by Marc Hustvedt on October 27th, 2009
It’s been about two months since the release of CSI-creator Anthony Zuiker’s cross-platform crime thriller, Level 26: Dark Origins, the first true integration of a novel with a companion web series. Finally today came the release of the Level 26 iPhone app and desktop movie through the iTunes App store, which actually marries the text and video all in one seamless experience.
Before this, readers of the 400-page book had to enter a printed code at the end of select chapters that would unlock the ‘cyber-bridge’ episodes, a process that even web video junkies found tedious. Though coining a new term with their “digi-novel,” the actual experience was still lacking any real innovation until now.
“The Level 26: Dark Origins App and iTunes Extras makes reading more entertaining than ever,” said Zuiker about the app release. “We’re delivering new levels of engagement way beyond mere white pages.”
Zuiker and his Dare to Pass team even applied for a trademark on the “digi-novel” term, which after an initial rejection from the USPTO, appears to have made it through on a supplemental approval. (The whole back-and-forth between Zuiker’s lawyers and the PTO is worth a read if you’re into that sort of thing.)
by Marc Hustvedt on September 10th, 2009
There’s nothing like a decent product giveaway to light up Twitter screens. Seriously, search for #LEVEL26 on Twitter lately and it’s a near constant stream of entries into a daily drawing for custom Level 26 HD Flip cams. Apparently despite all the backlash over so-called sponsored tweets, that eager young tweeters are still pushovers when it comes to giving away a decent gadget.
The 7-day contest, which runs through the 15th, is a promotion tied into the launch of Level 26: Dark Origins this week. The crime novel hit shelves on Tuesday and the eighteen corresponding 3-5 minute “cyberbridges” went live on the Level26.com site. From the mind of CSI creator Anthony Zuiker, the whole project is being called the world’s first Digi-Novel, essentially a combination of novel and web series woven together.
I had a chance to dive into this earlier this summer after a sneak preview release of the book and series at Comic-Con, and this isn’t your parents’ CSI in book form. Squeegel, the salacious killer on which the story centers, only becomes creepier when firing up the cyberbridge episodes and seeing human contortion you didn’t know was possible.
by Marc Hustvedt on August 19th, 2009
I’m a little over halfway through an advanced copy of Anthony E. Zuiker’s novel Level 26 that was given out at Comic-Con last month. And I can honestly say that this latex wearing contortionist killer (”Sqweegel”) has officially creeped me out. It’s one thing when you read a crime novel and are limited to your own mind’s imagery of the twisted killings. But when you mix that with interstitial video episodes, you get those perverse contorting images burned into your retinas. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Zuiker, most known for creating the megahit procedural crime drama franchise CSI, has made the move into two mediums he hasn’t touched—publishing and web television. Ok, it’s really three if you count his surprisingly formidable start to his blogging career on the Level 26 site. It’s everything you don’t normally get from Hollywood players—refreshingly candid and actively updated by the man himself.
His attention to the web series’ production shows, and Zuiker’s TV background is not lost on the 20-episode series. He shot on the RED camera and cast professionals, recognizable faces like Michael Ironside, Daniel Buran, Kevin Weisman and Bill Duke. And to really sell the creepiness of his uber-killer, he found actor (and world record holding contortionist) Daniel Browning Smith to play Sqweegel. He even brought on fashion designer Marc Ecko to go the book cover art and even a special edition t-shirt.
by Marc Hustvedt on July 9th, 2009
The trailer to Level 26:Dark Origins, the new digi-novel web series from CSI creator Anthony Zuiker was released today. The series, announced in March, is a prequel for Zuiker’s upcoming crime novel Level 26, which is being published by Dutton for release September 8th.
EQAL, the web studio behind lonelygirl15, KateModern and Harper’s Globe was tapped to develop the online experience for the series. Production of the series itself is being handled by Zuiker and his team as part of a seven-figure multi-series deal signed with Dutton last year.
The series is basically 20 “cyber-bridges,” written and directed by Zuiker, which are short two-minute episodes that follow the book’s narrative. With a new cyber bridge every five chapters, readers will have to register at the Level26 site and enter a code from the book to view videos, audio files and photos.
by Marc Hustvedt on March 2nd, 2009
It’s basically become a no-brainer in Hollywood that if you want to create immersive drama online, you head to Miles Beckett and Greg Goodfried—the guys who made lonelygirl15 a household name, essentially writing the book on these things.
Speaking of books, today came the announcement that the creative duo behind ’social entertainment’ studio EQAL will be lending their crafty minds to the publishing world, developing an interactive site experience for the upcoming fall launch of Dark Chronicles. Written by the Emmy-winning CSI franchise creator Anthony Zuiker, Dark Chronicles is the first in a digital crime novel series that comes out on Dutton on September 8, 2009.
