Add an eventSessions at SXSW Interactive 2011 about Transmedia in Austin Convention Center
Sunday 13th March 2011
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Hoax or Transmedia? The Ethics of Pervasive Fiction
The classic ARG storytelling technique involves putting content into the real world and web as if the story were really happening. But the line between truth and fiction online is blurry -- and getting blurrier all the time -- so not everyone who finds your content will know it's not for real.
One person's hoax is another's deeply immersive experience. And what one considers a killer practical joke can be a terrifying ordeal to somebody else. So how does a transmedia designer learn to strike the right balance between immersive and responsible?
LEVEL: Intermediate
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Transmedia Storytelling: Constructing Compelling Characters and Narrative Threads
Transmedia storytelling is increasingly being seen as the future of entertainment. A film is no longer just a film; its narrative extends to games, books, online documents, Internet videos, mobile applications, and beyond.
But at the foundation of these new storytelling methods are certain narrative traditions that have held up over the centuries. Without a clear understanding of these structures and methods of character development, a narrative will struggle to survive. We must, therefore, look beyond the Matrix, going back instead to the Greeks, whose myths provide some of the first examples of genuine transmedia. These ancient tales crisscrossed through a complex web of drama, poetry, ritual, role playing, and oral recitation, utilizing archetypes that are still the foundation of stories today.
In this panel, I will address key archetypes and plot formations found repeatedly in both historical narratives as well as recent successful transmedia franchises. I will discuss how to asses an audience, then strategically choose specific plot lines and characters for specific mediums based on those audience segments.
We will look at:
1. Making sure your narrative has a solid premise on which to build – without a foundation you cannot lay bricks.
2. Key characteristics of appeal characters – how to have bad heroes and good villains
3. How to structure the story in an appropriate narrative thread
4. Choosing mediums and messagesSpoken of here, transmedia narratives are not adaptations; they are extensions, networks composed not as afterthoughts to an “original” creative work, but conceived instead in conjunction with them, with thought given to the story, the medium, the audience, and how these elements relate to a cohesive fictional world.
LEVEL: Intermediate
Monday 14th March 2011
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Transmedia: What's the Magical Formula for Successful Design?
by Anthea Foyer
Deep within our secret laboratory, The Labs team of new media scientists work incessantly to discover the secret ingredients of successful transmedia projects. With the recent acceleration of transmedia projects, there have been a lot of successes and failures. But what are the common elements that determine these outcomes? Is it possible to harness them for your own projects? At this session we will reveal our findings to you, our audience. As with any good experiment, however, this will be a participatory event with the audience having the opportunity to become contributors as well. We know you are a smart audience with much to add to the experiment. After the event, our joint findings will be shared online with the world.
LEVEL: Intermediate
Tuesday 15th March 2011
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Project 314: Putting The 'Game' Back Into ARGs
by Adrian Hon
Most ARGs are like icing on a cake - they make an existing TV show, movie, game or book taste even better by giving fans another way to explore and interact with the fictional universe. But you can't live on icing, so the question is: can an ARG ever work on its own, without relying on a massive audience from another medium?
Very few have tried, and there are no enduring successes (including my own Perplex City). As a result, many have implicitly concluded that a 'native ARG' can't be done, and are now moving on to transmedia. But at Six to Start, we think it can be done, and we've been developing Project 314 to prove it.
Project 314 is an online social game blended with an ARG, aimed at a mass audience (just like Zynga and Playfish games) but with a depth of gameplay, story, and world that they can't approach. During development, we found that there are enormous advantages in creating an ARG that's attached to an online game; for one, you can avoid the irritating friction that always occurs when switching between media; for another, it feels incredibly natural (and there are a few more to discuss)
It took us three years to come up with the idea for Project 314, and to assemble the right team. In this talk, I'll also share why Project 314 is so important for the future of games and storytelling, why it took so long, and how other game developers can create similar games (while avoiding the pitfalls we encountered).
LEVEL: Intermediate
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Production for Emerging Platforms
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