The Story Lab – Week 7

This week we presented our pitches for our project, which was really exciting. It was great to hear about all the other projects people in our class are creating, as well as getting feedback from the panel.

The projects I’m most excited to see are Instafame and Dodging the Bullet – I think they’re both going to be really interesting projects and I cannot wait to see how they turn out. I think all the diversity of the projects are really interesting – and I cannot wait to see them develop over the next few weeks.

I think the most important thing to keep in mind for our project for the next five weeks (which is crazy!) is to be focused and have a good plan. We have a lot of content to produce over a variety of mediums which is going to take a lot of time. I think streamlining our project is going to help – the panel suggested we cut down on at least one of our media in order to create a better overall project. They also suggested we think about the order in which the audience is presented the media, to create the most effective storytelling.

I personally think we should get rid of the websiodes element of our project – I don’t think they fit in really well with the other elements and are going to be incredibly demanding in terms of time – which we are running short on now!

The Story Lab – Project Brief Three

Connor is an interactive, multiplatform story, which deals with contemporary issues of bullying, isolation and online connections in a refreshing and distinctive way. Over a variety of mediums, Connor will engage the audience and provoke them to rethink the ways they think about unique individuals within their communities.

Our protagonist, Connor, is an isolated 18 year-old who for many years has been bullied, victimised and mistreated by his high school peers. This, in tandem with his high sense of entitlement and introverted personality means he has been turned to other avenues to connect with people. In the culmination of our project, Connor decides to get revenge on his classmates by killing them when they are all attending a house party.

Connor is a project that encompasses video, digital and physical mediums. Through these platforms, we will allow our audience an increasingly deep look into the life of Connor, our protagonist, as he acts out his revenge on his peers. The variety of mediums we will use in our project will be presented in the following order.

The first digital artifact in our project is the Facebook photo album from the party where Connor acts his revenge. These photos, on face level, will prevent themselves as just a regular house party, but when looking deeper will give hints as to what he is doing. These will be brought to the audiences’ attention by comments and tags in the photo by fake profiles (created by us).

Another of these mediums is Connor’s vlogs, which will be uploaded to YouTube. These are videos are Connor directly addressing the camera, voicing all of his feelings about his life, but in particular the segregation he has faced at the hands of his peers. These videos will give a comprehensive look into the way his mind works. While they will not mention the attacks directly, there will be heavy implications in the video themselves. These videos will be recorded on either a MacBook camera, or another low quality camera, to remain as authentic as possible.

The next platform for Connor is a series of ‘webisodes’, which will provide a look into Connor’s life from other perspectives – that of his mum, his neighbour and the media. This will be more professionally produced content, using equipment available to us at RMIT, or our own equipment. These videos will be uploaded to Vimeo and will provide an insight to Connor’s life beyond his own inner workings.

The written component of our project will be comprised of two news articles, which can be found on our own news site, using either Google Sites or WordPress. These will be the most objective elements of our story, as they will be completely removed from Connor and his life. These will be released at different times, the first one directly after the event, and the second a few days later, providing more information about the event. These will provide a more factual element to the event, and will be referenced in the webisodes.

The last object in our transmedia project will be the only physical element. It will be a diary, which will provide even further insight into Connor’s inner mind. This diary will give the audience a mass of information into how Connor was inspired to commit these murders, as well as his planning, and thinking about doing this. This will inform the audience more about how he was isolated, as well as giving evidence as to him planning the event.

In this project we will equally split the roles across all the media artifacts, from the writing to the producing, allowing us to all be fully immersed in the project. Of course, as we all have different skill levels and abilities, which will influence how we approach each individual artifact.

 

 

The Story Lab – Week 6

The main focus of this week in the Story Lab was our guest lecture from Dr. Troy Innocent, who deals with the elements of code and other digital artefacts in the physical world. Troy’s lecture mostly surrounded his work Urban Codemakers – which was a project which injected elements of video games into a real life game with physical artefacts to collect. It was a really interesting lecture, as it gave us more insights into how the things we learn about at uni can have successful, real world applications.

One of the most interesting things I took away from things from the lecture was how, by engaging users in something such physical collection of artefacts, you pushed them to create their own story, as well as engaging more in the story you have already created. Troy also spoke about how the locations of the physical tokens which were used for collecting points, often held significance in relation to the project as a whole In relation to our project, it encourages us to think more cleverly about how we create push off points between each of our artefacts.

Another thing I took away from Troy’s lecture was his emphasis on the endgame – that closure to a project is incredibly important. I think we definitely need to keep this is mind with our project, as we are encouraging users to piece together the story themselves. I think having a fully fledged story, even if we are the only people who know it, would be very helpful overall for our project.

The Story Lab: Final Project

Our Final Project group aims to explore more deeply the story of Californian shooter Elliot Rodgers, through several different platforms. We chose this story because we all found it very interesting (especially his manifesto found here – http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1173619/rodger-manifesto.pdf). Through the medium of film, articles, song and a blog, we are attempting to create an interesting take on this fascinating story.

Members:

Tiana, Kylie, Kevin, James and myself

Rules:

1. Come to class

2. Good communication between members

3. Even contribution across the group (putting forward our skills and sticking to it)

4. Making (and sticking to) our timeline

5. Willing to offer constructive opinions/advice

Inspiration (a work in progress)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Isla_Vista_killings – I know we aren’t supposed to use Wikipedia as a reference, but this is an good starting point for our research

http://www.alternet.org/culture/8-things-you-may-not-know-about-elliot-rodgers-killing-spree

Obviously our main inspiration is Rodger’s manifesto, as it gives us an in depth, first person look into his world and psyche. Rodgers also had a YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/ElliotRodger) which documents more of his world.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/successes/the-last-hours-of-laura-k?ns_mchannel=email&ns_source=inxmail_newsletter&ns_campaign=bbcwritersroom_corporate__&ns_linkname=na&ns_fee=0 – The Laura K project – which is an interesting take on the murder mystery genre, invites audiences to become more active and involved in the solving of a mystery.

The Story Lab – Thoughts 2

I’ve always been really interested in how social media platforms can be used to tell stories, how they can be told through the collation of posts and notes and likes. A tool such as Snapchat, an app which originally allowed users to send 10 second pictures/videos to any of their friends, which delete themselves after viewing, is certainly an interesting way of telling stories. Snapchat’s ‘Story’ feature, released in October 2013, allows users to upload a picture or video for any of their friends to view as much as they want for 24 hours, is the thing that captured my attention the most.

This feature allows users to create their own narrative and share it with as many people as they have friends on their contact list. Because they are only available for 24 hours, users are less worried about what they post.

The “24 hours only” availability of the Snapchat Story is one of those things that would be really interesting to play with when creating stories – it creates a sense of urgency with your audience to consume the media as soon as possible, as well as having a blink and you’ll miss it effect.

 

Articles Read:

http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/3/4791934/snapchats-next-big-thing-stories-that-dont-just-disappear

http://cursivecontent.com/storytelling-in-a-snapchat-how-brands-are-using-snapchat-to-connect-with-audiences/

The Story Lab – Week 4

Last week in class we talked about how big companies can use transmedia to tell stories. Following on from our discussion of The Matrix the week before, it was really interesting to see how other shows can create a complete universe from a single media item.

In class we watched the first two episodes of Agent Carter, which focuses more on Peggy Carter, and is set in the 1950’s. I was interested in the concept of a spin off show, what makes them good (or bad) and how well they tend to last in comparison in the original media.

Spinoffs tend to have a bad name – taking a minor character, placing them in a new location, and trying to run off the success of the original show, and generally just being pretty bad. Joey (the Friends spinoff) lasted only two seasons, while the Happy Days spinoff Joanie loves Chaci got cut short in its second season.

I think to make a good spinoff you need a couple of things:
• An interesting enough character with a strong storyline which adds something to the original media
• Provides enough information to the previous show, as well as having enough of a plot to stand on its own

The one to watch at the moment is Better Call Saul, the Breaking Bad spinoff. Set before the events of the original show, it provides several hints to the original show, as well as giving enough extra information that it feels like a show in its own right. 

The Story Lab – Thoughts 1

One of the readings for Week Five, written by Felicia Day, (http://feliciaday.com/blog/web-series-4-things-to-ask-yourself-before-starting/) talks about the four main things to consider before starting to create a web series. Felicia is one of the most prominent creators in the web series world, and even though this article was written in 2009, it still holds true for people creating content today.

I thought this was interesting because it is a realistic take on how to create content for the web, the stories that should be created, and the skills that you may need when approaching the task. I thought I would attempt to summarise this reading as I found it really interesting and could be useful for me in the future.

The three points I found most interesting were:

  1. “The web should be the place to tell stories and present characters that haven’t been seen” 
  2. “Getting the word out is one of the biggest challenges in web video”
  3. “There is a good chance that very few people could see your video”

I thought Day’s post was incredibly helpful not only for people looking to create their own web series, but also for any one creating any kind of web content. Sometimes it is easy to get so lost in your concept that you forget about the audience, how they will find your project, and most importantly, how they will engage with your project. I also like the idea of telling a story that isn’t usually told in mainstream media, something that deviates from the norm.

In terms of our final project for this subject, I think the most important thing to keep in mind from Day’s article is the idea of having faith in your idea, knowing what is going to work for it, and what isn’t.

 

The Story Lab – Week 3

This week in Story Lab we discussed how franchises can create immersive universes for fans to engage in on a multitude of platforms. This use of multiple platforms and mediums was described in the Henry Jenkin’s reading as transmedia storytelling – the telling of “a narrative so large it cannot be contained within a single medium”. In class we watched some of the Animatrix series, which acted as a prequel for the incredibly popular Matrix series. While I handed seen the films for a while, I could see how the links between these two things can be seen.

I was really interest of the idea of fan theories this week – from the vaguely credible to the wildly ridiculous. When creating an engaging and multifaceted narrative, and the universe in which that narrative, a fan culture is kind of inevitable.

My favourite that I’ve come across recently is the Pixar theory (which can be found at http://www.pixartheory.com), which proposes that all of the films produced by Pixar exist within the same universe, and when arranged in the right order, tell a story in which three distinct groups (humans/animals/machines) are constantly in conflict. It’s an interesting theory (I still haven’t made up my mind about whether or not I think it’s true) but it’s definitely an interesting take on a narrative universe.

My other favourite fan theory I’ve come across recently is much more simple – it’s a narrowing down of which state The Simpsons live. It’s incredibly more simplistic but I think it’s a hilarious. The one I found was (http://funnyjunk.com/funny_pictures/2850888/Which/) butI’m sure there are plenty more out there!

The Story Lab – Week 2

This blog post is a little late in going up (but better late then never??)

In our second week of Story Lab we played by the foundations of narrative – plot, character, time and temporal order – and how to play around and ‘remix’ these elements. In our group, we came up with a story surrounding a male protagonist who, due to life circumstances, has to move into a haunted house (which he initially purchased as an investment property) and begins a relationship with a goblin. After writing these out on cards – we played with switching the elements around and discussed how this impacted (or didn’t) the narrative.

We then had to come up with four ideas surrounding this concept – a screenplay, a comic, a short story, and a video game adaptation. This allowed us to see how transmedia ideas can come out of a simple story. It pushed us to think for creatively about our ideas and how they can be adapted to other formats to act as ways to further our storytelling abilities.

We used the case study of The Dark Knight in class to discuss how transmedia can help to promote a story and introduce the audience to the world of your story before your film is released. I thought this campaign was incredibly effective in establishing the main rivalries in The Dark Knight (i.e. Batman/The Joker/Harvey Dent) and also created an interactive space for fans to interact and engage with the story before they had even seen the film. More information can be found at http://www.firstshowing.net/2008/why-the-dark-knights-viral-marketing-is-absolutely-brilliant/ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpuC7HhCPWA – those were the best resources I’ve found outlining the campaign. I think while not the typical definition of transmedia, I thought the use of crowdsourcing information and pushing the fan base to create parts of the narrative themself were incredibly interesting.

Project Brief One – Case Study

“The Lizzie Bennet Diaries” (2012) is an adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, a classic novel originally released in 1813. While there has been a multitude of retellings of this novel, “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries” was the first of its kind to take the narrative to the medium of YouTube, Twitter and Tumblr, among other platforms. Characters and storylines were reworked and changed to suit a contemporary audience, while still staying true to the message and plot of the source material. The multiplatform adaptation of the source material meant that fans could interact with the characters on a variety of platforms and in a way that has been previously unable to.

While predominantly being told through a series of YouTube videos (mostly on Lizzie Bennet’s channel, although there are other side channels which explore other characters points of view), each of the characters had their own Twitter, Tumblr, and Pinterest accounts, which helped further push along the story. This addition of content pushed the audience to piece together the narrative themselves. Andrew Stanton called this the ‘2 + 2 method’, stating that “the elements you provide and the order you place them in is crucial to whether you succeed or fail at engaging the audience” (Stanton 2012). The Lizzie Bennet content creators succeeded at giving the audience information to keep them engaged in the content, and creating an interesting retelling of a story that they were already familiar with. When following the narrative in real time, the audience was given enough information between episodes (3-4 days) to keep them interested in the narrative to keep them engaged and coming back to watch the videos.

Manovich (2001) describes this method of storytelling as “collections of items on which the user can perform a variety of operations”, and while Manovich’s writing is a little bit out dated, this definition can be applied to “The Lizzie Bennet Diaires”, as it draws together information from a variety of sources to tell a singular narrative, as well as allowing audiences to jump between a variety of sources at their own free will and choice. Through the multiplatform retelling involved with “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries”, the audience is given the opportunity to do this, being able to browse through a variety of Twitter accounts, YouTube videos and a variety of other platforms, to piece together the story for themselves. The audience also has the ability to go back and rewatch and view all of the content for themselves if they desire to. This works particularly works in regard to the Lizzie/Darcy storyline, as the audience can see how Lizzie’s opinion of Darcy evolves over the course of the story and go back and see each pivotal moment at their own choosing.

“The Lizzie Bennett Diaries” is a refreshing and interesting retelling of a story, which has, over time, become part of the cultural domain. The rejuvenation of the story into the modern day and into contemporary platforms allows for the audience to engage with a classic story in many new and interesting ways. The use of transmedia can be considered a model for many web series to come, considering not only the amount of views the videos got (over 1.5 million people), but also for the levels of engagement over a variety of platforms.

References:

Manovich, L. (2001) “The database”, The Language of New Media, Cambridge, USA, The MIT Press, pp. 218-243

Pemberley Digital (2014), “The Lizzie Bennett Diaries”, Pemberley Digital, <http://www.pemberleydigital.com/the-lizzie-bennet-diaries/&gt;

Potter, J (2013) “Five Reasons to watch The Lizzie Bennett Diaries” The Awl, <http://www.theawl.com/2013/03/five-reasons-to-watch-the-lizzie-bennet-diaries&gt;

 Stanton, A (2012), “The clues to a great story”, TED.com, <http://www.ted.com/talks/andrew_stanton_the_clues_to_a_great_story&gt;

McNutt, M (2014), “Webseries Phenom The Lizzie Bennett Diaires made it to 100 entries (and beyond)” The AV Club, <http://www.avclub.com/article/webseries-phenom-the-lizzie-bennet-diaries-made-it-201003&gt;

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