Week 11 hits and all of a sudden the pressure mounts and the stress begins.  It doesn’t help that our photo shoot with Connor fell through on Thursday either.  But a good team is able to work around issues together and revert to Plan B, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.  Kylie is putting her photography and editing skills to good use and attempt to Photoshop Connor into the background of pre-existing party photos, after Kevin instead took some shots of him in front of a green screen yesterday.  Kylie picked out which photos she would include Connor in, and sketched the positions and angles he should be in, with Kevin replicating her list in front of the screen.

(UPDATE:  Here’s the first few examples Kylie has produced.  I think they look fantastic, and likely have turned out better than our original plan to create a fake party with guests)

My news articles are taking shape, and I’ve decided to use a fake newspaper generator to display my articles with.  Although they look great, the generator does raise a few problems.  Once created, the article is downloaded and saved as an image file.  This means that the articles will not be able to include direct hyperlinks to our other online platforms, as originally planned.  To work around this, I will need to instead change my writing style and rather than link directly to other platforms, subtly ‘namedrop’ each elements into the two planned articles; one which takes place the day after the murders where few details are known, and a follow-up piece that will be released a few days later, confirming more details.  The other problem I face is a strict character count for the generator, so my articles will need to be clear and concise, yet still provide all necessary details.

Progress is still on track, but we need to keep pushing through to have all the content uploaded in ‘real time’ as planned, to match with our event which takes place in the coming days, so next week will be pretty intense.

Although it seems to have been another slow week for the progress of ‘CONNOR’, I think we’ve actually achieved more than I originally felt.  Thomas has sent us his first couple of vlogs, which have been uploaded to his account, which can be found here.  Each of us are in the process of creating five fake Facebook accounts, though this is much more time consuming that I originally believed, as an accompanying email address having to also be linked with each account.  After 2 accounts have been created, both Facebook and Gmail bar you from creating further accounts within the space of 24 hours, so there’s still more work to be done there.

My role for the project is to create interactive news articles that will serve to quite literally link our project together for audiences, and although these will be the final element of the project to be posted, I need to begin researching how they can be presented.  After testing out Wix as a potential platform, I strongly believe it will not look credible enough to pass as a professional news page, and will need to source another option…

Tiana’s diary is coming along nicely, and already she has filled a large number of pages.  Next week’s tasks will include completing all the Facebook accounts, and meeting with Thomas at a public location yet to be determined in order to take pictures of him that will be used for the party photo album.  We’ll probably need to find some party revellers too…

Our transmedia projects took a small break this week, as we took time to more closely examine the week’s complex set reading: Signs, Systems and Complexity of Transmedia Storytelling by Renira Gambarato.  Taking the time in class to unpack the piece once more was highly beneficial, and like most of the denser readings, after breaking it down, it became a lot easier to understand – except perhaps for Gambarato’s use of algebra to explain one of his theories.

However, Gambarato’s reading and the relevance it had with our transmedia project quickly became clear, as he describes transmedia story as being seen as a “super system composed of nested systems”, where the system is the story.  The unfolding of elements and discovery of content is what is important to successful transmedia storytelling.  If these elements do not add to the story, then they are rendered unnecessary.  Gambarato continues, elaborating Henry Jenkins’ concept of ‘performance’, explaining how both interactivity and participation are key elements in order to gain a relationship with an audience.  The narrative likely aims to bring together an audience who share common interests and goals, to greater encourage the need between the participants to interact with the story.

In many ways, Gambarato’s journal article reinforces many of Troy Innocent’s pointers from last week’s lecture, and will again inspire more discussion from our group as we discuss this ‘reward’ we need to ensure we provide our audience with.

Though this week has seen little tangible progress for our transmedia project ‘CONNOR’, our group had some highly productive planning sessions in class, finalising all media platforms our story will utilise, and the stories they will individually tell.  With the short films officially scrapped, we have each assigned ourselves one of the remaining platforms to focus our efforts on.

Connor’s private diary will be maintained by Tiana, and along with written diary entries, will include pictures, drawings and other scrapbooked items to establish Connor’s heightening psychosis.  The diary will be the most personal artefact, displaying Connor’s deepest and darkest thoughts; intended to be kept forever private.  Using both Elliot Rodger’s 140 page manifesto ‘My Twisted World’ and the literary experiment “S.” written by Doug Dorst and conceived by J.J. Abrams as inspiration, the diary will be our only physical artefact.

Mia will be scriptwriter for Connor’s YouTube Vlogs.  This is our actor Thomas’ opportunity to breathe life into the character of Connor, who in turn will be putting on a performance for his intended audience, and are therefore not as open and honest as his diary’s entries.  The vlogs will be uploaded in the coming weeks to a YouTube account Mia created for Connor, spaced between now and the night before the fateful party.

A Facebook Event and Photo Album will be created, including approximately 25 fake Facebook accounts, so that we may contribute to one another’s pages, each of us taking part to build a convincing social network.  Kylie will be in charge of creating photos for the album, which will be taken at the party Connor attends uninvited and executes his murders.  At this stage it is unclear whether we will organise our own event and have Thomas lurking in the background of certain images, or whether we can Photoshop him into pre-existing images.

My designated role is to create some written news articles, which we hope will not only conclude and tie together the narrative, but also directly mention the other platforms as clues for audiences to explore.  In this way, the articles can be used as both a starting point, and a conclusion to our narrative.  At this time, I’m not yet sure how I will present the articles.  The plan is to have them uploaded to a faux news website, although I doubt both the believability of the webpage, and my website creation skills.

Obviously, in creating these elements independently, we will need to ensure we communicate efficiently between group members, so that the coherency of our characters, narrative and timeline remain consistent.  I’m excited to see Thomas’ first video he is due to film later this week, so no doubt there will be some more progress and change of thought patterns next week.

Our project brief for assessment task four of The Story Lab is to create a media object that relates a narrative across multiple platforms.  We have chosen to base our narrative around a combination of an ongoing real life news story and a fictional anecdote linked by a common theme.

Our project, simply titled Connor, depicts the social and mental struggles of a young man who doesn’t seem to fit in with the world around him.  Feeling outcast by his peers and neglected by his family, Connor decides he can’t take any more and meticulously prepares a violent end to those ignorant enough to ignore his presence at his classmates’ house party he was not invited to.  The character draws inspiration from Elliot Rodger, who committed the 2014 Isla Vista killings, taking the lives of 7 people and injuring 14 others, blaming his attack over “childhood [problems], family conflicts, frustration over not being able to find a girlfriend, his hatred of women and his contempt for racial minorities and interracial couples”.

Our narrative will take place across five different platforms of media each allowing a different type and degree of interaction by audiences.  The five platforms are a film mini-series (or webisodes), YouTube video blogs, a Facebook party event and photo album, faux news articles, and a tangible personal diary.  Each platform will be directly linked to at least one other artefact, though not all are necessary to experience in order to gain a significant understanding of Connor’s plight.

Although our narrative has a distinctive timeline, where audiences will pick up the tale will vary.  This is because the links to the different platforms are non-linear and thus, unlikely to be discovered in the “correct” order.   For the sake of describing the artefacts however, I’ll describe each piece in chronological order.

The story will pick up with the mini-series, though these will not be from the perspective of Connor himself.  Instead, the planned three short films will explore the interactions between Connor and other members in his life, including his mother, his neighbour, and class mates.  The episode with his mother will uncover Connor’s private diary, his neighbour will observe Connor filming his vlogs late at night, and the school episode will uncover details of the party Connor has been excluded from.

Connor’s diary will illustrate the most in-depth look into the damaged psyche of a soon-to-be murderer, and include a collage of facts and details he has collected over time to plot his retribution.  The diary’s presentation will draw inspiration from the literary experiment “S.” written by Doug Dorst and conceived by J.J. Abrams, which includes postcards, handwritten letter, maps and photocopied articles to provide evidence and clues to the wider narrative.

The vlogs Connor records are also highly personal, but more theatrical and ambiguous than what is depicted in his diary.  The vlogs will be shot on a laptop camera and will be uploaded to YouTube on Connor’s account.  His performance is intended to demonstrate Connor’s odd personality, as though he intends for his classmates to view them and justify their estranged thoughts of him before he exacts his revenge.

Like the YouTube videos, the Facebook event page and accompanying photo album will be uploaded in real time, with audiences having received hints to the dates and details of the occasion in the films, vlogs and diary.  The photo album will unknowingly display Connor’s deceased victims, with the party members assuming their friends are simply intoxicated and passed out, though comments from the event’s attendees over time will lead audiences to believe otherwise.  The decision to upload the photos in “real time” circumvents the issue of people uploading photos of people the morning after, in which time they would surely have learned of their deaths.

Finally, the narrative will be tied together by two news articles, which will also be uploaded in the correct “elapsed” amount of time.  The first article will simply detail the case of the bodies found following the house party, but provide little details.  In this way, this article could prove a useful starting point for audiences to discover the project’s narrative and have to work backwards to find all the details.  The second article, published approximately one week later, will provide audiences with all the answers as to “whodunnit”, including direct links back to Connor’s vlogs, Facebook event, and interviews with his fellow peers.

The roles and responsibilities in order to achieve this project will be divided evenly across all members of our group, according to each member’s individual set of skills and interests.  I would like to assume the task of creating the online news articles, although I will likely need help from other members in creating the webpage.

This week in The Story Lab, our project team began preparations for our presenting our project pitch to a panel of four ‘potential investors’ and the rest of the class.  In particular, it was a really interesting experience to get to hear the other groups in the class present their ideas, even though many of the ideas, including ours, are still in the prototype drafting stage.  It quickly became clear that each different group had put together a vastly different idea, with both unique narratives and ways in which their stories would be told.  In particular, I both enjoyed and was gravitated towards the projects Dodging the Bullet, a narrative about the disappearance of a girl after involving herself in an online relationship, and Protest of Passion, a faux political campaign.

As one of the later groups to present, I thought our group presentation was sound, however potentially did not clearly translate and explain itself to the audience quite enough.  Feedback from the panel seemed positive, our narrative and inspiration intrigued and interested the panel, however it was suggested by a few members that maybe we have bitten off more than we can chew, in terms of how many platforms we are planning to relay the story across.  Upon later discussions with the group in regards to the feedback, we have decided to abandon the idea of the short films, as not only were they to be the most time consuming, but also were not as relevant in telling Connor’s story, as they were from an outside perspective.  The short films also did not fit with the ‘realism’ of the project, and would be jarring to the narrative and to audiences when ‘pushing off’ between a fictional film, to a more realistic platform, such as Facebook and YouTube.

After a few short weeks of identifying narrative techniques and cross-platform storytelling, this week sees the first real commencement of our own transmedia project, which is titled ‘CONNOR’.  Kylie and I ran auditions for the title role of Connor; an outsider who is bullied and excluded throughout his schooling, although he brings much of this upon himself.  Connor’s character is arrogant and narcissistic, which only helps to further his segregation from his peers.  He is also highly misogynistic, blaming girls for dating ‘immature’ and ‘unintelligent’ jocks over himself.  Both the character and narrative draw from the murders committed by American teen Elliot Rodgers; though we hope that our way of communicating Connor’s plight to audiences will the unique factor.  The aim is for our narrative to spill into the real world in real time as the story unfolds, largely via the use of social media, including Connor’s own YouTube vlogs, and a Facebook Event that will include a photo album from the night Connor decides to claim his retribution.  Other platforms we plan to include are three short films, from the perspective of those around Connor, a highly personal private diary of Connor’s, that will build to the eventual murders Connor will commit, as well as a series of news articles, which will be used to direct audiences through the narrative.

In particular, two actors who auditioned for the role of Connor stood out; their names were Nero and Thomas.  Both actors were highly impressive in their improvised performance, which was recorded in the style of a YouTube Vlog.  Both actors had clearly done their research on our narrative, both drawing the connection between Connor and Rodgers, without being prompted.   It will doubtless be an incredibly tough decision to make, and as a group, we will re-watch the audition tapes before making a final judgement.

In class, we had a guest lecture from Dr. Troy Innocent, a world builder, iconographer and transmedia artist.  Though his projects he discussed were on a larger scale than our projects could possibly ever hope to achieve, Troy stressed that the audience needed a reward for completing and participating in our projects.  Obviously, with our projects being extremely low budget, this reward would not be a physical one; rather we need to provide our audiences with a sense of self-satisfaction once they find each interlocking narrative platform.  To me, this means that our narrative should not be a complete one, therefore allowing audiences to piece the story together for themselves, so that not only will it prove satisfactory, but also hopefully help in keeping them actively engaged throughout the entire work.

Reflect on your experience of presenting your research, and note anything you learnt from the presentations of others. 

As for my own presentation, I don’t have much to say, other than that I was unexpectedly chosen first, so I definitely wasn’t as clear and succinct in the description of my essay as I would have liked.  I undoubtedly benefited more from listening to the findings and thought processes of others, particularly those who also chose to base their research on the transmedia viral marketing campaign of The Dark Knight.

As discussed in my Week 3 blog post (which I’ve since amended to reflect this revelation), originally I doubted the ‘narrative relevance’ the campaign had on the film itself.  I believed that while mock articles in The Gotham Times, which are filled with “Easter eggs” and direct references to Nolan’s The Dark Knight universe, the Bat Signal being projecting over a city as the ‘Citizens of Batman’ gathered below was simply a marketing ploy for the then upcoming film. And while bonus scenes of a news bulletin on a Gotham television network featuring a press conference with Harvey Dent actor Aaron Eckhart which became viewable to fans could easily slip into the universe’s canon, ordinary citizens of the real world rallying for the “I Believe In Harvey Dent” cause, was not.

However, my perspective was completely changed (and indeed as was my entire outlook for my essay’s argument) when my fellow classmate Mollie presented her findings, in which she explained how one of the first scenes in The Dark Knight involves Gotham City residents dressed as Batman, trying to take down Scarecrow before the real Batman intervenes.  This is synonymous with the final act of the film’s advertising campaign, where the ‘Citizens of Batman’ gathered in city streets beneath the Bat Signal.  At the same time, the rallies that had been conducted in real life, supporting Harvey Dent as Gotham’s new District Attorney also directly coincides with the film, as we learn Harvey has recently been elected for the role.  She argued that in this way, the promotional campaign for the film could even be seen as a prequel itself for the film, taking place between the events of 2005’s Batman Begins, and The Dark Knight sequel three years later.

For the final 50-100 words, provide your new understanding/philosophy of what story is, based on your research.

While the definition of story still remains, it is evident from The Story Lab course that the many ways in which story can be told is vastly underrated and often given little thought by audiences, though it appears this is rapidly changing by ways of new technologies which allow audiences to interact differently by engaging directly with narrative.  Story is not limited to a book or a song; instead the smallest or most complex narrative can be found in the world around us – it just needs an author.

Go back over your notes from the screening, and think about the following:

How is the character configured in each of the separate artefacts? i.e. Captain America: The First Avenger (2011 feature film), One-Shot: Agent Carter (short film), Marvel’s Agent Carter (TV show)

Peggy Carter goes from being a secondary protagonist and love interest of Captain America in Captain America: The First Avenger, to being the title character and titular heroine in her own Marvel One-Shot and television series of the same name.  Interestingly however, it is neither her character, traits nor personality that changes as Carter undergoes this transformation; rather it is her role itself that alters.

Hero’s journey – in what ways does Peggy Carter’s story adhere to Campbell’s notion of the hero’s journey? How does Carter’s story differ, and why?

Each element of the ‘Carterverse’ closely follows Joseph Campbell’s monomyth of The Hero’s Journey (although Carter is not the primary antagonist of Captain America: The First Avenger).  In fact, arguably the narrative of every single Marvel artefact (and a large majority of other superhero and action films) follows this deceivingly rigid structure, which almost always predictably leads to the hero saving the day, despite much adversity and almost succumbing to defeat.  Agent Carter’s story arc throughout the course of the first season of the television series however does vary slightly in structure from Campbell’s Seventeen Stages, each individual episode following a more condensed version of events, while an overarching narrative across all episodes simultaneously takes place.  It is important to note that Campbell’s notion of The Hero is largely considered to be male, and thus Peggy’s determination and unshakable ideals make her much less of a flawed heroine than her male counterparts, allowing her to bypass many obstacles where men would stumble.

Pushing off points both in the ‘Carterverse’, but also in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)

• Captain America: The First Avenger (2011 feature film)

1. Howard Stark: inventor, engineer, businessman and founder of Stark Industries. Stark was instrumental in the SSR’s ‘Project Rebirth’ that Steve Rodgers undergoes in order to become the U.S. Army’s first super soldier, successfully transforming the scrawny Rodgers into the muscular Captain America.  Stark designs a prototype Vibranium shield, which becomes Rodger’s trademark as Captain America.  Stark, Cap and Peggy later team up to infiltrate a HYDRA base.  Howard is the father of Tony Stark, who later becomes Iron Man and along with Captain America will become founding members of The Avengers.

• One-Shot: Agent Carter (short film)

1. The Agent Carter short film served as a sequel to Captain America: The First Avenger, focusing on Peggy Carter’s career with the SSR following the apparent death of Steve Rodgers. After the release of Marvel’s Agent Carter TV series in January 2015, some minor continuity errors have been raised within the short film, which appears to take place after the season finale of Marvel’s Agent Carter.  With the announcement that Agent Carter would receive a second series set to air in 2016, these errors could easily both be ‘corrected’, or ignored completely and wipe the One-Shot from the MCU timeline altogether (a decision that has not been made of any other project in the MCU to date).

• Marvel’s Agent Carter (TV Series)

1. Howard Stark is framed after one of his deadliest weapons is unleashed and enlists the help of Peggy Carter in an attempt to clear him name. The prospect of Stark’s technology falling into the wrong hands directly mirrors the accusations Howard’s son will face in his own feature films.
2. Ivan Vanko is a Stark employee Howard consults in Agent Carter’s pilot episode. Notably, he is the father to Anton Vanko, who is the main antagonist in Iron Man 2.  3.
3. The Roxxon Motor Oil company has appeared across many platforms of the MCU; and is a known front for nefarious criminal activities in Marvel Comics. In Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. their subsidiaries are behind the Deathlok technology, they appear briefly in the Iron Man films, and the One-Shot A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer takes place at a Roxxon gas station.  The example of Roxxon shows just how quickly (or slowly) a character or entity can be swung from lurking in the shadows to quickly being the foreground of a plot line.4.
4. Edwin Jarvis is Howard Stark’s butler and a major ally to Peggy throughout the series, though audiences will immediately recognise him as the source of inspiration behind Tony Stark’s AI also known as JARVIS.
5. The season introduces the Red Room and the origins of the Black Widow program, which will eventually produce Natasha Romanoff; a time she was forced to remember whilst under the spell of Scarlett Witch in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Captain America: Civil War will mark the fifth time Scarlett Johansson has portrayed the character in films across the MCU (without starring in a title film of her own).
6. In true Marvel fashion, a post credits scene after the season finale reveals the surviving antagonist of Captain America: The First Avenger, Arnim Zola as he approaches the antagonist of Marvel’s Agent Carter, Dr. Faustus, who has the ability of mind control, in order to form the Hydra-led Winter Soldier program, as introduced in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The program is used by Hydra to turn Steve Rodger’s thought-to-be-deceased friend, James “Bucky” Barnes, against him.

Gender roles – think of representations of women in other platforms, stories, universes. What tropes, conventions, stereotypes, are plugged into? What does the MCU do differently? How are those conventions subverted?

Peggy Carter makes her first appearance in the MCU in Captain America: The First Avenger.  Despite becoming the love interest of Steve Rodgers, Carter is far from the stereotype “damsel in distress”, rather a trained fighter who is very much his equal.  Her position as a commanding officer during the war is reflective of her authority and ambition, obviously having overcome immeasurable odds to achieve such a feat in the male-dominated world of the time, where despite becoming more commonplace in the workforce, many women struggled to find a place outside of the home.

Hayley Atwell, who portrays Peggy in the MCU stated, “I likened her character to that famous Ginger Rogers quote; she can do everything Captain America can do, but backwards and in high heels.  She’s an English soldier through and through, although she always looks fabulous.  She might stand there with a machine-gun shooting Nazis, but she’s obviously gone to the loo beforehand and applied a bit of lipstick.”

Director of the Agent Carter Marvel One-Shot short film, Louis D’Esposito explains “I think that’s the essence of what she’s about…  Not only is she – especially in that time – a woman in a man’s world, she still maintains her femininity, and I think that’s what’s cool about her”.

Atwell stated that throughout Marvel’s Agent Carter “she’s grieving the loss of [Steve] but she’s also determined to make sure that his work wasn’t in vain. That gives her a tremendous amount of determination to carry on despite the obstacles that she comes across.”

Think about the way this would have been planned – both as part of the MCU, but also in terms of character

Though a part of the original Marvel Comics, Peggy Carter’s role and story has been greatly expanded and added to across the various media platforms of the MCU.  The idea of creating Peggy Carter as a standalone protagonist (at least as ‘standalone’ as a character can be in the Marvel Cinematic Universe) to star in her own short film and television series, likely arose from Marvel’s evident lack of strong, independent female heroines; Black Widow the only exception at the time, who is unlikely to ever produce a solo film of her own, with the character’s seeming dependence and numerous relationship ties with her male team members even being criticised by Avengers actors Chris Evans and Jeremy Renner, branding her as a ‘slut’.

Look up budgets, development, see how it was all put together

A Marvel One-Shot featuring Peggy Carter had been in the works for some time before Hayley Atwell even signed on to star in it.  With the period setting of Captain America: The First Avenger, the film was a more ambitious production than previous One-Shots, with additional action scenes and further visual effects required than previously, along with several other characters from Marvel Cinematic Universe films also set to appear.  This saw the short film’s budget stretch to double that of the previous One-Shot, Item 47, however, because the short was received so positively by fans and critics alike, ABC quickly ordered the television series expansion, which began airing in January 2015.

Questions to consider when researching the viral campaign for The Dark Knight (2008)…

What is the ‘narrative’ of the campaign?

Perhaps the most pioneering example of a film-related viral marketing campaign came from Christopher Nolan’s 2008 superhero film, The Dark Knight (United States), which served as the sequel to his first adaptation of the beloved DC Comics character in 2005’s Batman Begins (United States).  The  promotion was designed as a 360 degree, fully formed alternate reality experience that played out over 15 months leading up to the release of The Dark Knight.  Spilling out over a multitude of different platforms, this deep immersive campaign recruited the audience to become real citizens of Gotham City with an integrated campaign where every element worked together to create a seamless experience, through a various number of “touch points”.  The campaign was launched in May 2007, by Alternate Reality Branding Company 42 Entertainment.  The project, titled “Why So Serious?” included the first official reveal that both The Joker and Harvey Dent would be making their returns to the big screen, taking fans all over the world by storm.

What role does the audience play?

As the campaign rapidly gathered traction, more than 10 million people became a part of a real world Gotham City.  Dozens more websites were found that built a living, breathing city, with extra devoted fans being distributed special collectibles and physical mock newspapers of The Gotham Times, a full newspaper detailing crime and corruption in the city, revealing small details about the upcoming film.  Text messages, voice calls and puzzles also were sent out to mobile phones, connecting players directly to the major characters.

Organised live events gathered participants together, unleashing Gotham City onto real city streets.  At the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con, players gathered to take their first orders from The Joker.  Working with others online, they scavenged for clues, hitting the streets dressed as their leader, as Gotham City began to spill out into the real world.  Players known as Joker Henchmen who submitted photos in costume were mailed further copies of The Gotham Times.  Clues in the articles led participants to the address of real life bakeries, of which players were able to collect Birthday cakes, with a hidden package baked inside; a mobile phone to keep in constant contact with the world of Gotham City.

Following the sudden and tragic death of Heath Ledger in January 2008, the campaign’s promotional focus was adjusted to concentrate on the character of Harvey Dent.  Harvey Dent contacted players by phone and email and asked them to show their support.  The response was overwhelming.  In March 2008, Harvey Dent’s fictional campaign informed fans that actual campaign buses nicknamed ‘Dentmobiles’ would tour 33 cities across America to promote Dent’s candidacy for District Attorney.  Citizens took to the streets, marched, protested, rallied, screamed and chanted.  The immersive marketing campaign was reaching a critical mass.  Participants were at last rewarded with an exclusive trailer for the film for their efforts, before finally, during the week of film’s premiere, hundreds dressed as Batman and gathered in downtown New York City, to witness The Bat Signal projected onto the side of a building.

How was the idea of the ‘remix’ and the ‘database’ employed here?

Like almost every other film based in a pre-existing universe, and in particular superhero films, not only does The Dark Knight draw almost all of its characters from the Batman canon, but also utilises various plot lines from the original comic book stories, such as Batman: The Long Halloween, The Joker’s Five-Way Revenge, and Batman: The Killing Joke.  As such, many may see the film as far from being original, and perhaps little more than a variation of what had already come before; simply, a ‘remix’.  This potentially inspired the film’s creative minds to give audiences an experience like they had never had before in the world of Batman, leading to the creation of the interactive advertising campaign.  This campaign follows the same criteria as a ‘database’, in which audiences must “uncover [the] underlying logic” of each piece of the campaign, decrypting an algorithm to derive the narrative from these segmented pieces.  Manovich describes the database as a world which is “represent[ed]… as a list of items and… refuses to order this list”, and as such audiences are left to establish the connections between each piece.

 Make a list of as many artefacts/objects/’bits’ of the campaign as you can.

• Multitude websites establishing the world of Gotham City, including a faux political campaign for Harvey Dent as District Attorney.
• Posters for Harvey Dent that were later vandalised, teasing both the character of The Joker, and Harvey’s eventual transformation into the villain Two-Face.
• Private emails teasing upcoming events and the film’s release.
• Special collectibles and mock The Gotham Times
• Text messages, voice calls and puzzles sent to mobile phones, connecting players directly with major characters of the film.
• Cosplay scavenger hunts, organised by The Joker himself.
• Clues led participants to the address of real life bakeries, of which players were able to collect Birthday cakes, with a hidden package baked inside; a mobile phone to keep in constant contact with the world of Gotham City.
• Protests and rallies supporting Harvey Dent, with ‘Dentmobiles’ touring 33 cities across America to promote the events.
• Exclusive film trailers.
• The Bat Signal was projected onto the side of a New York building during a Citizens of Batman march, before being ‘defaced’ by The Joker.

What role does each ‘bit’ play in the overall narrative?

Each section of the campaign would lead on to another, which encouraged audiences to first become and then remain involved in the project, by offering them more teasers, clues and collectibles as rewards.  At the same time however, should audiences miss a hint for the next piece of the puzzle, they would be easily able to rejoin the narrative at the next available opportunity to stay involved, rather than being left behind.

How do you think the team went about planning this? Think logistics.

It is obvious that an enormous amount of planning went into the campaign, as well as an extensive budget.  Although events were organised, taking place across all of America, much of the campaign was dedicated to online areas, which could be accessed and participated in by an even further amount of dedicated – and even not so dedicated – fans.  It’s hard to estimate just how much benefit the campaign had on a movie that was destined to make millions at the box office, but the hype it created for those who in no way participated in the project would surely have made a significant impact.

How does this campaign fit into the narrative of the film?

At first, I doubted the ‘narrative relevance’ the campaign had on the film itself.  I believed that while mock articles in The Gotham Times, which are filled with “Easter eggs” and direct references to Nolan’s The Dark Knight universe, the Bat Signal being projecting over a city as the ‘Citizens of Batman’ gathered below was simply a marketing ploy for the then upcoming film. And while bonus scenes of a news bulletin on a Gotham television network featuring a press conference with Harvey Dent actor Aaron Eckhart which became viewable to fans could easily slip into the universe’s canon, ordinary citizens of the real world rallying for the “I Believe In Harvey Dent” cause, was not.

However, one of the first scenes in The Dark Knight involves some Gotham City residents, dressed as Batman, trying to take down Scarecrow, before the real Batman intervenes.  This is synonymous with the final act of the film’s campaign, where the ‘Citizens of Batman’ gathered in city streets beneath the Bat Signal.  At the same time, the rallies that had been conducted in real life, supporting Harvey Dent as Gotham’s new District Attorney also coincides with the film, as we learn Harvey has recently been elected for the role.  In this way, the promotional campaign for the film could arguably be seen as a prequel itself for the film, taking place between the events of 2005’s Batman Begins, and The Dark Knight sequel three years later.