World’s First Game-Sourced Film Brings Topos Research to the Screen

This might be the coolest thing ever.

Here’s the press release about this new film. When you watch, be sure to stay after the credits for the “behind-the-scenes” short video at the end.

World’s First Game-Sourced Film Premieres

Radius: A Short Film Utilizes Material Gathered Via SCVNGR Smartphone App

Film Developed by Possible Worldwide in Partnership with RippleFX Films

CINCINNATI (February 28, 2012)– The world’s first game-sourced movie, Radius: A Short Film, recently had it’s world premiere at a red carpet event. Created by Possible Worldwide, a WPP Digital company, with multiple community partners, the film was shot in and around Cincinnati during MidPoint Music Festival and other arts events. Edited from more than 2,000 unique pieces of crowd-sourced photos, Radius tells the story of a man’s investigation into a mysterious superhero who sweeps into his local community and the startling revelation behind this hero’s rapid rise.

The filmmakers gathered the raw material for Radius using the SCVNGR smartphone app beginning in September 2011 at the MidPoint Music Festival. They placed life-sized superheroes on top of iconic Cincinnati buildings such as the Contemporary Arts Center and Know Theater to attract attention, and movie posters encouraged people to play the SCVNGR game by scanning the displayed QR codes. More than 300 people played the game and submitted their own photos via the SCVNGR app. They received free music downloads from the bands performing at MidPoint, as well as the opportunity to be featured in the film. Additional content was gathered during Cincinnati’s Final Friday event and at the Emery Theatre’s 11.11.11 opening event.

“The most exciting aspect of the Radius experience is how we actually used all this game-sourced content in the movie,” said Hank McLendon, chief creative officer at Possible Worldwide. “Photos of local businesses and venues became a three-dimensional ‘Gotham’ for our superhero story, and portraits of the audience became characters in our film. We even gave people the opportunity to remix songs from music festival bands to help create our film score. Then we combined it all into a unique, visually engaging take on the standard comic book format.”

When the participating audience returns to watch this film short online, at film festivals or in local theaters, they’ll find the content they had captured incorporated into every aspect of the story. But they’ll also find the true identity of the film’s superhero: It’s them. Because they had supported the arts, they had triggered a ripple effect of benefits throughout the community – benefits they had unknowingly captured with their photos.

The filmmakers were inspired by the Topos Partnership’s ground-breaking work in, The Arts Ripple Effect: A Research-Based Strategy to Build Shared Responsibility for the Arts. Completed in 2008, the year-long research initiative examined the effectiveness of traditional arguments for supporting the arts, and revealed powerful insights into what people value about the arts. The key insight that a thriving arts scene creates a ripple effect of benefits throughout the community such as safer streets, booming businesses, and a vibrant atmosphere became the foundation of an expanded mission for ArtsWave, a Cincinnati-based arts advocacy and funding organization, and the narrative theme of Radius.

“We wanted to know how to change the conversation about the arts in an innovative way,” said Margy Waller, a senior fellow at Topos and project manager for the ArtsWave research initiative. “The creative team at Possible took the idea of the arts ripple effect and brought it to life in a vivid and compelling story that invites people to discover their own power to change their community by supporting and participating in the arts.”

“At Possible Worldwide we believe in the power of participation. We saw this not only as an opportunity to participate in our community but to create a first-of-its-kind movie experience.” said Jodi Schmidtgoesling, president of eastern U.S. at Possible Worldwide. “We involved the audience in the idea so they could help shape it, which ultimately leads to better understanding, personal ownership and the desire to share with others.”

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About Possible Worldwide
Possible Worldwide is a global agency that creates meaningful and measurable interactive marketing. The firm serves a broad range of Fortune 1000 clients, including AT&T, Barclay’s, Comcast, Dell, P&G, Nokia, Microsoft, Mazda and Starwood.

Headquartered in New York, Possible operates 18 offices worldwide, with major operations in London, Shanghai, Delhi, Singapore, São Paulo, Dubai, Los Angeles, Cincinnati and Nairobi. For more information, please visit possibleworldwide.com. Possible Worldwide is part of WPP Digital, which is the digital investment arm of WPP.