Plan Transmedia

The key points that I took from this reading would be the formats of storytelling, and the shapes that are used to describe these. It talks about the “shape” of the universe, where “pre-setting the shape of a communicative system is a fundamental operation in the creative and editorial process of distributing a story in new media”.  A fundamental system: FLAT: The forces are subjected to move on a single infinite plane, where everything happens in order; CURVED: The forces are subjected to move and take on different forms, where it is not predictable, and it allows for organic growth. Another main point that relates to the works that we will be working on later in the semester , can have two shapes: A SPHERE – a system based on perfectly balanced communication between the various media, and A SADDLE – a multimedia system in which the mass of bodies tend to spread out and enlarge, where it tends to disperse (if spread too thin, the audience can become bored). The reading goes on to say the mass of the bodies depends on the richness of their contents and the media changes within a project. The way this reading talks about ‘The Dark Night’ film was so fascinating to me, in the way they used multiple platforms, in order to reach a wider audience and to engage the user throughout the different elements. It was a way of involving the audience into the up and coming film, so therefore a marketing strategy.

The Matrix and Transmedia Storytelling

This reading talks about how a transmedia story will unfold across various platforms, with each new element making a valuable contribution to the overall storyline. Janet murray os thinking that we will all lead into the next step of narrative, because us, as an audience, try to seek out a story beyond its limits. When transmedia franchises become successful, it is when a single creator maintains all of the control. “Stories are basic to all human cultures, the primary means by which we structure, share, and make sense of our common experience; rather we are seeing the emergence of new story structures, which create complexity by expanding the range of narrative possibility rather than pursuing a single path with a beginning, middle and end”.

Depression Quest led me on a journey, not just any, but an emotional one. It is designed in a way that the reader became the protagonist, connected the viewer with the story created. They give us the options to play with, and to determine the fate of our character, instead they have written different ways of introducing the next chapter. It was created to show the user what it is like to be someone that is depressed, and how we would feel, making decisions that were all bad.

I was hooked from the moment the story started giving me options to choose from, which was two or three pages in, which meant that I was engaging with the story early on, so that I was paying attention the whole way through, and didn’t loose any interest. The beginning was even interactive, as in they didn’t have options to choose from, but included links to another section of the story, or background information. This helped to set up the story, and how we could relate to the protagonist, giving us the right amount of information to then be placed in his shoes.

Throughout the interactive story, the character is developed from what the reader chooses, an example of cause and effect. What we chose had an outcome on the following page, allowing us to peel yet another layer of this character, to keep trying to understand what his desires are, and what the outcome of this story might or could be. I think that an interactive story is one of the best way to engage with the characters, because we have to choose their path. However to choose the different paths, we have had to come across information that has stuck in our minds. The way the creator has crossed out the positive outcomes when it is our turn to decide the next path of the journey, it means we are left with all bad choices, that we would never pick. This means we are then picking ones that we think the protagonist should choose, in order to get his life back on track. However we are then faced with more negative outcomes. This gave me a real sense of being emotionally damaged, as the protagonist is, and at the end I felt sad, and unable to come to terms with how someone could ever feel like this.

Depression Quest has used narrative, audience and technology to relay the story, where the narrative is shown through the different platform, where it is similar to choose your own adventure. It is a way of engaging the audience by having the narrative submerged into the game on multiple platforms and levels. This story works with the technology, due to the links being so accessible, meaning the user just has to click on a word to reach another segment of the story, allowing the simple and easy to use feature a positive aspect for this transmedia storytelling. Technology is a way to reach out to users on a larger scale, through the internet, where it is easier to engage with, and also the story is more coherent.

After interacting with this game, it just showed me how powerful something like this could be if it was executed correctly, and the character development was strong enough to handle the narrative. With interactive platforms, the last thing you want is for the user to become bored of the content, you want them to be engaging with it the whole way through. This is an element that I think could be very useful to my original story idea, where the user is lead to believe they are contributing to the overall narrative, and what they choose can determine the fate of the storyline.

This was one of the most helpful classes, in regards to helping me write a story, or how to come about planning it. There was a class activity that we all did in groups, called ‘Cause and Effect’, where we were given palm cards, that were sorted out into different categories, those being, place, time, name, occupation, and action. We had to place the cards randomly out on the table, into the structure that we were told, and then had to create a story out of the prompts that we had in front of us. Not only was it a fun way to get in touch with our creative side, but it was interesting to see how specific elements influenced the story more than others, those being gender, and location. We also decided that occupation was an influential factor as well. This meant that if we swamped out a couple of cards, and replaced them with others, does this change the dynamic of the story, or give it extra motivation? Depending on what was swapped out, like the gender and job, meant that the story changed, and how we went about telling it. Not only was it good to see this happen in front of us; seeing how a story can change, it reinforced the reading ‘Philosophy of the Short Story’ by Brander Matthews in week 1.

‘The Database’ by Lev Manovich:

This reading goes into the organization of new media objects, where they do not necessarily have a beginning, middle or end, instead they organize themselves, as they are individual items.
The different types of databases are:
– Hierarchical, network, relational and object-orientated.
Manovich suggests that the computer age has brought with it a cultural algorithm = Reality > Media > Data > Database. This database is seen through a list of items, where it refuses to be ordered. This algorithm is shown with both games and narratives, as the user has to uncover the underlying logic when going through them. These databases then become the center of the creative process, within the computer age, where new media objects consist of one or more interfaces, with only one database of its material.
To have something qualify as a narrative, it has to contain an actor and a narrator; contain three distinct levels consisting of the text, the story, and the “fabula”; and its contents should be “a series of connected events caused or experienced by actors“.

‘Chapter 5: Agency’ by Janet H. Murray

Murray goes on to talk about the importance of agency and how it is linked to new media objects, and how we participate with traditional narrative form, which generally limits our sense of it. Agency is offered to us through traditional art forms, but is usually more prominent in the games that we play, when the narrative is moved to the computer, which is then moving the narrative to a realm that is already shaped by the relevant game. When working with a linear story, it doesn’t matter how complex it is, it will always move towards a single version of a human event. Murray suggests that “a game is a kind of abstract storytelling that resembles the world of common experience but compares it in order to heighten interest“. In a successful game, the players are able to have constructive freedom, where they can then improvise the story, and can combat the narrative in multiple ways, depending on their goals.

The story that I created mirrors what the readings where saying, and the activities that were done in class. It has a substance, builds to a final action, and has a protagonist. Approaching this task, I decided on a final action, that involved the protagonist, and was similar to the stories that we have been looking at, as it has a beginning, middle and an end.

In the story, the protagonist (Anna) shows early on, that she has a conscious desire. It illustrates the quote from ‘The Substance of Story’ by Robert McKee, that we cast out the finer points of “daily existence in which human beings take actions expecting a certain enabling reaction from the world, and, more or less, get what they expect” (McKee). The story demonstrates the three layers within the ‘story circle’, the inner circle, Anna’s own self and conflicts, her home that she grows up in, her past, the emotional state, and future ambitions; the second circle, her personal relationships with her step mother, father and her grandmother; the third circle, which is the extra personal conflict, her unstable/abusive relationship with her step mother, and her strong/close relationship with her grandmother.

Another process that was taken to reach the final outcome, was looking into ‘The Philosophy of the Short Story’ by Brander Matthews, where the author talks about the unity of a short story, and how it shows one action, in one place, on one day, and it deals with a single character, a single event and a single emotion. My story illustrates this notion by having the accidental murder, at the house, in one morning, with the protagonist involved throughout the whole ordeal. She has the one emotion, to be free. In the reading ‘The Database’ by Lev Manovich, it talks about a traditional linear narrative, it contains an actor and a narrator, and its contents should be “a series of connected events caused and experienced by the actors” (Matthews). My story contains both a actor and a narrator, however it is the same person, it is the young girl who is narrating her own life, and her choices and the choices made by those around her cause events that are detrimental to the overall storyline.

Class 1:

We looked into the components of a story. These were:
– Interpretations, structure, plot, subplots, music, motivation, fiction, non-fiction, advertisements, protagonist, narrative, spoken word, jokes, short stories, novel, films, character, video games, action, setting, book, title, pacing, photograph genre.

Class 2:

This was the first time we went into a more detailed approach to story, and the elements that it has, comparing it to the set readings for the week. We talked about a story story needing to be unique. For examples of stories across different platforms, we watched the first half of the film ‘Frankenstein’, and listened to the radio program called ‘The War of the Worlds’ by Orsen Wells.

‘The War of the Worlds’ by Orsen Wells
– Very descriptive
– The pacing is dated – however very modern for its time – was made in the late 30’s
– Radio drama
– It is like there is an old man sitting by the fire telling a war story
– There were live crosses of broadcasting
– There was emotion in his voice

‘Frankenstein’
We went through the characters and worked out their importance and role to the film, and why they were the way they are.We looked into the characteristics of the actors, and saw how important it is to the storyline. There was the protagonist, and the supporting characters. The protagonist had a desire, and their was one action, in one place and one time.

‘The Substance of Story’ by Robert Mckee

This reading nuts out the key points of storytelling and a narrative, showing the layers a story has, peeling them away like the skin of an onion. It starts by suggesting that at the centre of a story is whats called the substance. When writing a story it must build to a final action, where the audience cannot imagine any other outcome. Story is born in a place where the subjective and objections realms touch.

It all starts with a protagonist, who is a wilful character. They have to have a conscious desire, or may contradict this and have an unconscious desire, and they pursue an object of desire. The protagonist must be empathetic and not sympathetic. In a story, however, there can be a plural-protagonist, where all of the individuals in the group share the same desire; mulit-protagonist, where characters pursue separate and individual desires, suffering and benefiting independently (these become multiple stories).

The reading talks about the difference between story and life, that being that in story we cast out the finer points of “daily existence in which human beings take actions expecting a certain enabling reaction from the world, and, more or less, get what they expect“.

Another main point taken from the reading is about the character. There are three layers when writing a character and their story. There is the inner circle = Own self and conflicts arising from the elements of his nature, mind body and emotion; Second circle = Personal relationships, unions of intimacy deeper than the social role, social convention assigns the outer roles we play; Third Circle = Extra personal conflict, all sources of antagonism outside the personal.

The questions this reading raises are:

1. What is the source of story energy?
2. How does it compel such intense mental and sentient attention from the audience?
3. How do stories work?

‘The Philosophy of the Short Story’ by Brander Matthews

This reading looks into the difference between a novel and a short story. It states that a short story has unity which a novel cannot have. A short story shows one action, in one place, on one day. It deals with a single character, a single event, and a single emotion. A writer of a short story must be concise, and it is essential for them to have originality and ingenuity. Matthews says that short story is a high and difficult department of fiction, and that the writer just have a sense of form. A good short story will always demonstrate symmetry of design.

When writing a short story, you have to get to the point, it isn’t like a novel where you have the space to elaborate. It needs to get to the point, however still explaining what is happening, and being descriptive enough the lure the audience, which is seen in the next reading by Roald Dahl.

‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ by Roald Dahl

The story started by describing the protagonist (the wife) and the scene. This allows the reader to picture this scene in their head, and allows them to immerse themselves into this tale. The whole time we are picturing ourselves in the wife’s shoes, thats why we are always rooting for her, and her conscious desire. This is why, when she kills her husband, we are on her side, we think that he is the bad guy, not her. This is how Dahl has set up the story, we only see her point of view, we are only given her details and her emotions.

This was a short drama, where the story was constantly gaining suspense. From the readings above, it shows unity thought the piece, and doesn’t have a set love story. It shows one action, in one place, on one day. It all happens in the afternoon/evening at her house, and it was one action that took place – the murder.