Collapsus Submarine Channel Best Practice Poster

Collapsus is a project that combines

animation Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...

, interactive fiction, and

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

. This story follows how the impending

energy crisis An energy crisis or energy shortage is any significant Bottleneck (production), bottleneck in the supply of energy resources to an economy. In literature, it often refers to one of the energy sources used at a certain time and place, in particu ...

affects ten young people, while international powers battle with political dissension and a fearful population during transition from

Fossil fuel A fossil fuel is a flammable carbon compound- or hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the buried remains of prehistoric organisms (animals, plants or microplanktons), a process that occurs within geolog ...

to alternative fuels. Set in the near future, Collapsus was initialized to raise awareness of the global issue of

peak oil Peak oil is the point when global oil production reaches its maximum rate, after which it will begin to decline irreversibly. The main concern is that global transportation relies heavily on gasoline and diesel. Adoption of electric vehicles ...

Content

The project combines

Video blogging A vlog (), also known as a video blog or video log, is a form of blog for which the medium is video. Vlog entries often combine embedded video (or a video link) with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded in one ta ...

, interactive maps, fictional newscasts, live action footage, and animation to immerse the player in the narrative, an example of

Transmedia storytelling Transmedia storytelling (also known as transmedia narrative or multiplatform storytelling) is the technique of adapting a single story or story experience across multiple platforms and formats using current digital technologies. From a product ...

. The project requires the player to access and assess additional information and make decisions about the world's energy production at both a national and global scale.

Production

Collapsus was developed by Submarine Channel, with the Dutch public broadcaster

VPRO The VPRO (stylized vpro; originally an acronym for ''Vrijzinnig Protestantse Radio Omroep'', lit. 'Liberal Protestant Radio Broadcaster', nowadays known as ''Omroepvereniging VPRO'') is a Netherlands, Dutch Public broadcasting, public broadca ...

, who produced the associated Energy Transition documentary the project is based on. Collapsus is directed by Tommy Pallotta, who produced

A Scanner Darkly (film) ''A Scanner Darkly'' is a 2006 American Adult animation, adult animated science fiction thriller film written and directed by Richard Linklater; it is based on the A Scanner Darkly, 1977 novel by Philip K. Dick. The film tells the story of ident ...

and

Waking Life ''Waking Life'' is a 2001 American adult animated surrealist drama film written and directed by Richard Linklater. The film explores a wide range of philosophical issues, including the nature of reality, dreams and lucid dreams, consciousness, ...

. Collapsus blends live action and the

rotoscoping Rotoscoping is an animation technique that animators use to trace over motion picture footage, frame by frame, to produce realistic action. Originally, live-action film images were projected onto a glass panel and traced onto paper. This pr ...

animation technique, co-developed by Pallotta, and used in

and

. Collapsus was written by

Lance Weiler Lance Weiler is an American filmmaker and writer from Pennsylvania, and the Director of the Digital Storytelling Lab at Columbia University School of the Arts. He first was known for '' The Last Broadcast'' (1997), a found footage horror film ...

and

Chuck Wendig Charles David Wendig (nicknamed Chuck Wendig; born April 22, 1976) is an American author, comic book writer, screenwriter, and blogger. He is best known for the '' Star Wars: Aftermath'' trilogy. Early life Wendig grew up in New Hope, Pennsyl ...

. In 2011 Collapsus was nominated for an International

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...

in the Digital Fiction category.

References

Web documentaries Environmental websites Transmedia storytelling Works about petroleum {{environment-stub