Checkpoint Theatre, a Singaporean theatre company committed to telling original Singaporean stories, has entered the weird and quirky world of SnapChat Lens. The idea, by BBH Singapore, aims to intrigue young Singaporeans with the drama of theatre to put more young people into seats.
Thje partners developed Drama In A Snap, a lens that uses neural network-powered object recognition to reveal the drama in everyday objects. With Gen Z more willing to turn to social media for their daily dose of drama, Checkpoint Theatre hopes the filter can excite them with the potential drama of a theatrical experience.
The filter, built by BBH Singapore’s Innovation Lab entirely within SnapChat’s Lens Studio, is easy to use. Simply point it at any object and tap your screen to reveal the hidden drama behind it, in the form of a flash fiction snippet.
The filter contains more 500 stories so far, curated and written by real human writers. It works on (almost) any object thanks to the power of computer vision and will identify more and more objects over time.
“We believe that everyone is a storyteller at heart, and that there is power in telling and owning our own Singapore stories. We loved the idea of revealing the stories that lie within mundane, everyday settings – the drama in a sandwich or a cup of tea – which reflects the way Checkpoint Theatre tells everyday stories, for everyone, so they feel seen, heard, and represented,” explained Faith Ng, associate artistic director at Checkpoint Theatre.
Sascha Kuntze, chief creative officer at BBH Singapore, added, “In a year where the dominant conversation has been about the danger of A.I. replacing artists, this collaboration demonstrates how A.I. – in this case, neural network powered computer vision – can help give artists a new avenue to share their work with the world.”
The campaign promotes Checkpoint Theatre’s 2023 season. Highlights include Tender Submission, a play that bears witness to the unspooling of a decades-long marriage (August 17-23) and Session Zero, where an estranged couple attempt to reconnect over a game of Dungeons & Dragons (October 19-29).
BBH Innovation Lab is an in-house incubator at BBH Singapore, which supports ideas and prototypes that come to life through making and experimentation.
Credits:
Agency: BBH Singapore
Chief Creative Officer: Sascha Kuntze
Creative Technologist: Nico Tangara
Creatives: Amos Mak, Avril Chua, Dawn Abegail, Gerard Koh, Gwendolyn Lee, Janson Choo, Jonathan Chen, Khairul Mondzi, Liya Razali, Judy Au, Luke Somasundram, Nico Tangara, Sandra Eichner, Shu Min Leow
Head of Growth: Siying Goh
