“This is the most important point in your life. The point where you can leave your so far wretched life behind. Whoever you are and whatever you do, if you enter here you are nobody. Which does not mean that you can’t become somebody. Your goal is to make your tabula rasa a full book with dignity. A book with H.S.C. Mercurius on the cover.”
The ragging on the Facebook page of H.S.C. Mercurius starts with these impressive words. The student body from the BNN series “Feuten” was actually established for the second season. The mysterious student life is thus open to a wider audience. For anyone who has never been a member, but has always been curious: a peek into the shop.
A hazing while sitting safely behind your computer, we can not make it any easier. And it’s also fun. You must prove you have it in you to be a real freshman. Do you formulate your words like you should? Do you have the right vocabulary? Wrong answers are penalized with loud yells and grunts.
Online hazing
And do you know you how to behave yourself properly? Under the Mores of the association. “Those are the unwritten rules, freshman! Now we will see if you are really as uncivilized as your hairstyle suggests. An example of the rules they teach you: thunderous applause is a real no go. “Clapping is for artists and for seals!” said Noordzij.
Finally, you must show dignity by singing the Io Vivat in front of the webcam, the anthem of the international student. “Do you think your face is too ugly for the web, or are you just too cheap to buy a webcam? Then write a letter of apology, and give us a reason why we should still let you join.”And it’s waiting for the final answer. Will you be accepted?
If you’ll get the great pleasure of being officially accepted as a member of H.S.C. Mercurius, don’t dare posting “I’m finally a member!” on your Facebook and then like your own post. Noordzij: “You’re not masturbating in the mirror? To see how good looking you are. With your fuckface! ”
As a worthy member of the most beautiful association of the country you obviously expected to come to their bar in Amsterdam. The actors from the series appear “in character” on the get together and drink until the wee hours. Playing preps for an evening. I think it’s a bit like larping, live action roleplaying. But this time we’ll swap the castles and knights for dormitories and f*cking freshmen.
HSC Mercurius Get together
This transmedia expansion of the format is set up by Spektor Storytelling. With additional content in the form of videos, pictures and live events they really involve the fans into the story. Meanwhile, the corps has over 500 members. Spektor hopes, therefore, they be able to continue the association with the “Feuten” film in prospect.
Saturday, April 7 is the grand H.S.C. Mercurius Party in the Westerunie in Amsterdam. I was told that there are some special things about to happen and it promises to be a true spectacle. A grand entrance, performances, the national thong-throwing championship and lots of beer. Who would want to miss that? However, I can recommend that you just become a member. Not-members are welcome, but not wholeheartedly.
The new Axe campaign is one you can’t miss. Axe Anarchy for him and her are so tempting that groups of people spontaneously started snogging in public. Axe is telling us an exciting brand story that creates a mayhem in the Netherlands.
Axe causes total chaos
‘Start the chaos’, that’s what the campaign for the deodorant-brand is all about. And a chaos it was. Lots of Dutch bloggers mocked Unilever (who owns Axe) and advertising agency Reddion when they discovered that the companies tried to trick the audience. Recently the unprecedented Axe commercial was published on an amateurish little blog. The commercial, which was supposedly leaked, was of course posted on the internet by Axe. They also tried to let writers do their dirty work with no compensation and they violated portrait rights. Some people felt betrayed, and wanted the whole world to know. That’s not necessarily a bad thing for Axe. The two articles on GeenStijl alone must have generated a considerable number of visitors. There’s no such thing as bad publicity.
Enough gossip, time for serious business. The story begins some time ago with ‘Anarchy, the graphic novel’, which I think is the worldwide launch of Anarchy campaigns in different countries. It is an online comic about the origin of the Axe Anarchy scents. Readers get involved via Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and it’s interactive. Fans can affect the story and there is even the possibility to become a character. The branded YouTube channel is really worth a visit. It is gutsy and sexy and it fits the concept.
In the Netherlands ‘Start the chaos’ really comes to live at the press launch of the new Axe Anarchy fragrance for her. It creates a ‘complete chaos’, people start kissing spontaneously as actress Gigi Ravelli tests the product.
This is actually the same Gigi who campaigned for sexier hair earlier. Together with her friends, she walked through the city with signs: ‘Unkempt hair = no sex.’ As some kind of Pied Piper Gigi led the boys to a store, which’ just happened’ to have the Axe hairstyling products already waiting.
But Gigi is not the only Dutch celebrity starring for Axe Anarchy. Vloggers Teske and Dylan both made a movie about the question: ‘What if there was an Axe fragrance for girls?’ The fact that they were paid to make these videos is not that obvious. And it works. Viewers try to find the product online en report back to the bloggers: “Wajoh, you can predict the future! There really is Axe for women (:” No shit, Sherlock.
At the launch on February 25th in Rotterdam Gers Pardoel and Keizer performed a show. The busy square turned into a big mess as the Axe scents are tested. Everyone starts to kiss. Even agents (read: models in uniform) can not resist the aphrodisiac scents. It’s really just a flashmob. Pharmacy Kruidvat turns into a big chaos in as all the people want to buy Axe Anarchy. It’s no biggy, since it’s always a chaos there.
The weekend was reported in detail on the front pages of Dutch newspapers. By Axe, that is. They wrote their own articles on the front-page take-overs. There was no warning that it was an ad, but come on guys…
Axe take-overs (Photo: Reclamewereld.blog.nl)
In Amsterdam there were massive snog-parties as well. Kissing people stopped traffic and pictures appeared on yesterdays front page take-over and on Axe’ Facebook. The Facebook page is not what it could be. It actually affects the acquired image.
I’m curious what chaos still awaits us. Where will it strike next? Some things about “Start the chaos” are very strong, like the comic and the live events. But there are some things that can be improved, the Facebook page is at the top of that list. I think Axe made a very smart move to engage women with their brand. They have worked for years to build their domain “seducing women with a wink” and now they do the opposite for once. Cool!
-UPDATE april 20-
Gisteren is bekend gemaakt dat Axe Anarchy for women uit de verkoop wordt gehaald. Volgens Unilever is het wederzijdse Axe-effect compleet uit de hand gelopen en werd de chaos te groot. Wat een stunt! Eerst met veel bombarie (en heel veel geld) je nieuwe vrouwenmerk op de markt zetten en vervolgens doodleuk het product uit de schappen halen. Een spannende strategie. Zo maak je wel duidelijk dat Axe een mannenmerk is en blijft.
Axe announced yesterday that Anarchy Axe for women will be pulled back from stores. According to Unilever Axe’s mutual effect got completely out of hand. What a stunt! Bringing your new women’s brand on the market with a lot of fuss (and a lot of money) and then simply get the product off the shelves. An exciting strategy. It states that Axe is a men’s brand, and it will remain that way.
In the past weeks there were a few cool chaotic situations. During the live broadcast of a Dutch talkshow couples in the audience began to snog. The producer could not appreciate the stunt and immediately took legal action. Yet it is questionable whether they can sue Axe, since they didn’t use the name of the brand. So it was not clear advertising.
The last batch of the women’s fragrance is going to be even more popular, because if something is scarce, we all want to have it. Also, several videos and messages stated not to buy Axe Anarchy. And we all know, if people are told not to do something, then they jump right in to do it. Quite clever.
Novels are an ancient type of storytelling and books are still very popular, even among young people. Yet you can see that the reading culture is changing. Is a book alone enough to tell a story? And what other opportunies are there? I have been looking at various innovative projects in which the books story is only part of a larger story world. I have not included examples of cross-media (such as Harry Potter, where the books have been translated directly into games and movies).
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Marcel van Driel writes youth thrillers that are linked to online games. His young audience is immersed into the story in different ways.
Subroza.nl (2007)
Subroza.nl is about Roza and her half brother Lindel. When their father dies it appears that they have inherited a computer program that is worth millions. Roza and Lindel need to solve a series of puzzles to find the program that is hidden somewhere on the internet. And they have only three days to do this. The title already reveals there is a website with this book. On this website you can follow the instructions yourself to solve the riddles.
Superhelden.nl (2011)
Superhelden.nl is an addictive online game. The protagonist of the book, Iris, plays it 24/7. She does not know that the best players are abducted to a deserted island and they are trained to be secret agents: Superheroes. The creator of the game seems up to no good. What has he planned for them? Readers of the book can also discover the island on www.superhelden.nl
The books and games were a big success among the young audience. The books were sold out in no time and Marcel van Driel wrote a sequel for both titles. The concept is very innovative, but there are still a lot of things that need to be improved. The game that was developed for Superhelden.nl is not that great. The graphics are bad and it’s kind of boring. We expect a lot more from a game nowadays. It’s also a pity that many of the puzzles found on Superhelden.nl are the same as on Subroza.nl. I can still see the potential though. Kids love these kind of projects, especially when they don’t like reading that much.
Superhelden.nl book and game. I know which one I prefer.
With Cathy’s book, you get the feeling it is is something you weren’t supposed to see. It is a diary with all kinds of doodles and drawings. Inside the diary is a folder with newspaper articles, pictures, postcards and much more. The cover says: ‘If you find this, please call (650) 266-8233.’ If you dial the number you hear a (very badly audible) voice, it’s clear that Cathy is in trouble. An exciting beginning of a less exciting story, that was tough to read.
It is difficult to determine when you need to take a look at the evidence. The sites are static, there’s no interactivity and the voicemails don’t provide any new information. I personally feel that it adds little to the user experience, it feels more like an interruption than an enhancement. Yet the book has garnered positive responses and two follow-up stories.
Cathy's book and some of the evidence that comes with it
Root is an interactive story by Guardian Teen Books. Molly and Danny are young computer geniuses. Danny puts himself at risk by hacking a million dollar company and stealing highly sensitive information. He turns to Molly for help, but it’s too late. Danny has disappeared. Molly tries to discover what happened to her friend and that drags her down into the dangerous world of cybercrime.
Every day a new chapter was posted online and the content was influenced by the readers. Acenet is an online platform that also plays a major role in the story. Here readers could contribute to the story by submitting their own characters. These characters could turn up later in the story and save the day. Readers could also vote on polls and make online quizzes and challenges.
As the story progressed hyperlinks were added to the text. This I found very disturbing, because it distracted me from the main story. I would have preferred that the interactive options were shows at the end of every chapter. I did like the ambience of the story, it was very thrilling. And I believe the theme of the book is very suitable for online expansions.
Conspiracy 365 was originally a book series. It’s about Callum who gets a strange warning message after his fathers death. He decides to investigate the case and ends up in the most stressful situations. Each part of the series covers one month, from January to December.
This year a new Australian transmedia TV series aired, it is based on the book series. Each month there is a one hour episode on TV and the viewers can continue the search online. There is additional content to unlock, such as photos, videos, puzzles and voice messages. It looks pretty cool, unfortunately the episodes are not available in other countries.
The book series itself was not a transmedia project, but the TV series is. But the online extension would have also worked with the books. Especially because readers had to wait until next month for the next volume to be published, just like the viewers. This period is ideal for extending the story and the characters online.
For some people reading has to be relaxing, so not everyone wants to make an effort when reading a book. It’s a new way of reading and it takes some time getting used to it. Youth will appreciate this new way of storytelling . Their short attention span will be constantly stimulated by using different channels. The emergence of e-books can also be important, because you can easily switch between the story and a website or an app. It can be a very interesting development, provided you do it the right way. Make sure it really adds something to your story.
My question to you is if you agree with me on these cases and do you know more transmedia books that are worth a look? Let me know.
In the summer of 2011 strange scenes were seen at different locations in the Netherlands. Young people disappeared and zombie-like creatures wandered through the streets of Amsterdam. Lots of questions were asked, but the most important one was: Is this really the beginning of a zombie outbreak?
Who knows… It certainly is the beginning of the transmedia sci-fi thriller SALIGIA-7. In this projects we used television, online- and social media, games, live events and alternate reality games. For three weeks, we introduced the public to different people and plots in the storyworld by creative producer Ian Ginn.
The Story
For the pilot, Hubbub media, VPRO and Woedend! brought different storylines to life. It starts with Christel Stuyt from Amsterdam who posts make-up tutorials on YouTube and shows her running tracks on Facebook. One day she takes 90 minutes longer to finish her usual run through the Vondelpark and she has no idea what happened. From that moment on, she’s feeling worse and worse, as seen in her YouTube videos and on her social media profiles. After a few days she’s looking really bad and she can even pull large pieces of skin off her face. After that Christel disappears, nobody knows where she went. And Christel is not the only missing teenager. Her mother Maria Stuyt starts a search.
Meanwhile, Max de Burgh and Jules Carillio spot some suspicious characters walking in Amsterdam. As sci-fi fans, they’re pretty good at recognizing zombies and they know that this can only mean one thing: the zombie apocalypse is coming. Since the government is not taking them seriously, Max and Jules decide to warn people themselves. They start Zombie-alarm to gather evidence and tips.
When Max and Jules go to Lowlands they think they’re at safe distance from the zombies, but that wasn’t the case. These living dead were all around the music festival. We are introduced to Amber, her boyfriend Jamiro turned into a zombie at Lowlands. On national television Max and Jules try to warn people, but no one believes them.
Zombies on Lowlands
After Lowlands Christel returns back home. It’s her mother’s birthday. But not much later the confused girl leaves the house again.
Max and Jules receive an anonymous tip that they should come to the Westerpark. They ask site visitors to help them out. Once they’re in the Westerpark it becomes clear why they needed to come. Behind one of the buildings there’s a hideout with a group of zombies in it, including Christel. When Max and Jules try to get closer to the evidence, two vans with agents are driving up the Westerpark. The agents are with the ISB (Interventionteam Special Securitymissions) and they brutally take the zombies with them. Then an investigator needs to do his job by collecting evidence from the scene. He secretly hands over cards to players. It leads them to the Z-leaks website, where ISB documents are leaked.
ISB in action
The talkshow Take 10 pays attention to the growing zombie problem. Clairy Polak leads the discussion. Maria Stuyt thinks her daughter is treated like an animal and demands an explanation. Jules also wants more clarity. The Dutch people have the right to know what is going on. Herman van Stompetoren, ISB spokesman, denies the whole incident.
On Z-leaks a new action is announced. This time it will happen at the Noordermarkt. The ISB takes a group of zombies, but apparently they are too late. The zombies already caught a man and the loud grunting creatures are tearing the flesh of his body. One ISB’ers is fed up with the whispers between the investigator and Max. After a fight he takes them both into his car. The action gets attention of local and national television.
In an intense second episode of Take 10 epidemiological advisor Tom Finkers is calming down to the audience. During the broadcast Z-leaks is hacked and replaced with a threatening video of the ISB’er that took Max and the researcher. He has released Max, but the researcher is not so fortunate. It is clear that the ISB’er doesn’t let anyone push him around. Max and Jules decide to go hiding, but the danger is not over…
Evaluation
There are lots of things in SALIGIA-7 that we are proud of, but there is also a lot that we could have done better. I wrote down the 3 most important strengths and weaknesses.
Three things that were good about this project:
We used a ludic marker. This is an icon we placed on every piece of content we created. It’s useful for players so that they know what is part of the storyworld and what isn’t.
We made a script that was like our holy bible during the project. The smart thing about the script was that it not only contained video’s, but also every single blogpost, tweet and facebook update.
The live-events were a big success. Because there is an audience you only have one shot and you have to do it right. Everyone needs to know their place and their story. When the audience is participating in the scene, the only thing you can do is improvise, and that is a lot of fun! Tip: If players have been interacting with characters on-line, make sure you tell the actors about it!
Three thing that we will do better next time:
Take 10 was too weird for people who didn’t know the story. When you have the opportunity to use a mass medium, such as TV, use it wisely. Not everyone is going to enter the rest of the storyworld so make it a standalone. People who only see this part of story need to be entertained as well.
And when you want to persuade these people to find out more about the storyworld, you need to tell them that. We’ve experienced that most people won’t go looking for more content by themselves, that’s why some parts of our story was never found. You really need to take your audience by the hand and show them how it’s done.
One way to make your story more immersive is to make it more interactive. Give the audience the chance to influence your story in multiple ways. I think we didn’t give the players enough opportunities to do this in SALIGIA-7.
A lot has happened during the first 3 weeks of the story, and this is only the beginning of the SALIGIA-7 adventure. It is way bigger than you would expect. Questions that remain are: Why are kids the only ones getting infected? Where did the ISB bring the zombies? And are they still ‘alive’? Maybe you’ll find out one day… Stay tuned and stay alive!
Dutch public broadcaster are not scared of trying something new. A number of innovative transmedia projects came from Hilversum. This is partly made possible by special grants from the Media Fund. Out of eighteen proposals they have selected five transmedia projects for production. One of them is Who’s in, who’s out, which will air in 2012. Another project has recently been launched.
Hola Lara
Submarine and VPRO, 2011
Hola Lara is a new project by the VPRO and Submarine in co-production with Red Kite Animation and Tomavistas. Hola Lara is not only a series of 16 episodes on Z@pp, it is also a blog, various social media pages and a website with games.
Hola Lara
The series is designed for 9 to 12 year old children. They are introduced to Lara and her friends on an international school in Spain. Lara, Daniel, Akira, Tommy and Monica are living with host families for a year and experience all kinds of things. Of course they get to know a new culture, but they are also dealing with familiar teenage troubles: puppy love, pimples and divorced parents.
The story is partly told on television, but the rest is found online. Lara writes on her blog every day and you can become friends with the characters on social media. On the site a new game is launched every week, by playing these games you earn Créditos. This allows you to buy stuff to dress your avatar. The avatar with the most votes will appear in the VPRO Magazine.
Transmedia? I say yes. And it is also international. Hola Lara is also shown in Scotland (BBC) and Spain (TVC).
Who’s in, Who’s out
NewBe TV, Tuvalu Media and BNN, 2012
In this 2012 television series, we will follow six ambitious young people with a dream. At the Dutch Stage Academy, they are trained to be an actor, singer or dancer. But the question is… Who’s in, who’s out? Several cast members are chosen online. Via the website, anyone can audition for several episodes. This is done with the “Interactive audition tool.” Who would not want to play a scene with famous Dutch actors such as Manuel Broekman or Sarah Chronis. If you get the most votes, you get the role and you are to be seen in the television series. But you have to show your best, because if the audience does not like you enough, you will be out in no time.
A nice idea, but you do run the risk of being amateurish. Fortunately, other important tasks, such as script writing and directing, are done the professionals. That’s one of the things that makes this project different from Paul Verhoevens new film. I think Who’s in, who’s out is more likely to succeed, because the interactivity fits the concept.
Saturday november 5th, the symposium The way to Transmedia will take place. This event is part of the Imagine Fastival and is hosted by TransLAB Rotterdam, a platform that is all about Transmedia Storytelling.
Babbe Noya and I will tell something about our project called Sam and his Worldkids-Reports. A transmedia project we developed for Radio Netherlands Worldwide.
But there will be more interesting speakers:
Red Chocolate’s Daan Sip about the latest SOA AIDS campaign
Michiel van Jaarsveld about Restart, the social media soap (TV Lab)
ARG designer Joeri Rodenburg about ARGs and transmedia
Melle Bos (Online Oxygen)
After the speeches there will be a discussion between different creators to see how their insights and opinions relate to one another. This symposium is worth your precious time. Plus, entrance is entirely free.
I have seen it a lot lately: transmedia stories that are told as if they are real. This way, people are immersed into the story. They wonder whether or not it is true and they start the discussions. I started to think about the ethics of transmedia storytelling. Is it ethical to make people believe in stories that are not true? How far can you go? And where do you draw the line?
LonelyGirl15
LonelyGirl15, the teenager who shares her life with her webcam and the world wide web. The story starts with simple adolescent issues, school, parents, boys. No one even suspects that Bree is played by an actress. Some people see her as a friend and share their joys and sorrows with her. The story is getting darker as it becomes clear that Bree’s parents are part of a secretive religious sect and they suddenly disappear. When the observant and suspicious viewers discovered that it was all fake, the story continues. People still find it interesting. But what about the teenagers who found out their friend Bree does not exist, that they have had personal contact with a social media manager for weeks and that they have been worrying for nothing. Nobody is talking about that…
Is it the creators responsibility to protect these people? And how do you do that? It is a possibility to develop a logo for transmedia projects. If this logo is shown on all expressions of the story and links to information about the veracity, it would save some people a lot of trouble. But such a story will all of a sudden be a lot less exciting. You want people to be scared and having them to convince themselves that this is not real, that this is fiction, that it’s all in their heads. But what if they can’t tell the difference between the storyworld and the real world? Will they stay scared?
I think you can let people believe in stories that aren’t true, but you should always keep an eye on the impact it has on your audience. Here are three important questions.
1. Is it scary?
2. Is it personal?
3. Is it realistic? The reality and the storyworld are blended.
A transmedia project is ethical if no more than 2 of these 3 questions can be answered with ‘yes’.
An example: Final Punishment.
This story starts with articles in reputable newspapers and on news websites, there is a new high-tech prison, but hackers have managed to crack the system. Very realistic and quite scary, but it is not personal. It is not an existing jail, nobody has anything to do with it personally. That’s why this project is ethical.
Another example is Your Other You, a campaign for Toyota. On the website you leave some information about a friend and he will be stalked for one week. One of the five maniacs leaves him personalized emails, text messages, phone calls and movies. Funny? Don’t think so. How would you feel if you were harassed by an idiot who seems to know everything about you every single day? It is realistic, scary and very personal. I would say this project is ethically irresponsible.
Ofcourse there will be exceptions to this rule and we have to try things to find out what works. So as a transmedia creator, always keep your audience in mind. You can make mistakes, but it is your responsibility.
I wrote this article in 2009, but the issues are still applicable. Therefore I find it worth sharing.
“Attention Whore”, “Get a life”, “Just commit suicide!” On the Internet you can say it all. Who’s stopping you? People are much harder and meaner online than they are in real life. Why would you even consider the feelings of others? As long as you’re having fun. The anonymity of Web 2.0 changes the people to selfish attention seekers.
The slogans in the introduction are not mine, they are reactions on the blog called ’90 Day Jane’. “I’m going to kill myself in 90 days” is the logline of the online diary of the 24-year-old American. She tells the world about the last days of her life. Visitors are yelling things, they would never have said in real life. Of course I have my doubts about 90 Day Jane. It’s the anonymous internet, where anyone can pretend to be whomever he wants. But is it just a cry for attention or is she actually planning to kill herself? With that question unanswered, you can not express your opinion like this, so fierce and ruthless. But perhaps Jane shouldn’t have asked for it.
Web 2.0, the new World Wide Web, is seen as a good development. It gives people the chance to do everything online, including generating their own content. YouTube, MySpace and Facebook are examples of websites that use this principle. Web 2.0 also enables people to respond to all user-generated content, so they can interfere everywhere. Is that a good development? Is that something that mankind has been waiting for? I don’t think so.
According to bestselling author Andrew Keen all this has to do with the infinite desire for personal attention. “Blogs and social networks are just about the ‘me’. People talk about ‘my weblog’, ‘my MySpace profile’ and ‘my videos’. It is about creating their own places in the virtual space. It is not much more than digital masturbation,” says Keen, “They say it’s all about ‘social networking’ with others, but in reality, the user-generated content exists to promote ourselves.”
And that brings us back to ’90 Day Jane’. Did she want to promote herself? Become popular? The answer didn’t keep us waiting. The blog was taken off the internet and ‘Jane’ explains that it was no more than an art project. She says she had to take her blog down, because people thought it was reality. ”That is not a reaction that I expected nor can I morally justify.” Can you believe it? Of course, she expected this. She just wanted the fame, the attention and the feeling that what she did made a difference in the world. Virtual or real.
But Jane, don’t you realise the difference is already made? January 26, 2008 – Four suicide attempts after chat sessions. November 22, 2008 – Teen commits suicide on webcam. November 27, 2008 – Woman guilty of MySpace suicide. These are just a few of the messages in this manner. Bizarre, yes, but it’s nothing new. Proof is already found. Things that people do and say in the virtual world affects reality. And this is usually not something positive.
Not only suicide is propagated on the internet. So-called pro-ana and pro-mia web forums are promoting the eating disorders anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Because according to ‘Ana’s’ and ‘Mia’s’ these are not diseases, they see it as a lifestyle. They give tips on how to throw up or use laxatives to lose weight. The reports of these unhealthy wannabe supermodels are getting insecure girls in life threatening situations. ‘Ana’ and ‘Mia’ aren’t thinking about the consequenses. Their meddlesome, sick behaviour ruins lives. Supposedly, they help others, but they really only think of, you guessed it, themselves.
People forget their morality when they log in on their computer. They only keep an eye on things that have to do with themselves and their own egos. Look at ‘Jane’, ‘Ana’ and ‘Mia’. Yes, they get attention. And yes, they get plenty of visitors. That’s exactly what they wanted. But what they do already affected so many people. They reached their goal in a bad way, by using other people. Web 2.0 makes it easy for people to be selfish. But they are no better than anyone else, even if they have ten thousand friends on Facebook.
Woedend! invited Bas and Roel Welling to come and talk about the inspiring movies and commercials they create. The founders of Wefilm first introduced themselves and told us what they do. The Welling-brothers were always passionate about film. As young boys they took their camera everywhere to make films together. Roel went to film school and became a director, Bass worked as a freelance producer alongside his economic studies.They made lots of commercials for agencies such as Comrad, but then they saw interesting opportunities in online film. Theystartedtheproduction companyWefilm, wheretheyhadthechancetomakegreatmovies thatpeople wántto see. Nowit has developedintoasuccessful company witha full trophy case.
One ofWefilms first virals wasMax the Hacker, anonline series of videos aboutaboywhobreaksintoa variety of technicalsystems. For examplehehackedtheannouncement system of theNSand thedigitalsigns abovethehighway. Themovieswere very popular and theprojecthasgiven Wefilm ahugespurt.
Buthow can you make sure thatyour online film becomes asuccess? Youdo nothavethecertaintythatpeoplewill see it, asintelevisioncommercials. Therearecertainfactorsthatcan you can influence,for examplewhenthemoviesaretocome online. According toBas, it is importanttokeep an eye on the number of views. Oncethatstarts tofallit’s timeforanewmovie, soyou make sure thatits popularityincreases.Roelthinksyourfilm should be controversial, sothatpeoplewant to see it andshare it. Buthealsothinksyouneedabit ofluck, because thereareso manyvideosuploaded everyday, itis verydifficultto stand out. “We never saythatwe aregoingto makeaviral. Wemakeanonlinemovieandafterwardswe cansaywhetheritwasaviral. ”
This wasalsothecasewithStanislav, which was shownonHyves (a Dutch social network).Themovieused thedatafromyour personalprofile. Amafiaclubislooking forsomeone, butnot just anybody, they are looking foryou. Theyknoweverything aboutyou,whereyou liveandwho your friendsare, your photosroll off theprinterandyour nameiswritten on the board. Fortunately,it isacampaign to warnyoufor postingpersonal data on the internet. Thispersonalizedmoviewasobviouslyatechnicalmasterpiece, but it also had the desiredeffect. Peoplestartedthinkingmoreabout whattheypost online.
As you can see, itcanreallywork well, butit remainsquite difficultto convince customersof thiswayofadvertising. We can’t guarantee them it willworkandittakesalittlecouragetogofor it. Wefilmnow hasaportfolioofsuccessfulprojectswhere theycanrefer to, butifyoudon’t have that,you willhaveto do it otherwise. Make clearthat people are watching online movies actively. That’s why these films have more impact than theTVcommercialsthatareforced uponthem.
Makesureyourconceptis newandnobodyhasdone it before, then there’sgreaterchance ofsuccess and you can satisfy yourcustomerwithoutrealevidence. Never trytocopyasuccessfulproject, aspale imitationsofearlierprojectsare quicklyrecognized.
The lastprojectthatthebrothersWellingshowed usisnotonline,butin a publicspace.Public service employeesfrequently encounter aggressionand violence.Onahugebillboard, theonlookers areconfronted withtheirbehavior.Theyseethatviolenceis usedagainstambulancestaff,buttheydo not intervene.
In the movie they talk aboutaninteractivebillboard.Theaudienceplaysarole in thefilm,butdoes not affecttheevents,theyarepassiveanddonothing.Therefore, I think interactive isnot the right word.It certainly is effective,thestrengthliesprecisely inthenon-activity.Tomorrow istheaward show oftheADCNadvertisingyear prizes,wherethisprojectisalsonominated.Wefilm,good lucktomorrowandthanks forall thetips!
Woedend! nodigde Bas en Roel Welling uit om te komen praten over de inspirerende films en commercials die ze maken. De oprichters vertelden eerst even wie ze zijn en wat ze doen. De passie voor film was bij de gebroeders Welling al vroeg aanwezig. Als jonge jongens gingen ze al met een camera op pad om samen films te maken. Roel is naar de filmacademie gegaan en werd regisseur, Bas werkte, naast zijn economische studie, als freelance producer. Ze maakten onder andere commercials bij bureaus als Comrad, maar in online film zagen zij een interessante ontwikkeling en een gat in de markt. Ze startten het productiebedrijf Wefilm, waar zij de kans zagen om mooie films te maken die mensen wíllen zien. Inmiddels is het uitgegroeid tot een succesvolle onderneming met een flink gevulde prijzenkast.
Eén van de eerste virals van Wefilm was Max de Hacker, een serie online filmpjes over een jongen die inbreekt in allerlei technische systemen. Zo hackt hij het omroepsysteem van de NS en de digitale borden boven de snelweg. De filmpjes werden ontzettend goed bekeken en het project heeft Wefilm een enorme spurt gegeven.
Maar hoe zorg je nou dat zo’n filmpje een succes wordt? Je hebt niet de zekerheid dat mensen ernaar gaan kijken, zoals bij televisie commercials. Er zijn bepaalde factoren waar je wél invloed op hebt, bijvoorbeeld het moment waarop de filmpjes online komen te staan. Volgens Bas is het belangrijk om het aantal views altijd goed in de gaten te houden. Zodra dat begint te dalen is het tijd voor een nieuw filmpje, zo zorg je dat de populariteit weer stijgt. Roel vindt dat je filmpje zo spraakmakend moet zijn dat mensen het willen zien en delen. Maar hij denkt dat je ook een beetje geluk moet hebben, want er worden elke dag zoveel filmpjes online gezet, dat het heel moeilijk is om op te vallen. “We zeggen nooit dat we een viral gaan maken. We maken een online film en achteraf kunnen we pas zeggen of het een viral is.”
Dit was ook het geval bij Stanislav, dat te zien was via Hyves. Het filmpje maakte gebruik van de gegevens uit jouw persoonlijke profiel. Een maffia club is op zoek naar iemand, maar niet zomaar iemand, ze zoeken jou. Ze weten alles van je, waar je woont en wie je vrienden zijn, jouw foto’s rollen uit de printer en jouw naam wordt op het bord geschreven. Gelukkig blijkt het om een campagne te gaan die je waarschuwt voor het online plaatsen van persoonsgegevens. Deze gepersonaliseerde film was natuurlijk een technisch hoogstandje, maar het had ook nog eens het gewenste effect. Mensen gingen beter nadenken over wat ze op het internet zetten.
Het kan dus heel erg goed werken, maar toch blijft het vrij lastig om klanten te overtuigen van deze manier van reclame maken. Je kunt ze namelijk geen garantie geven dat het zal werken en het vergt een beetje lef om hiervoor te gaan. Wefilm heeft nu een portfolio met geslaagde projecten waar ze naar kunnen verwijzen, maar wanneer je dat niet hebt zul je het op een andere manier moeten doen. Maak duidelijk dat mensen actief naar online filmpjes kijken en dat ze daardoor meer indruk maken dan de tv-commercials die je worden opgedrongen.
Zorg ervoor dat je concept nieuw is en dat niemand het nog gedaan heeft, dan is de kans op slagen groter en kun je de klant voor je winnen zonder echte bewijsvoering. Probeer nooit een succesvol project na te apen, want slappe aftreksels van eerdere projecten worden snel herkend, en uitgespuugd.
Het laatste project dat de Welling broers lieten zien staat niet online, maar in de publieke ruimte. Mensen met een publieke functie krijgen vaak te maken met agressie en geweld. Op een enorm billboard worden de omstanders geconfronteerd met hun gedrag. Ze zien dat er geweld wordt gebruikt tegen ambulancepersoneel, maar ze staan erbij en kijken ernaar.
Er wordt in het filmpje gesproken over een interactief billboard. Het publiek speelt een rol in de film, maar heeft geen invloed op de gebeurtenissen, ze zijn passief en doen niets. Daarom vind ik interactief niet het goede woord. Effectief is het zeker wel en de kracht zit hem juist in de non-activiteit. Morgen vindt de uitreiking van de ADCN reclame jaarprijzen plaats, waar dit project ook voor genomineerd is. Wefilm, veel succes morgen en bedankt voor alle tips!
On behalf of the MediaLab and Radio Netherlands Worldwide Babbe Noya and I have developed a project for (future) expat kids. Sam and his world-Reporters kids is one of the first transmedia productions in the Netherlands. The project has brought us the Silver SpinAward for Young Talent.
Children who are moving abroad will face a few issues:
Fear of the new country
New language
New culture
New school
New friends
Homesickness
Keeping in touch with the Netherlands
To assist them with these challenges, we developed a transmedia project. The children are spread all over the world, so the best way to reach them is online. It is also good when they are actively engaged with the changes in their lives so that they cope with them better.
The online series is about Sam (Benjamin Murck), an 18-year-old boy who was an expat. He just became an editor at WorldKids and he is looking for reporters to bring stories from around the world. If you are moving abroad, you can also become a reporter. To show Sam that you can handle it, you need to do five assignments and then you’ll get the official WorldKids press card.
Sam is searching for Reporters
It is transmedia, because the story is told on various platforms and each platform tells a different part of the story. The children can also participate in the series, they can do things, make things and figure things out for themselves. They do this on different layers of the story.
At first there is the drama layer. Sam is being sabotaged by Mrs Schimscheiner (Griete van den Akker). She is an old-fashioned journalist who doesn’t want anything to do with the internet, social media, children or opinions. She was fired from the Radio Netherlands Worldwide and therefore takes it out on the new, creative Sam.
Then there’s the educational layer. The children learn journalistic skills through various movies and assignments, like how to write a good article or how to make a nice item. There are also interviews with a number of experts, they give the kids directions on things as radio and video, but also about homesickness. This way the children will prepare themselves for their life as an expat.
The third layer is about social media. The children learn to deal with social media like Facebook. So they can expand their network, and they can stay connected with family and friends in the Netherlands.
We produced the complete project and it will be launched soon. The series consists of 18 episodes, seven video interviews and five assignments. These are spread across various websites and platforms. Below you can see the introductory episode.
Special thanks to: The MediaLab, Gijs Gootjes, Kasper Kamperman, Martin Oostenbrink, Inge Brinkman, William Koornstra, Maarten Almekinders, Hetty Kleinloog, Radio Netherlands Worldwide, Suzanne van der Wateren, Michiel Haijtink, Albert Bek, Benjamin Murck, Griete van den Akker, Wendy Segaar en Marjolijn Ruyg.
