Great case study for those wanting to understand how a massive brand gets into trasmedia.

What is Transmedia Storytelling?

There's a lot of buzz around the idea of transmedia storytelling (the simple definition is telling stories across different media platforms). Storytelling, in general, is undergoing a transformation. On some level we don't need theorists to tell us about it because it's a phenomenon happening as a result of what Henry Jenkins calls "convergence culture". But it's a powerful new wave in story so why not join the conversation?

The transmedia model is certainly impacting the way stories are being developed for the screen and although it's not new (The Matrix used the concept as far back as 1999), it is gaining momentum and being used as a strategy. Conventions are being held around the world to discuss and share ideas. There was even a panel talking about it at the 2010 ComicCon in San Diego. Instead of me blathering on about it, here are a few people in film, television and academia talking about it. Cheers!

First up is Jeff Gomez of Starlight Runner Entertainment on the transmedia model and the campaign for Coke. The Starlight "intro reel" is particularly impressive and since Starlight is helping studios like Disney create successful transmedia campaigns for their "intellectual properites" it's all about transmedia.

Transmedia: Entertainment reimagined

By Tom Cheshire and Charlie Burton|08 July 2010

Photo: Timothy Saccenti

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.

A Writer's Guide to Interactive Fiction

(or, why am I still interested in a videogame fad from when I was ten years old?)

This is a talk I gave at Readercon 21, July 2010. I wanted to describe IF for writers (and readers) of traditional fiction.

This is nearly the talk I gave, anyway. These are the notes I wrote up beforehand. On the one hand, this makes them much more coherent and less "um"-ish. On the other hand, of course, notes never quite survive contact with reality. The introductory bit about IF in popular culture? I didn't have to explain that -- because Charlie Stross practically did it for me, in his guest-of-honor interview two hours previously. He was talking about his novel Halting State, which is written in second-person, "the narrative voice of computer games". Thank you, Mr. Stross, for anonymously introducing me. :)

---

Interactive fiction -- text adventures -- was the most advanced computer game technology of the early PC era. These games were the best-selling and most highly-rated games of the early 80s. Then they were overtaken and crushed by games with graphics, and that was the last anyone heard of them.

Most people.

Only that's wrong, in a couple of ways. IF has lingered in popular culture. If I mention "...a twisty little maze of passages", you know they're "all alike". (I know they're all different, but that's the other side of the chasm.) The call-and-response form of IF -- "TAKE LAMP", "I don't know how to take the lamp" -- has been a familiar gag for thirty years now.

And somewhere, in the basement of the computer game world, a few people are still writing text adventures. A few people... a few games... Actually, lots of games. Over a hundred last year, with rapidly-advancing development tools. This is a more active fandom than you might think.

So why am I interested? Books are more popular than IF; even short stories pay better than IF. What can I do with text adventures that I can't do with traditional fiction?

Inform great tool for your transmedia tool belt.

StoryLabs Launched to Create and Educate the Next Generation of Storytellers

Friday, 27 August 2010

Support for the evolution of storytelling enabled by new technologies took a giant leap today with the founding of StoryLabs, an organisation of leading international multi-platform and transmedia creators dedicated to the education and mentoring of storytellers. Powered by a unique worldwide mentor network, participants will benefit from the rich knowledge and experience of renowned professional experts including innovative digital producers, games creators, TV and Film writer/producers, social media and community experts and transmedia content creators. “Technology has created both new tools and new ways to reach connected audiences. Mastering these new storytelling tools in the changing media landscape is the mission of StoryLabs,” said Gary Hayes former BBC Senior Development Producer, CCO MUVEDesign and Australian StoryLabs Founder. “StoryLabs experts are the actual pioneers and commercial leaders in their fields pushing the frontiers of storytelling across many different platforms. StoryLabs is dedicated to the evolution of storytelling through its incubator labs and a persistent mentor community.” Storytelling 2.0 and Specialised Development Tracks StoryLabs deep focused project mentoring cycle will go from incubation to production and distribution providing an education in the writing and design process and best production practices. Development tracks include: Ad Lab focused on cross media advertising, Mobile Media Lab, Community Lab focused on Social Media Story, Games Lab, Innovation Lab focused on story around new services & product and Transmedia Lab focused on the development of new forms of storytelling. “The elements of a good story that engage an audience such as story arc, compelling characters and good production values don’t change in a transmedia world,” said Matt Costello, US StoryLabs founder and writer of The 7th Guest, Doom 3 and the 2010 E3 award winning Rage. “But, we are seeing new forms of storytelling that for the audience are part rich narrative, part play and game as they become co-creators and ‘users of story.’ We are here to enable that kind of innovation.” StoryLabs mentors, who have had extensive experience in other lab environments, will provide a hands-on opportunity for brands and media properties to advance new story formats and to shape a fully integrated story based transmedia solution. “Towards the end of the 90s there was a real energy around interactive story-telling which has slowly evolved into today’s buzzword, transmedia," said Neil Richards, UK StoryLabs Founder and Director of The Mustard Corporation. "We intend to go beyond the hype and at the heart of StoryLabs is a belief that whatever the platform or purpose, however participatory or shared - there are universal qualities of good story-telling.” StoryLabs Network and Engagement Futures StoryLabs is also hosting an evolving mentor and participant online network that will allow experienced incubator labs mentors and participants to continue to engage in the creation of new form storytelling. There are twenty four renowned global story and experience creators listed on the StoryLabs site, four from Canada, nine from Australia and seven from the US and UK.[BH1] “Entertainment shouldn't be restricted by national boundaries,” said Tony Walsh, Canadian Founder and CEO of Toronto-based Phantom Compass: “StoryLabs recognizes that great stories are universal. Our network connects top international mentors to creative personnel, propelling emerging projects towards global markets and audiences.” The StoryLabs network invites TV/Film writers, games storytellers, advertising writers and others who want to evolve their projects to initially provide expressions of interest at StoryLabs.us/submit and begin a conversation about changing the face of storytelling. “I am seeing a tremendous shift in the foundations of the film and TV industry as storytelling becomes dramatically more experiential,” said Brian Seth Hurst, CEO of cross media strategy firm The Opportunity Management Company who is currently at work with transmedia pioneer Tim King on the Conspiracy For Good. “Working with some the top TV and Film creators I am deeply aware of their desire to understand and develop new ways of reaching and including the audience and building vibrant communities. In the early days of TV new production processes were developed that became standard, I see the StoryLabs serving that function relative to new forms of storytelling. I am truly honoured and excited to be part of this initiative and I know participants will greatly benefit from the polled expertise.” StoryLabs are planning incubator labs for the first quarter of 2011 and Screen Australia are already onboard as a first sponsor. Other agencies & funding bodies who want to bring the StoryLabs process and incubators to Canada, UK, US or Australia can become a regional partner or sponsor in the first instance by contacting info@storylabs.com.auThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it For more information, press only: General enquiries – info@storylabs.com.auThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Australia - Gary Hayes, gary@storylabs.com.auThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it +61 2 8097 9851 Canada - Tony Walsh, twalsh@storylabs.usThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it UK – Neil Richards, neil@story-labs.co.ukThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it US – Matt Costello, mattcostello@storylabs.usThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it For more information on StoryLabs: More info, images and video links - http://storylabs.us/press Current list of mentors - http://storylabs.us/mentors/ To submit expression of interest & project overviews - http://storylabs.us/submit/

August 18, 2010

In response to: Understanding Transmedia Story Telling; The Wizard of Oz as pioneer
Geoffrey Long commented:

Actually, from what I understand The Wizard of Oz developed in a similar fashion to Superman - although not as carefully orchestrated as contemporary transmedia franchises, Oz's adaptations into different media added new ideas and interpretations of the story world, which then made it back to the core narrative. (In Superman, the idea that Clark Kent worked at the Daily Planet came from one medium, a handful of his powers came from another, and so on. We see the same thing with Batman now, with the character of Harley Quinn first appearing in Batman: The Animated Series and then later being incorporated into the comics and the videogames.) There's much more about this in Mark Evan Swart's excellent OZ BEFORE THE RAINBOW.

« Walking the Talk | Main

August 17, 2010

The Ethics of Transmedia at SXSW

I've submitted a proposal for SXSW this year on the ethics of transmedia. It's traditional at this point for me to encourage you to vote me up and leave comments ("pick me, pick me!") to demonstrate to the powers that be at SXSW that if they do bring me on, somebody will actually show up. So if you would do that, then that would be totally cool.

Ahem. Consider the promotional part of this post done.

Now I'd like to talk about why this topic, and why now. Unfortunately, to talk about that, I have to talk about definitions. Again! Yeah, sorry. Here's my latest thinking:

trans-me-di-a (n.)

1. A method for telling a story via multiple communication channels used simultaneously.
2. A method for telling a story via the communication channels your audience already uses in their everyday lives.

It's that second definition that gets you into ethical hot water. When you're embedding a narrative form into ordinary life, there's a risk that the people who encounter your fiction won't know it's fiction. Depending on the nature of the content, bad things can happen as a result. Bad things like, oh, let's say your audience-participants being afraid of serial killers. Or the real police taking an interest in your fictional missing-person flyers. I've got a million of 'em.

Obviously there's a lot of bad information floating around out there on the internet already. We've all seen stuff like the Time Cube that trigger our "Wait, is this for real or what?" instinct. But we've long accepted an ideal that says your job as a transmedia creator is to be as authentic as possible -- intentionally circumventing that instinct. 

We wind up making bad ethical choices, not on purpose, but because we are so focused on the totally immersive player experience that we never stop to think about the potential consequences for people who happen upon pieces of our content, but aren't in on the joke.

Long-time players of transmedia games develop a keen sensitivity for fakey-fake sites; but the end result is that genuine companies can look strangely fictional to our eyes. Take Lockheed Martin -- a multi-billion-dollar company. To my jaded eyes, the production values on their website are so low that it triggers my automatic suspicion that it's a fake. But of course it's a real company that simply doesn't put much priority on its public-facing web presence; and why should it? They sell to the government, not to me.

We're lucky we have Snopes fighting the good fight against disinformation. But do we want our creations to wind up on Snopes? How do we do right by our players and by the innocent bystanding public at the same time? What's the right thing, anyway? What do we gain and lose with various approaches to ethical transmedia?

Sadly, I'm not going to have a lot of hard and fast answers. There is too much unexplored territory in transmedia for us to bow to one-size-fits-all proclamations. But I aim to put as much information in front of creators as I can, so the choices you make are at least informed and intentional.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The concept of transmedia and Digital Storytelling is the new Social Media.

You can't throw a Digital Marketing Strategist without hearing the words "transmedia" or "digital storytelling" before they plunk against the ground. It's an exciting time to be in Marketing, Communications and Media. It's no longer just about the big idea in advertising (more on that here: Maybe It Is Time For Marketing To Move Away From "The Big Idea"). As Henry Jenkins explained so beautifully in the brilliant book, Convergence Culture, there is a new "flow of content across multiple media platforms, the cooperation between multiple media industries, and the migratory behavior of media audiences who would go almost anywhere in search of the kinds of entertainment experiences they wanted."

Marketing needs to up its game.

The brands that win are the brands that tell a great story. When it comes to transmedia storytelling, the brands that win are the brands that tell many great stories and are able to connect them all together. One way to get better at telling great stories, comes from understanding the structure, form and ingredients of a great story.

Here are 15 books on how to create a great story (in alphabetical order and compiled with the help of friends on Facebook and Twitter):

1. Accidental Genius by Mark Levy.
2. A Million Miles In A Thousand Years by Donald Miller.
3. A Whole New Mind by Dan Pink.
4. Bird By Bird by Anne Lamott.
5. Convergence Culture by Henry Jenkins.
6. The Creative Habit - Twyla Tharp.
7. The Elements of Persuasion: Use Storytelling to Pitch Better, Sell Faster & Win More Business by Robert Dickman and Richard Maxwell.
8. Give Your Speech, Change The World by Nick Morgan.
9. Made To Stick by Chip and Dan Heath.
10. On Writing by Stephen King.
11. The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell.
12. Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds.
13. Slide:ology by Nancy Duarte.
14. Story by Robert McKee.
15. The Story Factor: Inspiration, Influence, and Persuasion Through the Art of Storytelling by Annette Simmons.

Which great books about storytelling are missing? Please add them below...

By Mitch Joel

Related Posts:

• The Art Of Marketing
• How To Market Yourself As A Speaker
• Six New Business Books For 2010

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In a world where a single TV or laptop screen can no longer contain a worthwhile story, one man dares to spill his epic across multiple platforms. But time is running out...

"Heroes had an underlying message about inter-connectivity and global consciousness," show creator and writer Tim Kring tells FastCompany.com. "I think we used the phrase 'we are all connected' at least 100 times in the first season alone. It's a message I'm very interested in putting out in the world."

And so his "we are all connected" refrain echoes, too, beyond the small screen. Heroes, for example, didn't just exist on NBC. Off the TV screen was Heroes Evolutions, a digital extension that enabled fans to explore the show's mythology. It also existed in magazines, games, mobile webisodes, and interactive Web sites. Viewers could read graphic novels and e-comics, use wireless iTV interactivity, and check out more original content online. In other words, Heroes used "transmedia."

Tim Kring intervew: going beyond television with Conspiracy For Good

On a hot, sunny Saturday a few weeks back, the snap-happy tourists gathered near the Tower of London were treated to a strange sight. In dribs and drabs, a collection of shady-looking people gathered near an ice-cream van adorned with a mysterious symbol.

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Showing the way: one of the mysterious symbols left around London as part of the Conspiracy For Good game

They were handed backpacks (all bearing the same symbol), and given identical phones, before standing on a pier waiting for a speedboat to turn up. They then spent the next few hours dashing around the banks of the Thames, intently pointing their phones at a variety of objects, then donning headphones and listening to instructions - before dashing off again, following a trail of graffiti symbols, all the while trying to avoid a coterie of sinister, black-clad security guards.

It wasn’t the actions of a bizarre cult, or a group of James Bond wannabes. It was the first live event in Conspiracy For Good - part story, part game, part technology experiment and part social cause, it’s the brainchild of Tim Kring, best known as the creator of TV series Heroes.

I love watching the evolution of social gaming.