CM2052: Transmedia Entertainment & Marketing

CM2052: Transmedia Entertainment & Marketing

World Building

Seminar Week 3

Rhythma Kapoor

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Today’s Seminar

• PART ONE: Transmedia Recap• PART TWO: Creating Complex Universes• PART THREE: 1. Components of TM Universe2. Elements of world building in TM universes3. Narrative Elements of TM Universes• PART FOUR: Case Studies

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The Transmedia Tao

Two paths to world building…

ARGs for Marketing

Communications

Storyworlds for Entertainment

Franchises

Storyworlds

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Multiple story arcs within a single storyworld.

Regardless of the format (book, game, film, toy etc.) the story arcs overlap each other.

These overlaps can be character, location or time based.

Alternate Reality Games (ARGs)

Storyworlds as Entertainment Franchises

The Basics

o Each story is set in an imaginative universe and each universe is governed by laws.

o Narrative elements and signals act as amplifiers of meaning

o The creation of a transmedia work or project must:ease the audience’s access to the multi-media content and rouse a willingness of participation and sharing from the audience.

A transmedia story is like

the sum of stories “split” into multiple media, but all developed according to the Aristotelian three-act structure:

PREFACE / First turning point

DEVELOPMENT / Second turning

point

RESOLUTION/End Point

These are based on dramatic features such as: conflict resolution, pursuit of the goal, reversal or confirmation of a point of view, evocative interpretation of the theme involved across media, and comprehensive, effective, and emotional strengthening of the tale.Example

Dramatic Elements

Creating Complex Universes

Creating new worlds – original or pre-existing ones – is equivalent to creating “complex systems of reference” which are able to enrich the traditional narrative.

These operations, are defined as world making and building,

These are useful for:enhancing a tale’s imagination, taking complete advantage of its rules, myths and

creative spin offs.

Components of World Building

Some narrative and imaginative components

o Universal synthetic structureso Iconic elementso Archetypal features of the story

Universal Synthetic Structures

The basic coordinates of the narrative universe on which a transmedia tale is based;

They are the signs and dimensions able to catch and transmit to the audience the reference and situational context of the project.

Iconic Elements

Points of view and interpretations

They are like symptoms of other realities, different from the ones on the surface of the story, or which are hidden beneath.

In this sense, iconic elements don’t enter the narrative on an upper level, but it is like they have always been there.

The result is to give the audience the impression of the right track, toproperly face the challenge of use and, thus, be part of the game.

The use of iconic elements in transmedia projects is necessary to accelerate the entry of an audience into the story and help the passage from one medium to another within the communicative system.

Archetypal Figures

Archetypal figures archetypal features provide the main emotional connection in order to have the unconsciousparticipation of the audience, both on the personal level and the collective imagination level.

E.g. the primordial symbols shared among several cultures on the imaginative level

o Points of Entryo Trigger Pointso Teaserso Rabbit Holeo Pivot Pointo Distributed Narrativeo CTAso The stop and go effecto The Domino Effecto The Spin-off Effect

Elements of World Building in Transmedia Universes

How a user can enter your story/property/project.

These may be platform, medium, content based.

Multiple POE’s for Transmedia projects.

The audience must reach a project’s points of entry by consciously moving towards them.

Points of Entry

Teasers Teasers have traditionally given information about an upcoming event but with no CTA.

Trigger Pointo A Trigger Point motivates the audience

to follow up on the teaser information.

o A Trigger Point usually refers the audience to the Rabbit Hole.

Teasers & Trigger Points

Sets the foundation of the world and the ExperienceUse linear mediaTells the storyHookStickinessCreeps into our livesHas CTA

Rabbit Hole

presenter based, visual, unintended!

Ability to move between components

Audience has three stages: motivation to act (primer), sense of the action (referral) and personal reward for the action done

by the audience (reward).

Call To Action (CTA’s)

o Certain aspects of Interactive narrativeso Provides strong narrative backboneo Penetration to mass audiences

Pivot Point

During the course of the story, one of the middle segments of a project is suspended, while other parts continue on, and then the stalled segment resumes its course as if nothing happened.

For example, in a transmedia promotion of a movie, online trailers all around the world simultaneously disappear from the web as soon as tv and radio commercials are aired , and then return online a few days after the movie comes out.

The stop and go effect

A particularly emotional narrative in one of the multiple media platforms or a particular asset of a transmedia project becomes temporarily more important than the others.

This dominant asset changes the flow and direction of all other assets and acts as the dominant ‘driver’ until the conclusion of the project.

The Domino effect

The spin-off effect

One of the platforms in a transmedia project can temporarily attach itself to another medium in order to strengthen or revive its role or its content and continue towards a secondary goal in respect tothe project as a whole.

Narrative Elements in TM Universes

• Theme• Characterization• Atmosphere

• Point of View (PoV)• Author• Audience

• Two- goal structure• Burke’s pentad components• Access to world (audience)• Shared mood (audience & creators)• Collaboration (audience & creators)• The Hero’s journey

The Hero’s Journey

The Art of the H3eist“The Art of the Heist” embraced the target audience’s need of control over their environment and invited them into an immersive 24-hour-a-day alternate reality. This story blurred fact and fiction by concocting a mysterious storyline that involved consumers in the recovery of an A3 stolen from Audis Park Avenue headquarters in New York City.

At the heart of the narrative were six new A3s containing coded plans for the largest art heist in history; however, one car contained the key to decrypting the information hidden in all the others, and the mystery surrounding the “heist” unfolded in real time over three months across the country. The Heists final chapter was played out in front of a live audience at the Viceroy Hotel in Los Angeles, where we finally discovered who the real villain was.

Art of the H3ist

McKinney-Silver Report

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Stor

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Day One D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 D7 D8 D9 Day Ten D11 D12 D13 Day 14 D15 D1616 March 25 29

March

March

Day 17April 1st

D18 D19 Day 20April 4OfficialLaunch

Auto Show

In-gameAds

Story

Forums,Trail, Guide,Wikis, Blogs,RSS Feeds

Art of the H3ist Dissection: Launch

ARGNannounce

sites

Break-invideo

Print Ads in: Wired, Esquire,Robb Report, USA Today,The New Yorker…

Blogs: Kuro5hin, MetaFilter,GearLive, Museum of HoaxesPortaGame hughhewitt.com,dailykos, lockergnome, TheNew Yorker Times...

Day 22April 6

Stolen A3 Blog

RabbitHole

lockergnome, TheNew Yorker Times...

Print Ads in: Wired,Esquire, Robb Report,USA Today, The NewYorker…

NYC InternationalAutoShow

Art of the H3ist Dissection > POEsAudiUSA.commicrosite

Hardcore ARGplayers

51%

Atom Films,iFilm

Blogs: Kuro5hin,MetaFilter, GearLive,Museum of HoaxesPortaGamehughhewitt.com,dailykos,

Stolen A3Blog

Pivot Point

Nisha Robertsmovie

Trigger Point

Results:The Art of the H3eist

•More than 200,000 people became involved with the search for the stolen A3 in a single day. •Online buzz for the A3 grwe by more than four times as a growing number of consumers participated in the thriller. •Within the first few days of the campaign launch, seven fan sites were created, one of which includes a "Top 10 Reasons to Play Art of the Heist."

Lessons from The Art of the H3eist

Continually create components that refer new audiences to your Rabbit Hole;

Your Rabbit Hole needs to persist in this role; Have a pivot point & guide to the unfolding

experience; Use hardcore players as characters; Target & address hardcore & casual players; Mix up using everyday devices, immersive play

and linear narrative; Use a real-world performance ending.

The Pandemic

At the center of the PANDEMIC experience was a short film. The short tells the story of a young boy and his sister as they struggle to come to terms with the fact that their mother has fallen ill. The short premiered at the festival, on TV, via mobile and online outlets. It screened in the US Shorts section, one of 44 films out of over 6,000 entries. Later this year and into 2012 a series shorts will be shot in London, Berlin, Paris, Barcelona and Rome which expand the story world of PANDEMIC.

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MISSION CONTROL was a physical space designed to give the sense of a Center for Disease Control(CDC). It provided an overview of all the game play. All of its data visualizations were powered byparticipants game play. Real world and online actions impacted the pacing of the story world and alsounlocked hidden elements within the game.

www.lanceweiler.com @lanceweiler

Fifty NFC (near field communication) enabled Nexus S phones were circulated throughout the festival.Distributed in biohazard bags along with hand cranks to keep them charged - the phones were randomlypassed from one festival-goer to the next. When activated the phones presented a series of moralityquestions. Based on the userʼs response a simple task was presented – “shoot a photo with your eyesclosed.” Thousands of photos were taken over the 120 hours.


When the phones made their way back to MISSION CONTROL, users could set them on the MicrosoftSurface table located in the center of the room. As the phone rested on the Surface all the media thathad been shot with the phone would become accessible.


Hidden objects brought to MISSION CONTROL that touched the Mircosoft Surface table were ablemanipulate the walls of the room and impact the spread of the pandemic. For instance all the hiddenobjects had health properties that when found and touched to the Surface table would combat thepandemic and reduce the number of people infected.


A special room was created as a memorial to those who contracted the virus. Players discovered that eachperson is related to a GOLDEN OBJECT. The objects hold stories and memories that show how the peoplein the room know each other and provided insight into how the virus has spread socially.


Over 600 NFC tags are utilized making it the largest deployment at a public event to date. When scannedwith an NFC compatible device story elements are unlocked. For instance, holding a phone up to a“closed eye” portrait results in the “person” opening their eyes on the phone. This action symbolizes aconnection and unlocks a story about the person.


All fifty GOLDEN OBJECTS hold a story that provides insight into the victims of the pandemic. The level ofengagement between those online and those at the festival was amazing. During the course of the 120hour experience each phone passes on average at least twenty times per day. At points throughout the dayphone numbers of the fifty phones are released. This resulted in calls which connected those online withrandom strangers at the festival. Together they would work to get items to MISSION CONTROL.


Based on a theme within the story world related to memories and material possessions four specialBEARS were created. The BEARS moved throughout the festival. Each one is a connected toy with acamera in the stomach, an mp3 player in the arm and a slide viewer for an eye. The BEARS are alsodockable and can easily connect to a laptop or desktop.


As the 120 hour experience moves into the last day, the narrative of the story leads online and offlineplayers to a secret location at Sundance. In a seamless flow the narrative thread of the previous playmelds with a special secret show with world renowned DJ - Kid Koala.


The show with Kid Koala is streamed live for all the players of the game and the 120 hour experiencecomes to a close. Within the narrative of the story online players and those playing at the festival lead 33of the phones that had been in the wild for 5 days back to us.


Other Case StudiesCollapsus

http://vimeo.com/16961934http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxGkRUQK_I4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxGkRUQK_I4



Documents

CM2052: Transmedia Entertainment & Marketing