A nine year old boys dream comes true......endless amounts of cardboard boxes and a bit of creativity.
This short film is sure to make you feel good about humanity, and as Michael Wesch says: new media changes a society, there is no opting out, these possibilities can be viewed as opportunities for mass participation or as possibilities for mass distraction. In this case I think it is safe to say that mass participation has been, and is still continuing to be achieved.
Caine is a nine year old boy who lives in east LA. He is obsessed with arcades and arcade games. During the summer he spends a lot of time at his father's auto parts shop where he has an endless supply of cardboard boxes. Caine initially hand crafts a small basket ball arcade game out of the boxes, some packing tape, and a small basket ball hoop that he won. Over time he establishes an entire arcade where he charges individuals one dollar for a few tries, or they can purchase a fun pass for two dollars and have up to 500 tries over a month.
What is so amazing about his arcade is that he is willing to take feedback from friends and family that have played the games, he also has an entire token, ticket and prize system worked out. The games are set up to be so uniquely genuine that when a player wins tickets, Caine actually crawls into the back of the box and feeds the tickets out of a slot, similar to an actual arcade game.
Caine was struggling for any real customers until a local LA filmmaker,Nirvan Mullick stopped by the shop to buy a door handle for his car. Nirvan was intrigued by Caine's creativity, and decided to compose a short film about his arcade. Nirvan used social media to promote a flash-mob at the arcade, in what he explains as an attempt to make a little boys dream come true.
The flash-mob was a great success, and within days of the short film being released it had gone global. The short film, and Caine's Arcade prompted a global campaign for cardboard creativity world wide, and eventually lead to the development of the imagination foundation. The goal of the imagination foundation is to find, foster and fund creativity.
While I understand the power of media and social media, I continue to be amazed at how powerful of a tool it can really become.
Lastly, here is a follow up film.
This short film is sure to make you feel good about humanity, and as Michael Wesch says: new media changes a society, there is no opting out, these possibilities can be viewed as opportunities for mass participation or as possibilities for mass distraction. In this case I think it is safe to say that mass participation has been, and is still continuing to be achieved.
Caine is a nine year old boy who lives in east LA. He is obsessed with arcades and arcade games. During the summer he spends a lot of time at his father's auto parts shop where he has an endless supply of cardboard boxes. Caine initially hand crafts a small basket ball arcade game out of the boxes, some packing tape, and a small basket ball hoop that he won. Over time he establishes an entire arcade where he charges individuals one dollar for a few tries, or they can purchase a fun pass for two dollars and have up to 500 tries over a month.
What is so amazing about his arcade is that he is willing to take feedback from friends and family that have played the games, he also has an entire token, ticket and prize system worked out. The games are set up to be so uniquely genuine that when a player wins tickets, Caine actually crawls into the back of the box and feeds the tickets out of a slot, similar to an actual arcade game.
Caine was struggling for any real customers until a local LA filmmaker,Nirvan Mullick stopped by the shop to buy a door handle for his car. Nirvan was intrigued by Caine's creativity, and decided to compose a short film about his arcade. Nirvan used social media to promote a flash-mob at the arcade, in what he explains as an attempt to make a little boys dream come true.
The flash-mob was a great success, and within days of the short film being released it had gone global. The short film, and Caine's Arcade prompted a global campaign for cardboard creativity world wide, and eventually lead to the development of the imagination foundation. The goal of the imagination foundation is to find, foster and fund creativity.
While I understand the power of media and social media, I continue to be amazed at how powerful of a tool it can really become.
Lastly, here is a follow up film.