Unsettling Micro-Drama From Even Realities Puts Camera Glasses in Harsh Focus

Ishana Night Shyamalan directed the series, which hits TikTok on Oct. 8

“Good evening, Mrs. Williams. Would you like to purchase an hour of privacy?”

A telemarketer poses that late-night question in a creepy trailer for “Exposed,” an 8-episode TikTok micro-drama from Even Realities dropping in October.

The company makes camera-free smart glasses. And the campaign, developed with Vice Media’s Virtue Worldwide and director Ishana Night Shyamalan, explores the ramifications of living in a world where our images can be captured, analyzed and shared at any time without our consent.

@evenrealities

What if privacy became something you had to pay for? EXPOSED is a new short series set in a near future where camera glasses are everywhere. All 8 episodes drop October 8 on TikTok. Follow @evenrealities to watch.

♬ original sound – Even Realities

Jeepers, creepers! That packed quite the jump-scare.

The work began rolling out this week, with an emphasis on elements in Times Square and Silicon Valley, timed to the Meta Connect conference, which highlights advancements in camera-glasses and smart-tech.

Such OOH includes bold digital signage:

And here’s a poster:

It’s tough to get a sense of the micro-drama from the teaser materials beyond horror vibes and an appeal to our pervasive obsession with privacy. Brand-boosting short series are all the rage these days, so Even Realities’ seems wise to focus on this format to deliver a message to a young-adult audience.

Below, Virtue managing director Deepa Patel walks Muse through the initiative.

Beyond positioning Even’s glasses as a camera-free alternative to Meta and others, what’s the goal here?

We want people to feel something most of us have already felt but have yet to name: the unease of sitting across from someone whose glasses might be recording you. The series teases a world where that’s normal, where you can’t tell who’s watching and you didn’t agree to it. Or did you? If people walk away questioning what’s happening right in front of them, we’ve done our job. We want to spark curiosity about what a smart glasses company thinks about this new world.

Why’d you choose this director?

Ishana Night Shyamalan has built her work around the feeling of being watched. Her debut feature The Watchers proves her mastery over claustrophobic spatial tension and the paranoia of constant observation. Her experience directing tight, atmospheric horror makes her ready to shoot the type of series we are looking to build, and turn the subject of tech surveillance into immersive psychological horror. Her unique POV and instincts brought to life in a vertical format was everything we wanted.

Can you tell us more about the storyline?

It’s a thriller but the monster—or fear—is familiar. The dread comes from something millions of people already are seeing play out in front of them: the discomfort of being filmed without their consent by camera enabled glasses. That feeling of being violated by the lack of privacy this world normalizes is at the heart of the story.

Why a micro-series? They do seem to be in vogue right now.

The format informed everything. We looked at what’s working well in the vertical series space, and we’re still shaping something unique with our series. Ishana and the team built the visual language around a clear brief and blew us away from the treatment, to the storyboards, to the final episodes, which are coming to @Evenrealities on TikTok Oct. 8.

And there’s an in-your-face real-world component, launched during Meta Connect no less…

Times Square is some of the most-watched real estate in the country so it was the perfect place to ask who’s doing the watching. This week, our billboard went live inviting onlookers to be more curious when they see someone with an LED light blinking on their glasses. The story spills across NYC and S.F. onto wrapped buses running past Meta Connect and messages posted to spaces our audience, the tens of thousands of lawyers, accountants, editors, and creatives, would feel most unease at the presence of camera-enabled glasses.

CREDITS

Brand: Even Realities
CEO: Will Wang
Global Product Marketing Manager: Alston Zhuang
Product Marketing & Integrated Marketing Manager: Casla Lin
Head of Marketing: Mattia Deserti
Brand Design (Social): Allen Ye
Social Media Lead: Haley Goldstein

Director: Ishana Night Shyamalan

Vice Media:
Executive Producers: Dakota DeBellis and Guillermo Garcia
Director of Photography: Dmitry Lopatin
Production Designer: Brendan Sommerville-Bathmaker
Editor: Hrishi Bardhan

Virtue Worldwide, part of Vice Media:
President: Kerry Tucker
Managing Director: Deepa Patel
Senior Account Director: Tori Popinko
Head of Production: Jill Rothman
Senior Producer: Kara Bello
Head of Strategy: Jamison Duffield
Strategy Director: Darien LaBeach
Senior Strategist: Sophie Oddo
Executive Creative Director: Heather McTavish
Head of Design: Kyle Lynah
Creative Director: Katherine Fernandez
Creative: Lucas Silva

Related: Data Trackers Are Too Darn Clingy in Apple’s Privacy Spot