Are You Awake?
Sometimes an idea comes along that is so interesting and unique that it has to be done; you have to complete it just to say you tried, otherwise you might be incomplete. This is the case with Zeroes 2 Heroes Media’s interactive comic book mystery, Are You Awake, and all its tie-ins which include a motion comic video about a detective who can see murders as they happen in his dreams called, aptly enough, The Dream Detective. However, does the idea contain enough of a hook to lift it to the top or will it sink under all the weight of its parts?
The Dream Detective
I was turned on to the project through a brief email which contained a link to a motion comic YouTube video called The Dream Detective which (full disclosure here) has never been my bag of tea. To me, if I want to read a comic book, I’ll download it to my iPad or go to the comic store. If I want to watch an animation, I want it fully animated. This in between stuff has never been much my style unless it has enough flair to keep me interested. Now, that’s not to say The Dream Detective is done poorly. The short video introduces a wealth of characters and gives you a good idea of what the main plot is about. The art is pleasing to the eye, with the addition of some questionable effects and camera moves. Overall, it’s a good effort. It’s just not really my style.
To give it’s creators the benefit of the doubt, I decided to dig a little deeper into the mystery of The Dream Detective to see if it would hook me. Unfortunately, there weren’t anymore videos for me to view on YouTube, but there was a link I found in the description to a website that should hold all of the details.
Done in a motion comic style, The Dream Detective tells the story of Aaron Street, a three-time loser who gets one last change for redemption when he discovers he has an unusual power: the ability to see murders as they happen and track down the killers. In short order, this gets him out of jail, into a fast car and hooked up with a sexy new partner. But it all begins to go horribly wrong when Aaron comes across a killer who shares his unusual gift. The dream quickly becomes a nightmare.
Come check us out at www.areyouawake.tv to see more about Are You Awake.
Are You Awake
Right from the moment I entered the website, I knew the answers I was looking for weren’t going to come easy.
First, to my surprise, there weren’t any videos on the website at all. There were, however, two digital comic books–The Dream Detectives and Pashanata–neither of which were mentioned in the motion comic. The comics were really well drawn and colored, but didn’t contain any characters from the motion comic. They started to hook me when I saw that ideas carried over and, at the last moment, there was a mention of Aaron Street, the main character from The Dream Detective, which lead me to believe future crossovers would happen. There were a handful of links to blogs, Twitter accounts, MySpace pages and more, but I had no idea where to start or why they were even there. After looking for more comics with no success, I dove into the social links provided in hopes of finding some answers.
I waded through the information in front of me with slight confusion and apprehension. I like a good mystery as much as the next person, but if I feel like I’ve been dropped in the middle of an ocean without a life preserver, I’m going to drown. Every clue lead to more questions; every answer didn’t seem to quite fit.
Take the Story, Make it Your Own.
With Are You Awake, we wanted to do something unique. Presented across a number of media, AYA spins a real-time web of deceit, sex, rock n’ roll and intrigue. You can get as close and intimate with Anna or Callum as you would like. You won’t just read the story, you’ll be a part of it. Hunt for the mystery and be the first to unlock the secrets of Are You Awake.
I got the “number of media” thing, but what’s the mystery and how can I be a part of it. Luckily, through some sleuthing and a quick Skype call with the creators, I was able to figure out what the bigger picture was about.
The whole idea was to create a community in which the readers had control of the mystery and destiny of the characters. On the website (you log in and chat in the forums), you can participate in discussions that will lay out the pathway for the main story. The story itself is laid out through a bunch of mediums–which explains the motion comic on YouTube, the two comic books and all the social media links on Are You Awake–and it’s up to the reader (or viewer) to watch/read them all to come up with the answers. There’s also an Are You Awake app that allows you to scan the QR codes in the corners of the comics to get clues to help you solve the mystery.
Oh, there’s also a live action version of The Dream Detective.
Conclusion
I give Zeros 2 Heroes credit for taking on such an ambitious project. Giving readers such a big hand in the story, and by setting clues to the mystery through a bunch of mediums is something that takes a lot of courage and work. Unfortunately, it all comes off feeling like they have no clear direction where they are taking you. Having so many mediums with only a few strands holding them together and an unclear idea of how all the pieces fit into the whole caused me to get lost in the tide.
I also credit Zeros 2 Heroes for their use of interactivity with the code reader, but it never worked for me; not even once. I ended up downloading QR Scanner which worked the very first time. Unfortunately, some of the links didn’t work anymore. The links that did work only lead me to music clips and a few sound clips that really didn’t add anything to the story, but it did add to the interactivity of the comic.
Giving readers the opportunity to follow their favorite characters on multiple platforms as if they are real is cool, but, once again, it doesn’t pay off for those who jump right in the middle of the story. You end up reading too much in a blog or on a Twitter feed and get lost all over again, not to mention having to jump around to multiple social media sites in order to get all the information is really just too much work.
Z2H Media says they are currently finding a direction to take their project, and I hope they do soon. It really does have a lot of potential, but, as it is now, its just too easy to get lost in the tidal wave of information and you’ll be wishing you were a dream detective in order to figure it out.
Am I wrong in my conclusion? Give it a try for yourself and see if you can make sense of the mystery, then let me know in the comments below.
John Kostrzewski is the Editor of Fuel Your Motionography and a freelance motion graphics and visual effects artist, videographer and writer living in Minnesota. He is awesome. Follow him on Twitter at and .
An interesting review of an interesting project.
I love the interactive idea. Definitely a cool marketing tool.
It’s taken me a little time to adjust to the idea of a motion comic. It reminds me a lot of watching an animatic before you finish the film… however, not being a comic guy nor a sophisticated animator, I can see the value in such an art form.
I think this definitely has potential as a marketing tool to promote the comic, either digital or in print. Would I want to see a whole feature made as a motion comic? Um, well, nothing against the film, but I kind of enjoyed “Watchmen: The Motion Comic” a bit more than Zack Snyder’s adaptation (and I’m a film guy). I guess I wouldn’t mind a feature made this way, it definitely plays better in short form. But it is a unique style unto itself and can find its place… and who knows, with my limited ability to draw and interest in animation, perhaps it could be a fun way to cut my teeth on an animated project.