Lost Zombies: the DIY movie apocalypse

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009

The Blair Witch Project used the web to build word-of-mouth hype with incredible success before its release back in 1999, and since then it’s become a bit of a cliche for film studios to do the same. The usual process is to create cryptic teaser websites to whip the fans into a frenzy of chattering excitement before releasing an ultimately disappointing, prosaic film to a near-universal ‘meh’. (I’m looking at you, Cloverfield.)

But Lost Zombies is taking a much more ambitious approach to using the online community, by actually getting the community itself to make the movie.

“In 2007 the flu pandemic began. The flu strain spread quickly, mutating out of control and causing a global zombie apocalypse. Today 75% of the population has been wiped out. We want to hear your story.”

At its heart the site is an online community, with members posting messages and writing articles, but it has the potential to be much more than that – which is why it’s just picked up the Community and People’s Choice Awards at the South by Southwest Web Awards in Austin, Texas.

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Do you actually want 3D?

Friday, February 27th, 2009

While researching an upcoming feature, I found a link from the BBC. Entitled “Why 3D is about to break through“, it explains the exciting world of 3D movies and projection, before concluding that it “looks like the future of 3D is firming up.”

Only trouble is, the article was from over a year ago. Since then I’ve been to see Beowulf at the IMAX, and toyed with an old game on one of Zalman’s monitors, but I can hardly say 3D leapt out at me through 2008.

This year, though, is different – one look at the barrage of 3D TVs launched at CES is enough to realise that. But while the industry hypes it, I’m intrigued to know whether you, the consumers, are actually interested in 3D at all. Going to a movie once in a while is one thing, spending your own money on kit is another entirely.

So, is it something you’d consider investing in? And, gaming and movies aside, are there any applications for which you see 3D being genuinely useful?

Hating BitTorrent (or How To Spoil Three Years of Anticipation)

Thursday, July 31st, 2008

Like Napster and every other file sharing service since, BitTorrent has altered (some would say scarred) the digital landscape immensely. I’m not going to go into the legalities here – we all know people who use it, a noble few for genuine legal file sharing, vastly more for getting the latest Coldplay album without having to shell out for it (I’ve heard it, I can sympathise).

It’s part cause and part by-product of the fact that the Internet has hugely magnified the hype and speculation around new albums, movies and games, to the extent where we often know far more than we need to about something before we experience it.

Simon over at fanboy site Den Of Geek makes the point well here, with even seemingly innocent Facebook walls proving a minefield before a much anticipated film release. I can understand this to a certain extent – I read previews and speculate about films more than is really healthy. But I stop there.

The people I simply won’t ever understand are those seemingly intent on deliberately ruining their own enjoyment of the thing they’re so desperate to get hold of. (more…)