Though they weren’t at liberty to publicly discuss specifics at press time, ad agency Fallon, Minneapolis, and Hollywood-based iBelieve Media have teamed on several interactive assignments. Their endeavors have ranged from new business pitches to a portfolio piece that showcases both companies’ prowess in new media, particularly in terms of creating entertainment fare with sponsorship and promotional opportunities for advertisers. Additionally, Fallon and iBelieve are about to embark on an undisclosed Web-based entertainment project, which they hope to attach to a high-profile client.
The non-exclusive relationship between iBelieve and Fallon has been taking shape over the past eight months, with iBelieve in on conceptual and strategic planning meetings. The collaboration underscores Fallon’s commitment to meaningfully diversify into the interactive realm, with a good part of the focus being on Internet-related content.
Launched earlier this year by a trio formerly of bicoastal/international The End—executive producers Luke Thornton and Liz Silver, and director David van Eyssen (SHOOT, 2/18, p. 1)—interactive shop iBelieve is a sister company to bicoastal commercial production house Believe Media. With a directorial roster that includes Floria Sigismondi and the Brothers Quay, Believe Media—which is under the aegis of Thornton and Silver—also maintains an association with Serial Dreamer, the West Hollywood-based boutique headed by director Erick Ifergan and executive producer Gerard Cantor. Darius Khondji, a noted feature DP (i.e.—Seven, Delicatessan, The City of Lost Children), is also repped as a commercial director via Serial Dreamer.
Fallon’s head of production Mark Sitley said that upon joining the agency nearly a year ago, he employed "due diligence" in trying to find creatively and technologically savvy people with whom to develop new media forms that could enhance and strengthen clients’ brands. His search led to van Eyssen and Thornton, eventually laying the groundwork for what’s now an ongoing relationship.
"They’ve been of immense help in terms of educating creatives here on some of the possibilities in new media," said Sitley of van Eyssen and the iBelieve ensemble. "They’ve worked with us on a number of speculative projects and have helped us to better integrate interactive capabilities into the agency. We’ve developed interesting ideas outside the scope of what the agency had been executing interactively. We’re trying to develop examples of new avenues of communication that can help our clients strengthen their brands."
"BLU MONSTER"
Meanwhile, a separate undertaking by iBelieve hints at the implications of interactive entertainment fare for the ad community and other business sectors. iBelieve has wrapped several segments of what’s billed as the first interactive music video of its kind: "Blu Monster" for Extasy Records’ singer/songwriter Jimmy Tuckett and his sub.bionic band. Extasy has a distribution deal with Warner Bros. Records.
In essence, "Blu Monster," which is also the title of sub. bionic’s soon-to-be-released record album, is less of a music video and more of a narrative rock opera, offering a visual and sensory interpretation of thus far three cuts on the album. Other interactive narrative pieces are being planned for the album’s remaining songs.
SHOOT got a preview screening of the project, which is Internet-driven, and is slated for distribution within the next few months. Users with at least minimum broadband capabilities (384 DSL) will be able to click onto the Blu Monster site and get an interactive audiovisual experience that starts out in an intentionally mundane manner—as if you have entered a hospital Web site. The hospital specializes in treating paranoia and delusion, allowing us to see a case study, "Jack," played by Tuckett. We can explore the nature of his ailment, detour to his childhood and circumstances that led to his being stricken with what is seemingly a nervous breakdown. The offbeat, humorous asides give us a better, tongue-in-cheek "understanding" of his deep-rooted fear that he’s losing his humanity and turning into a machine. Combining live action, interactive and graphical interface elements, the Web rock opera currently has about 45 minutes of narrative film, and another some 40 minutes of layered back-story material that can be accessed by clicking on still photographs and graphics. The lyrics themselves can also be called up at the click of a mouse.
Van Eyssen worked closely with Tuckett to create what the director described as "the ‘Blu Monster’ music experience." Besides directing the assignment, van Eyssen wrote and served as a DP and editor, collaborating with interactive DP Kramer Morgenthau and interactive editor Jay Lizarraga. Van Eyssen also came up with the design concept in tandem with interactive design director Nicholas Johnson. Still photography was shot by Esteven Oriol. Damien Corbell was technology director, with additional design by van Eyssen, Simon Buckingham and Yumi Buckingham. Producer was Tim Lynch. Executive producing were Thornton, Silver and Extasy’s Michael Rosenblatt.
According to van Eyssen, Extasy views the project as a way to build a brand for an artist, and is especially intrigued by its potential to help break new music performers into the marketplace, creating an underground Web-generated buzz that could prove instrumental in launching new careers. Van Eyssen sees this type of interactive experience offering additional opportunities to the music industry. He noted, for example, that mainstream record labels have understandably come to see the Internet as an adversary as CDs get swapped on the Web via MP3 jukeboxes and Napster. But the Internet, theorized van Eyssen, could also yield profits in the form of "music experiences" akin to "Blu Monster." Van Eyssen said that fans could conceivably pay an annual fee to tap into interactive experiences featuring their favorite performers, thus opening up a new revenue stream for labels.
There’s also potential to be mined from an advertiser perspective. Sponsorship of concert tours could just as easily translate into advertiser-supported interactive experiences on the Web, linking companies and their products with appropriate music artists, and in the process reaching coveted youthful demographics—audiences whose buying preferences and household information could be ascertained via the Internet. Opportunities for unobtrusive product placement and imbedding of advertiser messages into entertainment fare could also be cultivated. And since such interactive product contains multiple layers, potential consumers would be watching projects repeatedly to uncover aspects they hadn’t caught in previous viewings.
Thornton and van Eyssen observed that entertainment product serving as a subtle form of advertising opens up new opportunities that paradoxically are not all that new upon examining history. When television was the new medium, advertisers were at the forefront of sponsoring and being in on the creation of entertainment product. "We’re at an odd time," assessed van Eyssen. "The potential for advertisers to tap into new forms is tremendous but there’s not a whole lot being done about it right now. We as a company are starting to make product now and, as a result, we’re seeing ways to bring entertainment and advertising together. You have to be conscious of giving people on the Internet the reason to want to interact. Otherwise they will just tune out or never tune into your program to begin with."
From a business relationship standpoint, whether the interaction over the long haul for iBelieve Media will largely be with ad agencies or client-direct—or both
