BY YOU
By You explores a speculative media landscape where shows are not only recommended based on tastes and preferences but also remade in real time to fit a viewer’s emotions. Through the lens of a reporter, the project examines how this technology and its downstream effects through four organizations: Limbic, Neulu, the American Federation of Audiences, and CINE46.
METHODOLOGY: Primary Research, Secondary Research, Speculative Design, Design Fiction, Strategic Foresight, Backcasting
SKILLS: Opportunity Identification, Filmmaking, Graphic Design, Brand Building, Presentation Design, Exhibition Design
This project was done with A24 as an imagined client.
Hollywood is at an inflection point. From determining profitable storylines to selecting buzzworthy actors, from structuring scripts to editing scenes, every aspect of entertainment is quantified for audience appeal and de-risked decision-making. As data becomes more detailed its power grows, and with the advent of Generative AI data doesn’t just inform, it creates.
With this project I wanted to explore a world where Hollywood is data-driven both financially and creatively, a Hollywood where technology outweighs technical ability.
This line of inquiry was informed by my own experience working in film and television, along with deep secondary research and expert interviews.
I began by extrapolating from weak signals gathered during my initial research. The core question: what would ultimate personalization look like? The answer: deeply intimate data. Not just what a viewer clicked on or how long they watched a show, but how they felt as they watched it—so the program could adapt in real time to their shifting desires.
To bring these ideas to life, I created four fictional entities, each represented through designed artifacts. Limbic, a BCI developer, creates a device that translates data into AI-powered storytelling. Neulu, a Disney subsidiary, leverages Limbic's technology for its platform. The American Federation of Audiences, a hybrid union and consumer protection agency, monetizes data collection by paying audiences in a royalty-like system. Lastly, Cine46 is a grassroots movement working to resist this new approach to filmmaking.
To weave together this vast network of ideas and artifacts, I adopted an alter ego: Lawrence "Larry" Hoo, a media journalist writing a retrospective on the last 25 years of media. The narrative concludes with Larry on the second draft of his story, leaving space for the audience—like you—to draw your own conclusions.
What Larry ultimately discovers is that the use of intimate data has pushed media companies too far. He finds that the roots of entertainment, grounded in communal experiences, have sparked a resistance, embodied by the AFA and Cine46, which is gaining real momentum. While the technologies themselves are valid, their application for profit over creativity has actually undermined some companies' profits.
Hollywood has arrived at yet another inflection point.