Lessons Learned in Cross-Media

WHAT DID THEY DO? LESSONS LEARNED IN CROSS-MEDIA Christy Dena Director, Universe Creation 101 Power to the Pixel, London Film Festival 14 th October, 2009

Flash in the…Planet?

"Multiplatform digital entertainment is here to stay and requires a different approach"
Javier Perez Dolset, Zed Worldwide #MIPCOM09

‘ Billion Dollar Research Lab: Cross-Media Insights from the Largest Single Media Event Ever’
“ We thought that customers would be appreciative of the fact that we had so much across different platforms,” he said. “But nope. They were like ‘obviously!’ They just expected it.” Alan Wurtzel, NBC Universal’s President of Research

http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/writersguide/newwritinguniverse/

Lessons learned from those before there may be…

* Do not to plan events around fixed dates, keep them flexible by setting
them at a fictional event (Adrian Hon) * Provide Recaps/Story So Far for
latecomers * The name of the first website players find will become their title
for the entire project * Respect the Hard-core, engage them first/early
(Jane McGonigal) * Give the players something to model their actions on
(Brian Clarke & Mike Monello) * Be prepared for actor improvisation to
change the plot * Design for a variety of engagement and expertise levels *
Set a day and cycle (eg weekly) that you will update the project, so players
know what to expect and you have a schedule you can keep to * In large
projects, only the smallest audience number will attend to every piece of
content in every media * Some people like narrative content, some
interacting with characters, some attending live events, some puzzles, some
play and some contribute content * Be prepared for someone
game/hijacking your project by creating fake websites and characters * Be
prepared for ‘brute force’ being applied to an automated system * Players
almost always check who registered a domain name * Not all ‘alternate
reality’ games are hoaxes * Countdowns have been used many times, and
will be used again * Create a character to guide the players with what to do
(Evan Jones) * Competition attracts newcomers, but doesn’t drive their desire
to stay (Adrian Hon)

Lessons Learned Where we’re at …what we need

Local & Global Design Documentation Address Different Audiences

Local & Global

Local and a dash of global?

Local & Global
Live events (cinema events, meeting characters, local competitions etc) consider:
Sharing the experience in real-time (streaming)
Giving non-local people something to do as well
Getting local & non-local people to work together
Make the local replicable (by yourself or others – self-replication)

Local & Global
INSERT PIC OF INDIE SCREENINGS

Local & Global The Lost Ring ( McDonald’s, AKQA, and Jane McGonigal, 2008)

Design Documentation Issues
Indicate what part of the story is in what media (or which website)
Indicate timing – when each element is released [pacing]
Indicate why and how participants traverse media [calls to action?]
Indicate what people see and do [their experience]
Think about non-linear traversal [order narrative is accessed]
Difficult to ensure continuity across different developers…

Design Documentation
Universe Guide
Flow Visualisation
Flow Script

TV > “Show Bible”

… .on the other hand…a Game Design Document ….
‘ is all about communicating a vision for a game, for mapping out as much information as possible about how that game will function, what players will experience, and how players will interact with the game-world’
(Rouse, 2005, 356)

www.videogameteam.com/wiki/index.php?title=Design_Doc David Perry’s ‘Top Secret Project’

Current Context Show Bible = Continuity across episodes within one medium Game Design Doc = Describes a single mono-medium game

Cross-Media Context Continuity across projects in different media platforms (eg: film, comic, digital game) Describes a single cross-media project (eg: pervasive game)

Universe Guide By Christy Dena

Flow Visualisation

Flow Visualisation > Cross-Media www.christydena.com/online-essays/arg-design-charts The Beast , Microsoft Game Studio, 2001

Vary Engagement & Skills

Source: 42 Entertainment

Kim, Amy Jo (2000) Community Building on the Web , Peachpit Press

www.LostEnvelope.com

Hoodlum’s Find 815, Lost

www.youngbondshadowwar.com/begin

Kim, Amy Jo (2000) Community Building on the Web , Peachpit Press

http://www.42entertainment.com/poker.html Last Call Poker Last Call Poker, 42Entertainment

www.ChainFactor.com by Area/Code

Six to Start

Image source: dkimages.com Accessible & Appealing 2 Majority Expanded World More detail, interactivity, need specific skills & time Co-creative, hardcore By Christy Dena

Why is it Important?
Attract and Reach more people
More people stick around (low attrition rate)
The hard-core are the smallest audience size, but the most engaged, evangelical & contribute content
Casuals are the largest audience size, but the least experienced.
But…you can only create what you know. If you don’t understand hard-core, you can’t design for them. The type of content & design you create attracts
like-minded audiences & players.

Bonus Level:

Physicality & Environments … Choreography of the Physical & Emotional Experience…

I dare you to think about what is right for your film, for your story, for the characters, for the mood, for your message…
Put your creativity (and a healthy dollop of audience demand) first … and then let’s see what the next generation of cross-media brings…

Wohoo! Feel free to contact me at:
www.ChristyDena.com
www.UniverseCreation101.com
Check out the event:
www.PowertothePixel.com

http://digitalbootcamp.wikispaces.com	239
http://griffinfarley.typepad.com	65
http://www.universecreation101.com	57
http://www.faismoijouer.com	54
http://www.christydena.com	31
http://www.slideshare.net	17
http://www.chapterplay.tv	14
https://jujo00obo2o234ungd3t8qjfcjrs3o6k-a-sites-opensocial.googleusercontent.com	6
http://colectivoplanner.tumblr.com	3
http://convercine.posterous.com	3
https://projectspark.squarespace.com	1
http://feeds.feedburner.com	1
http://jujo00obo2o234ungd3t8qjfcjrs3o6k-a-sites-opensocial.googleusercontent.com	1
http://74.125.113.132	1
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com	1

Lessons Learned in Cross-Media

by Christy Dena

Accessibility

Categories

Upload Details

Usage Rights

15 Embeds 494

Statistics

Lessons Learned in Cross-Media Presentation Transcript