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Transmedia: Overhype or Obvious Fact? by Jay Randy Gordon
(lf-rt) Spencer McCall director of 'The Institute,' Jeff Hull, the creator of 'the game,' and Uriah Finley, the latter's sound and tech support. photo: D. Blair photo: D. Blair
"HONESTLY, I THINK 'TRANSMEDIA' IS A sham. It's a term that some industry committee came up with to repackage and resell content," said Jeff Hull, the Oakland media-artist who created the Jejune Institute, the cult-cum-game or vice versa, covered in the documentary "The Institute" (2012) see CineSource article.
"They're trying to monopolize audience attention by spreading programs over multiple monitors. Oh, now it's on your phone, in a tweet, over social networks! But I'll ask you this: Is there something new being said? Are producers really sharing new experiences?"
“I like to call it cloud filmmaking," says filmmaker Tiffany Shlain, who debuted her feature "Connected" at 2011's Sundance, see CS article. "I know a lot of people use that word ['transmedia' but] for some reason, it doesn't work for me because I think it is about multiple points of engagement."
Shlain is more interested in people collaborating through the cloud than simply more hardware, like phones, tablets and iEmbeds (the coming eyeball screen), or software like Twitter, Tumblr, but she does advocate for their appropriate use.
Although 'transmedia' was supposedly said first by Marsha Kinderin, it was MIT media professor Henry Jenkins who used it in his 2003 article, "Transmedia Storytelling" and later book, "Convergence Culture," to postulate that if the narrative is repeated in various iterations across time and technologies, it could reinforce story and characters.
A primitive map of the total transmedia territory was created at a Transmedia SF meeting two years ago. illo: courtesy Rogozinski/Zuckerman
Probably arriving in Silicon Valley shortly thereafter, this author first heard it from a media industry Vice President in 2007. "It's 'cross' media and you will be hearing a lot about it," he told me. By then, the name and its many iterations were probably already purchased and URLed.
In fact, there is a company called Transmedia Capital. Although it specializes in media startups, social media and gaming and mobile platforms, TMC is a typical VC outfit. It doesn't highlight transmedia, let alone attempt to forge any leadership, although it did help the Bay Area group, Transmedia SF, albeit modestly and mostly in-kind.
The simple facts are: nowadays, any given movie, article, performance, flash mob, etc., will exist across multiple platforms with an associated video, tweet or Flickr component, regardless of whether those media have been pushed towards their natural advantages or character building. Indeed, multimedia communication is already upon us and nearly universal. Recognizing this, the Producers Guild of America defined the term in 2010: It is transmedia if you are producing across three or more media.
"Multiscreen has gone main stream," according to Beth Rogozinski, Co-Founder of Transmedia SF. A media technology expert, Rogozinski was on the team of San Francisco State's renowned Multimedia Studies Program and is the Executive Director of the DigiQuest Learning Center.
Transmedia activists Maya Zuckerman and Beth Rogozinski (lf-rt) in San Francisco's Dolores Park. photo: courtesy B Rogozinski
"Entertainment, advertising and communications professionals need to understand this and be ready for what the transmedia consumer expects," continued Rogozinski. "We are here to really help our community develop best practices and prepare for the future of media communications." In fact, the Bay Area is rapidly becoming the epicenter of this new storytelling method.
"I should mention," added Jeff Hull. "There are still very creative people outside mainstream entertainment who are pushing the known limits of storytelling, but they shouldn't be classified as 'transmedia.' They are reaching for a deeper, more tangible level of engagement. They're artists, and not marketers."
Indeed, one of the more successful ones is Hull himself, whose Jejune Institute "game" started on light pole posters around Oakland but soon graduated to mystery searches, comics, Websites and public performances.
If that still leaves the question, "What exactly is transmedia?" check out this 19-minute video, "Understanding Transmedia" or the Urban Dictionary: "A convergence of multiple forms of media to tell a story, either simultaneously or asynchronously. Currently seen as a marketing tool."
Ooooops, I guess even the experts find Hull's critique valid. Nevertheles, it may just be part of the new media's growing pains, as it works its way through a convergence of business opportunities, technologies and talking points to something new and fresh.
"The Matrix" (1999, Lana Wachowski) is seen as an early example of transmedia because it allowed audiences to explore the story in comics and video games as well as film. "District 9" (2009, Neill Blomkamp) and "True Blood" (TV series, 2008-) are other stories that have used several platforms to engage audiences before the main story is released to a wider audience.
Whatever Shlain and Hull might feel, the transmedia appellation may be hard to undo. Like Dostoevsky, who made use of the then-new magazine medium, someone will galvanize the emerging movement. Certainly, it is at the intersection of technology and creativity, a fecund frontier that could contribute to building a “sticktuitive” (intuitive and dedicated) fan base.
Transmedia SF, a community of writers, artists and technologists, have already been exploring these issues for nearly two years. Their first event, sponsored by Transmedia Capital, with drinks donated by NOS and Lagunitas Brewing, 100+ in attendance, was in January 2012 at SF's RocketSpace.
Ongoing meetups have been hosted by the SF School of Digital Filmmaking, PARISOMA, Westernized Productions, Swissnex, Fordela, Orange and other venues.
Whether you are a confirmed transmedian or just “transmedia curious,” TransmediaSF is the place to meet your fellow hackers, designers and writers, learn some tricks and techniques and actually collaborate on a project. According to the group's website: Transmedia SF's mission is to make San Francisco the epicenter of transmedia production and education, see their Facebook page.
Last July, they organized the Transmedia Jam, which challenged participants to create a story and start broadcasting in 48 hours. Last month, it was "Startup Weekend", sponsored by Parisoma which allotted 54 hours to build a transmedia experience.
Eighty art directors, game designers, developers, advertisers and film producers formed teams and created prototypes, with the audience award going to SF Transmedian Justin Oliphant and his board game, co-designed by Paul Garber.
"'I Smash SF' is a monstrously fun board game. You show your love for San Francisco by razing it to the ground," explains Oliphant.
"As we were looking for the next stories to produce and the world we wanted to play in, we thought nothing could be better than setting giant monsters loose on your city. With those parameters in mind, we looked at the re-emerging space of board games. Seems a bit old school, I know, but when you think about it, it's perfect for Transmedia storytelling. "
Justin Oliphant and Paul Garber pitch their board game to a panel of seasoned VCs including Joyce Reitman from JP Morgan and Ephraim Lindenbaum from Advance Ventures. photo: J. R. Gordon
Oliphant and Garber were on hand for February's event, "PitchPerfect: Pathways to Funding", which was hosted by the SF School of Digital Filmmaking and moderated by Transmedia SF's Jim Myrick.
As well as the "I Smash SF" lads, the PerfectPitch panel included Saad Kahn of CMEA Ventures, Advance Ventures' Eph Lindenbaum, Groofi's CMO Tiffany Hopkins, and JP Morgan's VP Joyce Reitman. The presenters included Libby Falck (CityXproject.com), Matt Lombardi (Hear It Local) and Marc Smolowitz ("The Campaign", a forthcoming doc debuting in March at the Vail Film Festival in March).
Transmedia SF began with Robert Pratten, the Englishman who also started Spoilrr (yes, spelled correctly), an earlier iteration of the transmedia meetup, along with Christopher Smith, of the Storyworld SF Expo, and Rogozinski's partner Maya Zuckerman, an Israeli-born transmedia producer.
Pratten, now residing in the UK, is the CEO of Transmedia Storyteller Ltd. Two years ago he launched an app that allows audiences to follow transmedia entertainment from all their devices simultaneously, see article.
Zuckerman and Rogozinski restarted the group in the Bay Area in 2011 with Oliphant, Ivan Askwith, Pamela Rutledge and Sara Thachr, who coincidentally worked with Jeff Hull on the Jejune Institute project. They were joined by the folks from RenaissanceSF including Suzanne Connolly, Sheridan Tatsuno, Dr.s Dan Gaylinn and Sandy Rosenberg and, full disclosure, this author.
Quality transmedia is also coming from established companies like Emmy-award-winning Fourth Wall Studios in Los Angeles. Fast Company, the hip business mag, just published an article on how it can be used commercially in B2B marketing. On the other hand, George Lucas just announced he is willing put up the money to build a Visual Storytelling Museum in the Presidio which would probably have a transmedia component considering the extensive crossplatforming of "Star Wars" material.
Next up on the TransmediaSF calendar is their Thursday, March 28 meetup at Swissnex scheduled to draw folks from the Game Developers Conference. There will also be a fire side chat with Chuck Eyler, the award-winning writer, director and game maker, currently Art Director at DreamCastle Studio, San Francisco.
Obviously, transmedia is still being born. Let's prove the detractors wrong by harnessing the new technologies of cell phones, Twitter, Tumblr, etc to the ancient endeavor of better storytelling, just as all previous artists and authors have done, and not let it be seized by the suits simply for marketing.