MANILA, Philippines - Forget monopods and today’s gadgets because the future of live broadcast “selfies” is about to be seen in Channeling, a visionary movie taking social media to a new level, using wearable eye-cast contact camera lenses that show everything the human eye can feast on real time that the audience can watch on their smartphones.
Set in a future that is just about to happen, the mother of all live streams and updates unfolds in Channeling, directed by first-time director/writer Drew Thomas starring Taylor Handley known for his roles in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning and Battle Los Angeles, with interesting supporting cast that includes Kate French, Skyler Day, Dominic Devore, Ryan Walker and Landon Ashworth. Channeling follows the lives of a young group of people broadcasting their daily lives to the most number of audience possible and competing to reach viral hits no matter what the cost.
The film starts with a car chase in which Wyatt Maddox (Handley) is driving accompanied with Tara (French). We then later learn that this car chase ends fatally for Wyatt. The story then continues with Wyatt’s soldier brother Jonah (Devore) returning home for the funeral. On discovering his brother’s online existence under the channel name Wyld_Life, Jonah decides to pose as Wyatt and reawaken his channel to lure his killers.
Meanwhile, other online players and selfie broadcasters such as high school student Ashleigh Maddox (Day), the little sister of Wyatt and Jonah is at an impressionable stage where having recognition and admiration from your peers seems like the most important thing to give you a sense of belonging.
Channeling opens today from Crsytalsky Multimedia in theaters nationwide.