[arg_discuss] ZOMBIES! (was Open Source ARGs)

[Brian Clark]

You can imagine the strange email I get at GMD Studios, but a subject line
of "Partnership Inquiry" rarely actually gets my attention. Unless is it
trying to recruit you into making a motion picture with thousands of other
filmmakers in an organized narrative divided by states and regions, and then
suggests you go to http://www.nationundead.com for more info.

I'm such a sucker.

What I found, though, is probably of interest to at least a sub-set of this
list (those that also play around in moving image storytelling) and, in many
ways, their concept raises some interesting questions.

If you're engaging the immersive community as creators instead of consumers,
are we still in the realm of theory that emerges from the ARGing discipline?
If a hypothetical filmmaker-creator-participant stages a zombie flash mob as
part of production, are those participants part of that creator side?

In essence, though, this is as good and simple of a model of how a large
group of people might tell a story together, which seems connected to this
"open source ARGs" concept.


Brian

[the press release they sent me]

Minneapolis , MN - July, 27 2008 - The Producing House, Brightline
Interactive, Token Media, Patrick Pierson, and Frame Six-Sixteen present
Nation Undead. This new interactive website establishes the story of a
plague that spreads throughout the country causing fear, panic, the undead,
and eventually a total breakdown of society. The story will be told from the
unique perspective of stringing together three to five minute submissions
from filmmakers from all over the country. This content will be available at
Nation Undead, in a nine episode arc.

Director Patrick Peirson has divided the United States into nine distinct
zones for the purposes of narrative cohesion. Each zone is comprised of six
to eight States. The different zones have specific instructions regarding
the stories that could be told in that zone. By using Nation Undead,
filmmakers will have access to specific zone instructions and will be
supplied downloads that can be used in their submission pieces (mp3s,
posters, information on the zombies, video props) that will keep the story
cohesive. Filmmakers will also be able to use our filmmaker's community to
discuss and rate each others' work.

The Website itself features the illustrations of Jon Dege, photographs by
Tom Kanthak of Reaction Studios with design by Brightline Interactive, RC
Johnson. The producing partners comprised of The Producing House, Brightline
Interactive, Token Media, Patrick Pierson, and Frame Six-Sixteen bring a
wealth of experience in their respective fields to this project. The team
has come together to cover all areas of production and quality in
filmmaking, media production, interactive web design, and management.