Siobhan O'Flynn's 1001 Tales http://1001tales.posterous.com tracing the roots & tendrils of storytelling today posterous.com Mon, 09 Jan 2012 04:30:00 -0800 What I’m looking forward to in 2012 - Part 1: Prison Dancer! Interactive Web Musical (new video & links added) http://1001tales.posterous.com/what-im-looking-forward-to-in-2012-part-1-pri http://1001tales.posterous.com/what-im-looking-forward-to-in-2012-part-1-pri

 

I’m assuming you’re all over this by now as this new web series & video trailer have been getting tons of global buzz in the last few days. But if you don’t know about it, you should.

 

Inspired by a real video of 1500+ prisoners in the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center in the Philippines dancing en masse to Michael Jackson’s Thriller (49+ million views), Prison Dancer is a 12 part interactive video series that will launch in March 2012. The trailer launched on YouTube six days ago, is now over 50,000 views, and has been picked up as viral video of the week by Fox News, “hot” on Trendhunter, and featured on Australian TV. Part of its appeal seems to be what co-writer and director Carmen De Jesus describes “as one of the first post-Dr. Horrible “made for web” musical web-series.” You know from the trailer that this is going to be a funny, campy, no-holds-barred production that will play up the romance and the drama in a way that reminds me already of John Waters’ musical homage to the 50s delinquent teen movie, Cry Baby (watch that one for an early singing Johnny Depp!). 

 

Now, one genius aspect of this production is its in-built global reach. Produced in Toronto, it taps audiences across national boundaries. One of the series’ stars is Mikey Bustos, a superstar in Canada and the Philippines who Americans might know better as “that guy who did the Filipino accent tutorial on the Internet.  

 

Producer Ana Serrano took a moment to answer a few questions and now I’m totally intrigued!:

 

SO: Prison Dancer is described as an interactive web series - that could mean interactive video where web videos have some kind of interactive interface to play with content flow or it might also include interactive participatory strategies for crowdsourced, fan-generated content - without giving too much away, are you playing with the latter idea? It would seem to be a genius project for that.

 

AS: We are playing with both ideas. One of the key interactive tools we are using is Youtube’s annotation tool. This allows folks to turn Youtube videos into clickable assets. For Prison Dancer, most of our episodes have interactive branches from them. However, these branches either provide more backstory to the characters or allow our audiences to engage with experiences they can then use to claim as their own and share back with the community. Think karaokified musical.

 

 

SO: As you say in your Toronto Star interview, this is “a perfect property for online because it was inspired by a web video,” the phenomenally popular Filipino prisoners’ YouTube version of Thriller. It was originally written as a play for stage and you give a little detail as to the long term vision, three seasons & maybe a Broadway Show, and Prison Dancer seems to have real substance as a cross-platform project. Is there a possibility of transmedia story extensions as well? It looks like this will be a story with multiple characters and easily multiple storylines, given the setting. Oz meets Glee but pitched WAY happier than OZ. And with three seasons in mind, that would seem to give you some scope for a really amazing transmedia story.

 

AS: yes, I think the possibilities for extending character storylines well beyond the web series and stage play are enormous. The original dancing inmates already have virtual lives.  It’s not far off to see either the “real prisoners” or characters inspired by them to be hooked on their Internet notoriety and hence want to continue building a rapport with an audience rabid for their dances. So yes, part of what we are playing with is who these characters are and how they may actually be interfacing with the Web audience as individuals.

 

 

SO: Another really fabulous aspect of Prison Dancer, with what little is known so far, is that the project already has a trans-global audience, especially with the story being set in a Filipino prison and being a Canadian production. Have you and the writers given any thought as to writing for specific regional audiences? Or, if you write for a global audience, do you feel there are any specific considerations to keep in mind? Or do you just make the best damn web series you can and see what happens?

 

AS: We have very specific audiences in mind — Filipinos both at home and abroad; LGBT; and Glee/musical lovers (which arguable could be seen as slightly mainstream these days...so call it young women.) So we are writing and creating experiences with those audiences in mind only. Our thought is if we can satisfy this niche yet globally distributed sets of people we have the possibility of crossing over.

 

 

SO: Have you thought about the fact that both this current project and the CFC's interactive feature film are set in prisons? Is there a wacky backbone of interest or theme(s) running through these projects for you? 

 

AS: LMAO have not even crossed my mind! But one of our themes is really about this idea of second chances. It’s a slightly subtle take to the classic underdog story. We’re creating a story not just about underdogs, or “losers” but about people who “lost their way” (as the first song “Point of View” says) and then finds it again by changing their “point of view” of what’s worth living for. (listen to the song to get the gist though you’ll here more of the lyrics in episode 1.) Which when I talk about it like this is also similar to the themes we explored in Late Fragment. So perhaps I am attracted to redemptive tales.

 

      

So props to Prison Dancer and to the launch of Ana’s independent production company, Prison Dancer Inc, co-founded with Carmen De Jesus and Romeo Candido (who penned writer of the lyrics and music and is co-writer of the book with De Jesus). I love it when smart people do smart work.


Mikey Bustos gives a peep inside the production here:

 

 

And if you haven’t seen the original viral Prisoners of Cebu Thriller it’s here:

 

 

Other great posts on Prison Dancer here:

 

http://www.8asians.com/2012/01/06/viral-like-sars-prison-dancer-the-interacti...

 

http://www.channelapa.com/2012/01/prison-dancer-the-interactive-web-musical-t...

 

 

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/2024188/Screen_Shot_2012-06-07_at_5.01.45_PM.png http://posterous.com/users/3sOfsD8qBu5X Siobhan O'Flynn narrativenow Siobhan O'Flynn
Tue, 21 Dec 2010 07:14:02 -0800 Super Cool Case Study: wireWAX opens up storytelling possibilities through interactive video « The Pixel Report http://1001tales.posterous.com/super-cool-case-study-wirewax-opens-up-storyt http://1001tales.posterous.com/super-cool-case-study-wirewax-opens-up-storyt

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]>
http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/2024188/Screen_Shot_2012-06-07_at_5.01.45_PM.png http://posterous.com/users/3sOfsD8qBu5X Siobhan O'Flynn narrativenow Siobhan O'Flynn