a brief presentation on my findings into the subject of social film at this moment.

1. The inside Experience: My story So
Far

2. • An online social film experience broadcast in eight episodes between the
25/07/2011 and the 04/08/2011.
• All eight episodes were combined to form a “feature” length film which
was uploaded to YouTube on the 31/08/2011.
• Audience members could participate in real-time through Christina
Perraso’s Facebook page, offering her advice and support on how she
should proceed.
• Sponsored by Intel and Toshiba, a Toshiba laptop features prominently
as Christina’s only means to communicate with the outside world and to
escape.

3. What Was The Inside
Experience?
 Directed by DJ Caruso (Disturbia, Eagle Eye) and starring Emmy
Rossum (The Day After Tomorrow, The Phantom of the Opera) the
inside experience was produced to a professional standard and
presented as a “social film”.
“Inside is a Social Film experience brought to you by Intel and
Toshiba, directed by DJ Caruso, starring Emmy Rossum, and
possibly you.
This is a completely new genre of Hollywood-class entertainment where
the audience can play as much of a role as the A-list talent and actors.
Using social media you can interact with characters in real time, affect the
plot, and possibly earn a featured cameo alongside Emmy Rossum in the
final film.
It's the first of its kind, but it won't be the last.” (Intel and Toshiba,2011)

4. What Happened During the Inside
Experience?
 As the episodes were broadcast, viewers could participate through
posting on Christina Perasso’s Facebook wall or tweeting on twitter.
 Once broadcast, the episodes were also uploaded onto YouTube
sequentially, where users could interact with the videos through the
YouTube interface.
 A social casting call was held to cast a member of the audience in the
film in a featured cameo. This involved uploading an audition video
onto YouTube using one of two predetermined scripts.
 The Inside Experience’s community soon swelled to "50,000 audience
members contributing in real time (The Inside Experience, 2011).” As
well as 13,300 subscribers on YouTube (TheInsideExperience, 2011)

5. The Inside Experience: Online Film-
making and advertising culture.
 The Inside Experience saw online film-making finally
recognised by the Hollywood elite as a worthwhile
endeavour. With the involvement of reputable figures
like DJ Caruso and Emmy Rossum The Inside
Experience transformed online film-making from a
medium for wannabe directors to cut their teeth, into
an experimental medium free from the financial
demands of the Hollywood studio system.

6. The Inside Experience: Online Film-
making and advertising culture.
 With the inception of YouTube and other such video hosting websites came a
massive investment of both time and money in online film-making from the
advertising world.
 Although “advermovies” had been produced before, for example the BMW films
series which ran between 2001- 2002, these were almost entirely exhibited either on
television or in the cinema. It was only with the developments of “web 2.0” that
brought about such a massive change to advertising culture. The sheer amount of
people that online video can reach in addition to the comparatively low production
cost, when compared with traditional film production, proved too much of an
incentive to big brands who embraced online film-making whole heartedly.
 From Cadbury’s charity shop online exclusive advert-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk4U2uJuFAI
 To Carlsberg’s quirky “bikers in cinema advert” -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS3iB47nQ6E

7. Social Film and The Inside
Experience
 Wikipedia described “social film” as “… a type of interactive film that is
presented through the lens of social media. A social film is distributed
digitally and integrates with a social networking service, such as
Facebook or Google+. It combines features of web video, social games
and social media” (Wikipedia, 2011).
 This definition seems to be referring explicitly to The Inside
Experience, outlining every facet of it as a key element of “social film”.
 However, I find The Inside Experience to be a poor example of “social
film”, In that it offers very little opportunity for participation from the
audience, simply allowing them to communicate with Christina
Perraso via Facebook and rewarding one audience member with a
cameo role in the final film. There was no opportunity to actively affect
the narrative of the film and a somewhat limited interaction with the
main character.

8. Social Film as a concept.
 Outside the context of The Inside Experience, “ social film” as a concept proves
difficult to define. Can it not be said that visiting the cinema to watch a film with a
group of friends qualifies that film as a “social film”?
 To be truly social a film must offer an opportunity to participate and affect the film
itself.
 Many projects have tried to achieve this:
 LonelyGirl15’s attempts to create a community created universe of stories, in which
anyone can interact with the characters via chatrooms and forums and upload their
own videos to expand the canon.
 “Him, Her and Them” offers the user a chance to interact with the film and view the
film through a non-linear perspective, essentially creating their own narrative. This
awards the viewer a sense of creation, as though they have helped to produce the
film.
 Killcam Live seems to be the most comprehensive “social film” as of yet. Comprising
of episodic short films to tell the story and a live stream and chat-room function to
facilitate audience participation. Killcam Live also offers a polling function in which
the audience can affect the plot of the feature even deciding whether a character
lives or dies.

9. Conclusion
 “social film” offers the audience a chance to participate and
influence what is usually a clearly defined product.
 However, in my opinion it is the connections that such “social
films” facilitate that prove more important than the product
itself, in essence it is the community’s participation that gives the
film meaning.
 In addition, “social film” appears to be lacking in longevity. In
that once there is no more opportunity for participation, the film
loses all novelty and newness and transforms into an often
generic film production.
 Finally, “social film” as a concept seems confined to the
horror/thriller genre. Can such opportunities for participation
and narrative alteration only be achieved within this genre? Or is
this just the most appealing genre to the intended audience?

10. References
 Intel and Toshiba (2011) The inside Experience.[online]Available at
http://www.theinsideexperience.com/ [Accessed 03/11/2011].
 THE INSIDE EXPERIENCE (2011) The Inside Experience.
[Facebook.com] 11th August Available from:
http://www.facebook.com/TheInsideExperience [03/11/2011].
 TheInsideExperience (2011) The Inside Experience’s YouTube channel
[WWW]. Available from:
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheInsideExperience#p/u/1/SZI9nrqN1
1M [03/11/2011].
 Wikipedia (2011) The inside Experience. [online] Available at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inside_%282011_film%29 [Accessed
03/11/2011].
