Academy
Award-Nominee David Strathairn in:
"A
new genre of digital expression is born...
immerse yourself
in the world's first NAVworld Experience"
|
Watch
Clips What
is a NAVworld? The
Story: The Onyx Project Viewing
Instructions Get
Creative Contact
Us Purchase
|
NOTE:
plays on any late model Windows XP PCs with DVD drive
& QuickTime. |
NAVworlds™ are a new form of video story telling - a world that is written, directed, acted and edited. [NAV means Non-Linear Arrayed Video.]
Movies are written, directed, acted and edited. We love movies.
But NAVworlds™ are not movies. Movies - or, rather those who make movies - choose what you see as beginning, middle and end. Movie makers must do this. They have no alternative. Because movies are strips of film that have one image following another. Movies are linear in form (even if, in skilled hands, movies create nonlinear psychological perceptions).
NAVworlds™ are nonlinear in form. Their form does not have a beginning, a middle or an end. Nor are NAVworlds™ "choose your own adventure" movies. Nor are they "choose our own ending" movies. They are not "interactive movies." Not browseable movies. Not movies.
NAVworlds™ are worlds you explore and experience just like you explore and experience the Web - by clicking your way through a body of material. With this important difference: the material in a NAVworld™ is written, directed, acted and edited to create a coherent world for you to experience - a world built around character, theme, and narrative.
Video games present worlds. We love video games. But video games are programmed. NAVworlds™are written, directed, acted and edited.
We love movies and video games. And, we now invite you and your imagination to explore and experience a new form of video story telling -- NAVworld™ -- by purchasing and experiencing The Onyx Project
When you explore Col. Henderson's NAVworld in The Onyx Project, you will not be watching a movie. You won't be fed a beginning, middle or end.
You'll be experiencing the powerful testimony of a man and an officer who made a disastrous choice just prior to the 2004 US presidential election for a host of complex personal, professional and political reasons -- and now wants to account for it.
You will be exploring and experiencing Col. Henderson's world - a NAVworld written and directed by Larry Atlas and acted by Academy Award-Nominee David Strathairn.
We invite you to experience Col. Henderson's world - the world of any man or woman in uniform fighting the war on terror. We invite you to imagine Special Forces in this strange and dangerous 21st century, post-modern conflict whose roots trace back to the early centuries of monotheistic humankind.
Imagine - ask yourself -- how, why and what it means to use one's military professional skills in this murky conflict while simultaneously upholding one's military, family, religious, social and other cultural values. Ask yourself about the many and nuanced impacts on military professionalism caused by shifts in US culture to partisanship, anger, intolerance, religious fundamentalism, and extremism.
Ask yourself what it must be like to be a man or woman, like Col. Henderson, wearing the uniform of the US military in this age of humankind.
Imagine the challenge of doing the 'right thing' as opposed to the 'right versus left wing' thing - and, then, to hold yourself accountable as a man and as an officer.
Imagine what you would do - what you would have done - had you, too, believed you had learned the whereabouts of Al Qaeda's number two man on the eve of the 2004 election.
The NAVworld interface has these elements:
- A main viewing panel where scenes
play
- A left hand panel ("Back Panel") that stores previous scenes
in the order you have selected
- A right hand (mostly hidden) panel of future scenes
- A links panel in lower left of screen from which you choose the next
scene
Navigating The Onyx Project
- Click on A or B to choose your entry
point. If you click on B, you'll get five entry point choices.
- Click on 'lit up' links to select the next scene you wish to explore
- Click on Main Panel to pause or restart
- Click the left-hand Back Panel to return to the previous scene. The
Back Panel stores scenes in the order you've viewed them. So, if you
wish to retrace your steps, continue clicking until you find the scene
you want.
- Click on the "&" link at any time to be presented with
a set of choices that will take you to a different part of Henderson's
NAVworld
- Click on "T" links to see a 'thread' -- a series of pre-set,
selected scenes
- Hit Ctrl-Q to exit a thread
- Hit Ctrl-R to put the computer in "Shuffle" mode where the
computer will randomly make selections for you. (Any click will then
take you out of Shuffle)
- Hit Ctrl-S to turn off or on the music
- Hit Esc to stop viewing
Tips
- First time viewers should click on Help
for a review of the interface and how it works.
- We also encourage first-time viewers to spend 3 or 4 minutes browsing
the interface without worrying about the story/content in order to gain
familiarity and comfort - then re-starting
- All viewers should get into the habit of rolling the mouse over links
as they light up in order to optimize the chances of making the next
scene selection
- The icons are thematic. Their images are not literally what viewers
see next upon selecting them. For example, icons of a "cave"
and an "onyx stone" both take viewers to scenes about the
specific mission at the heart of The Onyx Project while, say, an icon
of President Bush takes the viewer to a scene about President Bush.
- The same icon image is used for multiple scene destinations. Thus,
an image of Col. Henderson's wife takes the viewer to many scenes about
his wife and their relationship.
- Viewers should avoid assuming they have already viewed a scene just
because they have already used that particular icon.
Loading The Onyx Project
The
Onyx Project will load and start up automatically in late model Windows
XP computers with a DVD drive and QuickTime installed.
Viewers should avoid loading the DVD until the computer is fully booted and operational (some computers will not 'read' the DVD unless fully booted)
If The Onyx Project does not load automatically, try these steps:
1. Find the DVD drive icon in "my
computer"
2. Right click it
3. Select "Explore"
4. Drag and drop the "onyx' icon onto the 'nav player' icon
The Onyx Project is the first ever NAVworld. We invite you to explore and experience it at two levels, not just one:
- For the story of Col. Henderson's
world
- As an opportunity to imagine other NAVworlds
you might like to experience or create.
Budgetary and operating constraints limited The Onyx Project to:
- A Windows XP DVD version of our software
- A small part of what's possible to make and experience with the NAV
story-telling architecture.
Subject to resources, our technology plans call for both web-based versions as well as Mac DVD versions of NAVworlds.
Accordingly, we invite you to imagine and share with us:
- NAVworld
applications in the fields of entertainment, news, education, corporate/professional
training, advertising, music, documentary, artistic and more.
- NAVworld
features and functions you'd like to see/have
- NAVworld
applications you'd like to have
Please contact us with your ideas
and and interests:
- pressinquiries@theonyxproject.com
Clicking on the yellow "order now" button [at the end of each section] will hyperlink you to our fulfillment company. They will process your order and offer you three mailing options.
Questions?
Please email: feedback@theonyxproject.com
Cast
Colonel Robert Henderson... David Strathairn
Henderson's Wife... Ann Matthews
Henderson's Dad... Ted Goodman
Henderson's Mom... Carol Goodman
Captain Jack Caldwell... Ed Ramirez
SFC Anthony Borders... Vincent George
W.O. William Pennington... Bill Bomba
SFC Edward Whistler... John Merritt
SSG Walter Cade... Kevin Carey
MSG James Montgomery... John Milkovitch
SSG Roy Walker... Nigel Barnett
Written and Directed by
Larry Atlas
Producer/1st Assistant Director
Gail Freedman
Music composed and created by
Richard Einhorn
Director of Photography
Jim Sofranko
Cameraman
Rick Meyer
Sound
Richard Fleming
Gaffer
John Raugalis
Art Director/Set Decoration
Robert Evangelisto
Teleprompter
Elizabeth Forsyth
Production Assistants
Peggy Hurley
Gabriel DeVries
NAV
Software Assistant
Ebbe Strathairn
NAV
Mapping Assistant
Eben Smith
Extras Casting
John Milkovich
Original NAV
Design by
Lisa Strausfeld and Jim Biber
Pentagram, New York
NAV
Software by
Dataart, New York and St. Petersburg
www.dataart.com
NAV
Technology Advisor
Andy Singleton
www.assembla.com
Photo Acknowledgements
Photos of the people, mountains, and
countryside of Afghanistan were generously provided by Luke Powell
http://www.lukepowell.com/
Other photos courtesy of:
U.S. Army
U.S. Department of Defense
U.S. Department of State
George Bush Presidential Library
Central Intelligence Agency
M. T. Gastner, C. R. Shalizi, and M. E. J. Newman
The White House
U.S. Air Force
Special Thanks to the Hoe Bowl, Poughkeepsie, NY
"...no
two viewers may see the movie unfold in the same way, yet its basic facts,
characters and message will permeate the experience."
New York Times
"The
Onyx Project raises provocative questions about the way visual entertainments
are changing..."
Wall Street Journal
"'...
the story was written to keep the audience engaged, using a few director's
tricks.
The mystery at the center
of the story is not
revealed until the end.
International Herald Tribune
"The
Onyx Project offers millions of possibilities watching the same story
unravel differently with each viewing: backwards or forwards or jumping
between links in no discernable pattern."
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
"If history is any guide, there
is every reason to believe that the old idea of linear motion pictures
will not long outlive the invention of the non-linear world of the internet
and web-browser (the movie box office is already outstripped by game sales)."
— The Huffington Post
"Want
to see the future of film? Check out
'The Onyx Project'... The movie is meant to use fairly straightforward
software concepts to take storytelling beyond such interactive stalwarts
as video-gaming and bonus features on DVD's. It's a movie YOU create."
Gen Art Pulse>>
site design and management: Christian Sarkar
Copyright (c) 2006, Web River Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.