Cedric Vermeire, Heart on my Sleeve
Many people think of themselves as the protagonist in their own life story. They try to achieve their goals, but along the way they encounter challenges and obstacles. Luckily they have companions, friends who support them and offer their help.
That is what Heart On My Sleeve is all about. Danny is a self-proclaimed romantic in his mid-twenties, who is looking for love. Finding love, however, isn’t always easy, but Danny can always rely on the advice of his best friend: You.
Heart On My sleeve is an interactive animated story on Instagram about Danny’s quest for love. Through their advice, the audience can guide Danny’s decisions and influence the plot of the story.
What makes this different from any other interactive story, is the fact that unlike most interactive stories, it has not been prewritten. This offers the audience more freedom to influence the plot, since any response and any word they say can change the course of the story.
There lies the challenge for the creator, Cedric, who tries to balance this freedom with ensuring that the story remains entertaining. Can he do this? Will Danny find love? Check out @hearton.my.sleeve on Instagram and find out!
Many people think of themselves as the protagonist in their own life story. They try to achieve their goals, but along the way they encounter challenges and obstacles. Luckily they have companions, friends who support them and offer their help.
That is what Heart On My Sleeve is all about. Danny is a self-proclaimed romantic in his mid-twenties, who is looking for love. Finding love, however, isn’t always easy, but Danny can always rely on the advice of his best friend: You.
Heart On My sleeve is an interactive animated story on Instagram about Danny’s quest for love and his slow descent into becoming a “nice guy”, an abusive person who uses his romantic self-image to justify mistreating potential partners.
Through their advice, the audience can guide Danny’s decisions and influence the plot of the story. What makes this different from any other interactive story, is the fact that unlike most interactive stories, it has not been prewritten, which offers the audience more freedom to influence the plot, since any response and any word they say can change the course of the story.
There lies the challenge for the creator, Cedric, who tries to balance this freedom with ensuring that the story remains entertaining.
Check it out on! @hearton.my.sleeve
The “nice guy” has often been misrepresented in media as an almost tragic hero. Even films which attempt to expose him (such as 500 Days of Summer) often sacrifice their true message in favour of making the main “nice guy” character likeable.
With his project, Cedric tried to do that differently. To ensure the audience’s sympathy, the truth behind Danny’s biased accounts of what happened is not revealed until the final episode. This was also done to increase the impact of the unfiltered truth in an attempt to fully expose the “nice guy” as manipulative (both towards his partners and his friends) as well as abusive, jealous and vindictive.
With all of these elements combined, the “nice guy” was finally fully exposed. (Hopefully)
