MachinimaEuropeWorkingDocument
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Revision as of 07:27, 7 September 2006
Working Document for Machinima Europe
1.What is Machinima Europe?
Machinima Europe is a non-profit organisation that serves as a starting point for filmmakers, academic, commercial and cultural institutions that work with, in or for machinima. Machinima Europe defines itself by the three goals it pursues:
- Information and education in the field of Machinima, including workshops, events and classes.
- Starting a dialogue with European game developers and publishers about the legal status of Machinima in Europe
- Establishing a European Machinima film festival while at the same time strengthening the „official“ Machinima Filmfestival
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(supp., Klaus:)
1.2 Why should there be local organisation?
The Machinima community acts and communicates globally. Nonetheless there are reasons to go local:
- Educational events need to be organised according to the local educational system
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- Fundraising in Europe needs a local organization (especially government aid)
[Edit by Friedrich]
I wouldn't want to have fundraising in this document yet. For fund raising, we need to have a legal status and specific projects that need to apply for funds. I strongly recommend to leave this out of the discussion for now, until we have established a working communication and a basic structure.
If this is spawning a discussion, please feel free to comment on it on the "discussion" section to leave the document relatively clean. Thanks.
<--
- Public and media relation need local characters and contacts (language, reachability)
2.Who is Machinima Europe?
Machinima Europe's structure follows the basic structure of the AMAS in that it has a „Board of Directors“ and a „Board of Advisors“.
The Board of Directors consists of 5 board members representing as many of Europe's languages and communities as possible. The board meets in a more or less frequent manner and discusses official statements, organises workshops and events. It also coordinates the activities of the board members in an official Machinima Europe calendar and helps propagate material for machinima presentations.
As of now, the Board of Directors will consist of Hugh Hancock, Xavier Lardy, Klaus Neumann, Ricard Gras and Friedrich Kirschner.
The board of directors consist of filmmakers that actively produce machinima in a variety of formats and methods (Hugh, Ricard, Friedrich), and key machinima community leaders (Klaus, Xavier). None of these members should be bound to commercial interest that would narrow the wide perspective that machinima has now.
The members of the „Board of Advisors“ can lead Special Interest Groups and advise on issues regarding Machinima's legal, social and technical background. They can initiate workshops and promote events and discussion together with the Machinima Europe Board of Directors.
They provide resources in knowledge, technology or real world space for Machinima Europe's events. Furthermore, they are encouraged to conduct research and/or initiate machinima specific projects together with other board members or the members of the Board of Directors.
The members of the Board of Advisors are frequently consulted in Machinima Europe's decision making process.
3.What does Machinima Europe do?
While the basic goals have been stated in [1.] already, the day to day work of Machinima Europe should follow these basic principles:
- The members of Machinima Europe should promote the organisation wherever they see fit.
- Machinima presentations and events should be communicated to the Board of Directors and written to the Machinima Europe Event calendar
- Working materials should be exchanged and updated between ME members.
- All members should engage in machinima related discussion on the private ME discussion board (Forum or Wiki).
- Machinima Europe board members should engage in Community work where possible (writing articles, statements, encouraging discussions).
Discussion with third parties should generally be reported to the board for review. Special key members should be informed about progress in certain areas. For that, Machinima Europe should start to create Special Interest Groups (SIG) for certain areas.
Special interest groups should include:
- Developer and Publisher relations
- Technology and Research
- Machinima in Education and Social Impact
- Machinima Festivals and Events
- Machinima Europe PR
Machinima Europe should reach out to all members of the Machinima Community in Europe and encourage them to help the organisation. A list of tasks should be established and communicated to machinima-enthusiasts that are willing to help.
Also, a unified „What is Machinima“ page has to be built and aknowledged by the Machinima Europe board members.
4.How does Machinima Europe Communicate?
All members of Machinima Europe will have access to the otherwise restricted Machinima Europe forums on machinimaeurope.org. Also, there should be mailing lists for the special interest groups and a restricted working-wiki. (supp., klaus:) Sporadic meetings of the Board of Directors and/or the Board of Advisors will be held via online communication services or - whenever possible - face to face.
5.Machinima Europe, the AMAS and legal status.
As of now, machinima europe is applying to become the official european chapter of the AMAS. A letter of intent is in the works and should be signed by all board members within this week. Machinima Europe should start off as a informal and undefined legal body without any funds or monetary investments. After the board of advisors is defined, the special interest groups have been built and the channels of communication have been established, the Director's Bord should meet in person and give it a legal status. This meeting is scheduled around end of 2006/beginning of 2007 but can be pushed to whatever timeframe. From that point on, Machinima Europe should try to get funding and establish a base of regular members.
6.Announcing Machinima Europe.
Machinima europe is to be announced at this year's Games Convention in Leipzig by Klaus Neumann (via World of Warcraft), Hugh Hancock, Ricard Gras (via Skype), Xavier Lardy (via Skype) and Friedrich Kirschner (via Unreal Tournament) – digitally in Form of a Machinima presentation. More detailed information on this to follow shortly.
7.Timetable for Machinima Europe.
- this week: Gather and contact all possible members for the Board of Advisors
- gather basic information for all members of the board of directors for the announcement and the website.
- 22nd of August 2006 – official Press announcement for Machinima Europe, it's board of directors and (maybe) key members of the board of advisors.
- End of August: Machinimaeurope.org wiki and forums should go live (for Members only).
- Throughout September: Definition of SIG, building up Board of Advisors.
- Establishing the Machinima Europe Event Calendar
- 4th and 5th of November – Machinima Europe meeting (virtual or real) at the annual Machinima Filmfestival.
