Do you think you can survive THE OUTBREAK? We caught wind today of a very exciting new online project that puts YOU in the drivers seat of the latest online horror series. The choose your own adventure style online video series is now live for your entertainment, read on for details and post your experience with this new project below.
ZOMBIES 2.O: "THE OUTBREAK" PUMPS NEW LIFE INTO UNDEAD FILMS
INTERACTIVE HORROR FLICK LETS VIEWERS MAKE FATAL DECISIONS
PORTLAND, OR -- Who hasn't watched a horror film and yelled at the characters, "Don't do that!" or "You idiot, don't go there!"
With "The Outbreak," viewers can stop yelling -- and start screaming in the characters' bloodied shoes. Located at www.SurviveTheOutbreak.com, the interactive horror short lets viewers make key decisions for the characters, with immediate results.
For example, in one scene a character breaks a leg while fleeing from zombies. The action freezes and the viewer is presented with a choice: "save her" or "leave her." Make the right choice, and the film continues on, where you are faced with even more critical choices. Make the wrong decision, and the viewer gets one final scene before the words "YOU DIE" appear on screen. But just like the zombies, viewers don’t have to stay dead forever. They can start the film over, or click on a chapter menu to see their film path to that point. They can then re-play a scene and change their minds. The total length of the film, all options included, is 17 minutes.
"The Outbreak" was brought to life by Chris and Lynn Lund, who run the Portland, Oregon web design-and-animation studio SilkTricky (www.SilkTricky.com). Chris directed while Lynn produced. The two also created the interactive website.
"We usually create websites and motion graphics for our clients, but wanted to show what we could do with interactive film," says Lynn.
Adds Chris, "I got to work with some of my best friends, and a ton of incredibly talented pros. We love the genre, but wanted to try something completely different and apply what we know about online experiences to film."
"The Outbreak" was filmed over 6 days in and around Portland, Oregon, using local actors and crew. The entire production was self-funded. The Lunds plan to use "The Outbreak" to showcase their talents beyond web design and maybe even gain some sponsors for their next production.
Interactive gimmick aside, this was a really cool little old-school zombie flick, it was was more Romero-esque than Romero's last two releases, Land... and Diary.... I'd love to see this extended to a full-length-ish regular movie (at least 45 minutes), I'd be all over the DVD.
Concerning the interactivity thing, the line between movies and video games continues to blur....
Addendum to previous post; the DVD I mentioned could have a regular passive version to just watch, and the interactive version - you could have a party and play zombie surviving drinking games.
No reason for a choice if one way is wrong, they should have just continued from each choice to make several different scenarios instead of 'wrong choice' or 'good choice' cause otherwise how it is now its basically you have to guess what they want the movie direction to go. So great idea but fails in my honest opinion.
That was so cool! I agree with DFTaker that there could have been different scenarios, but I think it was great fun nonetheless.
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