The Wilderness Downtown

         There are several different ways to incorporate an audience into your digital story. The more ways you find that work, the more successful your story is likely to become.
         One of the most effective and memorable ways I've ever seen it carried out is something called 'The Wilderness Downtown.' It's an interactive music video for the band Arcade Fire for the song "We Used to Wait." It uses different interactive methods to get the audience more invested in what they're watching. When you first load the page, a very unique type face is brought up, as well as a tree, sun and animated birds. Under the title, there's some basic information about the video which includes: the director, the song and what it was made with. But, the most important thing on the whole page, is what's under that. There's a box where you can enter an address, preferably of the home of where you grew up.
         I believe entering that address is the most important thing because it makes the video so much more personal for the viewer. Without the personalization, the video loses its connecting factor, making it less interesting and making the viewer less invested.
         Something else that includes the viewers further, is the fact that you can share your video, or the website in general, with your friends on Facebook or your followers on Twitter. They also give you information on how it was made and first designed to the company's that made it happen.
         Once you put in the address, a new window pops up with a video of man running, as the video progresses, new windows consistently pop up with animated birds and Google Street View. This draws the viewer of the video in more, because of the recognizable material.
         In conclusion, the more you can involve the audience, especially on a personal level, the more successful and entertaining your video will be.




You can view the website here.