A rare picture of Emperor Pirk on holiday at the 2007 Finncon in Jyväskylä.

Finncon 2010 starts next Friday in Jyväskylä. Finncon is the Finnish national science fiction convention. For a long time it has been arranged together with Animecon, but this year it’s all about science fiction – the reason being, that the combined event had grown to over 10,000 visitors and grown out of almost all viable venues in Finland! This had become quite a challenge for a free convention organized by fan for fans.

Wreckamovie Festival

A far smaller but quite interesting companion for the convention is that one of the venues at University of Jyväskylä’s campus, Ilokivi, is reserved for Wreckamovie festival. It showcases Wreckamovie productions from all over the world, with film screenings running daily.

There are some interesting films you should check out, like the (still) excellent What Became of Us and Snowblind, a feature length post-apocalyptic western produced on Wreckamovie. There’s also a chance to see a little known short film called Tokyo Baby, in which the plot involves the main character running away from home to attend Animecon. It’s produced by Blind Spot, but while you might guess otherwise Blind Spot’s geek squad had nothing to do with the film, it’s just that anime as a hobby has exploded in Finland as well and become very much a part of mainstream.

Iron Sky

I’ll be talking about Iron Sky’s use of social media on Saturday. Including the latest news about where we’re at with the production. I’ll be also hanging around at the Wreckamovie festival along with the makers of the Star Wreck 2pi fan film and other interesting people.

As always Finncon is free and very much worth booking a flight to Finland. I’m planning on checking out the lecture about fantasy in Don Rosa’s Donald Duck stories – if I can fit into the auditorium. The Donald Duck panels tend to be epic.

p.s. Samuli will also try and make it to Jyväskylä to talk about the next Star Wreck. Okay so Samuli probably won’t make it, since he has to work on Iron Sky. But he’ll try.

At least that’s how *I* think it would be. Yet, I never go to opera. Why? Because there’s usually nothing I could give two shits about – Figaros, Don Giovannis and Magic f*ckin’ Flutes… Who cares?

But what would be an opera you’d *really* want to see? Ever thought of it? Well – now you should. Savonlinnan Oopperajuhlat – a world-famous Opera festival in Finland – just set up an opera project on Wreckamovie, and it kicks some serious ass. The guys decided that instead of shuffling the old operas over and over, let’s try a different approach this time: let’s make opera together with the Internet. Here’s a pretty cool promo they put out there, check it out:

Right now, they start from the very beginning. They’re asking you, we, us, everyone to create the story for the opera. Already there’s some damn cool concepts out there. How does a real Space Opera Opera sound? How about Time Travel? I’m thinking about posting my own idea about an Opera set around Internet Memes – hell, could be even called l’Opera De 4chan.

I know you freaks can come up with crazy, great ideas – just go out there and start Wrecking!

- Timo out.

Here’s what the producers are saying – in two languages even:

TULE STUDIOYLEISÖKSI IRON SKY –PRODUKTIOTA KÄSITTELEVÄN TV-OHJELMADEMON NAUHOITUKSIIN!

Etsimme Iron Sky –faneja studioyleisöksi Making Of –työnimeä kantavan tv-ohjelmademon nauhoituksiin perjantaina 16.4.2010 klo 12.30 Metropolian Taiteen ja viestinnän laitokselle Helsingin Arabianrantaan (Hämeentie 161, käynti takapihan parkkipaikan kautta). Studiovierainamme nähdään Jarmo Puskala sekä Pekka Ollula. Interaktiivisessa osuudessa myös yleisöllä on mahdollisuus vaikuttaa ohjelmankulkuun!

Ilmoittautumiset ja lisätiedot 11.4. mennessä tuottaja Petra Kiiskelle sähköpostitse petra.kiiski@metropolia.fi tai puhelimitse +358 40 8424983.

LOOKING FOR IRON SKY –FANS TO PARTICIPATE THE TV-DEMO RECORDINGS!

We are making a TV-demo called Making Of, and we’re looking for Iron Sky –fans to participate the recordings on Friday 16.4.2010 at 12.30 pm in Metropolia University in Arabianranta, Helsinki (Hämeentie 161, entrance from the backyard’s parking lot). We’ll have Jarmo Puskala and Pekka Ollula as our studio guests. The audience will also have a possibility to interact with the TV-host!

Further information and registrations by 11.4.: producer Petra Kiiski petra.kiiski@metropolia.fi, +358 40 8424983.

Trailer for the Wreckamovie developed cybercrime series Griffin has been released. The trailer was lauched at F-Secure’s SPECIES conference in Vienna and F-Secure is also supporting the Griffin series by giving its insight into the fight against cybercrime.

Good hacker films are still hard to come by. Hollywood makes some lovingly crafted films about gamblers and conmen, but if the con uses computers they usually freak out and decide it absolutely can not be interesting unless they put in explosions and completely make up how computers work. Often this creation of non-existent technologies is to make it all more “accessible” to the average viewer.

The funny thing is that the “average viewer” is not going to blow up military bases by hand-coding a blowfish-encrypted, 3D-accelerated supervirus – but he is the target of the real world cybercrime. And there are enough stories about real cybercrime to fill a terabyte hd with films and tv-shows. Just ask F-Secure’s Mikko Hyppönen for some war stories. Timo did when they first met some years ago and I know he still has several story ideas about cybercrime he wants to do.

So you guessed it, Griffin is inspired by the real stories. And developed by people who use the real internet and Wreckamovie.com. Or as the press release puts it:

Griffin is a made-for-Internet TV series of fictional episodes about online crime, developed by a web community of enthusiasts on the Wreckamovie platform, in co-operation with Internet operators.

The six-part series tells the story of Griffin Sharp, a good guy with a complex past in the world of cybercrime. Each Griffin episode takes place in a different country, and will be produced by local start-up crews and volunteering enthusiasts. F-Secure and the Wreckamovie community are inviting major Internet operators for partnership in this innovative project, which will bring the drama of the fight against cybercrime to millions of people worldwide. This approach will also help consumers understand modern IT threats in a better way.

Anyone can join the Griffin community and be part of creating the story at www.wreckamovie.com/griffin. To watch the trailer, go to www.youtube.com/FSecureNews. The Griffin series will be distributed free of charge on the Internet.

Tiesittekö, että 95% hammasbakteereista esiintyy suussa? Entäs sen, että uudet Huba-sketsit ovat pyörineet TV2:n sunnuntai-illassa jo useamman viikon?

Energia on Huban kavereiden kanssa tuottanut joukon sketsejä TV2:n Radio Millennium -ohjelmaan. Jaksot tulevat ulos sunnuntaisin 23.20 ja uusitaan myöhään tiistaina. Huba-sketsejä nähdään yleensä yksi tai kaksi ohjelman “mainoskatkolla”, jossa tulee myös muiden tuottamia sketsejä. Sekoittamisen vaaraa ei pitäisi olla, Huban sketsit kun tuppaavat erottumaan.

Ja koska elämme tulevaisuudessa, niin sketsit löytyvät myös YleX:n sivuilta:
Korvaako koulutus kaiken?
Piilokameran parhaat
Länsimarket
Oral Attack

Käykääpä katsomassa.

The first teaser for Griffin (previously known as Project Worm), the communally produced web series has been released. The teaser features Mikko Hyppönen of F-Secure. F-Secure will take part in the project as cybercrime advisors.

The made-for-Internet TV series F-Secure and the Wreckamovie community are collaborating on is called “Griffin”. The series tells the story of Griffin Sharp, a good guy with a complex past in the world of cybercrime. It will initially have six episodes each taking place in a different country. “Griffin” is being developed by a web community of enthusiasts on the Wreckamovie platform. The community is creating the stories, the script, visuals and will also take part in the actual filming.

The pilot of “Griffin” will be available in 2010. You can join the “Griffin” community and be part of the story at www.wreckamovie.com/griffin. To watch the teaser, go to www.youtube.com/FSecureNews

In case you don’t believe me I asked British filmmakers Martin Lejeune to do a guest blog about the shootings. You can read his recollections below and if you’re into apocalyptic comedies you might want to check out his short film Untitled Dystopia.

So, here I am running on about three hours sleep, holding a microphone below a man who is painted like a chocolate bar in a heavy metal wig as he barks orders at a battle fleet which is presumably somewhere behind the green screen we’re in front of.

Hang on. Let’s back up. After a day of travel, I’ve been sleeping on a sofa at the offices of Energia productions in Tampere, Finland. Not very much – mind you – due to the two hour time difference. Everyone’s been setting up equipment like it’s nine in the morning, but I could swear it was still closer to seven.

Something which is not helped by the fact I’d arrived late the night before and been handed a bottle of rum by someone determined to make a case for Fin’s being the most welcoming culture in the world.

It’s as cold as a fridge outside so to wake myself up I go for a walk and grab some breakfast. So I head out to take my first daylight glimpse of Tampere.

Accidentally, I manage to make brief eye contact with a group of old men sitting on a bench, which I soon find out is a massive taboo here as one stands up and starts getting irate with me in Finnish. I ignore him until he goes away. It is later explained to me that in Finland the most interesting thing to do is stare at is your feet. Always.

Upon my return to the office to discover a pair of scantily clad women throwing themselves from imaginary computer terminals and falling out of chairs.

We are shooting Star Wreck 2pi the Swiss-Norwegian-Finnish spin off to 2005’s “Star Wreck: In The Pirkining” and this is just the kind of thing that is to be expected.

Most of the forty minute film has been shot in the Swiss town of Basel with a new set of characters, but the production team has come here to shoot some important crossover scenes with the original cast to tie both films together.

The Energia team has been a fantastic host. Whilst various extras were being shot to be placed in the background I had a chat with Jarmo Puskala and Antti Hukkanen, two of the guys who make Energia tick. We tried to work out what made British and Finnish comedy so similar; The Fast Show still plays on national TV out here and the self depreciative nature of both cultures provide a lot of the fodder for their respective senses of humour.

In the afternoon Star Wreck’s lead actor Samuli Torssonen arrived to reprise his role as Emperor Pirk. With the help of a crack team of interpreters the script was translated from German to English to Finnish; for the jokes work in all three languages it’s got to be good.

Timo Vuorensola was also on set for an hour to do his scenes as Lt Dwarf. Although he didn’t have his full “Plingon” ridges he quickly got into character and gave a very loud performance in a very short space of time.

The second day of the shoot it was my turn to be made up. I was to be wounded facially. Luckily I’d brought Ena with me to do just that kind of thing. So she started covering me in blood and scars.

I was promptly instructed to throw myself around as if on a ship taking hits from torpedoes. It took a couple of takes for everyone to throw themselves in the right direction. Then to disguise myself I put on a heavy metal wig and shot more sequences of being blown up, injured, running and generally swearing; in German of course.

The production team took advantage of the ‘Wreckamovie’ platform a website for making films collaboratively. This is how they have found people from all over Europe to work on the project. After putting the project online last November forty seven people have joined up to offer advice, help or to work on the film, from concept art through to helping with the post production workflow.

Unfortunately with my time on set at an end, I was shown around the annual fish market where we enjoyed some local fried herring and other delicacies, but as I dig in, I am especially cautious not to make any unexpected eye contact…

Martin Lejeune is an Exeter based filmmaker and Effects Artist, He also enjoys wandering the world as a digital vagabond.

The collaborative film production platform Wreckamovie we’ve been working on for quite some time now, has been chosen as one of the 36 nominees from Nordic countries to compete for the Rising Star of the North -award at SIME09. It’s a great honour for us to be chosen as one of the companies, and we are competing against companies like Spotify.

Last year, Wreckamovie won the Mindtrek award, and this year we were already one of the winners at World Summit Awards - so SIME nomination continues the list nicely!

And of course it is being produced in WreckAMovie, check it out and help these guys!

So far at least many of the backdrops are from the community. I wish I had WAM when we were doing Star Wreck…

Check it out:

PROJECT WORM – CONCEPT DESCRIPTION

Griffin Sharp, 44, is a game developer from the early times. In the past fortunate and rich, he has gone from one end to another, finding himself now poor and divorced. Once caught by the feds and sentenced to five years in prison for a serious Internet fraud, he’s now earning a living at a fast food restaurant and a taxi driver.

Sharp is still on parole and prohibited from using the Internet for one year. Parole officials on his back, following his actions daily, he’s aching to use the Net. Sometimes the temptation is too much: he sneaks onto computers wherever he gets a chance.

Even though Sharp’s on parole and the officials have laid him restrictions, the police still needs his knowledge. They occasionally contact him asking for help in solving cyber crime cases. Helping cops isn’t what Sharp enjoys, but it gives him a chance to keep up his magic.

While solving the cases, Sharp suddenly catches onto something else: an old hacker friend that got him in trouble in the first place. Now his friend, Benjamin Dallas, aka Nacros X, has re-emerged to the Internet, to IRC. There’s only one problem: he wasn’t supposed to be around anymore. He was supposed to be dead.

Even the hacker community ends up divided: some convinced it to be just a stolen identity, some believing it to be the real Nacros X. For Sharp, it’s just one more reason to get online.

Now we are in grave need for synopsises based on this story as basis of the episodes for Project WORM. Any ideas? If, please share ‘em at Wreckamovie, in this task.

Wreck on!