MODERN POLAXIS - TECH AND PAPER ARE AS ONE

Over the last couple of years, people have been debating what's better out of electronic media and printed media. But recently, thanks to my great mate Sutu, this quandary can finally be resolved. Neither are better. In fact the only thing that can be better is if they both joined forces. Want to know how? Then you best check out the following interview, aren't you?    





1) What are your own origins, Sutu? Plus what path did you take in life prior to getting to where you are today?   I’m from Tasmania. I studied graphic design and taught myself how to code and got a job designing websites, interactive installations for museums, and pilot training programs for the military. While I was doing that I was also doodling a lot. Eventually I got the idea to combine my illustrations with my programming to create Nawlz an online interactive comic.

2) What inspired you to create your ‘Modern Polaxis’ augmented reality comic book?   The Modern Polaxis story is inspired by my travels around the world, seeing different cultures and how immersed people can become in their spiritual beliefs. At one point in the story I use the example of an ayahuasca ceremony in Peru where the shaman and his disciples believe they can interface with the spiritual gods of the jungle via the ayahuasca plant. There is a deep sense that there is a hidden world beyond their immediate perception.

The AR app technology was inspired by my Nawlz cyberpunk comic. In Nawlz I imagine an Augmented Reality street culture and all the characters engage in all types of AR including magazines and books. AR allows the reader to see both the normal reality and the hidden world. In the Polaxis story it’s also used as a device for the protagonist to conceal his most secret thoughts.

Modern Polaxis Augmented Reality Comic Book Trailer from NAWLZ on Vimeo.

3) In your own words how would you describe this tale?   The story is presented as the private journal of a paranoid time traveller named Modern Polaxis. Polaxis is struggling with the usual dogma of how our world was formed and how our reality operates. Polaxis believes there are invisible forces manipulating our lives and he is on a quest to prove their existence.

4) What song would you say best represents this project and why?   Recently in the news the event of the Philae Space Probe landing on the comet was overshadowed by the design on the chief scientists shirt. The shirt showed images of scantily clad babes holding guns. The event has been described as a media shirt-storm. If you were to create a soundtrack for that moment it would be like Prelude from Space Odyssey suddenly cuts to some calypso elevator music.

Polaxis is like this. In the protagonists mind some epic conspiracy is unravelling to the tune of ‘Night on the Bald Mountain” by Mussorgsky, but when he tunes back in to reality 'Up Up and away' by the 5th Dimension is playing.

5) If you could get a celebrity – either living or dead – to promote your wares, who would you choose, and why would you want to choose this particular person?   Terrence Mckenna. I like the sound of his voice and he is the godfather of plant communication.

6) What have you learnt about yourself through this endeavour? And were their any unforeseen obstacles you had to contend with along the way?   Doing the Kickstarter was a big learning curve. As I was doing all that by myself I had to become both creator and marketer. I’ve never liked marketing, I still don’t but I had to think about how I could reach the people who would enjoy this kind of story, people like me I guess. As it’s a hybrid of technology and print, there isn’t a established marketplace for this sort of thing. I also had to ask myself why it's worth doing so that when I did reach the right people I could tell them honestly why I wanted them to check it out, rather then just selling some generic marketing bs, buy this bla bla bla

7) During your time in this field, what is the one thing that has kept you in good stead?   Once we got the tech working well, I really enjoyed experimenting with it and creating different animations and effects and seeing how they looked when mapped to the physical page. I really like the aesthetic of the vivid colorful images on the screen juxtaposed with the faint printed page in reality.

8) If ‘Modern Polaxis’ had a motto, what would it be?   Find the reality projector and destroy it!

Now for any more information on Modern Polaxis please check out Sutu's official website. Or alternatively, please pop on over to his on-line store and pick yourself up a copy.