MEDIA THREE

Reflecting on PB #4

Transmedia is a marathon. If the lengths of the readings early on didn’t clue me in (I’m kidding… mostly), PB #4 has certainly cemented it as a fact. Overall, I’ve taken more out of Story Lab than any of my other studios thus far. I think that’s a credit to the amount of scope we were afforded; we were given the foundation to have a strong grasp of the concepts of transmedia storytelling, then given the range to create something that pushed that knowledge in a practical sense. I’ve had fun. I’ve bitten my nails to the quick and I kicked a bus shelter pretty hard in frustration one time, but I’ve had fun. It’s given me an opportunity bring and build on my previous media skills, from One and Two, as well as my own personal interests, talents and research. PB #4, and Story Lab in general, has been extremely rewarding and I feel very confident heading into the second half on my degree.

In week seven, I reflected on what I anticipated and planned for Pocket Museum. I’ve boiled down those thoughts…

  1. Divided accountability (to ensure each area is taken care of & no one person is unfairly swamped) – the audio, film, website and app
  2. Pocket Museum as “a transmedia exploration of the life of John Mitchell Christie through an app, website, audio and visuals” – key phrases: immerse, explore, engage, contrast, cherry-pick, convenience
  3. A new experience: to educate and to entertain; engaging in a way that an exhibition or walking tour is not

So, how’d they go in the real world?

  1. Our system worked well; no area was neglected and, by keeping to our strengths, we worked to create something of a quality I’m proud of. Amy and Brontaë (working on the website and app, respectively) and Jen and me (the webisodes and audio) naturally drifted into pairs; I helped Jen with the filming, as expected, and Amy and Brontaë collaborated. I regret that I wasn’t more involved with their side of things – I think it’s a learning opportunity missed; also, since I didn’t know how much or specifically what they were shouldering, I wasn’t able to offer as much help as I potentially could have. I consider my duties to have been relatively light – the recording went smoothly and the editing was relatively straightforward, as were the other tasks I completed. I don’t feel that I’ve let my group down whatsoever, but I think I could have spent more time making myself useful to the others. On the other hand, we had no formal system in place for making sure that the workload was equal – generally speaking, we had a “I’ll do it, I’ll give you a yell if I need you” mentality. In future, it might be a good idea to have formal weekly or fortnightly audits to ensure that nobody does more or less than the others. I genuinely can’t say if I did disproportionately less work because I don’t have a full idea of how the others did.
  2. We ticked those four boxes! We have an app, website, visuals and audio, and each contribute a different thing to the whole or can be enjoyed on their own. We were careful to avoid too much overlap – we did have to make do thanks to limited funds and time, but what we’ve done shows a thorough understanding of the principles of transmedia storytelling. Users can immerse themselves in the artefacts by engaging with an app and website that are easy and logical to navigate. Through this, they can explore Christie’s world at their convenience, at home or on the go. The contrast between perspectives allows the user to examine Christie’s stories from multiple viewpoints and jumping-off points; they can enjoy all or cherry-pick. 
  3. I can only speak for myself, but I’ve found the content we’ve produced both educational and entertaining – and I’m neck deep and should, be rights, hate it. I believe we’ve found ways to present history – arguably dry, from time to time – in an engaging way. Although we didn’t have the resources to create a little sprite, as was suggested at our pitch, I think framing the audio from Emilie’s point of view adds a smilier levity. We’ve been careful to make this a very human look at Christie’s life, which pushes us beyond a exhibition or walking tour – of course, many of these are taking a transmedia route as well. But it’s always been at the forefront of our thinking to create an experience for people who may not be history buffs – the kind of people who might not be the target audience for a traditional educational experience. I believe keeping this requirement in mind, above all else, is what’s helped us achieve our goal.

Progress report #2

We’ve come out the other side of the worst of it. Jen and I (mostly Jen, let’s face it) filmed last week. Thanks to the miracle of Savers and an incredible historical home in Jen’s family (it truly felt like passing through a time warp at the front door, in the best possible way) we created a really beautiful historical piece – and managed to hide a modern powerpoint behind a box, so well done all round. Jen’s editing that and I have no doubt that it’s going to come out as a thing of beauty. It better, since I had to fiddle around with the cartilage piercings our actor had in his upper ear and it was pretty supremely gross.

As for me, I recorded my audio the day before and had mixed results. Don’t get me wrong, it’ll all come out well; I’m nearly through with editing and it’s made a big difference – but editing’s easy when your voice actor’s biggest problem is the huge pauses they take between sentences. The voice actor who filled the role of Emilie Christie was a pro and brought the warmth and joie de vivre I hoped she would. Also, it really interested me that most of the actors who were so so keen and enthusiastic and interested in our project never bothered to reply to the messages I left them. I know it’s not a paid job so it probably wasn’t a high priority to them, but I guess I’m just old-fashioned. I was leaving voicemails, after all.

The only major task I really have left is figuring out how to frame my audio. Something definitely needs to go underneath it, if only to combat the echo. I’m tossing up between a simple, classical piece of music and situational background audio – horse hooves clopping, city bustle, gunshots, “hey you!”s, etc. But… that might come off a little “Orson Welles presents… the War of the Worlds”. Both of these things are available at archive.org so legality isn’t a deciding factor. I suppose I’ll throw it all at the wall and see what sticks.

Progress report

This time of year is a gentle nightmare of assessment and stress. I’m having nightmares in fractured Spanish. ¡Me encanta el frigorifico de mi perro! Not relevant and not pleasant.

That said, our JMC project is coming along well. We’ve had to readjust a lot of our more ambitious plans, which is a real shame but was always inevitable. In particular, the way the webisodes have been changed diminish some of the glamour of what we originally planned. But I think the parts that we will film on Friday give a sense of what we’re going for and will be wonderful. I really wish we had a bit of a budget for this subject. Thank god Brontae had that crepe hair lying round.

As you can see, I’m more than a bit scatterbrained at the moment. When am I not? But this time of semester tears my brain to shreds; I feel like all I do is wander off on tangents at the moment. At least my component of the project, the audio, is recording tomorrow. I can’t wait. The voice actress seems more than capable, the scripts are sound (ridiculous camp, but sound), I’m working with familiar equipment. It’s all straightforward. Brontae and Amy are kicking goals with the app and the website — I don’t really understand the technicalities of what they’re doing but it all looks great.

So, how am I feeling overall? Like a mess. Like a total mess. But in spite of that, we’re tracking at a really good pace and I feel extremely confident heading into our final full week before the project is due.

 

Field trip~!

As much as I hate Americanisms, it’s a lot harder to shout “excursion” with enthusiasm. What I’m trying to say is that we went on one and this idiotic video captures some of it:

As part of our research, we went down as a group to investigate the JMC artefacts down at the Immigration Museum. The notorious sword/cane combo is the starring attraction, as well as some of the contraband (opium paraphernalia, scandalous books, non-European people, etc) that Christie worked tirelessly to excise from Australia.

The Immigration Museum strikes me as working very hard to be very apologetic about the thorough, legally mandated racism we continue to see to this day have thankfully gotten past (…). It was really important to see JMC in this context because it serves as a reminder of the kind of values he was upholding. One of the tests to determine if a person deserved to be granted Australian citizenship was proficiency in any European language — not English, but as long as it was European they were good to go. JMC was directly involved with this kind of testing, and I imagine he brought the same gusto to it that he did any of his other endeavours. As much fun as he seems on paper — as swashbuckling, rambunctious, all those wonderful words — he is not a hero. Australia in general wasn’t a very nice place to be at Federation. Even if you were rich and white and male, ticked every box, you still didn’t have goddamn air con.

Pitch aftermath

I like making presentations. I like getting everyone to wear matching outfits, I like smoke machines & glitter cannons, and I like props. I like very much the sound of my own voice. But I respect that not everybody is as enthusiastic about those things as I am (and I’m saving it all for the end-of-semester presentation).

So, aside from my unavoidable disappointment that I couldn’t incorporate that into our pitch, I believe we went well. I’m glad we chose to discuss Pocket Museum through the lens of each of its components; I think it gave the panel and audience a thorough understanding of how each element would work on its own and together to create an overarching, transmedia experience. In hindsight, we could have been more explicit about the potential tripping-up points and how we would work to avoid them, although I think between our speeches and the question time those issues were covered. I regret that our powerpoint wasn’t as amazing / ridiculous (wholeheartedly and 100% a compliment) as the cult group, but I think it was clear and appropriate for our topic. Also: I noticed about halfway through that we were all bunched up along the wall instead of in front of the room, which is a little thing that’s deeply annoying to me since it’s such an easy fix and makes such a big difference.

More than anything else, I’m so excited by what everyone else is doing! I want to play everything and I can’t wait to get involved.

Take-aways:

  • The trailer definitely does need a hook. It’s a beautiful thing but it lacks that call to action
  • The idea of a little sprite to inject some life into the experience is a really good one. As I mentioned, I’m a little concerned about the topics becoming a little dry — which would be a huge shame since JMC is thoroughly absurd and wonderful. Having a little comic relief to nudge the story along and keep it in that bizarre place is a wonderful thing. Now: how do we incorporate him?
  • Giving people a reason to get out into the real world beyond “let’s go because we love history and participating” is also hugely important. After the pitch, we toyed around a little with the idea of earning badges that unlocked extra content when all collected (so many questions about how this is enforced but we’ll wriggle an answer out of it, we’re all very clever) (once we know that, it shouldn’t be terribly hard for the participant since we plan on containing all of our visitable historical sites to the Melbourne CBD)
  • And of course, keeping those historical sites accessible. There’s a lot to think about regarding the business of the place, available seating, historical relevance (should we take them to sites that have been since demolished? should we take them to places where it can be sort of assumed that something happened even though we don’t have proof? how much liberty can we take?)
  • The filming is going to be a huge undertaking. I have endless faith in Jen but I’m a little intimidated by the scale of what we’re aiming to do. Where do you get 19th century costumes? Is this going to be inescapably camp, like Murdoch Mysteries? Should we lean into that? Is season 9 out yet?

  • Actually, striking a balance between silly and informative is going to be really difficult. Also, do you think the guy who plays Murdoch wears mascara? Because I do (and good for him)
  • A small but very important note: it’s such a shame that the audio will have to be in mono. I understand why (keeping one earbud out so you don’t get run over in traffic) but it’s really going to affect the soundscapes. Oh well

And now: to actually get stuck into it.

Project Brief #3: Personal Statement

My group has divided responsibility for each medium of the project. I suggested the inclusion of an audio component so, naturally, I’m taking responsibility for it. This doesn’t mean that I’m expected to complete it by myself; rather, I’m in charge of making sure that it’s completed and allocating roles within it when needed. Audio is less demanding than film, so depending on her requirements I’ll be helping Jen. I’ll also be involved in the app and website, as much as Amy and Brontaë require me to be. We’ve divided responsibility in this way to ensure that every aspect is taken specific care of while also ensuring that one person isn’t stuck with a disproportionate work load.

I understand Pocket Museum to be a transmedia exploration of the life of John Mitchell Christie through an app, website, audio and visuals. It aims to be as immersive as possible, encouraging the audience to visit historical Melbourne and experience an augmented reality. Through images from the era and an audio component comprised of narration and soundscapes, the participant can explore the space and contrast the modern day with the world John Christie experienced. Online, the viewer can dive deeper in to this universe through a series of biopic websites centred around the escapades of the man. The accompanying website serves to collate all the information with a more linear approach, which the audience can use to supplement their real-world experience or enjoy on its own. Participants can cherry-pick elements of John Christie’s life that interest them in small, digestible packages, or they can fully immerse themselves in his history. If they’re curious about an element or have something interesting they’d like to share, they can engage with the community and us via our social media channels and hashtag, #johnmitchellchristie.

Ultimately, the project serves to both educate and entertain the public, engaging them in a way that an exhibition or walking tour could not. The seeming lack of interactivity is countered by our social media presence on Facebook and Twitter, which serves to foster community in the audience. Because he already exists, there’s a pre-existing universe with a wealth of information for this community to explore. It’s our aim that Pocket Museum will reach people who have an existing interest in the history of Melbourne, but go further to capture a wide-ranging audience who may find history dull through traditional storytelling methods. By opening up the city of Melbourne to the story, participants can dip in and out of the story at points that interest them and can make stronger connections with history by being in the space and therefore forging a link to their own lives. Perhaps a relevant spot is around the corner from the place they get coffee every morning or on the route to and from the train station. By using transmedia, and an easy-to-use app as its centrepiece, Pocket Museum aims to make the history of John Mitchell Christie accessible and engaging to a broad audience.

Week Eight Readings

In spite of my best efforts, I couldn’t find the Cannell video

Staffans — Transmedia Pitching 101!

    • Meet the brief
      • Don’t try and force an idea you already had into a brief that doesn’t fit it
      • Following a brief’s specifics can actually open up a lot of new possibilities and lead you down new and exciting paths – be flexible
    • Wise up on your target
      • What do they need from you? Are they a niche web streaming service? Are they North Korea? Is this a scam to harvest your organs and give them to world elites down at Bohemian Grove? Anything is possible
    • Connect everything
      • Your various media should have grown together from the ground up and be carefully examined to ensure that the enrich the story and encourage the audience to explore it
      • And if it doesn’t actually enrich your universe but just sounds cool? Ditch it. There’s plenty of time to sound cool and say things that mean nothing but this is not the place
    • Find your twist
      • This seems more specific to the requirements of the Russian panel, but who doesn’t love a twist?
    • Crush it
      • It’s all in the delivery. You’re storytellers for goodness sake – it’s your craft!

Thoughts from Ben McKenzie’s talk

  • This could end up meaning something to someone; they’ll remember it as if it were real. Be aware of that, honour it, and give everything you can to make the experience as thorough as possible
  • People take things to heart

  • Beware of your (wonderful, wonderful) community: they are too smart for their own good and you have to be prepared to be surprised by them
  • Know how to improvise. In other words, personally, dredge up all the lessons you learnt in that after-school children’s drama program and “yes, and” the shit out of your participants
  • Snow peas are not a subtle snack. Everybody can hear you chew them
  • A good ARG changes and grows with audience participation. Something might not work, or really work, or work in an entirely different way to what was expected. Pay attention to this
  • People love prizes. Give them crap to take home
  • In spite of my flippant language (it’s the only way I can take notes and is terrible) and limited notes, I learnt a lot and was really glad we got a chance to hear from Ben

Transmedia potential

I loved High Maintenance. Can I say that, or will it demonstrate an unhelpful bias? It had a cameo from my second-least-favourite host of my third-favourite podcast and that I can get behind. It isn’t relevant but I’m here for it.

From a transmedia point of view, I think it has a lot of potential. The character vignettes are so wonderfully painted to give the audience a wealth of knowledge about them without saying very much at all.

The first jumping off point in my mind — and the most hilarious — is the Qasim guru. There’s a wealth of opportunity for bizarre, green-screened and Papyrus’d pep talks. Unlock your cosmic potential. It’s all there. However, it does lean towards a similar format to High Maintenance. Different, but clicking over to an associated video through Vimeo feels a little lame on its own.

Since so many of the guy’s clientele seem to be so glib, there’s got to be potential for a chatty, vapid podcast in there somewhere. The trails of hosting for AirBnb, for example.

I’d also be curious to see a fashion blog curated by the assholes.

The guy’s a character we never get to see much of, but I think part of the charm of High Maintenance is his anonymity. It would be fascinating to explore his private world, but on the other hand it would spoil a lot of the charm of this universe.

There seems like so much accidental crossover already (the reappearance of thoroughly delightful asexual magician, for example) that further connections could be revealed through various mediums. Maybe Heidi shows us how to create the perfect capsule wardrobe on the blog, or the couple with the terrible guest discuss that on the AirBnb podcast (they weren’t even paid for it!).

Week Six Readings

Day – Web Series: Four things to ask yourself before starting

  • How is my project unique to the web?
    • Online storytelling is not the same as television
    • The internet affords the opportunity to tell stories about people who networks would never consider interesting
      • A note: this was written in 2009 and before the fascinating convergence of television and online storytelling better known as Netflix
    • Break with traditional narrative. You can do whatever you like on the internet. Be whoever you want to be. Live the life you’ve always dreamt of.
  • How is my web series unique to me?
    • No matter how bizarre and niche you are, on the internet you will find people in that niche and who appreciate the authenticity of what you’re producing
  • Who is my audience and how will I reach them?
    • Know them. Know what they like and where they go to find it
    • Online audiences crave convenience
  • Do I know what I’m getting into?
    • You’re gonna be broke
    • No-one’s going to watch what you make anyway
    • Womp womp

Keck, King – Give the people what they want: niche web series as sustainable filmmaking

  • You can make it, but you still need to get an audience from someplace
    • You’re looking for them, but are they looking for you?
  • Know exactly who your audience is and cater to them. They’ll respect your integrity and tell their pals all aboutcha
  • Influencers: less of a joke than we can comfortably admit
  • There’s a void left by the networks’ ‘lowest common denominator’ approach that web series have stepped up to fill