Tag: lonelygirl15 (Page 2 of 3)

Chew on This: More LonelyGirl15 Product Placement

February 12, 2008 / Michael Andersen

On Valentine’s Day, Steven Gould’s novel Jumper will grace the silver screens. However, if you look carefully you can already find signs of the film. Hayden Christensen can be seen “jumping” into a Hewlett Packard advertisement starring Serena Williams. And now, the movie is jumping into LonelyGirl15.

LG15 Studios are no strangers to product placement. Last March, the 158th installment of the series was sponsored by Ice Breakers Sours Gum. Similar product placement followed in June with the introduction of Neutrogena into the story. However, the introduction of a Jumper-themed subplot seems to be taking product placement a step further, as followers of the series meet Jack, a “Jumper” who interacts with series regular Taylor.

The integration of stories from other universes is not a new concept, as Perplex City linked up with the BBC’s game Frozen Indigo Angel to promote Radio 1’s Big Weekend music festival. However, 20th Century Fox’s innovative advertising push for the film serves as a reminder that new media content creators have options in funding projects.

Image courtesy of danielbeast of the lonelygirl15 forums, via The Guardian.

Sammeeeees PM Looks a Little Lonely

May 31, 2007 / Jessica Price

Recently, ARGNet learned that Jan Libby, solo PM of the popular indie game Sammeeeees, has joined the Lonelygirl15 team. She began by writing a recent Lonelygirl video, “Sing With Me,” and it sounds like we will be seeing a lot more of her work in the future.

“In addition to writing videos, Jan is also taking a leadership role in implementing more puzzles and interactivity into our show. We are thrilled to be working with her,” says Greg Goodfried, an executive producer for the series.

Jan herself adds, “I have found my eternal song with LG15! 😉 Seriously, Greg, Mesh, Miles, and Amanda make the collaboration process so much fun. I’m having a blast — although this ‘no curtain’ PM stuff will take some getting used to.”

We congratulate both parties on what we hope will be an exciting and productive relationship on both sides of the curtain, and look forward to seeing what’s in store for LG15! We would also like to congratulate the team on their recent Webby award — a well-deserved accolade for this engaging series.

Catch up on the Lonelygirl15 series at YouTube, or discuss the announcement at Unfiction.

“I’m a WHATmaster?” The Lonelygirl15 Creators Appear at ARGfest-o-Con to Tell Us Why They Love Their Fans in Spite of Themselves

March 7, 2007 / Marie Lamb

A week before a much publicized appearance at SXSW, Lonelygirl15 creators Miles Beckett and Greg Goodfried, and Glenn Rubenstein, the Puppetmaster for the official Lonelygirl15 ARG, OpAphid, appeared at ARGfest-o-Con to talk about the Lonelygirl15 phenomenon and their introduction to the alternate reality of fame, fans, and the internet community’s dogged pursuit of information.

The Creators (as they label their forum posts on the Lonelygirl15 website) never intended to get into ARGs at all. Miles said they just wanted to “tell an interesting story on YouTube.” There were no puzzles at first, just the mystery about whether Bree was real, and if not, who was behind it all. They didn’t count on the fan community’s voracious appetite for information–“Is this a game, and if so, what are we supposed to solve?” Since there weren’t really any clues in the story itself, the community focused on finding the people behind the story, trying to figure out who they were.

In Greg’s case, this meant a surprising amount of information about his personal life was dug up and posted online. The first thing found was the registered trademark Greg’s father had applied for as the team’s lawyer. Then within a few weeks, it was his father’s name, his mother’s name, his sister (who superficially has a lot in common with the character of Bree), and eventually even his wedding pictures became the stuff of internet posts. “It became frightening,” he admitted. “I’d wake up wondering what was going to be on the website next.” His wife, who was the person answering Bree’s email, was caught in an online trap and revealed to be an employee of Creative Artists Agency.

OpAphid Becomes “Official LonelyGirl15 ARG”

November 28, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

Just when you thought the LonelyGirl15 phenomenon had settled down, in walks Cassie. Cassie, an 18 year old YouTube contributor from, um, “right there above you,” first caught the eye of LG15 fans in mid-September when she was mentioned in one of the LonelyGirl15 videos. From there, it’s a little hard to explain, what with the public skepticism about whether “Cassie Is Watching” (the first video in the Cassie series can be found here) was officially tied in with LG15. Weeks passed by with no official confirmation on whether Cassie, Bree and Daniel (the latter two being the main characters of the LG15 videos) were all part of the same story, which left fans wondering whether Cassie was another creation by the makers of LG15 or some sort of story hijacking attempt.

Then, on October 21, things took a turn for the… even more strange and confusing. Somehow, a YouTube user named OpAphid became intertwined into the LG15/CIW universe. Again, followers of events had to wonder if this was another attempt to derail the “official” LG15 experience. Fortunately, exactly one month later, the public got some well-deserved answers from the LG15 creation team — OpAphid had become the “Official LG15 Alternate Reality Game,” according to a post on the LG15 forums. Days later, the LG15 creators acknowledged that OpAphid “was a 100% fan created ARG” and that they “liked it so much that [they] decided to contact the creator and make it the official LG15 ARG.”

ARG Netcast, Episode 6

November 26, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

If half a dozen netcasts are as sweet as half a dozen donuts, then feast your ears on the sixth ARG Netcast. Sean C. Stacey, Brooke Thompson and Jonathan Waite are joined this week by Carie Ward, ARGNet staff writer and webmaster of wonderweasels.org. Subscribe to the ARG Netcast feed through FeedBurner or via iTunes.

Game News

Ny Takma wrapped up this past week. The puppetmasters have spoken — find out what we think about the endgame.
Sammeeeees players are hot on the trail of the 4th and 5th Spoocheeeee disc pieces, and konamouse offers a Top Ten list. Does this ARG have the personal touch mastered?
OpAphid becomes the “Official LonelyGirl15 Alternate Reality Game, according to the official LG15 forums. Is this ARG 2.0?
Deus City rolls on. There’s a basic plot time line and cast of characters at the Unfiction forums.
tCotSA (The Committee of the Sedulous Amalgamation) shows signs of life with new snail mailings to various players. ARG or puzzle trail?
Lawn Games For Life is a new ARG. Brooke and Carie have the skinny on this emerging campaign, including info about the PM herself.
NeoVenus Construction may or may not be an ARG related to Capcom’s Lost Planet. Slick web sites, more information to follow this week.

Lonelygirl15: The End (Or the Beginning?)

September 7, 2006 / Dee Cook

Although the post itself on the Lonelygirl15.com forum is currently unreachable, a new message tonight has a lot of confused fans wondering if the puppetmasters have stepped out from behind the curtain.

To Our Incredible Fans,

Thank you so much for enjoying our show so far. We are amazed by the overwhelmingly positive response to our videos; it has exceeded our wildest expectations. With your help we believe we are witnessing the birth of a new art form. Our intention from the outset has been to tell a story– A story that could only be told using the medium of video blogs and the distribution power of the internet. A story that is interactive and constantly evolving with the audience.