Head Trauma director Lance Weiler on gaming and worlds beyond independent film.

The Evolution

Over the last six months, I‘ve been experimenting with a collision of gaming, movies, music and technology know as a MIG (media-integrated game play). The MIG is a way in which the audience can experience a story across multiple platforms and devices. Characters from a film interact directly with an audience via live encounters, phone calls, text messages and e-mails. These interactions lead to clues consisting of hidden media, sites, blogs and social networking pages, all of which extend the film‘s storyline and provide life for its characters beyond the screen.

The driving force behind my experimentation is my constant quest to reach audiences in new ways. The advent of DVRs (digital video recorders), portable media players and an increase in connectivity has enabled a new exchange of media that is social and places the power smack in the palm of the viewer. A rapidly expanding on-demand culture offers independent filmmakers new distribution outlets, modes of interaction, promotion and revenue streams.

Beyond The Console

Often the term gaming conjures up the image of first-person shooters like Halo, or old-school console games like Donkey Kong. But the conventions of play are changing thanks in part to an emerging independent gaming movement.

From the ITVS-funded political ARG (alternate-reality game) World Without Oil to the controversial RPG (role-playing game) Super Columbine Massacre, games are tackling important social issues.

In other cases, ARGs and MMOGs (massively multiplayer online games) have become hot new promotional and advertising platforms for Madison Avenue and Hollywood. TV shows like Lost and Heroes have employed ARGs to expand the reach of their series beyond the set, and upcoming releases by J.J. Abrams (Cloverfield) and Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight) are using ARGs to promote the films far in advance of the theatrical release.

When it comes to massive multiplayer online games, James Cameron and Steven Spielberg are creating whole worlds around their films complete with virtual currencies.

But the above are all studio-funded ventures. What can independent filmmakers gain from this convergence?

The Value

Hope is Missing is a MIG that my company, Seize the Media, constructed to assist with the promotion of Warner Brothers‘ VOD (video-on-demand) release of my independent film, Head Trauma. At the heart of the MIG is the story of a young journalism student named Hope who returns home to find her mother exhibiting strange nocturnal behaviors. As she digs deeper she uncovers what is causing these behaviors, but before she can notify the authorities, she is abducted.

The narrative and game play are lead by Hope‘s fiancé, who is desperately searching for her. This storyline then begins to blend in elements of Head Trauma until the two become directly intertwined.

The Hope is Missing MIG consists of the following components:

MOBILE DRIVE-IN (mobmov.org screenings): Characters lead audience members to secret screening locations with phone calls and text messages. During screenings audience members can use their phones to interact with the film.

WEB SERIES: A four-part Web series is released weekly. In each episode a number of clues — “rabbit holes” — lead players to hidden media and sites across the Web.

REMIX: Through a collaboration with eyespot.com we built a special promotion that allows players to become contributors. As players remix media they unlock a series of hidden clues.

LIVE GAME BOARD: A map mash-up tracks elements of the game play and also holds a number of hidden clues.

MOBILE COMMUNICATION: Characters call and text audience members.

The Hope is Missing MIG was developed for less than $1,000. It started by crafting the game play and pitch. We built a pitch deck to convey our concept and then targeted outlets that could assist us with reaching a wider audience. To view a version of the Hope is Missing pitch deck visit workbookproject.com/mig.

In the end we assembled an impressive number of outlets and promotional partners: MySpace, Stage 6, Xbox, Eyespot, Twitter and Opera Mobile. This not only increased our reach but also created an effective national promotion for Head Trauma.

VOD releases tend to be fragmented due to the number of varying outlets. A unified promotional push can be difficult and costly. The MIG concept will allow us to reach an audience of more than 30 million people, and our promotional partners provided over $400,000 in placements across their networks and sites.

Once we had the commitment from the promotional partners we were able to leverage additional deals for the film and better placement within VOD catalogs. Over the coming months we will have a better understanding of the exact conversion rates of players to VOD purchases but we are seeing value from our efforts already.

New Streams Of Revenue

The other element of a MIG that is exciting for independent filmmakers is that you can creatively build a game around your film, building and testing new storylines and properties in the process. For instance the Hope is Missing MIG has lead to a number of high-level discussions about turning the concept into a fully funded, ongoing Web series.

After the Head Trauma cinema game experiments my whole focus around story has changed. I am now considering creating a world around each of my works — worlds that can cross devices, platforms and audiences. In fact, I have been writing game bibles (which overviews games and their rules) at the same time that I am scripting.

Samples:

Hope Is Missing (hopeismissing.blogspot.com): Promotion for Head Trauma.

ARGnet (argn.com): A comprehensive site covering all things ARG.

World Without Oil (worldwithoutoil.org): Ken Eklund‘s social conscious ARG about an oil shock.

Super Columbine Massacre (columbinegame.com): Controversial RPG.

Cloverfield (1-18-08.com): Promotion for the upcoming J.J. Abrams film.

Eldrich Errors (eldritcherrors.com): Interesting horror ARG.

Perplex City (perplexcity.com): Immersive ARG dealing with murder, intrigue and conspiracy. The first season concluded and a second season is in the works.