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Colony of Bats: Toronto’s Eaton Centre goes Batty

March 4, 2022 by Steve Norton 1 Comment

The CF Toronto Eaton Centre has officially gone batty.

In partnership with Warner Bros. Canada, the Eaton Centre is celebrating the release of Matt Reeves’ The Batman with a stunning exhibit in the central concourse that will surely draw attention. From now until March 8th, The Batman’s Colony of Bats invites viewers to stop by to untangle a mystery of their own. 

Created by Rooftop Agency, Colony of Bats is a striking piece that uses forced perspective to move seamlessly between a flock of more than 10 000 bats mid-flight and the logo for The Batman. In celebration of its unveiling, David Videka, the president of Rooftop Agency, notes that the exhibit’s massive size makes it a particularly unique experience in the famed shopping centre.

“It’s certainly large,” muses Videka. “It’s 32 feet long by 12 feet high by about 9 or 10 feet wide. It’s one of the largest things ever to go into the Eaton Centre. They usually cap build at about 10 feet. So, I think only their Christmas tree has us beat at this point for the height.”

Inspired by The Batman’s noir aesthetic, Videka wanted his installation to offer the same sorts of surprises that Matt Reeves’ film gives audiences. As such, the most important question in the development of Colony was how they could turn the piece into a ‘riddle’ of its own for viewers to unravel.

“Without a doubt, the movie inspired us the most,” Videka recalls. “To start with all these things, you have to take it back to the very beginning and try to really get a good grasp of what are the writers, the directors (and) the talent are all trying to say. What’s trying to come across in the movie, right? It’s one thing to sit around and say, ‘Oh, this would be cool to do.’ And, you know, sure, that’s a fantastic way to come about things, but this is art. This is a movie, this is cinema. The idea that we need to use that as the starting point is kind of the most important thing. We work alongside with Warner Bros. [and ask] how do we do these movies, especially something like Batman, justice.”

“What we really wanted to reflect [from] the movie is that things aren’t always as they seem, especially when we have a character like the Riddler involved. That was a really key component for us. So, by playing off of all the different twists and turns and the edge-of-your-seat sort of moments of the movie where there’s always something different happening and you’re never quite sure if you gotten to the right answer or not, we took these twists and turns and [wondered] what if we used a forced perspective art installation piece? It provides a multitude of different ways to look at a problem before you realize that, if you get it just right, everything would be revealed the way it was meant to be. We feel that this really comes to life when we look at the installation from all angles. When you’re looking at it from pretty much every perspective, it just looks like a flock or a colony of more than 10,000 bats mid-flight. But, if you stand in just the right place and figure out the riddle in just the right way, it reveals the logo, which is really striking and visually attractive… You know, so it’s been really fun to kind of mess with people’s minds in the same way that the movie does to the viewer.” 

While any art installation of this size would be a massive undertaking, Videka recognizes that Colony of Bats was particularly intricate in its detail. Even so, he and his team were excited to take on the challenge.

Says Videka, “There’s over 10 000 bats, all digitally cut through 3D rendering. [It was a challenge] to establish the individual bat sizes, how many bats per layer, and the amount of layers required to make it the most effective illusion. Again, it’s when you get up close and you look at it, there’s a lot going on. That’s sort of the fun. When you step way back and you take those 10-15 feet back and you look at it, it looks so simplistic. It says The Batman, but when you get in on it, you realize that we have to take into consideration how many bats to hang, but also there’s 56 different… opaque, hanging apparatuses that the bats sit on. So again, 10 000 divided by 56 equals how many bats and what direction do they go? Which way do they hit the light so that it reflects properly and spells the proper letters in the name and then the name itself? What vantage point do we need? Again, you’re going into a mall with a pre-conceived walkway so people are coming a certain way and you want to make sure that they see The Batman when they’re coming in.”

“So, there’s a lot of technical sort of things that go into the idea and the mathematics behind it. But, I think that’s what the challenge and fun is, right? Hey, look at it like this. Batman, he’s the best. He is badass. He’s got these gadgets. He’s all these things. And he uses technology to his advantage. And again, like as nerdy as that might seem, that’s really how deep we get. [We say,] ‘Hey, this is so difficult to do. Only maybe one person could do it and that’s probably Batman. So, you know, let’s give it a shot.’” 

In addition to the technical challenges of Colony, Videka also points out that he had to consider the different types of people that will see his work. From casual passersby to avid fans, his goal was to create something that was meaningful for everyone. 

“When you’re building something like this, you have to think of what are the different levels of consumers or fans that are going to come by and how do you relate to all of them?,” he identifies. “You’re going to have someone that’s going to come by and just be like, ‘Wow, this is really cool. I like the Batman. I know the Batman, and I’m really intrigued with this’ or you’re going to have people that come by and [think they] know everything about Batman and want to pick it apart to find out what’s wrong with what’s going on. The idea is you have to cater to all of those people. That’s sort of the fun of it because, if you can connect with all of them in a very unique way yet all within the same sort of structure installation, then you’ve accomplished your goal.” 

“Batman’s an 18-49, very mainstream movie. It has a lot of different audiences. It has a lot of different communities and sub-communities of people that love it for different reasons. It’s a heritage franchise. So, there’s a lot of people that grew up with it, like myself with Michael Keaton and Kim Basinger. That’s where I fell in love with it… So, you have to cater to all those different sorts of perspectives and mindsets. Yesterday, [we had] little kids freaking out because they saw the Batman artwork, elderly people, people that were in art or just working in the malls coming out of the stores, saying, ‘This is crazy!’ I certainly think we’ve more than achieved that goal and that was only the first day.” 

When he considers how he wants his audience to respond to Colony of Bats, Videka hopes that they’ll recognize that there’s always a mystery to life. For him, Colony is an opportunity for them to take pause and look for something deeper. 

“Things aren’t always what they seem and don’t take them for face value,” states Videka. “Everything is deeper, if you take a longer look and try to get to the solution versus just taking it and walking by. That’s what we heard a lot yesterday… From our perspective, we have brand ambassadors on site and they spent more time talking to consumers yesterday that I’ve ever seen them in 14 years. People just had so many questions. And again, I think that’s what you’re looking to do with the movie like this. There’s a lot of layers and don’t just take everything for face value.” 

The Batman’s Colony of Bats is on display now in concourse of the CF Toronto Eaton Centre through until March 8th.

Filed Under: Featured, Interviews, News Tagged With: CF Toronto Eaton Centre, Colony of Bats, Matt Reeves, Robert Pattinson, The Batman

Luna, Chip & Inkie: Adventure Rangers Go are on their way!

January 26, 2022 by Steve Norton Leave a Comment

With Luna, Chip & Inkie: Adventure Rangers Go, Knowledge Network finally step into the world of children’s animation. With fun and silliness, these three miniature heroes look to help solve problems of their friends in the forest! The following comes from their press release:

Toronto and Vancouver, January 25, 2022 – British Columbia’s trusted viewer-supported public broadcaster, Knowledge Network, is excited to announce the debut and first-look of their first ever original animated series Luna, Chip & Inkie: Adventure Rangers Go, featuring their longtime mascots of the same name. The series, for children aged 3-6, will premiere in Spring 2022 on Knowledge Network in B.C., and across Canada on the Knowledge Kids app and website. TFO is excited to air the series in French beginning September 2022. Along with the announcement, the Knowledge Network has released a first-look image and teaser video of the new series.

Set in the forests, mountains, lakes and ocean near the fictional town of Eagle Creek, the series is inspired by the rugged, natural beauty of the Pacific West Coast. “Kids worldwide have spent more time than usual indoors lately,” said Paris. “This series is a love-letter to nature. We hope it’ll remind kids of the incredible adventures that await them when they head outdoors.”

The beautifully animated 2D series is written and produced entirely in Canada. Paris is joined by Pat Ellingson, retired head of TVO Kids, in script development with Executive Story Editors Shelly Hoffman and Rob Pincombe (Ollie and Moon, Camp Lakebottom). Renowned education and child development consultant Cheryl Gotthelf is advising on scripts, as is J’net Ayayqwayaksheelth, an Indigenous Arts Educator from the Nuu-chah-nulth tribe on Vancouver Island. Series writers include a number of preschool veterans, along with a diverse group of emerging writers, including graduates of the BIPOC TV & Film Kids TV Writing Bootcamp. Composer on the music-driven series is the Emmy-nominated Daniel Ingram (“My Little Pony”). Each episode includes an original song, which will also stream on the Knowledge Kids platforms in short music videos, encouraging kids to sing along. 

About Knowledge Kids 
Knowledge Kids is a safe, trusted environment with the best and brightest shows for kids aged  2-8 brought to you by Knowledge Network, B.C. ‘s viewer-supported public broadcaster. Free and commercial-free, Knowledge Kids is available on Knowledge Network’s television service in  B.C. and across Canada via the KnowledgeKids.ca website and Knowledge Kids streaming video  apps, available for iOS, Android, Apple TV, Samsung TV, Roku and the Amazon Fire Stick. For  more information, visit Knowledge.ca or KnowledgeKids.ca or follow Knowledge Kids on Facebook. 

Filed Under: News

Pray Away: New Trailer delves into the Scary History of Exodus International

July 15, 2021 by Steve Norton Leave a Comment

Sometimes reality is scarier than fiction.

Directed by Kristine Stolakis, the new trailer for Pray Away tells the story of the development of Exodus International. In the new footage, the trailer focuses on the damage left behind when one tries to erase another’s story. By using theology as a hammer, those involved at Exodus denied the gay community their identity and left a broken imprint in their lives.

Pray Away begins almost 50 years ago. According to the site’s description, “In the 1970s, five men struggling with being gay in their Evangelical church started a bible study to help each other leave the “homosexual lifestyle.” They quickly received over 25,000 letters from people asking for help and formalized as Exodus International, the largest and most controversial conversion therapy organization in the world.
But leaders struggled with a secret: their own “same-sex attractions” never went away.

After years as Christian superstars in the religious right, many of these men and women have come out as LGBTQ, disavowing the very movement they helped start. Focusing on the dramatic journeys of former conversion therapy leaders, current members, and a survivor, Pray Away chronicles the “ex-gay” movement’s rise to power, persistent influence, and the profound harm it causes.”

At first glance, the names Ryan Murphy and Jason Blum are the ones that may seem most surprising in their attachment to the film. Known primarily for their efforts in the horror genre, a documentary about conversion therapy doesn’t appear to fit in their wheelhouse (or Blumhouse, if you will) at first glance. However, one can certainly see these influences on display in the latest trailer. Though only a trailer, this is clearly a film that is going to delve into the terrifying and traumatic abuse of the LGBTQ+ population at the hands of the evangelical community. In this way, the film may be even scarier than American Horror Story or anything that the Blumhouse has to offer. After all, this story isn’t fiction. This is history.

Pray Away comes to Netflix on August 3rd, 2021.

To view the trailer for Pray Away, click here.

Filed Under: Film, Netflix, News Tagged With: Jason Blum, LGBTQ+, Netflix, Pray Away, Ryan Murphy, trailer

The Best of AFI Docs 2021

June 29, 2021 by Darrel Manson Leave a Comment

Now that AFI Docs has wrapped up, it’s time to see the winners and to make note of my favorites.

Here are the award winners from the festival:

AUDIENCE AWARD: FEATURE

STORM LAKE

DIRS: Jerry Risius and Beth Levision. For 30 years, in Storm Lake, Iowa, Art Cullen and his family have been publishing a Pulitzer Prize-winning local newspaper. But, with newspapers everywhere going extinct, how long can they keep it up?

AUDIENCE AWARD: SHORT

SHELTER

DIR: Smriti Mundhra. A verité documentary that follows three young children and their families as they grapple with housing insecurity in Los Angeles.

SHORT FILM GRAND JURY PRIZE

RED TAXI

DIR: Anonymous. As protests in Hong Kong escalate, taxi drivers experience a city in upheaval driving the streets day and night. Anonymously filmed by locals.

SHORT FILM SPECIAL JURY PRIZE

THE COMMUNION OF MY COUSIN ANDREA

DIR: Brandán Cerviño Abeledo. Andrea’s First Communion ceremony lacks glamour. For Andrea, things without sparkles are meaningless.

SHORT FILM SPECIAL JURY PRIZE

S P A C E S (M E Z E R Y)

DIR: Nora Štrbová. A multi-textured animated exploration of memory as a container of identity, based on the personal story of the filmmaker and her brother who was diagnosed with a brain tumor.

I have my own personal favorites. Storm Lake was among my favorites, along with My Name Is Pauli Murrayand the episodes that were shown of 9/11: One Day in America (that one was a surprise to me).

Among the Shorts, my favorites were When We Were Bullies, and two that I think need to be paired together: Under the Lemon Tree and Mission:Hebron.

It was a very good set of films throughout the festival. My thanks to AFI and to all the sponsors for allowing me to cover the festival.

Filed Under: AFIFest, Film Festivals, News Tagged With: AFI Docs festival, awards, short documentaries

Looking Ahead to AFI Docs

June 21, 2021 by Darrel Manson Leave a Comment

One of my favorite film industry events is the annual AFI Fest in the fall. It always has a collection of the best films of the year. The American Film Institute has another important festival each year, AFI Docs, that centers on documentary films. AFI Docs usually takes place in Maryland (close to Washington, DC, since political issues are often central to documentaries), but this year it is a hybrid festival with live screenings as well as online availability of the films.

AFI Docs is a bit shorter than AFI Fest. The program begins Tuesday night, June 22 with a showing of Naomi Osaka. A full set of films begins releasing on Wednesday, with the festival finishing on Sunday, June 27. Some of the feature films I’m planning on taking in are  The First Step, a story of the workings of the political world, Fathom, about humpback whales, LFG, focusing on the US Women’s Soccer Team’s lawsuit for equal pay, The Lost Leonardo, about a surprise discovery of a DaVinci painting, Pray Away, a look at those who try to “cure” homosexuality, and many others over a wide range of subjects.

There are also a few documentary series that will be previewed at AFI Docs. 9/11: One Day in America looks at one of the darkest days in American history. Obama: In Pursuit of a More Perfect Union looks at Barak Obama’s journey from the Illinois State House to the White House. Some of the episodes of these will be shown.

There are also industry forums that address issues facing documentary filmmakers and the changing landscape for the industry. One I’m looking forward to will speak of how documentaries can help shape the conversation about race in America.

There will also be several programs of short documentaries covering sports, science, everyday life, war and peace, and the kinds of dreams people had during the COVID-19 pandemic. Shorts can always bring incredible insights. Each day when I report of what I’ve seen, I’ll include of few notes on some of the shorts.

But wait, you don’t necessarily need me to tell you what has happened at AFI Docs. As I note above, this festival is virtual! You can watch some of these films at home. Some of the screenings and all of the industry forums are free (but you must get a ticket). Go to https://docs.afi.com/how-to-fest/ to learn more about being part of AFI Docs this year. Then we can compare notes.

Filed Under: AFIFest, Film, Film Festivals, News Tagged With: AFI Docs festival, Documentarty, documentary shorts

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