The Velvet Café

Within a short period of time I’ve seen two movies where usage of social media is an essential element of the plot.

In Frank Twitter and YouTube was used to build an audience for a rock band. In Chef social media basically rule the world. That’s where careers are built and ruined and if there’s anything you can take away from this otherwise lacklustre film, it’s the crash course in how to handle Twitter and Vine.

Two examples aren’t enough to call something a trend, but I suspect they’re not the only ones we’re going to see this year. And I must say that I’m a little conflicted about it.I can see what they’re trying to do there: be relevant to a young, contemporary audience. There are hundreds of thousands active Twitter accounts in Sweden alone, which is a very small country. 54 percent of the population is on Facebook. Of course social media matter and why wouldn’t they matter to the characters appearing in your movies, provided they’re not hobbits or elves living in a fairy tale land where messages are sent by magical orbs or butterflies.

The traps
But for how understandable it is that you include them, I think it also is a little risky.There are traps to fall in if you don’t beware.

One is that a middle-aged screenwriter may have an idea about how different social media work, but isn’t necessarily an expert user. It’s so easy to get some detail wrong. I’m not necessarily thinking of the actual mechanic of it, such as how long a tweet is or how people respond to or forward certain messages. That’s fairly easy to make a quality check on. What can be a bit trickier is to make it believable. Is it likely that a such and such tweet will catch fire in the way it does in the movie? Is the tone right? Does it spread at a likely pace? Or is it obvious that it’s sprung out of someone’s idea about social media rather than coming from their own experience? If you get it wrong, you’ll rub all those young expert users the wrong way with your clumsy attempts to be modern.

Another risk is that you’re tempted to make too much of a deal out of the social media. If it starts to dominate the movie rather than being a part of people’s everyday life, it gives the movie a silly, unbalanced feel. And it also signals: “hey, I’m a middle-aged person who just discovered social media, isn’t this a remarkable thing?” Very uncool.

A strong timestamp
But the biggest problem, of course, is that it sets such a strong timestamp on the movie. The development in this territory goes at a crazy speed and within a year or two so much can happen that the movie you had spiced up with that magic social media ingredient now all of a sudden looks hopelessly outdated. If telephones an computer design age quickly, it’s nothing compared to what social media does. And the question is: does it age with charm, the way that old cars or space pyjama suits from the 60s do? I can’t know for sure yet, but I suspect not.

My suspicion is that the filmmakers are perfectly aware of this danger, but it’s not such a big deal. They’re not aiming for making a new Brief Ecounter, which can be enjoyed by generation after generation of film lovers. They have their box office race running over a few weekends, and under that brief period their chosen social media isn’t likely to go anywhere.

I’m curious to see what we’ll think about today’s movies with social media in fifteen years. Will they have aged the way that You’ve Got Mail has? And if so, will they likewise have charm enough to make up for it?

photo credit: kelly.sikkema via photopin cc

Today I got an e-mail from the number one movie theatre chain in Sweden, where I have a gold level loyalty card. They offered me the chance to “lend” my voice to one of the characters in Disney’s upcoming adventure comedy Big Hero 6.

According to the letter it wouldn’t be necessary to go through a painful, time consuming audition. All you had to do to participate in the casting was to record yourself with your cell phone, saying the line: “Hello, do you hear me? Do you know your name?” and then post it on Instagram. The winner would do the voice recording in Stockholm at a certain point. No economic compensation whatsoever would be paid, not even to cover travel costs.

The winner would get tickets to the premier of the movie. Yay.

I think this speaks volumes about how much certain elements of the film business care about the products they sell. As long as the sales volumes of popcorn don’t drop, they’re happy. Reading as reading. Any schmuck who can read the ingredient list from a package of cornflakes can read a few lines in an animated movie, according to their beliefs.

And it makes me so mad. It’s disrespectful towards train actors who do this for real, who put their heart into every role they make, no matter how small because they’re professionals. And it’s disrespectful towards the audience. When we watch a Disney movie, rightly or wrongly, we expect it to keep a certain level. That includes the dubbed voices we get in the Swedish release.

Motion caption actors
Motion caption actors have received a lot of love over the last few years. Every time a new part of the Hobbit or the Planet of the Apes franchises come out, someone will start talking about Andy Serkis and how much he deserves an Academy award for his brilliant body acting.

Don’t get me wrong. The computer generated creatures in movies become much more alive and believable thanks to the cooperation between the actors and the animators. I appreciate that. What I don’t get though is that voice actors aren’t given the same kind of attention and respect. One good voice actor can turn a movie into something completely different than what it else would have been. I don’t have to remind you about what Robin Williams was to Aladdin.

As a fellow film fan I can see why someone would enter the casting competition of Big Hero 6. Who wouldn’t like to be a part of a film recording? Even if I had to do it for free and even pay for my own train ticket to the studio, it would feel as if it was worth it.

However, as fun as it may be for the individual, it’s wrong to everyone else.

I don’t want to see another voice acting casting like this, ever.

photo credit: nofrills via photopin cc

I’m starting to write this post with the intention to share some of the atmosphere and the joy I felt as one of the approximately 8 000 members of the world science fiction convention of 2014, Loncon3, which took place in London in the middle of August.

I know already that I will fail. How could I possibly give you an idea of what it was like? Should I begin with the symphony orchestra that played the Star Wars suite so well that the audience of several thousand science fiction fans refused to let go of them until they had played the Superman intro another time?

Or should I try to make you understand how cool it was to have a one hour long conversation with Adrian Hon? He’s one of the creators of the running app Zombies, Run! and also the author of A History of the Future in 100 objects, which is one of the most inspiring, thought-provoking and fun-to-read science fiction books I’ve encountered in years. He’s so interesting that you feel smarter just being around him.

There are so many moments of wonder to choose between. I saw a real guy from NASA, how about that? And how about the science fiction fan from New Zealand, who clearly was “one of us”, but also had been working at Weta since the beginning of the Lord of the Rings movies. He had now advanced from making elf ears to doing digital special effects. He revealed that it takes a couple of weeks to make just a few seconds of fire breath from Smaug.

The audience. Photo: Sofia Karlsson

There were moments of darkness. I went to a panel about the usage of drones an was stunned by the testimonies we got there from former soldiers who had served in Iraq and shared what it’s like to kill people with the help of drones and why it’s problematic.

The programme
With up to 20 different events going on at the same time in parallel programme tracks, you could only see a fraction of what was going on at any given moment. My experience is completely different from the one of anyone else. There was a special program track for academics. People who like young adult fiction could spend their entire convention discussing only this. For film fans there were a number of movies and panels to choose between. Fans of literature, art, music, science, anime and games – everyone had plenty of content available just for them.

We’re really a diverse group of people when you think of it. And yet there’s something that keeps us together: the love for things that are imagined. Some of us prefer visions of the future that build on science and are fairly plausible, others are fans of fairy-tales for adults, scientific or not.

A safe spot
I would say that fandom is a place that is slightly more tolerant for differences than the ordinary world outside. It’s a safe spot for everyone, from my experience. I’ve been a science fiction fan since the middle of the 80s, an I’ve never been harassed or looked down upon because of my gender. There are other female fans who disagree on this, but nothing I’ve heard of has been anywhere near the level of misogyny that has been reported recently from the gaming community. I’m sure that even more can be done, but even as it is now, I dare say that the science fiction fandom has come a great deal further in terms of gender equality, diversity and inclusion than society in general.

Hugo winners of 2014. Photo: Johan Anglemark

Equals
Like all worldcons, Loncon3 was entirely run by volunteers – many hundreds of them – who do it for fun, not for profit. And this is what sets it apart from commercially run conventions. You don’t go to the convention as a customer and you’re not mostly a target for marketing from various movie and game franchises. While there is a small area where you can buy books, art and t-shirts from vendors, it’s not what the convention is about.

Whatever you pay to get inside (which honestly isn’t all that much considering what you get) isn’t an entrance fee. You’re buying a membership- As a member of the convention you’re there on the same terms as everyone else. Those who run it, those who participate in the programme, those who listen to panels and participate in discussions – we’re all there as equals. Your appearance at the convention may not cause the same queues as George R.R. Martin. But basically you’re just as responsible as he is for making it a great convention. We are science fiction fans having a great time together.

I’ve already mentioned a few of my top moments at my convention and here  are some more highlights. Remember though: this is by no means the whole thing. It’s a sample of what I saw, which was a lot more than this. And all in all there were over 1 000 programme items.

Signing queue for the very popular George R.R. Martin. Photo: Johan Jönsson

Space on screen
A panel discussion about the different visions of life in space that are offered in movies with Elysium and Gravity as examples of extremes, where one goes for realism and the other one for political consciousness. The most interesting perspective was given my Chris Baker, who worked as a concept artist on Gravity, was surprisingly lukewarm towards the movie he’d been a part of making.

Time in the Novel
The science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson held an interesting talk, where he compared the narrative pace in works by various authors, with Virginia Woolf and Olaf Stapledon as examples of two extremes. One of them can let millions of years pass over a page, the other one can linger over a few seconds for pages. Robinson wrote off the prevalent “truth” that “show, not tell” always is better. It’s all more like music. There are different beats and you need to know when to use what. Something that is just as true in the case of movies.

Sherlock Holmes and science fiction
This was a lecture by the scholar Amy H Sturgis, who spoke about the many connections between science fiction and Sherlock Holmes. I already knew about Data’s inclination towards dressing up as SH at the holo deck in Star Trek TNG, but it turned out there’s a lot more to it.

Zombies Run! New Ways to Understanding Games
The writing team of my favourite game was there and since more or less the entire audience consisted of fans like me it turned into what I’d call a love party for the fans.

Audrey Niffenegger’s lecture on HG Wells
HG Wells was a president of the English PEN, and in the honour of him, the author of the bestseller The Time Traveler’s wife held a wonderful lecture about the power of imagination, inspired by one of his novels. It was said that this lecture will be available on the net at some point, though I haven’t been able to find it yet.

Furry Fandom: Not What You Think
This was one of the least attended events that I went to, but definitely one of the nicest. Members of the Furry Fandom described what it’s about and also made a demonstration of what a furry dress can look like. If you ever thought that it’s related to kinky stuff in the bedroom, I can assure you it’s not. Furry fandom is a place for highly creative and adorable people who are brave enough to not give a crap about what others think of them and while I doubt that I’ll ever be a part of them, I’m glad that they exist. I was a little shocked to hear though that their upcoming world convention will attract some 5 000 people. There might be a day when furry fandom is bigger than science fiction fandom, believe it or not.

The Worldcon Philharmonic Orchestra. Photo: Johan Jönsson

Book covers: The Good the Bad and the Ugly
A panel of artists, art directors, editors and writers presented some of their favourite and no-so-favourite cover artwork. This was immensely fun to watch and also made me think about movie posters. I really would like to pay more attention to those than I do. There’s a great deal of work put into them. Some are great, others not. There are entire blogs that focus only on this and I have no ambition to become an expert, but I would like to give my opinion about it every now and then, from the perspective of a consumer.

The Hugo Awards Ceremony
To be completely honest, it wasn’t that much to be excited about. Award ceremonies rarely are to be honest. And the Hugo’s don’t even have the budget of the Oscars. Besides there had been some fuzz around the appointment of the hosts. The first one was swipped out because some people had found some of the humour things he’d done in the past offensive. We ended up with the authors Justina Robson and Geoff Ryman, who did their best to not be offensive to anyone. And that doesn’t make for good entertainment. Nevertheless I can’t deny that it was a little cool to be in the same room as some celebrities. The creators of the TV series Game of Thrones were there and received their award in person. Some Doctor Who actors were there too. They didn’t get any award, but fans could talk to them and get their pictures taken.

The fan village and the exhibition hall. Photo: Johan Anglemark

The Fan Village and the future worldcons
Finally I need to mention the fan village. While I spent a lot of time listening to various lectures and panels, I also spent some time hanging around with science fiction fans from all over the world, friends as well as new acquaintances. Every night there were parties with free booze thrown by different groups of fans who were aspiring to arrange a worldcon in the future. (We ran a Scandinavian one too, where fans were treated with Swedish vodka and candy). If I had been a little tad younger and a little more unwise I would no doubt had stayed up longer and become quite wasted. But I prioritized sleeping so I could get up in time to enjoy the programme items. Next time maybe, if the programme isn’t as awesome as it was in London.

Speaking of which: if you’ve been with me this long you may wonder about how to catch a worldcon in the future. When and where will you find it? Well, the next two are already decided: Spokane in 2015 and Kansas City in 2016. The following one will be chosen through an election next year.  Helsinki in Finland is one of the candidates and I hope they’ll win, because that would mean that I’d attend for sure.

If should also mention that there will be a Nordic convention next year, Archipelacon, which is held at Åland, a group of islands situated in the sea between Sweden and Finland. Obviously it will not be anywhere near the size of a worldcon, but smaller conventions are nice in the way that you get a lot closer to the writers. You’re more likely to get the chance to meet them in person. The guests of honour are George R.R. Martin, Karin Tidbeck and Johanna Sinisalo. If you’re planning a holiday in Scandinavia and have a soft spot for science fiction and fantasy, this may be something for you.

There is one more little thing that I wanted to report about from Loncon3: I saw a lovely little science fiction movie from Sweden, LFO: The Movie, which you probably haven’t heard of since it only has been shown at film festivals until this point. But it deserves a blog post of its own.

For this time I’ll finish my report from the five days I spent in geek heaven. My only regret is that it was my first worldcon. I should have done this way earlier in my life.

Edit: A commenter pointed out that I didn’t talk in this post about the fanzine part of fandom. This is definitely an overlook from my side. I just didn’t spend a lot of time with that at this con, but it’s a topic that is very close to my heart. The making of fanzines is the origin of the fandom which I’m proud to be a part of. I wrote about it a few years ago at my former blog.

“Please take off your shoes”.

This was a new one. I looked at the poster on the wall, hesitating for a moment on what to do.

“No shoe removal” is one of the commandments in the Wittertainment Code of Conduct. The code mentions one exception: if you’re in Japan, you can go ahead and take off your shoes. My current geographical position wasn’t Japan, it was Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Japan was in fact a several hour flight away, but it was a great del closer than Sweden. So perhaps the far-east rules could apply anyway? And besides – even if it isn’t mentioned in the code, shouldn’t the first rule for good behaviour at the theatre be that you follow any guidelines given by the ushers?

3 dollar 50 cents per night
I looked at another note, which informed me that the entrance fee was 3,50 dollars for the entire night, including several movies. 3,50 dollars. Where I come from you wouldn’t even get the smallest sized popcorn boxes for that amount. It’s not that surprising though when you think closer about it. Different markets, different rules. If the ticket prices were European, you wouldn’t sell many tickets in Cambodia, if any at all. They take as much as they think they can from the audience, no more, no less.

Chicken nuggets and French fries
The third thing my eyes fell on was a menu. For someone who prefer theatres to be food free zones, the menu looked scary. Chicken nuggets? French fries? Pizza? Curry? If people really brought all that stuff into the theatre, I feared that I had a quite unpleasant ride ahead of me.

As it turned out, it wasn’t as bad as you could think. Perhaps we were just lucky, picking a screening where popcorn was the only thing that was consumed. (Popcorn is annoying too, but I’ve given up fighting them at this point. There’s no escape from it, not in Sweden, nor in Cambodia. They’re what make the wheels of cinema keep spinning. Or from a different point of view: movies are nothing but vehicles for popcorn sales.) Or maybe the ventilation was excellent. In any case I couldn’t sense any lingering smell of food, not even from the empty plates that were carried out from the previous show.

Beds instead of seats
But let’s move along into the screening room. It was a small one, seating approximately 20 people. No IMAX, but with a screen big enough to make it feel like a real theatre rather than as a glorified living room for home movie watching.

What made it stand out however, compared to what I’m used to, was that it didn’t have ordinary seats. It had beds (and a couple of sofas).

The obvious advantage of bed seating is the comfort. It’s basically like watching the film slacking in your favourite couch. I’m fairly short so I could stretch out my legs fully. Perfect for my constitution. I can imagine it’s less than perfect for tall people, who need to wrap up their legs in order not to kick people in the row in front.

Then there is the problem that too much comfort can be a problem when you watch movies. Watching a thriller or a comedy is fine from a horizontal position, but slower movies can be a bit of a challenge. And how intimate do you want to be with the one sitting beside you? There are no physical barriers between you and your neighbour. Fine if you’re a love couple on a date, but a little intimidating if you’re seated by a stranger.

Early releases
Finally I need to say something about the programming. I hadn’t expected Cambodia to be the place to go if you want to see the most recent releases. It’s a small and very poor country about as far as you can get from Europe and North America and you could imagine that it would take some time for movies to reach this market. But in fact it’s the opposite. Most movies seem to open in Cambodia either earlier, or at the same time as they open in Sweden. As an additional bonus they also screen classics, something that is nearly impossible to see on a big screen where I live, unless you join a film club.

Movie theatres in Phnom Penh
Sadly I only managed to make one theatre visit during my three week trip in Cambodia. I ended up at The Flicks, which is run by expat volunteers. There are several other movie theatres in Phnom Penh, among them The Empire, which has a  similar concept, also offering comfortable beds and brand new films mixed up with classics.

If you ever visit Cambodia as a tourist (which I sincerely recommend you to do, it’s as beautiful as it’s heartbreaking), don’t miss to spend at least a night in a cinema. It’s cheap, it’s fun and it’s a movie experience unlike what you get at home.

Ok, I’m not going to lie about this. The woman on the picture isn’t me. It’s someone far more rich, famous and beautiful. However, I’m soon going to have one thing in common with her. Like her I’m going to visit Angkor Wat. And a lot of other beautiful, terrifying and mind bending places. As I’m writing this I’m ten minutes from starting a 30+ hour long journey taking me to Cambodia. I have a couple of posts upcoming during my absence, but apart from that things will be pretty quiet here until I return on March 9. By then I hope to have a lot of stories to share, from Killing Fields to a night at the movies in Phnom Penh. But you won’t hear a word about the Oscars from me. At the point of their announcement I’ll be on an island with no-wi-fi guarantee. There isn’t even electricity.

Until I return to the café: help yourself in the bar for whatever drink that you want.

See you around!

 Jessica