Inside the invisible cinema

So I’ve arrived in Sydney on my way to NZ and finally getting a piece together after my subtlemob experience last Thursday in London (Duncan Speakman’s Subtlemob “As If It Were The Last Time”) I see Rupert has mentioned this in an earlier blog and linked to Hannah Nicklin’s great description of the event.

At 6pm we all turned on the soundtrack, sometimes we were given instructions and sometimes we watching other people carry out instructions.  Duncan describes Subtlemob as “a piece of invisible cinema”  sometimes you are walking through a film and sometimes you are performing in that film.

When I spoke to Duncan after the event about how the idea came about he said it was about a different way of working, he’d been interested in flashmobs but wanted to make it more about the experience as opposed to a video that would end up on YouTube.

So instead of video of the event itself, here are a couple of clips of Duncan talking about it, that I shot on my new N97:

Interestingly Duncan said that the performed piece didn’t all happen how he expected, there were things that he thought might happen and loads of things that he never expected. There was one point when we were told to move quickly and change direction when people noticed us,  Duncan had expected this to be a really intense dark moment but in fact it became a game.  For me this was one of the best bits, suddenly we were laughing hysterically with complete strangers in the middle of Covent Garden

Part of the idea behind the piece was to make us aware of our surroundings – as an example, the realisation that if you smile at people in the street they don’t smile back at you. I certainly found this when I utterly failed to get one person to smile back at me.

The soundtrack worked really well on that dark wet night and I especially liked the fact that after it was over other players (strangers!) stopped to have a chat about it in the street… it definitely had the effect of connecting you to your surroundings and others around you.  I think the “invisible cinema” is a fantastic concept and highly recommend the experience.  I’m looking forward seeing what Duncan does next.

Upcoming Events in the UK

Events, Festivals, Conferences and Meetups we’re attending or watching in the next couple of weeks:

SubtleMob
London, Thurs 12th Nov – Bristol, Fri 13th Nov – Liverpool, Sat 14th
‘as if it were the last time’ invites you to take part in a secret event this November. You’ve seen the people freeze in train stations and the mass pillow fights, well this will be a more subtle experience… If you register to take part in this event you’ll be invited to download an MP3 and turn up at a secret location to listen to the track at a specified time. When you put on the headphones you’ll find yourself immersed in the cinema of everyday life. As the soundtrack swells people in the crowd around you will begin to re-enact the England of today.

OPEN09
Preston, Lancashire, UK, Monday & Tuesday November 16-17th 2009
“OPEN 09 breaks with the normal conference model and creates a new participatory experience to explore, inform and create change in the Digital and Creative sectors. Sessions will include open discussions alongside world class speakers, workshops and networking events. OPEN 09 is for designers, developers, musicians, artists, photographers, journalists and gamers – in fact it’s for anyone working in the creative industries – so whether you’re a coder, strategist, information architect fashion designer, user experience professional or gallery curator, you’ll feel at home at OPEN 09.”

The Media Festival 09
Tues 18th – Thurs 20th November in Manchester