Transmedia

[Brian_Rice]

Anyone else doing this? I was doing a lot of different things, kind of spreading myself thin artistically. But then it occurred to me that in the age we're living in it's really not imperative to cuff myself to a single artistic...measure (I guess that's what I mean anyway). In the now, as independent artists, we really are similar to those original movie makers in Hollywood or like Stan Lee decIding to write comics in a different way. We can literally tell a story I any possible way we can imagine it being told. Maybe this isn't remarkable stuff to anyone else here, but for me it's just been so liberating. It's like I'm on a continuous artistic high from the moment I wake up until I go to sleep. Best thing I ever did was to decide that everything I do can exist in this new technological age as a single thread of storytelling.

I've also been feeling a little alone in that feeling. Lol

So is anyone else doing Transmedia? (my iPhone likes to capitalize it lol)

 

[john threat]

im all over transmedia dude! I havent quite secured a project thats paid for - but im like this frigging mega close sitting on a confidential PDF - oh yeah!
I think telling stories over multiple media is the future - and super engaging past the usual boring way of being engaged.

I have a shuckcopter ton of ideas, but im trying to successfully do a paid one for a client first - so I can secure some funding for one.

There are a bunch of transmedia resources and sites out there - are you checking those out?

 

[Brian_Rice]

Only barely. Been super busy fixing up my little corner of the indie universe whilst finishing up my promo. You bring up a belabored point to in funding -- which is another issue I think Transmedia will do a good job at assisting the indie producer with. To me the concept of Transmedia pretty much dictates a kind of progression in whatever it is the viewer is experiencing. I won't use a fish analogy here but a fish analogy would indeed fit nicely. When you're asking someone to progress with you, you can almost invariably and always give quite a bit away for free and count Ina percentage of those free users to progress to a paying portion. I'm doing a project that has both free and pay-for content. If you want to just enjoy the free, that will certainly be sufficient, but if you really want the meaty goodness you'll have to pay for it.

I like it because it really does put the onus 100% on the writer/creator. Transmedia is very much like historic times of being a working artist. You really have to know your audience and know what they're going to be willing to pay you for as a creator. The same old HD flick sitting in their play-it-now queue just ain't going to get it done anymore.

 

[Brian_Rice]

I also think it's worth pointing out one of the major pitfalls I found in Transmedia storytelling, and that has to do with ease of use. My first go at Transmedia dealt with a we series that led to a password protected site wherein people could link up and experience more intimate interactions with the character. All of the characters were monster-esque in their makeup design. I had a model from Australia make home movies that were meant for the other members of this "protected" site. You had the character engaging in blogs and comments and video chats, and all the while the user who had been watching the series could have this voyeristic experience of interacting with these monster folk in their more intimate and personal dealings. There was even one video inside the site where one of the monsters sang an entire song whilst playing a guitar for his gal.

The problem was that no matter how I promoted it people just plain did not understand even the most basic function of how to go to the site and type in a password. I'd done all this work and people had put forth a ton of effort for something that people just plain did not get or care to understand. Lol

Accessibility is what I learned from that experience. Once you've made a Transmedia piece that you feel is accessible in your own mind. Take that notion and then dumb it down by like 70%. This is that one special circumstance where you really do need to "talk down" to your audience. If you make your concept so divergent from the norm the people they will not follow. As with all media, Transmedia needs to require zero effort from the viewer. So keep it simple stupid.