Transmedia Project SYNEMATIKA by Michael Pope Begins with Movie Script as 3D Immersive Installation

Brooklyn, NY, April 09, 2016 --(PR.com)-- Filmmaker Michael Pope announced he has begun a funding campaign for a new transmedia project, SYNEMATIKA. Conceived as leading to a full-length experimental feature film, the first public phase of the project will be the creation of a “script” in the form of a building-sized site-specific multimedia installation in an unnamed building near Hudson, New York, with interactive soundscapes. The installation will be documented to create a book or “shooting bible” for the planned movie, and then will be opened for the public to visit and explore. He will create this installation as a 30-day endurance piece, locking himself in under 24/7 live streaming video.

“It's about process,” explains Pope, “when I plan something out written words don't really convey it, I need to lay out visual images in a space, I compose music that has the feeling I'm trying to achieve, and use that as a background to plan and to shoot to. I even make dioramas with figures. This is just skipping the step of artificially reducing the whole thing to words on a page. That's a Hollywood convention, but you wouldn't write out in words how you were going to do a painting, you'd sketch and do color studies.” Pope reports he has been planning this work for several years, and has the world, characters and plot largely in mind, though it will evolve and coalesce during this creation phase.

Backers will also be invited to bring or send items that will be incorporated into the piece, on a theme of “transformation.” “A key part of the process,” says Pope, “is that it incorporates collective creative action. Part of what will go on both in the story and the larger process is the idea of humans exploring their true creative potential.”

The Kickstarter campaign is well underway, having reached 50% of its goal within its first seven days. Pope reports that the soundtrack is already in production, with help from drummer Brian Viglione (Dresden Dolls, Violent Femmes), and that a core production team is in place.

Pope’s previous transmedia project, Neovoxer, won him a Tanne Award for Outstanding Achievement, and was the first film by an American director to screen at the P1: International Biennial in the Czech Republic (2004). Neovoxer was an experimental, non-dialogue feature film and event that included live performance of its musical score and sound effects, site-specific installation and tableau vivant. Pope was writer, director, editor as well as actor, designer, and one of the composers of the project.

About Michael Pope: Michael Pope is a self-taught film and video director from New York who now splits his time between Brooklyn and the Cloud Club artists’ community in Boston, MA. In music circles he is best known for many music videos including his work with Amanda Palmer, directing all but one of the Dresden Dolls music videos and the Who Killed Amanda Palmer video series, as well as film work for the Boston Pops.