An immersive storytelling experience called PANDEMIC 1.0 was presented at the Sundance Film Festival to engage both attendees and online audiences. Participants worked together over 120 hours to stop the spread of a fictional pandemic outbreak by finding hidden objects and answering questions on mobile phones. The experience leveraged emerging technologies to enhance the narrative and test new models for social interactions and storytelling. Feedback from participants suggested it created a sense of being part of an interactive thriller.

2. WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
“The most experimental story told at this year’s
Sundance Film Festival in Park City wasn’t just on a
movie screen… What it all amounts to is something
distinctly new.” - GIZMODO
“The experience was exhilarating, creating the feeling
that we were in the middle of an action thriller where we
were the protagonists.” - TURNSTYLE NEWS
“Leveraging emerging platforms, the project takes the ideas
of interactivity to the next level.” - HUFFINGTON POST
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3. An official selection of the Sundance Film Festival, PANDEMIC 1.0 was an immersive
storytelling experience designed for 40,000 festival attendees as well as a global audience.
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4. Crafted as a Story R&D experience, PANDEMIC 1.0 mixed social entertainment with research and
development. The goal - to enhance the story world, test new business models and study social
interactions. Medic Mobile and FreedomLab worked with us to model various game play interactions in
hopes of gaining insights into how items spread in social environments.
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5. Participants online and those at the Sundance Film Festival worked together to stop the spread of
a fictional pandemic outbreak over the course of 120 hours.
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6. PANDEMIC 1.0 had numerous access points across film, mobile, online and the real world. At its
core was the story of a strange sleep virus that infects adults and leaves the youth struggling to
make sense of the world around them.
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7. At the center of the PANDEMIC experience was a short film. The short tells the story of a young boy and
his sister as they struggle to come to terms with the fact that their mother has fallen ill. The short
premiered at the festival, on TV, via mobile and online outlets. It screened in the US Shorts section, one
of 44 films out of over 6,000 entries. Later this year and into 2012 a series shorts will be shot in London,
Berlin, Paris, Barcelona and Rome which expand the story world of PANDEMIC.
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8. Online players remixed digital assets in order to unlock the locations of objects hidden throughout Sundance.
Fifty GOLDEN OBJECTS and fifty BOTTLES OF WATER were unlocked by online play. Once an object was
unlocked online players worked with festival-goers on the ground at Sundance to find and return the items to
MISSION CONTROL.
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9. x
MISSION CONTROL was a physical space designed to give the sense of a Center for Disease Control
(CDC). It provided an overview of all the game play. All of its data visualizations were powered by
participants game play. Real world and online actions impacted the pacing of the story world and also
unlocked hidden elements within the game.
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10. Fifty NFC (near field communication) enabled Nexus S phones were circulated throughout the festival.
Distributed in biohazard bags along with hand cranks to keep them charged - the phones were randomly
passed from one festival-goer to the next. When activated the phones presented a series of morality
questions. Based on the userʼs response a simple task was presented – “shoot a photo with your eyes
closed.” Thousands of photos were taken over the 120 hours.
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11. When the phones made their way back to MISSION CONTROL, users could set them on the Microsoft
Surface table located in the center of the room. As the phone rested on the Surface all the media that
had been shot with the phone would become accessible.
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12. Hidden objects brought to MISSION CONTROL that touched the Mircosoft Surface table were able
manipulate the walls of the room and impact the spread of the pandemic. For instance all the hidden
objects had health properties that when found and touched to the Surface table would combat the
pandemic and reduce the number of people infected.
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13. A special room was created as a memorial to those who contracted the virus. Players discovered that each
person is related to a GOLDEN OBJECT. The objects hold stories and memories that show how the people
in the room know each other and provided insight into how the virus has spread socially.
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14. Over 600 NFC tags are utilized making it the largest deployment at a public event to date. When scanned
with an NFC compatible device story elements are unlocked. For instance, holding a phone up to a
“closed eye” portrait results in the “person” opening their eyes on the phone. This action symbolizes a
connection and unlocks a story about the person.
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15. All fifty GOLDEN OBJECTS hold a story that provides insight into the victims of the pandemic. The level of
engagement between those online and those at the festival was amazing. During the course of the 120
hour experience each phone passes on average at least twenty times per day. At points throughout the day
phone numbers of the fifty phones are released. This resulted in calls which connected those online with
random strangers at the festival. Together they would work to get items to MISSION CONTROL.
www.lanceweiler.com @lanceweiler

16. Based on a theme within the story world related to memories and material possessions four special
BEARS were created. The BEARS moved throughout the festival. Each one is a connected toy with a
camera in the stomach, an mp3 player in the arm and a slide viewer for an eye. The BEARS are also
dockable and can easily connect to a laptop or desktop.
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17. As the 120 hour experience moves into the last day, the narrative of the story leads online and offline
players to a secret location at Sundance. In a seamless flow the narrative thread of the previous play
melds with a special secret show with world renowned DJ - Kid Koala.
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18. The show with Kid Koala is streamed live for all the players of the game and the 120 hour experience
comes to a close. Within the narrative of the story online players and those playing at the festival lead 33
of the phones that had been in the wild for 5 days back to us.
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19. PANDEMIC 2.0 will be heading to Europe later this year as the story world continues to expand along
with its player base.
www.lanceweiler.com @lanceweiler

20. THE TEAM
Story Architect / Experience Designer Integrated Marketing & PR
HOPE IS MISSING book
Lance Weiler
Fleishman-Hillard
Creative Director
Data Visualizations Digital Strategy and Research Lance Weiler
Kinetic Fin Freedomlab Future Studies
Jeff Clark
Designed by
Mobile app / surface design and UX Laura Mazzeo & Janine Saunders
Creative Technologist Vectorform
Mark Harris
Produced and Casted by
NFC chips provided by Janine Saunders
Producer NXP
Zeke Zelker
Production Manager
Water bottles by Tim Farrell
Community Engagement
ARTWATER
Janine Saunders
Grime (art) Portrait Photographer
Bradley Farrell (design)
Lorenzo de Guia
Creative Producer
Nick Childs
Nexus S phones provided by Artifact Photographer
Google
Eniko Szucs
Social Transmedia Platform
Monteur & NetVentures
Surface Unit provided by Writers
Microsoft
Nick Childs, Tim Farrell,
Microsite Jason Hood, Brent Cole,
Bastiaan Grutters (development) Unit Photography Daniela Croci, Jenny Nasal
Dim Rooker (design)
Elaine Zelker & Mike Hedge
Special Thanks
Transmedia Unit Additional Production Support Faith Weiler
The Sabi Company Jennifer Nasal
Josh Cramer
Zak Forsman House of Trim
Kevin Shah Twitter Story Editor
Gary King
Chuck Wendig
Comic Panels by
Twitter / Short Fiction
Dean Haspiel, Tim Hamilton
Chuck Wendig, Andrea Phillips
Project developed at
George OʼConner, Rick Parker
Jesse Scoble, Will Hinmarch,
The Sundance Institute
Stephan Blackmore
www.lanceweiler.com @lanceweiler