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“THE ONYX PROJECT,” Starring David
Strathairn
Released on DVD as World’s First-Ever Interactive Movie
(October 2, 2006)
For more information, contact: pressinquiries@theonyxproject.com
“The Onyx Project,” being released today, is the world’s first-ever truly interactive, “hyperlinked” movie – the first fully browseable motion picture. It utilizes a brand-new, patent-pending technology, called NAV, the next frontier in alternative media. Web River Media, Inc. is the inventor and owner of NAV™.
David Strathairn, the Oscar-nominated lead of George Clooney’s “Good Night, and Good Luck,” stars in a powerful story -- a story that the viewer gets to shape – about war, politics, and human connection.
“The Onyx Project” is being released today on a DVD that plays on any late-model Windows XP computer with a DVD drive and QuickTime installed. An online version of the NAVtechnology is also in the works from Web River Media. The NAV video story-telling architecture allows the creation of fully interactive films. It is a radical new approach to storytelling that provides the creative community with an innovative canvas on which to make and tell stories – at a fraction of the cost of a conventional movie. NAV allows viewers to literally choose their own path (there are millions of them) through the material. Each viewer receives a unique story experience, yet all viewers have a common frame of reference for discussion.
Written and directed by Larry Atlas, “The Onyx Project” tells the story of Robert Henderson – a colonel with the U.S. Army Special Forces in Afghanistan – played by Strathairn in a mesmerizing performance. In October 2004 (shortly before the Presidential election that returned George W. Bush to the White House), Henderson launched a “rogue” mission designed to capture a high-profile Al Qaeda target. That operation, code-named Onyx, was a catastrophe; and in its tragic aftermath, Henderson must confront his thoughts and actions, his entire life, both professional and personal, and his responsibility for what has occurred. His story is also our story – the story of a struggle between faith and reason, between traditions and new realities, between loyalty and conviction. As conveyed through the mosaic of “The Onyx Project,” Henderson’s story defies simplistic political classification. It is not about “right versus left” – but rather right versus wrong.
“I thought to approach the material much in the same way I felt Henderson himself did,” comments Strathairn, “as an innocent, as perhaps a child might search through the scrapbooks and relics and ‘toys’ of his life. And even though it is obviously a highly personal journey – since he is essentially holding himself accountable for WHO and WHY he ‘is,’ as well as for the deaths of his men – I felt that a certain amount of objectivity, almost as if he were reporting it, was important, to present this courageous and honorable accounting.”
“The Onyx Project” website is at www.theonyxproject.com
. It was directed by Larry Atlas and produced by Gail Freedman, with Executive Producers Doug & Jane Smith. Internationally renowned composer Richard Einhorn created the music, and Jim Sofranko served as Director of Photography. The original NAV interface design was by Lisa Strausfeld and Jim Biber of Pentagram, New York. The NAVsoftware is by DataArt Solutions, Inc.
The Onyx Project
“The Onyx Project” is the world’s first hyper-linked film – a fully browseable, truly interactive movie that uses the patent-pending video story-telling architecture called NAV, invented and owned by Web River Media, Inc.
SHORT SUMMARY:
“The Onyx Project” stars David Strathairn, acclaimed actor of stage and screen, and Oscar-nominated star of George Clooney’s “Good Night, and Good Luck.” In “Onyx,” he plays Robert A. Henderson, Colonel, U.S. Army, who commanded First Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group, based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Until March 2005, he had overall command of all Army special operations units and missions in Southern Afghanistan. His headquarters were located at Kandahar Airport.
In mid-October 2004, Henderson launched a “rogue” mission designed to capture a high-profile Al Qaeda target. His motives were complex, but among them was his desire to influence the 2004 Presidential election in favor of George W. Bush. The operation – code-named Onyx – was a catastrophic failure. Seven of the men Henderson chose for the mission were killed; and that tragic outcome, plus the aftermath of the election itself, has provoked in Henderson a brutally honest examination of his own actions and – in the best traditions of the military – his personal responsibility.
Refracted through the lens of Henderson’s first person narrative, “The Onyx Project” is the story – and unexpurgated record – of that self-examination, in the form of a five-hour videotaped statement, recorded in an “undisclosed location” to which the colonel has retreated.
In a mesmerizing performance, Strathairn offers up Henderson’s testimony about the gripping details of his failed operation. But he goes much farther: hauntingly, he takes us inside his private life and experience, as well as that of the men he commanded. He speaks with passion and insight about Islam, Christianity, and the politics and cultures of the Middle East; about both the science of war and the life of the warrior. He speaks of history, of media, of American politics and pundits, and – most especially – of George W. Bush…and of the awful cost of the unthinking allegiance Henderson gave to him. But, Henderson’s story – his world – defies simplistic political classification. “The Onyx Project” is not about right versus left. It is one man’s exploration of right versus wrong.
Henderson’s story is by turns painful, emotional, humorous, clinical, action-packed, political. It has a searing, incantatory quality. And because it is a NAV– or non-linear arrayed video – “The Onyx Project” is fully hyper-linked, which means that unlike ordinary films, it can be viewed in literally millions of different ways, entirely according to the individual viewer’s impulses and interests.
Like a website, it spans subjects and events and subplots at the click of a mouse. But in this case, the viewer’s clicks create an actual video narrative – Henderson’s – specific to that viewer, whose experience will be unlike any other viewer’s, ever. Thus, in a very real sense, the viewer experiences his or her own story by exploring the larger world of Henderson’s experience. For viewers who wish it, a series of pre-set narrative “threads” are available, as is ‘Shuffle,” a mode in which the computer selects the browsing sequence for the viewer.
ABOUT THE CAST:
DAVID STRATHAIRN (Colonel Robert Henderson)
David Strathairn’s extensive body of work in both theatre and film – spanning more than 30 years, nearly 40 plays, and over 80 movies -- began in the circus, in children’s theatre, and in the films of John Sayles, including Return of the Secaucus Seven, Matewan, Eight Men Out, The Brother From Another Planet, Passion Fish, City of Hope (Independent Spirit Award), and Limbo.
Some of Strathairn’s other well-known film credits include Silkwood, Losing Isaiah, Sneakers, Dolores Claibourne, L.A. Confidential, The River Wild, A League of their Own, Harrison’s Flowers, Lost in Yonkers, In the Gloaming, and most recently, Good Night, and Good Luck, for which he received an Oscar nomination for best actor for his portrayal of legendary CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow.
Strathairn has also starred in a long roster of notable independent films, among them Beyond the Call, a true-to-life story about the state-ordered execution of a Vietnam vet suffering severe post-traumatic stress disorder; Steel Toes, about forgiveness and the rehabilitation of a young man convicted of a hate crime; Blue Car, about the complexities of need for solace between student and teacher; and The Sensation of Sight, about the search for meaning amidst the ache of despair.
Straithairn’s far-reaching work in the theatre includes roles in world premieres of plays by Harold Pinter, Tom Stoppard, Sam Shepard, and Vaclav Havel, among others. He is also a member of the award-winning Epic Theatre Center, a collective of artists and educators dedicated to demonstrating the central role of the arts in a vibrant and healthy democracy.
OTHER CAST MEMBERS:
Henderson’s Wife Ann Matthews
Henderson’s Father Ted Goodman
Henderson’s Mother Carol Goodman
Captain Jack Caldwell Ed Ramirez
SFC Anthony Borders Vincent George
W.O. William Pennington Bill Bomba
SFC Edward Whistler John Merritt
SSG Walter Cade Kevin Carey
MSG James Montgomery John Milkovich
SSG Roy Walker Nigel Barnett
WHAT IS NAV™?
NAV™ is both a name and an acronym. The acronym is for “non-linear arrayed video,” the new video story-telling architecture invented and owned by Web River Media, Inc. The word
NAV™also conveys the notion of navigation – i.e., a fully browseable, fully navigable story told through video.
Using the NAV™ method and software, a filmmaker can create a world of characters, plots, and story in ways never before possible – and do so with fundamentally different and more attractive economics that are aligned with convergent media.
Any link a viewer selects connects – in a content-specific way – to another location in that world– and any of these selections is appropriate to the narrative coherence of the story. In selecting his or her own sequence of such links, each viewer has a unique filmic experience of the
NAV™ story.
For example, a medium-sized NAV™ like “The Onyx Project” (with its approximately five hours of video) contains literally millions of possible viewer pathways – and therefore experiences, each one different from every other, even though all viewers are visiting the same video world.
Another way of describing NAV™ is to say what NAV™ is not.
NAV™ is not a movie. Like a movie, NAV™ is a visual form of storytelling. But a movie is linear – a filmstrip of images that are played one after the other after the other.
NAVs™ are non-linear. They consist of hyper-linked scenes in time and space that permit the creation and viewing of stories in ways that are not possible in a linear medium like a movie. Creators – writers, directors, actors, editors and others – gain a new set of choices for how and why they weave stories. Viewers get the opportunity to “browse”
NAVs™ in essentially the same way they browse the Web – that is, according to their own impulses and interests.
NAVis not branching video. Stretching back to the 1980s, various folks have explored the use of digital technology to create visual stories that allowed viewers to “choose their own ending” or “choose their own adventure”. In other words, viewers are brought to a decision point and then given the option of two or more “branches” to pursue. But branching video is still linear, and because it is easier to expand than to contract from one branch to another, branching videos have turned out to be gimmicky and unsatisfying as a story-telling form.
NAV™is not merely linked collections of video clips or other information. Rather, the video material in a
NAV™is written, directed, acted, filmed, edited and linked specifically to tell a story in the non-linear
NAV™ world. But that world still has characters, plot, themes, and other attributes which are the traditional elements of “story.”
NAV™is not a video game. Like NAV™, video games are only possible with digital technology. However,
NAVs™ differ from video games precisely because they are, in fact, narratives rather than games. And while
NAVs™ can use animation (in the manner of video games), video games – at least currently – cannot deploy live actors.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS:
LARRY ATLAS (Writer & Director) is the author of eight produced plays, among them Sonnetteer, Sweet Talker, Subject Animal, Minuteman, and Total Abandon, which was produced on Broadway starring Richard Dreyfuss and John Heard. His award-winning play Yield of the Long Bond premiered at the Matrix Theatre in Los Angeles, starring Ian McShane and Byron Jennings; Atlas directed the play’s second production at NY Stage & Film with Jennings, David Strathairn, and Kyra Sedgwick.
As a screenwriter, Mr. Atlas has worked on almost two dozen Hollywood studio projects, including “Sleepless in Seattle.”
A former actor, he appeared in numerous plays in New York City and regionally, and in principal or lead roles in such films as King of America, Cruising, Firstborn, The Children’s War, and Indio. Appearances on television included Kate and Allie, Another World, Out of the Darkness, Police Brass, and many others.
Atlas was a Drill Sergeant in the U.S. Army and has since taught at Vassar, Hunter and Bennington Colleges.
GAIL FREEDMAN (Producer & 1st A.D.) is an award-winning film, television and print producer/director/writer. Since 1987, her company, Parrot Productions, has created dozens of documentary, magazine and independent film projects. She has also taught at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
Freedman works extensively in public television. She is executive producer, director and writer of a forthcoming six-hour documentary series for national PBS, Great Giving: The Quest to Make a Difference. She was also Executive Producer of World@Large with David Gergen, a 13-part PBS public affairs series. She directed, wrote and produced Breaking the Silence Barrier, a critically acclaimed PBS documentary hosted by Marlee Matlin, as well as the widely-praised and honored two-hour, primetime PBS special, Learning In America: Schools That Work, which The Washington Post called “a prime example of VITV – Very Important Television.”
RICHARD EINHORN (Music) is a writer of chamber music, songs, ballets, and film and theater scores, His unique musical style has been described by critics as "hauntingly beautiful," "incredible," and "spectacular." Einhorn’s VOICES OF LIGHT, released on CD by Sony Classical, in October, 1995, was a bestseller in the U.S. and Europe and has won international critical acclaim. VOICES OF LIGHT (accompanied by THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC, Carl Dreyer's 1928 silent film masterpiece that inspired it) has been performed more than 100 times in major concert halls across the country. Einhorn lives in New York and is working on a new piece to commemorate September 11th commissioned by the Albany Symphony Orchestra entitled THE SPIRES, THE CITIES, THE FIELD.
JIM BIBER & LISA STRAUSFELD (Design) are partners of Pentagram, one of the world’s leading multidisciplinary design firms with offices in London, New York, San Francisco, Austin and Berlin. Pentagram provides design services across the full spectrum of graphics, identity, architecture, interiors and products. Lisa Straufeld’s work lies at the intersection of physical and virtual space and her projects range from software prototypes and websites to interpretive displays and large-scale media installations. Jim Biber, a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, provides architectural services to private and commercial clients including restaurants, museums, iconic structures, exhibitions and interiors. His work has been featured in numerous consumer, design and trade publications, and recognized with major awards from a multitude of design and architectural organizations.
DOUGLAS K. SMITH (Executive Producer) is the Chairman and CEO of Web River Media, Inc.
CREW:
Director of Photography: Jim Sofranko
Sound: Richard Fleming
Camera: Rick Meyer
Gaffer: John Raugalis
Art Director/Set Decoration: Robert Evangelisto
Teleprompter: Elizabeth Forsyth
Production Assistants: Peggy Hurley
Gabriel DeVries
NAV Technology Advisor: Andy Singleton
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