Welcome to my randomness.
This is a place where I collect the things that I <3. It's a mashup of tech, culture, music, films, games and anything else that catches my attention. My name is Lance Weiler. I enjoy telling stories across mediums and devices. I've written, built, directed, designed and run various film, tv, and gaming projects. I also write a regular column for Filmmaker Magazine about the impact of tech on entertainment entitled "Culture Hacker."
Why Text of Light?
The name is a reference to experimental filmmaker Stan Brakhage. "Text of Light" (1974) is a wonderful film by Brakhage who during his forty year career made over 200 films of varying length.
RADAR a mobile and web series that I co-created and produce enters its' second season. New episodes ever Wed for the next 12 weeks www.babelgum.com/radar
Launched this week is the latest innovation from Finland – the country that brought us Linux and Wreckamovie – a community-based music production service called AudioDraft. AudioDraft allows musicians to record and upload music not necessarily as complete pieces but as tracks (or stems as would be the jargon) for each individual instrument or vocal. This mea […]
LOOK Before I Die – The Website Inspired by the pending death of the Polaroid camera, K.S. Rivers and Nicole Kenney (RADAR 028 – Before I Die) sought to discover what people value most in their lives. They traveled the world, met hundreds of people, and snapped a Polaroid of them as they answered one simple question: What do you want to do before you die? […]
For the community of working-class filmmakers at New Breed a constantly evolving creative process of telling our stories is the one thing we can count on in these changing times. Embarking on journeys through deeper methods of collaboration & engaging with fans across various platforms is certainly exciting – but one thing is for certain, the creative ne […]
This past winter we continued a tradition that started with the From Here to Awesome experiment, a “day and date” festival concept that helped 22 films reach theaters, living rooms and viewer’s computers in 2008. The WorkBook Project Discovery and Distribution Award gives a filmmaker an amazing prize consisting of a week long theatrical run in LA with socia […]
Before I Die is a rare form of Interactive Art, started by K.S. Rives and Nicole Kenney, creating life, out of death. Using a Polaroid camera, Rives and Kenney have traveled far and wide asking people what they would like to do before they die, and snapping their photo as they answer. Rives and Kenny found that asking an age-old question inspired people to […]
Elan Lee wants you to convert part of your life into the storytelling experience Thanks to a fortuitous mix of chance and invention, Elan Lee has found himself to be one of the few recognizable names in the transmedia business. With four separate companies (Fourth Wall Studios, edoc laundry, 42 Entertainment, and his other “not worth mentioning” short-lived […]
For the community of working-class filmmakers at New Breed a constantly evolving creative process of telling our stories is the one thing we can count on in these changing times. Embarking on journeys through deeper methods of collaboration & engaging with fans across various platforms is certainly exciting – but one thing is for certain, the creative ne […]
I’m often asked about transmedia and how my company Seize the Media is using it in the projects that we’re developing or producing. Besides being an excellent story R&D tool, transmedia also offers a wide range of benefits for those wishing to tell stories in the digital age. It’s a given that media consumption is changing and much has been written about […]
For the community of working-class filmmakers at New Breed a constantly evolving creative process of telling our stories is the one thing we can count on in these changing times. Embarking on journeys through deeper methods of collaboration & engaging with fans across various platforms is certainly exciting – but one thing is for certain, the creative ne […]
WATCH Auto-Tune The News – Ep10 Turtles There’s a good chance that if you’ve ever used the internet to procrastinate/look at YouTube/link your friends to ridiculous videos, you’ve seen “Auto-Tune the News.” The concept is simple: take the day’s freshest, most serious news, T-Pain the voices, and add some funky background music. The result: hilarious. The br […]
The Summer issue of Filmmaker Mag is now on newsstands. For my Culture Hacker column I look at how transmedia can be used for R&D around stories.
It’s tempting to get distracted. It happens to filmmakers all the time. Concern over gear, building audiences, developing social media strategies, new tools, new services. The promise of transmedia (the ability for a story to live beyond a single screen, device or medium) offers such rich storytelling potential. But for some it will become yet another distraction. Case in point: After a recent speaking engagement I was approached by a group of filmmakers. Some were trying to figure out the value of transmedia while others said with a sense of pride that they’d designed the perfect transmedia experience, as if it was something to check off a list. There was the Web component, a mobile series, a game and an app, not to mention an assortment of social media accounts thrown into the mix. It was if by adding more to their project they’d be guaranteed an audience in a media-saturated world.
Now don’t get me a wrong, I’m a strong proponent of filmmakers embracing emerging creative opportunities. But when I posed a simple question asking what the filmmakers with the perfect transmedia strategy were trying to say there was a moment of pause. I wasn’t asking about the plot or characters. I was looking for the passion behind the project. What was it that the filmmakers needed to say? What was their story really about? Interestingly, that simple question became paralyzing.
I’ve been there. I’m guilty of it. After all, most films are underdeveloped. It’s easy to fold to the pressure of what seems like a limited window of opportunity. The gut-wrenching feeling of “it’s either now or never!” But after finishing my last project I made a promise to myself that I would let the next one grow organically. By doing so I discovered that I could use transmedia as a way to develop the stories I wished to tell.
Transmedia is so much more than marketing and promotion. Of course, transmedia can benefit a project during a release or before, when a filmmaker attempts to build an audience. It also has value with regards to how a project can be funded and packaged. But let’s put that aside for a moment and focus on the creative side.
For those in Europe who are interested in how storytelling is evolving, I’ll be part of a three day workshop called Transmedia Next which takes place in London Sept. 8,9,10. It’s a comprehensive look at how to fund, design, produce and distribute transmedia projects. Space is limited for more info visit http://www.transmedianext.com
A look at the 140 most influential people on Twitter and what they said first and when. It’s available as a poster printed on high quality paper. Another excellent piece from iA – more info
Adolescents have been called “digital natives,” but data suggests that they are both comfortable with new technologies, and yet not always as technically savvy as we collectively believe them to be.
Half of teens send 50 or more text messages a day, or 1,500 texts a month, and one in three send more than 100 texts a day, or more than 3,000 texts a month. – Pew Research Center
Will Bella end up with Edward or Jacob? This 8-bit odyssey consists of a choose your own adventure which plays out over 13 vids. Initially hit with a DMCA takedown due to copyright infringement but the game which is obviously a parody is now live again.
Erika Iris Simmons uses analog things like vhs tapes, audio cassettes and 8mm film to create her art. “Ghosts in the Machine” is a series that creates 50 portraits using things that have become junk to many.
YouTube turns 5. The following infographic provides an interesting look at some data around the vid sharing giant. In many ways it is difficult to wrap your head around the sheer volume of 1’s and 0’s that swirl around YouTube and its users.
lw
6:08 am on May 14, 2010 Permalink
| Reply Tags: software opensource data social
Earlier today I laid out $25 bucks to support a decentralized approach to social networking called diaspora*. The timing for the project is perfect and within a matter of days a rag tag group of programmers from NYU have raised over 125k passing their initial fundraising goal of 10k by a staggering 1258%. Only time will tell if they’ll be able to do what they’ve laid out but I’m a huge supporter of creative entrepreneurship plus I’m a sucker for open data and free software projects.
Hats off to BBH New York and Google Creative Lab for crafting an excellent way to demonstrate the speed of chrome while at the same time providing visual candy.
Equipment used:
- Computer: MacBook Pro laptop with Windows installed
- Monitor – 24″ Asus: We had to replace the standard fluorescent backlight with very large tungsten fixtures to funnel in more light to capture the screen. In addition, we flipped the monitor 180 degrees to eliminate a shadow from the driver board and set the system preferences on the computer to rotate 180 degrees. No special software was used in this process.
- Camera: Phantom v640 High Speed Camera at 1920 x 1080, films up to 2700 fps
While going through some older files I found this case study for an ARG that I ran in 2007.
CINEMATIC GAMES: The first version of the cinema ARG started with a number of mashup screenings of my newest feature film HEAD TRAUMA. Version 1.0 was a collision of music, movies, gaming and tech. Here is a story that Current TV did about the release.
INCREASING THE REACH
For HOPE IS MISSING the goal was to create a social media driven ARG. We wanted the game to have various levels of interactivity. For instance, someone might just watch the web series and do nothing more – others might choose to dig deeper.
HOPE IS MISSING consisted of four web films that were loaded with hidden clues. The videos were released on stage6, myspace and xbox. By design we wanted to make the ARG (alternate reality game) accessible. In order to do so, we created layers of interactivity that allowed viewers to go as deep into the experience as they wanted.
The Interactive Layers:
1. just watch the videos
2. read the forums
3. dig for clues
4. capture and share clues
5. create their own worlds – blogs, wikis, forums, and chat rooms
THE STORYLINE
Richard Chambers is searching for his fiancee named Hope who has been abducted. Hope returned home after receiving a series of strange late night phone calls from her mother. In the brief conversations her panicked mother is convinced that people are in the house and trying to kill her. After each call Hope phones the police but when they arrive they find nothing and Hope’s mother has no recognition of making any calls or the incident.
After Hope returns home she uncovers her mother’s strange nocturnal behaviors and realizes that her mother is not alone. Hope begins to dig deeper in an attempt to pull her mother out. But then Hope mysteriously disappears – abducted by a hooded figure – her last moments are captured by a surveillance camera.
As the date of Richard and Hope’s wedding approaches he becomes frustrated with the way the police are handling the case. He is determined to marry her on Oct. 20th. But as things are lucking grim Richard receives a strange package in the mail. Inside the package are a number of tapes that show Hope, a strange letter and a return address that only says Deep Throat. Richard reaches out the video sharing sites and social networks in an attempt to spread the word.
THE TAPES ARE RIDDLED WITH HIDDEN CLUES
We created four web episodes with the goal of releasing them leading up to the Warner Bros VOD release of HEAD TRAUMA. Each webisode was riddled with clues. There where audio clues that had backwards masking and subliminal frames that contained ciphers of varying degrees of difficulty. Once solved the clues lead to numerous hidden sites, blogs, social networking profiles and other media. They are what as know as rabbit holes in the ARG community which is a nod to Alice in Wonderland.
The HOPE IS MISSING ARG took a decentralized approach to releasing the game elements. ARGs typically will have many hidden sites and digital assets. For instance the 42 entertainment ARG for the THE DARK KNIGHT, the newest Batman film, has 10 different sites (as of 11.24.07). In order to increase our reach we gathered a number of partners and releasing outlets to help expand our reach.
SECRET SCREENINGS
As the game unfolded we leaked clues detailing a number of secret HEAD TRAUMA drive-in screenings. In order to find the the locations players remixed a collection of media through http://eyespot.com. As they remixed, certain combinations of footage unlocked hidden clues. These clues provided information about screening locations and point to additional hidden assets.
One of the subtle builds of the game was to blend the storyline of HOPE IS MISSING directly into the VOD promotion of HEAD TRAUMA. As a reward to players we offered a number of free screenings. The screenings were held in Milwaukee, San Francisco, San Raphael, and LA.
I was at the LA screening and over 70 people attended. The audience was a mix of people, some who were playing HOPE IS MISSING, others who discovered the location through friends that were playing, and some had simply stumbled upon the location and saw a movie playing.
The audience was a mixture people. There where those who were playing HOPE IS MISSING, others who discovered the location through friends that were playing, and finally some who had stumbled upon the location and saw a movie playing. During the screening audience members used their mobile phones to interact with the film’s characters. Then after the audience left, the movie followed them home. A couple days after the screening we called and texted everyone with a number of game related messages.
PLAYERS HELP TO SHAPE THE GAME
As players cracked the clues they were lead to hidden media, sites, blogs, and social networking pages. In some cases clues were multi-leveled and required keys in order to crack them. Often these harder clues would lead to a special call-in number that allowed the first 96 players into a special conference call. The calls included players and a number of moles from the game. During the calls players discussed clues and their theories around the game.ARGs are driven through community interaction so it is common to have moles or people within the game who assist with story or in some cases game direction. Players often help to shape game-play and in the case of HOPE IS MISSING we experience an interesting range of interactions as players created their own blogs, wikis, and forums around the game.
THE STATS AROUND THE GAME
Some of the videos break into the top 10 most watched clips on the Web – Vidmeter 10.18.07
*Player interactions based on aggregation of forum posts and video comments across known outlets (myspace, stage 6, eyespot, etc.) – does not include player generated sites, blogs and forums.
Thanks for sharing this! I have been wondering how this type of project is developed and implemented, and this sheds a great deal of light on it. I still have a lot of questions…one of the main ones is: how do you get people engaged in the first place? Google Ads? Facebook posts? Posting on forums?
In the spring of 1971 the Rolling Stones departed the UK to take up residence in France as tax exiles. Keith Richards settled at a villa called Nellcôte in Villefranche-sur-Mer and this became the venue for the recording of much of the bands masterpiece Exile On Main Street. Stones In Exile tells the story in the bands own words and through extensive archive footage of their time away from England and the creation of this extraordinary double album, which many regard as the Rolling Stones finest achievement.
I recently wrote a piece for Filmmaker Magazine about designing mobile apps that extend storytelling and build audiences. Here’s a section from the story…
artwork Jordan Grey
Where Data Meets Storytelling
Mobile apps offer not only a direct channel to audiences but they carry your story to places where the audience will consume it. As stories travel they can harvest a variety of data such as: GPS coordinates, viewer preferences and/or contact info. This data can be filtered and used in a variety of ways to enhance a story. For instance, media (video, audio, photos) can be released to viewers when they reach a certain location, data can be used to connect audience members who share similar interests around a story, and characters can contact players directly via SMS, e-mail or even phone calls.
With my newest feature/transmedia project HiM, my company Seize the Media, which specializes in story architecture (design and delivery of stories), is hard at work on a series of mobile applications and web browser-based extensions. Our efforts are focused on an area known as Contextual Storytelling – the use of data to enhance and customize the delivery of story elements and social entertainment experiences to audiences.
Pandemic is a transmedia property that resides within the storyworld of HiM. The game enables players to step into the shoes of the protagonist as they are forced to scavenge for food and encouraged to search for other survivors. One core feature of the game enables the player to create a 360-degree panoramic view of a space. By standing and snapping pictures in a circle, users can capture any space and place it within the game world. In a sense the Pandemic app creates a crowdsourced type MMO (massive multiplayer online game) that enables players to virtualize the real world around them.
Alice in Wonderland meets the iPad. The other day I had a meeting at a major publisher to discuss this very thing. Not Alice in Wonderland but the way in which books can become more interactive, social and engaging across devices. Alice for the iPad just scratches the surface.
That’s interesting. There’s also vook.com where they incorporate video right into the book but it’s only available online.
I think they have an ipad app for it. I’m also working on something where authors write a book online and can record their narration and add YouTube videos to broaden the experience of the book at http://www.rimmix.com
I think these ideas are huge for everyone involved in multimedia. I think too many filmmakers are still thinking too traditionally.
It’s ok for Hollywood to take it’s time because once they decide they could roll out whatever they want in an instant.
Indie filmmakers however need to be more diligent in what they spend their energy on and how the distribute their ideas.
One More Production a French based special effects studio has created an awesome 8-bit throwback where pacman, frogger, donkey kong and company destroy NYC.
Omar elbaga is discussing. 
Kai Collins 7:14 pm on July 9, 2010 Permalink
Mobile music is the trend nowadays, it makes sense to have great music on your mobile phone.`;’