Hazel Grian has a very good claim to fame. Apart from being an actress, film-maker, animator and making music videos for the likes of Goldfrapp, one of her shorts, Baby Cue, led to Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, declaring her to be a “funny filmmaking genius.” Now though, Hazel is working hard on a live Alternate Reality Game(ARG). Meigeist, part-funded by the Arts Council and developed and co-created by herself.

But although ARG’s are a mystery to many outside the gaming community, they utilise the same tools that many film-makers would view as essential tools to distributing and marketing a film – myspace, youtube and other online communities. The players of Hazel’s ARG are currently making a short collaborative film in order to progress to the next episode. And this bearing in mind that the players are distributed all around the globe!

We caught up with Hazel at her home in Bristol and found out more about her short films, her ARG project and her plans for the future.

How did you get into filmmaking? Was it something you always wanted to do?

I’ve always wanted to be involved in filmmaking in one way or another. I grew up loving cinema and it remains my first love. My abiding ambition is to be a feature director. I’ve been acting and writing since I was a teenager and I made my first film 16 years ago. That was Sort Of Champion, a spoof on 1960s British cinema. I won the BAV Award with that. Since then I’ve been making short films and music videos whilst working as an actress and writer for film, radio, theatre and new media. Mostly comedy and horror.

Tell us about Matt Groening’s fantastic comment about you and your short films how did that come about?

Yes Matt is an incredibly generous person. He found my animated short ‘Baby-Cue’ on a web site and when he came to Brief Encounters Film Festival in Bristol he screened it as one of his all-time favourite animated shorts. We’ve since become friends but then Matt makes friends with everyone.

How did you first become interested in ARGs? What is it about them that interest you as a filmmaker and artist?

I wanted to make something that was both a story and a game, which would reach its audience on the Internet. A friend told me that what I was thinking of was an ARG. Personally ARGs allow me to develop all the avenues I’m interested in in one go: story telling, sci-fi, drama and comedy and in all media: film, literature, interactive design and street theatre.

Your ARG has been incredibly successful so far. What elements do you think mark it out from other ARGs?

I think the main difference is that it’s very personal; because it’s small scale we’re able to keep the level of interaction with the players on a very personal almost one to one level. There’s also lots going on for the players to do, with daily updates and around ten web sites. They appreciate the level of detail and thoughtfulness we put into things like the characters answering emails and sending stuff in the post. One day I phoned some of them up pretending to be from this University we’ve made up as part of the game. I asked them tricky questions about their psychological problems. They all went along with it really well. We’ve also sold soft toys on eBay with clues in them

You’re really encouraging players to take a very proactive approach to playing the game, getting them to make a collaborative short film. Why is that?

We think they should get off their arses and do stuff. Seriously we just thought it would be fun but there’s also a bit of ‘puppet master’ interest in seeing how a group of disparate people around the world will pull together on-line to make a short film in a week. It’ll be interesting to see what they come up with collaboratively. We think they’re great and we thought they’d enjoy the challenge. The whole ethos of Meigeist is about people working together and using the Internet and all new technology to create spontaneous things together as a group. Stuff that advertising executives couldn’t predict or organise in a million years.

ARGs and gaming in general are still viewed very much as male territory, what have your experiences been so far?

The actuality of it is that there are pretty much just as many girls and women playing as there are men and boys.  They’re all ages too, we have some single mothers in their 40s in Oklahoma playing a central role as players. It’s a great community of individuals held together by highly organised on-line forums and we’re glad to be a part of it.  The forum is called Unfiction and can be found at www.argn.com. You can join in with Meigeist by catching up with the story on the site the fans have made www.meigeist.com

What are your plans for the future? Are you planning to make more ARGs? Or move into features?

Jon (my collaborator on Meigeist) and I have all sorts of ideas we’re really excited about. Both traditional as in feature film and television but also in interactive media. Everything I do has always been intended to have a different slant on things, to push the boundaries in my own small pathetic way; it’s my reason for being. I’m off to LA in April to discuss ideas with people both from the film industry and from technology (as well as having a nice holiday with my lovely boyfriend who works out there photographing midget wrestlers and faded starlets). Ideally within the next two years I want to write and direct the feature film I’m planning. I’d also like to write the TV series I’m planning and get Jon designing the interactive on-line music and film network we’re planning!

Do you think there are more opportunities now for short filmmakers than when you were starting out?

Well yes there are. There’s a lot more short film competitions and funding around but this isn’t due to foresight on behalf of the funders and broadcasters rather it’s a very late reaction to the revolution brought about by people taking digital technology into their own hands and distributing their films themselves. Vive la revolution!