The Paintball Machine at its finest!
The Glue Guns
A couple of weeks ago, I was contacted by the BBC (Yes, British Broadcasting Corporation themselves!) to know if I would be interested in taking part in an exclusive preview of their new online creative programme ‘BBC Blast‘. Not wanting to miss out on revision time for my toughest exam, I was about to turn down the offer but thought twice and accepted it since I wouldnt really get a chance like this often.
Upon further research, I found out that I was one of fifteen people creative minds invited to attend the preview and have a fun day out basically. I was quite excited about it and lo and behold, I was not disappointed. On Monday, I headed down to London and after meeting up with everyone and quick introductions, we were taken to Topolski Studio at Southbank London, just off the London Eye.
Since the studio was not big enough to accommodate all of us simultaneously, we were taken in 3 batches. The place was definitely like something I’ve never seen before, different and fresh. It housed four different creative ideas, one was a set of four paintball guns, hacked to be controlled via computers, another was 3 glue guns, once again hacked to be operated via a computer, a couple of printers and fifteen coloured lights sync’d with sounds.
This plethora of instruments could all be operated via a computer there, and you can do it online as well over here. The paintball guns were pointed against a then white wall, now a mish mash of colours, and you can direct it however you choose. The glue guns are pointed vertically down upon a plastic dome and they hope to build a sculpture by the end of the month. The printers can print out anything you type in online on the website and if I’m not wrong, I think they’re going to be displayed eventually in an exhibition. The coloured tube lights can have a different tune assigned to each and glow when you hit the respective key on the keyboard.
The Backend
Overall, there was a decent bit to see, and we were also given booze and snacks which made the whole experience even better. After some tinkering around, we went to the park to do some sweeding, as can be seen in ‘Be Kind Rewind‘. There were a lot of ideas and thoughts being throw around but we eventually settled on the movie Hancock with some random robots thrown in, it was good fun and we’ll have to edit the clips before we can get the final result which should quite amusing to watch.
I’d like to thank the BBC for organising this interactive day, and 1000Heads as well for finding me and guiding us during the day. It was definitely different, and new and hopefully, as the programme expands, it’ll get lots of people involved in it!
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