TEDx Transmedia: Cut to POV8

Well it was a great few days in Geneva. An interesting city with intimate atmosphere and curious minds at the conference.

> A summary of the bits that gave me ponder…

on the technicals

Alison Norrington spoke about the lifespan of created characters.

If you create characters and worlds online you are going to lose control of them. Accept that as part of the transmedia process, but also be aware you can control what you lose control of.

Discussed later were ARGs and interactive stories that come with pages of instructions. With years in web design considering usability this is a bugbear of mine. You really shouldn’t have to learn how to play an ARG or take in a story. Imagine if each PS3 game came with a new controller…. Fun at first, but just annoying after a while.

Dan Hon touched on this too, saying some games are too close to work and and too far from free play; I think the UX design of a game or transmedia story speaks entirely to this; Designer and story teller need to work together early on in the process to fuse narratives into intuitive, responsive and engaging experiences.

Ian Ginn spoke to the practicalities of facilitating change within organisations. He explained the people who could help move companies into these interactive areas, probably already worked for them.

Enable your misfits!

I liked that a lot. He referred to the permeable story – a phrase I had not heard before, and also enjoyed.

Christy Dena‘s talk was full of gifts, not least these two…

Existing platforms are essentially fixed: TV, is TV, the cinema is the cinema, a book is a book…

My reading of this is that a combination of platforms can have a far reach for transmedia stories when used the right way. This doesn’t mean you can’t experiment with them, but perhaps ultimately their collective native ways can provide a deeper engagement.

The choice of platform belongs to the recipient.

The more I unpack that, especially as a designer, the more golden the insight becomes. As well as being an extremely useful thing to bear in mind when structuring stories it says that it is up to each individual what tools they use to understand the world. In short: Reality is personal.

Combine those two statements and you have [a] foundation for interactive story architecture.

Simon Harrop comes from the marketing industry, producing installations and research on the five senses: ’5D’. He discussed a study which revealed that the brain of a person reading data on a piece of paper comes to life. The same piece of data on the screen has much less of an affect. He talked of love being the only real story and a procession of engagement that transmedia creators could make use of:

The Ladder of Intimacy

1. see
2. hear
3. touch
4. smell
5. taste

on the passion

Dan Hon has been playing ARGs for a long auld time and there were two key screens in his talk. You’ll have to catch the video sorry – I wasn’t quick enough to take a snap, but one was a list of devices and methods he is sick of seeing and one was for what he would like to see next. Finally though, this expression.

Rather than continually make transmedia for the scifi and fantasy audience, what if someone made experiences for this kind of film

..and he showed a poster for the move “Amelie“. This has given me pause to look again at my own short character piece and rather than treat it as ‘just’ a short film, think about how I can extend its storyworld. Cheers.

Christopher Sandberg‘s projects were all completely and utterly wonderful in scope and scale. Maybe one day I will have time to commit to one of The Company P’s events.

[Actual] Humans make good drama

and the invitation he gives to potential participants.

Lend us your body and we will fill it with new and fantastic things

Utterly fabulous calls to the unconverted.

Jeff Gomez used his Kikaider story to talk openly of a painful past. Outlining his childhood and speaking of dark places, he revealed how story literally saved him: At his lowest point…

It told me I was failing in my life’s obligations.

Stephen Dinehart was first though to really personally open up. He eloquently shared a raw piece of his soul that believes classical story combined with this art form can empower and enrich people’s lives; and to facilitate that is his responsibility.

Eventually he said this, meant it, and secretly I have always hoped for it too.

Good design makes a good world, better design makes a better world.

http://www.transmediator.net/?p=301 – a nice piece with detailed extracts from the talk.

and finally, on drawing lines in the sand.

Perhaps I am projecting. I don’t know if this was planned collectively or just expressed individually but either way the Professionals clearly felt this was a place for some lines to be drawn. Ideological lines to Dare the audience (broadcasters, practitioners and marketeers) to use transmedia for good. A warning that we could pollute any future Gesamtkunstwerk.

Dan Hon raised the issue of ‘antipatterns’ and a desire by commercial interests to foster addiction in games. All the long term practitioners pleaded for quality and real value for audiences.

Is there a war of good and evil coming in the transmedia landscape? Artists will endeavor to feed people’s souls with immersive experiences while industry drains them to preserve business models and bad guys rise utilise it to sustain an old world? Broadcast is losing generations in waves and transmedia could be their bridge to the future if they are smart enough to walk it.

Worth sharing from Jeff Gomez

Beware of pseudo-facts conveyed through transmedia by fundamentalists

Transmedia can be rigged to give you what you want. Only people can give you what you need.

and

Teach people to question their realities

Keep me human with your work.

Will story stop the noise?