We initially came up with a list of several people to nominate as keynote speaker, but after consideration there are only two people we would like to deliver this important speech at the Expo: Phil Rice and Mike Jones.

Phil Rice, in addition to being one of the organizers, is an important figure in Machinima. He is a superb filmmaker, so he understands the practical aspects of machinima filmmaking; he is a leader in the commmunity, providing a bi-weekly podcast on Machinima plus a very active Machinima blog. He hosts a monthly Machinima “chat” which brings in people from all across the Machinima community spectrum. And he actively works behind the scenes to promote, support and collaborate with many individual filmmakers and Machinima film companies.

When I asked Phil if he would consider being the keynote speaker, without hesitation he said “Yes” and immediately began ruminating over what his subject would be. In fact, I think he’s still sitting in front of his computer thinking about it.

Mike Jones, on the other hand, comes at Machinima from an entirely different direction. I first came across his brilliant new media blog, Digital Basin, when it was added to the Machinima RS feed and have been a devoted reader. Mike is a cutting edge critic of “new media” which Machinima is very much a part of. He is also the head of the Technology department at the International Film School in Sydney, Australia, and has published many articles on film, new media and aesthetics. His home page, luciferjones.com, is a nice intro to him and his work.

Over the last year as I’ve read dozens of his well-written and imaginative posts on everything from sound to video encoding practices, he has always included Machinima as part of his thinking. In fact, when I contacted him about being a keynote speaker at the Expo (something he is very enthusiastic about) he included a marvellous riff on Machinima. No question he is itching to present his ideas in a public forum like the Expo.

As usual, the primary factor in who will be our first keynote speaker at the Machinima Expo is money. We have a decent (but limited) budget and travel/housing is expensive. The Arcadia Festival (our sort of mother organization) might be able to help us out here, but it’s still being negotiated. We should know it the next few weeks. I’ll be making a public announcement here at the Machinima Expo site.

My thanks to both Mike and Phil for their patience and willingness to be a part of our still developing Festival. I only wish we could have you both. Hmnn…now there’s a thought.