The Story Lab – Project Brief 4B: Project Reflection

Creating The Barlow Enquiry was an experience I was very apprehensive to begin because of the size of the task that was presented to us. The very nature of an immersive and creative transmedia story is the complexity and death of the core narrative. These initials feelings quickly subsided as I was teamed up with Aidan, Bec and Holly who took my idea and helped to create a project we are all proud of.

At the project shopping market, Aidan and I talked about wanting the mystery to be the key to our project but we introduced the mystery through a personal journey for a character currently living. This is where our fictional character of Atticus Barlow stemmed from, a 20-something man who had just lost his grandfather and in an attempt to feel close to him again, begins investigating his family tree and discovers the mystery of The Right Hand Man serial killer from the year 1901.

Atticus was used as the emotional component of our transmedia story to provide a more compelling reason to become involved in the investigation. The story became more than a murder mystery, it now was a personal journey of family secrets and discovery. One of my roles for the project was to build up the character of Atticus through the use of social media and so I created accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and even before the story had begun, I used them to create a life for the character outside of the mystery. We decided to cut down on the social media and so we removed the Instagram account from the project and I used Twitter the same way any twenty year old would to cement Atticus’ personality for the audience. This was mildly successful as it made it seem as if the character existed in our real life yet only a small percentage of the audience saw the Twitter posts.

Our story became much larger than we originally anticipated through the creation of a secret society called ‘The Hands of the Many’ and having ten main characters from 1901. The most challenging aspect of our project was the creation of evidence for players to use to piece together the identity of our serial killer. To develop a convincing mystery, we had to make a lot of documents that formed a cohesive narrative while also littering clues across them all so the players were not spoon fed information. This was challenging and I think to fully realise each component, we should have spent more time in the early weeks of the project focusing on our story so we could map out exactly how much we needed and how the evidence would connect.

Our project followed our statement from week seven rather closely as throughout the project we remained dedicated to creating Atticus as a three-dimensional character. We wrote his blog updates from his perspective and used Twitter to build a life outside of the investigation.

We also created the anonymous character Elizabeth Oshiro who had been investigating the same case during the 1980’s for different reasons. She is the source behind the planned dead drop who wishes to remain anonymous so she uploads files to USBs and places them in Melbourne for the players to find to create our ARG component.

I enjoyed creating The Barlow Enquiry and working with my fantastic team and this project provided in-depth insight into the creation process of a transmedia story.

June 3, 2016 Assessment Tasks, The Story Lab No Comments on The Story Lab – Project Brief 4B: Project Reflection

The Story Lab – Week 12

So, I made it. I have no idea why I am always surprised that I do or that I’m shocked that it went so quick, but here I am. I had a great time in The Story Lab this semester because it pushed me to learn about an aspect of the media landscape that I have known about but little about how it worked. I chose The Story Lab as my first preference for a studio because I love story and I am a huge fan on television and movies and how they exist in the world today. They are no longer confined to simply exist on one screen to be viewed when they are scheduled. The internet has created avenues for stories to expand exponentially and online options such as streaming and digital downloads allows audiences to create their own, curated viewing experience. I knew from Dan’s pitch that the Marvel Cinematic Universe would be discussed during the twelve weeks and being a big fan of the series (having watched every piece of main content in the expanded story) I used my experience with the franchise to get a glimpse at what the studio would involve. In the back of my mind, I knew planning would be key to a transmedia story, yet at the end of it all, having completed one myself, I now know just how critical it is. A part of the early semester that really stands out to me is the advertising campaign for The Dark Knight, with content ranging from online to real world components, videos to actual cake. I am not one for getting involved in ARG’s, preferring to spend my time watching the aforementioned television and movies yet now that The Story Lab has opened my eyes to what it involved in crafting such a intricate and immersive narrative artifact, I will definitely be on the look out for more.

Also, there are going to be Marvel films until our planet explodes, so I it is not like I can ever escape.

May 27, 2016 The Story Lab No Comments on The Story Lab – Week 12

The Story Lab – Week 10

As we continue to work on our transmedia story, it has become clear that in-depth planning is crucial to the success of the narrative. For our project, planning is key to make a truly engaging story as the entry point is through the clues and pieces of evidence uncovered by Atticus Barlow. To ensure everything fits together and the story makes sense, out group must meticulously plan every document and clue relevant to the case before we release it to an audience. This is made even more difficult by the fact that we cannot control how an audience will use and follow the narrative so we are attempting to create a story that lessens the possibility of a participant losing their way. This is a tricky maneuver to pull as we cannot spoon feed our audience of they will not be fully engaged and lose interested but if w make it too hard, the same thing may happen. That is why planning is so crucial as it creates a map of the narrative which can assist in any outcome to provide a backup in case something occurs outside of what is expected.

May 9, 2016 The Story Lab No Comments on The Story Lab – Week 10

The Story Lab – Week 9

Following the project pitch, our group used the feedback we received from the panel and applied it to our project. The feedback was very useful as it gave us perspective on how to properly approach creating a manageable transmedia story using the four weeks we have left and the four people in our group.

The first major point from the pitch was that we were advised to create multiple other fictional, modern characters or use ringers to stoke the flames of audience connection and curiosity. A second point was to focus on the bridge between 1901 and 2016. There is a 115 year time gap and many things could happen during this time. This could be another party who had previously researched The Right Hand Man during the interim which could lead to existing research for Atticus and the real world players to find.

Taking this , we have created another fictional character known as Elizabeth Oshiro who was investigating the same case in the 1980’s. A student who also happened to stumble upon the case and it enthralled her and so she devoted a portion of her life to finding out who The Right Hand Man was. She will be the catalyst to help Atticus and the payers uncover more information, an enigma who discovered knowledge that got her nowhere and no she is helping this investigation. She will also be the fictional creator of the dead drop, she will want to send out information to help uncover the mystery but will want her identity to remain a secret, thus a secret anonymous drop will be how she delivers it to the players.

May 4, 2016 The Story Lab No Comments on The Story Lab – Week 9

The Story Lab – Project Brief 3: The Barlow Enquiry

The direction we aim to take with Project Brief 4 is to create an Alternate Reality Game (ARG) around the mysterious identity of a long dead (fictional) serial killer named ‘The Dead Ringer’ who was active in the year 1901. Named for the way the his victims were found, the killer murdered five people and was never brought to justice, yet a few suspects were believed to have been ‘The Right Hand Man’ and our main character Atticus Barlow will provide the clues for the game as he begins investigating in the year 2016.

Based around the personal journey of Atticus Barlow, The Barlow Enquiry will allow players to follow the journey through his blog and social media platforms as he researches the events of 1901 surrounding the five deaths of prominent social figures in early 20th Century Melbourne. The character of Atticus Barlow will be the audience’s connection point to the story as he details his progress through the case and his personal life. The central focus of the project will be the creation of an in depth and three-dimensional person in Atticus Barlow as this will help the audience connect to the game. Allowing the players to have insight into Atticus’ emotional journey will provide a way for them to invest in the game. After the death of his grandfather, Atticus has retreated away from the outside world and began researching his family tree until he came across his great-great grandfather, William James Barlow, who died under mysterious circumstances in 1901. When Atticus makes the connection to the infamous serial killer, he tries to get the public to help solve the mystery to gain peace and acceptance of his current situation, if he achieve this he can find the confidence to move on.

Another entry point will be the mystery of who is ‘The Right Hand Man’ a serial killer who murdered five people in the year 1901 but was never caught. Players will have clues laid out for them over the course of a few weeks through Atticus Barlow’s blog. As he discovers them he will post the information for the followers to help them piece together the mysterious identity.

To further the ARG elements of the game, we will create another fictional user of the blog who will also have a vested yet unknown interest in the cold case. They will comment on Atticus’ blog, adding further evidence from their own investigations and will be the catalyst for the real world component of the investigation. They will have some documents that will aid the audience’s investigation but remain anonymous, providing clues to lead players to a location in real life.

My role in the group will be to manage Atticus Barlow’s blog and social media accounts, creating a real persona. To do this I will not only focus on the case but build up his social life, posting pictures on Instagram and tweeting about how he is feeling about the break up and the case. I will also manage the calculated release of information to provide enough clues for players to mull over, riding the line between too little information that they lose interest and too much that they solve the case too early.

My group for this project are really dedicated to creating a fully immersive and well put together experience and  we are all clear on and are comfortable in our roles and we are excited for The Barlow Experience to take shape.

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The Story Lab – Week 6: Web Series and Transmedia

After watching Starting From… Now!, High Maintenance and The Guild, the draw of creating a web series over traditional television, especially when working with a budget constraint, became clear. The episodes can be as long or as short as needs be. High Maintenance is now being developed for HBO and this has come after using six seasons of content to prove there is a market and a strong creative team behind the project for HBO to invest in. I have watched a few web series but my favourite is Jake and Amir. Released on College Humor’s YouTube channel weekly over eight years with videos ranging from 2-5 minutes in length. As a comedy show, a large fan base grew and latched onto running jokes and references as the show cultivated a niche slice of popularity on the web. Being a web series allowed for the creators to write and shoot the show without any studio interference and dictate when they wanted to end the series. Having a show based on the internet led to utilisation of transmedia properties to create jokes stemming from the episodes, such as the creation of the website onealmond.com based on the core conceit of the episode “One Almond”.

Web series storytelling is a more personal experience for smaller audiences to connect with and unlike television programs which reach and involve a large audiences diluting the experience, web series connect with their audiences by existing on a platform they share with the people watching.

April 12, 2016 The Story Lab No Comments on The Story Lab – Week 6: Web Series and Transmedia

The Story Lab – Week 5: Story Smash

The three stories we were presented with when Smashing out stories together were

  1. A 19th Century serial killer is on the loose and a detective is trying to uncover who they are
  2. A crazy ex-girlfriend kills her ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend by hitting her with a car
  3. A soldier in the year 2030 is fighting a war against an army made up of alien/human hybrids

The most obviously difficult aspect of connecting these three stories is the vastly separate time periods. We approached this problem by focusing on the future storyline because it allowed us to create fictional technology and a history that may or may not exist (although it is a very slim possibility). We ended up with a narrative spanning centuries, taking ideas from science fiction to ensure a connection between the alien war, a crazed ex and a 19th century serial killer.

Our end result

Mike is a soldier in the year 2030 fighting a war against alien/human hybrids and on a mission into a black site, he stumbles across confidential information concerning the human DNA strands of the alien/human hybrids. In his down time between battles, he starts investigating these gene pools until he discovers that one has links to clinically insane people through out history, such as a crazy ex-girlfriend who hit her ex’s new girlfriend with a car and a 17th serial killer.

The narrative loops we needed to jump through to create this smashed story cemented (for me) my idea for my final assessment, centred on a cold case from 1901. While the task did provide an example of the malleability of story, it also proved that a simply story allows for a more cohesive and deeper experience.

 

March 23, 2016 The Story Lab No Comments on The Story Lab – Week 5: Story Smash

The Story Lab – Week 4: Interactivity and Games

Interactive Games

  1. Even Cowgirls Bleed
  2. // (Parallel)
  1. How, using minimal resources, have these story worlds been created?
    1. The colour grading of the background from light to dark brown evokes the colours of a western narrative. Coupling this with the title places the audience into a Spaghetti Western. The title of the piece, Even Cowgirls Bleed, plays a main role in establishing the story world before the player has even begun exploring.
    2. Establishes in is happening in real life through the eyes of young teens without stating age.
  2. When were you hooked?
    1. When there were two choices in the narrative, to shoot for the hat or the man, which would then help to characterise the cowgirl through hid reactions.
    2. I wasn’t that hooked, it felt like I was just flipping through a book instead of interacting with the narrative. The switching between genders was interesting to show the dichotomy between the two stories but it didn’t hook me as a cohesive narrative as they felt separate from each other and I was not given agency in the world.
  3. How is character developed?
    1. The story is told using inner monologue to fully capture the emotional range the protagonists undergoes throughout her adventure. The choices made by the player help to subtly decide how the cowgirl is perceived by the other characters in the world develops her characterisation by allowing the audience to seemingly control her outward personality.
    2. Through comparing the two genders using inner monologue to show different views in similar situations.
  4. How is narrative, technology, audience leveraged (used) to relay the story?
    1. The audience is used through the choices they are forced to make to continue the narrative. By choosing a way to approach a scenario, they are placing their own personality into the cowgirl which in turn causes them to become more invested in the story because they have a personal stake in how her story unfolds. The ending of the narrative is inevitable and the technology of the game is used to minutely alter the story but not the final outcome, otherwise the title would be meaningless. Whenever a choice is made, the following text is different that that of the other choice, yet what follows that is the same whatever scenario you choose. The technology is also used to include a surprise and make the narrative feel more lifelike, as when the other cowgirl tells you to holster your weapon, the player is unable to as any movement of the mouse cause the gun to go off, making it impossible for the player to do anything else but shoot the woman. The cursor is also shaped like a gun marker to inform the player they are controlling how a gun is used as the way to make choices.
    2. Technology is used as a way to highlight the difference between genders, as instead of showing both views on the same screen, the isolation of a character’s inner thoughts on a screen by itself highlights how different both views are.
March 22, 2016 The Story Lab No Comments on The Story Lab – Week 4: Interactivity and Games

The Story Lab – Reflecting on Feedback

I really enjoyed writing my short story. Maybe its because I like hopping into the mind of a crazy serial killer or the other (hopefully) more accurate reason is that I love trying something new when I am writing. Whenever I am tasked with creating a piece of fiction, my immediate thought is to write from the first person perspective of a character. I love putting inner dialogue on the page because while people like to believe they are honest with themselves, there is a constant battle of truth and lies raging around in our heads and I find it interesting to approach this conflict from a new perspective. I used the inner dialogue and paired with the third person point of view to provide a context for Everett’s thoughts and why that specific inner conflict is occurring.

Griffin Wong read my work and commented on it and I am highlighting it because I am happy she liked the style of the writing because that was what I most proud about. She stated that “I thought it’s a very good short story as it really brings the character Everett Newton Irving to life. While reading it, I felt like as if I’m part of the people who were watching Everett getting to be hung to death. I like the style of your writing, like changing between different point of views, showing what’s actually happening first, then changed to Everett’s inner voice and back to the actual situation. I honestly think there is no need for further developments because the intensity of the story will be gone and it will rather come out draggy. It’s a very good piece of writing.”

While this may serve as am obvious egotistical brag, I also wanted to show that if you find something interesting in the project you are creating, others will like it also.

March 18, 2016 The Story Lab No Comments on The Story Lab – Reflecting on Feedback

Assessment Task 1 – Short Story Reflection

When I was set with the task of writing an 800 word short story I knew that I wanted to it be from the perspective on a single character using an inner monologue as a way of showcasing their mental turmoil. Having just watched a section of James Whale’s Frankenstein (1931), the concept of a scientist undertaking tests outside of the law sprang to mind. As we discussed in class, based on the Manovich reading ‘The Database’, film as developed throughout history and certain tropes have been established. The trope of the ‘mad scientist’ is recognisable to most audiences because of its continued use in stories of all mediums which allowed me to create a character that played off these tropes.

My short story is a of character piece as a man tries to stand by his principles in the face of unwavering evidence and opposition. I drew inspiration of this trait from The Substance of Story (McKee, Robert, 2007, pg. 138) in which it is stated that “fascinating characters tend to have not only a conscious but an unconscious desire. Although these complex protagonists are unaware of their subconscious need, the audience senses it, perceiving in them an inner contradiction.” Everett Irving is convinced he is what is right with the world, that the acts he has committed are for the benefit of humankind, yet as he grows to anger in the face of the charges against him, the audience can sense he is battling against himself. Having his death be such an omnipresent figure through the use of the church bell counting down his life, the rising fear ensures the lies he uses to justify the murders he has committed will crumble.

The 800 word limit was actually not a challenge to achieve as I structured the story around the bell tolls to create a framework to limit the word count. I felt as if my first draft rushed towards the end in terms of Irving’s revelation about his guilt but as I was editing I realised that it worked for his character, the unconscious need to suppress his guilt finally arrives in his last moments, befitting a character whose whole life revolved around justifying his existence.

 

March 13, 2016 Assessment Tasks, The Story Lab 1 Comment on Assessment Task 1 – Short Story Reflection
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