This week’s RE:PLAY films come from Alexander Gellner and David Wilson. Fellas, take it away…

ALEXANDER GELLNER – “HOW TO GET IDEAS”

“I was thinking alot about concepts of creativity and the exploitation of ideas. On the one hand, you can’t really steal ideas, only share them. To make a solution public and enable collaboration, raises the potential of one small idea and things can build on each other. The whole CreativeCommons movement is based on this concept. But in a competitive, entrepreneur driven environment, sharing may not be perceived as the ideal and the value increases by being the sole vendor of one idea/solution.

The famous “I drink your milkshake” scene in “There will be blood” finally gave me a visual shorthand for this paradox. I used collage technique instead of my usual lineart, because collage art is unapologetic about appropriating and building on work that other people have made for you. ”

DAVID WILSON – “LIFE AS AN INDEPENDENT ASTRONAUT”

“I didn’t want to start with a blank piece of paper on this one. In fact, I decided to step away from my desk completely and start with some fabric, card, scissors and glue, and I made this space suit. The process of doing and making is very therapeutic for me. Over the few days that it took me to create the suit, I developed the character of who lived inside it. Developing the script and costume side-by-side made a lot of sense to me, and was refreshing to start from a different angle. Ultimately, the life of John Barlow, our Independent Astronaut revolves around the importance of inner peace and finding acceptance.”

Another week, another great batch. We have RE:PLAY films from James Copeman & Sam Renwick and Peppermelon with music/sound design from David Kamp. Two wildly different approaches to happiness, but both focusing on singular protagonists who yearn for the understanding of the world around them.

JAMES COPEMAN – “THE TELL TAIL”

“The brief was really open, all it said was “happiness”. It got me thinking about an interview I’d read with actor Christopher Walken a few weeks earlier. In it, he had mentioned his desire to have a tail. ‘It would be so great to have a tail. It would be like.. Look, get back, don’t fuck with Chris today, look at his tail, he looks pissed.’

This got me thinking, I thought how it would be to have a tail that expressed your basic emotions that were subconscious and you couldn’t control it. I pitched this idea to my good friend Sam Renwick, we then sat down and started writing funny scenarios and problems caused by having a tail.The protagonist would struggle with it, and ultimately find happiness in hacking the tail off with some DIY cosmetic surgery. I knew Sam could play the lead character. It was great to get Ed Rutherford on board to shoot it and Caroline Story was really excited about making some prosthetic dog tails. I was concerned about getting the narrative across in under 2mins but somehow it works, and people seem to get it. Sam and I are now working on our next short.”

PEPPERMELON – “fIRST”

FROM PEPPERMELON: “This is PepperMelon’s first approach to classic storytelling, but with the ol’ characteristic pink colors, tweaks and quirks of Garcia’s style…Happiness is to inspire and be inspired; it is the result of connecting with someone else. fIRST represents happiness as something that needs to be shared with someone to actually lift our hearts. True creations, true happiness cannot be achieved while being alone; it is something shared in a crowd, or in twos. Happiness is not about smiling, but about connecting. And, there’s always a first time for all of us to experience this. This is the story…of a fIRST.”

FROM DAVID KAMP: “The piece was a lot of fun to work on, especially since its quite different from my usual musical endeavours. I collaborated with a friend back from my university days. He is a trained Cellist and played the Cello parts on the piece, which i think really brought it to life. I feel like the cello really helps to connect you to the main character and his feelings. An inspiration in that regard was the Cello Theme in Wong Kar-Wai’s great Film “In the mood for Love”. Its been a while that i saw the film, but the melancholic feeling i remembered from that movie was what i wanted to express in my score. The project was a great challenge in the limited amount of time and in between other jobs, but i think the result is a nice little short.”

This week, we have RE:PLAY films from Holbrooks, Physalia and Mixtape Club. Another great line-up of talented directors approaching the idea of happiness, joy and synchronicity in clever ways. We’ll let the artists speak for themselves…
 

MIXTAPE CLUB – “HELLO I LIKE YOU”

“When presented with the creative brief, we thought what better way to express our happiness than to distill the essence of our craft, to serve up a creamy shot of artistic espresso? So with this film, we’ve gone back to the basics: the simplest of inanimate objects, and transformed them into a tapestry of playful, choreographed dance for your enjoyment.

The goal here was simply to explore materials, themes, and techniques that have always made us happy – the things that drew us to this crazy art form in the first place. Like music. The whole process started with some simple visual experiments, and using those initial kernels as a starting point, we worked back and forth with our favorite tuneful youngsters, Huma-Huma, to develop the score for this piece. The music and the visuals evolved organically together, with each new version inspiring something in the other. We always find it particularly satisfying to develop the sound as part of the process itself.”

PHYSALIA – “INDUCTANCE”

“Inductance is the making-of for a piece that will never exist, a behind the scenes with no scenes! When faced with the challenge of creating a short under the theme of happiness, we first concluded with Gerardo del Hierro that whether the short was going to overtly address the theme or not, what we really wanted was to enjoy the process. We have always loved to share the making-of’s for our pieces, not only because we usually have fun developing tools that allow us to create them (sometimes in a very masochistic sort of way!) but because we understand as professionals that part of the enjoyment of watching a piece comes from finding out how the hell it was done.

The choice of the device to build came shortly after, spurred by some painful trial-error process and being the colour balls from the F5 logo the last inspiration spark we needed. The video is a document of how the happiest machine Physalia has built to date came to exist.”

HOLBROOKS – “VELO CEREBRUM”

“We wanted to take a dry look at the subject of happiness. To strip down the aesthetics of a smile, literally tearing skin from flesh, flesh from bone, bone cracking away. We wanted to expose the brain and let it reveal the spirituality and enigma of happiness. Of a simple action that makes this person happy in a way that they’d find hard to describe.”

We’re very pleased to get this first batch of Happy F5 – RE:PLAY films online. We’ll be sharing three films at a time, one batch each Wednesday. Consider it F5 Wednesdays from here on out.

This first group includes work from Daniels, Kristoffer Borgli and Nomint. Each artist/studio has provided us a peek into the creative process for the work.

Our sincere thanks to all the artists behind RE:PLAY. Commissioned by F5, each team created unique and inspiring nuggets of creative expression. Perfect compliments to all of the other pearls that made up Happy F5 this year.

DANIELS – “PUPPETS”

“RE:PLAY is a wonderful chance to be creative with no boundaries.  When given total freedom as a storyteller, we (daniel&daniel) found ourselves battling between a desire to make something meaningful and honest and a desire to make something perverted (which is also in our case honest).  Entirely by accident, Puppets became a perfect analogy for our self aware creative process.  But mostly it’s lots of butt jokes.”

KRISTOFFER BORGLI – “I EXPECT NO ONE”

“There was so little time for the creative process, so the first thing I did was to limit myself. The theme was “happy”, so initially I wanted to do something outside in the sun, but at the time in Oslo there was still snow. Being fed up with snow after a long winter, there was no inspiration to be found outside. But I had seen this Villa drawn by Arne Korsmo, and wanting to film there for a long time. Also I had just watched the documentary “L’enfer d’Henri-Georges Clouzot”, which led me to buying a Slinky toy. So I limited myself to write something about a Slinky-toy inside this Villa.

The main theme is about a resourcefull young woman, not being able to have fun, even though she has all these material posessions. It’s not untill she is in an extreme situation where she can connect with her feelings. Slinky made the day after all.

Thank you DP Jon Gaute Espevold, my friends the actors, the Norwegian Foundation for Design and Architecture and the post production team at Storyline Studios!”

NOMINT – “MAHAHULA THE GIANT RODENT OF HAPPINESS”

“When we where asked to make a video about happiness, we decided that we should take it from the very beginning, when it first appeared in the world.

We find happiness to be a very serious matter, definitely worthy of an awesome deity like Mahahula, an ancient gigantic infant rodent born from an alien space traveling seed that crash-landed on primordial earth. We wanted to depict happiness in all its glorious complexity: obscure, hard to find, huge and colorful. Is it more of a constant personal pursuit or is it a fortunate offering by others?”

Mahahula came about with the sole purpose of spreading joy to the world, only there was no one around to hear her say so, as this was a long-long time ago. As we speak, she might or might not still be around warming our hearts for eternity.”

Let’s just address F5 from the heart. It’s been a little over a week and we still can’t get it out of our heads. Ping-pong between the speaker sessions, re:play films, installations, drinks, the massive balloon logo, and above all…the atmosphere.

From Friday morning forward, you brought warmth and curiosity to Roseland. You engaged with each other and the world-at-large. You helped build a village of inspiration that will live far into the future.

Judging from what’s been said, what’s been written, what’s been posted…you also walked away with something new. It could have been an appreciation for artists you just discovered – or those you already knew. You might now be working on a project through a different lens with some new friends. You may have lifted one of the pinatas and have it there, staring at you while you read this. There are so many possibilities and opportunities that came from the festival.

And you got the spirit of F5 from Day One. The minute that Buck’s titles rolled, it was clear that this was like no other conference before. We had puppets, peacocks and robots — DJ’s, VJ’s and MC’s — severed goat heads and happy face avatars — banjos and turntables — a laser harp — and countless perspectives on the creative process.

As Kid Koala finished his set with Moon River, the beauty of our collective spirit was fully awake and you all stood as one – until the balloons fell late on Saturday.

The dreamers and the doers came out. And your smiles said it all. Thank you from the bottom of hearts.

(Our countless thanks to Buck and Antfood for an incredible title sequence that brought down the house and set a new benchmark for the future of titles. Basil and Noodles are the new official mascots of F5! Check out the full version — and photos from the event)

Feels like deja vu all over again. At the end of this week, the best and brightest artists, designers, filmmakers, musicians, writers, storytellers – meaning YOU – will finally descend down on Roseland.

Maybe you’ve been waiting months, maybe days, maybe you haven’t even bought your ticket yet — it doesn’t matter. When you get here, it will all be worth it. And this creative journey will spread from everyone to anywhere.

It’s set to be the creative event of the year. With so much happening on-stage and off, and the diversity of creative disciplines being represented, inspiration in every form will be on the plate. Are you hungry enough?  For those of you who’ve been on the fence about F5, we encourage you to get yours as soon as you can.

Last time when we wrote this post, we defined our values – our ethos. This time, we’ve breathed life into them and created something very special by our own team. See it above.

We’ll see you all very soon.

The response to the full line-up of Happy F5 has been phenomenal. You – the creative community – are so psyched to just get away from it all for a few days and hit the playground. Tickets are going fast – be sure to lock in yours.

And, yes, an update already! A bunch of new additions to the stellar line-up:

• Iconic designer Todd Oldham introduces Wayne White for the final act of Happy F5
• msnbc anchor Thomas Roberts interviews Mark Romanek during his special session
• Minivegas will speak to their installation “Atlantis” during one of our two mini-talks
• Shantell Martin takes the stage in anticipation of her Hidden Oras installation in the second of our two mini-talks
• Kid Koala and Minivegas will be joining Tanya Morgan on-stage for a collaborative live set at the beginning of the duo’s session

And don’t forget: to get the most out of the Tronic/F5 Virtual Exhibit, download the free, one-of-a-kind iPhone app Goldrun - https://bit.ly/cedb4j. Do this before you get to F5 to get the most out of the exhibit – from your walk up Broadway to the Hudson Hotel to the interior space at Roseland.

If you’ve been patiently awaiting this post, thank you.

To clue you in on the behind-the-scenes since November, we’ve been working NON-STOP to reach out and secure the speakers who you’ve all wanted to see. There have been hundreds of recommendations – tons of outreach emails – and so many wonderful responses from artists who see F5 as the gateway to new playgrounds of creativity. This curation would’ve made for a great reality show, but we lack the tans and vocal chops to secure future syndication.

Oh, it’s playtime! As you enter the world of F5, you’ll be part of the RE:VISION experience. It’s here where we’ve curated and constructed a borderless//cutting-edge gallery space to showcase the work of emerging and world-renowned artists and designers.

• Babycastles Arcade: indie gaming to the core — stand-alone video games that take players to the wild ends of their imagination

• Minivegas presents Atlantis: an interactive installation where attendees cue their tweets (with #f5fest and others) and watch as they’re dynamically transformed on-screen throughout Roseland

• Radium Audio Takeover: intricate and immersive sound installations that cater to both the individual and collective experience

• Shantell Martin presents Hidden Oras: a live drawing project that turns members of the audience into a unique and original work of living art

• Smilebooth: a fresh take on the old-school photobooth that encourages a hot mess of fun and spontaneity

• Tronic/Goldrun/F5 present the Virtual Exhibit: a one-of-a-kind smartphone app that allows users to view and take pictures of GPS-linked 2D/3D virtual art all over F5.

_______________________________

Take a deep breath. We’re going to blow out the candles on another F5 at the soon-to-be-(in)famous CLOSING PARTY on Saturday, April 16th.

• Starting at 9pm, you’ll throw down at Good Units in the basement of the Hudson Hotel (356 West 58th St.). Picture NYC-1982 and you’re halfway there…

• Dalston Ponys will start the jam East-London-style — bringing feet and hearts to the dance floor

• Grabbing the baton at 10:30pm, Eclectic Method follows up their speaking session at F5 with a performance that will burn the roof off the joint

• At midnight, Flawless Media presents Verboten – dedicating the remainder of the party to Kompakt Records‘ honcho and DJ Michael Mayer

• All the while, Shantell will be performing Hidden Oras in the venue’s stylized mezzanine

Doors open at 9pm –  open bar from 9:30-10:30pm. Everyone is welcome – so bring your buddies. Your official F5 registration badge gets you in and $20 at the door for your friends.

And there’s still one more major announcement left….

Tradition ain’t something to mess with. It’s got a hungry heart and a thirsty soul.

At F5, the fun isn’t only on-stage and at the bar – the screens at Roseland give some love back too. Content created exclusively for the festival will premiere through our RE:PLAY film festival.  We invited a number of the best studios and independent directors out there to create short films ranging in length from 15 seconds to 2 minutes on the topic of happiness.

The films will be shown on the main stage at F5 between speakers, on plasmas around the event space, on Motionographer (afterwards) and on the F5 website.

Who wants to know the RE:PLAY line-up?

• Daniels
• David Wilson
• Edouard Salier
• Hi-Sim
• Holbrooks
• James Copeman
• Mixtape Club
• Nomint
• PepperMelon | David Kamp
• Physalia
• Upper First

This super talented group is a cross-section of some of the best artists to pass through Motionographer in the last year. Be the first to see something created entirely for you. (Price and Waterhouse has it under lock and key — even we don’t see get to see the full program before it premieres)