21/4 DMF Illustrated Production Report

Overall I am satisfied with the process undergone to creating our transmedia project. I have learnt the importance of audience engagement through transmedia content and how it can make audiences brand advocates.
I began the module with really high expectations for a project I wanted to create. My idea for the project was to create a film that was based around a game. To represent game graphics, I planned to use footage of real people dressed up as a game characters. The transmedia elements of this project would have been the fan-fiction created, the blogs for each character and infographics to understand characters’ special moves.
Another element I really wanted to implement into the project was the use of dopamine. This was a task Matt asked the group to have a look into to have an understanding of it. In later sessions, Matt conducts an exercise with the group to actually raise the levels of Dopamine to present its effectiveness to the group.
We explored the uses of collaborative software that could be used in production. I thought this would have been a great method to communicate clear messages as it goes beyond the usual and stale communication of a Facebook group. Unfortunately my group did not go much further to using collaborative, which is a humongous shame. The Wikia has not been edited by anyone else other than myself meaning it has not been kept up to date with accordance to everyone. The plan was to keep this page up to date to make it a hub for anybody to have a look at.
The communication between the group has been appalling. This fault has caused the project to be mediocre and the idea isn’t very impressive either. I found myself in a situation where I wasn’t sure of which group to join, because everyone had already begun ideas and wasn’t looking for any additional group members. My idea was well thought out and had plenty of room for expansion, but the problem was not having a group at the beginning. Then I had formed a group with someone who had changed module, which led me to leaving my original idea to attempt to join someone else’s group. The group I joined weren’t very committed from what I could tell, so I asked to join an alternative group. The next group I joined I thought would be more committed to the project, but it seems like the same result as the previous one.
Matt has challenged groups each week with a new consideration for transmedia content, which has really opened my vision to how they can come together, but without a steady and well-developed project. Only the minimal amount of results can be produced from practicing these new approaches, which I found quite sad.
I was even considering app releases similar to that of Totally Amp’d however this project would not make great use of that. I do like the exploration of sites and blog sites. I didn’t find the sites as appealing as I thought I would, because included fee apart from Tumblr. The issue with Tumblr is that it can be seen as

unprofessional, but it does have that organic blog feel to it and a very strong community.

The transmedia elements I created were the website for the hotel, the wiki page and a blog for someone who stayed at the Earnshaw hotel.
For the wiki site, I chose to use wikia.com to create this page, as it was very simple and straightforward. The site has settings that can prevent unauthorised to edits to occur and is very easy to navigate. For me personally it has been very useful as it provides an online hub of information about the project and is very easy to update. This was one of the elements Matt presented to the class in a seminar session and I thought it would be extremely beneficial for the project.

The wikia’s presence will enable anyone who is interested in the development side of the project to see the ideas and inspirations that came to fruition whilst

forming the idea. This will produce a stronger engagement with the audience as they may suggest ideas to improve the project.
The website for the hotel was quite simple to make. I would of been happy to create a website on Adobe Dreamweaver and then port over to a blog site to host, however there are many limitations to this. The alternative was to create the site using a template from the chosen site. I chose to create the site on Weebly and it works in communicating the hotel to viewers on a professional level.

Anyone who uses the contact form will be put through to one of the crew. The website creates a professional presence online and in our narrative arc, this will reinforce the presence of the hotel owner as there is a site for the hotel. The presence of a website can change viewers’ dynamics of a place or person. Some viewers may believe the website to be true and actually use the forms whilst navigating the site.
The blog I created is for someone who spent a night at the Earnshaw hotel. The plan is to have this person blog about the findings of the detective and also about things related to other hotels. The blogger’s alias is bloggeretombaker.

Transmedia allows for an audience to engage with an audience in numerous ways than one and consumption. It takes audience viewing to different levels making audiences focus more on separate senses. Our project makes viewers tie together the different elements to form our intended narrative. Brands like Marvel have seen success from the transmedia path as different universes collectively form new meanings and interpretations. The speed of consumption can be controlled depending on which transmedia element is used. For example; infographics can share information a lot quicker than a film can as images are omni-present, but films have a sequential order to release information so they hold audiences for a longer period of time in comparison to infographics.
The Twitter account for the Earnshaw hotel owner is purely to reinforce his character in our project. With a Twitter account, the bridge between the audience and this character will be closer. As Twitter is known for its informal environment and tone, the Twitter posts for this will account will reflect the character’s thoughts and personality. I am using a tweet post scheduler to post tweets automatically rather than having constantly access the account. This allows me to focus on any other tasks after creating the posts. The application is called Twuffer and is free.

I always had concerns about the tasks that Tyler had set himself for the group, because I understood he was working by himself for his other module. In one of the last few group meetings we had, I see that it has been a very pressurised position for himself and offered to lend a hand with whatever outstanding tasks there were for this project. It would have been better to share these tasks out from as early as possible to enable myself to complete them to the best of my ability. Especially the social media department, currently the social media feels like it is really lacking the presence it should have. If the time was structured from earlier, I think a stronger social media delivery would have been made.

In conclusion, I think the project has come together well. It unravels like an investigation and the flow is easily understood. The characters all have strong personalities, which I think are very relatable and the use of different media outlets creates a dynamic user journey. The journey is strong for the audience to build connections with the characters and places of interest. The project’s strengths are; the versatility of transmedia, the user experience and the realness felt. Things I would like to improve if I was to make the project again from the beginning are; when the social media for characters are made, when the social media posts are created, create a more detailed website for the hotel and communicate more frequently with the crew to execute tasks more effectively. The trailer and poster are really useful for promotion too.