Universe Creation 101 » Cross-Media Artform http://www.universecreation101.com Creating fictions that traverse across media Mon, 26 Jul 2010 10:55:20 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Big Update! http://www.universecreation101.com/2010/07/big-update/ http://www.universecreation101.com/2010/07/big-update/#comments Mon, 26 Jul 2010 10:51:18 +0000 Christy http://www.universecreation101.com/?p=1692
read more..]]> I’ve been doing and about to do a few things, and so I desperately need to do an update post! And, well, here it is.

Today (tonight) (just now), In Media Res, has published my co-curator contribution for a week-long special called Transmedia Now. If you don’t know about In Media Res, here is the quick low-down:

In Media Res is dedicated to experimenting with collaborative, multi-modal forms of online scholarship. Each weekday, a different scholar curates a [short] video clip/visual image slideshow accompanied by a [short] impressionistic response. We use the title “curator” because, like a curator in a museum, you are repurposing a media object that already exists and providing context through your commentary, which frames the object in a particular way. The clip/comment combination are intended both to introduce the curator’s work to the larger community of scholars (as well as non-academics who frequent the site) and, hopefully, encourage feedback/discussion from that community.

IMR is not just inviting scholars to co-curate, but also practitioners. This transmedia-themed week was organised by Elizabeth Strickler and starts with me; then over to Marc Ruppel (if you’ve read my thesis you know he has been researching this area a long time too); Robert Pratten; Brian Newman; and finishing with Ted Hope. Enjoy the awesomeness of Transmedia Now (and please comment)!

Tomorrow I’ll be presenting on transmedia at Jon Reiss’s Think Outside the Box Office Melbourne workshop for Australian Film, Television and Radio School and the Melb Int Film Festival. Reiss refers to me in his book of the same title, but it is great to be asked to contribute to his workshop! Can’t wait!

The day after I’ll be presenting at X|Media|Lab’s Screen X-Tended event for the Melbourne Film Festival, as organized by Screen Australia. There is a bevvy of speakers, including Jeff Gomez! The day after that, we’ll all be mentoring projects at the lab.

Lance Weiler wrote an article on the importance of story for Filmmaker Magazine, and quotes me in the process!

I had a great chat with Liz Hover of the Canadian National Screen Institute about transmedia and my new website YouSuckAtTransmedia.com. Hear the rationale behind the site in our short audio chat here.

As I also mentioned, I was invited to chat on an audio chat show TummelVision. This was a great long chat (about an hour) with Kevin Marks, Heather Gold and Deb Schultz . I really enjoyed talking about the practice and philosophy of transmedia! The archived audio is now online.
Finally, as you know, I mentored in the UK recently at The Pixel Lab. I wasn’t going to put my presentation online, but I had many requests. So, here it is in all its extended-with-lots-of-words-glory:

Cross/Transmedia Story Design

View more presentations from Christy Dena.
]]> http://www.universecreation101.com/2010/07/big-update/feed/ 0 Client testimonial: End of the World Entertainment http://www.universecreation101.com/2010/04/client-testimonial-end-of-the-world-entertainment/ http://www.universecreation101.com/2010/04/client-testimonial-end-of-the-world-entertainment/#comments Fri, 09 Apr 2010 03:02:38 +0000 Christy http://www.universecreation101.com/?p=1493
read more..]]> It is not often clients release public testimonials in my business. Why? Because often my clients want the world to think they didn’t seek any advice! So I have to sign non-disclosure agreements and not tell anyone I give design advice on a project. But sometimes clients are quite happy to share their creative process. So, I’m thrilled to say that Patrick Cassidy of End of the World Entertainment has posted about my the transmedia consulting services I did for their feature film Self Helpless. Patrick brought me in to assess their film (after it had been shot, before it was released on DVD and torrent) for no/low-budget transmedia opportunities. This entails me assessing the film and establishing what are the appropriate ways to create new content that will promote to their target audiences, engage fans and promote revenue streams. Here is what Patrick so generously posted on the film’s blog about my services:

Christy Dena Will Help You Be More Successful

I consider myself to be a pretty cutting edge dude. I pay attention to the interwebs and the FaceTubes and such. I know the buzzwords. Everybody is always talking about “transmedia”. I read a few blogs about transmedia and I got sick of people telling me I needed to make an iPhone app for my movie. That kind of talk doesn’t really hold water for me. I live on my dad’s couch. I will be lucky if I can sell enough weed to afford to create our DVDs. There is no room for transmedia strategizing in my meager budget, or my massive to-do list. Or so I thought. After we were lucky enough to participate the in the Slamdance Filmmaker Summit, we got in contact with Christy Dena. Procuring Christy’s services was one of the most positive moves we have made with Self Helpless.
I was expecting that Christy would skim through a few minutes of Self Helpless, and hit us with a few emails suggesting that we invest in an app designer and a better Facebook page and that would be the end of it. I was wrong.

Between flights around the world to deal with her major clients who pay her way more than I could afford, Christy found time to screen Self Helpless. In fact, she watched it twice. I find it difficult to verbalize how shocking this is. We have to fight tooth and nail to get people to watch our movie once, and most of those folks have nothing better to do. Not only did Christy give Self Helpless a thorough going through, she got it. She knew all the characters’ names, their motivations, and their personalities. She read every blog post, comment, and tweet that we have spewed forth upon the web over the last year. She did her goddamned homework. And then she sent us her consultation: a 14 page PDF with a fully developed report on our film’s transmedia possibilities, including a giant “brain map” flow chart diagram thingy outlining all of her different ideas and how they could relate to our release timeline.

Blown away would be an understatement. Christy treated our little indie film as if we were a major corporation. Here’s why Christy’s transmedia ideas were invaluable to us:

1 – We never would have come up with them. Again, we are pretty far from being stuck in any old school models. I would say we are forward thinking. Christy is better. She is really on some next level shit.

2 – Her ideas felt like they came from us. They were rude, a little shocking, and very funny. They reflected a thorough understanding of our film, our style, and the brand that we are building.

3 – The total cost of implementing Christy’s ideas = $0.00. She designed her entire consultation with the understanding that our crew is quite capable with regards to media creation, and fairly destitute in the realm of budget. Her ideas make use of our best strengths, and account for our greatest weaknesses.

My only regret is that we did not get in touch with Christy as soon as we finished the script. Now that I have seen what Christy is capable of, I have realized how much more we could have done with Self Helples if we had gotten her involved sooner. If you are looking into making or releasing a film, company, or any other project that involves connecting with an audience or customer base, do yourself a favor and contact Christy.
So awesome. And it was blast working on their film. Thanks Patrick!!! Don’t forget to check out their efforts and film Self  Helpless. Rock on guys! :)
]]> http://www.universecreation101.com/2010/04/client-testimonial-end-of-the-world-entertainment/feed/ 0