I was lucky to have the opportunity to not only see the special launch of Kevin Smith’s Clerks II in Australia last night 9 days before it hits the cinemas, but…wait for it…I was at the Q&A session with Kevin Smith — the first time he has ever been to Australia!!! OMG! It was an amazing evening, watching his film and then hearing his witty retorts to shaking fanboys for hours after. Besides the raw and heartfelt nature of his films I have been admiring his use of the Internet in his marketing of the film. Kevin lives on the Net like me and many of my readers, so naturally he employed it, and employed it well. He has always had a number of websites, like the View Askewniverse and Clerks II site, that are even mentioned in his films. He podcast the making of Clerks II, called Trainwreck, for 1 year online, through iTunes & YouTube (there have been a few that do that though). He created Internet only trailers and uploaded them to places such as YouTube (which had its own story, that CC Chapman elaborates on). Clerks II is in MySpace as well, and he ran competitions to get MySpacians to add Clerks and all the characters to their own MySpace sites (this is something that has been done before too, as I note on my MySpace blog). Kevin is also active on forums and blogs. But there is something on top of all this that Kevin does that guzumps all other MySpace efforts:
Kevin lists every MySpace friend in the credits of the film
Now, at the time of the production of the film, there would be a lot less friends than there are at present. But there are 45,000 at present. The MySpace credits were about 7 minutes long, and that was with about 5 columns! I so wish I was on the list — immortialised forever as a fangirl!
Digimart.org is their new blog that hopes to assist in the development and understanding of digital distribution:
This space was designed to provide film and television industry professionals with up to date information about emerging digital distribution practices and to give them the opportunity to exchange with leading figures of the digital revolution. As innovative strategies, new devices and platforms transform the way we do business in film, can you afford not to be connected with those who are blazing new trails in digital distribution?
An update on cutting-edge strategies and state of the art business models developed by pioneering filmmakers, producers and distributors
An in-depth analysis of how direct-to-consumer technologies are empowering independents and forward-looking companies to build new audiences and maximize revenues
An assessment of how “no borders” distribution is erasing national boundaries and transforming the roles of distributors and sales agents
Perspective on how new distribution platforms are inspiring customized distribution strategies for individual films
An insight into pivotal issues surrounding Digital Rights Management, copyright and licensing from a filmmaker, rights-holder, technology and consumer perspective
An overview of the development of digital theatrical networks around the world and the place of exhibition in the new value chain of distribution
Jeremy has been asked to present on SMS Sugarman and probably lots of other exciting things at the event. Good luck Jeremy at the event and congratulations Daniel for getting Digimart happening!
Ian Bogost –Â respected ludologist, co-founder of Water Cooler Games and author of Unit Operations (his most recent book) — has reviewed Henry Jenkins’ book Convergence Culture. It is a lengthy review in which Bogost queries, of course, Jenkin’s introduction of his own terms and the use of ‘storytelling’ in ‘transmedia storytelling’. Jenkins has responded too, continuing the discussion at his blog with three lengthy posts: part 1, part 2, part 3. Jenkin’s is not concerned with Bogost’s complaint about his inventing words for phenomena that is already extant:
I see the varied terms as different ways of describing the same phenomenon. Each term helps us see some aspects more clearly and makes others harder to see. For that reason, there’s an argument to be made for keeping multiple terms in play rather than trying to figure out which one is best. If my words are useful, use them. If not, dump them.
I completely agree with Jenkins on this point. I started trying to find terms that straddled academia and industry and trying to figure out which ones already in existence were the best but ended up realising that the more the merrier. Each term denotes a particular lens into an idea, it doesn’t make it better or wrong, just different. There is specificity in diversity. Then onto ‘transmedia storytelling’. Jenkins responds to Bogost’s complaint about the narrativist approach as follows:
So, on the one hand, I would welcome Bogost’s efforts to broaden my term, “transmedia storytelling” towards something like “transmedia entertainment” or “transmedia authorship.” [NOTE: Bogost doesn’t suggest “entertainment”] It is certainly the case, as the passage above suggests, that narrative is simply one of a number of transmedia logics that are all expressive of the human condition. Perhaps I should have been clearer about this point in the book. I’ll take my lumps for that.
That said, I do think there’s an argument to be made for the centrality of narrative for understanding the specific examples used in the book — Star Wars, Harry Potter, and The Matrix. Just as one can argue that narrative may take a back seat to play mechanics, say, in our effort to understand how games work, most critics have argued that the American film industry has been driven from day one by the push to tell stories and that narrative imperatives dominate over all other factors in shaping the aesthetics of Hollywood entertainment. I could point you to a large body of literature which has made this point over and over. These particular worlds, then, were created for the purpose of generating stories. They may, as I have suggested, support multiple stories, they may also follow other logics and practices, but they are still part of a storytelling system.
I am on Bogost’s side about this one. I started this blog and my thesis with the term “multi-channel storytelling” and then “cross-media storytelling”. I took out the storytelling and changed it to “entertainment” because “storytelling” was misleading. I not only look at stories and games, but I recognise in well-written cross-media forms have a high degree of both qualities. As one commentor on Jenkins’ blog noted, this area is defiantely a continuation of Aarseth’s ‘ergodics’.  That is why am experimenting with terminology that is narrative- and ludic-agnostic in my research (my recent AOIR paper introduces the first set). Indeed, I’m clustering such a transdisciplinary approach into ‘transmodiology’. But back to ‘transmedia storytelling’. I should clarify the reason why I don’t call this blog transmedia entertainment. The reasons:
I see it as Henry’s term and so don’t want to poach it;
I use ‘transmedia’ to refer to a particular form, not all of them;
I use cross-media to denote all the possible forms: adaptation, repurposing, transmedia, artistically-motivated franchises and so on.
That is why. Given the completely non-sensical (to me) use by industry of ‘cross-media’ to denote ‘digital media’, I think transmedia has alot more resonnance. [I’ve got alot to say about this and may do a post on that shortly too.] But as with the first point of this post — it doesn’t really matter that much. But must get back to Jenkins. He makes a great point about the urge to convergence without reason:
Right now, there’s a lot of uncritical excitement about convergence and extensions and this often clouds judgements. Not every story should be told across all media. Not every experience is enhanced by moving it between platforms. I would hope that the book gave us a vocabulary to push beyond celebrating convergence for convergence sake and begin to explore how convergence enriches or impoverishes our culture.
He will be talking about commercialisation in Second Life soon, which will be interesting. But anyway, get over to the posts and enjoy the read, especially if you haven’t got Henry’s book yet. I’m so pleased to see these debates in public.