transmedia lab

Nicolas Georges from Cluster Twist is interested in transmedia! This is the article he wrote about the subject. Read more on his website http://www.twist-cluster.com/cms/

It can no longer be denied: the way we consume audiovisual content is constantly evolving. By recently going from 2 to 5 screens, consumers are changing their habits and have new expectations. With the goal of “giving an impulse to the elaboration of natively transmedia programs to meet these expectations”, Orange has launched an online blog a few weeks ago: Transmedialab. We met with Nicolas Bry, senior VP at Orange Vallée (a branch of the Orange Group) to better understand their approach.

What is the difference between crossmedia and transmedia?

Nicolas Bry: We say transmedia when we’re referring to a story told across several media (Internet, TV, mobile phones, Cinema, etc). Each chapter of the story is conceived specifically for the medium and enriches the overall story. The points of entry into the story are multiple and the story is participative: especially on the Internet, the audience can comment, share, suggest or create sequels to the story. The transmedia system is the sum of chapters that constitute the story, their chronology and the 2.0 tools that go with it (more information here). Crossmedia refers to one content unit that can be viewed across several media.

What are the main development axes of transmedia?

N.B.: All media are concerned, the creativity also resides in mixing creators from different universes, for example videogame and cinema. Economically, a story told on several media can mean a benefit for the advertiser associated with this story to showcase his brand in a more subtle, intense and perennial way. This is a major issue for brands. Finally, there is the development axis of bringing the creators closer to the community of fans who can interact, change and propagate the story…

Originally, transmedia is an American practice. Which French contents have adopted it?

N.B.: It’s an emerging practice in the US (Matrix, Dark Knight, Lost…) and a very, very emerging in France: Arte has started a participative transmedia series, Ubisoft is creating videogames that bring the universe into comic books (more information here) , etc…

Is transmedia a real creative practice in itself or rather the result of a new marketing process?

N.B.: One does not exclude the other, the goal is to create several stories by working with the specificity of each media: we can create a first story on the web as a participative game, then have a weekly TV series and a daily one on mobile phones (on mobiles, for example, we can provide complements to the TV series relating to the characters’ past) then have an extension of that on the web by calling fans to participate with suggestions for a sequel or a second season.

We see that creativity increases proportionally to the audience and is maintained and multiplied by the circulation and the cross media referencing, this is called good marketing!

Today, can we afford to bypass transmedia when creating classic media content (series or film)?

N.B. : I would like to say that in one or two years, we will consistently be asking about a new fiction: “what’s its transmedia system?”