*By Duncan Geere, Wired UK
*
Microsoft has enlisted Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright and Marvel and Lucasfilm illustrator Tommy Lee Edwards to create an interactive animated story called The Random Adventures of Brandon Generator.
[partner id="wireduk"] The HTML5-powered experience was written by Wright and illustrated by Edwards. It's soundtracked by David Holmes' latest musical project, Unloved, and is narrated by The Mighty Boosh's Julian Barratt. In an interview with Wired.co.uk, Wright described the experience as "somewhere between a motion comic, an animated short and a little internet head trip."
The story will be split into four episodes, released every few weeks until the end of June 2012. Wright explains: "Our hero Brandon is having severe writer's block, and one dark night of too much coffee has a blackout and wakes to discover prose, sketches and ideas on his Dictaphone that he did not remember leaving. And you get to provide one or all of those elements."
He added: "I'd never written a comic before and the idea of collaborating with Tommy appealed to me. And so, I came up with an interactive idea where you, the public, can help inspire or interfere with our main character by literally putting ideas in his head."
Visitors to brandongenerator.com will get a seven-minute video that explains the story, and then will be able to explore Brandon's flat, a little like an adventure game. Clicking on different items will allow you to submit prose, sketches and voice that -- once moderated -- will appear in a gallery on the web. The best ideas will be used to continue the story from that point.
>"Even though there's an underlying narrative and set pieces in place, much of the plot is up for grabs."
"The more random, the better," said Wright. "It's exciting to know that even though there's an underlying narrative and set pieces in place, much of the plot is up for grabs."
He added: "I think young filmmakers today have more opportunities than ever. You can make a movie, do the effects in your bedroom and have it seen around the world in a matter of hours on YouTube or Vimeo. It's pretty astounding. Hollywood careers have been made on zero-budget shorts on the net, so you really have no excuse. I started with no industry connections and we had zero money in our family, so I am a big believer in sheer determination to achieve your ambitions."
As it's produced by the Internet Explorer team, Microsoft says that the site is best viewed in IE9, but it should work reasonably well in any modern browser. Gabby Hegerty from the Internet Explorer team told Wired.co.uk: "One of the benefits of developing websites utilizing HTML5 is that they run on all modern browsers, so although we recommend visitors use IE9 to take advantage of powerful features such as full hardware acceleration and pinning, we made a point of not locking out other browsers to ensure the experience is accessible to anyone online."
If you want to check it out, you can do so over at brandongenerator.com. See more images from The Random Adventures of Brandon Generator in Wired UK's gallery.
