Storyworld 2011 Showcase - Research & Development(s)

Editor's Notes

1. Hello everyone, my name is Haley Moore.
2. I'm a playwright, a transmedia propmaker, and a mixed media artist.  I make objects that tell stories.
3. Also, for the last three years, I've been doing editing and reporting work for a small newspaper in an affluent suburb of Dallas, and in this particular affluent suburb, well, first off self-promotion is huge there, and second, we seem to have more than our fair share of questionable companies.  So I've had to handle stories that involve shady business schemes, personal fakery, junk science, and urban mythology, sometimes all of those at once.  Over the years, my bullshit detector has become really good, it's like military grade at this point. I found myself becoming fascinated by these stories, and I responded to what I was reading by making parodies.  It was a really great writing tool - I'd write slogans and sales copy for ridiculous products, and some of those things I went ahead and made.
4. So for example, after dealing with some self-help authors, I decided to put out my own book, called How to Win at Anything. It is one page of one chapter that is one word long, and that word is
5. cheat.
6. I also made a parody Etsy account that pokes fun at stores that resell commercial jewelry, by telling buyers they've cast magic spells on them.  I thought I could do them one better in the realm of magicking up useless junk.   That's a piece of copy paper tied with floral stems and incense from Dollar Tree, and as you can see, it's listed for $50.  Nobody's bought one yet, but I did own up to the fact that its a parody.  If I hadn't, I might be rich by now.  Who knows?
7. So parodies of quackery became a theme in my art, and around this time last year, I decided to turn the best ones into a transmedia experience, which I call Research and Developments. The centerpiece of the project is a hand-written book full of sketches and diagrams, and other artifacts, which tells the fictional story of the person who invented all of these things I've been coming up with. 
8. She is the R&D person at a very scammy company, and this is her R&D notebook, which evolves into a diary as the story goes on.   What you can see here are pages from a first draft.  This is approximately what you'll see when you go to read the book online.  But because this is about what I do, which is propmaking and tangible storytelling, what you see online is not going to be a digital composite or a lovely interface that looks like a book.
9.   It is a high quality scan of a one of a kind physical piece of art, which you'll be able to read in the flesh because it will be exhibited with an art show known as the Sketchbook Project. Every summer, they do a touring exhibit of hand-drawn books from around the world, it's a really great exercise in crowdsourcing and collaboration.  After the tour, the books go into a permanent public exhibit in Brooklyn, which is also really cool; so you'll be able to actually go and visit my original, it won't be just lying in a desk drawer or something lame like that, it will actually be part of the public experience. There will also be benefits to going and visiting the original in person.  It contains physical items, maybe special rewards if I can find a partner up there in Brooklyn.
10. The book is just the center of a larger story.     Each of these colored paths are continuation stories, which are made up of a website, and an experience. All of these branches lead back into the book and our player community, so new players can pick up any of the continuation stories, and enter the world through that avenue.  So this is where the quackery comes in.  If you look between the website and the experience, there's actually a product that unlocks each experience for you.  All of the products are story objects featured in the book, and you, too, can own one.
11. I'm developing everything from stickers that let your phone talk to ghosts, to aura therapy wands, pocket degrees from a telepathic university, and giant tea strainers full of healing crystals to dunk in your bathtub, which promise to erase your butt wrinkles.
12. Some of you may have found these in your swag bags for Storyworld.  This is Experia memory water, and the proposition is that when you drink it, you go into a sort of hypnotic state, where you will see, hear, and feel someone else's memory that's been trapped inside the water.  This is a parody of a lot of different magic water that's out there, and also a parody of energy drinks, because this comes in a bunch of different flavors.  We've got
13. Spacewalk, Shark Dive, Tropic Tryst, Eruption, Success ...  and then there is Snowboard, which is the variety you'll be sampling this weekend.
14. So if you open the bottle, you'll see that you can't really test the concept because there's no water inside.  Instead, there's a message that says you've won the rare opportunity to be treated to a special experience and have the memories of that experience harvested from your brain to make a new flavor.  There's also this sinister-looking thing...which is labeled, "MEMORY DRILL." At this point, you're probably hoping this is quackery.  From there, you go into an interactive short story that I've created just for you guys as a prelude to what you'll see when you have the whole extended book experience.
15. This whole thing has been a labor of love.  What you've seen so far is an indie art project that I'm doing on a shoestring budget, by cobbling together my writing and web and package design skills, but as I move into the next phase, I'm looking for investors, partners and collaborators.  So, if you're interested in helping me bring this world of Quackery to life, please find me, and let's talk. Thank you.