The Filmtrip Blog

CORE FACTS

• [in]visible belfast is an alternate reality game set in and around Belfast, engaging players with written literature, narrated and media events online, and actual performances and live events.
• [in]visible belfast will run from 12th May until 19th June
• [in]visible belfast running as part of this year’s Belfast Book Festival taking place in June
• [in]visible belfast’s narrative follows an inner world of Ciaran Carson, an imaginative, spatial history of Belfast
• [in]visible belfast players reveal the invisible city, and in the city, the universe by engaging with both the story and its digital and location-based puzzles
• Register at http://www.invisiblebelfast.com to play the game & follow the game on Twitter @visiblebelfast

NEWS RELEASE

[in]visible belfast, is a game in which, guided and dared by an anonymous author who leaves clues and orchestrates puzzles throughout the city, the main character Ana and game-players are drawn deeper and deeper into the internal labyrinth of Belfast.

Joined by a young writer named Meri and a helpful artist named Jack, Ana attempts to solve the mystery to discover what lies at the heart of the city of Belfast.

This is a form of alternate reality game (ARG), one that immersively draws players into the multilayered realities of the city, engaging them with written literature, narrated and media events online, and actual performances and live events.

The narrative of [in]visible belfast follows an inner world of Ciaran Carson, an imaginative, spatial history of Belfast, in combining pieces of many works of literature into a multifacted whole.

Great voices of literary history mingle with the voices of characters, all of whom communicate with players in a multitude of ways, by engaging with both the story and the digital and location-based puzzles.

Players will build a dynamic and personal history of Belfast in a new form. In the game, players reveal the invisible city, and in the city, the universe.

[in]visible belfast is a project by Danielle Barrios (English Literature) and Alan Hook (Interactive Media Arts) at the University of Ulster, and is currently supported by that university, as well as Queens University through the Queens Quarter Weekends events programme, the Crescent Arts Centre and its Belfast Book Festival, in collaboration with cross-platform Belfast production company Filmtrip Ltd. The game will run from 12 May to 19 June 2011.

To register, visit http://www.invisiblebelfast.com.

QUOTES

Danielle Barrios, Game & Event Writer, said,“It will be exciting to learn about Belfast through the eyes of its players, to see what might have been invisible to us as well. This isn’t about telling the story we want to tell, but rather a challenge to draw a narrative from the city itself, from the people who make it what it is. We’re looking forward to being a conduit for what we hope are some very unique literary experiences.”

Alan Hook, Game Designer, University Of Ulster, said “Developing [in]visible belfast has been a great way to work collaboratively with some really amazing practitioners, writers, producers and venues on a really engaging rich and dispersed narrative. This has been a way to work in innovative ways with lots of different media forms to create what will be an amazing 5 weeks of play and story across the city and the Internet.”

Gawain Morrison, Producer - Filmtrip Ltd, said, “As book publishers, newspapers and writers embrace the world of new technologies a number of different ways to consume literature, and to have deeper levels of engagement, literature lovers are being offered a whole new way to engage with books & writers.  It’s great to have such a dedicated & creative team working on this game, and being able to run it as part of Belfast Book Week is just perfect. To be able to use this kind of gameplay to engage a new audience with literature, especially literature from N.Ireland is exciting.”

SUPPORTED BY

[in]visible belfast is supported by:
- University of Ulster [For logos : http://caid.ulster.ac.uk/universityofulsterlogos.html]
- Queens Quarter Weekend [For logos : http://www.qub.ac.uk/home/ceao/]
- Northern Ireland Tourist Board [For logos : http://www.nitb.com/CategoryPage.aspx?path=b019d219-34a1-48eb-8e21-900525c4e543]
- Arts Council Northern Ireland [For logos : http://www.artscouncil-ni.org/logo/index.htm]
- Belfast City Council [For logos : http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/brand/index.asp]
- Belfast Book Festival [For logos : http://www.crescentarts.org/]
- Crescent Arts Centre [For logos : http://www.crescentarts.org/]

MEDIA

Video ::

Video 1 : The [in]visible belfast promo video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B9zlB0IK24&feature=player_embedded

Images ::

Image 1: [in]visible belfast logo with black background
• High resolution version: http://www.flickr.com/photos/filmtrip/5689995489/sizes/l/in/photostream/
• Web resolution version: http://www.flickr.com/photos/filmtrip/5689995489/sizes/s/in/photostream/

Image 2: [in]visible belfast logo with white background
• High resolution version: http://www.flickr.com/photos/filmtrip/5690570510/sizes/l/in/photostream/
• Web resolution version: http://www.flickr.com/photos/filmtrip/5690570510/sizes/s/in/photostream/

Image 3: Filmtrip logo
• High resolution version: http://www.flickr.com/photos/filmtrip/5690586964/sizes/l/in/photostream/
• Web resolution version: http://www.flickr.com/photos/filmtrip/5690586964/sizes/s/in/photostream/

SUPPORTING RESOURCES

• Filmtrip website: http://www.filmtrip.tv/
• [in]visible belfast website: http://www.invisiblebelfast.com

FURTHER INFO

[in]visible Belfast : The Story

Ana is an outsider in Belfast, a quiet astronomy student recently transplanted from Canada. Searching in the library one day, Ana stumbles across a book that seems misplaced. Its title is The Star Factory. Inside, half the pages have been marked through, and it is filled with strange diagrams and what seem to be clues. Rifling through the odd book, Ana discovers a handwritten note, and beneath it, a map. The note reads:

Dear Ana,

You scan these streets as if they were written pages. It is possible – it is necessary – for the astronomer to graduate from reading the night sky, to seeing it.

In the pleiad, find the multitude; in the city, the universe. And at the heart of the city, you will find a way out.

Good luck to you.

ABOUT FILMTRIP

A boutique production company specialising in film and TV cross-platform productions, mobile app development and online media. Based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Filmtrip’s founders, Gawain Morrison and Chris Martin, are experienced multimedia producers. Learn more about Filmtrip and its founders at filmtrip.tv/about.

ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM

Danielle Barrios is a PhD candidate at the University Ulster, and she is currently helping to develop methods for transmedial adaptations of Belfast literature, particularly ARG and theatre performance. She hails from Atlanta, Georgia.

Alan Hook is the Course Director of the Interactive Media Arts BA, Lecturer in Interactive Media and Researcher in The University of Ulsters Centre for Media Research. His research is primarily practice lead and focuses on new and emerging digital media. His research gravitates towards a praxis driven investigation into games and play, with an interest in Augmented and Alternate Reality Gaming and Virtual Environments. Investigating the dialogues that immersion and play have in these shared spaces and how we engage with and through these new technologies.

Produced in collaboration with the Belfast Book Festival, Crescent Arts Centre, University Of Ulster, Queens Quarter Weekend, Northern Ireland Tourist Board, Arts Council Northern Ireland and Belfast City Council.

BELFAST BOOK FESTIVAL

The Belfast Book Festival 2011 will be a week-long celebration of the book, the reader and the writer. Featuring a mix of new voices, original work and well-known authors, the festival will boast something for all tastes and interests through a variety of media and new, exciting events.

Hugh Odling-Smee, formerly of Kabosh Theatre Company, is the co-ordinator for this yearʼs Belfast Book Festival, which will be held in venues across Belfast from 13 - 19 June 2011.

Sonya Whitefield, Arts Officer, Arts Council of Northern Ireland said: “The Belfast Book Festival will be a must see event in Northern Irelandʼs cultural calendar. It will showcase the best of contemporary Irish and international talent to a wide range of audiences across the city, establishing a new attraction for tourists as well as people who live here.”

THE CRESCENT ARTS CENTRE

The Crescent is a diverse arts centre which has served the population of Belfast and beyond with a wide range of arts and cultural activities for over 30 years.  The programme offered by the Crescent embraces the visual arts, many forms of dance and movement, verbal arts, music in many forms, theatre and drama activities, crafts, and an extensive programme of activities and workshops for young people.

As a venue the Crescent Arts Centre is a vital part of the arts infrastructure in the city playing host to public performances of modern dance, music concert, theatre, readings, circus, themed evenings and much, much more.

The Crescent is known for running two festivals each year: CityDance and Between the Lines literary festival.  This year the Crescent is proud to announce that it will be running the 2011 Belfast Book Festival, which promises to be highly innovative and accessible in nature to bring the joy of literature to both new and existing audiences.

CONTACTS

Gawain Morrison, Producer - Filmtrip
t: +44 (0)28 9581 1818
m: +44 (0)7901 910 069
e: gawain#at#filmtrip.tv

Danielle Barrios – Game & Event Writer
m: +44 (0)7513 063783
e: barriosdanielle#at#googlemail.com

Alan Hook – Game Designer
m: +44 (0)7810 541436
e: A.Hook#at#ulster.ac.uk