» Posts Tagged ‘transmedia’
Last week Microsoft unveiled its successor to the Xbox 360, the Xbox One. While most gamers are concerned about how you’ll actually be able to play games on the device (including the loss of backwards compatibility and the issues with used games), Microsoft went out of their way to show off the device as an all-in-one home entertainment system. They reiterated how they want to integrate TV into the experience — even going so far as to add an additional HDMI port so that the Xbox becomes a pass-through device for cable or satellite boxes. There has been plenty of negativity about the changes, but might the focus on all around seamless entertainment actually open up new ways of storytelling? More »
About a month ago, we had the honor of talking with director Nicolás Alcalá about his crowdfunded and transmediatic film The Cosmonaut. Ever since then, we’ve been waiting with bated breath for the May 18th release of the film — and now, that day is here. After years of raising funds, traveling across Europe, and enlisting thousands of people to become co-creators of their project, the team of at Riot Cinema Collective are ready to unveil their newest creation. More »
The Film Made by More Than 5000 People: Nicolás Alcalá Talks About His Transmedia Project 'The Cosmonaut'
Have Nicolás Alcalá and his team at Riot Cinema Collective discovered the future of filmmaking? After learning what steps these filmmakers, based out of Madrid, took to get their project, The Cosmonaut (para los hispanohablantes, El Cosmonauta), made you might say “yes”. This film is a transmediatic experience that has broken all the world’s crowdfunding records by raising €130,000 in 3 days. On May 14th the film will be available to view for free. However, with an investment of €5 to €50 (about $6.55 to $65.46) you can purchase the “K-Pass” to gain access to tons of extras: 32 additional web episodes, mockumentary, a “secret newsletter”, and the opportunity to copy, remix, and distribute the film as you wish.”The Film Made by More Than 5000 People” is, in fact, not only a film, but an experience; an experience created, had, and shared by thousands of people all over the world. More »
I had a project selected for Power to the Pixel a few years ago and the event, which takes in London in October, was a great and educational experience. If you’re got a project that seeks to push the boundaries of a what a traditional film is — call it transmedia or interactive or cross-media — I definitely recommend checking out the submission details, which are below. Deadline is July 20 and it’s open to entries from all over the world; if selected, you pitch your project at the Pixel Pitch during the BFI London Film Festival, and the winner takes home a £6,000 ARTE Pixel Pitch Prize. There are also a few new prizes this year. More »
Five Ways Filmmakers Can Use Pinterest
It’s more likely than not that you’ve heard of Pinterest — the fast growing social media network that lets folks create an online scrapbook of images they can share or re-share with others. Being such a visual medium, it’s no surprise many filmmakers are exploring ways in which they can put this new social media tool to use. With that in mind, here are 5 ways filmmakers can use Pinterest to their advantage: More »
We’ve covered DIY Days a little before, mainly because our own Koo was one of the speakers at the recent New York event. DIY Days for those who don’t know is basically a gathering of creatives and focuses on the future of media and sustainability for those who create it. This presentation from Henry Jenkins was recorded at DIY Days in Los Angeles back in October, 2011. More »
If you haven’t heard of TEDTalks, we’ve covered quite a few of them here before, but now they’ve got a very special talk from a man named Peter Weyland, who happens to be the CEO of Weyland Industries. This a fictional character, of course, played by Guy Pearce, and it’s part of the marketing campaign for Ridley Scott’s “Alien prequel” Prometheus. If you’ve already seen it, good on you, but that’s not really what this post is about. If you’re one of the few people out there who don’t know what Prometheus is, here’s the trailer: More »
It’s an exciting time for filmmakers and storytellers who are exploring ways to enhance their stories via the web. One of the new genres to emerge is the “web” or “connected” documentary. In essence, these are documentary projects that try to engage viewers via interactive tools — from customizing the experience depending on when and where it is accessed, to providing a “choose your own adventure” structure. This isn’t your typical documentary, and if you’re not wary as you undertake one of these projects it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Ben Moskowitz provides important tips to keep in mind as you explore interactive tools; and if you haven’t experienced a connected documentary, we’ve got a couple for you to check out: More »
I’ll be in the audience tomorrow at Power to the Pixel’s joint event with IFP, the Cross-Media Forum. The entire transmedia conference will be streamed live here, so tune in between the hours of 9am and 5pm if you’d like to attend virtually (the schedule can be found here). The official word: “Featuring an impressive array of storytelling experts from the worlds of film, games, advertising, interactive, the IFP / Power to the Pixel Cross-Media Forum is a not-to-be-missed event. If you can’t make it to New York, you can watch events unfold right here from the comfort of your own chair from 09.00 – 17.00 EST.”
Lance Weiler’s Pandemic 1.0 wasn’t just a short that played Sundance (available to watch in full here). The transmedia pioneer’s project extended far beyond the theater, involving real-world objects and a plethora of social media hooks. Watching the behind-the-scenes videos is akin to time-traveling to the future (of storytelling): More »
Transmedia pioneer Lance Weiler premiered his new project, Pandemic 1.0, at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival last night. Also known as “Pandemic 41.410806, -75.654259″ — which, if you put those coordinates into Google Maps, reveals a Scranton, PA setting — the 10-minute short premiered yesterday in the New Frontier Performances and Installations section of the festival, as well as on FEARnet HD (Verizon FiOS channel 197). And online, right here: More »
ARGNet has a great post covering transmedia impresario Jeff Gomez’s recent presentation at CineKid. CineKid is a kid’s new media festival in the Netherlands, but it also has a professional component, where Gomez presented. Gomez is president and CEO of Starlight Runner Entertainment, and has developed the transmedia campaigns for Tron, Transformers, and Pirates of the Caribbean. His presentation is a great overview of transmedia — not only where it is today, but where it should be going. More »
The reason I slipped from my daily posting schedule this week is because it’s Independent Film Week here in New York; as a participant in the No Borders co-production forum, I pitched my feature-length, interactive murder mystery 3rd Rail to something like eighteen different producers/financiers/sales agents/distributors over the past three days. This post, about the experience of attending and pitching at Ithe Project Forum, is cross-posted on the Filmmaker Magazine blog. For more on what the Project Forum is and why you should apply, check out this post. More »
Earlier in the week I began a discussion with filmmaker and transmedia developer Robert Pratten; we talked about why transmedia is more than a buzzword and why forward-thinking filmmakers should be planning for their next project to reach across multiple mediums. In this second part we talk about the initiative as an artist to develop not just “products” (e.g., feature films) but also “byproducts” (e.g., transmedia software) in order to self-sustain. In case you missed it, here’s part one of the interview. And here’s part two: More »
Robert Pratten is a UK-based San Francisco-based, UK-born filmmaker who has directed two features, London Voodoo and Mindflesh. His posts on transmedia and the independent filmmaker at the Workbook Project should be required reading, and he is currently launching TransmediaStoryteller, an online platform for designing and delivering transmedia experiences. Here, Robert answers why forward-thinking filmmakers should be thinking about transmedia, and why it’s much more than a buzzword. He gives some great in-depth answers to my questions, so I’m splitting the interview into two parts – think of this as 3.25 Questions With. More »
This is not a sponsored post! These are amazing! What are amazing? Glad you asked! Webishades are amazing new technological glasses that allow you to watch web series in 4K resolution in glorious 2D (note how there is only the red color of red/blue 3D glasses). I don’t need to sell these things when they sell themselves: More »
Prison Valley is an interesting French documentary/interactive experience that examines Canon City, Colorado — home to 13 prisons, one of which is the first Supermax prison (widely considered to be the new “Alcatraz”). The web doc consists of brief filmed segments interspersed with interactive sequences, and offers a glimpse at where documentary film may be headed in the online space. Unfortunately it seems that I can’t embed a sequence, so here’s the blurb: More »
Robert Pratten has posted another thoughtful entry about transmedia development at the Workbook Project, this time about prioritizing and selecting platforms for transmedia projects. It’s easy to think about how to extend a film project to web, mobile, and gaming platforms, but unless we have realistic goals in mind for each platform, it doesn’t make sense to do it just for the sake of doing it. His advice:
Think of the story as has having two components: “the story” – the whole world that’s created with all the characters stretching out in chronological order. “The experience” – how the storyworld is revealed to the audience (timing and platforms). Note that the story might be much larger than the project you’re working on now.
You can download the entire piece [PDF], or read part one at the Workbook Project, and part two at Zen Films. There’s also an Excel worksheet at Zen Films (note: it’s an .xlsx file, which wouldn’t open on my Mac).
A diagram of the complete transmedia strategy for my next project
The push-pull interactions between marketing and storytelling are undeniably complex for transmedia projects. As such, there are a lot of diagrams and charts floating around the web illustrating how to best reach audiences dispersed across disparate viewing platforms. Thankfully, after months of hard work, I’ve come up with the definitive chart for transmedia storytelling! Click the image for a full-size view:
What’s that? This is a powerpoint slide of the American military strategy in Afghanistan? Oh. Looks the same to me!
[via The NY Times]
Yesterday’s post about transmedia and the interactive filmmaker highlighted the challenges of developing a transmedia story for independent creators. It’s interesting, then, to look at an example of an expansive transmedia campaign from a studio — in this case, Warner Brothers’ Alternate Reality campaign for The Dark Knight.1 Independent productions are not going to be able to implement an ARG of this scope, but it’s nonetheless good brain candy for the concept of taking a movie “outside” the theater.
- Much of the transmedia strategy and implementation was run by the folks at 42 Entertainment, some of whom later split off to found No Mimes Media. [↩]
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