They might as well rename this the Star Wars season. With 15 days 15 hours and 13 minutes remaining before The Force Awakens releases (I know because the Star Wars app has a nifty little countdown), the marketing campaigns and tie-ins are in full force. Today Google and Disney released the first in what will be a nine-part miniseries leading up to the film’s release on December 18th.
Titled ‘Jakku Spy’ the series is releasing in short parts (the first video was about 1 minute and 15 seconds long) and it will tell “compelling story and exclusive, never-seen-before content, which ties directly into the opening of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”
The first video opens with the familiar Star Wars text crawl, setting the stage for the video series:
Jakku Spy
It is a dangerous time in
the galaxy. The evil First
Order is on the move.
You are a spy for the
Resistance on the planet
Jakku, where you watch for
any enemy activity.
The Resistance keeps you
informed with messages
delivered by a helpful
droid…
From there we are taken to the desert of Jakku, which is immediately recognizable as a piece of the Star Wars universe, especially when you suddenly hear the roar and blasts of a battle behind you. As you turn, the spatial audio was one of the best parts of the experience, the Millenium Falcon races overhead followed by a pair of Tie Fighters in hot pursuit. It happens so fast though that taking a picture of it with the app’s built-in screenshot function may prove difficult (the app utilizes the capacitive touch sensor on the Cardboard to take pictures, just like a camera).
As the Millenium Falcon disappears into the horizon, BB-8 ambles up to deliver your first message, which presumably teases the next episode.
The experience was made in conjunction with ILMxLAB, the new AR and VR-focused division of Industrial Light and Magic. You can download it now by accessing the official Star Wars app.
