This week we ran auditions for the part of Connor in our transmedia assignment. Our final project will be based around a character called Connor, who is an outsider in his school environment and decides to murder those who have wronged him. This is a story that has been done before, but everything is a remix, and we want to use some of the best elements of other murder mysteries in our story. Plus, according to last weeks theory, we have concluded that “the web should be a place to present stories and characters which aren’t normally seen on a network.” Our character wouldn’t make for a mainstream television show, but rather, we think that using different forms of media is more effective as it creates more of a mystery and forces audiences to find other bits of information if they want to get to the bottom of the story.

We want to base our narrative in several different forms of media:

• Online vlogs – for Connor to vent about his life and provide an insight into his mental state
• 3 Webisodes – from the point of view of three different people besides Connor to provide a commentary of the world in which Connor lives that is separate to his view. At this stage we think the webisodes will be from the point of view of a neighbour, his mother and the news.
• A written diary of Connors – in which he writes his deepest (and evilest) thoughts which he doesn’t share with his subscribers.
• A newspaper article – which outlines the events of the party in which Connor attends and kills several of his fellow students.
• A facbeook event and photo album – which other Facebook profiles will comment on and help make the narrative seem real. They will also allow for the links to be made between the student profiles and eventually Connor’s online vlogs.

Because this is an extremely low budget project, we will rely heavily on the quality of the acting of the male lead, for he needs to be able to convey Connor’s *snap*. I think we have found our actor, which is exciting. He delivered a very convincing vlog in his audition. We are yet to determine whether we have too much on our plate yet, and whether actors (particular Connor) will be able to commit to such a time frame.

In class, we had a guest lecturer come and visit us called Dr Troy Innocent. After listening to his lecture, one of the main things that I took away from it was how important it is for all of the narrative to work towards an ending. There needs to be a reason why audiences want to reach the end of the story; there needs to be a reward. This reminds me of the blog where I wrote about the video game The Last of Us – there needs to be challenges but there needs to be rewards. With our story, Connor, we need to determine what will motivate audiences to work towards our final artefact. If it is really obvious Connor is the killer, that what will our ending be? This is something that we need to decide as a group.