The full story Friday, 28 August 2009
Posted by The Lost Book in Story teamwork.Tags: video
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Welcome to The Lost Book, an animated web series following the adventures of investigative journalist Aileen and her dog Watson as they solve the crime of a stolen book.
The six-part story was written by visitors to this website between January and July 2009. Anyone at all, of any age, anywhere in the world could join the writing team.
To find our more about how people took part, take a look at the Get Involved! page. For more about the characters, take a look at Cast and Story or read Watson the dog’s blog posts in Follow Your Nose. Or, to find out about the production of The Lost Book and the people involved, try the “Making of…” posts or our series of One Minute Interviews.
Cora Bissett’s Roadkill Tuesday, 3 August 2010
Posted by Helen in Events.Tags: actors, cora bissett, theatre
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If you’re in Edinburgh this August, one of the must-see shows is Cora Bissett‘s Roadkill. Cora (the talented actor who voiced all of The Lost Book’s female characters) created Roadkill through her new production company Pachamama. She directs the show, which had a successful run at The Tron in Glasgow in June.
Adam and I had a sneak preview of an early run-through last October and it’s a brilliant, powerful, disturbing piece. The audience travels with a young woman from Benin City (literally travels with her – the audience will be taken from the Traverse Theatre to a tenement flat) and sees the new life and job she has been promised turn into a nightmare. Cora’s research into the experiences of young women trafficked to Scotland makes this an immersive and convincing experience.
Press coverage is already positive – in Friday’s Independent, Roadkill gets three mentions in Alice Jones’ guide to the best on the Fringe.
Roadkill is on at the Traverse from Wednesday 11 – Sunday 29 August 2010 with previews Friday 6 – Sunday 8 August and Tuesday 10 August. If you get a chance of a ticket then grab it with both hands!
BAFTA New Talent Awards Monday, 22 March 2010
Posted by Helen in News.Tags: award, BAFTA Scotland, scottish chamber orchestra
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Friday night was the Scottish BAFTA New Talent Awards 2010. The ceremony was held in the Mitchell Theatre and had a lovely relaxed atmosphere. As nominees we felt well and truly supported by BAFTA. The picture shows the Scottish Chamber Orchestra‘s Lucy Perry, Helen Jackson of Binary Fable, and Jackie Arnott-Raymond of Front Page Design. Adam Brewster, as usual, is behind the camera.
Congratulations to May Miles Thomas, who pipped us to the Interactive award with her project The Devil’s Plantation. Thanks, May, for giving us a wee mention in your acceptance speech!
Funniest line of the evening went to Best Acting Performance winner Eric Robertson: “Finally, I’d like to thank whoever donated this suit to Oxfam”!
Making headlines Monday, 15 March 2010
Posted by The Lost Book in News.Tags: award, BAFTA Scotland, interview
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Thanks to the Edinburgh Evening News for featuring us in Friday’s paper. You can read the full piece online: “City’s online animation is up for Scots Bafta award“.
New BAFTA nomination! Wednesday, 3 March 2010
Posted by Helen in News.Tags: award, BAFTA Scotland
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The Lost Book has been nominated for a second BAFTA Scotland award. This time it’s a New Talent award, in the Interactive category. Nominations were announced last night at a do in the newly-opened (and rather swanky) Blytheswood Square Hotel in Glasgow.
One of the great pleasures of the nomination event was meeting the competition – the multi-talented May Miles Thomas of Elemental Films. May’s something of a legend – she swept the board at the BAFTA Scotland New Talent awards back in 2000 with the UK’s first digital feature film One Life Stand, which also won a Scottish Screen Outstanding Achievement Award.
May’s 2009 interactive project is The Devil’s Plantation:
The idea: to explore the Secret Geometry of Glasgow and find magic in ordinary places… Dear green place or derelict dystopia?
I’m planning to spend time this week properly exploring The Devil’s Plantation as it looks fantastic – why don’t you head over there and take a look?
Here’re some fuzzy snapshots of the evening (my mobile phone camera isn’t getting any better!). Left to right, there’s me with May, Elemental Films’ producer Owen with Lost Book sound designer Stephen, and me with Stephen.
Poetry in motion Friday, 26 February 2010
Posted by Helen in News.Tags: animation, books, video
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The Carry a Poem reading campaign has been in full flow here in Edinburgh this month. Locals have had a chance to get hold of the free book, attend numerous adventurous events, see poems and poets on stage, on plants, on landmarks and even on sports shirts.
If you’re not in Edinburgh, or have missed the excitement, there’s still time to read the Carry a Poem book online (it’ll be available until the end of February) or take part by answering the question “how do you carry yours?“. Or, for BookCrossers, there’s a Carry a Poem bookring – sign up now.
Oh, and take a look at the animated trailer that Binary Fable produced for the campaign. If you’d like to know more about how it was made, I’ve been blogging about the production process.
Viral explosion Friday, 8 January 2010
Posted by Helen in News.Tags: animation, books, video
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A sneak preview of the Carry a Poem animation has exploded onto screens in Edinburgh and online. How do you carry yours? Visit www.carryapoem.com to tell your story and join the campaign.
Carry a Poem Wednesday, 9 December 2009
Posted by Helen in News.Tags: animation, books, story
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The Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature Trust has announced its fourth annual reading campaign, for 2010.
It’ll be partnering with the Scottish Poetry Library to challenge the people of Edinburgh to Carry a Poem during the month of February. There will be the usual free books, activities, events, and even a new animation by Binary Fable (follow its production over at the Binary Fable blog).
The Carry a Poem campaign website has just been launched and needs your stories. Do you have a poem you carry with you? What does it mean to you? How do you carry it?
You don’t have to be in Edinburgh to take part. Simply get in touch with your answer to the question “How do you carry yours?” !
Artwork by Emily Isles – www.emilyisles.com
Congratulations to Cybraphon! Monday, 9 November 2009
Posted by Helen in News.Tags: award, BAFTA Scotland, belle and sebastian, mick cooke
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We were at the BAFTA Scotland awards last night. It was a fabulously glittery evening and a great party. The bad news for us was that The Lost Book didn’t win the Interactive category – but the good news is that the award went to the lovely Cybraphon. Here we are with Cybraphon’s human representatives (who explained that Cybraphon couldn’t make it there due to a lack of casters!) and their BAFTA:
Other good news: Mick Cooke (our soundtrack competition guest judge) and Gili Dolev picked up the Animated Short award for the brilliant The Happy Duckling. Well done Mick and Gili!
And the prize draw winner is… Monday, 2 November 2009
Posted by The Lost Book in News.Tags: feedback, prize draw, scottish chamber orchestra, storyboard, survey
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Congratulations to libertine101 of Western Australia – you’re the winner of our prize draw. The signed storyboard panel and CD are winging their way to you! Many thanks to everyone who took part in our feedback survey.
libertine101 factoid: libertine101 was the person who came up with the name Invisible Inc. for our secret society of bibliophiles, voted the best suggestion back in February.
Where are you? Friday, 30 October 2009
Posted by Helen in News.add a comment
I just combined our webstats with a World66 visited countries map to create a map showing the locations of all the visitors to The Lost Book website. You’re in 121 different countries:
Aren’t maps fun?!
In the news Monday, 26 October 2009
Posted by Helen in News.Tags: award, BAFTA Scotland, press
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Thanks to Laura Cummings and the Evening News for a wee mention in Saturday’s paper. It’s great to have support and coverage in Edinburgh’s press. The caption says “Delighted: Helen Jackson” which captures some of the jumping-about joy I’ve been expressing!
Read the piece online: Interactive animation ‘The Lost Book’ up for Bafta.
Interactive Friday, 23 October 2009
Posted by Helen in News.Tags: award, BAFTA Scotland
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It’s been quite a week! We’re still bouncing about with excitement after the BAFTA Scotland nomination. I thought you might like to see the other nominees in the Interactive category – after all, if you like The Lost Book, you might like them.
In alphabetical order, then, first up is British Music Experience. I have to confess to knowing next to nothing about the project – according to the website it’s “Britain’s new interactive museum of popular music” at The O2, where you can “explore, play, sing and dance your way through 60 years of British music history”. Gotta be fun!
The other contender is Cybraphon, a local project. Cybraphon is essentially a cabinet that plays music (the artists, Edinburgh-based collective FOUND, describe it as “an autonomous, emotional robot band”). But, and here’s the fun bit, Cybraphon has moods which define what tunes it plays. Cybraphon’s moods are dependent on how much it’s being talked about online. If it were plugged in at the moment (which apparently it isn’t) this blog post would no doubt cheer it up!
The awards ceremony is on Sunday 8th November 2009 and we’re up against worthy opponents. Hope you enjoy exploring British Music Experience and Cybraphon – but keep your fingers crossed for us!
Nominated for a BAFTA Scotland award! Monday, 19 October 2009
Posted by Helen in News.Tags: award, BAFTA Scotland
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Great news: The Lost Book has been nominated in the Interactive category for the BAFTA Scotland Awards 2009!
This nomination is for everyone involved in The Lost Book, and that includes all of you who took part in writing the story. Here’s our entry form – we made sure you were listed in the credits:
Dinosaur Summer Friday, 16 October 2009
Posted by The Lost Book in Found books.Tags: arthur conan doyle, bookcrossing, books, dinosaur
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Did you know there’s a sequel to The Lost World? Arthur Conan Doyle wrote several more Professor Challenger stories, but didn’t go back to South America. Instead, Greg Bear continued the story in his novel Dinosaur Summer. It’s set in 1947 and considers what would happen in a world where live dinos had been found. The answer: dinosaur circuses!
We’ve sent a copy around the world. Readers so far say:
“This was a fantastic adventure story with an old fashioned feel to it” (Shimmy-crazy in the UK)
“The prose here isn’t as flowery as Doyle’s, but the story is equally compelling, as the story builds to a dramatic climax on the plateau.” (ResQgeek in Virginia, USA)
“It was such a gripping story that I could not bear to lower it even for a moment!” (TomHl, pictured at Logan International Airport in Boston)
“Really good for a sequel novel… Good to see also the updating of the plateau to include dinosaurs with feathers” (davemurray101 in New South Wales, Australia)
A second copy has just started travelling the world, brought into the project by hyphen8 in Hawaii. If you’d like to read it you can join BookCrossing and get in touch with hyphen8.
Stories on a postcard, please Friday, 25 September 2009
Posted by Helen in Found books.Tags: bookcrossing, books, story, writing
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A while ago, we told you about the books-and-storytelling experiment we’re running with a copy of Un Lun Dun by China Miéville.
The book (signed by the author) is travelling around the world, gathering readers and stories along the way. Each reader – there are 29, in nine countries – will add a postcard to the package, and each postcard will contain a story about their home town. The stories can be true or fictional.
Un Lun Dun is in Austria at the moment and we’ve had a couple of great fictional postcard stories from Wüppertaal and Graz, inspired by Miéville’s book.
To read all the postcard stories plus reviews of Un Lun Dun, take a look at all the journal entries over at BookCrossing.com.
Books and animation Tuesday, 15 September 2009
Posted by Helen in News.Tags: animation, books
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All you aficionados of both books and animation – take a look at This Is Where We Live, a short animated film celebrating Fourth Estate’s 25th anniversary.
TIWWL was produced by Asylum Films and shows a city made out of books, through which little paper people go about their business. Speaking to Imagine Magazine, animation director Jordon Wood describes the challenges of character animation:
“Each character was animated traditionally on paper which gave us the fluid movement we wanted. To get the authentic paper texture and print, each frame was then transferred by hand onto book pages. These were then cut out so they could be positioned on set.
“I then had to come up with a way of standing a single piece of flat paper on its end. Creating paper tabs for feet was the obvious choice but they couldn’t support the weight and were visible which ruined the illusion of a seamless character walking off the pages. There were often up to 40 characters in a shot; one frame could take 8 minutes to set up so we couldn’t have characters blowing over. We needed a sturdy, invisible rig and the simplest solution turned out to be the most effective. The individual character frames were rigged with a spine (paper clip) which kept the character flat; glue discoloured the paper so we used white tac instead. We moulded a tiny white tac foot at the base of the spine which supported the weight, kept the character in position and left no residue on the set when replaced with the next frame.”
If you’ve got time, watch the timelapse videos showing the animation and set-building teams at work as well as the film – it’s a fascinating process.
Production still (The Museum Quarter) from This Is Where We Live at www.25thestate.com.
Falling from a clear blue sky Thursday, 10 September 2009
Posted by Helen in Found books.Tags: bookcrossing, books
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The first two books released by molekilby from the Fourth Plinth on Tuesday have checked in.
There’s a copy of Jostein Gaarder’s Through a Glass Darkly, provided by waderwomen from Derby. The finder says “The book was great but its not a book i would have picked up in a shop but now i have read it i would like to read more by Jostein Gaarder.”
Secondly, a fantastic journal entry for a slightly unusal book – Strong Shoulders: A Funeral Director’s Guide to Life and Death. Hanmoynihan says “The best thing about the book was the amusing way in which I first recieved it. Falling from a clear blue sky on a sunny day in Trafalagar square. One of those days that has come to trick us into think that summer is still here when the calendar is creeping closer to autumn and winter.”
Another investigation for Sean Wednesday, 9 September 2009
Posted by The Lost Book in News.Tags: actors, sean biggerstaff
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A new series of Miss Marple started on ITV last Sunday – you can catch up by watching it on ITV player (available for the next 27 days). Sean Biggerstaff (the voice of Kyle, Otto and Watson) is starring in the third episode of the series, “Why Didn’t They Ask Evans“. Don’t miss it!
View the trailer on Masterpiece Mystery, where the series aired this summer.
Image thanks to WGBH via Wizard News.
The Fourth Plinth! Tuesday, 8 September 2009
Posted by The Lost Book in Events.Tags: bookcrossing, books
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But it was a very different Challenger who greeted us in the morning … His beard bristled exultantly, his chest was thrown out, and his hand was thrust into the front of his jacket. So, in his fancy, may he see himself sometimes, gracing the vacant pedestal in Trafalgar Square, and adding one more to the horrors of the London streets.
The quotation is from The Lost World – but Professor Challenger didn’t ever make it onto the vacant pedestal. However, BookCrosser Molekilby is on the plinth right now. He has 160 books to BookCross, including quite a few copies of The Lost World. He’ll be talking about BookCrossing and The Lost Book – and he’s got quite a crowd! Go, Molekilby!
Watch Molekilby live from Trafalgar Square.
Hello also to all the BookCrossers who have made it to London to support Molekilby. The latest list is: dirtydancer2, veganbob, gingergeoff, gingerpeter, Sherlockfan, lytteltonwitch, WishfulDragon, Vekiki, samulli, MissMarkey, Beqi, cyzaki, scarlett17, weebly, LyzzyBee, Candy-is-Dandy, Cassiopaeia, rahar109, Potok-fan and smallbluepebble.
Find out about music Monday, 7 September 2009
Posted by Helen in Events.Tags: Music, scottish chamber orchestra
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I know lots of you liked the musical side of The Lost Book and have enjoyed the behind-the-scenes glimpses of composers and players at work. If you’re like me it will have inspired you to find out more about music – and, if you’re in Edinburgh, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s 2009/10 programme is the place to go.
On 28 September there will be a “Masterworks” concert, where the orchestra (under conductor James Lowe) and presenter Paul Rissmann take the audience through a piece of music:
Paul Rissmann takes James MacMillan’s terriffic score Tryst apart before your very ears and puts it back together in such a way that the full performance that follows is all the more enjoyable and rewarding.
Tickets are £12 (£10 seniors, £5 students/children) and can be booked online at www.thequeenshall.net – I’ve already got mine!
And, the SCO and the University of Edinburgh have teamed up to create an evening class linked to the SCO’s concert programme. Siobhan Cavanagh (BMus PGCE MAEd) will guide students through music performed in the 2009/10 season. There also will be player visits, concert trips and a chance to meet new Principle Conductor (and curly-haired wunderkind) Robin Ticciati, which makes the whole package pretty unmissable.
The course runs on Tuesdays, 6:30-8:30pm, for 10 weeks from 29th September 2009 and costs £75 (£50 concessions). Book your place online at the University’s Open Studies website.
The Lost Book is an animated web series where you wrote the plot.
