Forms move and are born, and we are forever making new discoveries.

Kasimir Malevich – Suprematist Manifesto (1916)

This book explores contemporary and traditional storytelling concepts and ideas. It encourages theoretical research and experimentation in the development of interactive narratives and transmedia stories. It considers the work of a wide range of practitioners across a multitude of creative fields. These include writing, music, film, photography, theatre, art and new media. It identifies and examines key texts and includes interviews with industry practitioners and academic researchers. Throughout history artistic inspiration has often come from the most unlikely sources. An openness to new ideas always brings about original, exciting and challenging storytelling opportunities.

WHO IS THIS BOOK FOR?

The book is aimed at storytelling creatives who are looking to develop and deliver interactive narratives and transmedia titles using new technologies and distribution platforms. It is a synthesis of storytelling strategies and related theoretical concerns with regard to interactive content creation. It considers many of the current questions regarding interactive storytelling and is intended to guide and inform the reader’s knowledge and to promote ideas generation. A key concern of the text relates to story navigation: how will storytellers resolve the difficulties in creating interactive points within a plot to encourage a natural, rather than forced, story interaction? Who and where is the intended audience for interactive content and what issues are anticipated or currently experienced in targeting and then delivering to particular demographics? Does an interactive content audience need to have access to specific (perhaps the latest) technologies, do they need to have interactive story experience, a history of social media engagement, platform awareness or particular software application experience? What are the most appropriate skillsets and previous experience of an interactive story developer? Which elements of the traditional storytelling experience can be exploited within these new narrative paradigms? Sound design and music are considered within a broad storytelling context to look at their potential to fully realise narrative worlds and to promote audience immersion and engagement. The future of interactive storytelling is explored, and artistic and commercial projects, completed and in development, are considered. Throughout the book I have avoided taking a technocentric approach. The emphasis is on the creation of engaging stories which (through trial and error) take advantage of the most innovative yet appropriate modes of delivery to effectively communicate story ideas across multiple platforms. The book includes the most useful content that I have identified over many years teaching this subject in universities and colleges across Europe. You will note that there are many references to the works of traditional artists. I have made observations on their workflows when I considered them to be relevant to the development of interactive and transmedia stories. I have drawn on existing best practices from traditional media, to identify and give insight into creative works that are both experimental and engaging and to synthesise complex theories to make them accessible to a wide audience.

DEFINING INTERACTIVE NARRATIVES AND TRANSMEDIA STORIES

An interactive narrative offers a pre-specified level of story agency or choice to the audience, allowing them to exert an influence on the plot. The interactive experience is ‘highly context-dependent’ and involves some form of interface such as text input (entered at the command line), a hand-held controller or a gesture-sensing device (Laurel, 1991 p. 21). Each interaction results in various levels of impact on the story depending on the narrative design. Producer Hideo Kojima states that the challenge for interactive narrative developers is to offer increased agency without sacrificing the story emotion developed through ‘cut sequences’ (edited scenes rather than interactive gameplay) (Ashcraft, 2008). Brighton-based artists group Blast Theory released a very interesting interactive narrative titled Karen (2015). Using a phone-based app to facilitate a series of ‘video calls’, the user takes the role of a client and interacts with a life-coach called Karen over several days. The multiple choice responses given to Karen’s often leading questions are used to construct a psychometric profile of each user which can be purchased at the end of the story. The story progresses along a satisfying narrative arc and includes a good level of story conflict, drama and humour. User engagement is designed around well-constructed questions (delivered by Karen) and equally valid answer options for the user. The result is an interactive narrative that feels like you are a performer within a finely tuned theatrical experience.

Transmedia stories are delivered across multiple distribution platforms, in various formats that can include feature films, short films, episodic television, streaming content, social media, games, print media, music and audio clips. Transmedia stories are defined as ‘many franchises developed around a core story and characters’ (Blumenthal & Xu, 2012 p. 190). Transmedia story elements exist within a single story world despite their perceived distance from each other. Blast Theory’s #FindTheGirl transmedia campaign to promote Thirteen (2016) delivered story content within the five-episode online drama itself, but also on social media platforms and across various websites (Puschmann, 2016).

THE AUTHOR

At 18 years old I took full advantage of the UK’s education grant system and left Ballymoney, Northern Ireland to study computer programming at Birmingham Polytechnic, UK. I graduated in 1989 and soon began my career as a computer programmer working for Marconi Command and Control Systems at a UK Ministry of Defence site in Leicester. I designed and coded software in Ada (the defence sector’s traditional language of choice) to perform phonetic searches on London Fire Brigade’s database of geographical locations. The system allowed emergency telephone call operators to enter street names as they heard them phonetically without the need to check spelling. However, I found working at the ‘command line’ lacked the creativity I sought so I returned to education to study photography at Bournville Art College under the inspirational guidance of my tutor John Hodgett. With a small child in tow, my then girlfriend Esther and I returned to Dublin in the mid-1990s where I was able to combine my software engineering, film and photography skills. I was hired by the influential sculptor and academic Aileen McKeogh to work in Arthouse, a trailblazing multimedia arts organisation in a newly refurbished, purpose-built premises in Temple Bar. As Head of Training and Production I project-managed European-funded projects and designed and delivered new media education contracts on behalf of the Irish government. In 2000 I raised €250,000 private funding to set up a new media training college in Dublin city centre. I travelled extensively throughout Eastern Europe and North Africa helping international broadcast organisations to establish digital strategies and to develop new media training programmes for their personnel. In each country I would work on a photo-essay to pass the extended time between meetings. I almost got arrested in Pakistan on the road to Rawalpindi for photographing an enormous toll booth in the middle of nowhere. In Egypt, my now wife Esther and I interviewed prospective course participants and she was happy to receive numerous confidence-building proposals of marriage. On a visit to Media Production City, near Giza, a simple linguistic error left uncorrected led to me being mistakenly identified as the Director General of Radio Telefis Eireann (RTE). In too deep, we spent the day being whisked around the impressive film studio complex introduced to movie stars and forcing a fully attended water park to wait for our arrival beifre starting a show.

During my travels I always noted the international language of storytelling and the potential of new technologies to create new narrative paradigms. I continued to research the subject and was extremely fortunate to be supervised by Dr. Kevin Atherton and Dr. Paul O’Brien when successfully completing a PhD in visual culture at the National College of Art & Design, Dublin. By 2012 our award-winning college was fully accredited and delivering graduate and postgraduate programmes in film, theatre, games design, photography and animation, welcoming students from 22 countries. We produced the animated logo for the Eurovision Song Contest, which aired before and after commercial breaks and was watched by over 120 million people each year. Our students won national and international awards and were highly sought after by audiovisual production companies. In 2014 the Irish immigration service’s heavy-handed approach to international students forced the closure of dozens of private education facilities in Ireland, including ours. In the years since, I have worked in the public education sector and I am now researching and lecturing in the highly innovative Creative Arts, Media and Music Department, Dundalk Institute of Technology.

I have always been interested in experimental narrative projects and generally prefer arthouse films to traditional commercial fare. I take inspiration from my children’s engagement and interaction with games and social-media platforms and I continue to develop my own projects – interactive stories, films and photo books. My most recent film work Singularitas was conceived as a multilingual short, with languages intermixed throughout and no subtitles. The intention was to create a concept piece, an audiovisual spectacle which would be currently incomprehensible, yet in a few years, be viewed via commonplace language translating devices. The translation would ‘free-up’ the text and remove the linguistic barriers of language, dialect, intonation and prosody, making it accessible to anyone, in any country, speaking any language. In short, the film was really for the future.

NEW MODES OF STORYTELLING

In this book I also consider how evolving technologies will impact storytelling media and modes of delivery. Narrative interpretation depends on our understanding of the technologies used to create and deliver stories (Wood, 2007 p. 42). Audiences are increasingly knowledgeable about production tools, workflows and distribution platforms. If the spectacle focuses our attention on technology itself, then it creates in the audience a desire to learn more about the process of production. Individual digital elements compete for audience attention while driving the narrative and helping to create an immersive environment (Wood, 2007 p. 45). The effect may work with real elements or act as a counterpoint, expanding and developing their meaning. There may be an over-emphasis on visual spectacle through attempts to recreate that which no longer exists or does not yet exist. In this sense new media technologies are no different than the special effects of early cinema. If the audience knows how an effect is produced then the impact is reduced and immersion in the story may be lost. The fluidity of perception leads to the creation of narrative perspective. The world is constantly changing and the author’s narrative is altered during its creation, and again when it is observed by the reader:

the shift of an object or area out of the center of vision even to the inner edge of the periphery transforms it … perceptual constancy is a phantom, and the world thus seen is no longer identical to itself.

(Crary, 2001 p. 298)

The observer’s engagement with the technological invention manipulates the optical display. This is an alternative to the theatrical tradition of perception (Crary, 2001 p. 191). I will use as an example an interactive film I made called The Little Extras (see Appendix 1) which was created to extend the relationship between author and observer. In this film, viewer interaction alters their perspective of the story and creates a flexible or plastic narrative experience.

In interactive film the process of interaction may be considered a representational vehicle for the development and presentation of the characters. Navigation through the narrative leads to changes in our interpretation of the representation. The belief system that makes the representation possible is an acceptance of what is real both within the context of the story and the viewer’s world (Mitchell, 1995 p. 356). The representation of characters within the interactive narrative text is distanced from the reality of the actors who are playing the roles and the mode of interaction itself. We can consider representation as a process or mode of interaction as well as relating to a ‘particular kind of object’ (Mitchell, 1995 p.?420). The immersive nature of the story allows the distance to be traversed and a multiplicity of character perspectives to cohabitate the metanarrative. The mode of interaction is blended to the narrative to function as a natural method of ‘reading’ the story, ‘all representations are conventional in the sense that they depend upon symbol systems that might, in principle, be replaced by some other system’ (Mitchell, 1995 p. 351). The mode of interaction in The Little Extras is rooted in simple hyperlinking. If the viewer has been properly encouraged and stimulated to ‘read’ the text and look for interactive opportunities, they will seize upon a symbol system that allows them to navigate more freely. The Little Extras creates a temporal reality within the interactive text. The temporal period is known to the audience in that it deals with historically familiar concepts including the emotions of jealousy and anger (Mitchell, 1995 p. 353).

Filmic representations of reality can be considered uncinematic (Carroll, 2008 p. 203). Narrative disclosure is unrealistic in that it does not replicate the reality we experience in everyday life where most issues remain unresolved and facts stay hidden. Theorists who favour the Italian Neorealist recording of experiences emphasise the value of photography in creating cinematic works where the camera simply photographs the reality in front of it. An alternative theoretical position is to emphasise the creation of narrative structure through editing. Pacing and juxtaposition of narrative elements create the relationships between shots and scenes for the audience and drive the narrative according to the author’s vision. Mitchell notes the difference in time between the writing of the story and its reading, ‘narrative seems to be a mode of knowing and showing which constructs a region of the unknown, a shadow text or image that accompanies our reading, moves in time with it’ (Mitchell, 1995 p. 190). The author of the non-linear story creates an organic text that lives and grows through interactivity. As the story develops, the relevance of its own past and future is in state of flux. Dialogue in the text offers the characters a voice as an alternative to the absolutism of diegesis. This mimesis can be flexibly interpreted by the audience as they develop a greater understanding of the characters and their situations (Mitchell, 1995 p. 191). Most film-makers create work that their target audience will understand and cognise (Carroll, 2008 p. 212). This includes incorporating known features specific to their genre such as high-key lighting in film noir thrillers and the lone gunman in westerns. A film that is ‘truly, ontologically incomparable with any other would be … an incomprehensible artifact. Faith in the consummately singular motion picture derives from a romantic-modernist fantasy of the genius’ (Carroll, 2008 p. 216).

Jerome Bruner explored the transference of knowledge and the assimilation of narrative. He points out that knowledge always represents someone’s perspective, so that the ‘normativeness of narrative, in a word, is not historically or culturally terminal. Its form changes with the preoccupations of the age and the circumstances surrounding its production’ (Bruner, 1991 p. 16). Bruner is stating that a perspective on a story is therefore influenced by one’s consideration of the author’s intent. It depends on what we know about both the author as a person and the subject under discussion. He refutes the concept of knowledge as a fixed entity. It is instead highly flexible and changing, mediated and remediated by successive readers, who have been influenced in turn by their background, friends, books, cultural experience and conventions. The reality created by a narrative is an interpretation of the facts presented to us.

Different cultures will adopt and exploit digital interactive media developments in different ways (Jenkins & Thorburn, 2003 p. 5). Political, cultural and economic forces will shape the interactions between the people and emerging technologies. The book includes an analysis of the communication and processing technologies that will be used to develop and distribute new media formats including interactive films. The relationship between author and observer is explored. Digital media allow the reader to alter original texts through interactivity including the use of inserts and links (Landow, 2006 p.126). The role of the author is changing. The reader is empowered to actively construct meaning by adding layers of interpretation. However, readers have always ‘read’ texts from particular perspectives and in doing so altered their interpretation of meaning to suit themselves. In this way, the act of adding content to the published text is simply another step in the information reception process. This process leads to an interpretation and position taken by the reader in relation to the content.

A SUMMARY OF THE CHAPTERS

Chapter 2, ‘Traditional Narrative Texts’, explores the works of various creative artists including photographers, playwrights, authors, film-makers and academic theorists. It considers the extent to which non-linear narrative developers can exploit traditional storytelling structures, techniques and literary devices to produce a unique story experience. The chapter introduces relevant terminology and reflects on the prospective augmentation of linear narratives by the addition of interactive interfaces. The chapter also examines classic film-making techniques including the incorporation of narrative conflict, promoting audience immersion and the use of sound. Subtitles in film are also considered with regard to the potential incorporation of hypertext within interactive film products.

Chapter 3, ‘Subjective Interpretation’, examines how an audience interprets meaning within narrative texts. The relative position of the author and reader is assessed. Burgess and Dovey are considered with regard to the linguistic construction of texts and the interactive storyteller’s relinquishment of authorial control. Bellantoni’s research into our emotional response to colour sequences is explored alongside Kandinsky’s theory on the psychology of colour and Mortenson’s description of our instinctual responses to geometric patterns.

Chapter 4, ‘Sound Design’, examines the explicit nature of music via the theoretical texts of Adorno and Eisler. The chapter also looks at Goodall’s research into the history of music development and Storr’s work on the emotional meaning of music. It considers the exploitation of musical devices and techniques including counterpoint, syncopation, allusionism, psychological time and instrumentation. It explores the use of music in cinematic works and examines the implementation of music in feature-film soundtracks.

Chapter 5, ‘Visual Montage’, takes a detailed look at spatially presented audiovisual works and assesses the meaning and interpretation of both spatial montage and the juxtaposition of story elements. The chapter also considers the work of Hockney, Marker and Burroughs and examines how spatial presentation techniques used in traditional film and print media can be employed in an interactive narrative context.

Chapter 6, ‘Codifying Story Elements’, considers the classification of interactive narrative elements using a predetermined database schema. Codification of content requires the identification of story components which can be stored in a database. Codified data can be accessed non-sequentially to present the audience with a non-linear narrative. The chapter also looks at the codification techniques proposed by Propp and Bal. It introduces narratology terminology and considers Barthes ‘message without a code’. It further examines the metatagging of digital content, data visualisation, trend-identifying algorithms, data analytics and hypernarrative. The chapter also explores the historical archive and reflects on the work of Brecht, de Quincey and Perec.

Chapter 7, ‘Interactive Narratives’, looks at ergodic texts, interactive titles, interfaces, narrative immersion, story structures, latency, distribution platforms and related technologies. It considers both historical and contemporary interactive narrative works with particular emphasis on the theatrical tradition. Interaction methodologies and their impact on users is assessed, including gesture-controlled interfaces and the study of proprioception. Virtual reality (VR), virtual identities and augmented reality (AR) are also explored. VR creates a fully rendered computer graphics environment for the viewer whereas AR overlays computer generated text and graphics over our real world vision.

Chapter 8, ‘The Business of Transmedia Storytelling’, looks at the commercial implementation of interactive narratives and transmedia stories across international markets. It considers the work of several ground-breaking experimental storytelling companies such as Blast Theory (UK) and the content-creation department of Marriott International (US). The chapter explores a range of new storytelling platforms including social media, and examines some highly innovative and commercially successful attempts to monetise interactive content. It looks at the international news agencies’ development of data analytics tools to measure audience engagement, the development of augmented reality products and geo-located narratives.

In Appendix 1, ‘Making The Little Extras’, I discuss the development of this interactive film. The film concept is compared and contrasted to the works of Brueghel, Manovich and Tarkovsky. Conceptually the film created a paradigm shift that fundamentally differs from traditional linear narrative. In Appendix 2 I have given a brief explanation of digital data compression. The exploration of new storytelling platforms, developing experimental narratives using digital workflows, is much improved by a good understanding of compression.

COMMERCIAL IMPERATIVE

During my research I spoke to media-industry professionals and academic theorists here in Ireland and abroad. While the former naturally seek to exploit the commercial potential of new storytelling platforms, the latter’s theoretical approach and openness to experimentation without a commercial imperative has resulted in the development of innovative products that could eventually be successfully monetised. Therefore, my approach has been to consider the potential success of all commercial opportunities within this highly experimental and inventive storytelling environment. The stories considered in this book have been delivered in a wide variety of formats from self-contained entertainment products to a media segment within a content creation department’s audience-building marketing strategy. Depending on your approach, you may believe the commercial imperative of content creation to be irrelevant. Generating income from interactive content is a challenge. However, it is worth noting that when one considers the income generation potential of the passive consumption of traditional media (selling commercial advertising space to clients based on projected audience figures and demographics), it seems likely that the commercial potential of individually identifiable interactive engagements with story elements is significantly greater.

THE COMMAND TO READ

To expand upon this practice of exploring traditional media I encourage the reader to continue to study a wide range of texts and to certainly move outside their comfort zone. Reading is not always easy, nor even pleasurable in some cases, as many worthwhile texts require significant effort to get through. As a film and photography lecturer I have always promoted the importance of critically analysing narrative texts. Keep reading until it becomes more than a thought, it becomes an opinion. With the rise of online broadcasting I have found it necessary to encourage ‘reading not watching’. Reading a text requires a greater level of engagement with the author’s text to fully consider their intention and line of argument. Reading creates a much more profound understanding of a concept. Watching an online documentary may be useful in some circumstances, but it tends to result in a simple regurgitation of facts – it lacks criticality. When reviewing student work, it is always obvious to me who has conducted their research by ‘reading’ and who has simply ‘watched’.

When considering relevant published materials as part of your research, go to a library with a good stock of visual reference books and simply browse through the texts one by one. Eventually, a narrative technique or visual style will appeal to you, it will make itself known and provide the starting point for future research and practice. Experimentation with techniques, styles and approaches often uncovers something original. The film-maker Alan Parker attributes his success in film-making to the large number of television commercials he made during his early career in advertising. It was here he says that he was able to make mistakes, experiment with new ideas and eventually hone his craft. It also allowed him to develop a unique storytelling style, a personal aesthetic. The repetition of the short storytelling process, conceiving ideas, shooting then completing the product allowed him to continually analyse his work and thus grow as an artist. In fact, in my experience as a teacher, it is the student who completes a large number of smaller projects, rather than getting part way through several larger and more ambitious ones, who is the most capable, confident and ready to work in a competitive industry.

LATERAL THINKING

A high level of critical analysis in turn results in a good degree of lateral thinking, considering an idea from various angles, thinking around the concept. In storytelling this allows the writer to produce unique, thought-provoking narratives. As the story creator engages with the development process while keeping an open mind, they will achieve a greater level of ownership of their work. This ownership, the act of critiquing your work and its intention as the narrative develops, encourages one to ‘say something’ with each story. This always results in a much more compelling narrative, one which has an opinion, is eloquently expressed and which promotes debate. The increased engagement with the intention of the author also increases the potential for commercial success. It is important to have an opinion on something that you wish to engage with both creatively and intellectually. The artistic artefact that you produce will create an intellectual discourse between you and your audience. In this regard, the most successful works ‘speak out’. Your opinion, the point of view you have adopted in relation to the subject being discussed, should come from an informed position, evidencing research, knowledge and synthesis.

PITCHING YOUR IDEA

It is beneficial to pitch your idea to an audience. The pitch forces you to consider who and where the market is for the product you intend to create. An intellectual academic may experiment with concepts and storytelling paradigms having little interest in their commercial potential, yet most students are engaged in a programme of academic study in order to launch a successful career. Therefore, I consider it important to both identify the audience for a story idea that is being pitched and decide how the story will be delivered to them. This constraint, forcing the creative individual or team to tailor a product for a particular audience, is an opportunity to employ the techniques of lateral thinking to develop a fresh perspective and personal style.

DEVELOPING AN IDEAS BOOK/VISUAL DIARY

An ideas book or visual diary is an invaluable resource in ideas generation. It should include all manner of visuals, texts, references, both obscure and well-known. Whatever takes your fancy. The important thing is to get it down on paper, scanned, copied or drawn. The best ideas books I have seen tended to be messy affairs, with bits of paper and assorted materials bulging out at the sides. In this personal volume, the individual is storing up a series of narrative elements, for future reference. The visual diary is an important tool for communicating ideas to both clients and other creatives. Note why you are including content; it is a common occurrence for visually exciting work to be included in an ideas book, only for the creative to forget what the (significant) point of its inclusion was.

***

This book has been written in order to be accessible, engaging, incisive and informative to the creative storyteller. The research that went into it was highly selective and concentrated on the simplification and clarification of complex, often abstract ideas. It highlights the vocabulary and knowledge most relevant to the development of new narrative structures. It identifies story products and creators, industry practitioners and academic researchers, and includes pertinent literary references to guide and inspire. It’s all in there, it just needs to be ‘unpacked’.