Transmedia Panel
November 7, 2012, Createasphere Entertainment Technology Expo, Burbank, CA—Fourth Wall Studios described their efforts in creating new types of content that crosses previous boundaries. The development of transmedia vehicles for programs requires more than just adding social media links.
Élan Lee noted that the entertainment industry is facing a host of issues. TV is in trouble as the live, same day, and three-day ratings continue to drop. Movies are seeing fewer dollars every year, and have been surpassed by games as an industry segment. Everyone is trying to go multi-platform, but very few seem to understand what multi-screen viewing really means.
Sean Stewart talked about an early effort to mix entertainment and other media. For the film “AI”, they started a website, made phone calls, and sent e-mails to science fiction readers before the movie opened. They built up an artificial character called Lenore Sulla to lead the efforts and posted her comments and Web trails everywhere. AI turned out to be awesome, but they found that a social media blitz made it hard to find out about the film. They had to open up the content to non-sci-fi people to get traction.
After AI, they did a cultural event for Microsoft, called “I Love Bees”. This was a 6-hour radio drama delivered in 2 minute chunks over pay phones. This effort drew a large part of a fringe element, but didn’t appeal to a mass audience.
Then they did a series on “Cathy’s Book” which tied in to a real book. Notes in the book and leads in other media posted a phone number to call with the notation to call this number if you found the book. The book trailer became book 2.0 and was one of the original transmedia properties. The drawback was that people had to get the book to find out what was going on. The book was a big barrier to entry for the project and connecting elements.
Next, came a project with Nine Inch Nails for their “Year Zero” album. This was a sound track to a non-existent movie that depicted a possible future. The 21st century storytelling involved many different aspects of media and social connections. All aspects of the album were a part of the story. The details included embedding phone numbers and images in the visual displays of the sound.
They put thermal ink on the CDs to show other hidden codes and features. The ink became visible after playing due to the heat in the CD drive. They even held a private concert for 50 of the top followers of the game. A problem is that some of the attendees figured out that this was another part of the promotion, and didn’t run when a SWAT team entered the building and rushed the fans. (See another analysis of this project at https://mandetech.com/2011/11/16/connected-immersion-in-games/ ) They learned that they have to make functions reproducible, repeatable, and immersive.
They made a lot of mistakes and learned many lessons about transmedia projects. Their latest works are for a series of webcasts that use a captive second screen that is synchronized to the main screen. They developed tools for this next-generation story telling that allows them to transfer video across screens and tie in other technologies, like cell phones. You can see the results of their efforts at http://rides.tv/
Jack Schiff-Adams mentioned that they had to develop the total process while working with a lot of video. The experience was a key part of the development efforts. The tools changed how they tell stories, with the main screen showing the main character and the second screen bleeding into real-life on phones. The equipment is state-of-the-art including SSDs, ProRes, etc.
Steve Peters talked about the experience design. The story has to be integrated into multiple platforms, and the various rights have to be managed to work together. The experience designer has to work with the script writers at the start to embed everything into the time-line for the various assets.
Behnan Karkassi stated that a script with transmedia content changes the design flow. For example, they have to record phone calls to match the scene sequences. They have to compress the video for other interfaces, and the other aspects like phone, e-mail, etc. all have to be scheduled into the production flow.
Schiff-Adams described the changes in storytelling that is encouraged by the use of tools to change the telling. These changes affect all levels of production and sometimes require the recreation of some segments for other inputs.
Karkassi noted that much of their work uses outside people for directing, DP, writing to generate new content. the director has to be a part of the writing, shot selection, etc for the whole transmedia vehicle to work.
Peters detailed one specific aspect of the production. viewers had to register on the site with a phone number and e-mail to connect to all of the pieces of the show. The phone became a local (to the user) prop and increased engagement.
Karkassi added that pop-ups and extra content became a part of the viewing experience. They experimented with more ideas for content management systems and interfaces. Extra efforts for clearances and rights were needed to get all the permissions in place.
Peters noted that they had to change some of the story elements and are still concerned by what tot clear or not. Part of this depended on the promo partners since creators, partners, brands etc. are all needed for the productions.
Stewart admitted that content is important and the various genres call for different technologies. At present, there is no technology for techno-thrillers. As a result, they focus on drama and romantic comedy. So you have to think of the phone as a different channel where the dead can live, etc. The phone can present the thoughts of the person on the screen.
Peters observed that “Annie Hall” showed how to get inside a character’s head. Now the tools are much better, so adding new tools like a phone in the hands of the viewer provides new capabilities.
Karkassi stated that integrating brands into the market instead of the at the script steps is something they are considering. They have no big TV campaigns yet, but the mixture of social, PR, some ads, and Facebook promos is intriguing and will lead to greatly enhanced stories.
Stewart noted that one way to reach people is to go where they are. The head of production at McCann-Ericson, who made shows like “I Love Lucy” spent a lot on combining audience, sponsors, and the show to enhance the stories.
Karkassi suggested that some of their metrics show significant differences in viewers. When the show has other elements, viewers spend 20 percent longer than the show run time with the sites. In comparison, the average YouTube viewer spends 29 percent of the run time viewing. They get their increased viewing time by using a TV type format, with 11 minute segments. The content establishes the length.
Lee explained their business model as partners, creative tools that let others tell their stories, all through video content on the Web. They use pre- and post-roll ads, license content, and have portal for user-generated content.
Peters commented that all content is free to view. Audience development and acquisition comes from creating great content.
Karkassi added that part of the growth depends upon developing more distribution channels. They will partner with Yahoo for a VoD in the future, and are looking at international distribution channels for more growth.
Peters noted that content interactive is an interesting choice of words. It is not the same as getting to choose your adventure, which creates a nightmare for production. You still need to tell a story and see it to completion. The viewer can participate in the action, but cannot change the ending.
Steward compared this to video games, where your actions can lead to different paths. It is possible to create multiple paths in video, but the exponentially increasing branches will give two times the product for half of the audience for each branch.
Schiff-Adams offered that you still can do some choices, but it’s a question of how to engage the audience. When you branch, then you have to do another story.
Peters stated that a good interactive vehicle will draw people deeper into the story.
