"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing."
- George Bernard Shaw -

The Lunatics is a 6.5 minute interactive animated fairytale about consumption, exploration, and creativity.

News & Showings

1-11 December 2005 at the DeLeon White Gallery / Emmersive Gallery in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The gallery is located at 1096 Queen St. W and the hours are Wed-Sun 12-5 pm. More detailed information at The Emmersive Gallery website.

21-24 July 2005 - Habitat New Media Lab Prototype Exhibition, Gladstone Hotel, Toronto, Canada

 

About The Lunatics

Have you ever wondered if there’s more to life than this? Is there more to life than punching the clock? Is there more to life than buying stuff you don’t need? Is there is more to life than wasting time in front of the T.V.?

Have you ever felt like you are sleepwalking through the days? The Lunatics did, and now you are invited to step into their shoes!

The Lunatics is an animated fairytale about the titular tribe of people who learned that there is indeed more to life than this! Told by an elder Lunatic, this interactive experience guides you through the Lunatics’ transformative journey from being consumers to becoming creators. The Lunatics have always worshiped the moon, but during more precarious times, they ignored it in favour of a more consuming light. They wanted more, more, more; and their cherished moon slipped away. One day, a Lunatic realized that living without the moon was no way to be and set off, with you by his side, to bring it back.

The Lunatics is presented using an exciting, new form of participatory theater, which blends the role of audience and participant. While wearing masks, you are transported onto the screen and into the story where you see, hear and physically engage with the tale’s themes. Your movements trigger animations empowering you to affect the world on the screen.

Not only are you watching the story, you are in the story!

Videos & Photos

View them here.

For More Information

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Creators

Warren Brown
Warren Brown is an illustrator, animator and creative director. His award-winning work has appeared on television and film. Currently, he is designing storytelling experiences that blur the line between audience and participant. Warren lives in Toronto with his wife, Sarah, and a trusted bucket of worms that eat his garbage.

Louise Charlebois
As a writer, director, artist, photographer, and idea generator, Louise Charlebois has an interest in converging her diverse passions. She has a great love of pop culture, both high and low. An arts and crafts hobbyist, she hopes to bring a personal, organic touch to new media.

Kirstin Hargie
Whether automatic writing, photographing, drawing, or moshing media interactively mixed media artist Kirstin Hargie collages the minutiae of the extraordinary ordinary. A consummate world lover, she one day wishes to drive around the world in an ice cream truck collecting stories and art. More about Kirstin at www.hargie.com.

"Social awareness through physical organic experiences."

Credits

Created by Warren Brown, Louise Charlebois, Kirstin Hargie
Music Composed by Adam Goddard
Narrated by Nick Sewell
Special Thanks to Faisal Anwar

Developed with the assistance of The Canadian Film Centre's Habitat New Media Lab.

This interactive experience is a work of fiction. The characters, scenes, and dialogue in this prototype do not represent the actual physical resemblance, actions, or words of any real persons, living, or dead.

© 2005 Warren Brown, Louise Charlebois, and Kirstin Hargie