4D Fiction - Latest Comments

Re: The childhood joy of discovery and adventure

Reed — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 00:49:47 -0000

Those maze-games are incredible... So fascinating. What an amazing solution to create that sense of exploration and interactive narrative.

Re: Your mom is Transmedia (updated)

Geoff May — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 16:22:24 -0000

I've just created another diagram to attempt to depict what I think is the distinction between storytelling on the frachise scale, and on the individual experience scale, as per the PGA definition of Transmedia Producer...

http://4dfiction.com/transmedi...

Re: Your mom is Transmedia (updated)

C3 — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 18:54:31 -0000

all academics/// really boring.. lets see some new worlds, new things to do, new adverntures had.

youve got the microphone now---

and all the hollywood execs that looked at me puzzled in 1997 now are paying you to create...

do it.

larryr
cube3

Re: ‘Oceanea’ EP release from @ThomasDolby to be launched with 1…

Geoff May — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 16:07:45 -0000

More information on Dolby's project has been discussed at the official forums, here: http://forum.thomasdolby.com/v...

And check out this blog post of Andrea's at Deus Ex Machinatio - http://www.deusexmachinatio.co...

Re: Your mom is Transmedia (updated)

Dr. Pam Rutledge — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 12:00:43 -0000

The importance of the term "transmedia" applied to everything is that it drives home the point of the new media environment. Once people began to "see" that, yes, even their mom is transmedia (and watch your ageism here, as I am a mom. That or even age doesn't by definition mean that I am clueless), but once people begin to see that our communication is "transmedia," they will have to move their sights back to the fundamentals of the message, the coherence of the story. Transmedia is just a tool box of communication channels. It does not in and of itself add value except in so far as it forces you to see a multi-dimensional communication field with blurring boundaries, both technologically and user/producer.

Re: Your mom is Transmedia (updated)

kevmoss — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 16:01:37 -0000

http://wrangl.com/transmedia debate here...

Re: Transmedia Storytelling: A sample experience

Geoff May — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 12:02:55 -0000

Related article - Four transmedia action examples: http://transistoria.com/4-tran...

Re: Your mom is Transmedia (updated)

Ariock — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 14:48:47 -0000

Transmedia History/Definitions - 10%
Statistical Audience Analysis - 30%
Transmedia Challenges - 40%
(Sample: A player has run off with a unique practical necessary for the experience to continue. Detail three methods to provide the information encoded on the practical to the audience that will not break the immersion.)
Transmedia Badmouthing - 20%
(Sample: Write a blog post about why "Chaotic Fiction" is better than "Alternate Reality Experiences." Extra credit available (up to 3 points) for tweeting about it as you write it.)

Re: Your mom is Transmedia (updated)

Geoff May — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 11:26:25 -0000

I've updated the article with Stitch Media's wonderful response. Circle-diagram'd!

Re: Your mom is Transmedia (updated)

Rich — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 17:16:09 -0000

At the end of the day, I don't really think the name matters. If you have to use one label/name to sell a project to xyz studio, and another name to 123 studio, then say what you must.

When all is said and done, it's really about active engagement with a property. Watching a film or reading a book can also be an active experience, but with an ARG... transmedia experience... interactive story... whatever -- it's about having an interactive relationship with the story and, if it's a community-based experience, with others involved in the same experience.

Re: Your mom is Transmedia (updated)

Geoff May — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 13:54:36 -0000

if ARGs are self-contained experiences, then why are they, by default, transmedia stories(and not the other way around)?

I'd say that a transmedia story is a self-contained experience, composed of multiple media platforms none of which provide a complete experience in and of themselves. An example might be a website that reveals pieces of a narrative on an ongoing, piecemeal basis, over multiple media. If it has no dynamic content though, no interaction with the audience, but only a scheduled release for bits of the story, I would not classify that as an ARG, but I'd still classify it as a transmedia story. Each piece being inter-dependent on its siblings to get the full picture, yet none truly complete on their own (film promo websites tend to have this sort of setup).

An ARG, on the other hand, would be very dependent on interaction with players, allowing them to discover those narrative components while given the ability to have an effect on the story to some degree - whether by interacting with characters or even deciding a story arc's ultimate conclusion.

As for transmedia activism, my personal take on projects like that is that they're wonderful opportunities to change the hearts and minds of people towards an agenda, but if it doesn't incorporate some form of narrative or story (perhaps for example a series of tasks or challenges presented to willing participants towards an ultimate goal or achievement) then I'd classify it as more like a transmedia 'game' than a transmedia narrative.
Interestingly, you could in theory come away from such projects with a narrative composed of how you performed in the 'game'... This sort of enters a different realm of storytelling, I think, wherein any life event or situation could produce a story from the perspective of the individual. But in the case of the 'game', I wouldn't say that makes it a transmedia narrative; the individual's story was an incidental off-shoot of their experience. A project's goal could be to encourage its participants to create those stories though - personal testimony has a huge effect on people (which is why 'viral' caught on so quick, and social media is so popular :)

Anyway, once again the "transmedia" adjective can be applied to almost anything, whether game or story or franchise or what-have-you, so I think it's very important to understand it in context as a way to feasibly connect multiple components of a greater whole. On the franchise level, they're independent stories within a storyworld, and on a story (or game) level, they're dependent fragments of a single narrative (or goal).

Maybe an ARG is a "transmedia story+game" :P <small>(it never ends *sigh*)</small>

Re: Your mom is Transmedia (updated)

Gunther Sonnenfeld — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 11:37:49 -0000

This is awesome - thx for this.

Admittedly, I have limited ARG experience but have quite a lot in the film & TV worlds, which is how I was initially attracted to this whole "transmedia" thing a few years ago, and particularly around narrative (and the idea that we could liberate narratives through more agnostic media experiences). I was even more frustrated as I got deeper into the brand/marketing world, and saw an opportunity like others before me - Faris Yakob, Ivan Askwith, Mike Monello et al - to try and come up with better storytelling methodologies (keeping in mind that marketing and branding have their own tainted reputations, and justifiably so).

Question: if ARGs are self-contained experiences, then why are they, by default, transmedia stories (and not the other way around)? I ask because it seems that interdependency doesn't necessarily mean that a story, or a series of narratives, can transcend a single medium, which is what transmedia narratives endeavor to do (no?). For example, "transmedia activism" is an emerging discipline that supports the co-creation and growth of grassroots social movements, whereby multiple dimensions of a cause (narrative or theme) culminate in unique and interdependent media types (largely event-driven) - Lina Srivastava and Sasha Chock are two folks leading this charge.

Love to hear your thoughts on this, and would also be curious to hear your take on a project I am working on with a non-fictional base:

http://goonth.posterous.com/de...

Again, thanks for writing this...

Best,

Gunther

Re: Your mom is Transmedia (updated)

Geoff May — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 22:19:12 -0000

Oh, and just so there's no misunderstanding: I'm totally all for expanding on franchises, fleshing them out and creating fictional universes which can be experienced in new and exciting ways -- very much so!
But what got me excited about this form of entertainment in the first place, really, was the traditional "Alternate Reality Game". Let's not let that method of storytelling fall by the wayside, by whatever name they're known, as this entertainment industry moves forward...

Re: Your mom is Transmedia (updated)

Geoff May — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 20:34:56 -0000

Ok, very rough tldr :)
* There were ARGs. Then there were X-Y's. Then there was Transmedia.
* All ARGs are transmedia productions; not all transmedia productions are ARGs.
* ARGs are self-contained experiences/stories formed of inter-dependent multi-platform components.
* An ARG may exist within a storyworld. A storyworld may host a number of ARGs, which may or may not be connected.
* ARGs gained high popularity before the practice of creating them was defined and evolved into transmedia franchising - the expanding of properties into multiple stories within a storyworld composed of multiple media, as opposed to the more traditional experience of one story spanning multiple dependent media.
* "Transmedia" has grown to describe any number of things, from a single multi-platform story, to "anything" with multiple connected stories spanning multiple media.
* "Transmedia" is not a bad thing, as it's helped bring to light the importance of synergy across platforms in one storyworld.

---- And not-so-tldr replies:

@Braccia - I agree, transmedia is a legitimate adjective describing the process of creating that viable storyworld in which stories can exist and support each other... I don't like the idea that if there's no metrics in the process then it'll dry up. I think that's where the move from ARGs to franchising has changed expectations at the industry level. Perhaps for the good, perhaps not. ARGs themselves I'd argue can easily exist apart from measurable ROI - they're thriving in the grassroots community (where I suppose the ROI would for the most part be outward; social connections, providing entertainment, personal betterment). Players personally associate with their favourite experiences. And this is why I say if the focus of transmedia practitioners is on providing a special unique and memorable experience for the audience/players rather than simply marketing a product, then it would have a longer lasting effect. People still talk about and love The Beast, even though A.I. was arguably unsuccessful. I guess it depends, once again, on what the expected ROI is in determining "success" or "value" for a project. I think metrics are more accessible and enticing when an existing franchise spans multiple platforms - if each platform is a product, transmedia franchising can really only help the property, right? A self-contained ARG is a very different beast (pun not intended).

@Ariock - I'd say they were ARGs, in the sense that they were composed of multiple media points, and you'd never really get the 'experience' if you only looked at one or two them independently. In a sense, that's the value of the 'entry point' or rabbit hole - a particular component that would entice, or lead an individual into the greater story, because on its own it's simply incomplete. Certainly an ARG could contain multiple story arcs, but they'd likely play themselves out with various components in order to get the whole story. One might say the audio drama of ILoveBees was a self-contained story arc enjoyable on its own - not an ARG itself, but ILB as a whole was an ARG because no one component (other than that particular piece) could really stand on its own and still provide the intended experience or tell the whole story. And ILB itself was also a component within the Halo universe, part of what can be considered a 'transmedia franchise'.
"What this discussion is unfortunately pointing out isn’t what transmedia is or is not, but rather what happens when an imprecise word is coined and used."
Agreed :) It's a vague, flexible term that's been demonstrated to support pretty much anything depending on your perspective. And why I think that, even though it's a beneficial guide to cohesive world-building (a process which really has always existed), "transmedia" is simultaneously losing all meaning :P

@Christy - Thanks! And yeah, it's the bane of labels :). I don't want to imply that the term should go, just that we want to come back to our first love, the traditional ARG :)

In short, all I'm trying to say is - don't just make new stories or independent experiences for a property on different platforms, make more ARGs! Engage us in a single enjoyable story over multiple platforms... whether it leads to a product or agenda or not... please? :)

@toenolla - LOL

Re: Your mom is Transmedia (updated)

toenolla — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 19:45:32 -0000

Bruce, your face is transmedia.

Sorry, couldn't resist. ;)

Re: Your mom is Transmedia (updated)

toenolla — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 19:42:50 -0000

Perplex City was a transmedia project that involved merchandising. Merchandising is not transmedia, but the two can play well together.

There is a difference between an overarching story with A/B/C plots, and several different stories within a universe. Could the creation of this secondary story on another platform be farmed out to a third party writer? If so, you may be looking at a franchising approach instead of a transmedia approach. (I realize this is really hacky and by no means a litmus test.)

What would we give them a test ON?

Re: Your mom is Transmedia (updated)

Christy Dena — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 19:31:15 -0000

Great rant Bruce. But remember too, that many of the people complaining about the term transmedia are the same ones that complained about ARGs too! Whenever a term becomes popular, people start using it for whatever is new to them - always. So if people are trying to find the perfect term that stays meaningful, it will never happen! IMO, for what its worth. 8)

Re: Your mom is Transmedia (updated)

Ariock — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 17:30:33 -0000

Questions (I have no real agenda here...just thinking out typed):

So what was Mind Candy's PerplexCity? An ARG? A franchise? It seems to me to be at the base an attempt to create a franchise around an ARG.
I Love Bees? An ARG that was spun off from an existing franchise.
Why So Serious? seems even less like an ARG, insofar as there was less of an actual cohesive story (though admittedly, I didn't follow it closely) and more of an event generator.

I don't know about Steve's comment about transmedia being about telling one story on multiple platforms. Was there just one story in the Beast or ILB? There were interconnected stories. If we must use the word, "transmedia," were they not transmedia?

What this discussion is unfortunately pointing out isn't what transmedia is or is not, but rather what happens when an imprecise word is coined and used.

To be honest, I run into a similar issue being an Engineer (registered and licensed) and having people who aren't (registered and licensed) call themselves "Engineers." So instead, I have to say I'm a Registered Civil Engineer.

And just as a suggestion, I think forcing people who want to be "Transmedia Producers" to take a 13-hour test might cull the herd.

Re: Your mom is Transmedia (updated)

Braccia — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 17:26:47 -0000

For me, it's just the name applied to a practice...it's not a genre. The same way a movie's director works to combine editing, photography, performance, score, sound design et al for the purpose of best conveying their story, a transmedia practitioner looks to coordinate a variety of tactics across multiple delivery channels (some interactive and collaborative, some not) to do the same thing. What makes an experience "TM" is that the practitioner's insight is applied so that these tactics are deployed in ways that not only supports, but also enhances the narrative. IMO, this remains true if we're talking about a $2500 indie ARG or a 250mil franchise.

The application of this practice MUST show value and ROI on the franchise development level if TM is to gain real traction (in industries with the ability to fund practitioners). Otherwise, it will remain a fascinating, but niche approach to creative content development. My guess is, based on Jeff Gomez and SLRs client list as well as the investment recently made in 4th Wall, that these quantifiable metrics exist. Money follows metrics. If there are no metrics, the money dries up when the buzz goes pffft.

Re: World building for a “long take” experience

Dave — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 13:40:42 -0000

It would seem to me that a theatrical mindset would apply, too -- like during any good tech/dress rehearsal process, a director and his performers must be able to adapt to technical challenges, rewrites, choreography mishaps, and ultimately (and most importantly), audience reaction, which can instantly change the tenor and mood of a theatrical performance. All the world's a stage!

Re: Artifact creation 101, let’s get real

Myrome — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 15:32:38 -0000

I created buttons on zazzle.com - with a logo from the ARG. Arguably, swag, but it made people think like they were a real team.

Re: Battle of the virals: fright trumps confusion

Joseph gambit — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 23:05:17 -0000

Attention grabbing events, and media are of course going to be the most financially viable method for creating interactive content such as this, but the true genius lies in the idea that the audience is often the best actor, because it engages both the empathy of those watching, and their own inherent self interest, even if they arent the one on cam.

Re: Does #Transmedia have to be interactive? "I say... actually,...

Laird Harrison — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 19:00:23 -0000

I've attempted some definitions for various digital fiction terminology here: http://tiny.cc/n9eh9. Comments welcome to laird_harrison@yahoo.com.

Re: Seeking balance: The Rule of Thirds in storytelling

thebruce — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 13:44:08 -0000

Thanks. Yeah I was sitting in a photography conference session, and when the speaker discussed the rule of thirds for effective and interesting photos, it seemed so clear that it's more of a story-telling tip than just a visual composition guideline. Like a photographer or artist, write stories and create ARGs and transmedia projects with that in mind! :)

Re: Seeking balance: The Rule of Thirds in storytelling

Jordy — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 12:37:07 -0000

Wow! That was a truly insightful and succinct article on taking good storytelling and making it very good or great. I especially appreciated, and wholly agreed, with not spelling everything out for players (mentioning a website in passing that, if found, provides additional information about something...not critical information, just supplementary; and ESPECIALLY the need to have said website or resource available to be found), and having side elements flesh out events or characters from other angles, making the whole feel more like reality and less like fiction.