Transmedia And Independent Filmmakers

Sacramento Film Festival, April 24th 2010 BY ROBERT PRATTEN 1

Robert pratten… about me 2

Today’s presentation • PART ONE: intro to transmedia – What is transmedia? • PART TWO: a new mindset • PART THREE: a design process • PART FOUR: final example 3

Part one... of four 4

What is transmedia storytelling? Telling A Story over multiple media 5

Example: Mass effect 2 6

example: Cathy’s book 7

Example: level 26 8

Aim: Whole is greater than sum of parts Movie Game Book Media Franchise Whole is less than the sum of the parts: dissatisfying conclusion to consuming all media Movie Game Book Transmedia Whole is more satisfying than the sum of the parts: euphoria of collecting and connecting the pieces 9

Lowlifes: novella, webseries, blog http://lowlifes.ning.com 10

Early transmedia Problems (IMHO) • Many transmedia examples today are “experimental” in that their appeal is in their novelty • Too much friction for too little entertainment • Endless detail ZZzzzzz 11

Two key thoughts... • Emotion leads to immersion • Choices not things 12

Part two... of four 13

Why consider transmedia? • Becoming the entertainment modus operandi – Audience expectations – Audience habits (e.g. online) – Old world is dying • The explosion of free content has meant: – Discovery & attention problems – Payment “issues” • Multiple audience touchpoints • Opportunity to outflank Hollywood 14

The Transmedia tao 15

Rethinking entertainment 16

New indie dharma • Lose attachments: – Feature film – Ego – Past and future – Technology – Money • Walk middle path: – Old ways not all bad – New ways not all good 17

TRANSMEDIA BUSINESS MODEL (FOR INDIE FILMMAKERS) 18

Example: rekill 19

Example: metro 2033 20

Timescale for metro 2033 • 2002: Self-published novel given away for FREE. Set up website (http://m-e-t-r-o.boom.ru) and posted on sci-fi forums. • 2002-2004: Thousands of readers. Readers ask for revival of the main character and to continue the book. • 2004: Added 8 new chapters – published as series with readers suggesting plot lines, guessing the plot and providing criticism. • May 2005: New version of Metro 2033 completed. Now has “dozens of thousands of readers”.Three publishers offer deal. • 2010: Millions have read Metro 2033 online. In Russia, 400 000 physical copies of book sold. • 2010: New book and new website for Metro 2034 (M2034.RU). In less than 6 months, visitors exceeded 500 000 unique readers. 300 000 books sold. • Source: Author Dimitri Glukhovsky and http://transmediadesign.org/metro-2033-book-game/ 21

Part three... of four 22

Delivering your story, profitably • Five key, inter-locking considerations • Iterate through the process to ease complexity • Could be tackled in a different sequence to the one I’ll show here but considerations are the same… and still requires iteration. 23

Transmedia from first idea CHARACTERS PLOT PREMISE THEMES 24

Who’s this story for? ITERATION 25

What’s the best way to delivery this story to this audience? 26

Matching Audience to Platforms • Audience – Who are they? – Lifestyle? – Where do they hang out? • Platforms (e.g. media + technology) – Reading: paperback, ebook, comics – Watching: TV, online, mobile, theatre, cinema – Listening: radio, online, mobile – Interacting: console, online, mobile, social 27

Match Story to Audience and Platforms 28

Paying for it… 29

Business models • Free – Investors don’t want repayment – Crowdfunding – Sponsorship • Premium – Higher marketing costs – Vulnerable to piracy • Freemium – Free to view on some platforms – Paid on others: some more suited to payments – Other revenue sources 30

Spotlight on selling to audience 31

Goals of business model • Sell things that can’t be copied • If they can be copied, bundle with something that can’t • Leverage time and friction 32

Connect with fans + reason to buy = $ 33

Rethinking products & pricing • Provide more opportunities for audience to give you their money • Range of “products” at various price points to suit different audience segments 34

Example from Tectdirt (Mike masnick) 35

Iterate in light of business model 36

Five point approach for transmedia 37

Execution: Play to your strengths • Timing • Resources – Money – Skills (technical and personal) – Social network (online and offline) • Optimize >> probability x impact 38

KEEP ITERATING, MEASURING & MONITORING DEVELOP IMPLEMENT MEASURE & MONITOR 39

Key to great transmedia… 40

Part four... of four 41

Christian Viel, Indie filmmaker 42

Canadian superheroes! 43

Summary • The internet has leveled the playing field: let’s change our game • Transmedia plays to indie’s strengths • Doesn’t have to be complicated 49

Credits • CwF+Rtb=$$ (TechDirt/Mike Masnick) http://www.techdirt.com/rtb.php) but for indie filmmakers, recommend Ross Pruden (http://rosspruden.blogspot.com/) • Christian Viel: Heros of the North (http://heroesofthenorth.com) • Slide borders use half-tone brush for Photoshop from: – http://szuia.deviantart.com/ – http://www.brushking.eu/164/halftone- brushes.html 50

Things I’m working on now • Platform for transmedia storytelling – http://www.transmediastoryteller.com • LowLifes – http://www.lowlifes.tv • Before You Close Your Eyes – http://www.bycye.com • Parasites – http://www.parasitesmultiverse.com 51

My Contact details • Robert Pratten – http://twitter.com/zenfilms – http://zenfilms.typepad.com – http://www.zenfilms.com – robert at zenfilms dot com ;) 52

http://zenfilms.typepad.com	104
http://sandlander.blogspot.com	93
http://www.nsi-canada.ca	80
http://www.slideshare.net	78
http://sintlucas-crossmediastorytelling.posterous.com	59
http://www.examiner.com	39
http://www.diogo-andrade.com	32
http://www.jillgolick.com	29
http://transmedia.moonfruit.com	28
http://story2oh.com	10
http://insearchofdotdotdot.wordpress.com	8
http://mediamaispasque.blogspot.com	4
http://jillgolick.com	2
http://nsi-canada.ca.tacticahosting.com	2
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com	2
http://translate.googleusercontent.com	2
http://mediamaispasque.blogspot.fr	2
http://static.slidesharecdn.com	2
http://sandlander.blogspot.ca	1
http://narrativenow.blogspot.com	1
http://192.168.1.254	1
http://www.christophe-meyer.fr	1
http://paradocsproductions.com	1
http://www.diogo-andrade.co.cc	1
http://wwww.examiner.com	1
http://1001tales.posterous.com	1
http://www.agentetransforma.com.br	1
http://www.typepad.com	1

Transmedia And Independent Filmmakers

by Robert Pratten on May 02, 2010

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Transmedia And Independent Filmmakers — Presentation Transcript