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A Supplement for Transmedia, Multiplatform & Convergence Properties

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about this documentIntroduction3 Key DefinitionsScenarioPersonasUser Journey Wireframes examplesAdditions to Multiplatform Forms

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About this documentSince the online launch of ‘How to Write a Transmedia Production Bible: A Template for multi-platform producers’ by Gary Hayes & Screen Australia in July 2011, media production continues to be impacted by innovations in technologies, platforms & social behaviour in the digital sphere. Our additions supplement Gary Hayes’ fantastic contribution to a global community interested in transmedia and multiplatform production and we write with the knowledge that cycles of innovation and new social phenomena will likely demand new updates at regular intervals.

This document is intended as a companion to the Screen Australia Bible and it is meant to supplement the comprehensive overview provided by Gary Hayes of the specifications of the various components a Transmedia Production is likely to need. Our goal in writing this expansion is to provide Canadian and Australian content creators moving into the digital space with detailed examples of how to write and/or design specific components such as a ‘User Journey,’ an Experience Map, or a wireframe for mobile or a website, as these are often new territory for traditional media producers.

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iAs many funding opportunities for film and television in Canada now encourage or require a digital media component, understanding what, how and when to include digital media components is crucial for Canadian and sometimes Australian content producers. And as the terms ‘transmedia,’ ‘multiplatform’ and ‘convergent’ have been sometimes used interchangeably and sometimes to mark distinct practices, the following definitions will clarify how these terms will be used throughout the TMC Resource Kit.

NTRODUCTION

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3 key definitionsOver the last decade ‘transmedia’ has changed as a term and practice in response to a number of factors, ranging from the popular impact of major studio cross-platform marketing campaigns to the uptake in social media, participatory storytelling, user generated content, fan culture, crowdsourcing, & crowdfunding. As such, ‘Transmedia’ continues to be an evolving term and practice, though there are common core design priniciples , so we begin with a brief recap of key definitions by some of the leading practioners and theorists in the field...

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One Definition Transmedia stories are those which ‘unfold across multiple media platforms with each new text making a distinctive and valuable contribution the whole. - Henry Jenkins, Convergence Culture 2006

A second definition

Transmedia storytelling, a concept identified by Henry Jenkins, is storytelling by a number of decentralized authors who share assets and create content for distribution across multiple forms of media. Transmedia immerses an audience in a story’s universe through a number of dispersed entry points, providing a comprehensive and coordinated experience of a complex story. - Lina Srivastava 2008

Another definition Each part of the story is unique and plays to the strengths of each medium, and the audience is often invited to participate and somehow interact with the narrative. Simply put, transmedia is the art of conveying a rich message, theme or storyline to a mass audience using multiple media platforms in concert. - Jeff Gomez 2009

Example: Nurse Jackie’s Dr. Cooper tweets during the episodes and those following ‘his’ account are given an inside window into the character’s in-the moment thoughts & responses. Occasionally, Dr Cooper responds to tweets from the public.

Transmedia

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definition Specific definition within the Canadian context defined by the CMF

funding guidelines: projects designed to be “available across a minimum of two distribution platforms, including television.” The digital component can be a VOD platform or “additional, value-added digital content on non-TV platforms” Projects may have multiple ‘rich and substantial’ digital media components (website, app, game, etc) Henry Jenkins on Convergence: ‘convergence...in Convergence Culture, I describe as a paradigm for thinking about the current moment of media change, one which is defined through the layering, diversification, and interconnectivity of media.’ source here

Multiplatformdefinition When used in contrast to transmedia, it commonly refers to the same content

being distributed through multiple channels (ie. a broadcast TV show on your mobile); OR brand properties that use multiple channels for distributing content without extending the story or story world across channels or distribution platforms. Example: A TV show with a webpage with character bios, episode summaries, chat rooms, does not extend or contribute to the story/story world.

Convergent

SA scenario has a very specific use in interactive & user-centric design, which is to understand how individuals will encounter, engage and interact with your property in concretely imagined, visualized and detailed scenarios. The purpose of a scenario is to test the the producer’s assumptions as to how a transmedia or multiplatform or convergent experience will play out by imagining it from user’s perspective.This is important because when designing distributed content, particularly with tent-pole properties or native transmedia properties, there might be multiple points of entry ie. the initial contact or encounter whereby you first hear or see or engage with a project. This might be a poster, a commercial, a YouTube video, a Tweet, a flash-mob, the possibilities are endless.

Key questions to be asked are: ! How will your fans know your project exists? And if a tent-pole project, how will they know that other content elements exists?! How will they find it? ! How will you motivate your fans to interact with distributed content and/or share content?! Will you create direct or indirect prompts or calls to action?! What value will fans gain from engaging with distributed content?

The most effective way to test this is either to do user-testing, which is often not possible at an early phase of development, or to create a scenario. Note, user scenarios are written in the present tense in order to be able to best visualize what the experience is. The sample scenarios below are very detailed User Experience Scenarios in order to provide an example of the kinds of details to think through.

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Sana, a 23 year old Canadian, is studying goldsmithing at George Brown College & working part time in a west-end Toronto restaurant. Walking home from work, she sees a new poster campaign with a single image and url. The image and the url ‘doyouhaveanexitplan.com are intriguing as she’s a big fan of scifi and on a whim she searches the url on her smart phone. A webpage loads with a counter marking down 17 days, 6 hours etc, & a text calling for recruits for a colonizing trip to Mars, in the event that the message picked up from Arkab Posterior does indeed signal an alien invasion.

Underneath the recruitment call is a ‘register’ tab which she clicks. She inputs the requested information: name, age, sex, allergies, email, phone number, musical taste, party entertainment skill/talent, and relationship preferences (monogamy to polyamory) and number of envisioned children. Once submitted, a further page opens with the invitation to play a skills testing game. She realizes she can’t play this effectively on her smart phone as she walks, so she closes the page & continues home.

Once home, she opens the site on her computer & looks for a sign in tab and she doesn’t see one. Frustrated, she decides to do other things & opens her email. There she finds a welcome email from the website’s recruitment & she clicks on the confirm registration link and is taken back to the game. She plays through a couple of the skills tests & then has to break off....

Sample Scenario #1

Kwungwon, a 34 year old computer programmer with a passion for political activism, cycling, and Tarantino films, decides to watch the Season Premiere of a new broadcast TV series, Sleuths! while chatting online with friends via multiple social platforms: a number of running chats on Facebook, texts exchanged via phone.

During the show, a suspicious character drops a paper & the camera zooms in to the ripped corner of an envelope with a company logo & acronym, the camera holds for a split second then the paper fragment is blown off screen down an alley. Because he can, Kwungwon rewinds, pauses on the logo & then googles the acronym to see what will list. A number of links, including a company website and a twitter account come up & Kwungwon clicks on the Twitter link.

When the Twitter page opens he sees that one of the main characters is running a live Twitter account in-tandem with the show account & is seeking info on an employee of the company & has created a hashtag for the company. Clicking on the hashtag, Kwongwon discovers that other fans also watching in real time are exchanging details and links as they discover online content related to the named company. Intrigued by the conspiracy elements Kwongwon joins in and proposes someone create a wiki to track the links and info as it is discovered.

Sample Scenario #2

PAnother key element useful in developing User Experience Scenarios is the process of ‘Building Personas’ in order to be able to ‘test-run’ User Centred Design. The distinction here is that you create imagined profiles of specific individuals rather than demographics. Usually, a number of personas are developed (3-5) in order to run imagined User Experience Scenarios. This process often leads to unexpected or overlooked factors and discoveries that can help refine the overall design process. For example, designing a digital component with QR codes on subway posters might seem like an exciting marketing & promotional opportunity to connect with a potential audience until one realized that QR codes are not not accessible underground because wifi signals are usually unavailable.

See UX Magazine’s article, ‘Personas: The Foundation of a Great User Experience’See KissMetrics ‘How User Personas can Improve your SEO Strategy’

ERSONAS

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u ser journey

6Most importantly, there is no one-size-fits-all user journey that will work for every transmedia, multiplatform & convergent project.

In fact, there can be multiple user journeys for each project as audience members will be able to encounter these projects in a variety of ways. In addition to the user journey from the Transmedia Bible we have added in more examples in order to get a feel for how to create user journeys for your own projects.

user journey #1

user journey #2

w Wireframes are mock-ups of the layout design for websites, mobile interfaces and other interactive digital platforms. Usually these begin as paper/pencil sketches that help to visualize what the interface design will be on the various ‘pages,’ home or landing page to all other subsidiary pages.As the design process evolves, wireframes become more polished and demo everything from font to colour choices

ireframes

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examples

These excellent examples can be found here

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aApps - non-game apps that expand, supplement or interact with a given project, could be

related to historical content, archives, communities, etc anything outside of games that interconnect with a property’s content or focus - see Choco-locate app

machinima: machinima is a cinematic art form that uses existing game engines to create animated movies. The form began in .. when a company called Rooster Teeth

graphic novels/comics: as noted by many, graphic novels and comics are a great low-cost medium that can be used to deliver storylines and world-building that would be cost-prohibitive in live-action or animation. And they can exist on the web or in hard-copy. Numerous online self-publishing sites such as Lulu.com can be used as publishing platforms without having to invest in print runs.

participatory websites/platforms: sites and/or platforms used to host invited and sometimes curate UGC - see - Wattpad as a great participatory story sharing platform

Content Sharing Pinterest, Flickr, Wattpad, & many others are highly populated platforms for content sharing

theatre & live performance: in an era of global and immediate access to digital content, there is real value in scarcity and location-specific performances. Live events & theatrical performances are exclusive experiences that can create excitement and immersion in a given project, which attendees might then share with their communities via social media via the ‘world of mouth’. Think of this as analogue promotion in a crowded digital space. ARGs often incorporate live performances that are are scripted to a degree though designed to be open to audience participation. See Zed.TO coming soon

dditional multiplatform forms

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contactusTMC R"$&+r-" K#'

info@tmcresourcekit.com

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TMC B#b," S+//,")"%' was prepared by:

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