unforum

[gob]

Fresh Ideas Wanted

[jono]

If its for a band.....why not just host a series of random gigs in random places...you know hardly announced, they just appear and play...maybe on the street or small bars.
To be honest I always have a greater affiliation to a band if you see them live in a personal setting. Bands live and die on thier music so it would be a great promotional tool, especially in these over bloated American Idol times.

[gob]

I don't want to get any more specific in this thread about what sort of artist this is, but let me add that the project to be promoted is narrative in nature and the proposal that was approved was for a CF with a parallel plot, interweaving (and hopefully enhancing) it.

I'm looking for new CF ideas on a broad level, independent of the souce project's medium.

I expect most people will want to PM me with their ideas.

[Rogi Ocnorb]

Re: Fresh Ideas Wanted

[notgordian]

I've always believed that one of the strongest points of ARGs/CF is their ability to remix older media into an integrated whole: and what that practically screams to me is revisiting the stylings of the past.

Good examples of this I've appreciated:
-Jasper Fforde's ARG hid books in a variety of bookstores, requiring players to seek out the books and the messages hidden within. This also came up with Violette's Dream, with the UV-encoded book leading to the bar of gold.
-Chain Factor took billboards and used them as a mechanism to seed puzzle clues. Sure, they hid stuff in the television show and internet ads on CBS sites, but the billboards impressed me the most. Similarly, The Dark Knight defaced Harvey Dent posters very early on in the campaign.
-Nowheremen hid frames in the MTV show "Room 401" offering an extended trailer to the drama, interspersed within a reality show.

Skim through a history of media book, take a method of transmission (say, a town crier) and find a way to put it on its head (example: a virtual soapbox website that allows people to submit brief 1 to 5 minute audio rants -- seed it with some character generated rants and see what comes of it)

[gob]

Re: Fresh Ideas Wanted

[Gregoriev]

If it's a painter or drawer, I suggest a Da Vinci Code-esque ARG. Putting up pictures of the painter's with hidden messages of some sort. That might be fun.

[iheathen]

why don't you just see this one through as planned, and work on something that pushes the boundaries more for the next project?

If it took you this long (and this much planning and pitching) to get the project approved in the first place, what makes you think you'll be able to go back to your client now and sell them on something different?

The whole thing just seems really flighty to me. New screen name, waffling on your concept.... are you insecure about it? I'm not sure what the problem is... if it's just that you're bored with the format, then just try to get this one done and make it as successful as you can, then push the envelope further on your next one. Remember, if you're living in the ARG community, it can seem like they are everywhere, but I still think the majority of people will still find them really engaging when first exposed to them.

[SneakyGeeky]

I must say, being fairly new to this whole "shindig", that the Joe-Shmo, man on the street would be *astonished* to find out where all the ARG trailheads are. It's very much, in its own way, underground. Seen but not seen, as it were. I think instead of needing a new medium, you need a new outlook. Try and get a fresh feel for what it's like when you first learn about ARGs, or CF. More likely than not, it'll help.