TribecaFilm.com | Future of Film | Why Transmedia is Catching On (Part 2) Excerpt!
Leading transmedia talent has emerged from a wide array of disciplines, including technology, indie film, fantasy games, marketing, comic books, videogames, advertising, brand advertising, television production, theme parks, academia, and, of course, the Internet.
What sets each apart is a willingness to embrace meaningful audience participation in the transmedia projects that capture their passion.
“I think that the idea of participation is one of the key things we are all wrestling with, both fans and authors, movie directors or whatever kind of creative person we’re talking about,” says author Frank Rose. “Participation raises the question of whose story is it? And, the answer I think is, it’s all of ours. In order to really identify with the story, in some way we have to make it our own.”
Here’s some of what I’ve learned in conversations with a range of transmedia leaders.
Bonds: The Audience is Ready
“We are tapping into a real demand from consumers,” says Susan Bonds, CEO of 42 Entertainment, a company that produces alternative reality games like “Why So Serious?” for The Dark Knight, and Nine Inch Nails’ Year Zero.
“This is something that people want, and so studios are beginning to open up their creative properties to allow people to participate.”
Not only has the company has been pivotal in defining the ARG form, it has been home for key talent.
Bonds, who is an industrial engineer with gigs at Disney, Lockheed, and Cyan, says that the art form follows the trajectory of the audience:
“In the first half of the decade, it was all about early adopters, the in-crowd playing interactive games, the first to buy the latest technologies. But now, the novelty factor has worn off, and it’s about the experience. People are already emotionally invested and aware that all of these things are at their fingertips. Now they know.”
Early adopters still play a central role in most ARG projects. Check out Test Subjects Needed, a scenario that is currently dribbling out on the web and at E3 and Bonnaroo, for which 42 Entertainment is alleged to be the agency. And the client? Wrigley’s Gum.
42 Entertainment plans to apply lessons from its client work to create new and original transmedia content. Bonds would not discuss details with me, telling me to keep my eyes open “later this year.”
“We’re ready to evolve the business model,” says Bonds. “We’ve seen that people in the millions and tens of millions will come together for a collective experience. Think of the freedom that this gives you! You can do the work on a smaller scale than a $100 million movie, and you are no longer necessarily held to the traditional ways of starting the work, either business or creative.”
Transmedia Camp 101 