The project was always going to be a labour of love. Conceived while walking up a Scottish mountain almost 15 years ago, I’ve stumbled through explaining the basics of the concept so many times, it had to be made, the idea needed to Breathe.
In 2008, we were invited to pitch an example of our work at Power to the Pixel in London. The audience would be an auditorium full of industry folk, filmmakers and transmedia professionals. The response was overwhelming, and the support to make the film inspired us to proceed with Breathe.
We had precious little knowledge of how to raise finance, talk less of producing a movie, but I was certain the transmedia part of the project could be achieved. My background was in interactive TV, can’t be that different right? Wrong.
The scope was mapped out, I wanted it to be the first of its kind – adventurous, daring, immersive and spanning multiple platforms. So, what is Breathe?
Breathe is a interactive experience set in an immersive world where the audience interact with film characters and scripted narrative / plot over a three week period. These interactions have the power to change the flow of the story. Sitting in an office pulling the strings of a structured project is great, but a real transmedia experience can offer much more. The story needs to be out there in the hands of the participants, allowing them to engage and form unique relationships with the fictional artefacts, and even become part of the story.
After several months of meetings Breathe seemed too adventurous a gamble, finance wasn’t forthcoming, potential backers understood the basic idea – a film delivered in three parts:
“Like webisodes, huh?”
But they didn’t like the open ended narrative, depth of interaction, level of participation, and:
“It’s not a real film is it? Where is the return on investment?”
Then a ray of light, an invitation from Power to the Pixel to launch Breathe on the opening night of the festival.
This was an opportunity too good to miss, so I put a word out and recruited a team of volunteers. The film was funded by the generousity of the crew / cast / friends and family, credit cards, and selling stuff.
Breathe was an attempt to create a fully immersive film experience or world. Participants could inhabit, interact, and contribute to the fictional universe. The story was spread across seven platforms, in English and Latin, holes in the narrative invited people to find hidden artifacts, and contact strangers or even listen to the radio. We wanted people to create content, to become content, to filter out our own content – and they did.
Anatomy of the Beast
The first part was filmed and edited prior to launch, subsequent episodes were a weekly amalgam of scripted narrative, online interactions, blogs, recorded telephone conversations, text messages, treasure hunts, public events, and secret initiations all edited in between weekly installments.
The first flag up was “UK Dance Radio” an Internet station. The promise of free studio space in Hoxton fell through, and djs wanted paying, so the station streamed from my living room.
After a few weeks I realized we didn’t need presenters, the story arc was delivered by Twitter and the station website. This made life easier and the station’s content more manageable.
Next stage was to launch all the various threads, and signpost the main entry points. It often seemed schizophrenic, but there was a considerable amount of attention to detail involved in the process. I remember handing our director Andy Wilson a 15 row, 20 foot spreadsheet which mapped out the entire universe of Breathe. He dumped it on my kitchen table and insisted that I talk him through the parts he was involved in.
A steady pair of hands is vital on a project like this and I had a crew of experienced volunteers, people that actually make films for a living. This made all the difference.
The filming went well, the script was tight, and the performances were brilliant, but the interactive universe required a lot more than I had budgeted – time, money, manpower, resources, flexibility almost everything. Over the three weeks we spread the story across nine live events, eight films, 5 telephone lines, websites, blogs, public & private events, all produced by a team of three. Our nightclub event had 700+ participants, a staged fight scene, live filming, and performances – every week this was all condensed into a 20 minute episode.
The lack of manpower and funds meant certain things slipped, we had been in production for five months, my volunteers were done, and I couldn’t really ask for any more. Members of the crew stood in as characters taking phone calls from participants morning, noon and through the night. They memorised story arcs, latest developments, names and numbers. It got so hectic that potential investment or business opportunities weren’t followed through.
Every facet of the project was probed, we had interest from the US, Australia, Germany, Tasmania, even the Far East. The story often ventured outside the carefully signposted world, and demonstrated how real to life aspects of the project had become. When UKDance Radio was ransacked by a Police Officer, the incident was re-tweeted and we were overwhelmed by messages of support from Latin America.
Our police website, metpoliceforce was fed by a series of RSS streams from Crimestoppers, BBC, CNN, ITN, Yahoo, Google and our own fictional additions. The site provided up-to-date information on crime in London and it was almost impossible to tell whether it was the real deal. Genuine telephone enquiries were directed to the police, while in-game callers were either put through to one of the characters or encouraged to leave a voicemail message.
As mentioned, the objective was total immersion, to go further than the Kleenex, ice-cream or box of chocolates moments associated with watching movies. We aimed to take people out of the cinema, far away from their comfort zones, and to give them a real-life thrill. We were asking people to take a leap of faith, we wanted their trust, and in return they would have the most exhilarating film experience ever.
Mock assassinations, 1am rooftop fights, waterboarding, interrogations, were all part of the process – if you wanted to join “Clamamus Pro Aeris” – the fictional group responsible for the murder of Daniel Cooper, you had to endure a lengthy initiation process – this was not for the fainthearted.
Every step of the way we gave participants a safe word, they could leave whenever the experience got too intense – they all stayed to the end. One generous participant went as far as to say:
“It’s the most exhilarating thing I’ve ever done. I would go back for more!”
But there were concerns, often participants weren’t sure where the story was going, it was a major departure from the conventional film experience or alternate reality game. They found themselves experiencing the warped world of “Clamamus…” It was extreme, personal and in many instances uncomfortable. Every film director wants you to empathise with their characters, only this time viewers were the characters and the drama was happening to them.
Some participants witnessed aspects of the experience in isolation – yes they got bragging rights, but this can in itself be unnerving – I don’t like watching horror films on my own. People were led into a disused bank vault, tied up, blindfolded and left in silence. After 10 minutes someone was dragged through the room and bundled into the ‘interrogation’ suite next door and tortured. They didn’t realise that the person screaming was the same actor that led them into the room, he was throwing himself against the metal bars to create the effect. They were physically shaken.
Our main points of interaction were:
- Veronica Cooper hands out flyers to ascertain who killed her brother. (Power to the Pixel)
- Catering staff interact with delegates at drinks reception/Breathe launch (County Hall)
- Initiation ceremony at Pleasure Principled (Cable nightclub)
- 1am roof top assassination (9th floor Woolworth Rd)
- Initiation ceremony (The Foundry vaults)
- Unmasking of Droogie (The Foundry bar)
- Masked ball Pleasure Principled (Cable nightclub)
Where did all the Love Go?
Breathe Act One was a great experience, the story now moves to another country. The next Breathe will be funded, will have a paid crew, and sponsorship of some description.
One European film organisation decided it wasn’t for them, Breathe was outside their core business – filmmaking… I know it will be a hard sell, as most of the funding will come from branded content opportunities / sponsorship. These are parts of the industry that really need to embrace this new way of filmmaking. Advertisers want people to interact / adopt / understand / buy their brands and products, transmedia experiences are the best way of achieving this.
This project was not a marketing ploy, promotional tool, advert or anything commercial. It was a real transmedia film experience, we wanted to show it could be done, that there is an audience willing to engage across all the respective platforms, and selfishly I wanted to be one of the first to do it – that is what life is all about.
Site traffic was up by 427%, thousands immersed themselves in the experience, we almost buckled under the pressure of keeping things running. It has been the first step on what I hope is a long walk down an unchartered path.
The next installment of this blog will cover editing a transmedia film after the live / interactive parts are gone, disposal of assets, IP and an update on Breathe Act Two.
