Post by Jemma on Jul 23, 2009 11:44:51 GMT -5
'CSI' Creator Plays With The "Next Big Thing"
We mentioned a week back or so about CSI creator Anthony Zuiker signing a new deal with CBS, doing what he calls a "24/7 experience", from television to anywhere else, to apparently immerse the audience into something far deeper... so what exactly?
I guess I should've looked at his "diginovel", Level 26: Dark Origins. Yeah, we mentioned it last week too, but I guess we need an elaboration of some sort.
Zuiker will introduce Level 26 to the world at the upcoming Comic-Con, and it's essentially a crime novel that goes beyond the written page. When you flip through its pages once it hits shelves in September, you'll see a few keys that will unlock companion content online.
"The goal was to take the traditional crime reader and ask them to consume the book differently with visuals of a high quality," Zuiker told the Los Angeles Times. "Engage the YouTube generation, which doesn't really read, into the visual novels, so they get the reading experience of this generation."
The novel--uhh, "diginovel"--has 371 pages, and readers are given an option every twenty pages or so to log on to a website and watch a three-minute short, connecting the two visually. Zuiker calls them "cyberbridges", and there are twenty of them--an hour of original footage which he himself directed. It's got quite the production value, too: providing artwork are fashion designer Marc Ecko and the Suicide Girls' Missy Suicide. (Who, by the way, appeared on CSI: NY, I think.)
And, like many things online nowadays, there's a social networking aspect, allowing readers to interact and communicate as they go along. Perhaps a mini-spoiler community of sorts.
"The influence really was the writers strike," Zuiker said. "It was having the time to step out of television and think about what is the next thing. And that's the digi-novel."
Well, that is a lot of time to think about, and also consider that he's worked with the CSI franchise for the past ten years. While he's still going to be executive producer for all three shows, the question is, will he be giving that slot up soon?
"Obviously, my top priority is television," he said. "My day-to-day is no longer the CSI franchise. It's more creating new shows for CBS. We are thinking about the next thing ... I think every TV show in the next five years will have an adjoining website that has a functionality and narrative that jumps off the broadcast."
Sounds slightly geeky, but we'll take it.
I guess I should've looked at his "diginovel", Level 26: Dark Origins. Yeah, we mentioned it last week too, but I guess we need an elaboration of some sort.
Zuiker will introduce Level 26 to the world at the upcoming Comic-Con, and it's essentially a crime novel that goes beyond the written page. When you flip through its pages once it hits shelves in September, you'll see a few keys that will unlock companion content online.
"The goal was to take the traditional crime reader and ask them to consume the book differently with visuals of a high quality," Zuiker told the Los Angeles Times. "Engage the YouTube generation, which doesn't really read, into the visual novels, so they get the reading experience of this generation."
The novel--uhh, "diginovel"--has 371 pages, and readers are given an option every twenty pages or so to log on to a website and watch a three-minute short, connecting the two visually. Zuiker calls them "cyberbridges", and there are twenty of them--an hour of original footage which he himself directed. It's got quite the production value, too: providing artwork are fashion designer Marc Ecko and the Suicide Girls' Missy Suicide. (Who, by the way, appeared on CSI: NY, I think.)
And, like many things online nowadays, there's a social networking aspect, allowing readers to interact and communicate as they go along. Perhaps a mini-spoiler community of sorts.
"The influence really was the writers strike," Zuiker said. "It was having the time to step out of television and think about what is the next thing. And that's the digi-novel."
Well, that is a lot of time to think about, and also consider that he's worked with the CSI franchise for the past ten years. While he's still going to be executive producer for all three shows, the question is, will he be giving that slot up soon?
"Obviously, my top priority is television," he said. "My day-to-day is no longer the CSI franchise. It's more creating new shows for CBS. We are thinking about the next thing ... I think every TV show in the next five years will have an adjoining website that has a functionality and narrative that jumps off the broadcast."
Sounds slightly geeky, but we'll take it.
