Houyhnhnms.tv News

The Houyhnhnms Challenge 08 will last from 20 February to 20 September 2008.
Houyhnhnms.tv is the first Internet TV specially created for the audiovisual community. It aims to become a
Tank of audiovisual and advertising trends for the new TV 2.0; and all this in a lab where brands can test
new ideas and creative concepts.
The challenge consists of a simple briefing defying the “Houyhnhners” -the houyhnhnms.tv community of creatives-
to “create a 30 sec. Art-Spot about yourself or your agency, production company or studio with the following slogan:
Inspire the world. It can be changed!!!”

The winner of the challenge will be the Art-Spot gaining the highest score from the votes of the actual members of
the community. Each “Houyhnhner” will be able to compete with three pieces maximum.
As set forth in the community rules, any pieces which fail to receive an average vote higher than 4 during the first week,
will not take part in the contest.
The winner of the Houyhnhnms Challenge will be the Art-Spot who has the highest average score on 20 September 2008
at 00:00H, Madrid time (GMT+1). In the event of a draw, the winner will be the most viewed Art-Spot.
Lastly, should there also be a draw on the number of views, the winner will be the one who has been voted for most times.
This same method will apply to elect the second and third positions.

The prize will be 5,000 Euros in cash and an Adobe Software Suite “Creative Suite Master Collection” for the first prize.
The second and third prizes will receive a Software Adobe “Creative Suite Production Premium”.
Prizes will be given at the “Houyhnhnms Pitching Party” which will be held in Madrid next October 3. This party will
encourage on demand presentations among all those present to boost networking. We will also be able to admire
the best VideoJockeys of the moment.

Inspire the world. It can be changed!
The Houyhnhnms team

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Desde el día 20 de febrero de 2008 y hasta el 20 de septiembre tendrá lugar el Houyhnhnms Challenge 08.
Houyhnhnms.tv es la primera televisión a través de internet especialmente creada para la comunidad audiovisual.
Su objetivo es convertirse en un Tank de tendencias audiovisuales y publicitarias para la nueva televisión 2.0, y en un
laboratorio donde las marcas puedan testear nuevas ideas y conceptos creativos.

El challenge consiste en un simple briefing lanzado a los “Houyhnhners” la comunidad de creativos de houyhnhnms.tv:
“Crea un Art-Spot de 30″ sobre ti mismo o sobre tu agencia, productora o estudio con el claim (slogan):
Inspire the world. It can be changed! (Inspira al mundo. Puede cambiarse!).
El ganador del challenge será el Art-Spot que obtenga una puntuación más alta entre las votaciones recibidas
por los propios miembros de la comunidad y cada “Houyhnhner” podrá participar hasta con tres piezas.
Tal y como consta en las normas de la comunidad, las piezas que no reciban durante la primera semana
de participación una votación media superior a “4″, no entrarán a concurso.
El ganador del Houyhnhnms Challenge será el Art-Spot que el que el día 20 de septiembre de 2008
a las 00:00 hora de Madrid (GMT+1) tenga una puntuación media más alta.
En caso de empate el ganador será el Art-Spot que tenga más visionados.
En último caso, si hubiera un empate a visionados, el ganador será que haya sido votado un mayor número de veces.
Este mismo sistema se aplicará para la elección del segundo y tercer clasificado.

El premio consistirá en 5.000 euros en metálico y un paquete de Software Adobe “Creative Suite 3 Master Collection”
para el primer clasificado. El segundo y el tercer clasificados recibirán un paquete de Software Adobe
“Creative Suite 3 Production Premiun”, proporcionados por Adobe Systems Ibérica.
La entrega de premios se realizará en la “Houyhnhnms Pitching Party”, que se celebrará en Madrid el próximo 3 de octubre.
Dicha fiesta promoverá presentaciones “on demand” entre todos sus asistentes con el fin de fomentar el “networking”,
además de disfrutar de la actuación de los mejores VideoJockeys del momento.

Inspire the world. It can be changed!
The Houyhnhnms team

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- Who is PepperMelon?

We’re a new group of designers/animators/composers who enjoy mixing colours, shapes, characters with or without music, in a narrative or non-narrative way.

- What are your projects?

We’re really interested in making incursions in the conventional narrative animation world, but we’re also trying to grow as an international motion graphics company.

- What inspires you?

Nature.

- What is the future of audiovisual art?

Japan

- What is houyhnhnms for you?

A good cause to support.

Inspire.

http://www.peppermelon.tv/

- who is Álvaro León?

I’ve been finding out since 1978… and I’m still at it. in the professional dimension I have developed  within the audiovisual media, executing projects of graphic design, photography, animation, motion graphics, multimedia, illustration or cinema, and anything else that may come up.

- what are your projects?

Anything that comes up, although the following are quite constant:

keloide.net; a mutant concept of an audiovisual lab.

pornografika.com: virtual space to drain any kind of  audiovisual or graphic fetishism… Graph your Fetish

- what inspires you?

Inspiration is a status I try to keep in permanently, being surprised by almost anything appearing here and now.

- what is the future of the audiovisual art?

The Future (whichever) is uncertain and mysterious, we are building it up and pulling it down simultaneously… … it will simply be, and that is enough for us to want to hang around here for a while… only to see what is to come.

- what is houyhnhnms for you?

It is a means of self-promotion and exchange in which there is no editorial focus editing or cutting its contents beyond the actual user I hope it is heading towards a community of high quality creative and professional exchange managed by the users themselves.

www.keloide.net

www.pornografika.com

www.yeska.tv

- Who is Giacomo Triglia?

Giacomo Triglia was born and lives in Reggio Calabria, Italy on July 7, 1981. Independent filmmaker, teaches Digital

Video in an italian Academy of  Fine Arts. His films, including music videos and some Video-Art’s projects (of

which he is director, writer, editor and producer), focusing on the refinement of visual construction, in order to

explore its narrative potential and its bond with memory, as well to create a particular atmosphere, and a recurring

feature in all projects is the relationship between music and images. Also, they’re selected in various

international festivals, including the Turin Film Festival, the Kansk Video Festival in Moscow, the Aosta’s Silent

Movies Art Festival, the Stockholm Film Festival ect, and broadcast by national television like La7, MTV, All Music

and Music Box.

- What are your projects?

Currently, in addition to continuing the video project ZETTELKASTCHENcinema (casket of beautiful cinematographic

things), a video project that combine music and fragments of many famous films (that can be found on houyhnhnms’s web

site)… edits a weekly video survey on the italian national television ALL MUSIC, carries out projects and artistic

events with the Academy of Fine Arts where he works, continues to produce music videos (lastest for Victor

Bermon, australian musician), and works in a new short film titled “my private videotapes”.

- What kind of things inspire you?

I’m inspired by film directors like Gus Van Sant, Bela Tarr, Wong Kar-Wai, Paolo Sorrentino, Thomas Vintenberg,

Aleksandr Sokurov, Vincent Gallo, Wes Anderson and many others, I’m inspired by little beautiful things, I’m

inspired by music I’m constantly seeking on myspace.com, I’m inspired by internet, I’m inspired by writers like

Kurt Vonnegut, Daniil Charms, Dave Eggers, Chuck Palahniuk… I’m inspired by exhibitions and books of

contemporary art, I’m inspired by analog music gadgets, Norwegian bedside tables, Wilco’s mangiadischi, polaroids

and instamatic camera, vintage tins, analog reflex cameras, godspeed you! Black emperor’s vinyls, typewriters,

painting, pastels that gave me my ex-girlfriend, snapshot of my grandmother, my best friend Alfredo and the little beaver

on the little motorboat that greets me with the little hand.

- What’s the future of audiovisual art?

It is all in projects like this, and I am sure that traditional medias, from film to magnetic coils, are going

to assists today’s technologies.

- What’s houyhnhnms.tv for you?

I’ll tell you mentioning Dirk Paesmans Jodi.org Project: <<we’re exploring computer from the inside and

we’re going to reproduce it on web. When a spectator is going to watch our work, we’re inside his computer.

We’re so honoured to be in someone’s computer, ‘cause you’re very very close to a person when you’re on his

desktop>>. Essentially, this a “warm” and “intimate” project, opposed on common stereotype that wants computers “cold”

and “impersonal”.

http://www.giacomotriglia.com 

- Who is Delacrew?

Delacrew, more than someone, is basically an idea. The idea of making up a crew of artists with no creative boundaries, with no predefined purpose, where someone’s idea becomes an immediate objective. And we, Juanjo Ortiz, Bruno Farins and Juan Reig (Rez), are working on that idea.

- What are your projects?

Right now, the projects we’re working on are our live audiovisual broadcast of drum&bass and midtempo, the shorts, the programming of an owned software to punch in/out video, the courses on audiovisual creation for live broadcast, the postproduction of videoclips for clients, web development, the creation of a group in Asia…

- What inspires you?

We have a wide array of sources of inspiration and they’re sometimes unconnected. We’re not always inspired by something related to our universe; it’s often quite the opposite. A movement of classical music may inspire a theme of downtempo, a film of Bergman may inspire a video loop and a book of  W. Gibson may inspire a script. A stroll through an unknown city, a rave, a flight, a coffee on a square… our mind works in funny ways when it comes to inspiration and its good to give it different moments to develop ideas.

- What is the future of the audiovisual art?

The future of art (of any kind) follows an exponential curve which is closely related to the technological progress. So it’s too difficult to foresee something that develops faster than us. Maybe the future of art entails humanizing the technology that surrounds us and giving positive answers to the human+technology equation.

- What is houyhnhnms for you?

Houyhnhnms is the first “selective” community we take part in, and to be honest, it is very exciting and comforting to know that the people we share virtuality with have such high standards and support your work. On the other hand, it is a place for inspiration and meditation where we can sound out our contemporary creativity. Also, its interface is one of the best I’ve seen.

www.delacrew.net

A 2004 Pentagon report warns the U.S.A. President that an abrupt climate change will take planet Earth on the brink of anarchy and nuclear war for access to basics resources like food and water. ‘2050’ approaches the issue of Climate Change from the perspective of the consequences for our civilization and the short time we have to react.

“What we have now is that the change
is much more rapid than anything that happened
in the past. That´s why it is scary”

Dieter Schoene, FAO
(Food and Agriculture Organization) UN

“…climate change is a threat to humanity.
It’s a threat to all forms of life…”

Pachauri, Chairman of IPCC
(Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) UN

“Climate change is one of the greatest challenges
that mankind faces this century”

Brian Dawson, UNDP
(United Nations Development Programme)

http://www.2050thedocumentary.com/

- Who is Gareth Crook?

I’m a filmmaker and commercial motion graphic artist in the UK. I run a small production company by the name of GraphicQuarter, which works as my alter ego for producing experimental short films, that genre hop from comedy and drama, to off beat animations and video art. I have worked commercially for nearly 10 years and have run GraphicQuarter for five of those. The two fractions of my work, although fairly seperate in their application, do tend to cross over quite a lot. I’m able to take ideas and skills from one to the other and often the influence I have over my work can be seen in both. I’m interested in making films and animations that people can get lost in, for commercial purposes things need to deliver a clear message and entertain, I like taking these notions into my experimental work and blurring the boundaries, making the viewer work that little bit harder and ask questions of what they’re seeing.

- What are your projects?

I’m currently working on an experimental drama called ‘The Sky’s Gone Out’ which is due for release in early 2008. The film is a social commentary on the industrialised world, with the key characters expressing a desire and hope for a more naturalistic environment that they once knew and trusted. With a mix of film montage and graphic overlays, the narrative is controlled by a series of personal voice-overs, speaking of hope, love and warmth in a cold and harsh existence. The film represents my more experimental side of working, allowing the film to take shape as production goes on. When working this way I tend to start with an outline concept of what I want the film to say and the visual style I’d like it to portray. Once in production I see how the individual elements and scenes in the film work together best. Other recent projects have been a world away from this technique. The animation ‘10 Ways to Sheer a Sheep’, is a very structured albeit simple tale and was more concerned with humour than anything else, but it still retains some of my signature styles, despite it’s difference to much of my work. I’ve always liked the idea of each film being radically different from things I’ve done in the past, I’m not a big fan of repeating themes and this is what led me to produce ‘Very Nearly an Armful’ which is a traditional documentary about donating blood. It’s a fly-on-the-wall styled piece that follows a donar through the process as a positive statement about how easy it is to donate. The film was supported by the National Blood Service in the UK and should begin public screenings in the UK in January 2008. The running of GraphicQuarter in itself is always an on going project, in addition to making films, working independently means you also need to promote them. I’m always looking for new avenues to get GraphicQuarter films to larger audiences. The promotion of the GraphicQuarter website provides me with a hub to focus on, so no matter how far the message spreads, there’s always a base to come back to.

- What kind of things inspire you?

Pretty much everything inspires me in one way or another, whether it be positive or negative. The positive gives a more direct inspiration, but the negative can be seen to drive me to produce an antidote. Certainly a love of graphics is evident in much of my work, but themes about life and the things I’m personally exposed to play a large role too. These things control to a certain extent the subjetcs that I make films about and the way in which they are produced, but I think the reasons for me actually making films at all, is that it provides a forum for me to express my ideas, to entertain and to see what I can achieve. Although many of the themes I explore on the surface may appear to have negative tones, a closer look often reveals elements of hope, love and other positive emotions, the act of making a film or any kind of creation is a positive one and this probably more than anything is what drives me on to my next project.

- What’s the future of audiovisual art??

Things are definitely changing and for the better. Artists film and video has always been a contentious subject and an area that often doesn’t get the exposure that it deserves. There’s a long history about filmmakers having to be proactive in finding outlets for their work and new technology is certainly helping the modern filmmaker to do that. Just as desktop home computer systems have allowed artists the freedom to work at their own pace and in their own surroundings, computers and more importantly the networks that tie them together are now opening doors to worldwide audiences that have previously been closed off. The way that people access film and music is beginning to change, we all still watch TV and listen to songs, but the way that these things come into our homes is shifting away from the traditional broadcast mediums and toward the online revolution provided by the internet. What this means for the independent filmmaker is that the route from themselves to the audience is drastically shortened, the production company and TV executive no longer stands in the way. The path is also open both ways, with the viewer given the opportunity to comment on and influence the things they watch. I think the future of audiovisual art will be extremely healthy and diverse and something to really look forward to and be excited about.

- What’s houyhnhnms.tv for you?

Houyhnhnms.tv represents what can be done with these new technologies, as is always the case with new developments, there are those who get it right and those who despite best intentions don’t quite hit the nail. There is a mass of websites and online TV outlets now appearing, and in the rush, sometimes the quality and user experience is lost and forgotten. Much as with broadcast TV, there are those stations that people watch a lot more than others, what sets these aside is not just the quality of the programming, but also the way that it’s delivered. With online TV, the big thing is the interface provided. Many sites make the mistake of not caring enough about the brand and identity, this for me is where houyhnhnms.tv excels. Not only does it have rich and diverse programming, but the way that’s accessed is sleek, professional and friendly. Filmmakers like any other artist, want their work to be shown in the best possible light, to feel that the outlet provided is done so with a shared passion for the content it shows, this is what houyhnhnms.tv represents for me and is why I’m proud to have GraphicQuarter associated with it.

gareth@graphicquarter.com
——————————————————————————
http://www.graphicquarter.com
http://www.garethcrook.com
http://www.pixelsurgeon.com
http://www.DEC3films.com
http://www.myspace.com/graphicquarter

Dear Houyhnhners & Friends,

We are over the moon to announce that the broadcast of Houyhnhnmsis finally online!!!!

You can now load your movies or simply enjoy other houyhnhners’ inspirations

as a member of the audience and decide the editorial line and the TV listings of Houyhnhnms by voting.

Please remember:

- The movies uploaded to houyhnhnms must get an average score higher than 4 from the votes performed during

the first week of its broadcast. Any movies with an average score lower than 4 at the end of the first seven days

will be removed from the TV listings.

- Only original films will be admitted and these will not be abusive, aggressive, explicit or with no artistic criteria.

- The standard format to load movies to Houyhnhnms is: FLV (flash video)768×432 pixels

(max. 700 kbps of video and 128 kbps of audio)

- You can load files of up to 100 Mb size with no length restrictions, and soon (we will keep you informed) up to 700 Mb.

- The Houyhnhnms playing system is done through streaming, this means you can fast forward or reverse

at any time of the movie you are watching without having to wait for it to load.

- For any technical doubts, do not hesitate in contacting us at: webmaster@houyhnhnms.tv

- You can send messages and observations with the H-Ticker tool.

- You can only access Houyhnhnms.tv for Houyhnhners by invitation.

- You can recommend movies and invite your friends by sending them the following hidden URL.

- Houyhnhnms is still at its Beta for Friends phase, so please forgive any errors you may find due to adjustments and testing tasks…

and please do not hesitate in letting us know!!

- If you cannot remember how on earth to spell houyhnhnms, there is a shortcut…, simply write:

http://www.nomeacuerdodeldominio.com/

http://www.idontrememberthedomain.com/

We will be thankful to receive any suggestions you may have at any time.

Keep in touch!!!

Joan Jimenez

Houyhnhnms Director

As part of the Second Madinspain Congress- which brings together the best international web and graphic designers- we showed houyhnhnms.tv.
Last Saturday it was time to explain what this site is, its own evolution, to show the movies which are taking part in it, and we seized the opportunity to encourage the conference attendees to become members of the community.
Psychotypographic (or “the creativity stimulant to typographic development, search for it, and its internet use”) was the concept which gathered all madinspain speakers… Houyhnhnms took part in it.