Film producers still have two weeks to submit an application Cross and transmedia development support for the Estonian Film Institute (15,000.- EUR) to receive. Here are some thoughts to keep in mind when planning cross-media solutions for your film.
Cross and transmedia
Every movie tells a story. If same story is written in the book (often the story is written in the book before it is written in the film, but there are also examples of the opposite), then it is with cross media – one story, different platforms.
What one imagines in oneself transmedia, is more difficult to explain, because a common definition has not been reached scientifically, but it means a little simplified developing transmedia stories on different platforms. For example, a video game tells a story that happened after the end of the movie, or in internet video series, one side character of the movie continues to develop.
Transmedia is very important in projects audience engagement and not in the form of clicking the Facebook "like" button, but in essence and (hardcore fans) by encouraging cooperation.
A film-based project
EFI development support is intended to a film-based project, already existing or planned, with the aim of getting more viewers to the cinema hall and attention to the film story.
In terms of time, the project should tell what activities and platforms are planned before the film reaches the cinema screen, and the viewer who leaves the cinema must not be forgotten.
Here are 7 ideas for companies that want to tell their film story to a wider target group than just moviegoers:
1) Is transmedia necessary?
All (film) projects no need transmedia solutions, because it doesn't make sense to develop every movie story on other platforms - neither the web nor fan pages add significantly to it, a mobile game doesn't make it more attractive and just for the sake of it perhaps, just for the sake of applying for support, it makes no sense to forward the website project, etc., in the style of detailed information for the film.
2) What story develops outside the cinema screen?
Screenwriters are very creative people, which is why a truncated film of up to 2 hours definitely limits their possibilities in telling the whole story. Transmedia solutions allow other platforms to supplement the story, i.e. talk about the main character's background, what happened to the supporting actor in between, etc.
You should not forget that in this project you have to the cinematography will still be complete – the viewer must get the full experience from the cinema screen, i.e. there should not be a forced change of platforms. A'la's story remains incomplete in the cinema - see more on the website.
When making planned film projects, one might think about whether, how and to what extent viewers can have a say in the development of the film's story during its planning phase.
3) Choice of platforms
If it is intended which stories could develop next to the film story, then it is time to set up platforms - website, FB, YouTube, Google maps, events, books, exhibitions, TV programs, etc.
Although transmedia projects can also be planned the other way around - first we make a website for the film and Facebook accounts for the characters, and then we think about what content we will develop in them, this approach significantly limits creativity.
4) What is the user journey?
Already when planning the platforms, it is worth thinking about when one or another platform will be made public and what content they contain and when they will be displayed, i.e. how the user moves through them.
For example, planning a website for a film that contains the film's plot, trailer, characters and additional information about them a few months before the premiere, then this is a relatively boring cross-media solution, which by itself meets the conditions of EFI development grants, but probably will not be among the winners. At the same time, such a simple solution not seen much in Estonian films.
When planning a website, it could first contain a lot of mystery or incomplete information about the project. A'la: a year before the premiere of the film, a ticking clock with some design elements is published on the inviting domain in the style of www.lõpponlähedal.ee. When the clock has been ticking for a month, a trailer appears on it, from which you can find out the missing person's (name), but not significantly more, if you google the name, you will find the person's FB account, where there is an invitation to come to the mass scene of the film shoot on X day...etc.
The user journey and the planning of transmedia projects in a broader sense are also discussed by Gary P. Hays “In Transmedia Production Bible“:
5) Movement between platforms?
When using different platforms, you have to think, why should the viewer switch platforms. For example, if there is a QR code next to the door at the exit of the movie theater, which invites viewers to the movie's website, then probably many people will not do it.
While there is an invitation next to the code - "see what would happen if ... the bomb had exploded / the main character had survived / the Nazis had won", there would certainly have been more interested people who would have shared the final solution with their friends and thereby brought new viewers to the cinema hall.
6) "Cheese and rabbit holes and holiday eggs"
Cheese holes and rabbit holes are transmedia terms, the first of which refers to a hole in a film's story that could be filled on other platforms. In the first scene of A'la, the main character is 6 years old, in the next 26, or on some other platform, the story that happened in between can be told.
"Rabbit hole" is a familiar term from Alice in Wonderland, which means a hole into which there is no way out if you "fall" - the film shows a mysterious web page (which also exists in reality), by clicking on which the viewer enters several other platforms, tasks and a whirlwind of events, which makes the whole experience hard-core much bigger for the fan. The viewer has to find the "rabbit hole" himself - this way the joy of discovery and the interest in getting involved is greater.
"Holy eggs" that is easter eggs are like rabbit holes, but they don't lead very far, but they provide fun extra information and a reason to talk about the movie. For example, the terrorists use their own language when speaking in the film, and there is no translation - while the language actually exists, and whoever understands it will probably also tell others what was actually said.
For example, in the "Man of Steel" scene, the terrorists sent a video of Tony Stark speaking in an untranslatable language (there were no subtitles). Actually it was With Urdu, which is spoken by 65 million people in the world, which translated meant:
"Please take Robert Downey Jr. away - he's used up all our heroin."
and now vomits … everywhere”
Holiday eggs can also be hidden in the form of text, for example as graffiti or a poster on the wall, as "random outdoor advertisements" in scenes, background music, the YouTube video shown in the film actually exists etc.
7) User Generated Content (UGC)
The Avengers was one of the first Hollywood blockbusters to use YouTube/WeVideo remix options where users could choose from clips and background music make and upload your own version of the movie trailer to YouTube.
"Spring" also uploaded to YouTube last week action trailer falls under user-generated content:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5gQmzKojbg
However, it is worth thinking about motivating users to create content not so much during the trailer creation phase, but when the cinema experience is in the hands of the viewer.
Summary
Cross and transmedia solutions are increasingly becoming a natural part of the film world, EFI development support also motivates local creators to tell and develop their stories on other platforms.
Application for development support leaves the applicant with relatively free hands, i.e. creative freedom is relatively limited, except that it must be a film-based project.
Since cross-media solutions can bring more people to other platforms than the cinema hall can accommodate (and therefore, of course, increase cinema visits), I hope that film producers will be interested in them even if no development support is received.
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