Do filmmakers really need hundreds of millions of dollars and the resources of a major movie studio to make a super-cool science fiction movie? The answer is…well, yes. But maybe not for long, judging from the quality of "What’s in the Box?," a viral video currently lighting up the web that many admirers suspect may have a connection to the TV series Lost. (It doesn’t — but more on that in a second.) The nine-minute short — created by a computer-savvy Dutch dude name Tim Smit for "150 Euros and a pizza" (at least according to this interview) — combines the video-camera perspective of Cloverfield with a conceit reminiscent of any number of videogames (example: Half Life) involving mad scientists tearing holes in the fabric of reality. The title refers to a mysterious cube that’s used to shoot an energy beam into a whirling anomaly in the sky. (I love writing sentences like that.) Smit hopes to turn the short into a feature and has already received inquiries from Hollywood, including Twentieth Century Fox. Is he worth their interest? Judge for yourself:
So why do Lost fans suspect there could be connection? For starters, Smit’s test film makes use of Michael Giacchino’s Lost score. Moreover, there are two affiliated websites that make clever use of the show’s mythology. One of the sites — which includes credit info and a mysterious copyright date of 2018 — asks you to enter a code to access more content. Bad guesses get you a standard response (“uh uh uh, you didn’t say the magic word”), but if you input Lost’s famous numbers — 4 8 15 16 23 42 — you get a different message. Then, there’s another website named after the science lab from the video, The Babel Group, which includes a link to The Hanso Foundation, the mysterious philanthropic entity from Lost mythology that finances The Dharma Initiative. (Thanks to Doc Jensen reader “W Wyatt” for tipping me to all this.) (Also, I’ve just a found a guy as obsessed with all of this as I am, who’s cracked all the codes at both sites. Check out his work if you, too, become fixated.)
As of this writing, I can’t confirm if either of these sites arereally connected to Smit’s short or if they are expressions of acreative fan culture that’s cleverly expanding the video’sreality-blurring mythos. I dig the latter possibility. But the factthat “What’s in the Box?” has either intentionally or inadvertentlycrossed into Lost’s orbit is a bit more complicated, as I seeit. On one hand, I think it’s fun. On the other hand, if there is noofficial connection, then what we have here is an aspiringentertainment franchise leveraging Lost arcana — not to mention the voracious curiosity of Lostfan culture — in order to generate interest (and therefore equity) foritself. I could see how some might find such marketing moxie prettyclever — and how some might find it ethically suspect. Today, I find itpretty clever.
And so does Lost executive producer Damon Lindelof. No,folks, there isn’t an official connection between the twoentertainments. But Lindelof says he’s pretty impressed by the visionand execution of “What’s in the Box?,” although he recognizes that itexists within the provocative gray zone of today’s media world. “Ithink it’s really cool we live in a day and age where ‘intellectualproperty’ is rendered pretty much moot,” Lindelof tells EW. “The factthat anyone with talent and a video camera — or maybe just the videocamera — can tell a chapter of any story, whether it be their own or acontinuation of someone else’s, is pretty cool to me. But what’s evencooler is when the fan-generated content becomes indistinguishable fromthe content generated by the creators themselves. The quality of "What’s in the Box?" is secondary only to its mystery. And the factthat a first-person run through an urban center set to the occasionalpiece of Giacchino music and a few Hanso logos thrown into thecorollary site makes people even ask whether or not this is officiallyattached to the Lost mythology is pretty damn spectacular.”
Please check back on Friday for a new Doc Jensen column. In the meantime, you can find all sorts of fun Lost stuff at EW.com’s Totally Lost hub.
Comments (1-26) of 26 Add your comment
This just hurts my head. Lost is already confusing, and then people make videos that make us even more confused (and likely unnecessarily confused!). But its cool, I just try to not think too much and just enjoy. (Un)fortunatly for you, Jeff, its your job to think!
Wicked video – that guy is talented. I’m really interested to see how they’ll flesh this concept out into a full feature film.
This guy’s film is pretty cool! He honestly did that for 150 euro? I can see why Hollywood would come calling. Perhaps they are hoping he can make the entire film for less than a few hundred thousand bucks. LOL
The music might have been from Lost but the whole video was Half Life 2. If you played the game you know it, if you haven’t then you should.
It is definitely not Lost-esque, probably more in the Fringe range.
But I did like the video, perhaps other TV shows can stretch that 150 euros into something similar. I surely doubt a helicopter cost less or even the explosives unless it was done in CG.
As mentioned by Jeff, this video definitely has a Half-Life vibe going on. Mixed in with the first person perspective, it makes the whole thing pretty intense. Nice work.
Tim Smit? The guy’s name is a palindrome?
I call fake.
What’s in the box?! WHAT’S IN THE BOX!?!?!?!?
2018 is the same year the new Terminator film is set in and previous videos talk about sending videos back in time. The box could be how they do it.
Hasn’t anyone ever played Half-Life? That’s where the audio is from. This guy is clearly making a fanfic dedicated to Half Life, or it’s a viral teaser for a Half Life movie (maybe).
It was cool, but very obviously Half Life. Cmon guys.
I thought that was one of those flying things from Terminator.
So I guess you are taking the week off, like the show is this week?
What a coincedence. I was just watching JJ Abrams yesterday on ted.com talking about what inspired him. And in it he was talking about “What’s in the Box?”. I suggest you guys go and see it.
I just hope the answer to “what’s in the box” doesn’t involve Justin Timberlake!
You sure this doesn’t have anything to do with the JJ Abrams-edited May issue of Wired, which supposedly contains an elaborate puzzle? http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/21/arts/television/21wire.html?_r=1&hpw
…not to mention a mysterious box has been referred to on LOST before (see: Locke’s dad showing up on the island).
There’s been bigger speculation on whether this is related to the Half-Life video game series – the voices and sounds in the video are all from Half-Life 2.
Doc Jensen paid much attention to the Hanso Foundation logo in the Babel Research website, but forgot to investigate the other two symbols – Black Mesa and Aperture Science, both fictional companies from the Half-Life mythos.
So yeah, this is just a fan of both things – Lost and Half-Life – and mixed them together.
Blogged my thoughts. I don’t think it has anything to do with LOST, “Half-Life,” Xbox, Raven’s “Singularity,” or any other pop culture thing mentioned above.
thebookpolice.blogspot.com
I know. I know what is in the box.
It is Jack.
User generated content is great and so effective. Check out this Aquafina video– http://vimeo.com/3989641
quite obviously half life 2.
I don’t know if anyone else noticed this because I didn’t read all the comments but there’s some Minority Report music in there too right at the 5 minute mark.
it’s just for a talented outsider to show off to us all how godo he is and his big break really. hence the use of music. he isn’t talented enough to make his own movie score. no-one is perfect
the question “what is in the box?”
well i think it is justa conceit.
a movie / storytelling device .
jj abrams delivered a TED talk with the very same title about curiosity and possibility, and the conceit itself in his own work.
just as the JJ abrams crew reference stephen king, countless other novels and great movies as big fans., they have truly arrived and are referenced themselves.
Its clearly half life two just before the singularity collapse, for these reasons
1:the guys in white used Combine voices
2: the guys in white had on masks that made them look alot like metrocops
3: the cloud looked too much like like the one in HL2 to be a coincidence
4: the cloud was on top of a huge tower that looked like like the Citadel
5: the helicopter was a hunter-chopper from HL2
6: it was set in europe, as was the game.
If you play the game, you might actually notice these things. if it ends up not bieng HL2, then they used alot more than the voices from the game. and no, i dont think the symbols from Black Mesa, Aperture Science, or Hanzo Foundation matter much for the video. maybe tim just really like those.
trust me when i say that you’re all fools in this particular matter. trust me when i tell you that you cant possible understand. go to this site
http://wikibruce.com/2009/04/a-big-box-of-babel-research/
and this site
http://whatsinthebox.nl/
and trust me when i tell you that you should learn not to get
EXPOSED,
learn why
+HS PQY-4FLI,
and learn that:
some things will only be revealed through mirrors and light
happy hunting. call me if you figure out why no evil sagas live on.