YOU MAY NOW REMOVE THE BLINDFOLDGet ready, set... and they’re off! From horses at the 161st Grand National to the launch of the city’s year-long cultural smörgåsbord, the tipping point has most definitely been reached following a five-year cable car climb to the top of Mount An-ticipation. So grab a sack, choose your lane and hurl yourself down the Astroglide that is 2008 as we navigate the peaks, the troughs, the fast bits and sudden stops.

Keep an eye out for our exclusive 08 Big Screen Commissions staggered throughout the year, a mix of film, video, performance, interactive works and other suprises. The first - Beneath a Cloud-less Sky - launches in time for May Bank Holiday weekend and involves a colourful collaboration with The Liverpool School of Architecture. Soon after the city streets will be infested with outsized insects, clambering across the screen itself to herald the arrival of Sizemology. Are we pulling your leg? Can you spare one and will it grow back if we do? You’ll have to wait to find out.

Elsewhere we’ve had a rash of dancing in the streets, from global showcase moves to the flash-mob outbreaks of Guerilla Dance. Even Her Royal Oddness Queen Yoko of the Plastic Ono Band dropped by for a typically kooky twirl!

SCREENZINE

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IN THE AVENUES &

ALLEYWAYS

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ContentsOpen Culture 2 Movement on Screen 3Alt Valley Vision 4Pocket Pictures 4Grand National 5 Guerilla Dance 5 Yoko Ono 6Frozen Waves 7Double Dutch 8BBC Bus 8School Report 8Holocaust Memorial Day 8

APPENDIX A

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OPEN CULTURE: MY THOUGHT MY CITYOpen Culture is a collaborative project between the International Centre for Digital Content (ICDC) at Liverpool John Moores University and an alliance of local media including the Liverpool Echo and Daily Post, BBC Radio Merseyside and Radio City.

Led by Professor Phil Redmond and supported by the Liverpool Culture Company, it has three direct aims: to open a cultural conversation with, by and about the people of Liverpool and its region to explore who, what and where they come from; to open up new cultural avenues through which new talent can be encouraged and a cultural legacy will be left beyond 2008; and to open access to existing institutions by encouraging them to find innovative ways to reach new audiences.

My Thought My City is a frequent video series spread across the year, voicing the fervent opinions of citizens, workers, arts practitioners, celebrities and everyday folk of the city - eventually filling the entire screen.

To date these have included Phil Redmond (Mer-sey TV: Hollyoaks, Grange Hill, Brookside), Eton Road (The X Factor), Roger Phillips (BBC Radio Merseyside), Pete Price (Radio City), Tina Malone (Shameless), Young KOF (Urbeatz), Claire Sweeney (Brookside, Chicago, Celebrity Big Brother), Vasily Petrenko (Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Or-chestra), Neville Skelly (musician), Neil Fitz-maurice (Phoenix Nights, Peep Show), Andrew Lancel (The Bill, Bad Girls) and Leanne Campbell (Juice FM). Content can also be viewed online at http://open.culture.org and every day on Sky Chan-nel 167.

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MOVEMENT ON SCREEN North West-based moves is the largest exhibition platform in the UK in the form of dance films, interac-tive installations, animation, videogames and experimental shorts at international level. In January we hosted the touring arm of last year’s festival, moves07, easing our schedules into a pair of bewitched ballet pumps to coincide with British Dance: Edition 2008. Taking place once every two years in a different city in the UK, British Dance: Edition is one of the foremost events in the dance calendar. A prestigious showcase, the four day event provides an opportunity for selected British dance companies and independent dance artists to present their work.

Hundreds of national and international programmers visited Liverpool in search of inspiring British work to take to their own audiences, with the screen offering a rolling programme throughout the day and night. Just a few months later and in April moves08 was ripe for plucking, with a new, innovative line-up that bundles little Billy Elliot to a punishing reformatory; replacing stereotypes and sagging tights with fresh, sexy, brooding, stylised and always painstakingly accomplished work.

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POCKET PICTURESICDC swung another bottle of adult pop against our steel rivets in christening not one but TWO interactive applications focussed upon community generated content in the same period. Pocket Pictures is a moblogging project in which local groups produce creative content using mobile phones. Still images generated by Powerhouse Foyer, Liverpool Arabic Arts Centre and the Greenhouse Project populate a database of snaps that appear in a random, updated sequence in the form of miniature polaroids, bobbing and drift-ing upon a live camera feed at the screen. Pedes-trian movement casues the images to swell and expand, so if you were to reach out and grab or wave at a chosen image, after a few seconds it would ‘pop open’ as a larger version for view-ing before shrinking back to join its jealous pals. Pocket Pictures is part of the ICDC Digital Inclu-sion Programme designed to encourage diverse take-up of new technologies to build confidence, create content, enhance skills and encourage self-expression.

ALT VALLEY VISIONBut wait! There’s still more! Alt Valley Vision is a community web project for residents of the Nor-ris Green, Warbreck, Clubmoor, Croxteth, Fazakerley and County areas of Liverpool. The main aim of the project is to develop compelling, entertaining rich media content with the local community, with organisations and residents of all ages receiving training and support in creating video diaries, short films, animation, and websites. The developers in the ICDC attic drew the curtain upon their sole window to plunge into a cold, code bath and emerge with their latest incar-nation of the video jukebox, further enhanced and polished. Short films sit in the top half of the screen upon a scrolling carousel, with observers able to step into a controlled zone to direct the movement - left again, left, missed it, go right - ul-timately selecting a clip of their choice via waving an arm (or indeed any limb). The film then plays with audio at full screen size, proudly naming the title and creators across an attached information bar.

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JOHN SMITH’S GRAND NATIONALHeld over three days in April the world’s biggest horse race occurs at Aintree Racecourse, Liv-erpool, culminating on the Saturday afternoon at 4.15pm with the heart-stopping Grand National. Celebrating the 161st running since 1839, over 600 million viewers across the globe tune in to watch the 40-strong field tackle 30 fences, with pound sterling, dollars, euros, rouble and yen riding on the result. Passionately attended by Merseyside residents, Friday’s Ladies Day has become the ninth wonder of the world, splashed across news-papers and TV screens as for one day, thousands of wage-slave Cinderellas blow the overdraft and step out in a dazzling array of outfits, shoes and accessories... but never any sensible coats! Time stood still at the screen during the big race itself when over 2,000 viewers packed Clayton Square to cheer on their office sweepstake, be it the race favourite or a no-hope nag. Congratulations to winner Comply or Die!

GUERILLA DANCEAs part of their continued coverage of the year-long activities in this, the European Capital of Cul-ture, BBC2’s The Culture Show staged a series of their own secret, candid camera dance events on the streets of Liverpool. The results of these lo-fi guerrilla performances included a shopping-mall mass waltz in the Met Quarter, hip hop street sweepers in Williamson Square, suited com-muters dancing in Lime Street Station and a rival urban crew dance-off to the astonishment of shoppers upon Church Street. The highlight for the Big Screen involved local competitive dancers Ja-mie McLachlan and Philippa Amer, who took to Clayton Square to perform a gravity-defying quickstep on four occasions during the afternoon shoot. We used our screen camera to broadcast the action live, with footage subsequently cut into the final edit alongside material from cameras at street level. Startled Fiorentina football fans, visiting the city to attend their UEFA Cup match against Everton, became caught up in this display of fancy footwork of an entirely different kind, break-ing into applause for each graceful glide upon the tarmac.

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A BIT OF A

FLUTTER

STRICTLY COME

PRANCING

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YOKO ONO Forty-one years after her first ever paid UK public performance, Mrs John Lennon, the artist Yoko Ono returned to the historic Bluecoat arts space fol-lowing a £12.5 million restoration pro-ject. Peforming as part of the goup exhi-bition Now Then, celebrating the history of the venue, the instant sell-out was relayed in a live and exclusive simul-cast to the Big Screen where hundreds more gathered to view this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, never sure of what the 75-year-old doyenne of the avant-garde might deliver next. In 1967 she had invited the audience to ‘fly’ from the top of step ladder, wrap her in bandages and handed out shards of a broken vase. In 2008 there were more bandages, film projection, knit-ting, light aerobics, flashlights, peace, love and a ‘Yoko Disco’ reminiscent of tipsy relatives at a wedding reception. Bravo Yoko!

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FROZEN WAVES Curated by Michelle Cotton and Sylvia Kouvali, Fro-zen Waves is a series of newly commissioned video art for Yama, a public art programme hosted upon an outdoor screen on the roof of the Marmara Pera Hotel in the centre of Istanbul. Titled after a chapter in Yevgeny Zamyatin’s 1937 dystopian novel, We, Frozen Waves, the five invited artists employ visual and textual codes familiar from the language of commerce and the information economy. These include Babak Ghazi with choose1.jpg, referencing Katherine Hamnet’s iconic political t-shirts and of course, the era-defining FRANKIE SAYS RELAX! and the retinal assault of Mustafa Hulusi’s bold, dizzying, stop-and stare graphics. Fragments of conversations are clipped from their sources and instead fed into an endless

digital knot, reminscent of budget-price LED strips had they been melted down and repurposed for Paul Snowden’s IN THE FUTURE. Mark Titch-ner’s Nope pauses for thought with his heavily styl-isted block text, exploring the relationship between word and action. With undertones of visual hypno-sis and subliminal communication, the latent power inherent within the written word begins to surface. And clincher of the most fabulous title of the year award without any doubt goes to Eva Weinmayr for We Are Racing to God Aligning With the Shipwrecks by the Blue Galaxies (Well, Well Do Not Exaggerate!), apparently sourced after toying with the title of German pop song Hey, Captain Starlight into the online Babelfish translation engine. Here the artist mouths a silent, impossible warning to observers with increasing urgency, unable to communicate, a prophecy lost in the telling.

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TURKISH

DELIGHTS

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DOUBLE DUTCH SKIPPINGThe British Double Dutch Skipping Team held a demonstration at the screen to encourage more newcomers to this ankle-wrapping pursuit. Due to feature for the first time as an exhibition sport at the London 2012 Olympics, the forming of six local teams are anticipated. Current world champions Japan will be challenging our home-grown talent at the Brouhaha Festival in the city later this year!

HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAYTeenagers at Kensington based Yellow House linked up with a group of young people in Krakow, Poland, to visit the death camp at Auschwitz to-gether. Participants recorded video diaries for the BBC Video Nation project and Big Screen incor-porating photographs of their journey. Further art-work, poetry and banners were displayed at St Luke’s Church in the city centre - a wartime ruin now used as a peace garden and exhibition space.

BBC NEWS SCHOOL REPORTA project that gives 12 and 13-year-olds from UK schools the chance to make their own video, audio or text-based news at school and to broadcast it for real across television, radio, online, red-button and the Big Screens. This year the central base for the national transmission was at Bosco City Learning Centre, Croxteth, with many more local schools participating across Liverpool, Knowsley, Wirral, Runcorn and Widnes.

BBC MERSEYSIDE BUS Our award-winning BBC Merseyside Bus has sadly been decomissioned as part of funding cuts to hit the BBC. Having proved invaluable in the wider inclusion of all communities, regardless of age, creed, colour or diversity, it was therefore fit-ting that it should provide one last bundle of inspi-rational content generated en-route across the re-gion. Have mercy, sings Welsh songstress Duffy. Alas, too late.

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CONTACT INFORMATIONGot a question? Get in touch!

Bren O’Callaghan BBC Live Events Big Screen Manager Liverpool

Address: BBC Merseyside 31 College Lane Liverpool L1 3DS

Telephone: +44 151 794 0982

email: bren.ocallaghan (at) bbc.co.ukor bigscreenliverpool (at) bbc.co.uk

to submit city diary and listings information

visit us online at www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool www.bbc.co.uk/bigscreens

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IMAGES1. Philippa Amer and Jamie McLachlan for BBC Guerilla Dance 2. Open Culture - Eton Road 3. Double Dutch Skipping British Team 4. ICDC: Pocket Pictures 5. (clockwise, from top left) A. P. A. A. I, Este Si-lencio, A_Way_Away, Harmonics 6. (clockwise, from top left) Out Of The Weeping Web, Defaced, Tea Time, Wake Up 7. (clockwise, from top left) Mark Titchner, Babak Ghazi, Eva Weinmayr (x2), Mustafa Hulusi (x2), Paul Snowden.

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The Plymouth screen got off to a flying start in August with the opening ceremony of the Beijing

Olympics. Installation delays and last minute technical hitches meant the screen went live without a

full technical shake-down period. Thankfully, day-to-day operations have been relatively problem

free since the launch.

Widespread publicity on regional television, BBC Radio Devon, the BBC Devon website and in the

local newspapers, combined with sunny weather, helped build a substantial crowd for the opening

ceremony - including a large contingent from Plymouth’s Chinese community.

They watched the proceedings from the front two rows waving their Chinese flags and cheering at

key moments. It was a disappointment that when the Beijing ceremony overran, scheduling glitches

meant we were unable to show the final moments on screen.

Overall there was some very good feedback

from the public, The Plymouth Evening Herald

ran a very positive story the next day including

some vox-pops with members of the audience

praising Plymouth’s new screen.

We learnt some valuable lessons from the

experience and in future important sporting

events will always be shown in full-screen

format.

Our partners at the Plymouth City Centre Company pulled out all the stops to create an Olympic

experience in The Piazza, with seating for 200, together with a variety of catering outlets. Sadly the

August weather wasn’t kind to us and this significantly reduced the number of people watching the

action from Beijing. However on days when the weather was dry, the screen proved to be a big

draw.

Crowds peaked on the final Saturday when Plymouth’s own teenage diving prodigy appeared in the

men’s final. Hundreds of people were riveted by the unfolding drama, cheering loudly every time

their local hero appeared on screen. It was clear many people had come down to the city centre to

watch Tom compete as part of a communal activity and showed the potential of the live site.

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Interestingly the screen also proved popular with television, radio and newspaper journalists who

were guaranteed an easy source of vox-pops from the watching crowds.

The screen’s debut week coincided with the Flavour Fest food festival, one of the biggest events in

Plymouth’s annual calendar. Again, the catering and seating arrangements beneath the screen

created a perfect venue for people wanting to chill out and relax. The screen provided on-screen

pointers to daily cookery demonstrations and a photo montage using the festival branding - this

helped to make the screen feel part of the event. In future years and with more experience under

our belt, we hope to build on this relationship with some more creative programming.

From day one the Plymouth screen has been

running a full schedule of local film and video

content with more than 70 items appearing in

the local playlist during the first two months.

A wealth of high quality material has been

submitted by a wide range of organisations

including Plymouth University, Plymouth College

of Art, Exeter Phoenix, Motion Plymouth, the

South West Film & Television Archive and

Scope.

Plymouth in particular has a very strong visual arts community and early indications suggest there

won’t be a shortage of compelling visually engaging material for the screen.

We’ve already been exploring ways to work more closely with local media and arts students and

other organisations in the wider arts community. Both the university and college of art are planning

to include commissions for the screen as part of student course work and the regional Arts Council is

very keen to explore ways of bringing interactive commissions to Plymouth city centre.

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The big screen has formed a successful partnership with University College Marjons, through a

project based work placement scheme. We now have a small group of five media students available

to work on event coverage. With two events under their belt, the students have proved to be very

enthusiastic and capable in operating the live cameras and I’m sure we can look forward to better

things as they gain experience.

The first true test of the screen’s event capability came towards the end of August at the Beijing

closing ceremony and handover. Unfortunately a software bug, affecting all Locog’s new screens,

played havoc with our plans to use live cameras.

However crowds turned out in force to watch the spectacle and were treated to a live performance

of a specially choreographed dance routine and music from the Plymouth Pipe Band. As the Olympic

flag was raised by the Lord Mayor, the crowd joined forces to make two minutes of noise.

September saw three more events working closely with the screen, two of which saw the overhead

camera come into its own. Once again The Piazza was turned into a dance arena for the launch of

the Cultural Olympiad.

Fifty dancers, ranging in age from 18 to 92, performed a routine based on the human pulse - creating

a spectacle of movement and colour that attracted a big crowd. The event demonstrated how live

cameras can add a new dimension for the audience, with the screen showing close-ups and a

captivating overhead view looking down on The Piazza. Feedback from Dance South West and the

regional Arts Council has been extremely positive.

As part of the BBC’s Losing It and Headroom campaigns, BBC Radio Devon organised a lunchtime Tai

Chi event, encouraging shoppers and business people to spend a few minutes winding down.

The screen also worked with the organisers of the Hidden Cities Festival to programme a series of

specially commissioned video pieces exploring some of Plymouth’s lesser known buildings. These

videos were programmed to run at regular intervals throughout the festival.

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Freshers week at the University Of Plymouth saw a lot of activity across the city and the screen was

keen to get involved. We programmed a series of 12 short films focussing on the lives of students in

the city. These were on a high rotation during the week that new students were finding their feet.

Although it’s still early days in the life of the Plymouth big screen, event organisers and art

practitioners across the city have been quick to spot its potential.

Eight events are already pencilled in to use the

screen between October and the end of the

year. The winter schedule to date includes a Tri-

Parks art installation, Plymouth Respect Festival,

Plymouth Olympic Parade, Fish Music, Motion

Plymouth, Remembrance Day, Christmas Lights

switch-on/Children in Need and an

Interdenominational Christmas Service.

There’s also some positive news for the spring.

A small group of film enthusiasts, led by Anna

Navas at the Plymouth Arts Centre, is investigating ways of bringing family friendly feature films to

the screen.

One suggestion actively being pursued, is programming a short season of feel-good musicals in sing-

a-long versions.

Kevin Heathorn

Plymouth Screen Producer

October 2008

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