By Terence Keegan, October 19, 2007
Philadephia (Oct. 19, 2007) -- No one is safe from the Net effect of Head Trauma, a horror feature film with a Web 2.0 twist, as Philadelphia-based writer-director Lance Weiler takes his self-produced "cinematic alternate reality game" on the road this weekend.
Weiler—whose first all-digital feature, The Last Broadcast, is currently distributed in over 20 countries, having enjoyed runs on HBO and IFC—looks to create what he calls "a new experience in horror" by engaging audiences on city streets as well as in theaters, then following them home with cell phone calls and social networking site posts from Head Trauma characters.
The cinematic "ARG," Weiler explains, is an extension of the emerging alternate reality gaming movement, which creates immersive game worlds for its players. Head Trauma puts a new twist on the genre by creating a game world that's broken into three parts: live urban game-play, a theatrical screening and an interactive phase that leads participants to a Web site powered by Eyespot (www.eyespot.com) to post their own video mahsups and unlock the film's mystery.
"Cinema has classically been a passive experience," Weiler says. "The Head Trauma cinematic ARG creates an immersive story that allows audience members to interact with horror in a new way. It is experiential, viral and can easily be passed from one person to another—[and] a scare can come from anywhere."
Click To Enlarge
Weiler (left) at a Head Trauma screening with co-producer and promoter Joseph A. Gervasi. (Photo by Derik Moore)
|
Even before the audience attends a Head Trauma screening (in cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Milwaukee, London and Mexico City, beginning Oct. 20), they will be invited to participate in the game component
. Audience members use their mobile phones to shoot their surroundings and work through challenges issued by characters from the film in cryptic calls and text messages, discovering the film's secret screening location.
In the film, a drifter who returns to his dead grandmother's house is haunted by feelings of paranoia and troubling visions of a mysterious hooded figure. He comes to believe that someone or something is trying to kill him. For the screening, the music track is removed and only the dialog and effects tracks remain. DJs and musicians perform a live soundtrack as characters and props from film emerge from the audience. Viewers also can use their mobile phones to interact with the movie as it plays.
After the audience leaves the theater—that is, the parking lot, cemetery or wherever else Weiler has set up his digital projector and FM transmitters—more phone calls and text messages lead audience members to a series of online hidden clues and sites that expand the story of the film.
Click To Enlarge
Audience members are handed a missing girl poster. When they call the number on the poster, they are greeted by a disturbing message.
|
Shot and completed in 2006 for a budget of $126,000, Head Trauma is also available as a more traditional experience on DVD (from indie distributor Heretic Films), with a video-on-demand release by Warner Bros. slated for later this year. Weiler says that while he always wanted an interactive element to the film (the www.headtraumamovie.com Web site was built as Weiler was still finishing the script), he benefited from the concurrent rise of new media companies like Eyespot, which enabled the Head Trauma road tour.
"I look at technology—and promotion and marketing—as natural extensions of the storytelling experience," Weiler says, noting that it's only going to get easier—and cheaper—for indie filmmakers to incorporate online and mobile media into their projects.
|