Tim Burton is anything but your typical storyteller, and his recent foray into the world of social media world is further evidence of the man’s crazy genius. Burton’s Cadavre Exquis tells the story of Stainboy, the internet’s most peculiar superhero. The story of Stainboy is really the story of us all, in the sense that his tale was penned by the twisted minds of Twitter.
Stainboy’s story was tweeted 140 characters at a time by authors from every corner of the Twitter universe. Put in place as a promotional tool to coincide with an upcoming exhibition at the Toronto International Film Festival Bell Lightbox, Burton’s new tale was pieced together from hundreds of plot twists and developments submitted daily through the hashtag #BurtonStory. Only the best were selected to pick up where the previous tweet left off. Quick excerpt:
81 He knew it could all end here.But he wanted answers.He needed to know the truth.Breathing hard,Stainboy stepped towards the goo #BurtonStory 82 & started to eat it. Knowing now that he was half made of goo, he knew it wouldn’t kill him like it did his father.
Pure gold, right!? Okay, so that short sample doesn’t do the story justice. But trust us, the crowdsourcing has yielded awesome results.
We love storytelling here at Post Advertising. We also love fully immersed and engaged audiences. Is there a better way to engage a consumer in a story than asking them to tell it themselves? Unpredictability is an inherent quality in anything crowdsourced, and it’s the reason storytelling strategies such as this one continue to be successful.
Thanks, CREATIVITY.
Image: Tim Burton (American b. 1958). Untitled (The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories). 1998. Pen, ink, and watercolor on paper. 11 x 14″ (27.9 x 35.6 cm). Private collection. © 2010 Tim Burton
