Projects 2013

ORION explores the life of mysterious singer, Jimmy Ellis

Project partners

Judith Aston is a Senior Lecturer in Creative Media at the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Creative Industries, University of the West of England (UWE)

Jeanie Finlay is an Artist and Filmmaker and founder of Glimmer Films

Journal Authors

Judith Aston

Jeanie Finlay

Sally Hodgson

I am ORION

ORION tells the story of Jimmy Ellis, an unknown singer thrust into the spotlight with a fictional identity and a mask, as part of a crazy scheme to masquerade him as Elvis back from the grave. I AM ORION is a wraparound project, that harnesses web technologies to explore mystery, tribute, identity and fandom. Developing new forms of audience and fan engagement, I AM ORION is gathering memories and eliciting participation in the telling and sharing of this rich and fascinating story.

Journal Entries

#IamOrion launch and crowdfunding campaign

Tue 1 Apr, 2014

We launched #IamOrion alongside the crowdfunding campaign at the REACT Future Documentary showcase and at i-Docs 2014. This led to a flurry of mask wearing, photos of which have been uploaded via the hashtag to the tint site. At the moment this sits independently of the Orion the Movie website (which connects directly to the campaign) but this will change soon once 383 project has completed the development work. The crowdfunding campaign runs through to 17th April and is a key piece of the jigsaw to move this project forwards. So please do back us and share round your networks.

The research behind ‘I am Orion’

Tue 18 Mar, 2014

Our project has evolved from being about creating an on-line portal through which to crowdsource archive material from Orion fans into being a site, which extends and deepens the core themes of the film in new and exciting ways. This post will examine the processes that we have been through to reach this position, starting with our work with Tint and ending with our current project plan.

I am Orion: new title for our project

Tue 18 Mar, 2014

Although we haven’t been posting, our project has been moving forwards apace albeit to an extended timescale, given the realities of mapping a three-month REACT project onto the longer timeframe required for the development and production of a feature documentary. We are now coming towards the end of the research phase and are soon to launch a new version of the Orionthemovie website alongside the crowdfunding campaign for the film.

Infographic - our audience and the ask

Tue 22 Oct, 2013

I designed this infographic to visualise who our audience could be and how we can tailor the ask.

"Click Click" - lessons learnt in Ghent