Transmedia Storytelling

About this presentation

• Part I Intro & Overview

• Part II Transmedia Development

• Part III Business Model

• Part IV Shooting the Web Series

• Part V Game & Technology

• Part VI Next Steps

Part I

Intro & Overview

Lowlifes' synopsis

• Larry Hayes is San Francisco homicide detective with a drug addiction.

• He has a dead informant, an ex-wife fighting for custody of their daughter and a private eye hired to spy on him.

High Concept

One story, three perspectives.Told over three platforms: novella, web series, blog.

detectiveLARRY HAYES EX-Wife

(JEN HAYES)PRIVATE EYE(LAUREN ORTEGA)

Core team

Robert Pratten is an award-winning feature filmmaker and transmedia consultant. He first met Simon in 2004 at the World Horror Convention in Phoenix, Arizona. His movies include London Voodoo and Mindflesh.Robert spends far too much time playing computer games can often be discovered wondering the post-apocalyptic wilderness of New Vegas around the year 2218.He is founder of TransmediaStoryteller.com an online service for audience engagement.

PRODUCERSimon Wood is an ex-racecar driver, a licensed pilot and an occasional private investigator. His crime fiction has garnered him an Anthony Award and a Crime Writers Association Dagger nomination. He's had over 150 stories and articles published. His short fiction has appeared in a variety of magazines anthologies, such as Seattle Noir and Thriller 2. He's a frequent contributor to Writer's Digest. He's the author of Working Stiffs, Accidents Waiting to Happen, Paying the Piper, We All Fall Down and Terminated. As Simon Janus, he's the author of The Scrubs and Road Rash. Curious people can learn more at www.simonwood.net.

WRITER

Project objectives

• Possible to consume each media independently of any other

• Enhanced satisfaction with each additional media consumption

• Micro-budget

• Freemium distribution model

• Creative Commons licensing to allow audience collaboration

• Simple, commercial, transmedia story

What’s unique about lowlifes?

• Franchise transmedia with concurrent narrative timelines

• Engagement rewarded with advance-release or exclusive content

• Revenue model dependent on advocacy and free digital distribution (i.e. “piracy”)

• Subscription and on-demand content distribution

• First project to use the Conducttr pervasive entertainment platform

Part II

Transmedia Development

Aim: Whole is greater than sum of parts

Movie Game Book Transmedia

Whole is more satisfying than the sum of the parts: euphoria of collecting and connecting the pieces

Movie Game Book Media Franchise

Whole is less than the sum of the parts: dissatisfying conclusion to consuming all media

Each character is hero of their own media

Double impact!

TRANSMEDIA Project development

Lowlifes summary

• Story: crime mystery

• Audience: author’s existing readers; predominantly older women; crime readers; transmedia fans

• Platforms: novella, web series, blog and casual game

• Business model: paid book & video options (Amazon DVD, on-demand, Kindle & other eBooks, e-Junkie downloads); free online

• Execution: Released for free over 15 days in Jan 2011. Paid content available for 1 week before free content. Casual game run ahead of release for 3 weeks. Online viewing biased towards mobile devices.

Thinking through the Experience

Story (strength, depth & authorial control)

Gaming (goals, puzzles, challenges, trophies)

Participation (contribute, change, co-create)

Real-world

Participation = ability of audience to change or contribute to the story-experienceGaming = audience has goal, use of puzzles, game mechanics (trophies, levels, leader boards etc.)

Story = importance of narrative, depth of world & degree of authorial controlReal-world = extent to which story-experience pervades real locations & times, real people & events

(pervasive, built around fact)

The Lowlifes transmedia experience

• Lowlifes.tv initially conceived as a book, video series and blog

• Interactive game added later when technology permitted (runs on Conducttr platform)

• Authorial control is the dominant feature

• Experience has strong link to San Francisco with exploratory content coming from real-world sources such as Wikipedia, SF crime map etc.

• There’s a forum to influence future stories and the development of the character but this experience is “on rails”

• QR codes & mobile used to provide additional narrative content (sub-plot in video, audio, images) that enriches ownership of paid content (book & ebook) and exploratory content (Wikipedia, coalition on homelessness in SF)

Story

GamingParticipation

Real-world

Designed for mobile viewing

Website, not an app:• Device-independent• Cheaper to implement• More flexible on timescales and content development

Simple navigation

Part III

Business Model

Content released over 15 day period

Qr codes unlock additional story

Two primary PAID options

BOOK DVD

Plus paid digital equivalents

eBOOK H.264

Part IV

Shooting the Web Series

Webisode Shooting process

• Narrative outline for all webisodes

• Gather shots from real places and real events around San Francisco: nothing is staged or “acted” except the voice-over

• Some footage taken earlier in the year in anticipation

• Revise voice-over to suit collected footage

• Add motion graphics to assist storytelling and increase production value

Set in SAN FRANCISCO’s UNDERBELLY: the TENDERLOIN DISTRICT

Cinéma vérité –type approach

Graphics sometimes added to real scene

Part V

Game and Technology

Game accessed via blogs – uses real and custom websites to set challenges

http://a-cops-wife-life.blogspot.com/

http://ortegapi.posterous.com/

Technology assistance

Scheduled events:• Blog posts• Tweets• Video publishing• Notification to subscribers

Interactive events• Casual game• Subscriptions

Interaction without programming

possible email responses

“trigger” = expected event

email reply in response to trigger

fictional character responding to trigger

Content structured and tracked

external links documented and click-thrus tracked using bit.ly

“fetch from YouTube” avoids re-work

Part VI

Next Steps

Lowlifes evolutioN...

• New novel with Larry Hayes to be written in 2011

• New video and game implementations dependent on demand and budget

• Audience encouraged to contribute to storyworld

Contact details

Robert Pratten

robert@zenfilms.com

twitter.com/zenfilms

www.transmediastoryteller.com

lowlifes.tv