-planting this spring.

Looking at all the wood, branches, piles and piles of it laying around, I wondered how something good could come from the devastating left-overs of what once was a beautiful, peaceful garden. A purpose for all the wood. Keep my fireplace going, sure – and I am hoping to sell some of it to cover expenses. During the work I found an abandoned kitten between the branches of a tree, the poor thing was only a few days old, and with the help of my daughter and foster mummy Dimphy (thank you, Marjolijn) it survived! Pip now lives in my house. So my little bush-cat is the first good thing that came from the garden.

Let me show you some pictures, taken during the summer of 2014.

The last day of my enchanted wood – garden.

My Lost Garden.

And here we go, first tree down.

Inspection! Biertje, my little dachshund.

With a little help from my dad

And chicken “Bitchy” (yep that’s her name)

Pip, September 15, 2014. 63 grams….

Pip in fostercare- TY Marjolein, Ron, Dimphy !!

enough photographs, although – how about this? Do you see what I see?

Ok, a bit closer:

A virtual Party

14/03/2016 / ChantalHarvey / Leave a comment

On March 12 , 2016, I visited the Art opening on the Amsterdam Sim in Second Life.
Starshine Halasy threw a street party when Gallery Fermate opened, quite an event.

My avatar, although still named Chantal Harvey, has taken the shape of Robi, the iBot2000 character that is the star of a new animated series. She blended in fine!

Go and visit the location here.

(You have to download and install second life on your computer, first – and choose a free avatar).
Some pictures:

ChantalHarvey-amsterdam-sim

ChantalHarvey-amsterdam-vr-2016

	John Halls on Tony Dyson, my personal memori…
	AWARD SUMMARY for 20… on UWA Machinima Challenge 2…
	CHANTAL HARVEY REPOR… on UWA Machinima Challenge 2…
	inworldfilms on UWA Machinima Challenge 2…
	Dousa Dragonash on Tony Dyson, my personal memori…

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