Routine Repetitions is a short design fiction film that explores a near future where advertising companies modify users GPS routes through paid placements, routing them past business that pay more, without the users knowledge.
Routine Repetitions explores our comfort and discomfort with being manipulated. The film drew many comparisons to Black Mirror and was conceptually popular among many of the study participants who viewed it. Likewise, it pushed viewers to consider to what degree companies alter and manipulate recommendations for profit, and how companies manipulate users for profit. The film pushed people to consider other uses for design fiction films as well—tying form and delivery method back to public awareness.
Routine Repetitions was written in and shot in one week. It was produced in under a week in Seattle, WA, and filmed on location across multiple north Seattle neighborhoods. The script was written in a weekend and subsequently story boarded and shot listed within the following two days. After a two-day shoot I began a rapid 3-week post-production pipeline which included numerous screen replacements and compositing projects—alongside standard post-production finishing, edits, color and sound.
