The one-hour bio-threat drama ReGenesis, which airs on The Movie Network and Movie Central, has added more muscle to its online effort for season two – with new content for its Extended Reality Game produced by Xenophile Media.

A virtual lab tour was added to the award-winning game in an effort to attract more casual gamers who don’t have the time to watch every episode of the show, or to click through the website in a search for clues. The tour on regenesistv.com features Quicktime movies and scientific exercises that allow casual users to interact (you can e-mail them) with the show’s characters, see the lab in detail and tackle an emergency scenario.

‘The fun part of that is that we have our characters taking you through it,’ says Shane Kinnear, VP, sales and marketing at producer Shaftesbury Films. ‘So what we did with the web experience this year was broaden it so it was not just for the ultimate reality gamer, but also for the more casual visitor.’

To aid with this, he says ‘promotion’ for the show has been upped ‘500%’ for season two and has driven new viewers to the website.

Podcasts also feature short synopses of previous episodes, posted immediately after they air. A second podcast, run by Podzapper at regenesispodcast.com, focuses on the music in the series and features interviews with some of the people involved in putting together the show.

The combined efforts appear to have paid some dividends. Kinnear says the show is now sold in 15 territories and 60 countries, up from 14 territories and 50 countries in season one. It has also received a 2006 Banff World Television Award nomination for Best Interactive TV.

‘Enhanced’ Junos draws viewers

CTV says its online ‘enhanced TV’ feature for this year’s Juno Awards drew at least 10,000 viewers, and it expects that number to rise slightly once final totals are in.

‘It means that for sure we attracted a greater percentage of our broadcast audience to play for the Junos than we did for the Oscars,’ says Steve McNie, senior account manager for CTV Interactive. CTV ran a similar promotion earlier this year for the Oscars broadcast, netting 12,000 online viewers from a TV audience far bigger than that of the Junos.

CTV provided additional online content in the form of a Flash-based pop-up player featuring Junos trivia, mini-games, fan-voting, text-messaging, moderated chat and backstage and event video – all unavailable to those limited to regular TV.

CTV.ca partnered with ABC.com, which has been enhancing awards shows since 1999.

‘Instead of sitting there with your channel changer and having this passive role, for the first time people can interact with the broadcast,’ says Mary-Ellen Anderson, senior producer for CTV.ca. ‘The intent is to keep people interested and keep them engaged for a longer period of time.’

Vidfest launches Mobile Challenge

The Vancouver International Digital Festival will this year host the Content a Go-Go Mobile Challenge – a new competition for the makers of podcasts, animation, music videos and other digital shorts.

Vidfest producer Kirstin Richter says the contest grew out of last year’s ‘Micro Cinema Challenge,’ which featured content specifically created for cell phones.

‘There’s just a huge interest in [mobile content],’ she says. ‘A lot of digital content that is already being created is being modified for mobile with the advancement of the iPod and the new phones that are coming out.’

The previous 45-second time limit has been removed. Submissions are being accepted until May 19 at zed.cbc.ca/gogo.

Five winners will receive 60GB video iPods preloaded with the content from the various entrants. Vidfest, a showcase of digital content and design, runs June 14-16.

NFB online shorts competition

The National Film Board is again seeking shorts for the Cannes 2006 Online Competition.

The winning short will be determined through an online public vote, held during the May 8-22 festival, open to anyone who tunes in. Coordinator Judith Bres contrasts this more democratic approach with Cannes’ feature film competitions, in which a select jury determines the winners.

‘Even if we have a jury in a year or two we’re going to keep the first prize public. It’s not better or worse to have a jury – it’s just the idea of an online competition keeps people interested,’ she says.

The competition is open to English, French and non-dialogue productions from around the world and was launched by the NFB’s French-language web platform, Silence, on court!

Filmmakers must register by April 21 at www.shortfilmcorner.com. The competition will be available starting May 8 in both French and English at www.onf.ca/cannes, www.SilenceOnCourt.tv and www.globetrotter.net/cannes.