http://workbookproject.com/culturehacker/2010/07/07/transmedia-storytelling-getting-started/
This articles suggests some of the basic questions that anybody underatking a transmedial project should ask themselves before they set pen to paper , or click the mouse!
Friday, 27 August 2010
Taking risks and dancing with the audience.
http://remotedevice.net/blog/taking-risks-and-dancing-with-audiences-andrea-phillips-on-writing-for-transmedia-and-args/
This is an intersting blog , in which Jeff Waston talks to ARG writer Andrea Philps about the chanlleges faced by writers entering into the transmedia story telling. Although in the main it focus is on the issues surrounding ARG ( Augmented Reality Gaming) some intersting things are said about the roles of a writer in this space which I feel are directly applicable to any writer attempting to create a transmedia narrative.
One of the key issues is scale. It is one of the issues which I have come across in my own work on the SEER and one which I feel aevrybody looking into transmedial story telling must confornt. Transmedial worlds are often large and complex , infact so large that it can be difficult for one writer to deal with all tyhe story elements on thier won. As Andrea says about a project she worked on
"there were so many writers on the project that its hard to know whose hand is guiding the wheel."
One of the ways that Andrea sees as solving this problem is the dividsion of the writers role into narrative designer and world designer.
"The first step would be looking at the kinds of roles game writers and transmedia writers fall into right now, to see if we can find common structures. In games, there’s a lot of support for the title ‘narrative designer’ right now. That’s the person who comes up with the spine of the story, whether or not they ever write a word of player-facing copy. Maybe we need to go in that direction, and separate the narrative designer from the world designer."
I found this to be an interesting and I feel very useful way of dividing the work load within transmedia authorship.It is something that I will explore in my own work and seek to find out more about.
Another issue raised within the blog concerns the often event - driven time-released nature of most current ARG's ( so normally a situation where you need to do a certain thing at a certain time to progress the story). This is a significant problem for the ARG creator since it means that once played the ARG is effectivly dead. It cannot be replayed or even reviewed. Andrea sights the creating of mini webisodes ,in which the actions of those particpating in the ARG are filmed as a partcial solution. Allowing others to review the game at a latter dated and although this viewing experience will be completely different from actually playing the game, it does provide the ARG with a longer tail / shelf life. For me this raises issues of access and longevity issues that I feel are important to anybody in this space.
This is an intersting blog , in which Jeff Waston talks to ARG writer Andrea Philps about the chanlleges faced by writers entering into the transmedia story telling. Although in the main it focus is on the issues surrounding ARG ( Augmented Reality Gaming) some intersting things are said about the roles of a writer in this space which I feel are directly applicable to any writer attempting to create a transmedia narrative.
One of the key issues is scale. It is one of the issues which I have come across in my own work on the SEER and one which I feel aevrybody looking into transmedial story telling must confornt. Transmedial worlds are often large and complex , infact so large that it can be difficult for one writer to deal with all tyhe story elements on thier won. As Andrea says about a project she worked on
"there were so many writers on the project that its hard to know whose hand is guiding the wheel."
One of the ways that Andrea sees as solving this problem is the dividsion of the writers role into narrative designer and world designer.
"The first step would be looking at the kinds of roles game writers and transmedia writers fall into right now, to see if we can find common structures. In games, there’s a lot of support for the title ‘narrative designer’ right now. That’s the person who comes up with the spine of the story, whether or not they ever write a word of player-facing copy. Maybe we need to go in that direction, and separate the narrative designer from the world designer."
I found this to be an interesting and I feel very useful way of dividing the work load within transmedia authorship.It is something that I will explore in my own work and seek to find out more about.
Another issue raised within the blog concerns the often event - driven time-released nature of most current ARG's ( so normally a situation where you need to do a certain thing at a certain time to progress the story). This is a significant problem for the ARG creator since it means that once played the ARG is effectivly dead. It cannot be replayed or even reviewed. Andrea sights the creating of mini webisodes ,in which the actions of those particpating in the ARG are filmed as a partcial solution. Allowing others to review the game at a latter dated and although this viewing experience will be completely different from actually playing the game, it does provide the ARG with a longer tail / shelf life. For me this raises issues of access and longevity issues that I feel are important to anybody in this space.
Tuesday, 24 August 2010
Another interesting Post.
http://blog.social-marketing.com/2010/06/transmedia-storytelling-for-social.html
Interesting idea
http://www.mobilebehavior.com/2010/01/25/bank-run-is-a-mobile-activated-transmedia-storytelling-experience/
Thursday, 19 August 2010
Pitching the Seer
http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/commissioning/victoria-jaye-bbc-multiplatform/5008477.article
Going to pitch the SEER to Victoria Jaye
The Seer kidulthood meets The Watchmen!
Going to pitch the SEER to Victoria Jaye
The Seer kidulthood meets The Watchmen!
Transmedia:Entertainment re-imagined.
First appeared on wired website:
Transmedia: Entertainment reimaginedBy Tom Cheshire and Charlie Burton|08 July 2010
This article was taken from the August issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online
Esther Robinson got off the R train in Astoria, Queens, and started walking to the American Museum of the Moving Image. It was a warm July evening in 2007 and Robinson, then 37 years old and a filmmaker, had come with a friend to see a movie, Head Trauma. As they approached the cinema, she noticed that the payphones were ringing -- all four of them. “You forget payphones exist,” recalls Robinson. “That was the first thing I noticed.” She picked one up: all she could hear were fragments of a conversation, “sounds of madness”. Outside the cinema, a preacher in short sleeves and a tie was raving, handing out apocalyptic comic books to passers-by. He pressed one into Robinson’s hand as she hurried past, anxious to get to the film. The opening credits prompted the audience to send in a text to a given number. As the film rolled, they started receiving “weird text messages”; phones were ringing.
The film was about a drifter who inherits his mother’s house and starts to lose his mind. The next day, back in Brooklyn, Robinson found the comic in her handbag. On the back was written: “Do you want to play a game?”, along with an address, headtraumamovie.com. She typed it in to her computer. What she found was an online game that continued the story. “In the middle of it, the phone rang,” she says. She recognised the voice. It was the film’s “hooded villain”. He started asking questions: “Do you feel guilty? Have you ever lost consciousness?” Last, he asked Robinson to tell him her darkest secret. Her answer started playing back on a loop through her computer speakers. Robinson clicked on the exit box. She kept clicking, but nothing happened. Her phone buzzed with a text: “Where are you going? We’re not finished yet…” At that point, Robinson was dumped into a conference call with other cinema goers who had just gone through the same experience. “We were all like, ‘What the fuck was that?’ It was totally nuts.”
Unwittingly, she had just participated in an emerging form of mainstream entertainment. Lance Weiler, the creator of Head Trauma, had programmed software to make all the payphones on the block ring. The preacher was an actor, a lead in the feature. Based on the participants’ responses to the automated phone calls, audio and video launched on the desktop screen. The exit box was a fake. Clicking on it sent that last text. For Weiler, a 41-year-old New Yorker, the experience “demonstrated the fluidity of an audience. After the movie ended, it followed people home.”
This is transmedia storytelling. Large studios and broadcasters, as well as independent filmmakers such as Weiler, are building fictional worlds that smash through their frames on to multiple platforms. Unlike quick promotional spin-offs, this new type of tie-in extends, rather than adapts, storylines. It tells various parts of the story using distinct media, exploiting the qualities unique to each platform. So when you watch a TV show, you might follow a sub-plot that spills on to the web, then read the dénouement in a graphic novel. Yes, writers have long created worlds that go beyond the page -- L Frank Baum did as much with his 1900 novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, whose story world he expanded into a musical and other books. But today’s transmedia producers are planning for multiple platforms from the start. They design fictional universes that are consistent however the audience engages.
The trend is already reconfiguring the industry, affecting everything from how stories are made, down to titles on business cards. In April, the Producers Guild of America, which represents production staff in TV, film and online, ratified a new credit: transmedia producer, which codified these characteristics. Jeff Gomez, a videogame producer, was instrumental in pushing the credit: in 2000, after becoming excited by the multiplatform genre, he had left his job as an editor at Acclaim Entertainment to start Starlight Runner, a transmedia production company. After he successfully extended the Hot Wheels brand across videogames, TV and film in 2003, a string of Hollywood studios asked him to create multiplatform worlds for the likes of Pirates Of The Caribbean, Avatar andTron 2. This side of the Atlantic, broadcasters are taking the lead, using transmedia to invigorate small-screen titles such as Emmerdale and Doctor Who. In a world of multichoice TV, mobile and the web, competition for viewers has never been greater, and audience attention never more fragmented. That’s why many content creators are betting that transmedia will focus it once again.
In 1998, The Blair Witch Project proved -- accidentally -- that even small-scale multimedia efforts could pack a hefty punch. Made with handheld video cameras and presented as a documentary, the film followed four fictional student filmmakers as they tracked the mythical Blair Witch in Burkittsville, Maryland. “It was improvised, so we developed this mythology to give to the actors,” says Mike Monello, 41, one of the film’s five coproducers, who now runs a transmedia marketing company in New York called Campfire. “But whenever we cut away [from the handheld footage] to give you information about it, the momentum of the movie started to die. We tested a long cut instead, and the response showed that people were grabbed by it, so we went with that. Then we had some clips shown on Bravo’s Split Screen, and John Pierson, its presenter, played along. He said, ‘So are the guys attached to the film pulling our leg, or is the Blair Witch something that we should be concerned about?’” Split Screen’s message board flooded with chatter.
In June that year, excited by the buzz, the producers put the rest of the back-story online and wrote themselves into the narrative. Supposedly, the families of the missing students had asked Monello and his collaborators to compile the discovered footage. When the film was released in July 1999, they already had a hungry audience -- with minimal marketing spend. The result: wider distribution than they could ever have achieved with their tiny budget. “We didn’t have access to film-festival programmers or distributors,” Monello says. “But as we were saying, ‘The film’s going to open in New York, Chicago, LA’, we had all these fans who were like, ‘Well, when am I going to see it in Atlanta? Or Alabama?’ All we could tell them was to call their local theatres and ask for it, which they did.” Made for $25,000, it grossed $249 million worldwide.
Although Blair Witch was transmedia-shaped, nobody was using the term. That came in late autumn 2002, when Henry Jenkins, a media professor at MIT, went to an Electronic Arts workshop held for Hollywood producers and game designers in Los Angeles. “There was enormous excitement there about the prospect of deeper collaboration,” says the 52-year-old, whose work on convergence culture became a touchstone for transmedia theory. “They were groping towards a reimagining of what entertainment could do in an era of networked communications, but lacked a conceptual vocabulary. My job was to sum things up at the end of each brainstorm. So I tightened my own thinking.” He wrote an essay, Transmedia Storytelling, on the plane journey back. It was published in MIT’s Technology Review in January 2003 and gave the movement a language.
As broadband-internet adoption started to hit TV ratings, the networks began to see the new digital platforms -- YouTube, MySpace, Habbo -- as potential tools for building audiences. In 2006, the NBC network used the new sci-fi drama Heroes as a testing ground. “The dotcom division of NBC had a mandate to push content on to the digital space, which happened to coincide perfectly with the launch of our show,” says Tim Kring, the show’s LA-based creator. “There was very little precedent for what we were doing, and for a long time we were able to indulge whatever ideas we had.” From midway through season one, the story began to snake from the TV episodes to comics, through games and fake websites, expanding its borders at every turn. For example, says Kring, 52,“We had a character called Wireless, who could pick up wireless communications out of thin air. She was introduced online in a comic, and then she showed up as a character in the show, about 15 episodes into season one. In some ways having a character migrate from one platform to another is the holy grail of transmedia storytelling. It works on a story level for anybody who had just watched the TV show; but for people who had followed online, they understood this woman’s backstory. So when she showed up they had a much deeper connection to her.”
Meanwhile, in New York, Lance Weiler was planning Head Trauma. He didn’t have much cash to burn (the film cost $126,000), but wanted an equally engaging experience. Weiler’s answer? A pervasive game. “I started to experiment with it not being a film in traditional form -- how could I put people into the shoes of the protagonist? How could the story move from one experience to another in ways that created some degree of social interaction?”
In its limited US cinema release, Head Trauma consistently sold out. So Weiler planned his next project, a post-apocalyptic mystery called HiM (short for Hope is Missing), as transmedia from the outset. It launched in 2007 as a blog set up by a man to find his missing fiancée, Hope Wilcott; the quest became an alternate reality game. It proved popular: the blog attracted 2.5 million views. Weiler is now working on an augmented-reality app for Android phones which continues the story. And this autumn he’ll shoot the HiM feature film with Ted Hope, producer of 21 Grams.
Today, dedicated transmedia production houses are starting to win contracts from broadcasters and studios around the world. Los Angeles remains the biggest hub: Imagine, the multiple-Oscar-winning studio run by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, recently struck a deal with Blacklight Studios, a transmedia startup, to get first refusal on film rights to its projects. Grazer says he signed Blacklight “before transmedia had penetrated Hollywood’s consciousness, because it represents a new model, from both a creative and business standpoint.” On the east coast, Jeff Gomez’s Starlight Runner, and Fourth Wall Studios -- whose founders worked with Steven Spielberg and Microsoft to produce alternate reality games -- are now creating their own entertainment properties. Jim Stewartson, Fourth Wall’s president, aims “to take transmedia to the masses. The market is going to be as large as the industry itself.”
In the UK, the BBC too is experimenting -- although “it’s very early days,” cautions Victoria Jaye, head of multiplatform commissioning. Her office in BBC Television Centre in west London is plastered with screen-grabs from The Adventure Games, a new Doctor Who video game. Still, Jaye is optimistic -- not least when it comes to the bottom line. “For the two-hour drama you get in every Adventure Game, it’s a fraction of the cost of television drama. And we’re looking for an increase in visitors to the website -- a significant increase.” But it’s not just that. Jaye claims it’s a worthwhile creative experiment in itself. “It’s very much about innovation in storytelling, and using gameplay to reimagine stories.”
She points to the success of E20, a web series that offered a transmedia take on EastEnders. At the end of each episode of the soap, viewers were directed to online videos varying from three to 16 minutes in length which explored the storylines of peripheral, younger characters. Its four leads debuted in the TV show before going on to star in the web series. E20 garnered 3.3 million viewers in the two weeks it ran, securing the second series announced in April. “I realised, ‘My God, the audience really want this,’” says Jaye.
Channel 4 sees transmedia as key to reaching audiences with its factual and educational programming. “We’re commissioning for attention, not platform,” says Matt Locke, who is responsible for the channel’s cross-platform strategy -- and he wants to find viewers wherever they are. The channel’s younger audience, in particular, is engaging online: 1066, a warfare-strategy web game commissioned alongside a history documentary of the same name, has been played 16 million times, for an average of 20 minutes per session, since May 2009.
Transmedia has blurred the divisions within organisations: Locke says that he stopped making those distinctions long ago (he insists that his commissioning team is “platform agnostic”). And at the BBC, for example, multiplatform producers are embedded with the traditional production teams of each show; television writers work alongside games developers. Even the distinction between platforms may disappear as audiences increasingly engage with separate platforms simultaneously. The market-research firm Nielsen estimates that in December 2009, US viewers spent an average of three hours and 30 minutes watching TV while also using the internet. That’s nearly an hour longer than a year earlier. As new technology such as tablet devices built for sofa surfing and web-enabled TV become ubiquitous, they will make consuming transmedia content more natural.
Nor is the revolution confined to the living room: its pioneers are excited by the new wave of mobile-web apps, which will bring the transmedia experience to wherever the audience is. “The ability to have a device which knows where you are and who all your friends are gives us a tremendous opportunity to tell stories in the real world,” says Kring. “And the rise of augmented reality is going to be fantastic: imagine seeing someone’s face appear on your mobile screen in a three-dimensional way, telling you what to do next or giving you some piece of the story.” He will experiment with both in his next project, Conspiracy For Good.
For Gomez, storytellers who embrace these possibilities will define pop culture. So what will happen when transmedia’s fledgling audience comes of age? He gets whimsical. “We’re going to see our transmedia Mozart. We are going to see visionaries who understand the value of each media platform as if it’s a separate musical instrument, who’ll create symphonic narratives which leverage each of these multimedia platforms in a way that will create something we haven’t encountered yet.
“And it’s going to be magnificent.”
Charlie Burton edits Wired's Play section. Tom Cheshire is editorial assistant.
Wednesday, 18 August 2010
Thoughts about the SEER teaser
On the train this morning I started to think of a teaser trailer for the SEER that I could create.
I think I am going to go with the idea that Kris and I came up with at one of our morning tea chats - the SEER runing through the Heath as she touchs people she gets a flash of there past or there future. With the music to much to young by the Special's playing in the back ground. The clip of action will be shot from the prespective of the runner ( the SEER) - and will be filmed in Thornton heath - The Seer will be running down Zion road , over White house lane, along the the victorian foot path that runns around the railway tracks , eventually leading into Newhaven Rd and into the bunnie whole. We will not be able to see the face of the SEER , it should be cut so that we cannot even work out whether the SEER is mail or female . The music will be played as if being broadcast on priate radio - with Radio DJ being the voice of Hendrix saying something like thie one goes out for all the SEERs out there !!! click into tune tommuch to young . Each time the Seer bumps into each other a still black and white image will flash up onto the screen showing the individual the Seer touches in a compromising poistion. Last person the Seer Touches should be Big D!!
So we need to cast the Seer , Big D and Hendrix. Should I use this as an oppotunity to introduce all the main characters ???? Right now I'm not sure , but what I am sure is its time for action.
I think I am going to go with the idea that Kris and I came up with at one of our morning tea chats - the SEER runing through the Heath as she touchs people she gets a flash of there past or there future. With the music to much to young by the Special's playing in the back ground. The clip of action will be shot from the prespective of the runner ( the SEER) - and will be filmed in Thornton heath - The Seer will be running down Zion road , over White house lane, along the the victorian foot path that runns around the railway tracks , eventually leading into Newhaven Rd and into the bunnie whole. We will not be able to see the face of the SEER , it should be cut so that we cannot even work out whether the SEER is mail or female . The music will be played as if being broadcast on priate radio - with Radio DJ being the voice of Hendrix saying something like thie one goes out for all the SEERs out there !!! click into tune tommuch to young . Each time the Seer bumps into each other a still black and white image will flash up onto the screen showing the individual the Seer touches in a compromising poistion. Last person the Seer Touches should be Big D!!
So we need to cast the Seer , Big D and Hendrix. Should I use this as an oppotunity to introduce all the main characters ???? Right now I'm not sure , but what I am sure is its time for action.
Monday, 16 August 2010
How does "Inception" stand up to Henry Jenkins 7 principles of transmedial story telling
I saw Inception over the weekend and was completely blown away by it. Whilst watching the I wondered whether this was part of a tranmedial adventure. So I have decided to see exactly how well it stands up to Henry Jenkins 7 principles of transmedia storytelling:
http://henryjenkins.org/2009/12/the_revenge_of_the_origami_uni.html
Does Inception pass the Spreadability vs. Drillability test.
Spreadability vs. Drillability
Spreadability: the capacity of the public to engage actively in the circulation of media content through social networks and in the process expand its economic value and cultural worth.
"drillability":Jason Mitchell "encourages viewers to dig deeper, probing beneath the surface to understand the compleity of a sotry and its telling."Spreadable media encourages horizontal ripples, accumulating eyeballs without necessarily encouraging more long-term engagement. Drillable media typically engage far fewer people, but occupy more of their time and energies in a vertical descent into a text's complexities."
Continuity vs. Multiplicity
Continuity: HJ:many transmedia franchises to construct a strong sense of "continuity" [between elements]which contributes to our appreciation of the "coherence" and "plausibility" of their fictional worlds.
Multiplicity:(X-men ; Ultimate X-Men_ Amazing X-Men - alternative realities dealing with the same characters)Multiplicity allows fans to take pleasure in alternative retellings, seeing the characters and events from fresh perspectives.
Worldbuilding:
Using transmedia extentsions the story teller creates a deep and rich world within which the main narrative takes place.
Immersion Vs Etractability
Immersion -the consumer eneters the world of the sotry - i.e theme park- extractability - the fan takes away aspects of the story which they can deploy in there evryday life - items from gift shop!
Seriality:
Transmedia Storytelling spreads dissipate ideas or story chunks across multiple media systems.
Performance:
Fan respond , by undertaking /creating/their own story extension , classically in form of fan fiction. Sometimes invited, sometimes not , but its always out there.
Subjectivity:
Within Transmedial story telling the central narrative is often explored through new eyes. This diversity of perspective often leads fans to more greatly consider who is speaking and who they are speaking for.
In order to do this I had a look at the official website:
http://inceptionmovie.warnerbros.com/
Inception fan Fiction:
http://www.fanfiction.net/movie/Inception/
http://m.fanfiction.net/s/6150055/1/
The Transmedial offerings on the official movie site:
Downlaodable content - Movie Posters , Screensavers, wallpaper buddy icons
Game that could be played to get tickets to the premier - so this was clearly in place before films release -
Premier streamed live onto facebook site.
Comic Book -prolog
Protect your mind - Training programme. - interception between -link with facebook
Build your own poster....
More later
http://henryjenkins.org/2009/12/the_revenge_of_the_origami_uni.html
Does Inception pass the Spreadability vs. Drillability test.
Spreadability vs. Drillability
Spreadability: the capacity of the public to engage actively in the circulation of media content through social networks and in the process expand its economic value and cultural worth.
"drillability":Jason Mitchell "encourages viewers to dig deeper, probing beneath the surface to understand the compleity of a sotry and its telling."Spreadable media encourages horizontal ripples, accumulating eyeballs without necessarily encouraging more long-term engagement. Drillable media typically engage far fewer people, but occupy more of their time and energies in a vertical descent into a text's complexities."
Continuity vs. Multiplicity
Continuity: HJ:many transmedia franchises to construct a strong sense of "continuity" [between elements]which contributes to our appreciation of the "coherence" and "plausibility" of their fictional worlds.
Multiplicity:(X-men ; Ultimate X-Men_ Amazing X-Men - alternative realities dealing with the same characters)Multiplicity allows fans to take pleasure in alternative retellings, seeing the characters and events from fresh perspectives.
Worldbuilding:
Using transmedia extentsions the story teller creates a deep and rich world within which the main narrative takes place.
Immersion Vs Etractability
Immersion -the consumer eneters the world of the sotry - i.e theme park- extractability - the fan takes away aspects of the story which they can deploy in there evryday life - items from gift shop!
Seriality:
Transmedia Storytelling spreads dissipate ideas or story chunks across multiple media systems.
Performance:
Fan respond , by undertaking /creating/their own story extension , classically in form of fan fiction. Sometimes invited, sometimes not , but its always out there.
Subjectivity:
Within Transmedial story telling the central narrative is often explored through new eyes. This diversity of perspective often leads fans to more greatly consider who is speaking and who they are speaking for.
In order to do this I had a look at the official website:
http://inceptionmovie.warnerbros.com/
Inception fan Fiction:
http://www.fanfiction.net/movie/Inception/
http://m.fanfiction.net/s/6150055/1/
The Transmedial offerings on the official movie site:
Downlaodable content - Movie Posters , Screensavers, wallpaper buddy icons
Game that could be played to get tickets to the premier - so this was clearly in place before films release -
Premier streamed live onto facebook site.
Comic Book -prolog
Protect your mind - Training programme. - interception between -link with facebook
Build your own poster....
More later
Friday, 13 August 2010
Making the SEER Epic
My recent reading has made me realise that I need to develop the story arch of the SEER if I am going to create a narrative strong enough to bar the weight of world creation. My current story of a girl discovering that she is the SEER is simply not EPIC enough!!
After thinking about it and discussing the matter at length with Kris I have come to the conclusion that the real story here is the battle between good and evil played out by immortals who have chosen the Heath to be there battle ground and its population to be their champions. The SEER is the story of JJ.Jones an 18 yr old South East London home girl who discovers that she has been selected/cursed to be one of the Champions selected for the 2010 clash. Selected by Hendrix to be his champion , JJ as the SEER is tasked with protecting the Heath and those living in it, from the dark forces that are gathering around it.
The story of the SEER is a transmedial narrative told across a range of medias including film, comic book, blogs , and mini webeisodes and social networks (including twitterr, facebook.)
The Macro narractive is that of the SEER and her journey from troubled child to superpowered hero. This will be told over a film and comic/web comic strips. The Micro stories will follow the lives of some of the other charatcters in the Seers world including Vader (twitter- his journey from troubled tean to supervillian) : Big D Face book coming out of prision trying to find a way forward. 23yrs , at home with no job and a facsty sister. Hendrix immortal voice of the Heath podcasts. Jackson, immortal , and enemy of Hendrix and supporter of Vader (mini webeisodes). Dad. JJ face book and myspace! Music................Watch this space the SEER will awaken!
After thinking about it and discussing the matter at length with Kris I have come to the conclusion that the real story here is the battle between good and evil played out by immortals who have chosen the Heath to be there battle ground and its population to be their champions. The SEER is the story of JJ.Jones an 18 yr old South East London home girl who discovers that she has been selected/cursed to be one of the Champions selected for the 2010 clash. Selected by Hendrix to be his champion , JJ as the SEER is tasked with protecting the Heath and those living in it, from the dark forces that are gathering around it.
The story of the SEER is a transmedial narrative told across a range of medias including film, comic book, blogs , and mini webeisodes and social networks (including twitterr, facebook.)
The Macro narractive is that of the SEER and her journey from troubled child to superpowered hero. This will be told over a film and comic/web comic strips. The Micro stories will follow the lives of some of the other charatcters in the Seers world including Vader (twitter- his journey from troubled tean to supervillian) : Big D Face book coming out of prision trying to find a way forward. 23yrs , at home with no job and a facsty sister. Hendrix immortal voice of the Heath podcasts. Jackson, immortal , and enemy of Hendrix and supporter of Vader (mini webeisodes). Dad. JJ face book and myspace! Music................Watch this space the SEER will awaken!
Thursday, 12 August 2010
Transmedia storytelling semiotics and narratolgy
http://ijoc.org/ojs/index.php/ijoc/article/viewFile/477/336
International Journal of Communication 3 (2009), 586-606 1932-8036/20090586
Copyright © 2009 (Carlos Alberto Scolari). Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial
No Derivatives (by-nc-nd). Available at http://ijoc.org.
Transmedia Storytelling:
Implicit Consumers, Narrative Worlds, and Branding
in Contemporary Media Production
CARLOS ALBERTO SCOLARI
University of Vic
Catalunya, Spain
A very interesting article which really started me thinking about a number of issues as regards Transmedial story telling and the development of my SEER project. The article attempts to TRansmedial story telling through the lense of semiotics and narratology , 2 topics about which I currently know very little , but about which after reading this article I will explore in much more detail over the coming weeks.
Right from the outset Carlos made me consider my own project and the transmedial elements I intended to use. Quoting Henry Jenkins Carlos draws out two basic facts
Interesting example of telling stories over twitter
http://twitter.com/manvszombies
i'm following this to see how it unfolds. So still thinking about this and about what kind of story / whose story I want to tell .
Key to the ideas that have been introduced to me within this article are :
1)Its the Story stupid!
the concept of primary and secondary modeling systems. Within this he is referring to the work of Juri Lotman (1977) in which he introduced the concept that
"Verbal language is the primary modeling system in our culture, and the most important and basic cognitive device for interpreting the world."In essence it is through language that we understand the world around use.This was then amended by the work of Ferraro who said that it is in fact the narrative form that constitutes the basic tool for meaning and event interpretation. The suggestion being that it is NARRATIVE rather than language as the primary modeling tool.
Ultimately seeing the narrative/ story as an abstract idea that is then interpreted through language.So within the transmedial story telling it is primary modeling system that is then encased within the secondary modeling language defined by the relevant media.
Get the story right and then see how it fits into the different media.
2)Who is the SEER for. Who is the implicit consumer. From a semiotic prospective every text constructs its own reader(EC) 1979 - i.e every book talks to a specific type of reader , so the interest group its targeted at, so So a history of tank battles in second WW11 might be targeted at people who are interested in the second world war. that is virtual figure is the model or implicit reader. By reading the book you as the empirical reader are said to recognize that implicit / model reader and accept the proposal behind it , so making what was defined by Veron 1985 as a reading contract.Carlos goes on to point out that a single text can have a multitude of implicit readers. This is achieved by constructing a "sedimentary multilayer text that requires different cognitive skills and knowledge to interpret .The Simpsons would fit this bill , with a top layer aimed at children , and then another more complex layer aimed at adults , With another darker layer aimed at adults with a knowledge of policital satire and pop culture. The different viewer groups participate from there different positions of knowledge and understanding in the creation of Bart Simpsons world.Another way to create this multiple layer of implicit users is create a text with multiple paths , , each path telling the story from a different perspective.
The question is therefore who is the implicit consumer of the SEER? If it is Multiply consumers then you need to start thinking about Mulitpath or Multilayer text, for me that really means different access points to the story. Each point providing access to a specific target group. Each point though open to eanyone interested enough to seek it out.
Carlos creation of a "implicit consumer-nested structure of transmedia story telling is interesting and provides a visual representation of the transmedia consumer space:
single text consumer -single media consumer- transmedia consumer.
(one show) (only TV) (everything)
Carlos breaks the 24 (TV/transmedial show ) into a narrative core ( TV show for me the SEER comic + film) this is the Macro stroy. The other narratives , for 24 ( the comic , the webeisodes etc for the SEER the twitter, the face book and miniwebeisodes?)
the micro narratives need to fill in the gaps between the chunks of marco narrative. So within the SEER universe the twitter and face book will need to sit in between the web comic. With a daily strip as probposed , this may mean bring characters into the story by way of alternative paths. So we may have a twitter prequel to the film for some of the main characters, which then runs parallel to the Macro story.
This idea is the expanded as regards expansion of a transmedia world to:
Level 1.creation of interstitial microstories
Level 2 : parallel stories - a secondary story unfolding at the same time as the main story.
Level 3 : Peripheral stories- exploring stories of some of the more peripheral characters - these stories sit along side but do not intersect the main marco story arch.
Level 4 Fan made content.
International Journal of Communication 3 (2009), 586-606 1932-8036/20090586
Copyright © 2009 (Carlos Alberto Scolari). Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial
No Derivatives (by-nc-nd). Available at http://ijoc.org.
Transmedia Storytelling:
Implicit Consumers, Narrative Worlds, and Branding
in Contemporary Media Production
CARLOS ALBERTO SCOLARI
University of Vic
Catalunya, Spain
A very interesting article which really started me thinking about a number of issues as regards Transmedial story telling and the development of my SEER project. The article attempts to TRansmedial story telling through the lense of semiotics and narratology , 2 topics about which I currently know very little , but about which after reading this article I will explore in much more detail over the coming weeks.
Right from the outset Carlos made me consider my own project and the transmedial elements I intended to use. Quoting Henry Jenkins Carlos draws out two basic facts
- each media element must be self contained enough to be consumed autonomously - so can you understand and enjoy this product without reference to anything else!
- each medium employed must be used to do what it does best!
Interesting example of telling stories over twitter
http://twitter.com/manvszombies
i'm following this to see how it unfolds. So still thinking about this and about what kind of story / whose story I want to tell .
Key to the ideas that have been introduced to me within this article are :
1)Its the Story stupid!
the concept of primary and secondary modeling systems. Within this he is referring to the work of Juri Lotman (1977) in which he introduced the concept that
"Verbal language is the primary modeling system in our culture, and the most important and basic cognitive device for interpreting the world."In essence it is through language that we understand the world around use.This was then amended by the work of Ferraro who said that it is in fact the narrative form that constitutes the basic tool for meaning and event interpretation. The suggestion being that it is NARRATIVE rather than language as the primary modeling tool.
Ultimately seeing the narrative/ story as an abstract idea that is then interpreted through language.So within the transmedial story telling it is primary modeling system that is then encased within the secondary modeling language defined by the relevant media.
Get the story right and then see how it fits into the different media.
2)Who is the SEER for. Who is the implicit consumer. From a semiotic prospective every text constructs its own reader(EC) 1979 - i.e every book talks to a specific type of reader , so the interest group its targeted at, so So a history of tank battles in second WW11 might be targeted at people who are interested in the second world war. that is virtual figure is the model or implicit reader. By reading the book you as the empirical reader are said to recognize that implicit / model reader and accept the proposal behind it , so making what was defined by Veron 1985 as a reading contract.Carlos goes on to point out that a single text can have a multitude of implicit readers. This is achieved by constructing a "sedimentary multilayer text that requires different cognitive skills and knowledge to interpret .The Simpsons would fit this bill , with a top layer aimed at children , and then another more complex layer aimed at adults , With another darker layer aimed at adults with a knowledge of policital satire and pop culture. The different viewer groups participate from there different positions of knowledge and understanding in the creation of Bart Simpsons world.Another way to create this multiple layer of implicit users is create a text with multiple paths , , each path telling the story from a different perspective.
The question is therefore who is the implicit consumer of the SEER? If it is Multiply consumers then you need to start thinking about Mulitpath or Multilayer text, for me that really means different access points to the story. Each point providing access to a specific target group. Each point though open to eanyone interested enough to seek it out.
Carlos creation of a "implicit consumer-nested structure of transmedia story telling is interesting and provides a visual representation of the transmedia consumer space:
single text consumer -single media consumer- transmedia consumer.
(one show) (only TV) (everything)
Carlos breaks the 24 (TV/transmedial show ) into a narrative core ( TV show for me the SEER comic + film) this is the Macro stroy. The other narratives , for 24 ( the comic , the webeisodes etc for the SEER the twitter, the face book and miniwebeisodes?)
the micro narratives need to fill in the gaps between the chunks of marco narrative. So within the SEER universe the twitter and face book will need to sit in between the web comic. With a daily strip as probposed , this may mean bring characters into the story by way of alternative paths. So we may have a twitter prequel to the film for some of the main characters, which then runs parallel to the Macro story.
This idea is the expanded as regards expansion of a transmedia world to:
Level 1.creation of interstitial microstories
Level 2 : parallel stories - a secondary story unfolding at the same time as the main story.
Level 3 : Peripheral stories- exploring stories of some of the more peripheral characters - these stories sit along side but do not intersect the main marco story arch.
Level 4 Fan made content.
Tuesday, 10 August 2010
Keys to transmedial stroy telling or Its the world not the media stupid!
http://lukefreeman.com.au/papers/transmedia-storytelling-the-art-of-world-building/#comment-169
http://transmediacamp101.wordpress.com/
Luke Freeman — Transmedia Storytelling: The Art of World Building ‘…separating the narrative (or fictional world) into kernels (pivotal events/knowledge) and satellites (elaborate events, non-essential to understanding the greater narrative). …narratives from the fictional worlds are exploited across different media … strategic gaps in a narrative evoke a delicious sense of ‘uncertainty, mystery, or doubt’ in the audience.”
This has suddenly struck me as pivital to transmedia story telling. Up until this week all my thoughts about transmedial story telling and so all my thoughts about how to develop the SEER had been focused on the use of different media platforms to tell different parts of the story. I have now realised that the truth is locked in the paragraph above, successful transmedia story telling is all about world building. The Character at the heart of the story must be engaging etc , but it is the world that draws the audience in and it is the "world" that ultimatley encourages audience participation.This idea of creating a world where you have kernals of information spread across a range of media platforms that sets the successful transmedia story telling apart from simple cross platform character explotation.Although the main story arch or narrative can and must be understanable and enjoyable on its own, it is in the successful seeding of knowledge/pivital moments within other media streams and story's that the true transmedial stroy can be found.The kernals of information broaden and deepen the enjoyment of the story by those who both the look for them...
What does this mean for the SEER? well it means that I must now focus on world building. The SEER's world must be real and present before the story of the SEER can be told!
http://transmediacamp101.wordpress.com/
Luke Freeman — Transmedia Storytelling: The Art of World Building ‘…separating the narrative (or fictional world) into kernels (pivotal events/knowledge) and satellites (elaborate events, non-essential to understanding the greater narrative). …narratives from the fictional worlds are exploited across different media … strategic gaps in a narrative evoke a delicious sense of ‘uncertainty, mystery, or doubt’ in the audience.”
This has suddenly struck me as pivital to transmedia story telling. Up until this week all my thoughts about transmedial story telling and so all my thoughts about how to develop the SEER had been focused on the use of different media platforms to tell different parts of the story. I have now realised that the truth is locked in the paragraph above, successful transmedia story telling is all about world building. The Character at the heart of the story must be engaging etc , but it is the world that draws the audience in and it is the "world" that ultimatley encourages audience participation.This idea of creating a world where you have kernals of information spread across a range of media platforms that sets the successful transmedia story telling apart from simple cross platform character explotation.Although the main story arch or narrative can and must be understanable and enjoyable on its own, it is in the successful seeding of knowledge/pivital moments within other media streams and story's that the true transmedial stroy can be found.The kernals of information broaden and deepen the enjoyment of the story by those who both the look for them...
What does this mean for the SEER? well it means that I must now focus on world building. The SEER's world must be real and present before the story of the SEER can be told!
Friday, 6 August 2010
transmedia "world creating"
Interesting and academic word press blog - certainly leaves me with ideas about how to take trans media research forward
It has suddenly occurred to me that I have spent so long thinking about CHARACTER the SEER that have forgotten about the world that she inhabits. Yes it is a character driven narrative , but to engage an audience to motivate them to explore , participate and engage , they must get something out of it. The question is what?
Is there a game that needs to be played ? ARG, what is it. This is perheps the really big question?
What is the world of the HEATH
- Inner city -street
If people are going to enter the world of the heath what are they going to get out of it?
What is it about this world that will draw them in?
Thursday, 5 August 2010
interesting examples of transmedia story projects
http://www.mobilebehavior.com/2010/01/25/bank-run-is-a-mobile-activated-transmedia-storytelling-experience/
Bank Run Is A Mobile-Activated Transmedia Storytelling Experience
Not amazing shows how compromise can be a real problem in this area.
Creating a story world -inanimate Alice and interesting idea
http://www.inanimatealice.com/
Stumbled across this whilst surfing the web. Gives a really interesting take on a transmedial narrative. The author uses term born digital to describe his story and I think there is something in that.
I really like the way he uses images and music , film etc to create an impression of a world. I feel its something I'd like to try and do with the SEER!!
Transmedia story telling how to begin
Just read a very interesting blog by Robert Pattern about Transmedia storytelling where he once again states the importance of story world creation when creating a Transmedia narrative. In fact he puts puts story world creation in front of character narrative when looking to encourage audience participation. He also raises questions about how much of this story world is real and how much fiction.
This chimes with something that I was thinking last night about the SEER and the world she lives in. I realize that it is the creation of the "Heath " that is as important as the creation of SEER. If the heath is a real place that people can explore then the seer can become a truly transmedial story with audience participation driving the story!!!
I have started to work on this idea of creating the "Heath" with Kris my son and sound guy. Creating a virtual world in sound is one possible way forward. The idea of podcasts of the heath pirate radio station that can be down loaded by people accessing the sight, creating this idea of an area. Possible video tour of area !!! I am not sure but these are the questions that I am beginning to ask. Transmedia is more than simply telling a story across different media platforms it seems to be more the creation of a world within which different stories can be told and within which different media platforms provide access to that world.
Wednesday, 4 August 2010
Just picked this up from a social network marketing blog and I think it succintly provides a strategy for using socail networking within the story development process:
http://www.wallblog.co.uk/2010/06/29/transmedia-tv-programme-making-tips/
I will be using this as a road map for the development of the seer.
http://www.wallblog.co.uk/2010/06/29/transmedia-tv-programme-making-tips/
I will be using this as a road map for the development of the seer.
Telling a story through social media
Really interesting blog on using social media to tell your own story. It’s tied into personal branding on the web. It impacts on my work in two ones. One is developing my own personal brand on social network sights. What is my brand , and what does that mean. The other is using social networks to develop the SEER brand.
Key tips suggested includes using behind the sences shots – giving people an inside look at what you are doing , for the seer this really means looking at the development of the project. Script/art work / film and publishing , each step needs to be included, documented and recorded and posted on line.
So everybody who becomes involved must accept that their picture will be posted on the face book page. Links to their own sights.
Me.
Kris
Chris
Julian
Ken
Courtney
Ryan
Jordan
Dorret
Jamie ?
Steps organise photo shot of ken at work!
Telling a story on line using social media includes characterization.
What social networks are you using? Where will the SEER be and why?
· the channels the seer uses
· the language the seer use
· the seer profile data
· the photos the Seer publishs of herself and others
· the Seer sinterests, pastimes, and the topics you focus on, including links and other content you promote
· your frequency and depth of public engagement with others
· the places you like to visit or meet others
THE PLOT:
The plot to the story is the SEER daily updates as regards what is happening to her. Where she is going and what she is doing day to day.
Perheps this is something that Courtny can do , also perhaps Kris could complete Big D ( in fact can all the boys offer something here)!
So for you as an individual trying to build a personal brand, your plotline is your news: what happens every day, and what it means to you. If you have multiple plotlines (reflecting different facets of your life), those events may have a range of impacts on your life. Which parts you choose to communicate, and the ways in which you communicate them, is up to you as the storyteller.
narrative piece:
…[N]arrative is the way you tell stories. It’s the glue that ties your characters to the plot events in your story. As well as elements like scene setting, narrative includes description, so we’ll deal with these aspects together.
You are the key narrator in your own personal branding story, though other characters may have a part in narrating from time to time (for example, a guest blogger narrates part of your brand story while you’re on vacation, or away at a conference).
Since you’re the narrator, the way you tell your story will be driven largely by your character. The channels you choose, and how effectively you use them to narrate your story, will also depend on your character.
Key tips suggested includes using behind the sences shots – giving people an inside look at what you are doing , for the seer this really means looking at the development of the project. Script/art work / film and publishing , each step needs to be included, documented and recorded and posted on line.
So everybody who becomes involved must accept that their picture will be posted on the face book page. Links to their own sights.
Me.
Kris
Chris
Julian
Ken
Courtney
Ryan
Jordan
Dorret
Jamie ?
Steps organise photo shot of ken at work!
Telling a story on line using social media includes characterization.
What social networks are you using? Where will the SEER be and why?
· the channels the seer uses
· the language the seer use
· the seer profile data
· the photos the Seer publishs of herself and others
· the Seer sinterests, pastimes, and the topics you focus on, including links and other content you promote
· your frequency and depth of public engagement with others
· the places you like to visit or meet others
THE PLOT:
The plot to the story is the SEER daily updates as regards what is happening to her. Where she is going and what she is doing day to day.
Perheps this is something that Courtny can do , also perhaps Kris could complete Big D ( in fact can all the boys offer something here)!
So for you as an individual trying to build a personal brand, your plotline is your news: what happens every day, and what it means to you. If you have multiple plotlines (reflecting different facets of your life), those events may have a range of impacts on your life. Which parts you choose to communicate, and the ways in which you communicate them, is up to you as the storyteller.
narrative piece:
…[N]arrative is the way you tell stories. It’s the glue that ties your characters to the plot events in your story. As well as elements like scene setting, narrative includes description, so we’ll deal with these aspects together.
You are the key narrator in your own personal branding story, though other characters may have a part in narrating from time to time (for example, a guest blogger narrates part of your brand story while you’re on vacation, or away at a conference).
Since you’re the narrator, the way you tell your story will be driven largely by your character. The channels you choose, and how effectively you use them to narrate your story, will also depend on your character.
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