Filmmaker Warwick Thornton and Scarlett Pictures today launched a new interactive website and smartphone application called THE OTHERSIDE, a companion project to Thornton’s upcoming feature film THE DARKSIDE.
Using audio and Augmented Reality ghost stories, THE OTHERSIDE project has been designed as a celebration of Indigenous spirituality.
The website – www.theothersideproject.com – will host audio stories submitted by the public about their encounters with all things spiritual, ghostly or strange happenings that are unaccounted for. The public will be able to listen to stories submitted by others, as well as record and upload their own stories using the website’s built in audio recording system. As the content of the website builds and broadens, an educational component will be added to give further context and history to Indigenous spirituality.
The smartphone application – http://www.theothersideproject.com/the-otherside/app – utilises cutting-edge technology to create Augmented Reality ghost stories, which allows users to invite a ghost into their bedroom and to listen to real stories. Actors Deborah Mailman, Jack Charles, Marcia Langton and Luke Carroll collaborated with Thornton on bringing these stories to life.
“It’s an Indigenous and universal concept – the bedroom is sacred, it is sanctity and for me the idea of an Aboriginal person entering your bedroom is pretty cool. We have infiltrated your sacred place! That would freak the hell out of me,” says Thornton.
“I believe that this project does not have an end date. That is important to me. The idea that when I die I can come back and scare the shit out of my grandchildren, and they can then write a story for the database, that would be so empowering.”
Digital agency Goodstuff produced the project in collaboration with the filmmakers. The latest AR technology was used combining Kinect footage with live action and using SLAM markers to trigger the AR experience.
The in-cinema Augmented Reality aspect of the project will be launched on Wednesday 16th October at the World Premiere of THE DARKSIDE at the Adelaide Film Festival.
THE OTHERSIDE was financed by the Indigenous Department of Screen Australia.