PHILIPS / PARALLEL LINES FILMS

Earlier this year, Contagious covered the forthcoming launch of Parallel Lines - the Philips and RSA sequel to 2009's incredible Carousel campaign. Would it be as good? Could it deliver the same wow factor?

Fortunately the five films in Parallel Lines not only stand up visually as wonderful pieces of online content, but the new campaign allows for much greater interaction - more of that later.

Ridley Scott Associates (RSA) gave the same brief to all of its directors, written by the creative team at DDB London and designed to be as open as possible:

- The film must be no more than three minutes long
- It must be as cinematic as possible
- It must feature the following dialogue and no other lines 'What is that?', 'It's a unicorn', 'Never seen one up close before', 'Beautiful', 'Get away, get away', 'I'm Sorry.'

The beauty of the campaign can be found here - by allowing each director total creative control, the viewer ends up with a series of visually stunning films and is genuinely intrigued to see each one of the different interpretations.

'Our task wasn't to create a sequel to Carousel but to do something bigger,' said Neill Robb, DDB London's Business Director. 'Parallel Lines isn't just about demonstrating a product. The campaign is about storytelling, and we're positioning Philips Cinema TV as the only way to watch these stories.'

All five films are available online through Facebook and YouTube, with each one being shown within a Philips Cinema 21:9 television to reinforce the cinematic qualities of its widescreen format, as well as ensuring the Philips presence wherever the films are embedded. Additional content will be released in a few weeks which will integrate with the existing films and subtly highlight the Ambilight, picture and sound capabilities of Philips TVs.

Keen filmgoers amongst you may raise an eyebrow at the inclusion of the word unicorn in the directors' brief, as the mythical creature has been at the centre of a long-running debate about its meaning in Ridley Scott's Bladerunner.

And for those with a penchant for detail, there are a whole raft of extras hidden in the films. Some relating to the product and some more esoteric, although a reliable source informs us that you'll need a working knowledge of Russian and Mandarin to find them all...

Philips has also launched a competition for budding filmmakers to submit their own interpretation of the brief, using the same rules as those given to the RSA directors.

The overall winner of the competition will be chosen by no less a figure than Ridley Scott himself, with a prize of a week's work experience in one of RSA's offices around the world, along with a free Philips Cinema television. The winning film will also be uploaded to the Philips website and stand alongside the five professional films in the series. YouTube users can also vote for a public winner with a prize of attending an RSA film premiere.

With over 91,000 views on YouTube, over 49,000 fans on Facebook, and comments coming in from around the world, Parallel Lines looks set to be a worthy successor to Carousel. The campaign is also being rolled out in print and outdoor with suitably cinematic stylings.