Another interesting Cineformation meeting hosted this time by Dr Vicky Brophy, founding partner and head of Digital at Wönky (www.wonkyfilms.com).

The guests in the first part of the evening were Dr Tom Abba (a specialist in narrative theory and practice from the UWE) and director / producer Rik Lander (one half of the 80s video art pioneers “The Duvet Brothers”).

Dr Tom Abba brought an academic perspective to the evening. He talked about interactive narrative and the influence of new media (new technologies such as the internet and the mobile phone) on the form and content of fiction and story telling. He explained how the slightest change made to the general media landscape can have a major ripple effect and called this phenomenon media ecology. He stressed how the form of a book (with its pages and chapters, etc.) dictates our reading experience and how all this could be changed by new technology – the classical book structure being broken. For instance, a story on the net has no page numbers and no real need for chapters. He concluded by saying that new media is about play, about our ability to enter a game, suspend our disbelief and change our regular expectations about story reading.

(Check the interactive stories released online by Penguin at www.wetellstories.co.uk)

Rik Lander moved on to talk about interactive storytelling in video form. He made a difference between traditional TV that you can watch on your iPlayer or online (like 4oD) and videos made for the net – between the products that established media try to force onto the net and what he called “webby content”.

He illustrated his point by showing several examples of webby content:

First, an episode of the web comedy, “Chad Vader – dayshift manager”, the adventures of a supermarket supervisor who is a Darth Vader look and sound-alike.

This comedy is the work of two young men who created it for Channel 101 (a Channel regulated by viewers’ voting that gives a voice to non-mainstream creative people). It is a DIY production made at a low cost.

In that vein R. L. also mentioned “Church of Blow” (www.youtube.com/user/ChurchOfBlow) and “Happy Slip” (http://happyslip.com).

Secondly, he showcased “Human Pet”, an interactive “horror” story (http://thehumanpet.blogspot.com) involving fake kidnapping and torture (regulated again by viewers’ voting) – a low cost, “out there”, underground venture.

Thirdly, he mentioned “Quarterlife” a web-only conventional drama devised by the production company that created the successful late 80s TV drama “Thirtysomething” (http://quarterlife.com).

He then proceeded to show us a few projects he has been involved in:

First, the BBC financed teenage drama “Wannabes”, an online interactive series in which the viewer is treated as a friend by the protagonists and is asked for advice. The given advice does not change the overall outcome of the plot but it gives each viewer/player a different experience and a personalised game card.

He also described a course he ran in November 2007 at Bristol University, entitled “Make a web drama in twelve weeks”. It involved eighteen students making an interactive web drama called “Bells Angels” (www.savetheworkers.co.uk), which mixed pre-written and filmed scenes with last minute ones reflecting the results of public voting.

Finally he talked about an exciting new project his company is going to launch, a global web soap entitled “Together Alone”, where the control of the writing and directing is left to professionals, but where internet users are the actors (they send audition videos to be cast). The result is entertaining, intriguing and surprisingly seamless.

He concluded his talk by saying that while web dramas are rife in America, they have not taken off so much here yet.

The second part of the evening was conducted by Ben Templeton and Dan Course of Thought Den (a creative digital agency), two very enthusiastic new media freelancers.

They first introduced a “pervasive media” product they are working on called "Happy Packages” (produced by “Thought Den” and mobile specialists “Mobile Pie”), which is directed to mobile phones and mixes in various imaginative ways real and virtual worlds (allowing you to download / send short films, personalised messages and even free vouchers to your friends), all centred on what makes you and others happy in Bristol (http://happypackages.com).

They looked into the pros and cons of video over mobile devices (size of screen, sound quality, convenience…). Showed us various examples of viral diffusion (such as the very successful Sony adverts that wowed viewers both on TV and online). They talked about revenue models and also addressed potential issues (such as pervasive fatigue, i.e. fatigue at being constantly bombarded with content).

They finished their lively and interactive session by showing us “Happy Packages” in practice (sending to the audience’s mobile devices via bluetooth three short comedy videos part of a series entitled “"Dude Corp”: www.dudecorp.com).

Check out Though Den’s blog – with graphs & everything!

V. Martin
veronique.martin@gmail.com
www.myspace.com/cubicstone

Author: Anon at 09:00 on 04.04.08 1161 Comments | Leave a comment

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