In case you don’t know who Neil Gaiman is, he is the best selling author of Stardust and The Graveyard Book.. He collaborated with thousands of fans worldwide to find inspiration to write 12 short stories, one for each month of the calendar. He also used 9,000 artwork contributions (illustrations, paintings, drawings, digital images) and 6.3 million people have been following the progress of this project. The calendar is highly interactive and you can listen to it and look at each month as it’s listed on the right side. We have June up for this month, but you really should take a look for yourself, the artwork and stories are beautifully done and very detailed.Check out A Calendar of Tales.
Here’s the announcement:
Today Neil Gaiman, bestselling author of American Gods, Stardust and The Newbery Medal winning The Graveyard Book, shared the final outcome of his Keep Moving Project called “A Calendar of Tales” at an exclusive recital in Boston.
Gaiman collaborated with thousands of fans around the world to get inspiration to write 12 short stories, each based on a month of the year. The enthusiasm from Neil’s fans to be part of the project was demonstrated in the 9,000 artwork contributions (including illustrations, paintings, photographs and digital images) that were submitted to accompany the 12 short stories. To date, over 6.3 million people have followed the progress of the project on the BlackBerry Keep Moving Hub.
In the final documentary about the project, Neil Gaiman commented: “Watching the joy and pride people get out of what we have made, makes this project all worthwhile. I’m really hoping that the Calendar of Tales will inspire, and I’d love that in the future when people are asked: ‘what are the things that inspire you?’ that they reply: ‘a long time ago Neil Gaiman and BlackBerry got together to create a Calendar of Tales, and that’s where it all started’.”
Gaiman began the process by tweeting questions to his fans using his BlackBerry Z10, asking for their ideas and engaging them in a conversation about the project. From thousands of tweets, he selected 12; one for each calendar month, then wrote each tale using the tweets as inspiration. The second phase of the project asked fans to submit artwork and video that he then selected to accompany the tales as well as the readings he personally recorded.
The BlackBerry Keep Moving Projects show that with the right device in the right hands, people can do remarkable things. Some of the most innovative and imaginative artists in the world are creating something incredible working with their communities and the new BlackBerry 10 smartphones.
In addition to Gaiman, singer/songwriter and BlackBerry Global Creative Director Alicia Keys and acclaimed filmmaker Robert Rodriguez (El Mariachi, From Dusk Till Dawn, Sin City) have been working on Keep Moving Projects. Keys has been creating “Your City, Your Video” compilations featuring photos of fans in each city where she is currently on tour. Rodriguez recently completed his Project Green Screen where fans contributed ideas that helped create his short film “Two Scoops.”
Filmmakers have been recording the Keep Moving Project Collaborators’ progress within documentary films that are shared through the BlackBerry Keep Moving Hub – a dedicated website where the artists, their communities and the world at large can be a part of the artistic process as it happens – and learn how art, technology and community can interact, get inspired and deliver a powerful end result.
For more information about Neil’s collaboration or the Keep Moving Project in general, please visit www.blackberry.com/keepmoving or follow #KeepMoving on Twitter.
So what do you think? The Keep Moving Projects have been a great way of keeping the BlackBerry community involved in a bigger picture as BlackBerry Keeps Moving. We want your comments, so let us know what you think about A Calendar of Tales.
