Universe Creation 101

No one is safe…from advertising. hehe

Tracey Swedlow, the lady behind the ultra informative [itvt] is holding an industry conference, TV of Tomorrow Show. I have mentioned this before, but thought a reminder post was due since it is being held on March 13-14th in San Francisco, California. The event will include the announcement of the winners of the inaugural Awards for Corporate Achievement in Interactive and Multiplatform Television. I am interested to see who receives an award, hopefully it will be a work that is truly innovative and is quality. Interesting sessions include: (Read on …)

Recently I gave a talk for the Online MA in Creative Writing and New Media at De Montfort University, Leicester. It is ”designed for writers interested in experimenting with new formats and exploring the potential of new technologies in their writing” and run by “Professor Sue Thomas, writer and former Artistic Director of the trAce Online Writing Centre, and Kate Pullinger, acclaimed novelist and new media writer”. I was in esteemed company too, with other guest lecturers including legends such as Howard Rheingold, Carolyn Handler Miller, Marjorie Coverley Luesebrink (M.D. Coverley), Randy Adams, Rita Raley, Alan Sondheim and Maurice Suckling. Wow!

I didn’t travel there — the whole course is online. Instead, I recorded an audio lecture and created a matching powerpoint and then spent the next week talking with the students in the forum. In the talk ‘A New Total Work of Art?’ I spoke about…you guessed it cross-media entertainment (insert any term you use). I went through highlights of the theoretical and creative history of cross-media since oral culture. The creative component covered cross-media works from the commercial, independent, artistic, narrative, game and marketing sectors. The theory was a mix of theories based on certain artforms and from different fields: narratology, media studies etc. I then gave a brief introduction to some of the design issues/gave guidance on designing cross-media worlds.

It was sooo good to talk about these ideas with writers and to chat for a few days afterwards. The hot topic in particular was the nature of art in the commercial realm. This is of course an issue for many and as a researcher and creator in the area, I have alot to say about it. I do not support the idea that art and commerce exist in a dichotomy, nor that any intermingling immediately improves or depletes a project. I look at what works and what doesn’t and why. 

I’m not going to say anymore as I don’t like discussing my research theories in the blog format. But I just wanted to share how much I enjoyed getting down to the nitty gritty of cross-media. Often I give talks for industry or academia and walk away. Granted, academics follow up with related theories, and industry folk want that information on tap in the form of consulting. But getting the chance to have a continued conversation over a week with people who are really thinking about it was delightful.

I completely missed this one when it was happening (my defence is that I was travelling at the time), but you really should know about this if you don’t already. In July last year an audio drama began, Shadow Falls. It is a scary tale with high production standards, nice careful attention to the writing, and anagram clues that are issued in the audio fan forum…and so gathered alot of fans very quickly. The season one finale was in early November and fans were hanging out for more tales. And so, the writer Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff, got together with some experts of another artform and added something new on the 22nd of November. On that day they launched “The Shadow Falls Experience“.

What they did was create the fictional world of Shadow Falls in the online virtual world Second Life. And then, over the next few weeks, released audio clues in the podcast. The listeners then logged into SL and sought out the information, based on the clues. Just like the ARG I Love Bees, the players had to solve a puzzle and go to a (virtual) place to retrieve an audio component of the story. The players do this, but for those who do not participate in the experience, the total story is podcast at the end. This story is the season two prologue, a podnovel/audio novel. Here is what Mark said about the experience in the “interactive fan forum”, companion #5 podcast (17/11/06) prior to it commencing: 

(Read on …)

To augment the popular NBC TV series, Heroes, The Heroes 360 Experience was launched on Jan 22 this year. The official press release from NBC says:

Beginning on January 22nd, viewers will be invited to experience Heroes in a whole new way. As they investigate on-air clues and learn new truths about the characters, their involvement will lead them to new platforms, including interaction with unique mobile content; a WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) site that one of the characters gives them access to; a special “two screen” application which provides a real-time experience; access to the fictional Primatech Paper company’s phone system; and significantly increased original content on NBC.com including secret files, hidden sites and original commentary from cast members added to each streaming episode.

Now, to a bit of discussion about it…

(Read on …)

I mentioned The Venice Project here early last month, a mysterious online TV platform that is in beta. Well, now they’ve changed their name and have announced a major partnership with Viacom:

Today we’re announcing a major partnership with Viacom. Which will bring programming and lots of channels from Viacom’s key brands and properties available on Joost on our imminent launch.

MTV will offer popular shows, both past and present, including Laguna Beach, Beavis & Butthead, Real World, Punk’d and My Super Sweet Sixteen, while COMEDY CENTRAL will feature episodes from Stella, CCP’s and Freak Show. Nickelodeon, CMT: Country Music Television, MTV2, Logo, Spike TV, mtvU, and Gametrailers.com will also provide content.  VH1’s offerings will include episodes of Flavor of Love, Surreal Life, and I Love New York. BET’s Networks’ offerings will include some of its biggest shows, including Beef, DMX: Soul of a Man, Comic View and recent smash hit American Gangster.  Also, Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage and Paramount Classics will be providing full-length feature films from its catalog of classics and recent releases.

And here is some more info about what is does:

Joost will allow users to have free access to thousands of programs and channels not readily available on the Web. Through Joost, viewers can watch programming from many of Viacom’s brands on their computers through a customizable platform with advanced television viewing features such as links that lead to more information or related websites based on the content; and a variety of plug-in applications, such as instant messaging, message boards, and news tickers.

Currently available in limited beta, Joost combines the best of TV and the best of the Internet by offering viewers a unique, TV-like experience enhanced with the choice, control and flexibility of Web 2.0. Joost is the first online, global TV distribution platform, bringing together advertisers, content owners and viewers in an interactive, community-driven environment. Joost can be accessed with a broadband Internet connection and offers broadcast-quality content to viewers for free.

They’ve opened up their Beta again, so anyone can apply. One of the things that I really like about this project is that it is providing TV content globally. This is so needed and will facilitate alot more well designed ’extended experiences’. The problem at present is the many extended experiences (alternate reality games, enhanced TV sites, web quests, treasure hunts etc) are accessible globally, but the property they are extending usually isn’t. Now, there are ways to work around that legally, illegally and half-legally (don’t ask me for details, just trust me on that one), but due to licensing restrictions, most are controlled. Some creators of these extended experiences design them well and some don’t. I’ll talk about one that doesn’t in my next post…

Check out: https://www.joost.com/
 

Dean Keep, a Masters student at RMIT University, has started a research blog on “micro-narratives”. That term, btw Dean, is not new. I personally like nano-narratives too, for the alliteration and how it makes me smile when I say it. But seriously, the study of micro-narratives, and micro-narratives created for the small screen (or for small and others depending on the distribution) is important and interesting. Here is Dean’s description of his site:

“The Poetics of Mobile Media” is the working title for my Masters by Research at RMIT university. The purpose of this page is to publish research, share ideas, and instigate a dialogue on mobile media.

The recent proliferation of mobile devices and wireless technology is driving a rapid interest in the development and production of content for mobile phones.

It is arguable that these “micro-narratives” ( a term I use to describe these projects) have elicited a new set of narratives codes and aesthetics. In a world where viewers have wireless access to content, it is important to look at how these micro-narratives contrast with more conventional modes of storytelling. How does portability of the device affect the user experience? What are the viewer expectations in regards to content, aesthetics and interactivity?

More to the point. Is there a potential audience for narrative driven projects designed specifically for the small screen?

Over the following months and perhaps years, I intend to search for the answers to these and many more questions related to mobile media. I look forward to your feedback.

Dean, do you know or know of Andrew McKenzie who is also doing/was doing a postgrad (PhD) in mobile narratives at RMIT? Andrew is in NZ, however, and his site is currently offline.

I look forward to reading more posts on Dean’s site: Poetics of Mobile Media.

Because there are so many different terms out there describing the same thing, and many that don’t but are employed by others to do so anyway, I decided to bundle the greatest hits together in this one title:

cross/trans/multi-platform/media storytelling/entertainment

Although they each mean different things to different people, the fact is they share a common trait in being an explanatory entry-point to the same idea. I really don’t mind which people use…we can get down to the specifics in specific environments….but as bundle banner I think it does a good job of bonding (or confusing) us all.

TransISTor is a training initiative organised by CIANT - International Centre for Art and New Technologies in cooperation with FAMU - Film and TV Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague supported by the MEDIA Training Programme of the European Union.

TransISTor focuses on computer games technologies while opening up their creative potential for non-gaming storytelling domains including art, cinema, TV, educational applications and cross-media productions.

Session 1: Game modifications and machinima films

From combination of comics and video games to films created with game engines. This session will provide an overview of tools and techniques used for customizing and expanding computer games. We will examine issues of game design and game play in the context of cross media production. The goal is to explore the basics of how to create and modify game levels. In the intensive 4-day workshop your will create your first machinima film.

Session 2: Motion capture and stereoscopy for games and film

During the intensive 4-day workshop you will investigate different motion capture techniques and carry out a collaborative project. Experienced tutors will explain the different motion capture systems, the process of setting sensors, recording sessions and the computer data post-processing. The goal is to experience the latest technologies, to integrate them and to create your own stereoscopic film with special effects.

Session 3: Serious games, web 2.0 and future cinema

This session is focused on the alternative forms of games and web 2.0 applications that are used for entertainment as well as for non-entertainment purposes such as art, edutainment, marketing, simulations, management and public policy. We will look closer at how these technologies are used for non-gaming events and processes, including simulations of business and military operations, psychotherapy or medicine. In the workshop you will create your own serious game scenario and experiment with web 2.0 applications, e.g. Google map mashups in art, business and cinema.

Check it out: http://transistor.ciant.cz

The wonderful Penguin UK and DeMontfort University have teamed up to create a massive wiki novel project. For the month of Feb (and beyond hopefully), anyone (including spammers you darn…!) can co-write a novel on a wiki. Here is their goal:

Can a collective create a believable fictional voice? How does a plot find any sort of coherent trajectory when different people have a different idea about how a story should end – or even begin? And, perhaps most importantly, can writers really leave their egos at the door? Typically, a writer will acknowledge in print the efforts of their book’s editor, copy editor and agent, since they each will have read the work in draft form. But such acknowledgments regularly include a disclaimer along these lines : “Any errors that remain are, of course, my own”. So the majority of published writers depend on collaboration, but only up to a point. After all, there is usually a single name on the jacket of a novel.

So is the novel immune from being swept up into the fashion for collaborative activity? Well, this is what we are going to try and discover with A Million Penguins, a collaborative, wiki-based creative writing exercise. We should go into this with the best spirit of scientific endeavour - the experiment is going live, the lab is under construction, the subjects are out there. And the results? We’ll see in a couple of months.

Check out aMillionPenguins.