The Story Lab 2015

What is story _now_?

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Week 4: Seminar Class

March 25, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Research Response Queries

  • formal essay-style response
  • not just class readings
  • word count 2000 +/- 10%
  • citations/refs
  • text only
  • be ready to present in Week 5
  • double check submission req’s – late penalties will apply
  • email questions before 5pm Friday – ideally earlier

Projects & Teams

  • finish your brief proposal – individually or group
  • remember to keep this proposal simple: 50-100 word story summary, list of characters, any ideas for platform, genre notes
  • upload this proposal to your blog
  • assign roles in your group
  • work the idea as a group

Collaboration Contracts

  • table names and roles (must be on paper)
  • discuss expectations for collaboration
  • draft five rules – reword, add, edit
  • names – final five rules – signatures
  • upload five rules to blog
  • hand to Dan

Week 4: How the big boys do it

March 22, 2015 / / 0 Comments

agent-carter-tv-show

This week we’ll be exploring how big businesses spend vast sums of money to create transmedia worlds. Are the worlds and stories created by powerhouses like Marvel and DC as complex and multi-faceted as they appear?

Also, if you look through the readings you’ll find a neat little piece by Whitehouse on how comic books are the perfect precursor to transmedia storytelling. Can you think of any other forms that have transmedia characteristics – or, to steal Bryan L’s phrase, a ‘transmedia aesthetic’ – within a single channel/platform?

We’ll also be watching the various incarnations of Agent Carter – originally a minor character in the first Captain America film from 2011, and looking at how Marvel is toying with traditional themes and representations. After a 20-minute spiel from me on Wednesday morning, there’ll be about 90 minutes of screening: firstly, come prepared to take notes, secondly, if you’d like to bring snacks, feel free!

Case Study Feedback

March 22, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Feedback for the Case Study Project Brief should have been emailed to you today. If for any reason you’ve not received it, please get in touch as soon as you can.

Likewise, if anything about the feedback is unclear, let me know and I’ll try to explain in greater detail.

Week 3: Producing for transmedia (plus, one down, three to go!)

March 16, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Congrats to all of you on getting the first assessment out of the way. I’m looking forward to working through these over the next week and getting some feedback to you well and truly before the second Project Brief is due.

Speaking of Project Brief 2, the Research Prompts and complete instructions are now available here on the blog and on Blackboard. Please ensure that you read this at some point while constructing your Research Report (at least the prompts!). Remember: this is an essay-style response, so formal, academic language is required, as is full referencing and a references list. If you’re unclear about essay writing (or any other assessment styles), the library has a fantastic online resource called the Learning Lab. Similarly, if you’re worried about referencing, the library’s got your back there too.

This week, now that we’ve accepted that there is no such thing as originality, we’ll be looking at the process of adaptation, as well as best practice for producing transmedia projects. This will include a (tiny) bit of OH&S stuff (remember, all final projects must include a Risk Assessment).

We’ll be watching some short films this week, that were commissioned by Matrix creators the Wachowskis. In your readings, you’ll find Henry Jenkins, the guru of transmedia storytelling and convergent media. You’ll also find one of my favourite articles, by Umberto Eco (yes, that Umberto Eco), where he talks about the glorious film Casablanca as a cult object. The final reading is by Janet Murray on ‘agency’ in hypertext and videogames. A lot to get through, but I want you to think about all of this – transmedia, cult objects, agency – while we’re watching The Animatrix in class.

Happy reading, and see you Wednesday!

Why so serious?

March 12, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Questions to consider when researching the viral campaign for The Dark Knight (2008)…

  • What is the ‘narrative’ of the campaign?
  • What role does the audience play?
  • How was the idea of the ‘remix’ and the ‘database’ employed here?
  • Make a list of as many artefacts/objects/’bits’ of the campaign as you can.
  • What role does each ‘bit’ play in the overall narrative?
  • How do you think the team went about planning this? Think logistics.
  • How does this campaign fit into the narrative of the film?

Case Study resource – Analyzing [sic] Film

March 12, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Karen Gocsik & Richard Barsam. (2012). Analyzing Film. In Writing About Movies (Third Edition). New York City: WW Norton & Co. (accessible through Blackboard)

I’ve dropped a resource in the Readings & Resources folder on Blackboard that some of you may find useful. Be aware, though, and this is a big warning, that the analysis that Gocsik and Barsam are demonstrating is very specific to film. There are some parts that simply won’t work when looking at a super-experimental non-filmic object. But the general rules about formal analysis may be useful in unpacking and writing about your chosen ‘text’.

Les Miserables in Emoji

March 11, 2015 / / 0 Comments

emoji-classic-les-miserables(more here)

  • What elements of storytelling are being relied upon here?
  • To what level is the viewer an actor in this particular media object?
  • Is it the story or the plot that’s being told?
  • Have/has emoji altered the way we communicate?
  • What cultural customs does the emoji tap into – does it change those customs?

 

Week 2: Models, transmedia, audiences, agency

March 9, 2015 / / 0 Comments
Source: KnowYourMeme.

Source: KnowYourMeme.

Things will be getting a little darker this week, though, as we ask each other: Why so serious? Yep, you’ll be exploring the advertising campaign for Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, and trying to work out how this plays into the narrative of the film, if it does at all.

To get a head start, you’ll need to do two things.

First of all, get stuck into the readings. They’re a little tougher this week, as we move from the ‘fun’ of asking simply ‘What is story?’ into exploring how some other people have answered that question. Be patient with Manovich, Giovagnoli, and Navas – their work forms the basis of much of how we’ll be thinking about narrative for the rest of semester.

Secondly, have a look at a couple of short films: Hardware Wars and Ryan vs. Dorkman 2. These are little films made by fans of the hugely-successful and soon-to-be-continued Star Wars franchise. The first was made in 1978, a mere one year after the very first film’s release, the second in 2007, after the pain of the prequels had subsided. Think about what you know of the Star Wars films. How do these two shorts plug into the popular consciousness of this narrative? By extension, what do they suggest about the universality of the film’s themes — and can this question be answered just by watching two teenagers duel with lightsabers?

Hardware Wars

Ryan vs. Dorkman 2

Week 1 Updates

March 4, 2015 / / 0 Comments

I hope everyone got something out of our first session, even it was just learning a few names!

A couple of quick notices:

  • Thanks for pointing out the incorrect due date for Project Brief 2 (Research Report).
  • There has been a slight change to the submission procedure for Project Brief 1 (Case Study). Upload your 500 word Case Study (copy and paste from a word processor to get the word count right!) into your student blog, and be sure to apply the category “The Story Lab.” Grab the URL (web address) of that post, and submit it via Blackboard for Project Brief 1. That way you’re submitting your work and I can get all your blog addresses all at once!

These notes have been amended in the Studio Guide, which has been re-uploaded to Blackboard, and we’ll clarify all this in class.

Week 1: Welcome to no limits narrative

February 24, 2015 / / 0 Comments

For our first sessions together, we’ll be asking ‘What is story?’ What are the characteristics that every story has to have? We’ll also be exploring a number of ways to analyse those stories, and maybe think about planning our own.

In preparing for class, make your way through the set ‘readings.’ These include the really engaging video by Andrew Stanton, who has worked at Pixar for many years, and is probably responsible in some way for many of your favourite childhood films!

We’ll also be listening to Orson Welles’ original broadcast of The War of the Worlds, which I think will be interesting after you’ve listened to the Radiolab episode about it. And if you’ve not subscribed to Radiolab, just do it: it’s amazing.

Get into it, and I look forward to meeting you all in Week 1!

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