Portal Entertainment

Oct 24, 2013

Share this article Share Instead of unfolding in the conventional way around a finished script, events are determined by the viewers through dedicated websites. Viewers also get emails and mobile phone messages from characters, and have the option of attending ‘events’ in the story, such as parties, which will pop up in their phone’s calendar. The Craftsman is aimed at fans of thrillers like the Fall starring Gillian Anderson (left) or the Killing starring Joel Kinnaman (right)   The Craftsman, created by a digital production company called Portal Entertainment, is a gothic five-part drama series with a twist. Instead of unfolding in the conventional way around a finished script, events in The Craftsman are determined by the viewers, who can help to create their own version of the action McCrea was inspired by his hero Alfred Hitchcock, who started off in theatre and moved into film, changing how stories were told. ‘In November 2010, we asked ourselves the question: How would Alfred Hitchcock tell a story today?,’ said the group’s website. ‘We don't think it would be a film. We think it would be a story that usedall the devices we had available to us today to tell that story.’ The show can be watched by downloading a iPad app, which is free for the first day but requires a payment of £9.99 for the remaining four days of the series. The result, claims McCrea, is that ‘no two people will get the same story’. If that sounds high-tech, it’s nothing compared with what McCrea has planned next. In the future he hopes to create programmes that use the iPad’s built-incamera to read a viewer’s facial expression, adjusting the storyaccording to how they react to key dramatic moments in the plot. The aim, said McCrea, is to have ‘stories that put the audience at theheart of the narrative; stories that leave you with emotional,empathetic experiences that maximise the tension and suspense. ' Share or comment on this article MOST WATCHED NEWS VIDEOS