Motto is an interactive story where you get to add videos to the story while seeing other videos that people added. It asks you to complete small tasks like wiggling your toes or opening doors. Motto then shows you videos of other people performing the same tasks as you. The story follows you around and gets you moving around to do each task. There however is an option to skip a task if you are unable to complete it. The story takes this into account and still shows you other people performing the task. They show videos that calm you, play relaxing songs, and overall put you in a good mood. The chapters then lead into a story about a character named September. This fictional story is about a ghost named September who goes missing. The reader has to watch different videos that are calm and thoughtful to find September. These videos show places from around the world and make the viewer/reader feel like they are traveling to these places. This app changes how you go about your day by having you focus on the little things that bring so many people joy. The real-life videos of the world and people add just as much to this platform as the fictional character September who adds the storyline and makes it more interesting. There are six different chapters that are each about fifteen minutes long. This is a big-time commitment so Motto allows you to stop whenever and pick up exactly where you left off. You do not need to create an account to save your progress, you just need to keep the browser open and it will be saved for you. It also allows for the privacy of the viewer/reader. When you take a video of your face, Motto adds in a blurry rectangle over the person's face so your privacy is ensured. This allows Motto to be more interactive because the person feels like their face can be put in place of the blurs when following the story. It also does not require you to share videos, it just highly suggests it so if you're more into watching the videos instead of sharing you can skip the video parts.
Readers are only able to use this interactive story when they are on their phones. It must be used on a phone browser which makes sense because the person experiencing it is constantly walking around and videoing new things. The phone browser makes it easy to video what is asked of you. It does not require any payment to use and can easily be found on their website here . The site does not need to be installed on your phone but a working camera is needed to fully interact with Motto. Since this story is on the phone readers/viewers can experience it inside their homes or outside anywhere they want. Motto requires you to tell them at the beginning if you are playing outside or inside and changes the story to meet your setting.
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) produced this interactive story and it is made available in French and English. The NFB produces many works like this but Motto is different because it is a story as well as an interactive video platform. It was created by AATOAA studio and while Vincent Morisset’s production studio created this website many people contributed to the idea to make it the interactive platform that it is.
The story is inspired by people's short videos which have become more popular in today's society. Apps like Tik Tok, Instagram, and Snapchat allow people to create short videos of themselves to tell a story. Motto takes these short videos and creates a fictional storyline about a ghost that has real elements from real videos. These apps allow Motto to be so successful; people are used to posting short cute videos and this platform takes advantage of that. Like Tik Tok these video clips are done by amateurs and real-life people just like the viewer/reader, therefore the viewer/reader does not feel intimidated to contribute.
Overall I think that this is a great story that allows for interaction. I found that it helped calm me in the mornings and got me out of bed when I was using my phone. I did find it to be similar to video apps but added the literary story. I can see them making this into an app instead of just a website in the future.