DEJA VIEW

CO-WRITER

PRAISE FOR DEJA VIEW

"Television viewers have been talking to characters in commercials for decades... (N)ow, the characters talk back."
—The New York Times

"Engaging and suspenseful."
—Chicago Tribune 

"A breakthrough twist on the interactive movie. It draws viewers into an entertainment experience like never before."
—Google Creative Sandbox

"We think it's rad."
—The New York Egotist

 In 2013, Campfire hired J.C. to help create Deja View, a groundbreaking responsive film that dynamically adapts to each viewer, depending on their spoken interactions with onscreen characters. The 20-minute experience was created to showcase the features and performance of Infiniti's Q50 luxury sports sedan.

An auto-industry first, Deja View combines cinematic narrative with new technologies — including the latest natural speech processing systems — to create an immersive experience unique to practically each viewer. Characters in Deja View connect with viewers beyond the screen, prompting their active involvement in solving the film's mystery.

Deja View tells the story of an amnesiac couple who unexpectedly wakes up inside an Infiniti Q50. Unsure of their surroundings or themselves, Ellen and her companion must depend on their wits — and the participation of the viewer through several phone calls — to escape a desolate, limbo-like landscape.

As The New York Times reported, "The viewer's responses to the characters' remarks help set their course of behavior, Choose Your Own Adventure style. ... Perhaps they are lost in an episode of The Twilight Zone, or zoned out in an episode of Lost. In any event, at various points, the characters call the viewer on the previously entered phone number."

Ellen and her companion call viewers at least five times during the experience. Deja View lasts around 20 minutes for most participants, but may last much longer, depending on how curious one might be about exploring the boundaries of this strange world. "Ask the right unprompted question, and you might ferret out some additional information," WIRED reported. "Push the edges enough, and you'll take things in a completely different direction."

J.C. worked closely with Campfire's Creative Director Steve Coulson to craft a story that defied expectations, showcased the experience’s voice recognition technology, and was deep enough to accommodate several playthroughs. Dozens of alternate scenes and lines of dialogue were written and filmed to deliver a customized experience based on what a viewer might say ... or even how he might say it.

In addition to helping conceive Deja View's world and narrative, J.C. co-wrote its screenplay and interactive scripts with Coulson.