App — A New Movie to Watch With Your SmartPhone On

It was only a question of time.  If people are going to check their phones while they’re watching a movie, then why not make an app specifically designed to accompany the movie?  The movie is called (of course) “APP.”

By downloading “Iris-App the movie” from the app store (iPhone or Android devices only) or texting “IRIS” TO 97-000, one can access a piece of software that syncs with the audio of the movie and displays additional material designed to enhance the story. It’s important to note that the app for “APP” has been engineered as a supplementary ingredient, not an essential one, intended to punctuate certain moments rather than adding a wealth of new information. While it invites an engaged viewership, it’s not required, an outcome bound to please the community of academic theorists and forward-thinking creatives who have been tossing around the possibilities of transmedia storytelling for over a decade….

The app, called “Iris” like the evil artificial intelligence in the movie, offers no interactive components. However, it’s not exclusively time-based. Users launching it in advance of the movie are greeted with a launch page and a start button, which you’re encouraged to press as the movie begins. But unlike the famously trippy “Dark Side of the Rainbow” experience—the syncing of “Wizard of Oz” to Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon,” which has provided the centerpiece for countless stoned dorm room soirees—the app actively engages with “APP” by synching with its audio. Similar to the way the “Shazam” app recognizes songs by processing audio files in real time, Iris anticipates certain moments in the movie’s plot and displays additional footage that fleshes out some of the details.