Group Project Roles

The Transmedia Project: Roles

AGENDA:

Discussion of individual roles and responsibilities within the group:

Everyone should have a significant writing project--story line, character sketches, brochure, newspaper, journal, blog, script for movie trailer, diary entries, instructional manual, history of the town, family tree, etc.

Additional responsibilities MAY include visual material: maps, drawings, comic book, etc.

Multiple platforms need multiple experts in the making. “You’re not building a story. You’re building a universe” says Susan Bell to describe the numerous branches and interactions that need to be put together when producing a transmedia experience. Transmedia producers are responsible for building the team that will create the magic, mixing complementary skills and finding the right balance between extraordinary creativity (storytellers, game designers, story architects) and top notch execution (developers, community managers, planners, filmmakers, copywriters, etc.). How do you get them to work together and understand each other? How do you transfer the vision when the project goes from hands to hands? Good luck with that.

PLEASE POST WHAT EACH MEMBER OF YOUR GROUP IS WORKING ON.  IF SOMEONE IS NOT DOING A WRITING PROJECT, THEY SHOULD COME UP WITH ONE!  THE WRITING IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF YOUR GRADE!

Please read the following article and discuss it with your group.  Post your thoughts about the article here as a comment.

http://www.indiewire.com/article/here-are-the-5-things-that-make-a-good-transmedia-project

Creating the Franchise

Agenda:

Students visit website: http://convergenceishere.weebly.com/external-content.html

Discussion:

Students will map out the various roles needed for their storyworlds in "franchise" groups and assign responsibilities to each member of the group.

MultiGenres--What will you use?

Individually and in groups, students look over the following list of genres to determine what can be created to support their "storyworlds" in addition to using other media platforms. 

A Brief List of Genres:

• Journal Entries
• Personal Letter
• Greeting Card
• Schedule/Things to Do List
• Inner Monologue Representing Internal Conflicts
• Classified or Personal Ads
• Personal Essay or Philosophical Questions
• Top Ten List/Glossary or Dictionary
• Poetry
• Song Lyrics
• Autobiographical Essay
• Contest Entry Application
• Business Letter or Correspondence/Persuasive or Advocacy Letter
• Biographical Summary
• Critique of a Published Source
• Speech or Debate
• Historical Times Context Essay
• Textbook Article
• Science Article or Report/Business Article or Report
• Lesson Plan
• Encyclopedia Article
• Short Scene from a Play with Notes for Stage Directions
• Short Scene from a Movie with Notes for Camera Shots
• Dialogue of a Conversation among Two or More People
• Short Story
• Adventure Magazine Story
• Ghost Story
• Myth, Tall Tale, or Fairy Tale
• Talk Show Interview or Panel
• Recipe and Description of Traditional Holiday Events
• Classroom Discussion
• Character Analysis or Case Study
• Comedy Routine or Parody
• Liner Notes
• Picture book
• Chart or Diagram with Explanation and Analysis
• Brochure or Newsletter
• Time Line or Chain of Events
• Map with Explanation and Analysis
• Magazine or TV Advertisement or Infomercial
• Restaurant Description and Menu
• Travel Brochure Description
• How-To or Directions Booklet
• Receipts, Applications, Deeds, Budgets or Other Documents
• Wedding, Graduation or Special Event Invitation
• Birth Certificate
• Local News Report
• Pop-Up book
• Review and Poster for a Movie, Book, or TV Program
• Board Game or Trivial Pursuit with Answers and Rules
• Comic Strip or Graphic Novel excerpt
• Power Point Presentation
• Informational Video
• Web Site
• Future News Story
• Letter to the Editor
• Newspaper or Magazine Feature/Human Interest Story
• Obituary, Eulogy or Tribute
• News Program Story or Announcement
• Tabloid Article

View prezi:   https://prezi.com/vv-uf9k3u-3o/transmedia-storytelling-101-the-basics/

TED talks transmedia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX83qixD3Fo

https://transmediacommons.wordpress.com/resources/ted-talks-on-transmedia/

McGonnigal:
https://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world

StoryWorld Building

Agenda:

Transmedia Vocabulary

I-search and define the following terms:

multi-platform storytelling

interactive storytelling

cross-platform or cross media

deep media

cross-media

genre-mash

new media storytelling

immersive games

collaborative fiction

participatory media

storyworld or story universe

convergence culture

franchise

  Building a Storyworld

Students read blog http://transmediadigest.blogspot.com/2012/01/storyworlds-part-3.html

Ontology: Storyworlds

Ryan’s description of the contents of storyworlds (Ryan, 2011) provides a starting point for the development of a systematic structure for the narrative elements of transmedia narratives. Ryan identified the content of storyworlds as existents, settings, events, mental events, physical laws, and social laws (Ryan, 2011).
Chatman proposed a story structure that also contains events and existents (Chatman, 1978, p. 19), but their interrelationships differ from Ryan’s. In Chatman’s model, characters and setting are contained within the existents, while events are divided into kernels and satellites (Chatman, 1978, p. 19).
The development of a comprehensive and consistent structure for storyworlds is important for the future development of transmedia narratives. Ryan stated that ensuring stories involve the same existents, settings, and other characteristics of the storyworld and that the stories are mutually compatible will allow the development of multiple stories within the same storyworld (Ryan, 2011).
Using the same set of concepts identified by Ryan and Chapman – storyworlds, existents, events, settings, and stories – but reconfiguring the relationships between them slightly makes it possible to create a high level framework that easily accommodates the creation of multiple stories from within the same storyworld.
A few of the concepts offered by Ryan fall into categories lower down on the storyworld hierarchy, while mental events is a type of event. Physical and social laws fall within the concepts of mythos, topos, and ethos developed by Klastrup and Tosca. Klastrup and Tosca note that they specifically exclude events from the mythos of a storyworld (Klastrup & Tosca, 2011). This makes it logical to include events immediately below the storyworld in the hierarchy of elements, as Ryan has done.
Establishing the storyworld as the highest order category within the narrative design domain provides the foundation for a coherent structure with ample opportunity for expansion across the lower level concepts.

Concept map of the elements that comprise a storyworld (see handout):

• Storyworld: A storyworld is the structure within which all of the concepts, objects, entities, and relationships needed to construct a narrative exist. Properties of or elements contained within the storyworld are:
• Temporal Dimension: A temporal dimension is an inherent property of a storyworld and by extension is part of the existents, events, settings, and stories that are contained within that storyworld. This temporal dimension is called “storyworld time”.
• Genre: The genre for a storyworld defines the stylistic conventions for characters, roles, settings, events, and values that are used in the storyworld.
• Existents: The existents are either significant objects or characters. (Ryan, Storyworlds Across Media, 2011) Further details on these two concepts are developed in the section on the ontology of existents.
• Events: The events in a storyworld are the result of changes in the state of elements within the storyworld. Further details on events are developed in the section on the ontology of events.
• Settings: A storyworld’s settings serve as the backdrop against which a narrative occurs. Further details on settings are developed in the section on the ontology of settings.
• Story: A story emerges from the interrelationship of a storyworld’s existents, events, and settings.
• Show and discuss powerpoints:
  by Peter von Stackelberg:
   
  by Robert Pratten:
   
  Henry Jenkins:
• http://www.slideshare.net/thealchemists/transmedia-storytelling-7-myths-and-7-principles?related=1

Go over Booker's plots:  Which of Booker's plots would your group like to work on?  Any ideas?

Students prepare a storyworld bible for their projects.

Rules for a StoryWorld Bible

A successful storyworld bible acts as a kind of ‘rule book’ or ‘user manual’ for writers, directors, interactive designers, graphic designers and for any creative and technical contributor. It describes how and why the world works and gives them an understanding of that world. The bible needs to contain;

• LOCATIONS – the geography as well as the history and timeline of the place (town, city, castle, spaceship, country, world, universe) where the stories are set.
• STORIES – plot ideas and basic story outlines that exist within the storyworld. The timeline may also be expanded here in more detail.
• CHARACTERS – arcs, motivations, backstories, conflicts, profiles.
• THEME(S) – an idea about the underlying truth of the stories to be told, for example the theme could be about the meaning of life or the human condition.
• OVERVIEW – presented as diagrams, flowcharts and maps – visual aids to illustrate the storyworld and to show how it works.
• GAMES – any notes and ideas on what type of games and how they will work within the storyworld and what relevance they have to it.
• VISUALISATION – concept art, maps, GUI layouts, interaction flowcharts, colour palettes etc.
• TECHNICAL SPEC – any technical restrictions that may have an impact on the writing and production stages.

Transmedia Project!

Activity 1. But first, a little reflection on transmedia storytelling. View video.
Transmedia Storytelling

Essential Question: What is transmedia storytelling?

The term “transmedia storytelling” has been used synonymously with “transmedia narrative”. Henry Jenkins states that “transmedia storytelling represents a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience. Ideally, each medium makes its own unique contribution to the unfolding of the story.”

Working in small groups, students will research and read about transmedia storytelling. They will then create a"storyworld" and develop a transmedia project to be presented to the class.

Each transmedia project should contain a basic narrative expanded and explored with additional multi-generic "texts"and/or entry points across different media platforms which may include an element of interactivity

Activity 2: Go to the following websites and with a partner, develop a definition of transmedia.  Do these
"transmedia" experts agree or disagree about what transmedia is?

WHAT IS TRANSMEDIA?
Define the term "transmedia" as it is used by:
Henry Jenkins
(http://henryjenkins.org/2007/03/transmedia_storytelling_101.html)
Christy Dena (http://www.yousuckattransmedia.com/)
and Andrea Phillips
(http://www.deusexmachinatio.com/blog/2013/5/6/wtf-istransmedia-
2013.html).

Activity 3: Brainstorm Examples of Transmedia
With members of your group, brainstorm examples of transmedia
that you have been exposed to. Create a list on chart paper and
share out with the class. Share out to whole class.

VIDEO: https://www.provideocoalition.com/video-8-elements-of-transmedia/
HANDOUT: Elements of Transmedia Projects
HW: Think about possibilities for your group's transmedia project and roles.  Who will write?
Who will create a game?  Who will make a video? Who will create a blog? etc. 

Five elements of Transmedia Projects:

1. Does
   it have something to say?

It’s
not enough that you’ve got an idea that can be bounced around between
Facebook, an app, and a short film. Like any artistic endeavor, the
work has to communicate something potent and human, and it needs to
do so with a degree of originality that thrives upon the use of different
media rather than sublimating itself to them. 

2. Comedy
   is fine, but a joke is not worth chasing.

If you’re
creating a transmedia narrative that is simply an elaborate maze to
get to a punch line, forget it. Projects of this nature require work
on the part of the audience. The process of traversing one media platform
to the next is an interactive one, so you’d better make this worthwhile
for me.

3. Characters
   need to be compelling.

Digital
bells and whistles can be amusing, but good stories are marked by characters
that yearn, struggle, triumph or face defeat. Transmedia stories are
stories first. For some strange reason an inordinate amount of native
transmedia narratives that have hit the public eye in the past year
have been about douchebags: murders, amoral slackers, and (weirdly)
anti-technologists! Hook me with a good character that I actually like
or at least identify with, and I’ll follow her anywhere. 

4. Story
   elements that are self-contained but additive.

One of the
reasons transmedia is so remarkable is because it facilitates a type
of cubism, allowing for different perspectives on a narrative even while
the narrative is unfolding. The protagonist of the story does not have
to be the star of each piece of it on each medium. So you can examine
the story world through the eyes of different characters, or get the
omniscient perspective, and as a result everything can change about
how you perceive what is happening.

The most
brilliantly executed transmedia stories are also ones in which you can
enter the narrative from any of the media the piece was designed to
include. So if I’m introduced to your story through a comic book,
I’ll get a fairly complete experience, but then I’m led to an app
that shows me a different aspect of the story that is in itself complete,
but also significantly increases my appreciation for the narrative and
the overall story world. Then, maybe, I’m led to a short film that
actually shifts my perspective or interpretation of some of the characters
or the entire work. 

5. The
   work leverages the strengths of each medium it uses.

If you’re
just putting video on the web, that’s not very exciting. The web is
there to foster dialog, participation, it’s not television or a movie
theater. If you’re going to use a mobile phone as one of your storytelling
platforms, why not emphasize the user’s intimacy with the device.
Smart phones have become intensely personal items.

In short,
transmedia creators and producers would do well not to simply scatter
their stories across different media. They have to carefully consider
the features and strengths of the platform, and design the expression
of that aspect of the narrative to take best advantage of them. 

It’s also
important for creators to place within each expression of the story
a marker of some sort that will lead the audience to the next medium.
This can be done subtly, within the context of the story, but some aspect
of the interface will also need to more overtly tell us how to get to
the rest of the presentation. Fail to do that well, and you’re audience
(or as I prefer to call them, participants) won’t be able to enjoy
the complete work.