Social media, SEO, marketing and writingWriting, Transmedia Entertainment & Technology: A Video Medley
January 27th, 2011I was asked to be the guest speaker at Lynn Isenberg’s class, ‘Transmedia Entertainment and Technology,’ at Loyola Marymount College in Los Angeles on January 27, 2011. This is the outline of my talk on the role of writing in digital entertainment.
Intro
We live in an exciting age where the story and the teller are merging in a garden of forking paths. The audience is no longer a passive but an active participant in the content. New methods of communication and expression are being forged. And more and more it is the writer—the electric scribe of the Digital Age—who is leading the charge.
“I think there have been a lot of writers who over the past two generations have been trying to figure out how to break the confines of a book,” claims writer/designer/director Douglas Gayeton. “A book starts on page one and goes to the end. I think if those people were starting now, they would be doing interactive. Because, interactivity is all based upon the principle of nonlinear thought. And that is the way we think. I could talk to you and never finish a sentence—or finish an idea—because our minds are like that. And I think that’s why people have gravitated toward interactivity. Not because it’s a fad, but because it really captures the dimensionality of thought. That thought is not a linear process, it’s a multi-plane, multidimensional process. And a story that allows you to assimilate and capture the essence of how our thinking processes work is a tremendously fascinating and exciting thing.”
Jen Stein, team member on the USC Mobile and Environmental Media Lab, provides us a glimpse into the future of narratives, “Imagine you’re on your way to pick up your child from a rained out baseball game…and [because of sensors in your vehicle] your car now knows you’ve now picked up your kid. Since your plans got canceled, the car sees an opportunity to invite you and your family on a play mission. The real world becomes a giant gameboard…[yes, a real game] engaging with other people and cars while on the road.”
Samsel’s Story
If it’s true that your entire life flashes in front of your eyes the second before you die, here is what my personal life might look like. Created using Pummelvision using photos from my Facebook account.
Heardable’s First Screencast Story
I wrote a script for my company’s first screencast and submitted it to Voices.com to get voice over talent to audition for the role of narrator. I received about 50 submissions. Three voices out of the lot had the hip, yet intelligent sounding voice I was looking for. But only one actor injected a personal style and some bold ad libs that made me question the readiness of my script. Based on this one actor’s reading, I decided to rewrite my entire script with his voice in mind. I hired Mike O-Brian to record the narration, then I recorded the screenshots and assembled the video using Camtasia Studio 7. This is the end result.
Music + Animation = Short Film Story Without Dialogue
A touching retrospective of an old man’s life, based around the evocative imagery created by his piano playing. Story and animation by Aidan Gibbons. Music by Yann Tiersen.
Words + Spoken Voice = A Poetic Story
According to PoetryFoundation.org, “E. E. Cummings was among the most innovative of twentieth-century poets, experimenting with poetic form and language to create a distinct personal style. A Cummings poem is spare and precise, employing a few key words eccentrically placed on the page. Some of these words were invented by Cummings, often by combining two common words into a new synthesis. He also revised grammatical and linguistic rules to suit his own purposes, using such words as ‘if,’ ‘am,’ and ‘because’ as nouns, for example, or assigning his own private meanings to words. Love is the propelling force behind a great body of his poetry.”
75 Years of Writing: Ray Bradbury’s Story
Ray Bradbury is one of those rare individuals whose writing has changed the way people think. His more than five hundred published works — short stories, novels, plays, screenplays, television scripts, and verse — exemplifying imagination at its most creative.
Behavioral Experiments As Stories
Thefuntheory.com, an initiative of Volkswagon, wanted to see if they could get more people to take the stairs over the escalator by making it fun to do. Piano Staircase was one of several finalists out of hundreds of written concepts submitted.
Stop Animation Story
Writer/performers Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal set out to create something that had never been done before on YouTube: a stop-motion animation video with live actors…with the animation taking place on two T-shirts that interact with one another. T-Shirt War was the result. The team partnered with top-ranked YouTube veterans Billy Reid (aka verytasteful) and Joe Penna (aka mysteryguitarman) to produce their masterpiece.
Stop Animation as a 30-Second Commercial Story
Rhett & Link, a pair of novice writer/filmmakers, were discovered on YouTube by McDonalds and Coca-Cola who asked them to create a TV commercial for them based on T-Shirt War. So why did two of today’s biggest companies hitch their multi-billion dollar brands to a social video phenomenon? Consider it a calcuated risk designed to associate traditional commodities with the uber-hip and cool generation of tomorrow.
Websites As Stories
Some claim this is the most creative ‘website’ ever. Advertising agency, Boone Oakley, made clever use of YouTube annotations by creating an interactive video experience. It was actually their agency website embedded into YouTube across 50+ videos, the very first of its kind. With over 1 million views, this is possibly the most viewed agency site of all time. To cap it off, they won a Gold Lion at Cannes in 2010.
An Overview of Web 2.0: A Story Well Told
Professor Michael Wesch | Web 2.0… The Machine Is Us/ing Us. Video created four years ago that summed up the power and potential of Web 2.0 in a five minute presentation.
Customer Service FAIL Story
One of the first popular examples of how social media can bring a major brand like Comcast to its knees by highlighting their poor customer service to an online audience in the millions. Backstory: A Comcast technician came to replace a faulty modem. After spending an hour on hold with Comcast’s central office, he fell asleep on this person’s couch. It was all captured on film and uploaded to YouTube. If the video wasn’t shame enough, hundreds of writers and editors picked up the story and published commentaries about various ways that consumers were fighting back against companies that wrong them.
Social Journalist Weaves A Web of Intrigue
Supposedly a skier in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park found a roll of film in the snow, had the film developed, posted what he found on YouTube, then asked for the public’s help to recognize the people in the photos. Many say this is a hoax — but it’s a great story nonetheless. Over one million views on YouTube as of 1/26/11.
Classic TV News Crime Story
Antoine Dodson interviewed by NBC affiliate WAFF-48 News after the attempted rape of his sister Kelly Dodson - Huntsville, Alabama. TV channel broadcast reach: In the thousands.
Unconventional News Story Music Video
‘The Bed Intruder Song’ by the Gregory Brothers uses software called Auto-Tune to correct pitch in vocal and instrumental performances — and can even tune a mundane evening news video clip. The music video has been played over 85 million times on YouTube and reached #89 on Billboard’s Hot 100 list. As of September 2010, they had sold more than 100,000 copies of The Bed Intruder Song on iTunes, allowing Dodson to make enough money from the song to move his family out of the projects.
Brand Integration Into A Comedic Drama
Ikea Heights is a melodrama shot entirely in the Burbank California Ikea Store without the store knowing. Entertainment Weekly’s Whitney Pastorek said of the series, “[IKEA Heights] is so brilliant and awesome that its glories can really only be diminished by additional words.”
Corporate Song and Dance: A Musical, Sort Of
A dramatic coming of age tale about a big deal at a unique investment company by KassemG. Over 1.3 million views on YouTube so far.
Video Game Stories
A brief history of interactive writing in the gaming industry. Nice recap of the major issues spoken in a really fast, high pitched voice.
Hybrid Branded Fiction Alternate Reality Game
33 Keys was an alternate reality game that challenged players to immerse themselves in a real-life, sci-fi adventure for the chance to win a brand new 2010 Mazda3.
Ambient Storytelling for Vehicle-Driver Interaction
A USC project that attempts to deepen the relationship between driver and car by using aggregate sensor data, context and location sensing protocols, and social media feeds to develop a narrative “lifelog” for the vehicle and its driver. Test cinematic augmentations for the driving experience, including generative soundscapes, single- and multiplayer games, and driver-specific guided tours. Develop the character or identity of the vehicle by employing usage metrics and driver feedback to modulate the rate, style, and mode of vehicle-to-driver communications.
