Evolving Cinematic Storytelling to Span Multiple Screens Jason Brush Possible Worldwide / UCLA Film, TV & Digital Media / Art Center College of Design
Jul 02, 2015
Evolving Cinematic Storytelling to Span Multiple ScreensJason BrushPossible Worldwide / UCLA Film, TV & Digital Media / Art Center College of Design
!ere is precious little invention in the cinema world, because traditional cut-and-paste, narrative, illusionistic cinema has had its day. We must move on. We must re-invent cinema."
Peter Greenaway, “Toward a Re-invention of Cinema”
1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
History of the evolution of !lm language, per Peter Greenaway
1910 1920 1930Gri!th Eisenstein
Film language is invented
1940 1950Welles Fellini
Consolidation
1960 1970Godard Cassavetes
Revision
1980 1990Scott Tarantino
Post-revisionist Pastiche
Stone
1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Invention of !lm language Consolidation Revisionists Post-revisionist pastiche
Transmedia?
History of the evolution of !lm language, per Peter Greenaway
EisensteinGri!th Welles
FelliniGodard Scott Stone Tarantino
Cassavetes
3D?DIY?
1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Invention of !lm language Consolidation Revisionists Post-revisionist pastiche
Transmedia?
History of the evolution of !lm language, per Peter Greenaway
EisensteinGri!th Welles
FelliniGodard Scott Stone Tarantino
Cassavetes
3D?DIY?
If the cinema intends to survive, I believe, it has to make a pact and a relationship with concepts of interactivity, and it has to see itself as only part of a multimedia cultural adventure.
Peter Greenaway
Transmedia storytelling represents a process where integral elements of a !ction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a uni!ed and coordinated entertainment experience.
Henry Jenkins
Diagram: Susan MarxDiagram concept: Robert Pratten of Zen Films
Traditional Media Franchise
Transmedia Franchise
Transmedia franchises have often blurred boundaries between marketing and content...
Pandemicby Lance Weiler1 short !lm1 magazine1 koala5 secret locations10 scares12 totems60 story artifacts50 mobile phones5,000 bottles of water40,000 people50,000 photos3.2 million points of data
Tulse Luper Suitcasesby Peter Greenaway3 feature !lmsa TV series92 DVDsCD-ROMsbooks
My Beautiful Dark Twisted FantasyBy Kanye WestAlbumShort FilmMusic VideosTwitter
Pandemicby Lance Weiler1 short !lm1 magazine1 koala5 secret locations10 scares12 totems60 story artifacts50 mobile phones5,000 bottles of water40,000 people50,000 photos3.2 million points of data
Tulse Luper Suitcasesby Peter Greenaway3 feature !lmsa TV series92 DVDsCD-ROMsbooks
My Beautiful Dark Twisted FantasyBy Kanye WestAlbumShort FilmMusic VideosTwitter
Pandemicby Lance Weiler1 short !lm1 magazine1 koala5 secret locations10 scares12 totems60 story artifacts50 mobile phones5,000 bottles of water40,000 people50,000 photos3.2 million points of data
Tulse Luper Suitcasesby Peter Greenaway3 feature !lmsa TV series92 DVDsCD-ROMsbooks
My Beautiful Dark Twisted FantasyBy Kanye WestAlbumShort FilmMusic VideosTwitter
Pandemicby Lance Weiler1 short !lm1 magazine1 koala5 secret locations10 scares12 totems60 story artifacts50 mobile phones5,000 bottles of water40,000 people50,000 photos3.2 million points of data
Tulse Luper Suitcasesby Peter Greenaway3 feature !lmsa TV series92 DVDsCD-ROMsbooks
My Beautiful Dark Twisted FantasyBy Kanye WestAlbumShort FilmMusic VideosTwitter
Does the "lm language used to compose these pieces of content change when made part of a transmedia franchise?
Even when part of a complex, coordinated transmedia e!ort, the audience’s expectations of what a “movie” is remains the same.
In addition to being smaller, personal screens are:- connected- controllable- often portable- used in multiple contexts
"e multi-screen experience is an inescapable reality of today’s distribution landscape, yet #lm language itself hasn’t evolved in response to the fact that content travels between vastly di!erent media.
I've never watched “Avatar” on a laptop. I guess it probably works, but I don't recommend it...What I recommend is getting the co#ee table out of the way and sticking your couch about four feet from your TV.
James Cameron
It is easier for me to see a minor painting by Caravaggio in a small Umbrian town than it is for me to"see Kubrick's “2001” in any cinema that would represent that $lm in the way it was manufactured to be presented.
Peter Greenaway
"e innate pleasures of the cinema as we’ve known itvs
"e reality that today’s !lm distribution environment is dependent on a diversity of screens
Websites
Social Media
Live PerformanceMusic
Mobile
Installation
Motion Pictures
MerchandiseGames
Augmented Reality
How should #lmmakers respond to this technological change?
Coordinated transmedia storytelling one compelling way, but perhaps not the only...
rpm
diameter
33⅓
12”
LP22-26 minutes per side
45
7”
Single3 minutes per side
!""#$%&#'(#')*+),+,#*-#.+#"'(*+)+,#*-#%(#%#/0-"+1#2*#'(#.3-4+)#56#')*-#'),'7',5%"#*3%84(#-)"	-3#+%('+3#)%7':%*'-)1
!""#$%&#'(#')*+),+,#*-#.+#"'(*+)+,#*-#%(#%#/0-"+1#2*#'(#.3-4+)#56#')*-#'),'7',5%"#*3%84(#-)"	-3#+%('+3#)%7':%*'-)1
time
chan
nels
9:00 9:30 10:008:30 10:30
time
chan
nels
sitcom
9:00 9:30 10:008:30 10:30
drama
time
chan
nels
9:00 9:30 10:008:30 10:30
Part of the problem is that cross-platform transformation of media has always been seen as a compromise — we’ve been trained to protect an ideal form (even as theatrical projection becomes less and less central to the life of a !lm.)
Now if your playing the movie on a telephone or on your computer, you will never in a trillion years experience the !lm. you'll think you have experienced it, but you will have been cheated.
David Lynch
But what if a !lm was able to scale to the di"erent presentation environments?
Feature Film
TV Series 1
Feature Film 2
TV Series 2
Feature Film 3
... we want to do part of it big screen, and then a lot of the character stu! — because Stephen King’s stu! is so interesting and fascinating, and instead of trying to wedge it into a movie, let the movies be adventure and action.
Ron Howard
By telling this story across media platforms and over multiple hours—and with a view to telling it completely—we have our best chance of translating Roland’s quest to reach "e Dark Tower onto screen.
Akiva Goldsman
To get [the shorter theatrical version of Carlos] right, we had to reshape the #lm. Even stu! that looks the same is not the same. We had to make cuts within scenes and within shots. We constantly had to #nd a new pace for the #lm that was obviously quite di!erent from the longer version.
Olivier Assayas
I know the general audiences would prefer a shorter cut. "e thing is that a #ve-and-a-half hour #lm is located within a very speci#c cinematic space. In terms of style and narration, it allows me to go into areas that are completely new for me. It’s a much more satisfying re$ection on cinema and the power of cinema. It shows how you can deal simultaneously with small and big issues – small issues being the fate of one man and big issues being the geopolitics of a period. "is kind of scope isn’t really possible in a shorter version
Olivier Assayas
“Elastic Cinema”
"e Dark Tower
Carlos
“Toward a re-invention of cinema”, 2003
Narrative World
Character
TV
FeatureFilms Gaming
Narrative World
Character
TV
FeatureFilms Gaming
Narrative World
Character
TV
FeatureFilms Gaming
What does Elastic Cinema get us?
"e creation of #lmic content which can blend easily with other media within transmedia systems.
New revenue opportunities — a #lm is also TV series, a Web series, etc.
Cost savings in production for assets that can be used in multiple venues.
A broader creative canvas, and an opportunity to keep innovating #lm language.
Where we need to evolve our approach:
Writing Anticipating scale & shifting narrative structure.
Directing the CameraProviding choice, to shift $uidly from focus on character & narrative to plan-séquence.
Distribution & Marketing StrategyExplaining to viewers their di!erent choices.
Transmedia = Diverse, coordinated media that each contribute to an overall entertainment experience in individual and separate ways.
Elastic Cinema = A uni#ed #lmic narrative that adjusts in form and style based on the platform on which its being experienced.
"anks.
http://www.possibleworldwide.com