Just Outside The Zeitgeist

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.

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.

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.