Des Temps

Tag: Transmedia

  • A digital Aloha to LOST

    I did not cry during last night’s series finale of LOST. I did watch with a couple friends, text a few others, and spend the morning reading reviews on my smartphone. Two of these things were wholly enabled by the digital age. In a way, LOST, more than any other show, has brought the utility of the digital age to a wide swath of viewers for whom terms like “transmedia storytelling” sound completely foreign. If the show has a legacy, other than launching the careers of several talented and deserving actors, it is of Big Media playing in the sandbox of the internet… just a tiny bit… with one of its major properties.

    The head writers of the program Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof, hosted a weekly podcast, and were interviewed by bloggers just as often as print journalists. Between seasons, the show regularly released web videos which spread virally among hardcore viewers. There was the obligatory video game and the fake websites for corporations depicted in the show. But also the slew of internet handles and urls co-opted by fans. The show itself played on abc.com as well as hulu.com later on. And for less scrupulous viewers (read: me) the show was seen just as often via digital downloads. And then there was the Big One, the Lostpedia — a wiki completely created and maintained by fans of the show, the central repository for all relevant information: theories, mythology, character bios, etc.

    yup, you’ve pretty much got us hooked.
    DIY Dharma beer FTW!

    Viewing pattern for LOST in 6 acts:
    Seasons 1 & 2: DVD
    Season 3: iTunes subscription
    Season 4: (Writer’s strike) Broadcast + abc.com
    Season 5: BitTorrent + DVR
    Season 6: Hulu + BitTorrent + Broadcast

    An Episode Ruined:
    When #Desmond was a trending topic on Twitter, but did not appear in the episode until the very last minute.
    the Times chips in on this phenomenon.

    http://vimeo.com/11851275

    a LOST party, Brooklyn style

    The End:
    With the Super Bowl-like atmosphere surrounding the series finale last night, an old-fashioned live-with-commercials broadcast was the only way to put it to bed. Nor did it feel anachronistic when so many of us were tweeting and texting friends. We are a platform-hopping audience. Yet, as with the time-shifting characters on the show, that need not take away from the value of a shared experience. It might even help bring us together.

  • Futures of Entertainment 4

    she is a particle + a wave at the same time
    a particle + a wave
    @raafirivero and @michaelhb are going north to the Future today and are excited like kids in candy stores. Up at M.I.T. we’ve met some of our fave thinkers and tinkerers and have since worked with many. More thoughts soon, and likely a flurry of tweets on the #FOE4 tip.

  • Bite Me

    This is a promo we did for HBO’s True Blood via their ad agency. The number 1-877-TO-BITE-U is no-longer active. Which is a bummer, because the youtube commenters were really getting their kicks from calling it again and again during the campaign.

  • The L.E.S.

    crops-teen

    A promo we made for HBO’s True Blood season 2 with transmedia agency Campfire. Desedo produced it, Jordan Alport directed it.

  • V-Games : Football

    V-Games : Football

    crops-football

    A promo we made for HBO’s True Blood season 2 with transmedia agency Campfire. Three friends toss the football around with their vampire pal.

  • Infidelity

    crops-infidelity

    One of a number of pieces we produced for a recent campaign for HBO’s True Blood.

  • City Secrets

    idotu

    When I first heard Jay-Z’s new song Empire State of Mind, which is a personal map of our hometown, I began to visualize the locations as data points: Stash spot @560 State. Tribeca Grill. MSG. Turns out I was not alone, as Tyler Gray of FastCompany placed Hov’s lyrics to Google Maps. Cool, novel, and any other adjective that can be used to explain how we remix stories within new media.

    locations

    I asked myself – how could this become even more entertaining? And then, via the Google Geo Developers Blog, I learned that Japanese designer Katsuomi Kobayashi created a driving simulator that uses Google Maps – so that you can drive around any city via the interwebs. Like GTA. 2D or 3D. OMFG.

    Perspective

    What if we could meld the two? Therein lies a game of some sort. Alternate or augmented or awesome. Via your computer screen or handheld device, sit in Jay-Z’s SUV and drive around his NYC. It’s like a dash of 2nd Life, and a pinch of ARG and heap of reality to mix it all together. Where can we put this thinking to use for transmedia elements of a narrative, an album release or an advertising campaign? Perhaps, within Heart of the City?

    —-
    (Written by erstwhile Desedo intern Jeff Slawsky, a strategist, NYC native and rabid UMich fan.)