Elastic Cinema: Evolving Cinematic Storytelling to Span Multiple Screens

Evolving Cinematic Storytelling to Span Multiple ScreensJason BrushPossible Worldwide / UCLA Film, TV & Digital Media / Art Center College of Design

!ere is precious little invention in the cinema world, because traditional cut-and-paste, narrative, illusionistic cinema has had its day. We must move on. We must re-invent cinema."

Peter Greenaway, “Toward a Re-invention of Cinema”

1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

History of the evolution of !lm language, per Peter Greenaway

1910 1920 1930Gri!th Eisenstein

Film language is invented

1940 1950Welles Fellini

Consolidation

1960 1970Godard Cassavetes

Revision

1980 1990Scott Tarantino

Post-revisionist Pastiche

Stone

1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Invention of !lm language Consolidation Revisionists Post-revisionist pastiche

Transmedia?

History of the evolution of !lm language, per Peter Greenaway

EisensteinGri!th Welles

FelliniGodard Scott Stone Tarantino

Cassavetes

3D?DIY?

If the cinema intends to survive, I believe, it has to make a pact and a relationship with concepts of interactivity, and it has to see itself as only part of a multimedia cultural adventure.

Peter Greenaway

Transmedia storytelling represents a process where integral elements of a !ction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a uni!ed and coordinated entertainment experience.

Henry Jenkins

Diagram: Susan MarxDiagram concept: Robert Pratten of Zen Films

Traditional Media Franchise

Transmedia Franchise

Transmedia franchises have often blurred boundaries between marketing and content...

Pandemicby Lance Weiler1 short !lm1 magazine1 koala5 secret locations10 scares12 totems60 story artifacts50 mobile phones5,000 bottles of water40,000 people50,000 photos3.2 million points of data

Tulse Luper Suitcasesby Peter Greenaway3 feature !lmsa TV series92 DVDsCD-ROMsbooks

My Beautiful Dark Twisted FantasyBy Kanye WestAlbumShort FilmMusic VideosTwitter

Pandemicby Lance Weiler1 short !lm1 magazine1 koala5 secret locations10 scares12 totems60 story artifacts50 mobile phones5,000 bottles of water40,000 people50,000 photos3.2 million points of data

Tulse Luper Suitcasesby Peter Greenaway3 feature !lmsa TV series92 DVDsCD-ROMsbooks

My Beautiful Dark Twisted FantasyBy Kanye WestAlbumShort FilmMusic VideosTwitter

Does the "lm language used to compose these pieces of content change when made part of a transmedia franchise?

Even when part of a complex, coordinated transmedia e!ort, the audience’s expectations of what a “movie” is remains the same.

In addition to being smaller, personal screens are:- connected- controllable- often portable- used in multiple contexts

"e multi-screen experience is an inescapable reality of today’s distribution landscape, yet #lm language itself hasn’t evolved in response to the fact that content travels between vastly di!erent media.

I've never watched “Avatar” on a laptop. I guess it probably works, but I don't recommend it...What I recommend is getting the co#ee table out of the way and sticking your couch about four feet from your TV.

James Cameron

It is easier for me to see a minor painting by Caravaggio in a small Umbrian town than it is for me to"see Kubrick's “2001” in any cinema that would represent that $lm in the way it was manufactured to be presented.

Peter Greenaway

"e innate pleasures of the cinema as we’ve known itvs

"e reality that today’s !lm distribution environment is dependent on a diversity of screens

Websites

Social Media

Live PerformanceMusic

Mobile

Installation

Motion Pictures

MerchandiseGames

Augmented Reality

How should #lmmakers respond to this technological change?

Coordinated transmedia storytelling one compelling way, but perhaps not the only...

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33⅓

12”

LP22-26 minutes per side

45

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Single3 minutes per side

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time

chan

nels

9:00 9:30 10:008:30 10:30

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nels

sitcom

9:00 9:30 10:008:30 10:30

drama

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9:00 9:30 10:008:30 10:30

Part of the problem is that cross-platform transformation of media has always been seen as a compromise — we’ve been trained to protect an ideal form (even as theatrical projection becomes less and less central to the life of a !lm.)

Now if your playing the movie on a telephone or on your computer, you will never in a trillion years experience the !lm. you'll think you have experienced it, but you will have been cheated.

David Lynch

But what if a !lm was able to scale to the di"erent presentation environments?

Feature Film

TV Series 1

Feature Film 2

TV Series 2

Feature Film 3

... we want to do part of it big screen, and then a lot of the character stu! — because Stephen King’s stu! is so interesting and fascinating, and instead of trying to wedge it into a movie, let the movies be adventure and action.

Ron Howard

By telling this story across media platforms and over multiple hours—and with a view to telling it completely—we have our best chance of translating Roland’s quest to reach "e Dark Tower onto screen.

Akiva Goldsman

To get [the shorter theatrical version of Carlos] right, we had to reshape the #lm. Even stu! that looks the same is not the same. We had to make cuts within scenes and within shots. We constantly had to #nd a new pace for the #lm that was obviously quite di!erent from the longer version.

Olivier Assayas

I know the general audiences would prefer a shorter cut. "e thing is that a #ve-and-a-half hour #lm is located within a very speci#c cinematic space. In terms of style and narration, it allows me to go into areas that are completely new for me. It’s a much more satisfying re$ection on cinema and the power of cinema. It shows how you can deal simultaneously with small and big issues – small issues being the fate of one man and big issues being the geopolitics of a period. "is kind of scope isn’t really possible in a shorter version

Olivier Assayas

“Elastic Cinema”

"e Dark Tower

Carlos

“Toward a re-invention of cinema”, 2003

Narrative World

Character

TV

FeatureFilms Gaming

What does Elastic Cinema get us?

"e creation of #lmic content which can blend easily with other media within transmedia systems.

New revenue opportunities — a #lm is also TV series, a Web series, etc.

Cost savings in production for assets that can be used in multiple venues.

A broader creative canvas, and an opportunity to keep innovating #lm language.

Where we need to evolve our approach:

Writing Anticipating scale & shifting narrative structure.

Directing the CameraProviding choice, to shift $uidly from focus on character & narrative to plan-séquence.

Distribution & Marketing StrategyExplaining to viewers their di!erent choices.

Transmedia = Diverse, coordinated media that each contribute to an overall entertainment experience in individual and separate ways.

Elastic Cinema = A uni#ed #lmic narrative that adjusts in form and style based on the platform on which its being experienced.

"anks.

http://www.possibleworldwide.com





Elastic Cinema: Evolving Cinematic Storytelling to Span Multiple Screens

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