Key Trends Shaping the Cross-Platform Media Landscape

The lines between desktop, mobile, TV and film are beginning to blur as the various platforms are often more distinguished by differences in use case than by the underlying technology. As a result, there are a new host of issues and solutions facing marketers and publishers.

Source: comScore

Transmedia: Cross-Platform Content Development in 2015

2015 Predictions: “I think the idea of telling stories that combine media types is here to stay. I think the classic idea of Transmedia is good for marketing, but not for other kinds of storytelling. I see game-play mechanics making an entrance in a big way…”

via MIPblog

Transmedia: The Economist New ‘Essays’ Immersive Storytelling

The Economist has launched a new digital-first series called Essays, adopting an immersive storytelling style to deliver content outside the “constraints of print”.

The series, which started with Democracy, was “an opportunity to start doing things in a different way,” said Tom Standage, digital editor.

via Journalism

Transmedia: How Aflac Created a Unified Insurance Brand Story

Aflac does an excellent job of not only creating a transmedia story that translates well, they also shifted all media efforts to this story in one fell swoop. This helps to remove distracting stories from the message or inconsistent older stories.

Their brand’s value is clear throughout and they actually tell a story of a Duck you hope will get well soon along the way.

via SitePoint

Transmedia: Jeff Gomez Shares Three Digital Storytelling Rules

Transmedia really in and of itself doesn’t mean all that much. It’s about being able to communicate across various platforms in some kind of meaningful way. Transmedia storytelling means you’re telling stories but you’re using different media in order to get the entire story.

In an ideal world, that transmedia element is something that is going to enhance your experience of the narrative. It’s going to give you new insight and play to the strength of the medium.

via Indiewire

Creating Positive Propaganda for the Climate Change Movement

“Positive Propaganda: Creative Media to Nudge Social Change” is a SXSW Eco session with Stanford researcher Geoff McGhee and SHFT co-founders Peter Glatzer and Adrian Grenier.

SHFT is a digital media platform that brings a filmmaker’s perspective to sustainability. Rather than treating it as a separate movement, Adrian and Peter’s vision for effective communication treats sustainability as a connected issue.

via SXSW Eco

Transmedia: Teasing About the ‘Phantom Stranger’ Project

J.J. Abrams cast a meaty hook into the Web waters on Aug. 19, a teaser for a new entertainment project.

Phantom Stranger is more than a novel. It’s a transmedia entertainment experience, with viral elements that apparently include this postcard from a seaside town in Brazil.

via EW

Transmedia: How VidCon Helps to Promote YouTube Producers

YouTubers post their videos hours, if not minutes, after creating them. This allows for a timely, spontaneous and authentic connection to develop between the YouTube personalities and their fans.

Topical issues can be addressed and the interactions can continue via transmedia, in the form of YouTube comments, Tweets, Facebook FB +1.51% posts, etc.

via Forbes

Transmedia: Battle School Test for the ‘Ender’s Game’ Movie

School’s out for summer — except in the futuristic world of the upcoming sci-fi film “Ender’s Game” — based on the 1985 novel by Orson Scott Card.

In the film, hostile aliens known as the Formics have attacked Earth, and the planet’s military organization, the International Fleet, is marshaling and training a new generation of young soldiers to continue the fight. Visit the Battle School microsite.

via Los Angeles Times

Transmedia: Lessons for Filmmakers from the IFP Labs

With more and more films having interactive and transmedia components — whether those are primarily marketing-focused or creative extensions of their film’s story worlds — many filmmakers are beginning to plan for more than just their feature films.

A transmedia extension of a feature film requires a re-imagining of the expression of its content, and that re-imagining can employ different models.

via Filmmaker Magazine