Rhythm of Lines

I didn't really 'get' the new Audi A5 ads (TV and press) - not until I stumbled upon their interactive sibling, anyway.

'What's all this about lines?', I mused. I'm buying a car, not a drawing. Did the end product fail to live up to its sketchy conception? Did some hapless work experience kid delete the hours of racey autobahn footage I was expecting?

All became clear when the ever-fabulous FWA pointed me in the direction of Audi's Rhythm of Lines microsite - web destination du jour for July 26.

And now I'm completely sold on the whole lines/rhythm thing.

Imagine a high-brow, hi-tech hybrid of Line Rider and Moto Colours, and you're nearly there. Yes, it's all a bit arty farty. But that's OK, because you, me and everyone else with a broadband connection is invited to get arty and farty with it.

The impressive Papervision-built site allows visitors to create and share 4D (3 spatial dimensions + 1 temporal dimension) virtual sculptures out of nothing but coloured lines, and all whilst listening to the same sumptuous classical score that soundtracks the TV spot.

Once you're done creating your animated masterpiece you can take a picture of it from any conceivable angle and distance courtesy of more Papervision cleverness. Then - if hubris allows - you can submit it to the judgement of other visitors via the on-site exhibition, or your friends via a simple advocacy mechanism. Best of all, you can download your animation as a personalised screensaver. How cool is that? (Apparently not very.)

All this could take upwards of 15 minutes - not that you'll notice the passage of time.

This is the kind of immersive interactive experience that the web was made for. It's completely abstract, completely indulgent, but completely engaging.

Whether I could articulate and explain the Rhythm of Lines concept to someone else is doubtful, but I do now feel deeply attuned to its audio-visual aesthetic. (OK, so the making-of video hosted on the site kinda helped me in my quest for understanding).

Moreover, the sophistication of the idea and the fact that it took me a couple of gos to master my 4D sculpture technique only added to the satisfaction I felt upon departing the site.

Y'see, like any Diginative, I don't want everything on a plate. I don't want my daily dose of inspiration to be served up as a 30 or 60" slice of commerical rhetoric.

But give me a challenge; give me something tricky and techy to get my teeth into, and I'll happily defy my stereotype and give you back sizeable chunks of my time.

Now clearly, this car isn't aimed at the Diginative generation. And there has to be a question as to how many prospective A5 buyers will find the aforementioned 15 minutes in their Blackberry-burdened schedules to appreciate all that Rhythmoflines.co.uk has to offer.

Let's hope lots of them do, because this web element of the campaign illuminates and elucidates the opaque press and TV executions that make up the media agency numbers. Without it, I'd still be wondering what all those lines are about.