Not content with occupying the upper echelons of the online social networking scene, MySpace has set its sights on conquering the movie scene as well, with a little help from its members. The move from computer screen to movie screen is down to the British-made, comedy film 'Faintheart', which is due to make its premiere on the final night of the Edinburgh Film Festival on June 28.The idea for the collaboration between the film industry and the social networking website came from British film company, Vertigo, who had previously used MySpace to promote some of its productions. FilmFour were then approached with the concept, and potential film directors were encouraged to send in short-films to MySpace. This saw around a thousand entries being received, leading to a final shortlist of twelve films. Judges, including actress Sienna Miller, whittled the list down to three films which were then featured on the MySpace website and voted upon by MySpace members to come up with an overall winner - Vito Rocco.
MySpace users were also given the opportunity to choose most of the music and bands featured in the film, and also invited auditions from users for some of the minor roles in the film. Additionally, users were asked to submit jokes to be used in the script, and plot suggestions were invited for film scenes posted on the website.
"It's the worlds' first publicly generated movie", Jamie Kantrowitz, vice president of marketing for MySpace, is quoted as saying according to the Times Online. "It's about involving a potential audience for a movie in the making of the film itself."
Billed as a romantic comedy, the film - costing £1.3 million to make - centres around the character of Richard, a DIY store employee whose hobby involves dressing up as a Viking as a member of a battle re-enactment group, which causes the collapse of his marriage and follows his quest to rebuild his life and win back his wife and 12-year old son. Starring in the film are Eddie Marson, whose previous films include 'Miami Vice' and 'The Illusionist' and Ewen Bremner, who played Spud in the 1996 film, 'Trainspotting'. Also appearing is Jessica Hynes, who has starred in 'The Royle Family' and 'Shaun of the Dead' alongside Simon Pegg and Tim Healy, who is perhaps most famous for his role as Dennis, in the classic 80's sitcom, 'Auf Wiedersehn, Pet'.
MySpace have already turned their attention to their next user-participation project: a television adaptation of Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho's 'The Witch of Portobello', which sees MySpace users teaming up with users around the globe to submit video adaptations of the fifteen storylines contained in the book, as well as submitting music for the soundtrack.
Several major film studios have already benefited from using social networking websites to generate interest in their films, and social networking sites have long been an avenue for previously untapped talent to get themselves noticed since they first exploded onto the World Wide Web; creating several well known stars of the music scene, including Sandi Thom and Lily Allen.
MySpace recently announced plans for a large-scale redesign of their website which would see MySpace alter such major components such as their home page, navigation layout and search functions as they strive to stay near the forefront of the chasing pack, which is currently headed by rival, Facebook.
