Hollywood 2.0 Podcast: Christian Fonnesbech

Join host Peter Katz as he talks with Christian Fonnesbech, digital director & producer of 35+ online & transmedia projects. We discuss Cloud Chamber, his new transmedia mystery produced in Denmark. He collaborated with producer Vibeke Windelov (Breaking the Waves and Dancer in the Dark), director of filmed parts Fabian Wullenweber (The Killing TV series), and actors Gethin Anthony (Game of Thrones) and Jesper Christensen (James Bond: Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace).

StoryCode/TransVergence LA Story Hackathon Dates Announced

Hackathons have become a big draw in the tech world over the past decade. These sometimes weekend-long events are where teams of coders get together to stand up a prototype piece of software, aiming to create a “minimum viable product”. If a piece of beta software is a painting, then a hackathon product is a quick sketch.

Last year Mike Knowlton of New York’s StoryCode took that idea and applied it to storytelling. Specifically he applied it to transmedia storytelling, in what he called a Story Hackathon. This week he announced his next event–which will be held this August in Los Angeles–along with an explanation of how the hacker approach applies to stories.

So what does hacking have to do with storytelling and entertainment? Quite a lot, actually. A number of us talk about the idea of “Story as Software”. Software is complicated to create. So is telling a good story. But they each can be broken down into component parts: wireframes, prototypes, story treatments, a character matrix, etc. By focusing on the components parts creators can follow a hackathon approach—and the results can be amazing.

The next StoryCode Story Hackathon is scheduled during the “TransVergence Summit” in Los Angeles, August 7th and 8th.

This post originally appeared on TurnstyleNews.

Interview: Brian Clark of GMD Studios

At last year’s StoryWorld Conference in Hollywood I had the honor of meeting Brian Clark (@gmdclark) of GMD Studios, longtime publisher of IndieWire and one of the leading designers and thinkers in the world of transmedia. Brian gave one of the last talks at the conference, a speech on what he called “Phenomenal Work”, in which he applied the principles of the movement known as Phenomenology to examine the work that creators and storytellers have been empowered to do thanks to the New Media revolution. We featured the talk previously on the blog.

In this conversation, taken from one of my Turnstyle News Hangouts, we touch on the “Phenomenal Work” talk and a subject we both have a passion for: transmedia and the theatre.

Hollywood 2.0 Podcast: Transmedia Tools w/ Social Samba’s Aaron Williams

Transmedia LA is proud to have members Peter Katz and Rich Silverman’s podcast Hollywood 2.0 be a part of our expanded content this year.

In this episode Peter talks with Aaron Williams, co-founder/CEO of Social Samba, who shows Peter how his startup empowers transmedia storytellers.

TMLA Panel Wrap-Up: The Lizzie Bennet Diaries

From left: Bernie Su, Jenni Powel, Margaret Dunlap, Jay Bushman. Photo: Audra Congress

TMLA’s Emmett Furey contributed greatly to this report. Pictures by Audra Congress.

Monday night’s meetup focused on the Streamy and IAWTV award winning webseries The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. This transmedia powered adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is one of the greatest examples of independent transmedia production around today. (For more on the show, see our earlier post.)

Series co-creator and executive producer Bernie Su was in attendance at Monday night’s event along with co-executive producer Margaret Dunlap, producer Jenni Powell and transmedia producer Jay Bushman. Su, Dunlap and Bushman are all part of the show’s writing staff.

What follows are some of the highlights from the event.
… Continue Reading

Hangout On-Air Interview: Ingrid Kopp, Director of Digital Initiatives for the Tribeca Film Institute

UPDATE: The archived version of the Hangout is available below. Click over to Turnstyle News for details of the announcement of Tribeca’s Storyscapes, a new curated space for transmedia projects at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.

Today at 11AM Pacific/ 2PM Eastern our own Noah Nelson* will be interviewing Ingrid Kopp (@fromthehip), Director of Digital Initiatives for the Tribeca Film Institute, about the new TFI Sandbox. The Sandbox is a new resource for transmedia creators.

A little birdie also told us that there are likely to be some special announcements in this LIVE Google Hangout On-Air. We’ll post the video here when the event starts.

Join the Hangout discussion LIVE at Turnstyle’s G+ page, or via Twitter (@turnstylenews or @noahjnelson).

*Hey, that’s me!

The TMLA Guide to… The Lizzie Bennet Diaries

Publicity Image: The Lizzie Bennet Diaries

By far from the definitive guide to the webseries that adapts Pride & Prejudice, this article is intended as a jumping off point for those Transmedia LA regulars who have yet to dive into the series and plan on attending Monday night’s Meetup.

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, known to fans as TheLBD, reframes Jane Austen’s classic novel as an interconnected series of vlogs and social media accounts. The central YouTube account is LizzieBennet, and it was here less than a year ago that Elizabeth “Lizzie” Bennet (Ashley Clements) began her video diary with the immortal first line:

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”

Here printed on a t-shirt. Setting the tone for the series to come. That first episode introduces Lizzie, her best friend Charlotte Lu (Julia Cho), and her sister Lydia (Mary Kate Wiles).

The central YouTube account, which adheres to the Vlog format, tells the story of the novel from Lizzie’s point of view. As the story unfolds more members of the cast join the series, some of whom are given spin-offs (TheLydiaBennet being your humble writer’s personal favorite) and lives of their own on social media. William Darcy (Daniel Gordh), the romantic lead in Austin’s novel, makes his first appearance in the series’ world via Twitter. The character’s presence was maintained there for months before showing up on screen.

Read more about The LBD and find the Meetup details after the jump…
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Telling Tales: The Business of Transmedia from Ontario, Canada with TransmediaLA

TransmediaLA is featuring a panel of entertainment companies on mission from Ontario, Canada. We have partnered with Interactive Ontario for this special event that will be followed by a networking reception. (PLEASE REGISTER WITH EVENTBRITE – SEE INFO BELOW)

Wed, February 20th, 2012
Busby East LA, 5364 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036 
Panel: 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM 
Reception: 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM

IMPORTANT NOTE: PLEASE REGISTER AT EVENTBRITE – DO NOT RSVP AT MEETUP.COM

Space will be limited so please note that it will be based on a first come first serve basis.

REGISTER HERE: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/4640431656

Info about the guests can be found below. … Continue Reading

Hollywood 2.0 Podcast: Tom Pinchuck

Transmedia LA is proud to have members Peter Katz and Rich Silverman’s podcast Hollywood 2.0 be a part of our expanded content this year.

In this episode Peter talks with comic book writer Tom Pinchuck about comics and transmedia.

‘New Cinema’ Bridges Game, Film

Lots of busy bees out in New York City.

What happens when you get the directors of Another Earth and Catfish together with a bunch of coders? From The Verge:

Last week an experimental program in New York City called New Cinema shared a tiny glimpse of what that might look like. The works-in-progress are the results of a hackathon from last December organized by Framestore, the Oscar-winning visual effects studio behind films like Children of Men and Where The Wild Things Are, in collaboration withThe Creators Project and NYC’s Eyebeam art and technology lab. And each one, however small, seems to hint at some larger idea about how interactive software could dramatically alter — maybe even outright replace — cinematic storytelling as we currently know it.