Transmedia for indie filmmakers I: Transmedia 101, ARGs and more

Transmedia describes the way some fictional universes play out over a wide range of stories (and games) in different media.

The classic example is Star Wars. George Lucas (and underlings) created a rich and complex fictional universe which has its well-known movies, but also fed a myriad of other stories with both minor and major characters from the films (and many not in the films at all) to play out via computer games, toys, books, comics, trading cards, fan films, and even a disco hit.

The transmedia concept isn't new, even if the term itself just now is gaining currency. After all, major creative properties in popular culture have been long exploited through tie-ins, spin-offs, sequels, games, radio shows, movies, TV shows, books, comics, toys and a seemingly un-ending chain of other related products and "creative" output. However, studying the phenomenon and thinking deeply about how to play it out across multiple platforms, particularly on the Internet, is a relatively new thing.

And on top of that, it's extremely revolutionary for indie and DIY creators to put such thinking at the center of their distribution, marketing and, yes, creative process.

So it's time to ask yourself: how tranny can you be?

[This is the first of a multi-part series. Rather than kill you with another book-length posting, I though I would divvy it up a bit. We'll see how it works. Let me know.]

I just returned from a fantastic conference at USC (co-sponsored by the film programs at USC and UCLA): TRANSMEDIA, HOLLYWOOD: S/Telling the Story. I was turned on to this event by one of the conference co-directors, the wonderful, widely-respected and seemingly-tireless professor Henry Jenkins (who I mentioned briefly in New indie distribution secrets for activating the audience).

The day was packed: four panels with over twenty panelists -- any of whom would be worth a day (or a whole career) of brain-picking. The panels were highly skewed toward The Industry -- in fact, no one was really working in the DIY mode.

But there was still a lot to gain for DIY filmmakers and other DIY creatives. So, in order to share the pearls of wisdom (as I saw them), I compiled a run-down of the best transmedia ideas and examples.

Here are top three key themes we heard over and over again from the panelists:

1) Authenticity is the key to success.
Keep your transmedia in alignment with the thematic, artistic, experiential and aesthetic core of what you're doing. Don't just make it look like cheap, hack advertising. Make it real, consistent, and richly-detailed -- and stay true to your source material and audience.

2) Engage the audience.
Engagement is crucial. Avoid passive experiences. When you empower the grassroots fans with an authentic experience, they will respond, often creating additional transmedia themselves, sharing with their networks, and further fueling audience growth and engagement. This why the Internet is a natural platform for transmedia experimentation.

3) Good transmedia is (usually) not cheap.
Generally speaking, effective transmedia takes time and/or money to do right -- particularly ARGs (alternate reality games). But when done well, most people agreed that ROI was better than spending on advertising (granted, we were all drinking the Koolaid together at a frickin' transmedia conference, after all). There are examples of low-cost transmedia (I'll give some ideas below).

I'll be writing up my transmedia notes, ideas and other bon mots over the course of the next few days (time permitting -- my notes run on and on, it seems).

Most of these directly relate to transmedia, but there are a few gems included are more general or about other topics related to indie filmmaking too.

What is transmedia?
Originally transmedia was specifically defined as a specific story that played out over many different media (ARGs are a good example of this). However, now the more widely-accepted definition is that transmedia describes any creative universe that spins off stories, games and hybrids of the two (like an ARG) across different media.

What makes good transmedia?
In theory, anything can be the source material for transmedia, but some things translate (sorry) better into transmedia than others. Transmedia-friendly story universes:

• ...have a lot of characters with rich back stories. Examples: Superheroes, ensemble stories, Transformers, Pokemon, etc.
• ... allow different combinations of characters which can produce a large number of stories.
• ...have worlds built more like TV shows (open narratives which have the characters and situations to sustain 5+ seasons worth of stories), rather than films (which have closed narratives generally).

Authenticity
The difference between good and bad transmedia is the same as between good and bad storytelling: authenticity. Don't do hack work in any media. Make it true to the source. Make it vital. Make each piece as strong and thought-through as if it were your last lifework, transmedia or not. 

Wait, what exactly IS authenticity?
Panelist Maureen McHugh of No Mimes Media challenged us to think of authenticity as "novelty in comfortable convention." In other words, authenticity is recognized when something is done in opposition to what is accepted as the-way-things-are -- even if it's a highly artificial moment. Deep thought, that.

Narrative is as important as the product you're trying to sell.
In our case, we're selling movies, which tell stories themselves. But the story about how and why the film was made is crucial to getting people interested. That story itself -- essentially the behind-the-scenes story -- can be played out in transmedia way: a "making of" documentary, video podcasts, blog, online live chats (recorded and archived) and more.

Wrap it all in a compelling narrative hook ("the director was a medical test subject as a way to fund his DIY film"), and you're good to go.

The distinction between pull vs. push media.
Push media is traditional broadcast and film: the industry pushes it at the consumer. Pull media is video-on-demand, remix/p2p culture and the Internet: consumers have to seek it out and pro-actively select to experience it. Make your stuff as pull-friendly as possible; it's where we're headed (we're already there in fact).

As one participant put it: this is the Century of Play, where's the 20th was the Century of Consuming. Or perhaps this is the Century of Pull and last was the Century of Push. And so on.

Think of the media as a social platform.
What are the pieces that people want to play with and share with others? How can you empower them to do so? Can you build a platform to allow the audience to make their own media from/based on yours, to create user-generated content, as a sort of in-law media to your primary material (you know, related to your content by marriage not blood -- hey, I just coined a term!). User-generated content (UGC) that users pro-actively share with others = big win.

Learning from Farmville: build fast and expand it based on real use.
The Game Developers Conference had just ended the week before and the bulging-crotched rock star at the show was a little Facebook game called Farmville. 32 million daily users. 110 million installs (sky-is-falling comparison: 133 million voted in the 2008 presidential election).

The story goes (as related by panelist Richard Lamarchand) that they built Farmville in five weeks and that most of the game was designed after it was launched, based on how people used it.

This was one of the biggest lightbulb moments for me at the whole conference. We can launch something quick and simple and let it grow over time through different transmedia manifestations -- tweaking and improving and growing story, design, technology, and anything based on viewer/user response. Think hard about this one; it might produce your home run.

Some stats about gaming
If you're a filmmaker, you might want to start looking at games (if you're not doing so already). It's a natural fit for a transmedia play and there a ton of indie game developers out there to discuss a partnership. The iPhone and new iPad are fantastic gaming platforms for just this reason.

What's interesting about gaming? Nine out of ten kids under 14 are gamers. In four years (the time it takes to write, make and distribute a feature film), they will be in college, when they'll be interested in the artsy-fartsy DIY films we make.

Ignore the gamers at your peril, fellow filmmaker. And social media games (ala Farmville) are particularly popular among females, which may make you think differently about how to let them know about your film (naturally, that's a tip more for my fellow knucklehead guy filmmakers, since the filmmaker gals already know how to reach their female audience).

ARG? Arrrgh!
ARGs (Alternate Reality Games) are one of the purest forms of transmedia and arguably the clearest example. In an ARG, the "game" is set upon the platform of real life, usually through the Internet. Clues are dropped in real sites. Faux sites are created to look like real sites. People interact via real emails and SMS messages and phone calls from and to the game. People may collaborate (and often cheat) together to try to solve the puzzle and/or find out what's really going on.

Big name ARG examples:

• Year Zero (a Nine Inch Nails album release)
• Why So Serious? (for the movie The Dark Knight)
• The Institute for Human Continuity (for the movie 2012)
• Metachortechs (for the Matrix movies)
• The Threshold (for a Cisco Global Sales Meeting) -- I'm not kidding.

There was some debate at the conference about the (heretofore and still undiscovered) ARG business model. But I'm a DIY filmmaker and so obviously not bothered by a medium that has no chance of making a profit.

Honestly though, I find most ARGs to be cheesy, low-quality, high-volume marketing bullshit emitters. ARGs are a cross between a game and a story (liberally gmo'd with ad agency DNA, more times than not). Even when done by/for someone as cool as Trent Reznor, I must say it it makes me lose a little respect for him: actors playing police raiding a NIN concert and another actor giving an anti-totalitarian lecture to giddy fans. Oh man. We're in Disney territory here, Trent. I'm hope the "buzz" generated was worth it.

Also, ARGs aren't very DIY-friendly. They work best for well-known brands that already have existing raving fans willing to spend a ton of time hunting the Internet for obscure clues.

Here's the thing: let games be games and stories be stories. Mixing the two, as ARGs try to do, most often results in a weak game with a weak story. Weak.

Oh lighten up. ARGs aren't all bad.
I actually think ARGs have a future and a place. when they don't have to be crass marketing gimmicks or agency creative masturbation opportunities (a gig I'm willing to be paid to do, by the way).

So if you're going to go ARG, here are some tips from the conference (and from my own acknowledged anti-corporate bias):

- Many channels. An ARG needs to come through many different conduits: web, email, text, phone, bathroom stall messages, guerrilla video projection, etc.

- Go indie. Turns out, there are indie ARGs such as Sammeeeees and Eldritch Errors: true indie ARGs not associated with the latest Hollywood sequel, climate-changing sportscar or other advertainment opportunity. Aspire to be one of these. Thanks to Geoff May for suggesting these indie ARGs via Twitter.

- Be funny. The most successful ARGs seem to not take themselves too seriously, according to conference co-director Denise Mann, head of UCLA's Producers Program. There's something to be said for a little knowing, ironic B-movie cheese. Even a bad vegan like me can appreciate cheese like that.

- Multiple entry points. Don't assume the ARG audience all start at the same time. Allow people to catch up. The longer an ARG unfolds, the tougher it is to start midway. Plan for those late-comers or you'll miss out on any snowball effect once things get started.

- Different levels of interaction. Not everyone will spend ten hours a day combing through obscure Vatican archival documents trying to piece together your ARG clues (luckily some will, but don't give them your home address (rest assured, they already have it)). Find ways for more casual players to have fun too. And for lurkers to enjoy the ride that the other active players take.

- Let the users build it. A great example of an ARG that tries to make the world a better place is World Without Oil. They built a platform that allowed users to post their own stories around the theme of what happens when the world runs out of oil. In this way, the users basically created the content for them. Don't be afraid to empower your fans.

- It's okay Trent. I still love you.

How to build an audience for your DIY ARG?
Whether you're creating an ARG for ARG's sake or as a way to build interest in your indie film or other project, it all boils down to this: no one knows you, no one cares about your project and you have no money to spend getting their attention.

The answer is simple: think like a DIY filmmaker in self-distribution mode. Oh wait, that's who you are. See, you're already smart enough to handle this challenge.

Basically, you want to find out where your audience is (it should be the same audience as for your film -- after all the point is to build the film's audience) and then find creative ways to invite them to play. This could be odd clues left on appropriate websites. Or it could be straight up "play our ARG" messages on Facebook groups. Whatever.

As with DIY filmmaking and distribution, you need to make your own rules and be fearless.

Part II is coming soon. Stay tuned.

Comments

[Scott Walker]

You captured a lot of the main points here; I suspect you've got more coming in part two, and at the risk of spoiling that...I humbly offer my two cents.

It might be helpful to distinguish 'transmedia storytelling' from 'transmedia marketing' and recognize that up to now, most transmedia offerings have been funded by the marketing department, not the creative departments (I'm obviously ignoring the oft-quoted examples of Matrix and Star Wars).

It's much harder to achieve quality parity between marketing and storytelling if you start from the marketing side of the house (harder but not impossible).

[To be honest, in an ideal world there is no marketing, just extended storytelling. But I have yet to find an ideal world, and it's useful to maintain a storytelling and marketing distinction for now.]

That said, transmedia marketing can help DIY filmmakers build audiences way ahead of the launch/premier (see Rob Pratten's writeup on transmedia as an audience-builder:

http://www.jawbone.tv/news/1-news/399-transmedia-as-a-tool-for-audience-building-from-robert-pratten.html )

But equally important is understanding the limitations of transmedia. It's not a silver bullet for your marketing / distribution / discovery / revenue woes. It is not the future of all entertainment (or even most). It is not a panacea for poor storytelling.

And it's beginning to receive some backlash in the entertainment industry.

I noted with interest Diane Nelson (President of DC Comics) stating that it's a red flag for her when she's pitched properties built to be transmedia from the ground up. She still wants a single story, well-told that can be migrated to other mediums/platforms later; not a world of multiple stories that are launched simultaneously and immediately.

Still, for DIY filmmakers, transmedia can be a powerful tool for certain projects that naturally lend themselves to transmedia storytelling/marketing.

Use transmedia sparingly. Ensure your use is a required part of your storytelling/marketing, not a bolted-on, check-the-box, everyone-is-doing-it-so-I-should-to approach. Understand how it helps your project. Know its limitations.

I professionally view transmedia as a stop along the way towards the real goal, which is collaborative (commercial) entertainment, where fans can participate meaningfully (i.e., canonically and monetarily) in the creation of a property.

Transmedia does not inherently require a changing of the rules. It does not require a change in how fans interact with content from a legal perspective. In that way, I view it as 'more of the same.'

But as a consumer, the potential for transmedia experiences is alluring. We've only just started to really experiment with what transmedia storytelling can do in our increasingly technologically capable world, and I'm personally looking forward to seeing how it plays out across all the entertainment industries.

I'm also looking forward to part two...!

[twitter.com/ZenFilms]

I think it's excellent that you're helping highlight new opportunities for indies. I like the style of your writing too ;)
And thanks to Scott for referencing my post on Culture Hacker!

The current issue (#59) of Indie Slate magazine (http://www.indieslate.com/) has an article I wrote titled "Transmedia Storytelling for the Indie Filmmaker" so I'd encourage anyone reading this blog to go pick up a copy.

In the article I argue that filmmakers (or anyone really) should think first about ENGAGEMENT rather than IMMERSION. The problem with the later is that it can lead to tons of additional media (and hence additional work) which is little more than backstory and exposition. I appreciate that hardcore fans like to dig deep and love all this detail but as an indie you're going to have few hardcore fans and little money. If you think about engagement first you're likely to limit the number of platforms and assets you tell your story across but do so in a more interesting way.

I'm currently producing a transmedia project called LowLifes and I can tell you that with just three media (book, video, blog) there's a lot of writing development required to tell the story properly.

Scott is right of course that transmedia storytelling and transmedia marketing are different animals but I think the challenge is merge the two so that the marketing is baked into the storytelling.

[Luci Temple]

Great post - looking forward to more in the series:)

Check out www.unfiction.com or www.argn.com for examples of the many varied and frequently low budget ARGs - it's just that the big budget ones have the money to do the extra fantastic stuff so they are always the one cited as examples. [Who doesn't want to talk about mobile phones ringing from the center of cakes?]

I recently blogged about a low cost one that is in promotion of The Secret World (an upcoming game) - it's had three 'episodes' of ARG so far, spread out over 2.5 yrs, and none of the material looks like it would have been too expensive for an indie filmmaker to emulate. http://yetanotherstrugglingwriter.blogspot.com/2010/03/creating-communities-around-content.html

[Bad Vegan]

Thanks for the great feedback and comments Scott, Robert and Luci.

Re: the marketing vs. writing divide -- I mean, I was at freakin' USC, so what should we expect?

Still, to Henry's credit he said he would have more DIY transmedia next year at the conference.

It kinda comes back to the baseline: content builds traffic. I've even seen that play out on this site (since I started posting content-heavy posts, our traffic has increased five-fold, including 10x spikes at times -- I even have PAID ads now).

Marketing for marketing's sake (which is how I categorize most known-brand ARGs including the ones I cite) is just lame.

The rest of the series (probably two more parts, given the volume of notes I have) will have to wait until after Wondercon. I'm on an indie sci-fi film panel there (Fri 4/2 at 6pm -- join us!) plus launching a new site that weekend for my day job (guess which hot new device it's focused on....).

In other words, give me a few weeks. Let's play make-believe and say this is a monthly mag for the moment. Close your eyes and pretend it's 1982 again and we're waiting for the next issue of Dragon Magazine. Such sweet anticipation.

Damn 24/7 Internet. How am I supposed to sleep?