Article content continued

It was pretty obvious from the get-go that this was something we had to do.

What direction do you see the film taking as you create it?

The first version of output will actually be a connected film. So it will not only be a regular movie, but also a connected movie. It will be an Internet experience. There will be a second output, of course, which will be a regular film experience. But if you go online and you’re connected you will have a different experience. That’s the mechanics of the project.

The main focus is really building communities, and how new ways of building communities are reshaping human relations in an era when you’re hyper-connected and can broadcast yourself in real time. That’s really what we want to try to explore. Are these people reinventing new ways of being together?

It’s not difficult to identify the medium’s appeal for a successful streamer – they get some fame, maybe even money. I’m a little more interested in the mindset of the people who watch. The communities you’ve talked about. What have you found that they’re getting out of Twitch?

From my point of view right now there are a number of reasons. And the first four episodes of the research we’ve done live on Twitch point towards these motivations.

There’s the sense of belonging to a community. The love of a specific game or a particular sense of humour or tone, that’s something that seems very strong in small communities. Because we decided to start with the Quebec angle and then the French angle before moving on to the English and international angle, we were able to explore people who are barely able to make a living out of it. People who just do it for fun, or because they’re making friends online who become real friends in real life. That’s most interesting for us.