Nisi Masa is named after the classic film, 8 1/2 by Federico Fellini where Marcello Mastroianni repeats the phrase “Asa Nisi Masa.” This incantation belongs to no specific language and reflects the cinematic and cross-border spirit of the network. It is a non-profit organisation and network of 31 associations in Europe supported by the European Union, the Council of Europe and the European Cultural Foundation. It functions as a platform for discussion and collaboration amongst young filmmakers with the purpose of bringing together new talent and developing cross-cultural audiovisual projects with a focus on European cinema.

There are several projects which fall under the Nisi Masa umbrella including Bright Young Screens, a six-day conference which deals with perspectives on large film events and screenings and Generator which functions as a youth audiovisual forum amongst other projects.

Nisi Masa also organises workshops, conferences, and seminars in addition to promoting opportunities, short films, editing publications, and producing a magazine.

To get involved or learn more about Nisi Masa, see their website.

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Before making films and animation I was obsessed with drawing detail. My art teacher at secondary school, Mrs Livingston, wasn’t sure about me making animation, suggesting illustration. She was cool by the way, and very supportive, but for some reason making things move seemed like the hardest and possibly most rewarding artistic thing to do, for me.

2 years later – Princes St Gardens.
I’ve started studying animation at the Edinburgh College of Art & I’m sitting cross-legged with an A3 sketchbook open with a uni-ball fine liner .05 black pen drawing the Scott Monument. I’m finding the idea of drawing in public quite frightening, as generally I’m a pretty quiet guy. A couple of hours have passed and I’m starting from top to bottom, trying to concentrate as best I can. It’s getting dark, so I pack up and leave unfinished.

Thinking about it a lot, I go back continuously when I can to try and finish this picture I’m becoming very attached to. I sit in the same place, and find drawing increasingly difficult as people seem to want to chat to me quite a lot. Finally I finish it, tallying up the hours in my head to around 13 (partially due to distractions you see). Suddenly, I look up at the monument as a seagull swoops down above me. It passes then suddenly shits on my picture. The disappointment is intense.

At this point I was trying to get over my singular drawing thing, and it was actually a good thing that the shit fell from the sky and landed on this one.

This links to other stuff by the way.

What I realised was that the process was the bit I enjoyed about art, and yeah it was a shame to have a bird shit on it, but I could photoshop it out.

In my last year of ECA we were to make a short film, so with limited experience of doing so I decided I wanted to make a film about me struggling to make a film with a difficult (animated) bird character. This film would allow me to work with a process and use it as its subject matter, but play with it and mould it into something interesting and surprising (hopefully).

The Making of Longbird -
The weird thing was that this film starting screening at festivals and people liked it. It was a surprise, but it became a valuable thing to have to show that I could make animation, write a story, and film some live-action. This time I had something at the end of it though. The bird in the film tried to shit on it, but I wouldn’t let him this time.

Since then I’ve been working making animation, writing and directing as much as possible. I regularly make work with Ainslie Henderson under Whiterobot. Here we make online videos, write and direct things, and do commercial work sometimes together, sometimes individually. Sometimes there are seagulls…
We recently finished our new short film ‘Monkey Love Experiments’ run by Digicult & Hopscotch films as part of the Scottish Shorts scheme
funded by Creative Scotland. It has some upcoming screenings at Ottawa International Animation Festival in September, and Encounters down in Britsol also (with others to follow soon).

Day to day I have a studio where I work at Summerhall in Edinburgh. You’ll see me there kicking about.

I’m glad that bird shit from the sky.

This video was originally posted on Art in Scotland TV, which is a contemporary arts-news site run by the Summerhall TV team.

For more about Will Anderson, read about his winning 9.88 film entry here.

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Artist profiles delve into the psyche of the artist talking about daily life, inspiration & art. Read more profiles here. 

Interested in writing one? Contact us

121 members of the public whose film clips were featured in Scotland’s micro-budget crowdsourced documentary We Are Northern Lights (WANL) are to share more than a co-director credit when the film is released online next week.

WANL has teamed up with online film distribution company Distrify to enable each of the co-directors to receive 25% of the price of each view when the film is released online. The co-directors are also in the running to share the laurels if We Are Northern Lights wins the Bafta Scotland Audience Award in November 2013.

BAFTA Scotland Cineworld Audience Award Launch

As one of this year’s eight nominated films, We Are Northern Lights will tour Cineworld multiplexes in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen from Sunday 20 to Tuesday 29 October. Members of the public can vote online for their favourite film at www.cineworld.co.uk/baftascotland from 20 October.

We Are Northern Lights was the first ever Scottish documentary film to receive cinema distribution from the Cineworld multiplex in May this year and has had over 200 screenings in Scotland since the film’s premiere at the Glasgow Film Festival in February. The online release will make it possible for people anywhere to watch the film on their computers or smart phones.

Scottish-based company Distrify are pioneering an innovative form of online digital film distribution, allowing anyone to share a link to a film trailer and shop from any social media platform, including twitter and Facebook. If a sale results, a percentage of the the fee is shared with the individual who directed the viewer to the film. So far their system has been successful for releases in the USA and India but Scottish films have yet to fully take advantage of the technology.

Some of the 121 co-directors at the We Are Northern Lights premiere

We Are Northern Lights asked the people of Scotland to asked to record and submit for selection their own personal videos on Scotland’s past, present and future to collaborate in the creation of a unique, feature length documentary film. 55 workshops took place up and down the country to encourage participation from all section of the community. Over 1500 submissions were received. The resulting 300 hours plus of footage took five months to edit into a 98-minute feature, with Nick working alongside the highly experienced film editor Colin Monie (Midnight’s Children, Neds). The film premiered on 16 February at Glasgow Film Festival.

Creative Director, Nick Higgins (above), said: “The whole Northern Lights story is incredible; firstly, just the fact that the Scottish public responded with so much footage and then, that they came to see the film in the cinema – and now we are delighted to have a chance to win a BAFTA.

“In light of this success I was keen to try and find a way to share any potential commercial success of the film with the people who helped make the film possible. Distrify are a unique Scottish company at the cutting edge of digital distribution and their technology makes it possible for our co-directors not only to help us distribute the film online but to gain financially from its success. In fact all our contributors can share in this scheme and so I believe the very manner of our digital release is completely in keeping with the collaborative and participatory ethos of the whole project, and even the fact that the BAFTA is decided by a public vote seems incredibly fitting for what many have decribed as ‘the people’s home movie’.”

Andy Green, Chief Operating Officer of Distrify, said: “We Are Northern Lights is the perfect film to take advantage of our technology. Such an innovative project with such a strong following on social media looks set to make a success of the opportunities digital distribution offers.”

Nick was recently appointed as Professor of Media Practice and Director of the University of the West of Scotland’s Creative Media Academy. He said: “Digital technology both in terms of cameras, including those on mobile phones, cinema projection and now digital distribution has created incredible opportunities for young people coming into the creative industries. As a Professor of Media Practice I hope to lead by example and to share what we learn with students and colleagues at the University of the West of Scotland’s innovative Creative Media Academy.”

Read this Q&A on Central Station with Nick Higgins about We Are Northern Lights.

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Our workspace is the harsh and breathtaking nature of the Faroe Islands – a group of islands 62°N. This remote place in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean provides the backdrop for all our films.

We work spontaneously on location whilst filming, this gives us the ability to interpret the landscape through the movements and the costumes.

We are currently working on a series of 8 experimental shortfilms called The Cycle. The films are shot on super8 – this archaic format create a timeless and mysterious quality.

Fragmented stories are unraveled in these open and vast spaces, enhanced by the uncontrollable and extreme weather conditions that are an important character in all the films.

Deprived from dialogues and narratives, the repetitive patters of movements, costumes, music, landscapes and other components create an intriguing atmosphere that takes the viewer to a surreal and haunting universe.

You can find more about Rammatik here.

Stills from the films:

Photos by Katrin Svabo Bech

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‘Where I Make’ invites readers behind the scenes of artists from many disciplines to share photographs and a little insight about where they create their masterpieces. See more from the series here.

Write, Shoot, Cut is a blog for people interested in short filmmaking, independent feature films and carving out a career in the movies. Curated by Edinburgh based scriptwriter, Neil Rolland, the site showcases short and independent films and the people behind them as well as having interesting interviews and features that aims to encourage and inspire.

The latest short featured on Write, Shoot, Cut is a film by Lee Hardcastle. It’s a Pingu remake of John Carpenter masterpiece THE THING. Enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToCq_c3wOM8&feature=player_embedded#!

Short Film #12 – Pingu’s THE THING (2012) Lee Hardcastle

Visit Write, Shoot, Cut here. Now.

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I’m going to get to my first five jobs in a minute, but would like to explain that my job title ‘urban crofter’ is due to the fact that I currently do around 5 jobs (paid and unpaid). My main employment is producing films for the company I run with my husband, as well as freelancing for others. However I am also: co-founder of a drug law reform charity ‘TDPF Scotland’ that campaigns for the regulation and control of all drugs, in a band, a volunteer for the architectural charity Skirmishes, a founder member of the Garnethill Woman’s Institute, and I blog about creative life in the east end of Glasgow. Oh, and I have 2 wee kids that are around most of the time too.

So I am very lucky to be able to lead this varied and interesting life, but how did it end up like this?

My first five jobs:

1) Fiddle player in ceilidh bands: From the age of 13 I spent my weekends in pubs and village halls earning good money while my friends hung out at youth club. This financially sustained me right through university too. The experience of mixing with interesting folk from an early age really helped set me up for lots of the things I’ve gone on to do since.

2) Work experience at Wark Clements Production Company
In my 3rd year at university Alan Clements (Mr Kirsty Wark) came to speak at my history department and I decided that TV production sounded interesting. I’ve never been a big TV watcher, and now (shhhhh) we don’t even have a TV, but I do love the detailed research, hitting deadlines, working with people, story telling etc involved in production. I never did work for them afterwards, but it was a great start to my CV.

3) My second job in television was as a presenter at Grampian TV. I am VERY thankful that there is no evidence of this on youtube or similar. Despite my outgoing personality, I was the worst presenter ever, but it was a great training ground: low budgets meant we had to research, write scripts, direct and present, and I went on to get loads of interesting freelance work over the next few years. AND I met my lovely husband in Aberdeen – what more could I ask for from a job?

4) Having my children / getting older. OK, not a job exactly, but key to how I live my life now. Having the girls forced me to get off the treadmill and find a new way of making things work so as to allow me to spend time with them, but also keep myself connected, fulfilled and earning a living. And getting older….. now that I’m in my 30s I just feel more sorted, confident, sure of my strengths and less worried in general than I was in my 20s. This allows me to try things / suggest things and just go for it.

5) The influence of those around me. So again, this isn’t a job but in a sense it’s much more important to what I’m doing than listing the various jobs I’ve done in the past. I think getting out there and mixing with people is the best way to keep motivated and inspired, and to find out what you really want to be doing. Glasgow is an amazing city for creative and interesting happenings and people so it’s really easy. Bruce Newlands (of Kraft Architecture) and all the other talented people involved with Skirmishes; and of course all the lovely ladies who come to the Garnethill Women’s Institute are just two examples of inspiring and uplifting activities in our fair city.

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We’ve asked professionals in creative industries what jobs they have had in the past to get their foot through the door (or at least pay the rent). For more in the “My First 5 Jobs” series look here.

Edinburgh is today basking in glorious sunshine and all across the city people in sunglasses are busying about, many with bright red festival passes hanging around their necks. The Central Station team has arrived in the city and we’ve taken over part of the Novotel Hotel on Lauriston Place along with Digicult who are hosting a whole day of workshops on filmmaking as part of Edinburgh International Film Festival. There’s lots of activity going on in the Central Station ‘Hub’ as young filmmakers pop in and out of the various events. If you’re in the city make sure you come and say hello and we can tell you why Central Station is such a great place for creatives (and that includes filmmakers too).

At the moment we’re all preparing for Sound:Image:Art which is happening tonight – it’s the culmination of one of Central Station’s biggest collaborative projects and we’re all pretty excited. It’s a free event too – come to the hub to find out more and get yourself a ticket or pick one up from the festival box office in the Filmhouse on Lothian Road. We’ll see you there!

I grew up glued to the TV, particularly American cartoons funded by toy manufacturers to flog their products, and playing a lot of video games that didn’t do me any harm. However, cinema was, and will always be, my first love.

Our local cinema was the mythical ABC Muirend Cinema. Designed by William Bereseford Inglis in 1933, the building exterior replicated a Spanish style hacienda while inside the auditorium had lots of Flamenco style motifs, such as balconies, amber lanterns and images of matadors painted on tiles dotted along the stairwells. Looking back as I write this, Muirend Cinema seems a bizarre prophecy of my future; I studied Spanish at Glasgow University and somehow I’ve ended up working for Glasgow Film Theatre as Learning Projects Coordinator for Young People. The range of the films it offered were the standard box office fare but I relished them all regardless. My seminal movie moments included watching Jurassic Park on the opening weekend, my mum convincing the box office grump that I was old enough to watch The Man Without A Face and stuffing my face with the cheaper sweets bought next door in Safeways to the bombast of Independence Day.

Sadly like a lot of old cinemas in Glasgow, ABC Muirend shut down in 2001 due to shrinking audiences that preferred the industrial comfort of a multiplex and the cost of maintaining a building that was well past its prime. Each time I pass it, I can’t help feel a wave of sadness for an important community relic that now functions as luxury apartments for a select few. My memories of Muirend remain but families in the Southside of Glasgow have to travel elsewhere these days for their cinematic outings.

Hopefully some of these families come to the GFT for our free Take 2 family screenings which screen every Saturday morning. I try to programme a range of films that appeal to a wide audience while sneaking in a few classic and foreign gems, like The Boy From Mercury, Mr Hulot’s Holiday and The Belles of St. Trinian’s. Unfortunately a lack of distribution of foreign titles for children and availability of prints makes screening non-Hollywood films a lot harder than it should be.

Although 41% of 15-24 year olds visit the cinema once a month* and are exposed to moving images on a daily basis, young people are often the least catered to by art house cinemas. More often than not, they tend to select films that appeal to older audiences with their youth remit left solely to ‘parent and baby’ screenings. Consequently, children and young adults miss out on the wealth of different contemporary perspectives offered by world cinema and so remain quite happy to settle for whatever is showing at their local Cineworld.

This isn’t helped by the fact that moving image education still struggles to be implemented across schools in the UK. Despite repeated efforts, teachers cite a lack of resources and adequate training to properly implement film into the classroom. As a result, DVDs can often become a babysitter for pupils rather than a key part of their cultural development and awareness. It remains to be seen whether the ambitions of 21st Century Literacy, a consortium set up by the UK Film Council and Film Education among others, can be achieved.

In response to these issues, GFT Learning set up the Glasgow Youth Film Festival to offer young people a chance to help devise, promote and run their own film festival. Programmed by a worryingly cool bunch of teenagers, GYFF aims to reach out to young Glaswegians through their love of movies while supporting their talents and aspirations. This year almost 7,000 young people attended GYFF events; it was such a refreshing sight to see so many young faces in our cinemas. (Previously, members of our Youth Group told me that they felt unwelcome by older GFT patrons who thought they’d only talk throughout the film.) The response we had was overwhelming and encouraging enough to safely say that there’s a youth audience in Glasgow interested in films from around the globe.

Over the next few years for GYFF, I hope to increase the opportunities for young people to talk to people who work in the moving image industries – not just directors or actors but writers, graphic designers, animators and editors who all make a living from their passion for film, TV and video games. Like the rest of the arts, the film industry remains horribly white and middle class, in spite of the occasional tokenistic scheme for individuals from underrepresented backgrounds. Anyone who aspires to work in this industry is expected to intern for free or live off small bursaries. I had to do this for almost 2 years and I doubt that it will change anytime soon, no matter how legally grey internships appear.

There’s more to young movie fans than a lucrative demographic to market blockbusters to. Exhibitors, distributors, not to mention teachers, should encourage young people to look at moving image in a reflective and creative way rather than be passive observers that we often assume them to be. Thankfully youth film festivals such as GYFF, Discovery and Future Film, alongside the exciting developments promised by 8 1/2 Foundation, demonstrate the growing commitment to future generations of cinemagoers. With the falling costs of HD technology and the increasing ease of distributing films online, I’m hopeful that all young people will continue to be inspired by the flickering images around them – from the glow of a TV, the hum of a projector or even the hypnotic whirl of your mum’s dirty washing.

*According to UK Film Council’s 2009 Statistics Handbook

Images of ABC Muirend taken from Scottish Cinemas site