We did a Q&A with Lynn Lund, the Executive Producer over at SilkTricky to get a more in-depth look at the story behind and making of Bank Run.
Why did you guys decide to make BankRun?
We wanted to make Bank Run because we’re passionate about advancing the way people watch and interact with movies. Our first project, The Outbreak had a really nice following. We loved doing it and finally had some time to devote to another transmedia project.
Having spent many years in the interactive industry, we were fortunate to be able to work on a lot of very cool and innovative projects for our clients. But like many small groups of creatives, we wanted to make something for ourselves that doesn’t always come by way of a client project. We also felt that in going forward and executing this, we could show future clients a better model of how this medium works and open their minds to new concepts in the entertainment space. The process took about 6 months from concept to completion. We were involved in the production every step of the way from the writing to casting, filming, editing and building the website and game.
What are your thoughts on Transmedia and the interactive cinema?
Transmedia is defined best by Jeff Gomez as:
the art of conveying messages themes or storylines to mass audiences through the artful and well planned use of multiple media platforms…. The kids born in the 80’s and 90’s grew up with narrative jumps across different media, and they’re just now starting to control the advertising and media industries. Television and the Internet are everywhere, and they’ve changed they way we consume media, too. With more entertainment options available, people have self-selected into different niches, so brands and stories are increasingly driven by a hardcore fan base.
Read more about Transmedia’s rising popularity here at PSFK .
The popularity of Transmedia is very exciting for us because that’s exactly the kind of experience we want to provide. We want to get the user really involved in the experience and engage them on many levels and many mediums. Hopefully it will give people a deeper appreciation of the narrates as they are able to engage longer and participate in multiple formats. Of course, it’s always fun to sit back, sip your coffee and just be along for the ride but we’re really excited about people leaning forward and getting involved.
Who seems to be doing it well so far?
The entertainment industry as a whole is doing a good job of telling their story across multiple platforms. They’re able to give viewers a richer experience by developing characters, revealing interesting subplots and sometimes creating whole new worlds that allow viewers to keep the story alive. One of the greatest examples right now is via James Cameron with Avatar. You can tell by it’s success across so many platforms (3D film, interactive trailer, website, games on every platform, social networking) that this is really where the future is headed.
Can this be a revenue channel?
For brands, the challenge has always been to build awareness and recognition with any form of content created. Transmedia just opens up new and innovative avenues of communicating your values and developing a stronger emotional attachment with your audience. As far as monetization goes for Bank Run, we did not necessarily build it with this in mind. We could have shopped it to a brand for sponsorship or product placement, but we wanted to execute it with our vision.. fast.
The gateway to experience is the website and once the users are down the path of watching the movie and learning the characters, they are moved to iTunes to continue the experience on the iPhone platform. There can be monetization with the iPhone game, but we kept the app price low, wanting to make sure that our audience could engage at different levels across all platforms with low barrier to entry.
In the end, this is still content distribution and monetizing that is a challenge for all. Our goal is to provide value across multiple platforms, allow participation and make sure our story evolves as it moves across the media types. For brands who get all three of those things, we definitely think this can be a revenue channel for that content and even something larger that you are promoting, such as movie sales.
Let us know what you think and be sure to check out the BankRun experience by starting at the site.
