Update on the Steampunk Series Pilot and Film Nickel Children

I received some fascinating correspondence from the director, Kevin Eslinger, who apparently is very much a part of our community as are many of those helping him with the film. That explains why it has received such overwhelmingly positive praise from our Steampunk community. so many commercial pieces try to capitalize on whatever is popular to raise ratings without making any effort to understand the culture they portray or the mindset of those they are representing for good or ill. He seems to actually get it! What helps me to believe that is that this fiction is not just good story telling, but intended to make a positive impact on the real world in a truly significant way. See below:

Director Kevin Eslinger:  "As with much of steampunk and it's lavish style and settings (typically European), I have always wondered what other parts of the world were experiencing with this similar style and technology.

The important aspect of bringing in my personal interest in steampunk to the film, is to address it as a serious subculture, as well as blend in modern social issues around this aesthetic. In many aspects, the goggles are always seen as a staple to steampunk, as an accessory to many airship captains. However, in our world, within the dust bowl Kansas, its people experience these dust storms frequently giving the goggles a general purpose. While, our film leans a little more on western aspects, expect much more additional steampunk styles blended into our alternate history that we are developing.

The film touches on child exploitation and human trafficking which continues to be a problem today. By wrapping the issue into a sci-fi story, it brings the problem into a more thought provoking element, assembled within fictional narrative.

Below are some excerpts from our upcoming press release :

This short film is the pilot to an upcoming web series, in which we will follow Captain Anastasia as she journeys across the rugged frontier looking for a child that will be the key in ending the civil war in America as she seeks to regain her crew and her airship, The Zephyr.

The film was shot in five days on a shoe-string budget using the latest canon 5D MarkII cameras. Writer and director Kevin Eslinger assembled a professional, and passionate, cast and crew that were dedicated to putting together the ambitious project. Costumer designer, Aria Durso, assembled many of the pieces along with many fantastic hand-crafted items donated and/or lent to the production from the amazing help and support from several members of the Steampunk community. Keith Stacey composed the raw western score with haunting tonehammer accents to heighten the action throughout the film. Professional stunt choreographer Ian Quinn (24, Heroes, The Cleaner) brought believability to the action sequences. Justin Eslinger assembled the footage and developed the incredible Visual FX to create the painterly environments. An amazingly talented cast with newcomers Easton McCuiston as Jack, and Jeremy Snowden as The Sheriff. As well as acting veteran Amanda Bailey (Make-out with Violence, Inside Music Row), brought an intensity that we will see throughout the series.

Nickel Children has a web presence on over twenty web communities and at least nine different countries with nearly 1,000 fans on Facebook. The teaser trailer has over 12,000 hits on YouTube and has been in the top ten most popular movie trailers on Hulu on three separate occasions. It has been accepted into eight film festivals so far and has won BEST FILM at its first film screening in Nashville and BEST SCIENCE FICTION at the ValleyCon36/Fargo Fantastic Film Festival. Other film festivals include : Dragon*CON 2010 in Atlanta, Chicago Horror Film Festival, Tri-Cities International Fan Film Festival in Richland, WA, Renovation - 69th Science Fiction Convention in Reno, NV, and internationally with the Yellow Fever Independent Film Festival in Belfast, Ireland, and Bram Stoker International Film Festival in Whitby UK.

Along with the series, we are also working on two unrelated steampunk projects to be announced at the first of the year!

Thanks Ramon!

We greatly appreciate it!

Keep up the good work!"

Talk to you soon

Take care

Kevin Eslinger

PH 812.798.7222

NickelChildren@eslingerfilm.com (Official Email)

http://NickelChildren.eslingerfilm.com/ (Official Website)

http://facebook.com/NickelChildren(Facebook)

http://twitter.com/nickelchildren (Twitter)

http://myspace.com/nickelchildren (MySpace)

http://youtube.com/user/NickelChildren (YouTube)

http://imdb.com/title/tt1667466/ (IMDb)

As for actually reviewing the film, I pointed out to him that it is useless for me to review reviews of something I have not actually seen, so he arranged to permit a private screening of the full film, but apologized saying he cannot make it more publicly available until after it completes the full film festival circuit.  Otherwise many of the festivals would decline to show the film and that would definitely be a bad thing for all of us.  Be patient.  I'll watch it, write a quick initial response without actually posting it (I never post gut reactions right away for professional reasons) sleep on it to properly digest it, then post the finished review in a couple of days.  As they intend to make a series out of it, you don't need to worry about them eventually mass releasing the film in some form or other.  It will certainly happen, but we don't have a date or release format yet available.  

Sepiachord: An interview with the band by A.E. Flint

Another excellent interview by A. E. Flint with the people from our community that make up Sepiachord.  I should have posted this one earlier, but was too busy with some of our own projects to read the interview in depth enough to decide whether or not to mention it here.  It definitely deserves a look, so here is a short excerpt from the interview, just to wet your appetite.

What exactly is Sepiachord?
Mr B: Sepiachord itself is a genre of music that we describe like this:
“Sepiachord is the “genre that doesn’t exist”.
It is to music what “steampunk” is to literature and cinema: something that looks back to the past to comment on the present while looking sideways at the future. A cubist aural experience.
As goth & glam are the bastards of David Bowie, Sepiachord is the made from the genetic material sown by Tom Waits.
Sepiachord is assembled like a clockwork orchestra, from such elements of music
 Sinister Circus, Cabaret Macabre, Chamber Pop, Organic Goth, Celtic/Gypsy Punk, Mutant Americana, Ghost Town Country
It is the music our grandparents or great-grandparents would have listened to, if they were as off-set as we are.”
When it comes to Sepiachord.com the best thing to compare it to is music zine. We do interviews, record/cd reviews, show reviews, post photo essays and the like. The intent was for it to be a music portal for fans to find bands, for bands to find fans and for bands to find out that they weren’t alone, that there were other weird bands out there that they could work with to build a web of performers. To me Sepiachord.com succeeded the first time a musician informed that they met with other folks they created music with through Sepiachord.
We’ve been called “The Rolling Stone of Steampunk” but I really think we’re closer to a “Maximum Rock and Roll of Steampunk”.
Still I didn’t think anybody was really interested in what we were doing until I got the first CD in the mail that was sent to us for review (as opposed to us reviewing things that we had purchased). So a big nod of thanks to Walter Sickert & the Army of Broken Toys for helping me realize that I wasn’t nuts.
The goal of Sepiachord was not to have anything to sell. We didn’t want volks to think that they had to buy something to be involved. But we’d be places handing out free stickers and pins to people and they all wanted to get there hands on a CD so they could have a palpable *something* to help them connect. At the same time musicians were asking us to put a CD out to help build this community.
We caved.
At first we put out a free comp CD (“The Sepiachord Field Guide Vol I”) that we made by hand & just gave away (Jennifer designed the packaging and assembled them all herself, our cohort Chris Roy did the remixing and I did the organization & producing). We quickly realized that we couldn’t keep up with demand and that burning of 200+ cds was killing my computer. We had to do one that we had to sell if we wanted to make people happy. That lead to “The Sepiachord Companion” which was released via Devil’s Ruin Records.
Now we’ve just released “A Sepiachord Passport” on seminal indie label Projekt Records.

 The full interview (also a review of their latest album) is available at Ms. Flint's blog at:  

http://trialbysteam.com/2010/10/23/an-interview-with-sepiachord/

Vernian Process-Excellent Interview on Trial by Steam!

Below is an excerpt from Trial by Steam written by A E Flint from her interview with Vernian Process.  It is an excellent interview and you really should read it.  Here's a teaser from the interview, but I don't believe in copying other people's work.

Free Fargo: My introduction to VP was through Vaughn, a mutual friend of Josh’s and mine. At that time they were playing to pre-recorded tracks. Which in many cases in music can be a wonderful thing. Anyways, I was sitting there listening to all these exquisitely layered compositions… Now my personal belief is; music is the alchemy for the spirit. It’s one of the few things the secular and religious worlds have in common. You add the two elements of sound, and rhythm… Your body will react, and move in some fashion.
My musical influences started when I was very young with my father, and my uncle. Through my father I grew up listening to 60′s R&B to and some country, such as, Arthur Prysock, Lou Rawls, and Willie Nelson. My uncle turned me on to the likes of, Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, and Pete Seeger. Then the world within music started to change, when I discovered both, Prince’s 1999, and The Cults Dreamtime albums around the same time. From there came… SWANS, Einsturzende Neubauten, Coil, Throbbing Gristle, Skinny Puppy, Iron Maiden, Cocteau Twins, and Dead Can Dance.
Why did you choose steampunk as your genre of choice? What attracts you to steampunk?
JP: Vernian Process was conceived as a steampunk themed project from the earliest ideas I had for it back in the late 90’s. At that time it was a little joke I made up to entertain myself. I had no musical ambitions at that time, and just thought it was a fun idea.
I’ve been a steampunk fan for most of my life. I was introduced to the wonderful world of steampunk in the early 80’s by my dad via old syndicated re-runs of “The Wild Wild West”, and Disney films like 20,000 Leagues, In Search of the Castaways, The Island at the Top of the World, and The Rocketeer (which I saw in the theater). When I got a bit older I became fascinated with tv shows like Brisco County Jr., and Disney’s Tail Spin, and literature such as Michael Moorcock’s “A Nomad of the Time Streams” trilogy. And eventually I began creating my own stories and worlds within the realms of steampunk fiction.
So suffice to say, steampunk is in my blood. It’s my favorite form of science fiction by far.
MI: When I joined VP, I was looking for something new… something with lots of energy, but also something that required a high degree of musicianship. I had done my share of acts that were highly energetic but musically dull, and also acts that were musically complex but very sterile and dispassionate. steampunk (at least VP’s version of it) seamlessly combined the energy of punk rock with the beauty and challenges of Neo-Classical composition.
PJZ: In all aspects of my life, I’ve always erred on the geeky side. The first movie I vividly remember as a child – Aliens – secured a lifetime love for science fiction and well-crafted horror. I grew up reading science fiction, playing RPGs, and admiring the art of ages past. The roots of steampunk came naturally into my life.
As a genre, my decision came by a different route. I was involved in a few metal bands, but found myself disillusioned with the scene and sought fresh air in something that spoke to my musical roots. I liked Vernian Process and other bands associated with steampunk, so I thought to myself, why not join one? Coincidentally, Vernian Process happened to be seeking a bass player just as I was seeking a steampunk band. I auditioned, and the rest is history.
Brian Figueroa: I’m attracted to Steampunk because of the people that are making it come to life (the people in VP, the people that are anti commercial and creative) and the people who are seriously devoted to science fiction and music.
How would you describe your music to people who have never heard it before?
MI: That is hard to do. We try to keep our style morphing from one work to the next. We have elements from a dozen different influences and styles in each song. One thing is for sure, however: At a VP show, there’s bound to be something for everyone.

For the full interview you will have to follow the link to Ms. Flint's blog at

http://trialbysteam.com/2010/10/30/an-interview-with-vernian-process/

Nickel children-Steampunk Film-winner of many awards!

This looks like it will be great, but I haven't yet been able to see the film to review it although I am actively searching for a way to purchase, rent, or otherwise see a copy.  Here's the link:

http://nickelchildren.eslingerfilm.com/

Update:  The director sent me a very kind letter thanking me for my interest in his film and offering links and further opportunities to see more of it, as I am having some trouble finding an actual copy to review.  I think our interaction is also interesting, so I will re-post it here.  What is most important, that I have learned so far, is that the trailer shows some 19th century looking people forcing children to fight one another in a ring for the amusement of very jaded rich people who enjoy betting on them.  As that is the focus of the trailer, it leaves the possibility that most of the Steampunk Attired characters might be extremely sadistic perverted villains and simply add to the general public's confusion about our sub-culture, but thankfully that is not the case.  I think the trailer should point out better that the film is about a heroic struggle of a mother to rescue her child, who was kidnapped by these or similar monsters, probably for the same purpose, and those helping her including an ingenious inventor that makes steampunk gadgets to help her take on the established crime rings that operate these cock-fights that pit children against one another.  All of those that have been allowed to preview the film apparently think very highly of it, but I have still not seen it myself, so I can only report on what I have found.  I will re-post the progress of our correspondence here, so you can see how confusing the whole first impressions can be of the film and how it actually plays out.  Of the various links the director offered, the last one at the bottom was the most helpful as synopsis of the main characters are available there which also gives some idea of the basic plot line without spoilers per se.  In other words, it tells you where their character is a few minutes into the film rather than what happens as the film develops.  As such, I found that information very useful without spoiling the film.  see below:

Hello Ramon!
My name is Kevin Eslinger, writer / director of Nickel Children. I had a colleague send me a link to your blog, where you posted a link to us. First, I want to say thank you! It is incredibly hard, as you know, to get viewers/readers to your work. So we thank you again for the link! 2nd, i would like to send you a link or copy of the film for review, as well as invite you to our fan page on facebook. We are growing in numbers and have big plans coming up for this series!

Thanks for you support, and I thoroughly enjoy your posts on your blog!

Best Wishes
Talk to you soon
Cheers!
Kevin Eslinger
NickelChildren@eslingerfilm.com (Official Email)
http://NickelChildren.eslingerfilm.com/ (Official Website)
http://facebook.com/NickelChildren(Facebook)
http://twitter.com/nickelchildren (Twitter)
http://myspace.com/nickelchildren (MySpace)
http://youtube.com/user/NickelChildren (YouTube)
http://imdb.com/title/tt1667466/ (IMDb)

Nickel Children

In an alternate 19th Century, dust bowl Kansas, a young boy witnesses his parent’s murder, and is forced to survive in an underground child fighting ring. Only the wealthiest are invited to attend these secret communities to bet on the children for their own amusement. ...However, one among them, is determined to find her abducted son ... whatever the cost. Nickel Children is an award winning international sci-fi steampunk adventure!

Share

Movie:995 people like this.

See More

My response as follows shows that I was still a little unclear at first about the plotline from the rather confusing, or at least very incomplete trailer:

Thankyou very much! I will certainly take a look and write something up about the film as well as send notice to my friends, which are many, on facebook and Steampunk Empire. The Steampunk element is what caused one to bring the movie to my attention, but I will look at the film as a film, in terms of whether I like it or not, and discuss the degree of steampunk influence seperately rather than as the only criteria for the film. Our community/subculture is also very interested in how, if in any way, films and TV shows might influence the general public to view us as a subculture. I think the idea of exploring how, what must be really jaded people, feel the need to transgress the most extreme of taboos to find excitement, would be an interesting film topic, especially since the child slave market already caters to this in the real world, so I'll try not to read too much into why the steampunk dressed people in the trailer all seem to be evil characters. I had to wait to review it until I could see a copy of the film, and will suspend any opinions until then. It appears, though, that many film critics really liked it. They are usually a harder audience than I am as I try to see all sides of every issue, and don't believe it helps anyone to trash anything really. Everything is multifaceted. I may over alnalyze, but I don't jump to conclusions about anything. I'll look at it later this week, and thanks again for making it easier to access.

After looking at the links I added:

I looked at all the links, and while I was pleased that one link gave a character synopsis that helps me to have a good feeling about the story line and that much of the actual steampunk inventiveness is beign done by the rescuers of the child fighters rather than their tormentors, I still cannot see the film itself using any of the links. I did see that all of the 15 persons allowed to pre-view the film liked it and hope the short film will become a series. That is very positive, but does not permit me anything more than hearsay, so I cannot really review the film unless there is a way I can view it. Any other suggestions? 

I'll keep you updated.  

Boilerplate-Steampunk Fiction Worth a Look

Boiler Plate is a fictional account of an intelligent robot used by the United States around the turn of the century, at least until his disappears, either captured or a defection.  The author did enough research to write believable accounts of such battles and conflicts with the addition of Boiler Plate to explain unusual or unexpected outcomes that actually occurred at times.  The reports are written like excerpts from a historical or documentary account, but as the robot was apparently a secret weapon, and military action reports, even back then, were much longer and more boringly filled with rather boring details and statistics, the reader is left with the impression that these are military or intelligence briefs such as would be prepared to update the president.  Historical photos were retouched to add a sense of reality to the story by adding Boiler Plate's photo inserted in with his historical comrades.  This gives me the impression that the author is attempting to use the ploy of H G Wells in absorbing the audience by making the story seem like a real life account, except in this case one of historical actions our government has subsequently covered up.

I like to focus at least briefly on any imaginative effort in the steampunk drama or literature area that I enjoyed and have not seen discussed extensively on other sites.  While I have seen this mentioned before, it has not received that much notice, and I hope it may inspire others to write their own material and share it with us here.  This is the story of an intelligent robot, invented for purely scientific purposes, but of course, taken over by the American Military for their own purposes.  Having access to an intelligent robot that is fully bullet proof and terrifies the enemy by his presence alone is a great secret weapon in the days of the Spanish-American and the Mexican- American Wars. 

While the historical/documentary like approach does not lend itself to a romantic adventure, and as such, may not keep the reader up late pouring over the accounts unable to walk away from their computer, it really does show originality and creativity both in it's conception and  presentation.  I think the most interesting part about this story is how the intelligent robot is assigned to the all "Negro" units due to the fact that the leaders of that time considered both android/robot type people and the black buffaloe soldiers to be lesser classes.  Both are used to do the most dangerous jobs, then cut out of history as the white soldiers must, of course, get the glory.   In the end, the documentary style history accounts start to suggest, subtly, that boilerplate is starting to have his own agenda and undermining the goals of his supervisors who continue to treat him as simply a valuable weapon, but with no need for dignity.  Take a look.  Pay special attention to the episode where he is sent after Pancho Villa!

http://www.bigredhair.com/boilerplate/intro.html

Dramatic Performance Art in Steampunk-League of Steam

I reviewed most of the short films produced by "The League of Steam" today as well as most of the articles they mention in their media section on their web site, (which is an area well worth visiting) and I was very impressed!
Of course I had heard of them and their work, but had never immersed myself in their work before in order to observe in more detail exactly how they put these fun things together.  First, it should be mentioned that they clearly plan out story lines that involve one or another fantasy undead or other monsters as a nemesis, then put together ideas about what toys to use and how to make the best special effects for the work.  Finally, the most important part (since their costuming is naturally immaculate in all their events) they work on ensuring it will be funny!  At least this is the pattern I see when trying to understand their process looking in from the outside.  I know you may be thinking I may have a few valves leaking in my boiler to rehash the obvious, but I am observing from the point of view of an author and occasional playwright (mostly short comedic skits like theirs, but usually on stage rather than film)  that does drama and film and loves it.  As such I assure you there are literally hundreds of different ways to approach everything they do, and I am simply trying to guess their thought process in terms of priorities and focus for their short films.

I have written to them requesting an interview to learn more about how they do their movie magic, motivation behind the priorities and choices they make, more detail about character acting at events, and any other ante-dotes or information they care to share, so this is simply a way of clarifying my thoughts about this one area of their work, which I will be focusing on, before the interview (assuming they agree to it).  In the mean time, I will post a link here to their site.  The media section there has links to many of their most interesting events, articles, reviews, and short films.

This type of performance art, in fact all types of performance art, in the Steampunk sub-culture are still somewhat far and few between when compared with other cultures and even some other sub-cultures that have mainstreamed entertainment heavily, since most cultures consider drama, art, dance, film, and music some of what they love most in life, just as we do.  Literature, mainstream film, art, and fashion are well represented in our sub-culture, but small budget, do it yourself films (other than educational ones that help others to make things which are plentiful and wonderful!) and stage performances in character are rather rare at this point considering the amount of collective talent we have as a group.  I hope to help change that!

I really hope you take the time to immerse yourself in what they are giving to the community as I did.  It is time well spent!

http://www.leagueofsteam.com/

Marquis of Vaudville-Steampunk Wonderland Event-January 2011

Marquis of Vaudville-Steampunk Wonderland Event-January 2011

Last night at the Steampunk Illumination Society Meeting, Toby Lawhon, lead singer for "Marquis of Vaudville" announced plans to stage a Steampunk Mini-Convention on Januray 22nd, 2011 at the Curtain Club in Dallas, Texas.  They will, of course, be performing.  Other acts expected to perform are "Master Bones Jangles" (Steampunk Pirate Shantyman from Texas Renaissance Festival), "Vixens of Vaudville", "Circus Freaks", and ourselves, Covenant of Kraken Players.  Details wil be forthcoming when the actual date is confirmed and further details become available.  The venue and the acts have apparently all agreed on everything, but the actual date.  Once again, this is a early announcement not available yet to the general public as it was just announced to the performers and local community last night that those perfoming and the venue have agreed on January, so changes may still occur.  One additional fact of interest is that the venue has an upstairs area that will be designated a "Sky Port Market" where all the airships, and anyone else interested, can set up a vending booth for steampunk related items at an unusually low fee.  (I'll wait on posting the actual fee, but it's less than half of what is typical)  There will also be an "Airship Parade"  on stage, which basically means that any and all steampunk groups, of whatever type, whether airship, sailing ship, steam powered gypsy wagon, steam train, Mongol style hoarde, or just wandering minstrels, will be given the opportunity to be presented formally to the community and to have their special interests, talents, social events, and/or services offered (such as acting, singing, costuming etc.) described to the local community.  There is also some discussion of possibly having an unusual steampunk variant of Alice in Wonderland characters played by actors that circulate the event, but that part is still being worked on.