Dog Eat Dog: A QR Experiment

With the use of Smartphones, users can scan a different kind of bar code called QR Codes. QR Codes are mostly used for promotional or practical use, such as Tescos creating a QR code shopping mall, where people can stock up on their food by scanning in the QR codes painted on the wall.

However QR codes can be used to create a story telling experience, giving a user a piece of a larger narrative and a glimpse into a fictional world. Sometimes they can be used to provide a mobile narrative experience, such as some coffee shops provide story cards, which have a QR code printed on, which lets you download a short story to read with your coffee.

I have experience with experimenting with QR codes, such as a transmedia narrative called A Better Place, where the user see’s glimpses of a dark future across the city of Liverpool by scanning in hidden QR Codes.

For Creative Media Practice, we were to create a short QR code storytelling experience. Telling different parts of a story to a user after they scan in the code. Kirsty Markey, James McKeown and myself decided to create a story tail experience, where a user would follow a trail of QR codes to experience a narrative.

The story was about the aftermath of a jewelry robbery gone wrong. You play as one of the gang members picking up the stash, as you go through the QR codes, you find out the background of the gang members, what went wrong and where the other members during the narrative. In the end, it is revealed that your partner set you up while they run off with the cash.

To save time, we decided to use stock footage and real videos on YouTube, such as a real jewel robbery stopped by an old lady passing by. However this made the final product look quite cheap and very dull to work on.

 

I find it difficult being imaginative with QR codes, as all I see in their usage is how to advertise a story or campaign. By putting them around the city to show digital posters or small video teasers to gather greater interest on a project. Still this may simply mean that I need to work more with QR codes and research different projects to gain inspiration.