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.

Based on the theories, models, and concepts discussed in Week 1 and 2, students will write a 500-word report on an example of narrative that plays with structure, convention, or traditional ideas of what a ‘story’ could/should be. Students might explore an experimental novel (historical or recent), for instance, board game, TV series, or a story that unfolds across several platforms. Note that the case study cannot examine an example that has been set for the studio. Students will present this research to the class in Week 3.

In years past, superhero films from Marvel Studios had been met with limited success, but it wasn’t until Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige realised that Marvel still owned the rights to the core members of The Avengers.  Feige envisioned creating a shared universe of films just as creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby had done with their comic books in the early 1960s.

Marvel’s ambitious plan was to mimic the “rhythm” that the original comic books had developed, by releasing individual films for their main characters and then merging them together in Avengers crossover films, which would act as “linchpins” for the films that had come before.  The shared narrative continuity of these films, dubbed by Feige as the “Marvel Cinematic Universe”, has been assigned its own “Alternate Earth” within the continuity of the company’s multiverse.

The franchise has since expanded to include short films, known as Marvel One-Shots, and multiple television series, as well as tie-in comic books, which are also set entirely within movie continuity.  The shared universe, much like the original Marvel Universe in comic books, was established by crossing over common plot elements, settings, cast and characters.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has seen multiple cast members and characters appear across its different platforms of media.  Clark Gregg has portrayed Agent Phil Coulson, an original character to the MCU, in four of the franchise’s films, as well as two Marvel One-Shots, before being cast as the lead in the MCU’s television series debut Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..  Samuel L. Jackson has also appeared frequently as S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury in almost all of the MCU films to date, as well as having numerous cameo appearances in Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., while Hayley Atwell, who starred as Peggy Carter in the Captain America franchise and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. also spawned her own television series in Agent Carter, following the success of her appearance in a Marvel One-Shot of the same name.  All three characters have also been featured in at least one official tie-in comic.

Marvel Studios had to develop a specific business plan in order to create a cohesive shared universe.  When the studio hired Kenneth Branagh and Joe Johnston to direct Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger, respectively, it was made clear that both directors were involved in a part of a shared universe, and that they would have to include certain Avengers plotlines in order to link their films to the eventual assembly of the superhero team and vice-versa.

“You’re constantly pitching out ideas that not only affect your movie, but may have a ripple effect that affects other films.”

–  Joe Russo, co-director of Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Writer and director of The Avengers, and head creative consultant for Marvel Studios, Joss Whedon, described the process of planning a plotline to take place over multiple films; “It’s a dance…  You want to honour the events of the last movie[s] but you don’t want to be beholden to them, because some people will see Avengers: Age of Ultron who did not see any of the movies inbetween – or even The Avengers (1).  [Sometimes] you’re given a bunch of pieces and told to make them fit – even if they don’t.”

“[It’s important to] understand how to take a larger story and wrangle into a moment, yet keep it connected…  There are big pieces that [Feige] knows he wants to build towards, but the way that you get there is open to interpretation and improv….” 

–  Anthony Russo, co-director of Captain America: The Winter Soldier

After the release of The Avengers in May 2012, Tom Russo of Boston.com noted that the idea of a shared universe was almost entirely a new concept, unheard of in Hollywood.  Tuna Amobi, a media analyst for Standard & Poor’s Equity Research Services, stated that in the last three to five years, Hollywood studios began planning ‘mega-franchises’ for years to come, opposed to working one blockbuster at a time.

Speaking about Marvel’s expansion to television, Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times praised Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and the integral connections between the films  that ultimately (and dramatically) shaped the series, stating that “never before has television been literally married to film; charged with filling in the back story and creating the connective tissue of an ongoing film franchise”.

Evidently the Marvel Cinematic Universe has had a profound impact on popular culture, with the University of Baltimore announcing a course beginning in 2015 which would explore the concepts behind the creation of the MCU.  The course, ‘Media Genres: Media Marvels’, examines “how Marvel’s series of interconnected films and television shows, plus related media and comic book sources… offer important insights into modern culture… [as well as] uncover the unprecedented efforts by Marvel to establish a viable universe of plotlines, characters, and backstories”.

REFERENCES:

Giovagnoli, Max. (2011). ‘Chapter 2: Plan Transmedia.’ In Transmedia Storytelling: Imagery, shapes and techniques, pp. 34-54. Halifax, Canada: ETC Press.

McKee, Robert. (1997). ‘The Substance of Story.’ In Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting. New York, USA: HarperCollins, pp. 135-154.

The Winter Soldier: Has America Changed Too Much for Captain America? – IGN, (2015). The Winter Soldier: Has America Changed Too Much for Captain America? – IGN. Available at:http://au.ign.com/articles/2014/03/06/the-winter-soldier-has-america-changed-too-much-for-captain-america?page=4. [Accessed 13 March 2015].

‘The Avengers’ collects all your favorite Marvel characters in one handy wannabe blockbuster SUPER GROUP  – The Boston Globe, (2015). Available at:http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2012/04/29/the_avengers_collects_all_your_favorite_marvel_

characters_in_one_handy_wannabe_blockbustersuper_groupthe_avengers_assembles_all_your_favorite_

marvel_characters_in_one_handy_wannabe_blockbuster/. [Accessed 13 March 2015].

Inside ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’  – EW.com, (2015). Available at:http://www.ew.com/article/2014/04/08/amazing-spider-man-2-sony-magazine. [Accessed 13 March 2015].

Marvel Cinematic Universe – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (2015). Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel_Cinematic_Universe#cite_note-ASM2EW-148. [Accessed 15 March 2015].

  What elements of storytelling are being relied upon here?

The image above is meant to loosely relay the narrative from the musical Les Miserables, relying purely on emojis.  For me personally, this example is perfect in evaluating how effectively emojis can convey a narrative, because not only do I have extremely limited prior knowledge of Les Miserables, but also only recently bought myself a smart phone, so my personal emoji databank has only ever consisted of those made up from the 12 button keypad numbers and symbols, such as 🙂 , :’( , 😉 and <3 (and even that last one rarely gets a workout).  So it’s fair to say, that upon first ‘read’, the first line of Les Mis in Emojis read something like this: “locked padlock, sad face, unlocked padlock, happy face, man farts”.  I was clearly interpreting them far too literally.  Cheating a little, after reading the synopsis on Wikipedia, it becomes clear that this is about a character that is released from prison.  Rejuvenated and educated with a new way of thinking, turning back to the collection of emoticons however, proved less fruitful than I’d anticipated.  From the emojis, I could guess Les Mis was a musical judging by the many musical notes emojis (although this is influenced by previous knowledge), and that it was at least partially set in France (but this could be guessed from the musical’s title itself).  Knives, guns, explosions, skulls and crying-smileys (is that a paradox?) hint that there’s probably some death and murder in there too.  It quickly becomes clear that the elements of storytelling that are being relied upon in this instance is that not only does one need to be more cryptically-minded in interpreting the emoji chains, but also more importantly to have actually seen Les Mis, at least to fully appreciate the effort the creator of this piece has gone to.  Les Mis in Emoji is very similar to a project Emoji Dick designed by data engineer Fred Benenson, who translated each line of Moby Dick to emojis.

  To what level is the viewer an actor in this particular media object?

It would be hard to call the audience an actor for this particular media object, largely because I don’t feel as though the audience in this instance are as much a part of the narrative as they are agents of interpreting it.  The audience are given a substantial amount of agency in intervening in this work, with the ability to produce their own narrative; they are participants in the story, as opposed to being a character.

  Is it the story or the plot that’s being told?

After first defining the difference between story and plot, where story indicates a series of events much like a history timeline does, whereas a plot adds dramatic, thematic and emotional significance to the story, it is safe to assume that the Les Mis in Emojis conveys only the musical’s story.  Using the first line as an example, we can establish this character has been freed from some form of captivity, but that is all.  We have no way of knowing for sure whether he is a protagonist or antagonist (if indeed he is male), where he was imprisoned and for what reason, and if he escaped or was released.

  Have/has emoji altered the way we communicate?

It would likely be a stretch to say that outside the world of social media and mobile devices that the emoji has impacted upon or even altered the ways we communicate with those around us.    However, in that world, the emoji has dramatically changed ‘text talk’ at least for the foreseeable future.  Emojis allow us to communicate without typing a single word, as ambiguous as they can be as superficial.  Linguist Ben Zimmer has described the use of emojis as “completely organic”, with people making their own rules up as they go.  Some even believe the emoji has literary potential.  Personally, I just prefer to send a 🙂 rather than implicitly state “I am happy” and sound like the talking dog from the Disney Pixar film Up .

  What cultural customs does the emoji tap into – does it change those customs?

Again, I doubt whether the emoji has changed any significant cultural customs outside of the digital realm.  It’s not as though smiling emojis and love hearts are being attached to the end of wedding invites or crying faces are being engraved into the dead’s tombstones.  Instead, the recent prolific use of the emoji in text speak reflects the rapidity and lack of time most people seem to have to share with others in today’s society, and conversely signifies the ‘Gen Y and Z’ who are just getting lazier.

“Before we can talk about how to make great transmedia projects, we have to clarify what we mean when we say ‘transmedia storytelling’”, Max Giovagnoli begins his chapter in A Creator’s Guide to Transmedia Storytelling.  It also seems like the perfect way to begin reflecting on this week’s introduction to The Story Lab.  Originally coined by Dr. Marsha Kinder, the term transmedia was later extrapolated by Dr. Henry Jenkins to describe heavily integrated narrative that could be intertwined across different media components such as films, video games and graphic novels, so that “a character can walk offstage in the game and appear in the film in his very next breath”.

Giovagnoli describes the divide between the different types of transmedia as being known as East Coast versus West Coast transmedia.  West Coast transmedia, or Hollywood or franchise transmedia, may consist of larger media platforms, such as feature films and video games, and is grounded in big-business commercial storytelling.  Plotlines and characters are interwoven across the different platforms, although each piece is able to be consumed independently, yet still forms part of its own smaller but complete narrative.  Giovagnoli uses the big-budget examples of Star Wars and The Matrix. East Coast transmedia however, is described as being much more interactive and web-based, incorporating elements of live scavenger hunts, short films and the use of social media.  The plot is so tightly interwoven across the various platforms that a narrative may only become clear after audiences interact with at least a majority of the project.

It is the ideas and criteria behind East Coast transmedia that we will be heavily relying upon when the time comes to create our own transmedia project as the final assessment for The Story Lab course.