How director Stephen Fung wants to merge cinematic storytelling with NFTs
SINGAPORE — Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, are making inroads into the realm of filmmaking.
Blockchain assets exploded in popularity in 2020 for their novel application of certifying ownership of digital or real assets through blockchains.
We have seen films being financed through NFTs as well as NFTs being made into films.
Now, Asian filmmakers are experimenting with even newer ways to integrate NFTs into creator and fan communities.
Last week, crypto event Token2049, which provides a networking platform for blockchain investors, creators and entrepreneurs, saw various side events ahead of the F1 Grand Prix in Singapore.
Hong Kong actor, filmmaker and now NFT creator, Stephen Fung, was at one such event on September 29 that brought filmmakers, creators and artists together.
Founded by Stephen Fung, Media Asia Group and Everest Venture Group, Grid6 Studios wants to combine cinematic storytelling and web3 ownership.
In April, Grid6 Studios announced the Departed Apes NFT collection, which consists of 8,027 characters on the Ethereum blockchain living in a parallel universe of the internationally acclaimed crime film Infernal Affairs. These characters were created by artist Logan Lubera, whose drawings were featured on the Marvel Comics covers.
Fung says the NFTs offer interactive opportunities for user-led cinematic storytelling. Owning a Departed Ape is just a pass to a community of owners in a Discord group who play a choose-your-own-adventure game and participate in creating stories based on their NFT characters. Contestants can vote to see their characters appear in films made by Grid6 Studios.
“What was successful in the first wave of NFTs may not be successful later. So we are doing something to make it more interesting,” said 48-year-old Fung.
“Ours is a parallel universe inspired by the world of Infernal Affairs that is populated by monkey characters. We’ve added storytelling to the mix – your character can come into the world and be an Infernal Affairs mole. It’s like a video game, but it’s also an experience.”
Web3 film studio
Mecenia, another Web3 film studio, seeks to forge stronger, more direct links between creators and their backers, thus rewarding creators more for media properties they build by cutting out corporate middlemen.
Mecenia will soon release its first film, “The Shiba And The Whale,” which it calls the world’s first fully fractionalized animation.
Produced by Mecenia’s co-founder, BAFTA winner Low Ser En, the whimsical 14-minute Studio Ghibli-style film will be split into 10,000 frames for its NFT launch. Each frame will be a collector’s item NFT.
Lim Liang Chun, Mecenia’s other co-founder, said: “With NFT technology, fans have been empowered to immutably own digital assets that resonate with them emotionally, while internet culture continues to facilitate co-creation between creators and fans. NFT projects will start the next generation of media franchising, which will be internet-based and capture value primarily through online means.”
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