HBO Voyeur
NY
I've been meaning to post this for months. It won at the Design Week Awards this year and is really rather special.
I'm still not too sure what it's all about, as its navigation is quite 'dense' and there is a lot going on, nor am I sure how it links to the broadcast aspect (OK, I haven't spent enough time delving into it), but I love the concept, the dark aesthetic, the implicit reference to Hitchcock's 'Rear Window', the integration of video into the web page, the density of detail...
Sadly I think its no longer 'current' but some exploration will reward on many levels anyway.
By way of introduction, here's what it says about it on the accompanying blog 'The story gets deeper':
"The HBO Voyeur Project is a collection of multi-media stories that HBO has built around the theme of voyeurism.
'See what people do when they think no one is Watching' is the tagline that they have used to describe the experience that starts in the streets of New York City, behind the countless windows that we pass everyday.
It comes together in a silent film that will be projected on the side of a building, and extends to the HBO channel, HBO on Demand, and online at HBOVoyeur.com. There are also “artifacts” of the characters everywhere, pieces of story which have been sprinkled around the web and in the real world to heighten the experience for those who like to get involved."
Take a look...
please log in to add a comment
posted by Francesca Granato
on 08 April 2008
Hello, my name is Francesca and I am a Voyeur.
This site is so addictive. It is the most fun I've had wasting time on the internet in years. Malcolm's right though - it takes a long 5 or 6 minutes to work out exactly what this thing is all about.
The best way I can describe it, it is a virtual city (possibly New York city?) where we, the viewers, can look out across the city skyline and choose a building to spy on. We get to see inside peoples bedrooms, their studios, their offices, there funeral palours (!). You can pick and choose which scenes you want to watch: a family row, a private photo-shoot, a dinner party, a couple in bed, late night card game, the list goes on and on. And of course this is brought to us by HBO, the makers of Six Feet Under and Sex in the City, so naturally the content is deliciously gratuitous.
I think hbovoyeur.com is a really interesting idea. It obviously has cost a great deal of time and money to make. I hope is catches on ... but something tells me that most of the TV-addicted general public won't buy into this lengthy and complicated new kind of voyeurism.