April Wade is the producer and star of the “KILLCAM: LIVE”. The film allows audiences to interact directly with characters from the movie and influence storylines via video, Facebook, Twitter, and online chat. The online elements for KILLCAM: LIVE have already garnered nearly 2 million views since production began on Halloween night. You can check out website here: http://killcamlive.com. Media Mikes had a chance to chat with April about the film and about its unique approach using social media and the internet.
Mike Gencarelli: For those that don’t know tell what is “KILLCAM: LIVE”?
April Wade: The concept started when me and the other creator, Canyon Price, were talking one day about how new media doesn’t really make money but it’s still important an emerging. The traditional way of making an independent film is no longer touching the audience in the way that we would like. We decided to combine the two ideas and see if they would stand together. We really wanted to use all the technology and resources we have to tell a story in a different way. Audiences are demanding a lot more interactivity so what we essentially created was a live video game. We took a feature film and deconstructed it into episodes. We took out all the parts where people get killed and put that live online for 72 hrs.
MG: Having the audience interact directly with characters from the movie and influence story lines, does that create any challenges for you?
AW: It’s both a challenge and a blessing. We have 72 hrs. of content to fill and the audience has been coming up with some really great stuff. Sometimes the audience wants to kill a character that really is only mentioned briefly. However we liked the idea so we had to set all that up on a whim. There have been people that have become real leaders of the story. They have put up blogs and just the other night they started a YouTube page. The fans have even named the killer.
MG: Are you shocked that over 2 million viewers have checked into this show?
AW: When we were pitching this idea people interested but were terrified. We thought that really meant something. We knew this could be successful but what has really been shocking is the emotional interaction that we are getting. Fans have been messaging our characters some very personal things as they feel a real connection. There have even been people crying on camera about a character dying. The real interaction and connectivity is thrilling.
MG: You produce the movie but also star, what have you enjoyed most about this?
AW: I have been an actor my whole life and that is what I really love to do. The thing is you just can’t be an actor these days. I started producing my own content and realized that I really liked it. I found that I could be creative in a totally different way. I am actually preparing to be in the room pretty soon. I will be the only actor who has the perspective of what it’s like on the other side of the wall. I assume it’s going to be a lot harder than I think it is. I also have some insight about when you are acting and in the moment you don’t normally see which idea the audience is moving towards. Now I have both perspectives.
MG: I absolutely loved “Insidious”, how did David Brewer & John Darko come on the project?
AW: John and I have been friends for a long time. John is friends with David and after John brought in some people who contributed funds to the film John asked David to come on board. It was a pretty stellar group.
MG: What does the future hold for yourself and for “KILLCAM: LIVE”?
AW: We are starting to dwindle in characters so the rules are going to be changing a little. The schedule of the show is going to stay the same however we are going to be adding a few new elements. Later on we plan to take the things created in the live stream and piece them into the episodes. The episodes will be taken off line while we ask for fans to still give us their content so we can have them really involved. From there we are going to turn everything into what I call a “Franken film”. At the end of the day we will have a feature film. There also will be some new information about the story that was not originally shown.