Lance Weiler: Designing a Storyworld

BUILDING STORYWORLDS

[email protected] @lanceweiler

but the question.”

“It is not the answer that enlightens,

EUGENE IONESCO DECOUVERTES

ASK YOURSELF1. What is the story about?2. What does the story mean to you?3. Why does the story need to be told?4. Where is the story best told?


MEDIA DIET

CHARACTERS LOCATIONS

THEMES

STORY

EVENTS

MOTIF

PROPS

SETTING DIALOGUE


THEMES

PROPS

MOTIF

SETTING










Over 50,000 downloads

2000+ spaces created

Data collected

- GPS data

- Make and model of handset

- OS of the handset

- Email address

- Phone number

- Amount of usage

CONTEXTUAL STORYTELLINGMEDIA SOCIAL GRAPH

STORYWORLD GATEWAY

STORY DETECTION

MOBILE APPS

BROWSER PLUGINS


“The experience was exhilarating, creating the feeling that we were in the middle of an action thriller where we were the protagonists.” - TURNSTYLE NEWS

“The most experimental story told at this year’s Sundance Film Festival in Park City wasn’t just on a movie screen… What it all amounts to is something distinctly new.” - GIZMODO

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

“Leveraging emerging platforms, the project takes the ideas of interactivity to the next level.” - HUFFINGTON POST

www.lanceweiler.com @lanceweiler

An official selection of the Sundance Film Festival, PANDEMIC 1.0 was an immersive storytelling experience designed for 40,000 festival attendees as well as a global audience.


Participants online and those at the Sundance Film Festival worked together to stop the spread of a fictional pandemic outbreak over the course of 120 hours.


PANDEMIC 1.0 had numerous access points across film, mobile, online and the real world. At its core was the story of a strange sleep virus that infects adults and leaves the youth struggling to make sense of the world around them.


At the center of the PANDEMIC experience was a short film. The short tells the story of a young boy and his sister as they struggle to come to terms with the fact that their mother has fallen ill. The short premiered at the festival, on TV, via mobile and online outlets. It screened in the US Shorts section, one of 44 films out of over 6,000 entries. Later this year and into 2012 a series shorts will be shot in London, Berlin, Paris, Barcelona and Rome which expand the story world of PANDEMIC.


Online players remixed digital assets in order to unlock the locations of objects hidden throughout Sundance. Fifty GOLDEN OBJECTS and fifty BOTTLES OF WATER were unlocked by online play. Once an object was unlocked online players worked with festival-goers on the ground at Sundance to find and return the items to MISSION CONTROL.


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MISSION CONTROL was a physical space designed to give the sense of a Center for Disease Control (CDC). It provided an overview of all the game play. All of its data visualizations were powered by participants game play. Real world and online actions impacted the pacing of the story world and also unlocked hidden elements within the game.


Fifty NFC (near field communication) enabled Nexus S phones were circulated throughout the festival. Distributed in biohazard bags along with hand cranks to keep them charged - the phones were randomly passed from one festival-goer to the next. When activated the phones presented a series of morality questions. Based on the user’s response a simple task was presented – “shoot a photo with your eyes closed.” Thousands of photos were taken over the 120 hours.


When the phones made their way back to MISSION CONTROL, users could set them on the Microsoft Surface table located in the center of the room. As the phone rested on the Surface all the media that had been shot with the phone would become accessible.


Hidden objects brought to MISSION CONTROL that touched the Mircosoft Surface table were able manipulate the walls of the room and impact the spread of the pandemic. For instance all the hidden objects had health properties that when found and touched to the Surface table would combat the pandemic and reduce the number of people infected.


A special room was created as a memorial to those who contracted the virus. Players discovered that each person is related to a GOLDEN OBJECT. The objects hold stories and memories that show how the people in the room know each other and provided insight into how the virus has spread socially.


Over 600 NFC tags are utilized making it the largest deployment at a public event to date. When scanned with an NFC compatible device story elements are unlocked. For instance, holding a phone up to a “closed eye” portrait results in the “person” opening their eyes on the phone. This action symbolizes a connection and unlocks a story about the person.


All fifty GOLDEN OBJECTS hold a story that provides insight into the victims of the pandemic. The level of engagement between those online and those at the festival was amazing. During the course of the 120 hour experience each phone passes on average at least twenty times per day. At points throughout the day phone numbers of the fifty phones are released. This resulted in calls which connected those online with random strangers at the festival. Together they would work to get items to MISSION CONTROL.


Based on a theme within the story world related to memories and material possessions four special BEARS were created. The BEARS moved throughout the festival. Each one is a connected toy with a camera in the stomach, an mp3 player in the arm and a slide viewer for an eye. The BEARS are also dockable and can easily connect to a laptop or desktop.


As the 120 hour experience moves into the last day, the narrative of the story leads online and offline players to a secret location at Sundance. In a seamless flow the narrative thread of the previous play melds with a special secret show with world renowned DJ - Kid Koala.


The show with Kid Koala is streamed live for all the players of the game and the 120 hour experience comes to a close. Within the narrative of the story online players and those playing at the festival lead 33 of the phones that had been in the wild for 5 days back to us.


PANDEMIC 2.0 will be heading to Europe later this year as the story world continues to expand along with its player base.








10 Steps to building Collaborative Storyworlds

1. Take time to evaluate the story you want to tell

2. Ask the hard questions: why would anyone care? Ask this five times.

3. Let go of a single point of view.

4. Consider how to show rather than tell.

5. Make it easy for your audience to become collaborators.

6. Don't let the world get in the way of your story.

7. Consider something local before you jump to the global.

8. The number of screens doesn't equal a better experience. It is much harder to design with simplicity.

9. Fail quickly. You learn more from what doesn't work then you do from what does.

10. Keep it simple. If someone can't explain it then it will die a slow and painful death.

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Lance Weiler: Designing a Storyworld