Desperate Comfort

I’d been asked to give a workshop at the 2011 DIYDays on working with a technologist in a Transmedia project. The workshop was not taped, so I’m re-inventing it here as a blog post. I didn’t know exactly what I should convey in a “workshop.” The guy who went before me, Brian Chirls, did some demonstrations with HTML5. Mine ended up being some practical advice with a healthy dash of evangelism. My workshop was called: “Coders, not just monkeys anymore!” And I wanted to discuss this in particular, because I often get the feeling from Transmedia folk I talk to, that there is not a very high regard for technology. I often hear: “It’s just a tool.” Well yeah, a camera is just a tool too. But in the hands of an artist, it makes your movie brilliant. In the hands of a fool, your movie sucks. I think there are technologists out there who are artists, who want to make incredible and beautiful things to entertain people. And I think it’s worth engaging these technologists in a creative way so that they might bring things to your project you might never have imagined.

If it doesn’t exist, I can make it

 

 

The Amazing Dwight Schultz

Barclay: Computer, begin new program. Create as follows: workstation chair. Now, create a standard alphanumeric console, positioned for the left hand. Now an iconic display console, positioned for the right hand. Tie both consoles into the Enterprise main computer core, utilizing neural-scan interface.

Enterprise Computer: There is no such device on file.

Barclay: No problem. Here’s how you build it.

Shortly before DIYDays, the organizer sent me a question. Presumably, all speakers were sent the same, and the answers were to be used in the program, or promotional material. The question was this:

Which digital site or service can’t you live without (or wish existed) to help with creation or storytelling?

How interesting I thought, because I wanted to talk about exactly that. My answer was:

Code. Because there really isn’t any service or site I couldn’t live without. If I need something that doesn’t exist, I can just make it.

Of course, at one level, this is also the case for the technologist. I am going to leverage new technologies, code, frameworks, as they emerge. But I think there is a distinct difference between technologies and products. Technologies allow you to define what you want. Products force you to largely work within their playfield, and play by their rules. And you are at their mercy. They can change the terms, or dismiss the service you depend on at any moment. They are under no obligation to you. So I think it’s a good idea for Transmedia producers to work with a technology person. And I think it will become more and more important to indie projects to include a technology department, alongside all of the other departments. Especially for indie projects. Because you may not have money or names involved, you still have a chance to wow people with interesting use of technologies, with radical, wierd stuff that the bigger players would be afraid to do due to cost and risk. Finally, it’s important because though everyone likes to say: “it’s not about technology” it really is about technology because technology is going to invade storytelling more and more, and you need someone on your team who understands that department. I keep saying “indie” because larger projects already do this. They work with software shops or agencies with software shops.

Department Heads

• Production Designer
• Director of Photography
• Costumer
• Make-up
• Composer
• Editor

These are some of the department heads you’ll find on an average film. But what I think is important about these roles is that the director really doesn’t (or in most sane cases), just dictate to these people what he/she wants. A good director understands that each of these people brings not only skill to a project, but also creativity. Judgement. Knowledge to inform decisions in their areas. This is how I work. I tend to collaborate, and ask people in these roles to bring something I never could have. And I feel that my projects are better for it. For instance, in the grab below:

Here, I gave the Production Designer(Steve) very little direction. He had read the script, and we’d discussed the character. Then I told him that I wanted the actor to be able to improvise within the space. I wanted him to be able to freely turn to the shelves in the back, or pull any book off of his desk, and be able to freely incorporate it into his improvisation. So I wanted every item in the room to make sense within the storyworld. Other than that, this room was very much Steve’s project. So as Transmedia projects explore new modes of storytelling, it makes sense to have a technology person in the same kind of role: Director of Technology. This person should be there not so much to make your websites and keep your servers going, but there to creatively contribute to the project within his/her area of expertise.

Stuff everyone can do

• Fake Twitter converstation
• Fake EvilCorp website
• Fake emails
• Foursquare checkins
• Blog software
• Mobile App “builders”

I think there are two primary reasons a lot of people gravitate towards this stuff.

1. It’s free. Free is attractive to businesses large and small, but especially small.
2. It’s there. Creators see it. They may not really understand how it works, and more importantly, they may not have enough knowledge to ask what else is possible.
3. That’s where the people are.

Now, there are many times when what’s there perfectly suits the need.

I spoke to Scott Walker, the creator of Runes of Gallidon. Runes is an online collaborative storyworld which invites all to participate. Write, comment, make art, etc. all set within this storyworld. To a large degree, this was built on entirely existing technology. Which is fine, because the technology available met their needs.

Unified Republic of Stars is another collaborative online Sci-Fi storyworld built on a mildly customized WordPress and Mediawiki. In both of the cases above, existing platforms suited the needs. There is no need to reinvent the wheel where it doesn’t need to be reinvented.

Stuff everyone can’t do

This is where partnering with a technologist really becomes important; when you want to do something for which there is no existing solution, or which pushes the bounds of how an existing solution is used. In Jan 2011, I wrote some custom software for Lance Weiler’s Pandemic 1.0. I talk more in depth about Pandemic here. Much of the software driving the Pandemic experience simply did not exist. Working with other firms like VectorForm, we created what was needed to tell the story the way Lance wanted to tell it.

Lance had ideas in his head. But he didn’t just sit back and wait for some company to come along with a product he could use. He let his ideas lead the way, and made what was necessary to realize those ideas. To a large degree, my relationship with Lance on this project was similar to what I describe above. Lance had broad guidelines for what he wanted in this part of the project. I took those guidelines, and was allowed to use my creativity and imagination to create something that would serve the story within those guidelines. We worked in an iterative manner; prototype->discussion->prototype->discussion and so on. I think this way of working can be beneficial to software in general, but to creative projects in particular. It mirrors the way I might work with an editor on my film, working through the footage and allowing it to reveal the story to us, reveal moments to us, reveal things we never knew were there.

Showing people something they’ve never seen before

Special effects in movies are a double-edged sword. Wielded by an artist with vision, they can show us things we never thought possible, tell stories we never thought possible. Wielded by a buffoon, they give us cheap CGI ghosts and very fake digital beasties. But they’re a perfect example of how, when wielded correctly, the technology can help lift the art to a new level.

The stop-motion animation in King Kong was headed by pioneer Willis O’Brien. And though people had been watching stop-motion for about a decade at that point, they had never seen it like that. O’Brien and team wanted to blow the audience away. They pushed the technology to show people something they had never seen before.

Remember this? I remember sitting in the theater at age 9 when these things came on screen. And I distinctly remember thinking: “Oh my god, I’ve never seen anything like this before!” The walkers were done with the same technique as King Kong. But again, we’d never seen it like this before. Lucasfilm understood that they had to blow people away, they had to keep showing something new. They were dedicated artists who wanted to push the technology forward in order to tell the story they wanted to tell. And of course, Lucasfilm went on to push the bounds of many many technologies in film, by being set on showing us something we’d never seen before.

This was another moment for me. The extraordinary mix of CG and puppets again made me go: “Wow, I have never seen anything like this before!”

What I love about Cameron is that he’s such an obsessive artist, he never settles. I was genuinely blown away by these blue folks. He did not settle for what everyone else was doing. He pushed the technology to get what was in his head, into his art. And he’s done the same thing throughout his career.

And of course, the ultimate example:

Pixar started as a technology company. It was a division of LucasFilm. Now the most successful film studio in history, and known for work that’s not only high quality and emotionally engaging, but innovative on a technological level. They are always struggling to show us something we’ve never seen before. And they write custom software to do it when they need to. When there’s some aspect of animation they cannot achieve with their existing tools, they write new software or alter the source code of existing software to do it. When it comes to Transmedia, these are some of the examples I’d like to follow.

But there’s already a WordPress out there!

I want to make sure I’m clear that I’m not talking about reinventing the wheel. For the love of all that’s holy, do not create a new CMS from scratch. Use WordPress or Drupal, and extend one of those with their plugin architectures. What I’m saying is look beyond what those things do for you out of the box. I mean, why not write a WordPress plugin that periodically “hacks” your whole site and puts up a message by the “bad guys” in your story? Or write some custom code to react to users under certain conditions, revealing some new storypoint through the site. Or if you are going to send out an artifact to bloggers, why not put a little computer inside that artifact and program it to come alive in the middle of the night? How friggin cool would that be?

Business: Technology as an asset

With my own project, THE LOST CHILDREN, I am thinking less about this one project, and more about building my company over the long run. So not only do the films, series, etc. I develop become assets to my company, the custom technology I develop becomes an asset as well. And a potential revenue generator. I am talking to two other projects about using the DataStoryteller software I wrote for Pandemic. In addition, the same software will prove useful in my own LOST CHILDREN Transmedia experiences. I am also working on a location-based mobile framework with my partners, which we are planning on licensing, and reusing on other projects. All of the companies I mention above generate revenue from the technologies they develop. Why shouldn’t we consider this business model as well? In addition, I’m able to leverage some unique experience where storytelling and technology intersect to consult with clients. Another revenue stream.

Practical: Responsibilities of a tech lead

This list can be much more exhaustive, and I would welcome any contributions. But these are some of the things I would look for in a technical director on a creative project.

• Understands the implications of timeframe. This will inform not only what the tech lead tells you you can have, but also which technologies to use. For instance, on Pandemic, had I gone with my first technology choice, we simply never would have made the deadline. Some languages and platforms are faster to develop than others.
• Understands the implications of technology choices. In addition to timeframe, the tech lead should factor in things like: Developer base. If the developer is hit by a bus what are your odds of finding a replacement? Costs of developer base. Also maturity of technology; is it too new and probably buggy to give the audience a good experience? I think we ran into some of that trying to use the first NFC phones ever on Pandemic. The tech lead will understand and communicate the risks involved in these situations.
• Will deal with licensing. For instance, there are many open source licenses, with different implications for redistribution of software, sale of software, etc.
• Scalability. Will design your software in such a way that it can handle large amounts of traffic and expand with your organization. If all goes according to plan, a bazillion people will want to be involved in your project. Make sure you can handle them when they show up.
• Delegating. The tech lead will know the limits of their own knowledge and be able to manage a department of others with various skills.
• Good at rapid prototyping. Personally, I think this is good on all software projects. But particularly on a creative project. It’s nice to be able to get something in hand on a regular basis, and play with it. Especially with something like mobile. In fact, in the past, we’ve worked up small prototypes to take into mobile pitches, just because we know having the thing in your hand is infinitely more powerful than listening to someone talk about it. Besides that, as I said above I find working in an iterative manner to be beneficial, as it’s good for people to see and hold progress in their hands.
• Will handle management of the technology. whether that’s delegated or not, you should never really have to worry that the source is being maintained properly, for example. Will determine when and how you need to scale along with your growth.

Now is the time

This is such a fantastic time to be exploring new ways to tell stories. Everyone on Earth is tripping over themselves to find the next “it”, so I think this is a time when any good idea can be heard. It’s also the time to pull out all the stops on the craziest ideas we have. Those might just be the ones that stick. And for underfunded independents, your ideas might be all you have. Plus, things are moving so quickly, I don’t think you can afford to sit in one place for too long. To my mind, Transmedia further ties up entertainment with technology. And technology release cycles are extremely short. Already, I’m scratching things like the Twitter scene off of my list, because by the time we do it, it will be old old old.

On a more cautionary note, I see people building stuff, say on the Foursquare API. I’d be careful about building your company on too many existing products. Unlike the WordPresses of the world, these products are far less stable over the long run. Sure, Google will be here in 5 years, but will Twitter? Or will they suddenly change their TOS out of the blue, and kill a great plan you had? Or will they suddenly lock down all of the data you have saved with them, forcing you to pay for it? Or will they kill their APIs altogether? When you depend on a Foursquare, or a Twitter, or a Facebook, you are at their mercy. And they have absolutely no obligation to you or your project. It’s the reason why when my partners and I wanted to create a “checkin” app this year, we went ahead and created our own server infrastructure for checkins, badges, etc. The technology behind that whole thing isn’t all that difficult to begin with and now we own one more piece of reusable technology. A technologist on your project can guide you through these and other pitfalls, and offer creative ways around them. At the same time, they can bring ideas to the table you may have never thought of.