No Vacancy

in case you don't know.

[clarilaus-no-vacancy]

Network Effect

I have to say that I struggled a bit with this one as I couldn’t really understand what is the point. if I was in a contemporary art museum I would be very fascinated by this art piece, but being it’s online presence confuses me. 

On the “about” page they explain that the viewing window is limited to around seven minutes, according to the average life expectancy in the viewer’s country, but I hardly believe someone would go back the next day. Have you?

According to them,  the project mirrors the experience of browsing the web — full of tantalizing potential, but ultimately empty of life. Which I get, and I also enjoy the way they found to criticise it, but then again, I don’t think this should be a website, it should be a museum piece, in my very non relevant opinion...

The experience does make you very uncomfortable, and while I enjoy a lot the looks (great design) it didn’t make me feel a voyeur, the data was clearly very irrelevant (even though it took me some clicks to decide that) and the sound was annoying. 

I understand that they chose to make this a website as the medium might seem relevant for their internet criticism, but i guess context matters, and it would be better contextualised in a museum #impopularopinion.

[clarilaus-no-vacancy]

Cowbird - A witness to life

I found this project and was immediately attracted to it. it’s such a simple delicate and sensitive idea. 

On their website they say “Cowbird is a public library of human experience. Our mission is to gather and preserve exceptional stories of human life, so the insight and wisdom we acquire as individuals can be a resource for others to look to for guidance. Cowbird’s archive contains 88,021 stories on 28,107 topics from 14,586 authors in 186 countries.” 

I don’t know about you, but this sounds like the most important project out there: to preserve exceptional stories of human life. And exceptional means any memory, anything that touched someone once, that for some reason stuck into someone’s head, on the vast universe of memories that gets lost.

It’s also completely addictive and I can’t stop reading. So, remember to only look at this one when you are actually able to explore it without other commitments. Is like binge watching a series, but a real memory series.

[clarilaus-no-vacancy]

The Sun Vanished

I’ve heard of the sun vanished before but had never tried to found more about it. I chose to try this experience because of how it connects with the film I’m working with now. And I gotta say, I think it’s very clever. It’s very impressive to see the amount of people following, interacting, asking questions... 

It gave me a lot of ideas on how we could use twitter to bring Elis’s (our main character) perspective, including her diary and videos. Of course it means to change some of the rules we created before - we said she wouldn’t have access to internet in the town of N_, but how would it change if she did? Or maybe she starts tweeting when she leaves the darkened town? Maybe is her personal campaign so that the town is not forgotten, to pressure the state to keep providing for the town, and her way of taking care of her uncle...

It also made me think that, even though is not an expensive idea, in terms of resources needed, It takes a LOT of time and commitment, so i wouldn’t say is cheaper either... But still, something to think about. 

[clarilaus-no-vacancy]

un/tied

I came across the un/tied campaign while I was trying to find more about the interactive part on the NFB website. It made me realise how many creative ways people are finding to tell their stories. As filmmakers I think that some points we forget that our main point is story telling, and we get so attached to the medium. We forget that making a film is not the only way of visually tell a story. 

Un/tied is the story of a trans man, and their journey against cultural and consumer patterns. They chose to build a website that looks exactly like a shoes online store, and every shoe they were “selling” was a moment they had to question how they fit.

It’s a very beautiful and creative way to tell a story that so many can relate with. is not only a story being told but also a campaign against labels.

[clarilaus-no-vacancy]

Korsakow - the future of story telling?

Korsakow was again a new concept to me, in which I didn’t know what to expect. Once you click on the link you are immediately directed to an about page, where they explain that korsakow is the future of story telling for bringing the web logic of computers to story telling. I was very skeptical about it to be honest. 

The introductory page has a horrific design where you can barely read the text because it’s extremely small. The logo looks like something from the 90′s, and the text don’t really explain much about the experience. 

I Tried the experience in 4 or 5 different stories and could realise that what would make me feel interested or not was the content, definitely not the media. In fact, I felt that the media at some points spoiled the experience a little bit to me, like when I wanted to listen a part of the narrative again, but there is no rewind button, or replay, the only interaction you have is to select the next clip to watch which is somehow connected to the one you watched previously. 

The idea seems promising, but in the reality I felt that it was a very primary idea, not very executed yet...

[clarilaus-no-vacancy]

Do Not Track - a personalised documentary series about privacy and the web economy

Do not track was a completely new experience to me. I didn’t know anything about it or what to expect and was very excited when i understood that, in order to prove that everyone has access to my data, they use my data to give me the kind of information that companies are willing to pay for. The problem is, that for some reason it didn’t work with me. 

it didn’t give me any option other then to stay anonymous, so every time that I was suppose to have a personalised experienced, they would have to use the data provided for their default user, making my experience zero personalised... frustrating.

The concept of the series is extremely interesting though, and, if it had worked it would definitely be a true personalised and interactive idea. Also the topic they are approaching here is extremely relevant and interesting, and they chose a innovative way of telling this story. 

I was very curious about how my habits are being interpreted and if I am a risk taker, a boring person, or whatever. I’m definitely frustrated for not having figured out those patterns as I was even willing to give all my data to found out! =(

Was surprised to realise that it is also another “National Film Board of Canada” series, showing a very direct interest on creative exhibiting formats. Will look for what other formats they found. 

[clarilaus-no-vacancy]

Capturing Reality - An Interactive documentary experience

Capturing reality is not new to me. My first contact with the experience was in 2011, I think, when I was starting to work with documentaries myself. My friend  had the DVD and showed me this documentary about documentaries that was interactive: no definite time, no definite order, without most of the rules we are used to when making a movie. of Course in the DVD there is also the feature film it self, which I have to to be honest and say that I ended up never watching.

I remember being fascinated by such an innovative idea, and thinking that I would love to have such a clever idea. 

Today, after many years I came to revisit this experience. I confess that "Capturing reality" wasn't something I remembered anymore, and it was beautiful to find out again. I think more than an interactive documentary, this works as a master class. You can watch about the topics you are interested in right now or the director's speech you admire, and it's a huge learning experience. 

The way that I experienced it was first, searching by topic, and watched everything related to editing, as we are currently editing our short and I am particularly interested in this. Following I wanted to watch the lines of Coutinho, Brazilian filmmaker that I admire immensely.

Then I realised I was curious to know more about the project, and suddenly I was watching the film for the first time. In fact I was extremely curious about how they edited it so that it wasn't just talking heads on a black background. But the answer is pretty obvious, in fact, they use excerpts from the movies the characters shot, of course. The score is pretty great as well. But I think what touches me the most is simply the fact that they are very passionate people talking. There is no way not to connect with their speech... 

And finally, I was curious about the logo on the top centre of the page, and I didn't know what it related to. It stands for "NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA" and ultimately is a free streaming service where "Capturing reality" is available as well as many other movies I've never had a chance to watch. so it has just become a new channel to watch Canadian movies :)

[clarilaus-no-vacancy]

No vacancy

It's funny how things are. 

I found that I had this blog already created on Tumblr with some photos that I deleted. But the most interest is the title. No Vacancy. I don't know why I chose it at the time, but it's amazing how perfectly it fits into this moment when I feel like there's no room for anything else. 

 The universe never tires of surprising me.