Throughout the process of completing our last Assessment project for Story Lab I can confidently say that I have learned a lot about story and the stories that can be found in everyday events. In addition the complexity and depth involved in creating a transmedia story is far greater than I could have ever anticipated. It is based largely on events and how those events effect character, motive and the most important the audience. For the audience is the driving factor behind a lot of new media production and platform. The idea of agency has also played a huge integral role in changing my view on how a story can be told. The days of one media text giving the whole story to the audience is coming to an end and the age of the audience being the deciding factor of a stories end has begun.

When thinking of the idea for Classified Luke and I worked off the idea Luke created for our short story at the start of semester. We began brainstorming ways in which we would be able to elaborate on the story and make it truly enticing. As a result of this we broke down our story into dot points. By doing this it allowed us to get a clearer picture of what we were trying to say and how we could use different aspects of the text as different entry points to introduce new and different media platforms. Once this process was done it made it much simpler for us to start planning out our release dates.

When developing the content for the story Luke and I both agreed that we wanted to release it over a number of weeks and mostly on the non-digital platform. The reason we went hard copy was because it fit with the aesthetic of the story. It is truly underworld and secretive so putting too much information on the web would have made it to accessible to anybody. However, the idea of having the conspiracy theorist/hate blog online was perfect because in a real life situation that is exactly where you would find it. On an amateur unknown blog.

I believe that Luke and I worked great together. I think we definitely fulfilled the requirements we set ourselves in our collaborative contract. We worked fairly at all times ensuring no one person was left to do all the work and also hard to stick to the deadlines we set ourselves to make sure we released evidence on time. Our final product I am very proud of as it shows of our skills and strengths as well as including the aspects of media that we were less confident with. Although it doesn’t allow the audience to decide the way the story concludes it allows them to be involved the whole way through. To find the clues and create their own story lines in their head. We also collaboratively decided to leave the story open-ended to what happens to the criminals to keep the mystery of it alive. Overall, I was extremely happy with the content we created and the way we worked as a team to get us there in addition to the helpful information we learnt prior to beginning the project.

Classified is fully underway and we are really happy with the way it is taking shape. We have released another two bits of evidence and they are in the form of a video on a USB highlighting the truth and also a case report and character profiling of the man in the video. The idea of filming a video and putting it on the USB was spawned from the advice received in our pitch, that we should use our skill of filmmaking. I think it turned out really well and flows with the nature of the story.

Our last piece of evidence was another USB with an encrypted file that had a password on it. This password was a series of number, 2837B that unlocked the file and revealed classified banking summaries that showed large amounts of money going out to the second high leader of Scotland and a hitman, to kill the first high leader.

This evidence will lead to the inquiry into the royal family and their happenings. I am really happy with what we have produced to date and am excited to release the final article stating the rest of the sotry. All in all I am happy with the group I am in because me and Luke work really well together and always find a way to compromise and solve problems presented to us.

This week and last week me and Luke started producing our Story Lab project, Classified. I am really happy with the way the story is shaping up and where it is going. We have produced a timeline of what will be released and when to all work with each other to give the audience the best and most interesting story experience we can. I think the aspect of our story that makes it unique is that it does focus a lot on the no physical platforms. This really reflects the story and makes it realistic. I have never heard of a private detective online. It is all hush hush and underworld. The idea not to give the detective a name is that it really creates a sense of ambiguity to the identity of the detective and allows the audience to see themselves as the detective working their way through the case. So far it is going well and I think we are keeping to our original intention and that is keeping the story simple yet effective and not confusing the audience to a point of being disinterested.

The first piece of evidence consisted of a news article created by ourselves about the Scottish Independence election and a sub story of the High leader being killed. Along with this a map of London was included with an address marked out to meet. A handwritten note is also included to keep that anonymous

Week 1 Release – Week 10

• Introductory News Article ✔
• Map of London- Location Marked✔
• Number on Envelope ✔
• Handwritten Note
• First Blog on @therealvoiceofscotland ✔

Week 2 Release – Week 11

• Video in envelope found at Location
• Blog update with video on there
• Numbers still occurring.

Week 3 Release- Week 12

• ­Character Report of the person found at week 2 evidence
• Character Profile
• Transaction Statements showing the debits from the account to hitman and second leader to throw election- Online or physical (TBA) – WIX
• No Update to the blog post as owner is in custody of detective.

Week 4 Release- Week 13

• Final Article revealing all
• Blog Post (Justice is served)

This week we began the construction, conception and implementation of our major project for Story Lab. All the weeks have lead up to this moment where we get to finally create our own transmedia story. After what I believe was a good project three presentation of our story I am excited to get it all started. As we have decided to release a piece of evidence a week over the next four weeks we needed to get cracking on creating our first piece. I believe that we have created a really good first piece of evidence. It consists of a newspaper article, created entirely by ourselves, a map of London with a particular location marked out for the detective to go and also a handwritten note. All of this is wrapped up in an envelope with a particular number on the back. I think that for our first piece we have definitely set-up the story and showed over two different platforms story development and advancement. As the weeks progress the evidence will continue to build the story. In terms of digital media we have started a blog called ‘therealvoiceofscotland’. This blog is an anti-England blog stating that the vote was thrown and foul play was the cause. The aesthetic of the blog is quite amateur but that is the look we want. Someone who has a valid underdog opinion but on a low budget raw website which in some way reflects the tone and the content of the blog. Overall, I enjoyed doing the first piece and am excited for the rest.

Today we presented our pitch for Classified to everyone. I think the actual pitch went quite well and was really well received. It enforced my belief that me and Luke have made a strong story that will hopefully play out well in terms of transmedia story telling. The feedback we received was quite constructive such as understanding that we need to tread carefully when starting a conspiracy theory website and the people we use as our characters. As the story has real world aspects there may be a dangerous element as people may feel it is real and take it on board. So we need to make it quite apparent that it is not real and it is fictional to avoid a potential disaster.

In addition the other thing I found really helpful was the comment that was made to really understand how we are going to deliver the information to the audience, in particular the physical elements. Maybe we should think about mailing it to the audience or ensuring what is delivered in class is done subtly and is of substance and intrigue. This is to keep the audience enticed by actually using subtle hints rather than huge chunks of information. Overall, I am excited to begin the process of producing the material and getting the story going.

Upon developing the idea for Classified, the story me and Luke are developing and telling through transmedia, we discovered a lot about our own abilities and techniques that we have developed over the two film courses we have done together. We have been able to single out the importance of certain characteristics of our story and emphasise the way we tell it visually and through text. The added idea of transmedia story telling made a smooth process in figuring out the way our story played out. The first step was to map out our story in pros and get a strong understanding of the events, characters and actions that make up the story. This process was a tad lengthy in itself but it was vital that we ensured we put the most specific and important detail into each statement or story progression. This did help us immensley when we went to figure out our pitch and making the trailer and poster.

We ended up going for a political thriller story about the British monarchy, the Scottish independence vote and a detective figuring out a murder. The best thing we could have done was to narrow it down and focus on the murder of the high leader. By doing this we were able to contain the story from becoming too long winded and more specific and achievable logistically. When it was time to organise the way we were going to divide up roles we decide as there was only two of us that we work on everything together and just change roles on each task to who was actually creating the piece of work. I personally had big involvement in the creating the presentation that will be used during our pitch, half of the work on the poster and the filming of the teaser trailer. I think me and Luke did a great job of dividing up the roles and working fairly. Something that probably has been built up by our couple of years working on projects together. The thing I found most helpful was doing the trailer last because we had the added benefit of organising the pitch first. By doing this it allowed us to get a deeper understanding of the story and what we are trying to say and allowed us to figure out the transmedia platforms we could use to tell it. So when it came to the trailer we organised the shots so they reflected the different importance’s of the story.

Overall, I believe that the story is strong and it has big potential to be a really interesting and smart story to be told over digital and non digital platforms. We can use the different entry points we have created to maximise audience involvement and the mystery of the final outcome. The other aspect that I believe makes the story strong is the twist that we have added at the end that will shock the audience and round the story out with a powerful ending.

Trailer:

This week we looked at stories that were not big budgeted but achieved the same thing that a big budget movie does. It builds character, story and themes that help move the idea forward. After watching this we worked in pairs to figure out how these stories could become transmedia and work as a transmedia story. We come up with the below:

This weeks focus was based around Marvel and the way it uses transmedia to not only progress the films but also the way people experience the universe. Also the best way to make the most money. Looking at it on non-fan level it seems as if these films all follow the same plot lines with the same character in a different costumes. However, if you look into it further an try to consume it on a fan level a whole world of intertwining character, events, objects and so much more is apparent. These things tie together the films and give them all their own unique identity.

In Tuesday’s class we watched the start of Captain America and Agent Carter and in it we saw just how much these stories worked together. It showed the end of the Captain America movie as the start of the Agent Carter show and delves into the world of Peggy Carter. The most interesting thing I found with this show is how much one large overarching storyline can carry over into such a different type of show. I believe by watching the clips and being a marvel fan (not superfan) that the things that connect these movies and make them transmedia are the way characters, organisations and plot lines are continued throughout them.

The main reason I find the Marvel universe so interesting and believe it is transmedia is the way that the films have been adapted from the comic books. Kendall Whitehouse says “Hollywood has nothing on the comic book industry, which is a font of marketing techniques based on clever storytelling techniques. Comic books have explored — and exploited — narrative structure like no other medium.” (Whitehouse, 2012)  This phrase is the crux of why the marvel universe has done so well. They are not afraid to, like the comic books, play with the way story is told and written. The structure is not linear but rather ongoing and continuous. Ultimately, an interesting ploy by Marvel backed with lots of money to create smart and interesting transmedia narrative.

Todays class consisted of doing the Story Smash. It was a pretty great experience in figuring out what the aims are for the final project for this class. Me and Bronte actually managed to find a happy medium between our ideas and came up with some extremely useful platforms we could utilise for the project. The thing we did find as a result of this activity is that the simpler the idea the more options you have in regards to the platforms and options you can use. However, in saying that the more sure you are on the plot of the story the more interesting and in depth your multi platforms can become.

I dont really think I would like to do the story that we came up with, mostly the fact I didn’t love my idea that I had but I want to think of something a bit more in depth. I was speaking to a friend who was thinking of doing a political thriller and I think I could implement the things me and Bronte smashed together with that idea. Overall, as a result of this activity and the readings/theories we have discussed I am starting to understand what we should be doing for the final project.

This weeks first reading was based on the idea of Spreadabiltiy of products and content. The authors focused on multiple ways content could be spread and popularity can be increased for products. I really enjoyed this reading as it gave great examples of the different type of spreadability from rumours, history, parody and unfinished stories. They each have unique way of spreading the content. The one I found most interesting was the way humour spreads content. The use of the example of the old spice campaign really helped define it for me. It is essentially using humour and satire to enhance the brand. It comments on the stereotypical trends of advertising and how they lure the different sexes in by the use of common interests. However, leaving enough gap for the content to be reproduced in a parody platform which in turn spreads it rapidly through the digital world.

The most valuable aspect of the Gambarato reading I found was the concept of the open and closed transmedia systems. The open systems is an idea to ultimately involve the consumer and allow them to make decisions on the way they want the story to go. Whereas the closed system is a definite unchanging story that can be navigated by the audience but the outcome of the story will always be the same. The most interesting aspect is the fact that the open system is in our day in age is the more popular option. As we no longer as a generation like to solely consume media we are more inclined to lean to the stories and activities that allow us to actively engage in and decide on their outcomes.

This week we explored Interactive Story Experience in the form of ‘games’. I found this quite an interesting experience as it allowed the consumer to be involved in the game and control the way it ends. It really brings though the idea of agency and allowing the consumer to be involved. The game I focused on was Depression Quest. I found the experience quite insightful as it used such a minimal resources, essentially hyperlinking text to move the story forward. However, the added notes at the bottom of the page that show you just how depressed you are and if you are seeing a therapist and if you are taking medication keeper you enticed to find out how you end up. The use of this gets you involved in the game and makes you want to no the result of the options you pick.

The way the character is developed depends on the options you chose. The more positive options you chose the more the character becomes healthier and more happy but if you chose the negative options the character becomes more closed and isolated. The added benefit is that there is large description of the consequence of the option you chose. It gives you insight into the characters life, the other characters and the plot of the narrative. Although I didn’t classify this activity as a ‘game’ I do believe it is an interesting way to tell story. It could be useful in having the audience interact with the story I want to tell in our final project. You could use it to provide the audience insight into the story or build the identity of one of the characters before they are even introduced to them.

Sorry for the backdated blog but last week was a crazy week. In our Week 3 Tuesday class we spent the majority of the lesson critiquing others work. Now it may seem simple but in fact it is more difficult than you would think. Not only do you have to seperate your emotional self from the text you have to look at the piece of writing in a way where you think you have the ability to give good critic on it. Now that was the hardest part for me. As I am an amateur story writer myself it was difficult to assess and provide criticism to another work. However, once I overcame this I found it quite a rewarding and insightful experience. I believe if anything it was a great learning experience because it gave you the opportunity to dissect a story in a way where you need to imagine character development, story development and how you could it advance it, not how you need to write it and plan out the story.

At first I was apprehensive for others to read my work because as we all know your hardest critic is yourself. However, after the class I felt more settled to the idea because if  ever I go into a writing workforce people would be reading and forming opinions on my work. You need to in a way let go of some the anxiety of other people reading your work. It was an added benefit that the critique I got was quite positive and helpful. Pointing out ways I could advance my story that I hadn’t thought of initially. I found that a lot of the theory we have read was put into practice in the work I was reading particularly the Manovich idea that the story needs to resolve itself by the end. This lead to some really interesting stories that didn’t worry to much about description but were oddly the most descriptive. Overall, a really good task that helps everyone involved in the process.

The short story that I wrote for the first assessment was called Summer. When writing this story there were several things I took from what we have looked at in class to form the idea and the structure of the final product. The way I formed my idea was largely based around the activity we did in class with the cards and then also aspects of the Manovich reading. I laid out some ideas and then moved them around to see how they could work together to form an interesting story.

Once I had characters, locations and actions it was then time to think about how to write it so it had the fantasy that was suggested by Brander Matthews. In fact having the aspects of short story that Matthews talks about in the back of my head whilst writing it really allowed me to cull the things that were not important and have a story that resolved it self by the end of it. Also, i wanted to be clear on the entire story so the audience feels as if the story I was telling at the start was the same one I was telling at the end.

I am quite happy with my story. Although it is not extremely complicated, I believe it includes all the elements that make up a good short-story.

Today, we focused on Sherlock Holmes. The main reason for looking at this was to emphasise how story can essentially stand the test of time. Sherlock Holmes the character was written almost 100 years ago however, it is still alive and well today. There have been books, films and T.V shows made about it and even the younger newer generation know the name Sherlock Holmes. So, how do they keep recreating the same character? Through the use of the same tropes and stigmas around Sherlock Holmes. His quick wit, genius abilities, attention for details, mystery, him being a detective and even the dreary London town where he lives. These story elements are what we know as Sherlock Holmes.

When it came to watching the T.V series first episode we expected to see these tropes. However, not only did we see them, they were adjusted to fit in to a current society. I found this really interesting because it shows that although we have so many forms of story telling in this day in age, the foundation of what we are doing, that being telling stories, will never die, wether they are original or recreated.

Then we downloaded the Sherlock game that correlates to the TV show. When playing the game the things I found really interesting was the connection it had to the story although in game form. It was a new way of looking at the story and really brought through the idea of agency that Murray talked about in the reading. We are now able to control the way the cases unfold, although you do get some help from the characters. It really brings you into the world of the series. It gives you a good idea of the character of Sherlock Holmes right from the starting video of Sherlock talking to you as if you are physically in the room. This is a great way to boost the audience engagement of the app. In a few ways however they have had to gamify the app. For example for when you want to get to place around London you have to chose to walk, catch the train or a cab. Each option has there pros and cons but it lets you decide.

Overall I found the concept of the whole TV show, app and character interesting and it shows you, that if you have a strong story it can last a long time and be shaped into many different mediums.

This week we spoke about the readings of Manovich and Murray. In total honesty I didn’t thoroughly enjoy the readings as I believed they kept reiterating the same points in different ways over and over. However, there was at least one major point that I truly resinated with from both.

In regards to Manovich, I really enjoyed the way that story was contrasted and compared with algorithms. In a way it was a slightly more complicated and in depth explanation of what we did last week regarding the story structure form the cards. It compares story to be structured and created from a series of actions, characters, places and time. In its foundations story is essentially a rhythmic way of telling a sequence and or an algorithm. It is essentially the cause and effect rule. When something happens there has to be something written to consequence it.

In regards to Murray, the use of the term agency is what really stood out to me. Agency is the active involvement of the consumer in the story as if their actions are determining the way the story goes. This is why the multiple use of game examples are used by Murray.  This is because in a game our actions or the path we chose to take determines the way the story goes. This is prevalent in games that follow a story line like the The Order or something like Assassins Creed.

Both writers make good and unique points in regards to story. Although at times they were complicated and hard to follow.

Today’s tute was interactive and gave me a deeper more simplified understanding of how a story can be brought down to a  structured linear medium. We had two activities to complete, the first was to choose a well known story, in our case Little Red Riding Hood and then break it down into a series of charts each specific to one of the below:

1. Emotional Intensity– the feel of the story as it unfolds. How do we feel?
2. Character Journey- the path the characters embark upon through the story and how prevalent are they?
3. Themes- the main themes through the story and how much each character feels and are impacted by them?
4. ???? (Our own chart)

This got us thinking and the charts are below:

1. Emotional Intensity

2. Character Journey

 Little Red Riding Hood

4. ???? Our own chart (Comparing the intensity of emotion of two main characters in regards to the different themes)

3. Themes Pie Chart

The main aspects I took away from this task were that story is able to be broken down into something as structured and linear as graphs because essentially it is a culmination of ideas that are categorised into different groups whether it be themes, emotional intensity or even character profiles. They all work cohesively to move the story forward. The other thing I discovered is that although in todays society we use story in a more creative and unique way, breaking it down back to its foundation will actually allow us to write are more throuough and detailed story that does not over describe or lag but actually inspires and evokes feelings from the reader.

This is lead largely by cause and effect. Without the cause for something the result of that action, dialogue or event can not take place and ultimately there will be no story. The second activity today really allowed us, in a trivial yet extremely useful way, to explore how certain locations, characters, professions, time and action effect the way a story is told. We had a bunch of different catagories and aligned them in an order that went-

     Scene 1                          Scene 2          

Time – Place                    Time Place      

Character – Profession – Action – Character – Profession – Action – Character – Profession

e.g

Day – Buckingham Palace                     Dawn – Bridge

Elizabeth – Physician – Watches T.V – Henry – Monarch – Bashfully Speaks – Holly – Bowling Alley Owner

The purpose of the above is that it gives you the basis of  a story to build on. Like Queen Elizabeth a pseudo physician but Queen watches T.V with Henry who is a monarch, they see an ad about bowling and Henry decides to throw a surprise party for Elizabeth. So he meets with Holly the bowling Alley Owner. You see how (although simple) a plot is created and you have cause and effect. This essentially is the crux of all great film, novels and games (in instances). I also found this extremely useful in creating ideas for stories if you are stuck because it is a great stimulus to get creative juices flowing. Allowing un thought of ideas and storylines to pop into your head.

All in all it was beneficial in understanding the ‘rules’ if you will of story, but now it is our job to break those rules and create new and innovative ways of story telling on both a literary and trans-media platform.

In class we looked at two types of stories, Frankenstein (1931) and War of the Worlds (1938). These texts helped us in finding and identifying the key points of a story.

1. Plot
2. Audience
3. Character
4. Genre

Although identifying the above may seem mainstream and junior of this type of analysis it really does give you a deeper understanding of the beginnings and foundation of a story and the impact they can have on people. All the elements of a plan are in these points. Another thing I found is the importance of a plan although I don’t have the best track record with them I think they can be very helpful in writing my own short story.

When it comes to thinking of ideas for my own short-story for next weeks assessment I was sort of confused as to what to write or how to structure it. After the readings and the sessions this week I have found that it would be easiest if I worked from a strong simple idea and let it flourish from there. There was something said this week in regards to the reader knowing that the ending of a short story was intended from the beginning of the story. The only way to achieve this is to be certain and understood within your idea.

So now all I have to do is become certain on a plot, characters and genre…

Do you know the difference between a short story and a novel? Besides the obvious neither did I until today. In the words of Brander Matthews a short story “shows one action, in one place, on one day.” in comparison to a novel where there can be multiple stories, characters, settings and it can go over an extended amount of time. I found this quite intersting as I have never approached it in this way. From a background of writing for film, it is sometimes useful to write you story plot in a short and concise way. I had always had a problem with this as I found it so hard to condense so many storylines, character and timeframes into one short page or two. Now I understand why because you can’t write a good short-story if it is in fact not intended to be a short-story.

Although his views were at times racist and extreme there was one other thing Matthews brought up that really resinated with me and that was his comments on what makes a good short-story.

“If to compression, originality and ingenuity he add also a touch of fantasy, so much the better”              -Brander Matthews 

This emphasises the difference between a novel and a short-story and really gives the short-story its own stand alone identity. In particular, the “touch of fantasy”, obviously not meaning it in the literal sense that there needs to be magic and fire breathing dragons in every short-story but in a wider sense that the readership walk away with from the story a sense of something different that stays with them and allows them to remember the story as a stand out experience.

Reference:

Brander Matthews, The Philosophy of the Short-story, 1901, New York: Longmans, Green, and Co.

This week in Story Lab we spoke about story and what it is that makes story? It was concluded that story exists in many platforms and parts of all of our lives. From movies and TV shows to music and mobile applications. In film there are many aspects that make up a story and in contemporary times these aspects are much more varied than that of early times. These days stories can exist in many forms, they can be non-linear and they can transport us to other dimensions and show us what would have at one time been considered simply a fantasy or a dream. This shows us the awesome power that stories have. However, this is not to disparage the stories of earlier times. These stories although more linear and structured still had the power to effect us in the same sort of ways stories of today do. This is pinned together by the crux of a story, cause and effect. This particular story technique is what drives and is what has always driven a memorable story.

This post has merely touched on the aspects of what a story is made up of, it is in my opinion important to appreciate both classical and contemporary story because without it we would not know what the foundations of a story are. We would not know the rules to follow and of course in many instances the rules to break and change.