Online Experience Allows Everyone the Opportunity to Create an Original Movie

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Award-Winning Director Spike Lee to Premiere His Latest Movie On ABSOLUT DIRECTOR May 22 /PRNewswire/ -- With today's worldwide premiere of ABSOLUT DIRECTOR (http://www.absolutdirector.com), you don't need a sound stage, production crew or budget to make a movie -- all you need is a computer and a little creativity. In celebration of the brand's commitment to creative expression, ABSOLUT has launched an innovative website that provides visitors with the resources, tools and technology to create their own digital movie. By allowing visitors to experience the magic of movie making, ABSOLUT DIRECTOR, part of the global website http://www.absolut.com, replaces the computer chair with a director's chair and provides the power to pick the shots, write the script and edit the film on a computer. (Slide and/or digital file of website screen grabs are available.)

"ABSOLUT DIRECTOR is an experiment in interactive filmmaking that's meant to be fun and act as a unique creative outlet for people," says Jim Schleifer, director of marketing, ABSOLUT at Seagram Americas.

Spike Lee is the first featured director to create a movie on ABSOLUT DIRECTOR, and the resources he used to create his movie are available to everyone on the website. Other acclaimed directors creating movies on ABSOLUT DIRECTOR include Mary Harron ("American Psycho" and "I Shot Andy Warhol"), Chris Smith ("Home Movie" and "American Movie"), John C. Walsh ("Ed's Next Movie" and "Pipe Dream") and Mary Gillen ("Blue Star").

To create a movie, visitors choose and re-sequence more than 35 movie clips (featuring 11 characters) from a 1960's Japanese science fiction film. They then write their own dialogue and choose a voice to speak it. Finally, they pick accompanying music clips to create their own movie. The creators of these original movies -- anywhere from 30 seconds to four minutes in length -- can then invite their friends and family to view their movie by sending them a link via email. In the future, visitors will also be able to submit their movie to possibly be featured as a "must see" on ABSOLUT DIRECTOR.

Visitors to the site are helped through the movie-making experience by an exclusive technology called H.I.L.D.E. (Highly Interactive Language-enabled Director Experiment), which was developed by Submarine, the studio that created the site. A playful, interactive icon whose artificial intelligence takes on a personality of her own, she guides visitors through making their movie. This technology is also responsible for bringing the actors to life on screen. As visitors type in their original script, the text is translated into a voice file and syncs with the actors in the clips so they actually speak back the typed-in dialogue.

"It's my pleasure and honor to be associated with ABSOLUT DIRECTOR on this fun and innovative project. I've finally directed my first 1960's Japanese science fiction film," says Spike Lee.

"The inspiration for ABSOLUT DIRECTOR was Woody Allen's 1966 comedy What's Up Tiger Lily," says Dan Braun, creative director and co-creator of ABSOLUT DIRECTOR at Submarine. "For the film, Allen striped out the original dialogue to an old Japanese spy film and re-scripted it with his own comedic storyline -- the concept for ABSOLUT DIRECTOR is based on this idea."

The project builds on the success of the brand's experimental programs such as ABSOLUT PANUSHKA, ABSOLUT KELLY and ABSOLUT D.J.

"ABSOLUT DIRECTOR is the natural evolution of global initiatives designed to draw consumers to absolut.com and interact with the brand through a creative experience," says Eva Kempe-Forsberg, vice president of marketing at The Absolut Company.

In support of this movie-making experience, the worldwide advertising agency for ABSOLUT, TBWA/Chiat/Day, created a new ad for the award-winning campaign simply titled ABSOLUT DIRECTOR (slide and/or digital file of ad available).

"ABSOLUT DIRECTOR is another great ABSOLUT collaboration, harnessing an array of diverse talents, says Richard Lewis, worldwide account director for ABSOLUT at TBWA/Chiat/Day.

ABSOLUT DIRECTOR was created and produced by Submarine, a New York-based branding and entertainment studio dedicated to creating original programming for the web and television, in association with long-time ABSOLUT advertising agency TBWA/Chiat/Day, and in collaboration with San Francisco-based interactive directors/designers, Zendo Studios. Minneapolis-based Pillar Applications Group engineered the system architecture. Zowie Digital Media in New York were consultants. Executive Producers are Dan Braun, Josh Braun and Pete Callaro of Submarine.

The ABSOLUT Company, a business area within V&S Vin & Sprit AB, is the brand owner and producer of ABSOLUT VODKA, ABSOLUT PEPPAR, ABSOLUT CITRON, ABSOLUT KURANT and ABSOLUT MANDRIN. ABSOLUT is the third largest international spirit in the world and is marketed in 125 markets. ABSOLUT is made at the distilleries near Ahus, Sweden. The head office is in Stockholm.

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SOURCE ABSOLUT Company