transmedia and independent filmmakers

Sacramento Film Festival, April 24th 2010

BY ROBERTPRATTEN

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Robert pratten… about me

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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

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Part one... of four

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What is transmedia storytelling?

Telling AStory over

multiple media

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Example: Mass effect 2

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example: Cathy’s book

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Example: level 26

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Aim: Whole is greater than sum of parts

Movie Game Book Transmedia

Whole is more satisfying than the sum of the parts: euphoria of collecting and connecting the pieces

Movie Game Book Media Franchise

Whole is less than the sum of the parts: dissatisfying conclusion to consuming all media

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Lowlifes: novella, webseries, blog

http://www.lowlifes.tv

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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

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Two key thoughts...

• Emotion leads to immersion

• Choices not things

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Part two... of four

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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

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The Transmedia tao

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Rethinking entertainment

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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

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TRANSMEDIA BUSINESS MODEL (FOR INDIE FILMMAKERS)

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Example: rekill

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Example: metro 2033

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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/

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Part three... of four

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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.

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Transmedia from first idea

CHARACTERS

PLOT

PREMISE

THEMES

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Who’s this story for?

ITERATION

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

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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

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Match Story to Audience and Platforms

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Paying for it…

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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

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Spotlight on selling to audience

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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

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Connect with fans + reason to buy = $

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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

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Example from Tectdirt (Mike masnick)

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Iterate in light of business model

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Five point approach for transmedia

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Execution: Play to your strengths

• Timing

• Resources– Money– Skills (technical and personal)– Social network (online and offline)

• Optimize >> probability x impact

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KEEP ITERATING, MEASURING & MONITORING

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DEVELOP IMPLEMENT

MEASURE & MONITOR

Key to great transmedia…

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Part four... of four

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Christian Viel, Indie filmmaker

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Canadian superheroes!

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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

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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

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Things I’m working on now

• Platform for transmedia storytelling

– http://www.transmediastoryteller.com

• LowLifes

– http://www.lowlifes.tv

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My Contact details

• Robert Pratten

– http://twitter.com/zenfilms

– http://www.zenfilms.com

– robert at zenfilms dot com ;)

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