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Reality arrives | Rik Lander | U-Soap MediaWe're in the process of writing up the outcomes of our research, cutting the videos and making glossy presentation documents. This is the hardest bit and the most boring - the fun is in having the ideas and playing games - now the dreams have to be sold and so have to become somehow real. Nothing kills a dream harder than reality. Nothing ruins a good idea like actually trying to do it. We'd love to go on playing, but we've blown all the cash.
We have several formats that we're going to pitch to production companies to sell on to broadcasters. The Sandbox process has been very useful for us - the chance to road test with real people interactive games where audience choices affect the outcome of a TV show. With the exception of train fares and some items from Tescos most of the money has gone into the local economy; to actors, crew, runners, production people, a carpenter, caterers and building supplies. It has been satisfying to pull in people from our networks as well as working with new people. Jon, Greg and I would like to say thank you to everyone who has helped us and contributed to Viral Spiral.
I am a guru (or a millisecond ahead of zeitgeist) | Rik Lander | U-Soap Media
Not even a week after I was banging on about 'bring back live TV', Sky have announced a series of live dramas to be shown this summer. Proof, if it were needed, that I am a guru with the power to see the future (or I'm merely stumbling along a millisecond ahead of the zeitgeist.) Meanwhile, BBC radio 2 has stopped Jonathan Ross being live on the radio because it's just too dangerous for them. These people are several decades behind the zeitgeist. Being ahead of the game is a pain in the arse anyway. It is nice to be first, but often I find nobody really knows what the hell I'm talking about for a few years. Timing is everything. I've been trying to fund a large scale ARG since before the term was coined and we're testing some clever ways to make a 'cross over' ARG through Sandbox. To save time in the testing I re-used some pages and characters that were created in January 2001, right after magic-tree. That project, Julia Brand, a weekly TV show with the majority of the story unfolding online, was never made although we did get all the right meetings at the time. We were probably 6 years ahead of our time, because although while we were touting Julia around, Beast came out to accompany the film AI and became the first Alternate Reality Game, it wasn't until 2007 that the first big TV ARG was made - the Swedish project, The Truth About Marika. For me, the form needs TV to rescue it from a cult puzzling audience. I believe participatory narratives don't have to be niche, although Marika is a still rare glimmer of it's true potential. If anyone knows of any viewing figures, I'd love to see them. Our test session last week was very positive and, with any luck, we are neither too far ahead or any way behind the zeitgeist.
Long live live! | Rik Lander | U-Soap MediaTV started before the invention of video tape (archive of early TV was shot off screen onto film) which made it an entirely live medium. Radio, to this day, remains largely live, which explains why live interviews, games and requests are its bread and butter. TV, on the other hand, has become more and more afraid of liveness. Where have all the live Friday night entertainment shows gone? It only took few stray 'fucks' from Shaun Ryder (I mean, what do you expect?!) for TFI Friday to go pre-recorded. Researching interactivity for TV forces the question of liveness back onto the agenda. Through my crystal ball I see the resurgence of live TV for a number of reasons.
- •You can only be genuinely interactive if you're live. Audience participation will become important more for TV as the webs grows as a rival (faster broadband/living room devices)
- •In a digital age, when every moment is recorded and archived, liveness becomes ever more valued. Facebook is full of digital documentation of Friday night excess. The digital realm is used to create the time and place for live human interaction, and also the place for its projection back at the world - "Look! I live a life!"
- •TV is now as conservative as it was in the 1970's. It's all repeats and tired formats. It's like punk never happened. TV will become more niche and more daring.
- •Liveness is exciting.
The next person in TV who responds to the idea of interactivity with the question, "but does it have to be live?" is twistin' my melons, man.
Tricky interactive question of the week… | Rik Lander | U-Soap MediaHere’s a good question – a specific question pertinent to our audience controlled improvised drama-creation game that also applies to any media that relies on input from it’s audience. How do we prevent audience input being inversely proportional to quality? If you give your audience more control over your output, how do you prevent arriving at a lowest common denominator?
Many interactive media fake their interactivity in order to retain quality control. Many offer simple AB choices that don’t change the narrative direction of the drama (eg Dubplate Drama) Wannabes offered an AB choice with some elaborate database manipulation to give a personalised journey for each audience member. Very few give the audience the power to control the forward direction of the drama (Save the Workers). Away from drama, Big Brother, the most successful interactive format yet devised, does offer real power to its audience. As does Crimewatch, which is one of the earliest and longest running interactive formats on TV. Here the audience can help solve a crime and get someone sent to prison. That’s real power.
One of my favourite reality show formats was on 5 or 6 years ago and had some people living in a flat thinking they were in a reality TV show but not knowing that half of them were actors and that a pair of writers were creating story lines live that they were sending to the actors via phone calls. The game ran until things got so absurd that the ‘real people’ realised what was going on. They’d then be instantly replaced with the next victims. It only did one series, probably too edgy for the BBC, but I really enjoyed watching the challenge of improvising and writing live and the impact that had on the dupes.
In our acting game we offer power and control to the audience. How do we mediate that power so that it doesn’t blunt the subtlety of the writers? If you are looking for an answer to this question, hopefully you’ll be able to find it in our finished format. Until then we’re testing and thinking our way through this inverse quality relationship to turn it on its head.
First test session a success (curry also brilliant) | Rik Lander | U-Soap Media
Last night we entered the testing phase of our project with our first interactive game show test session. Way back at the start, when we were in our format development phase I came up with the idea of a drama that is created live by the remote audience via a group of actors and a director who are all experienced in improvisation. Yesterday five of Bristol's finest performers came together with two of it's more interesting directors to test the format. We played the game four times, each time altering the format based on how the previous game had gone. It was good to have two different directors as each took different approaches and the other was able to observe and alter their own method accordingly. We've documented it on video and will be pushing the format forward with another session soon - this time using chromakey sets and more advanced audience participation. It was really good fun - well organised by Greg Browning and Ruth Farrar - and it was exactly what I hoped Media Sandbox would give us - play time. Many, many thanks to actors Richard Headon, Jon Robins, Daisy Dugmore, Chris Grimes and Clare Thomas who were incredibly inventive and generous with their creativity. Thanks also to Daf Palfrey and Luci Gorell Barnes who were both terrified of the responsibility of directing an improvised drama, but came out energised. The consensus was that the curry from Dil Se on the Gloucester Road www.dil-se.co.uk was superb. These things are important.
