Sunday, June 22nd, 2008
Origin Story
Before we go any further, it’s worth pointing out that the scheme under which ‘The End is Nigel’ is commissioned was supposed to be making a two-minute short film made to screen on mobile phones (and possibly filmed ON a mobile phone too). If you’ve looked through ‘The End is Nigel’, then you’ll already have noticed that I was allowed to subvert the brief somewhat!
Local nutter Nigel can often be seen haunting the park, his doom-filled sandwich-board predicting that ‘The End is Nigh’. But one sunny day, several park-dwellers witness Nigel being bundled into the back of a van by several shady suited men and manage to capture and record the scenes on their mobile phones - just managing to send the footage onto their friends (our audience) before they themselves are pursued and possibly apprehended by the mysterious abductors. Could it be that someone somewhere is desperate to keep the public unaware that Nigel’s sandwich-board might be right?
The 4×30 second films are self-contained and play part of a larger whole as two bored friends filming themselves mocking Nigel, a young couple recording themselves in the nearby hedges and one of the conspirators themselves - intrigued by the latest mobile technology he confiscates - record and reveal new clues to the abduction from four different vantage points.
I really felt that the only way to really make a mobile phone movie effective was to involve the mobile phone itself as a plot element. But, along with the rest of my funding application, Andrew Wilson of Blink had clearly noticed that I wanted to tell a bigger story so suggested I use this opportunity to tell a first chapter rather than just create a promo for the online narrative I was plotting.
For months, I had been blown away by the viral marketing techniques of ‘The Dark Knight’, following the election campaign of Harvey Dent and the Joker’s online anarky. However, ‘The Dark Knight’ was essentially building hype for a big-budget Hollywood franchise sequel that probably didn’t need any more advertising than posters with the Batsymbol on it and the release date at the bottom.
But they still put the effort in and proved that online content is NOT just simply TV/Film viewable online - a point emphasised by Andy at Blink. While the commission means that the project must involve filmed content, I have now realised that it doesn’t have to be the central focus of ’The End is Nigel’. It is just one of many components of the online content.
So now plans are afoot as to how best to tell a first chapter of my bigger, apocalyptic plot but still make it self-contained enough to have a satisfying conclusion.
I’ll get back to you 
