Race against time: G-Shock launches interactive zombie film

UK, Germany – Watch brand G-Shock has released an interactive short film pitting fans of the brand against a horde of flesh-hungry zombies.

Five Minutes involves the viewers directly in the narrative, as players complete a series of challenges to unlock the main character’s memories. As memory loss is the first symptom of infection, the experience is a race against time to save him from turning into one of the undead.

‘We wanted to create a different form of advertisement that involves the viewer in a fun and emotional way,’ Felix Faisst, producer at Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, tells LS:N Global. ‘Although the viewer knows or has the feeling that this is branded content, he or she should be able to enjoy it, to experience the brand without being constantly reminded of the product.’

Five Minutes was written and directed by Maximilian Niemann, produced by Felix Faisst along with interactive media producer Jonas Kirchner and developed by a student team at Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, an internationally renowned publicly funded film school.

For more on how brands are using dystopian stories to reflect consumers’ fears of being caught in The Polarity Paradox, read our Chasm Culture microtrend and watch our Awakening Tech interview with Yifei Chai, interactive designer at UNIT9, the company that produced the branded film.