The Sun Vanished: Twitter Goes Dark

[Music] great storytelling can come from pretty much anywhere if you really put your mind to it if you can convey information to somebody in a way that pieces can fit together and a tale forms the sky is your limit on my mind I've covered plenty of stuff that uses interesting approaches to modern media as part of its storytelling but mainly projects have used sites like YouTube tumblr and Facebook as their main hubs with only a little bit of Twitter it wasn't until the sudden rise of the immersive fiction story dear David that we had really seen a project made entirely on Twitter when you think of Twitter you don't think of long sprawling adventures to follow like we've had in this field on YouTube do your David was cool and make a lot of requests to talk about it but Jim now when I've received a lot more questions about and in an even shorter time period a little account you might have heard of by now called the Sun vanished first up let's establish something to really take notice of here that's astounding dear David was started on the Twitter account of animales who was already known as a comic artist online and had a good amount of followers about the time his story began anytime you have a platform to kick off with you have a base to build an audience from very quickly the Sun vanished appeared with nothing just a series of tweets on April 30th board of one man's attire needs to gain a sense of control in a massive emergency help it's late in the morning and still dark outside I can hear the tornado sirens in the next county over but the weather radar is clear where's the Sun [Music] Canada's taking hold on the nation in response to the sudden disappearance of the son with violent riots taking place in just about every major city we are receiving an influx from New York Los Angeles the setup was instant well composed and to the point and it arrived to an audience of zero followers as of my writing this the account currently has two hundred ninety six thousand people following it the power of good storytelling can be very very strong so the Sun went out on the morning of April 30th 2018 was reported by the news what happened next the account holder who will call TSV for short said the power kept going out and he was hearing noises a recording was made of events outside for us to witness shots can be heard outside by May first probably night time on the same day everything began the newsfeed stopped coming in and the TV signal quit entirely shortly after T as we asked the new followers he had by this point if he should go outside the vote was an overwhelming yes he reported I went outside I saw something out there I can't really explain but I can show you [Music] TFE tells us that he looked for stars or planets but the sky was pitch black all he could see was that red light flashing in the woods he replies to a viewer asking if there was anything else an AVS applies to wipe his out I thought I saw some figures close by but it is so dark I feel like my mind is playing tricks on me I don't have much food stocked up but after this experience with being outside for only a few minutes I do not want to drive into town for supplies on May 2nd we're told day 3 still no sign of daylight it is getting colder a person just ran by on my street two of the same flashing lights I saw yesterday were following him they were gone by the time I got my phone not to record on May 3rd a new message accompanied by video something just flew over my house [Music] I couldn't see it too dark outside but a wave of heat just came over me feels like the temperature increased by like ten or fifteen degrees and shortly after this time on the same day that a new development occurs TSV manages to reach out to somebody that he knows at last and get a response his friend Dan Yin says David please tell me you were still alive yes I'm alive where the hell have you been why did it take you this long to reach me after I called you like 40 times I'm sorry but my phone was dead and I was just now able to start charging it you're still at your house right yes okay good I'm still at two days drive away but I'm coming to you I'm not really sure if that is a good idea or not why what have you seen you have no idea right after this TSV reports and again now we have another problem this guy has been standing completely still with his back towards me I have no idea how long he's been standing there TSV since Damien the photo of the man frozen still outside his reply is immediate get away from the window keep all lights off do not talk to them or let them in and if you see any flashing lights hide TSV looks out the window again whoever was standing outside is gone now moments later we find out were they twins [Music] TSV estates hidden in the house for two days after this just letting followers now he'll be okay if things come to a fight and again asking if anybody knows anything or can help at all emergency lines aren't responding and there's no getting to the radio on May 5th a direct message is received by a follower hey brother I'm from British Columbia I don't know much but I do know that you should never look into the red light ever if you do you become like the guy who was at your door this is followed up a short time after by a message from Dan Yin so I have good news and bad news good news is I'm closer to you now bad news is I'm out of fuel there are no active gas stations anywhere close to me all the powers down and all the gas stations nearby or electric gas pumps how far away are you probably still eight or nine hours away caught facing the possible demise of the only friend in contact right now see as we turn to the audience to ask what he should do after overwhelming replies flighting to go after him or stay home the majority votes by some margin to stay home we find out shortly after that business probably the right call as tias rewrites someone is screaming outside [Music] [Music] if you're already intrigued and want to know more I assure you it just gets better from here there aren't experiences quite like this online not this captivating not this fear inducing and certainly not this well-crafted the videos the updates the photos the tale of survival and slowly discovering what's happening outside it's all top-notch my story beginning summary is just to get you started you really do want to embark on this journey on your own and the best part is that the Twitter account is entirely composed for this purpose simply scrolling down to the point you left off that will give you the continuation you need in this way it's almost like an e-book button with photos video audio and in lifetime you don't need to gather a massive amounts of tweets either I was able to complete my first run of the Sun vanished out to the current day in about an hour and several points gave me that supreme satisfaction I've had watching moments in certain web series where a creator just nails it when you appreciate horror in dark mediu there are certain scenes in movies and images that give you the best goosebumps in this awesome feeling of dread and the Sun vanished has that had more than a few points the series is a thrill part mystery part survival horror in part psychological horror not all humans can be trusted here which is really tough to deal with for TSV considering so few humans seem to even be alive in the chaos or are still themselves this is one of the few projects where I can firmly say nothing is done wrong or could actually be done much better maybe the worst criticism I can give is that some very dangerous choices are left up to Twitter to decide but that's part of the appeal you don't just get to follow along in life time as TSV struggles to survive this apocalypse scenario you get to help decide his actions and see the rewards or consequences in this way it's almost like a Twitter version of until dawn Trust is such a huge theme in the series - making for excellent tension and suspense can we trust dannion we'll survive until he makes it to the house Kent ESV trust anybody that he needs or what he finds outside can he trust us to make the right call to keep him and any potential companions alive when you get deeper into the story and see why you should never look into the flashing lights you'll understand the tenuous nature of trust in the Sun vanished in the real survival horror aspect of TSVs journey true natures when are they in this universe and how far are you willing to go with a person who might turn out to be something you should never have trusted there really isn't much more I can say about the Sun vanish net isn't praised when it comes to a story like this I can't do the usual night line thing I don't have anything to explain or piece together for you about the series because it's very straightforward a video longer than this would just be me reading off the tweets in describing the things and videos and photos which you can very easily go through on your own and get a much stronger impact from there is a lot of mystery and a lot of questions to be answered but the form they take is in the same style you would experience in a horror movie really this is just an awesome linear storytelling ride to jump on it's dark it's suspenseful it's engaging it's captivating one of the best parts is that the storytelling is quite open in this we don't know what's going to come next but there's a wide world of mystery and chaos to explore the Sun vanished has really reminded me of a thought I've had before about the expansion of immersive fiction projects you could use a Twitter account just a Twitter account to pull off this crazy big story and make a wildly successful project the Sun vanished has proven it even more than dear David has the Sun vanished came from absolutely nothing to being nearly 300,000 followers strong now creative power and the viral nature of interesting things on Twitter is all hit tuck I anticipate amazing things that come from the Sun vanished I've already been quite impressed and if you are too then jump on board and follow along remember we left off on May 6 with the video of a man screaming outside after Twitter chose for TSV to stay home things really pick up from here and exciting and terrifying ways some of which you probably won't expect and that's the final bit of praise I'll give this serious before we wrap up the Sun vanished and never stop surprising its viewers that's it for now everyone thanks to all of you for viewing and thanks especially to my supporters on patreon I wouldn't make a joke about them being the son that doesn't vanish from my sky but this is night mind you guys are my supermoon thanks for joining me in the talk again this evening once more I'm Nick Nocturne and unlike the Sun in this very talk alternate reality I'll be seeing you again real soon sleeve sides [Music]

Channel: Night Mind

Views: 330,453

Keywords: night mind, thesunvanished, the sun vanished, twitter, dear david

Id: qqK4wamTp2U

Length: 13min 25sec (805 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 11 2018