Shortfilm producers and the demoscene are always good for getting impulses on how robots could look and act like. They are somehow like the elongated arm of science fiction writers. We also find much robotic stuff in productions made for children.. in us, like rocking cartoons or tv-series. Maybe we should also name music videos.
The following piece is a athmospheric work from the demogroup Aenima. They works cross the border to shortfilms and have a decent quality. This movie Tension evokes a vision of strange and strong robot-characters and I especially like the robot-guy without any real face. Really, really strong type. But beware... the video contains much more scenes without robots, than actually with them. At least this does not narrow the experience.
The Bitfilm Festival is "on". You can watch all submissions at the festival webpage and also linger in the Bitropolis, which is the virtual festival playground of the festival. A virtual space, where you can meet others, customize your avatar and even rent yourself a studio. It is currently in beta-phase.
Since the Bitfilm people are great robots fans, too, things will be good. Watch the 2008 trailer below, or watch the trailer from last year.
Spotted this video on vimeo. Called "Eliza" you instinctly will think of the first software-bot from Joseph Weizenbaum, who passed away this year. The maker of the film remarks, that it is inspired by the terrible named "Eliza effect". It describes, that we think things are intelligent or living, just because they look and behave like humans or animals.
This video is a nice inspiration for a monday. Think of it and neglect that terrible term "Eliza-effect". Better think of giving-birth. Also look at the Hypercube.
The Bitfilm Festival focuses on digital film culture. That is, every form of digital movie from sophisticated 3D over Flash animations towards Machinima.
They are calling for entries for the festival. The screenings will be in Stuttgart and Hamburg this year, while you also can watch all movies and vote on the internet between May and Juli.
One of the organizers Moritz Hirchenhain wrote me, that they are real robot-freaks, so any submission on this topic is highly recommendable. The trailer for 2008 is not ready yet, that's why I show you the 2007 trailer. As you can see, they also have robots all on their website and flyers. Meet this people!
This is the trailer of the documentation Ciao Robot. It's a quick roundup of the current state - in terms of theory - of the relationship of robots and men. They try to state the current state of robot vs. men and the birth of "Roboethics". It's about robot constructors, writers and thinkers all over the globe. And it is
very 2007.
This weblog is dedicated to fresh and alternate views on robotics. We will focus especially in music robots, toy robots, play and game and robots as well as the culture of robots. We are the the first robot-blog from Germany - and maybe from Europe - that write regularly on this topic! This blog is made by the same people around the Digital Tools Magazine. We will have some nice surprises later this year, so stay tuned!
