_Collapsus

The fictional world of Collapsus suffers from all-too-real energy problems. In the interactive online docudrama, ten characters contend with blackouts, civil war, and personal melodrama as the world struggles to transition from oil to renewable energy sources. Interactive producers Submarine Channel created Collapsus as part of a multiplatform “transmedia” campaign for the Dutch television documentary Energy Risk (VPRO, 2010). Web visitors can move between multiple interfaces: Collapsus’s fictional story, a map keeping track of the characters, a game about energy production, and a “news” interface with headlines from the fictional world.

Collapsus blurs the line between reality and fiction. Hypothetical news reports are crammed with real-life information, while experts like New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman opine on subjects relevant to the fictional world. Collapsus director Tommy Pallotta moves from live action to animation and back again, using the rotoscope animation technique he developed for the feature film Waking Life (2001).