Latest / CINEMACTIVIST / S03E04 - Miami Immersive Intensive
Transcript
- John C. Lyons: Welcome to Cinema Activist. My name's John Lyons and I'm your host. And I'm coming to you today from Miami, Florida. Bravo, bravo, we made it, we made it. Why was I in Miami, you may be asking? For the Miami Immersive Intensive and Summit. As advertised, it wasn't a workshop, a conference. It was four days real work. It was an impressive lineup of twelve teaching artists representing companies, ⁓ and companies are the who in the immersive space. We're talking Punch Drunk, Third Rail, Odyssey Works, Culture House Immersive, Albany Park Theater Project, the Immersive Experience Institute, South Florida PBS, Juggerknot, And Live Arts Miami. And it's those last two, Juggerknot and Live Arts Miami, who this all possible with their partners. And I'm incredibly grateful. I'm so happy that I took a chance and something like this, something that I never would have imagined going to like three years ago. ⁓ And really can't stop thinking about what I've learned, all the new tools that I can incorporate into my work. The amazing human beings that I met, and more about this art form, which as Mikhael Tara Garver said, is a big craft inspired by a lot of different crafts and integrating a lot of different tools, but it is a craft. And that's what's so exciting to me about immersive theater. You know, in filmmaking, there's different types of genres and you can experiment in different ways. And while I love those, the cool thing about immersive theater. is that there's so many different ways to approach it and experiential theater that centers its audience is thrilling. Learning from all of these professionals and meeting all of these people who are so open and honest and trusting of one another, it felt like ⁓ I felt like I found my tribe, to be honest. I Want to work with these people. I want to learn from these people. I want to spend more time with these people. And I want to check out their work and see what they create because this was a very, very intense training. And it came away just so full and so ready to create and excited about the future and the opportunities that. This art form will bring. No matter what art form, my approach has always been to educate and entertain and hopefully make the world a better place. The goal is for the viewer, the listener, the participant, the guest to feel empathy, to put them in someone else's shoes. That's why this art form is extremely exciting because we can do that literally. with these living stories. There were 80 people in total that attended this immersive intensive. We were split into two groups of 40. I can honestly say that I know probably 30 of those people pretty well on a first name basis and can remember where they're from and what they do. And 20 of them pretty damn closely. And that's exciting. That is a success. People back home asked me why I wasn't posting more photos or videos the first three days of the event, which was the intensive, and that was because there was just absolutely no opportunity. It was not the kind of event that people had their cell phones out. The footage that you're seeing if you're watching ⁓ the video version here on YouTube is basically everything that I filmed. They successfully created that feeling of ⁓ the closest I can relate to is being on a film set where all of the team is moving at once in one direction to create art, to share that creative spark. And they definitely recreated that vibe in spades. It was fantastic. The teaching artists pulled people in. You felt welcome. You felt like you were with your people. And it was challenging and it ⁓ definitely got me out of my comfort zone many, many times, but I felt safe and I felt ⁓ that these were people that I could, you know, go all in with. I did have an opportunity on the last day, which was the summit, to pull a few people aside who I met and I asked them to, you know, share some information about themselves and what their thoughts were. ⁓ Of the Miami Immersive Intensive and Summit. And I'll share those with you now before I close out this episode. I can't wait to get back to working with the team on Tethered and our new shows and putting to work ⁓ everything that I've learned and this new headspace that I find myself in now ⁓ in both my film and my immersive theater work. So ⁓ thank you for listening to this. Thank you to everyone ⁓ that put on this event. And I'm so grateful for the amazing people that I've met for this opportunity. I'll never forget it. And now meet some of my new friends. ⁓ there. Hello. Who you? My name is Katrina Lat. ⁓ And do you do? I am a researcher, consultant, writer. freelancer, photographer, immersive experience enthusiast. How was your experience? It was incredible. I've been to a lot of conferences that deal with this kind of topic, and of all the conferences of this kind of topic I've been to, this is the one where I've learned the most, which has been incredible. Hello, my name is Stefan Price. My company is Roundtable Productions. We're based in Central Florida. I came here to the Miami Immersion Intensive hoping to learn about how to be a better storyteller. And I I can't say enough positive things about all of that we've learned and the the dense amount of information they've packed in. And I really ⁓ was special for me because having been in the industry, the entertainment industry for almost thirty years, ⁓ to be in this room of unique individuals and talented storytellers and creators, ⁓ and to make so much time in that process to get to know each other in a really personal way, to to collaborate on different projects throughout the seminar was really special and ⁓ it was a really unique experience and a an amazingly run event. ⁓ it was really impressive to see everything come together so well and and effortlessly so that way all I had to do was think about how to absorb this amount of information. So it's been ⁓ wonderful experience. ⁓ my name is Nicole Pedraza I'm dancer choreographer, director, creator. ⁓ ⁓ and this experience has been really beautiful just to hear so many different perspectives on how you can make immersive work and I think it just made me realize that every artist is has their own perspective and I just need to really dive deeper and find the tools that work for me and my personal work. So I'm excited to dive deeper into that. Hello, ⁓ my name is Maggie Maxwell. I'm a South Florida native and I'm a teacher. And this immersive experience has been Such a wonderful time. I've met so many people, made so many connections, learned tools of how to develop immersive work. And I'm just very grateful for this opportunity. So my name is Jared Lee. I am from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and I'm an instructor at University of Wisconsin-Madison as well as a director, theater maker, producer, writer, adapter. ⁓ And the event has been amazing. the often times I feel like we artists are kinda in our own worlds and so it can feel like you're out on an island and whenever you s ask someone or talk to someone about this type of work they're like I you have to explain it more than you actually say what you do. So you kind of feel like you're part of a subset of a subset of a subset group and now you get to meet a bunch of people and actually build up community. Like we're all trying to do the same thing. Little did we know. So it's been great. ⁓ I'm Riley Starr McLean, ⁓ based out of Chicago. I think like the big thing is there ⁓ so many people so levels like coming in. There are people who been doing this for decades, ⁓ and then there are also people who have never stepped foot in a theater and don't even know what a theater is. ⁓ And it's so cool that you can learn From all of them at once. Like I I came in with my own like concepts and plans for shows that I was gonna work on, projects that I was gonna make. And now I've come away with those ideas from work. But then I have like five more too. And I've met so many people here where I'm just like, where have you been all my life? You are so fucking cool. Hey, how are you? My name is Josefina Pieres. I am a film and theater director originally from Argentina, living here in Miami, and these days have been something I had not expected. They were really, really inspiring in the community we built, the people I met. It was it was truly fire building in my in my body and my soul. I am Down to go and do things, do immersive things, so you should do it next year. my name's Bryan Tarver, I'm a writer. ⁓ and Miami Immer sive Intensive wow, what can I say? ⁓ biggest takeaway is it emboldened me on just this whole crazy thing that we all decided to do. ⁓ even just from a creative standpoint, but from an actual business industry standpoint. Like there is real ⁓ and power and support that is making this thing real. and also in this day and age more than ever, these belly to belly experiences I think are are are ⁓ the truth. It's like the most rebellious thing you can do. ⁓ you know, ⁓ immersive theater is a middle finger to Peter Thiel and Musk ⁓ and Bezos. So keep ⁓ and you fight the good fight. ⁓ Hi, hi John. I am Bentrice I am an artist. lover of connection, a builder, all kinds of things. And ⁓ I was trying to articulate or think about how to articulate how overwhelmed I am by This experience. I love all of these moments and John I want this footage too because I'm tripping out of being immersed in an immersive experience and for me personally Sometimes I find myself behind the camera and then I put the camera away so I can be here and then I'm here and then I realize so it's just been a meta un undoing meta Right. It's like a shield, right? It's like our little shield. Exactly, right? And don't make us understand. And so to understand I I'm not afraid of AI, I'm not afraid of the future, right? And some people very much so are But to know that is being in good hands, the possibilities and seeing how people are already using using technology and AI and all of the things or whatever ⁓ to elucidate more worlds. ⁓ is just so beautiful to me. I I have all of my my ⁓ no this way. All of this week's and my life's thought. Hi, my ⁓ name's Jeni Incontro I am a producer and a director of Immersive Artists and I'm so excited this weekend. It's been incredible networking, getting perspective on a community that we're all trying to build, ⁓ and getting some specific ⁓ tools to to some new work as well. So I'm really grateful. This has been an awesome. My name's Andre. ⁓ I'm a pediatrician by day, but I also love to write. I've always been kind of obsessed with storytelling and anything that you know brings out emotion in the audience and just makes you feel something. I didn't know the pediatrician part. I love that we said. No shit. Somehow I missed that. And I know that, yeah. And then how was your experience? Honestly, it took me by surprise like how much commonality that I was able to find with a lot of people here, even though I'm a relative newcomer to the arts and I don't work in that space, but just kind of sharing that creative energy felt really rejuvenating and really inspiring. So it was great. I hope I can do it again next year. I'm Maiden wena Alba. I'm based in Chicago. I'm a director and immersive performer, actor. ⁓ I thought that this summit that this actually we're in the summit right now, but the last few days of the intensive was very helpful from a director point of view, just to see how masters of their craft of this craft ⁓ their framework and their specificity and see what they prioritize in such a short Amount of time to teach others who don't know about this work.