Transmedia Frenzy: Pandemic 1.0
Posted by Administrator – March 9, 2011Earlier this year we went down the transmedia rabbit-hole with award winning writer/director Lance Weiler, and popped up at the Sundance Film Festival–where we helped unleash Pandemic 1.0, a fictional story of a viral outbreak that took the festival by storm. Spanning film, mobile, online, real world and more, Pandemic 1.0 was a digital virus that spread— or receded–based on player interaction. More than a few amazing moving parts and a team that united some of the best in transmedia, technology, and emerging experiences were involved, so we’ve created a video about our favorite parts of the Pandemic 1.0 experience , and some highlights after the break.
Highlight Number 1. Google, Nexus S and NFC
We got hands-on with 50 Nexus S Devices, which were donated to the program by Google. Our team worked with Lance and Mark Harris of Desperate Comfort and created an integrated mobile experience for Pandemic 1.0 to let players retrieve hidden story artifacts, unlock secret media and create a crowd-sourced video travelogue of the entire experience. The highlight of this highlight was flexing our near field communication (NFC) skills. We love the promise and potential of NFC, and Pandemic 1.0 let us get hands-on with 600 NFC tags provided by NXP Semiconductors who also supplied the NFC technology in the Nexus S. So excited. Love new tech. Can’t wait to do it again!
Highlight Number 2. Fan mail!
We love Gizmodo
We are huge fans of Softpedia
We read DITII
We’ve been web-stalking Steve Clayton at Next @Microsoft since it launched
And we dig Filmmaker Magazine, too!
Nice to know the feeling is mutual.
Highlight Number 3. Amazing work, and amazing people.
Any work day that starts with a call from Anita Ondine and Lance Weiler is one for the record books. From the moment we said, “we’re in” to the moment we said, “that’s a wrap” Pandemic 1.0 truly was “The most experimental story told at this year’s Sundance Film Festival…” (Gizmodo). From our buddy Chris Wojahn at Microsoft Surface, to the amazing Nick Childs, to photographer and friend extraordinaire Mike Hedge, we collaborated with some of the best. Just check out the work being done by Medic Mobile and Hope Phones, a real-world nonprofit group featured within the Pandemic 1.0 story. Their 4636 Project, which used crowd-sourced translation, categorization, and geo-tagging to facilitate emergency response in the wake of the 2010 Earthquake in Haiti was inspirational to our effort. If you are as inspired as we were you can donate to their good works here.
Highlight Number 4. Mark Harris, Desperate Comfort
This highlight is cross-filed under Number Three: Amazing Work, and Amazing People. But this guy deserves a number all his own. Mark Harris of Desperate Comfort created software to turn NUI, mobile, and social media interactions into a weeklong story told through data that spreads to various screens within the festival, and online. If we ever fight off the zombie apocalypse, we want this guy in our side.
Highlight Number 5. Vectorform Seattle, Suite 3230
It’s fun to go down the rabbit hole sometimes. But when a trip takes you from Seattle, to Michigan, to Utah, and back again—
with a pit stop in the Park City Police Precinct—it is also very nice to come home. The Vectorform road show continues this week, when we head to South by Southwest for our “next big thing.” Check back here for more!
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[...] “Visitors to the recent Sundance Film Festival were able to take part in Pandemic 1.0, a virtual treasure hunt set in a fictional world that brought together NFC phones and tags, social media and a real-world mission control set up to look like a disease-control hub,” Christopher Brown of Near Field Communications World writes about our work on Lance Weiler’s transmedia experience Pandemic 1.0. [...]