If everyday objects could tell stories, they may reveal something about our personal identity, or the time we live in. With Bar Code, a new online doc project launched by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and ARTE France, about 100 films by 30 filmmakers give a voice to otherwise static items. By scanning a barcode with an iPhone or typing the name of an object into a search database online, a one-minute video clip shares the story behind that object  (or an object in its classification, i.e. “food”) with the user.

We spoke to Montreal-based NFB executive producer Hugues Sweeney about the multi-faceted project, and what  he hopes it will achieve.

How did you come up with this idea?

We had this conversation about how people under 40 years old don’t know the world before marketing. So objects around us become identity factors; through them we’re synchronized with different parts of life. So we thought,’imagine if those objects could tell us stories, like Aladdin’s lamp?’ What if you could unleash a story hidden inside the object, and the barcode would be that key? So we locked ourselves in a room for three days to come up with creative ideas on how the project could work.

How long did it take to develop and how long will Bar Code run for?

It took about 15 months. It was quite fast, but at the same time it forced us to be straightforward and go directly to the goal. We’re going to have a two-month promotional period, and in two months we’re going to release an installation version of the project in Amsterdam.  It’s going to travel in five different countries. But the program will stay online as long as our version of the project works from browsers, so it will be there for long time.

You couldn’t have possibly developed a program that can recognize any barcode, right?

The bar code world is a completely chaotic world. There’s no such thing as one database or one protocol. We brought in two multiple, public databases, and also used a number sequence that we send to Google and check what comes back. The idea is that, when we have some info, we find which category the item belongs to. We can say to the user, ‘is this food’? And if that person doesn’t do anything, that means ‘ yes’ and the film starts.

But an hour ago, I was in a meeting and there was a Perrier water bottle in front of me and I scanned it and it says, ‘unknown category.’ So I said ‘category boisson” (drink). Fifteen minutes after that someone else came in and sat by me, and scanned the bottle. The program recognized it as a drink. So the more people use it, the more the thing becomes intelligent.

How much did the project cost?

It cost 200,000 Euros ($278,860). We have a co-production deal with ARTE where we decided to do two projects, and each project would have a budget of 200,000 Euros, and we’re both responsible for half of that – creatively, financially, and production-wise.

Are the videos all documentary or fiction? Some seem to be ambiguous.

For me, the intent of the project was to be documentary.  But we worked with people from documentary, from fiction, TV advertising, and with people who do art videos. It was really restrictive and open at the same time. It had to be 60 seconds, it had to be an object, a human interacting with an object, and it would have to be telling the story about ourselves through objects and we want to be surprised. But from that point it became a lot of things, and that’s part of the project also – to have this diversity from one video to another because they’re not alike.

Who is your target audience? 

People between the ages of 25 and 35, which is our usual target for interactive projects. The iPhone app is really the core of the project, the web is more like the second platform, more immersive, and has a navigational attribute to it.

How will you promote the project?

We’re going to do a promo activity in all the big major universities in Canada where we will get people to interact with some content.  We’re also going to do Instagram rallies because there are so many people who can do very creative photography through Instagram and Histamatic. We’re going to have these rallies in a number of days where small teams create photos of 14 categories of objects. And at the end there will be a jury and we will declare a winner and have a prize. So it’s going to be this little game in the coming months about creating content. It’s a playful, life documentary in some way. The first one will be in Montreal in November.