The world’s first “publically generated movie” will make its debut at the Edinburgh Film Festival this year. According to MySpace, the $3 million dollar comedy, “Faintheart,” was created in collaboration by MySpace members who contributed story elements though the online Networking site. Once the story was pieced together by producers, directors were encouraged to submit short film reels through their MySpace accounts for consideration.
About a thousand hopeful helmers submitted their films and that list was whittled down to twelve by a panel that included actress Sienna Miller. Once the list of three films wass reached, MySpace placed all three on their website for members to vote on and the winner, director Vito Rocco, got the gig. Rocco hit the ground running and began casting. The main role of Richard, a lowly storeworker whose hobby is dressing up as a Viking and recreating the Norse invasions, was gobbled up by Eddie Marson, of Miami Vice and The Illusionist. The film also features Ewen Bremner, best known for the role Spud in ‘Trainspotting’, and Jessica Hynes, who was featured in the indie cult hit ‘Shaun of the Dead’.
The remaining supporting roles and extras were put out for audition to actors who were, you guessed it, members of the MySpace community. 20,000 MySpace members auditioned for 10 parts, but were also asked to provide various jokes and snappy one-liners to be used in the film. The Soundtrack was created by once again asking MySpace members to send songs in and recordings to audition for the sound track. Another ten were chosen.
One would think that such an all inclusive manner wouldn’t work very well in creating a cohesive plot for a movie. Only time will tell on that front. However, according to James Surowiecki, author of The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations, decisions that are made by a collective group of individuals are often better and more accurate than could have been made by any single member.
“If you ask a large enough group of diverse, independent people to make a prediciton or estimate a probability, and then average those estimates, the errors of each of them makes in coming up with an answer will cancel themselves out,” Surowiecki says in his book. “Each person’s guess, you might say, has two components: information and error. Subtract the error, and you’re left with the information.”
So, when producers posted various scenes on MySpace and asked members to comment on what works and what doesn’t, and then offer potential solutions, that input was incorporated into the film’s final form.
But will a crowd’s wisdom translate into the ticket and DVD sales? That depends on how well the viral marketing campaign that MySpace will throw behind does in getting online fans to fill movie seats. Either way, it’s an interesting experiment in an medium that is by it’s very nature collaborative.