Boxee helps Universal promote the new film The Fourth Kind
Set in modern-day Nome, Alaska, The Fourth Kind (in theaters this Friday) is a thriller that integrates never-before-seen archival footage into the film to tell the story of psychologist Dr. Abigail Tyler (Milla Jovovich). While conducting a sleep disorder study, Dr. Tyler began videotaping sessions with traumatized patients and unwittingly discovered some of the most disturbing evidence of alien abduction ever documented. Just watching the trailer freaks me out (click on the movie poster to see it).
To get people excited for the movie, Boxee’s in-house App Guru Shawn built The Fourth Kind Application, which includes TV spots, and other videos related to the film, as well as a collection of real-world video and photographic documentation of the four kinds of alien encounters: sightings, evidence, contact, and abduction.
This app provides an example of how companies can use Boxee to bring the creativity of the web to the TV screen. Rather than being limited to a 30 or 60 second spot, Boxee’s platform lets content owners build a rich experience where audiences can use a remote control to interact with a variety of media related to a film, TV show, celebrity, band, artist, or brand.
So do you believe in alien abduction? Experience The Fourth Kind in theaters this Friday, November 6.
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Great job Shawn!
Thanks! We hope studios and other businesses will see the potential here.
Coming from an agency, this is incredibly interesting to me. I don’t think most people quite know how users will want to interact with a lot of brands on the television. It’s quite easy to see how PC web experiences on sites like Facebook or Flickr can be translated on the television or a handset. As consumers demand other kinds of content on connected televisions, inspired by what they can do on their handsets or PC’s, apps like the one above will help create a new form of branding, while offering some content the user might find more interesting than typical ads. Eventually, I think consumers will be comfortable interacting in the living room even with brands that don’t necessarily offer video or social content on their site.
Garrett – couldn’t agree with you more. Since we’re in the beginning phases of Connected devices in the living room, that means we’re only scratching the surface of how brands can use this new medium to talk with their audience… We hope to see a lot more apps like this one which seek to stretch the creativity brands bring to the TV screen.
I also work for a marketing agency in the UK and love the idea of on screen DVD like menus for engaging with extra content surrounding the advertising… It’s the perfect mix of facebook style questions with DVD usabiity that people are already used to by now! It like having interactive special features and I think it will take off in a big way! nice work and I wish you all the success with boxee in the very near future!