A Note of Things to Come

Hello, I am Tim. I'll be the other contributer to this blog, and as such, I'll give you a little update on what goes on.

So, as you saw below, the poster for Marketorb is up. All I can say is it would not have been half as cool if Photoshop had not been involved. That's a great program. I hear it's pretty successful.

Anyway, Marketorb is a short I just finished writing ("finished" being a relative word, as any writer always changes things, even at the last minute. Like clay).

I got the idea from the old Battlefield 2142 In-Game advertisement fiasco, in which the game, or to be more precise, software within the game, reads your internet searches to find out what products you've been interested in.  Credit must be given to the Penny Arcade Podcast for talking about this subject, and making a great comic (involving Ostrich sex somehow) which alerted me to the subject.

As a filmmaker/writer/artist/gamer/huge penis/ my first thought whenever I hear something interesting like that, is "how can this be made into a full story".  In the case of this one, I just figured add in some characters and a setting, and you've got a story.

So, Marketorb takes place in the near future inside of your average grocery store.   Everything about this store is normal, except for two things: there are large HD Televisions placed on the end of each aisle, and there are large orb like cameras on the ceiling.

These cameras, Marketorbs, if you will, give a video feed back to a small observation room in the store.  This room is manned by two people, with the intent of observing the customers.

When a customer walks in, these two observers assess what product would suit him/her.   Say for example, a scruffy, unshaven gentleman walks in.  The observers would probably place an ad for a new Gillette Razor or something on the HD Screen, thereby marketing a product solely to that man.   Marketing on a personal level.

Of course, this film carries with it an anti consumerist message (to a degree) but it's not meant as a "lesson" film.  Really, it has a lot in common with something like Clerks.  These two "observers" sitting in their observation room, crack a lot of jokes at the expense of the people they're watching.  That's the core of the story, two people making fun of the quirks of other people, but there is an overall message to the movie.   It's not just entertainment, it's not just baseless complaining. I like to think there is a line which I walk.   Hopefully.  Maybe.


Anyway, thanks for reading.  Buy a shirt.  Or something.

Peace.