Project Role

I’m excited for this project as I feel that we have a strong character driven narrative with people that are technically gifted. My role within the group is as the creator and writer of the script as well as co-directing when shooting begins. I wanted to be as open as possible when it came to story so I listened and took notes on suggestions from others in my group, which ensured that we would all be doing a project that we are passionate about. We as a group shared responsibility to location scouting in order to find the best possible spots to shoot. I am also responsible for writing up the risk assessment form as well as aiding on the day of the shoot, be it as a boom mic operator or any other task that need to be done. I as the rest of the group will watch the rough cut of the film and give notes on it to see we need to do any re-shoots or any other changes that need to be made. In the transmedia aspect of the project we plan to have the characters interact with the Face Book page, so we are hoping that the actors will give us consent to use their image as a profile picture. If they happen to say no we are prepared to use a stock image of something that would be if interest instead. I will also be contributing posts on the page as well as another member and if we do in fact receive permission we will have staged photos such as an “employee of the month” with the actors and other typical corporate events to keep up with our parody of the typical corporate culture. I have never done a transmedia project before so this is also a good learning experience on how to expand beyond just making a short film and actually use other mediums that are available to me. The fact that the same Face Book page that will appear in the film will also be the very same that will be available for the audience to visit is an exciting prospect. It has immense narrative potential as the characters from the film as well as others that will be introduced through the page will interact with each other right before the audience’s eyes. Filming should commence soon as all the locations have been confirmed and the script written. The lead has also been cast, which only leaves the two supporting roles. Everyone seems to be committed to the project as I feel confident that the final product will close to my original vision. It is true that there had to compromises due to logistics or creative differences but that was one of the rules that we set ourselves to abide by so I was prepared. I just hope we can keep this level of enthusiasm till the end of the film because working on such a project can be quite tiresome but in the end our hard work should bear fruit.

Week 7 Story Lab Post

My group went up first so it was nerve braking but also fortunate because that way we could calmly listen to the rest of the pitches with the relief of being done. I found it difficult to look at my notes on a tablet because it kept turning off the display and make me lose y train of thought every single time. That’s what I get for trying to save the Amazon. I felt that we were a little under prepared since half of the group came to the Wednesday class for rehearsals. The feedback we received was actually quite insightful especially about the suggestions about the transmedia aspect of the project. The fact that we should have started with the synopsis was brought up by the panel as I have to agree as in retrospect they have no idea what the story is and we talking like we expected them already have an idea of the narrative. That created some confusion among those listening so I will be taking a note of that. I also hope to have a number that the audience can call up and interact with the main character since he does work in a call center as was suggested by the panel. It was so obvious I actually feel kind of silly that it never crossed my mind.

Week 6 Story Lab Blog Post

What stuck most with me from Troy’s lecture was at the very end when someone asked him if Troy was ever tempted to have a prize attached to the game as an incentive for people to play the game. His response was interesting as he said that it was an internal conflict of interests as his artistic side wanted the game to be a reward in itself but risked having less participants while his logical side this made sense since this will attract more players but risk having players that are only there to win the prize rather than the experience the game. He opted to go with his artistic side and participation was less than it would have been with a prize but the majority of players joined the game for the fun of playing, whatever their method is. Although this decision has reduced the popularity of the game it, the players where all playing for the sole reason of playing which is arguably the whole point of a game.

Week 5 Story Lab Post 2

It was interesting but not at all surprising that marginalized characters would find such a comfortable home in the realm of the internet. The internet that for a while has been the collective voice of the people (that have an internet connection) would be the logical place to find narratives that focus on charterers that aren’t ‘mainstream’. Shows such as Starting From…Now that we viewed in class would find it hard to find a network to back up a project with such a niche audience. As a fan of The Guild and Video Game High School that center around gamers would also face the same difficulty but to be honest I would rather they stay where they are. The type to watch these shows don’t necessarily watch TV shows live on TV but rather binge watch in a few sittings on a laptop. That is how we are staring to consume media and the arrival of Netflix and other on demand content providers is a testament to that.

Week 5 Story Lab Post

Today’s class we had to present what we had we researched about for the past two weeks or so. It was kind of daunting to present after I realised that my chosen prompt the most popular one in the class. However it was quite interesting to hear how everyone else interpreted the question. There was a particular person that felt that there were elements of the campaign that fit into the category of transmedia storytelling like the newspapers and websites. He also felt that particular parts of the campaign such as the rallies for Harvey Dent and the Joker were not. I disagree with this statement as I’m in the belief that you can’t just pick and choose what parts qualify and what parts don’t. I’m in the belief that you have to judge a project on what it is by taking every single part into account, if it has some part that fit into the conventions of transmedia and parts that don’t, what do you classify it as? By finishing this project is now realise how narrow by idea of narrative actually was. This allowed me to see narrative a tool that can enhance the original narrative as it can have many layers to it. The fact that nothing too important is spoiled by participating in this game is a testament of how someone can create a project which allows people to enjoy an underlying narrative over the primary one.