03/14/2008
From the Austin Chronicle:

Cut, Print, Your Turn

SXSW Interactive may end, but some bits keep going, like the Unnamed Exquisite Corpse Movie, which made its sorta, kinds debut.

Taking its inspiration from the old surrealist thought experiment, it brings a new meaning to film-making as a communal experience. Quick skinny: a cast and crew has two weeks to make five minutes of a film. When they're done, they send the last minute of their segment to another cast and crew, and one instruction ("Use something pink." "This actress is pivotal." "There needs to be a fake eyelash.") and see what they come up with. Confused yet? The film makers are betting you won't be by the time it's completed.

"We hope that there will be a through-line, and that there will be a wonderful, watchable movie," said moderator and executive producer Meghan Scibona of Small Media XL. "Actually, we've all watched the first 20 minutes and we're shocked about how well it works as a short."

"It's gone somewhere exciting and interesting," said projected innovator Jason Nunes of Adobe Consulting, "and it's not a mess yet." With four of a planned twenty segments in place, the group plans to send push the experiment as far as possible by getting international collaborators.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tag, You're It!
    An Exquisite Corpse Film Experiment
South by Southwest Joint Interactive/Film panel-Tuesday, March 11 5-6pm

Brooklyn, NY, March 3, 2008 – Tag, You're It! is a project that explores collaborative media creation by applying the rules of the Surrealists’ exquisite corpse game to filmmaking. A panel at SXSW on Tuesday, March 11th from 5-6pm will discuss the project and issues around this kind of collaboration.

Throughout 2008, a diverse group of filmmakers will create a feature film, utilizing the exquisite corpse structure as a mode of collaboration. Each team will create a 4-5 minute segment on film or video. When they are finished they will pass only the last minute of their film to the next team, along with a prop or object featured in their segment, and photographs of all the actors who have appeared in the project. No other information will change hands. The next team must incorporate some or all of these elements into their segment.  Each production team has two weeks to write, cast, shoot, and edit their segment. The final product will be a feature-length film, in which the complete narrative will be revealed for the first time. The final film will be submitted to the 2009 South By Southwest Film Festival.

There will be approximately 20 segments in the film, created by 20 different production teams.  The producers are recruiting participant filmmakers on an ongoing basis.  Segment five began production on March 2nd.  The production teams will span the spectrum of the filmmaking community, and will be diverse in genre, geography, focus, and philosophy. Narrative and documentary directors, conceptual video artists, animators, and internet video content creators will all be enlisted to join in the project.

The Tag, You’re It website - tagfilm.com - tracks the creation of each piece, showcasing behind-the-scenes footage, each segment's final minute, information about the filmmakers, and an on-going production blog.

SXSW Panel:
Tag, You're It! will be kicked off at the 2008 South By Southwest Film/Interactive festival with a panel discussion on March 11th from 5-6 pm.  Panelists will discuss the challenges presented by collaborative story creation. The panel, comprised of the major creative filmmaking positions (director, writer, DP, editor, actor) will discuss the changing rules of content creation, new ways to look at content mashups and their implications. The panel will explore issues of ownership in the world of YouTube, creative control, traditional story structure, and what happens to all of these when they are shattered by an arbitrary set of rules that mandate surrender of control.

Panelists:

Meghan Scibona, Executive Producer,  Small Media Extra Large

Jason Nunes, Senior User Experience Architect,  Adobe Consulting

Scott Solary, Senior Producer, CBS Interactive

Don Downie, Director/ DP, Small Media Extra Large

Stacie Capone, Actress, ScenePartners Cinema

Alison Mao, Editor, Producer, Indecent Exposure Productions

Background of the Exquisite Corpse:
In 1925 the Surrealists invented an art experiment/game called the exquisite corpse, or Le Cadavre Exquis. In it a group of artists collaboratively created artworks. It started as a word game in which each participant would write a phrase, fold the paper to conceal part of it and pass it on to the next player. This process started as a game, and was adopted by the Surrealists and Dadaists as a way to make art.  The participant artist fights against the chaos that the form imposes on her, and tries to make a coherent whole.

About the Producing Company:
Tag! You're It is produced by Small Media Extra Large, a digital movie studio with big ideas for small screens. The company provides comprehensive production services, from concept development and writing - to shooting and editing - to launching and going viral.

SMXL is a new venture founded by four Brooklyn based filmmakers. Meghan Scibona (Director/Executive Producer) is a director, producer and actor whose short films have been selected for various film festivals. She is the producer of Tag! You’re It, produced a feature film which is in post production, and will direct a feature film which is in development. Jason Nunes (Writer/Producer) is a 10+ year veteran of the film/TV universe and an award winning screenwriter, author, and playwright. Two of Jason’s feature film scripts, “Resurrection Men” and “Pursuit of Property” are currently in pre-production. Don Downie (Director/Producer) is a prolific filmmaker who has directed, produced, and / or shot dozens of films, commercials, a TV pilot,  and television segments for the likes of  Saturday Night Live, MTV, Dr. Phil, and PBS. Stacie Capone (Producer/Actress) is the lead actress of record for a significant chunk of NYC's independent film community.  Her producing credits include the television pilot Twenty-Anything, short films for the PROfessional ACTors collectIVE, and an internet series.

For more information visit www.SmallMediaXL.com

You can view Tag! You're It here:
www.tagfilm.com