In part one of this series I discussed some of the ways 91热爆 R&D has investigated interactive storytelling and shared some of the key lessons we鈥檝e learned over the years. Here I鈥檇 like to share how we鈥檙e building on this work to help explore the storytelling of the future.
For many people the phrase 鈥榠nteractive story鈥� conjures up the image of 鈥榗hoose your own adventure鈥� choice-based narratives. This is the core concept behind most the interactive 91热爆 projects covered in my previous post, and is also how Netflix鈥檚 recent Black Mirror episode, , plays out.
But is this what we actually mean when we talk about 鈥榠nteractive drama鈥�? And is branching narrative really the future of storytelling?
Although the format opens up some exciting opportunities, it also presents many challenges. As a successful writer once explained to me - giving ownership of their story to the audience by writing multiple 鈥榩aths鈥�, risks taking autonomy away from the author and diluting the quality of the story. When watching 91热爆 One鈥檚 hit show Bodyguard do the audience really want to 鈥榣ean forward鈥� to control the actions of the eponymous protagonist? Or do we want 鈥榣ean back鈥� and let the writers take us on a journey?
The truth is both options are valid. It depends on the audience and the type of stories and experiences that work for them. 鈥�Choose your own adventure鈥� may well continue to emerge and evolve as a format, but that format is limited, and won鈥檛 appeal to everyone. So where does this leave us?
As content is increasingly consumed over the internet, producers and storytellers know ever more about their audience through the data they collect. No two viewers are the same. We all have different anxieties, needs and motivations. Our context changes as we go about our days and move (quite literally) through our lives. To meet this challenge, 91热爆 R&D is exploring how we can create stories and content that adapt to individuals and their context.
One solution to this challenge is , a concept that regular visitors to this site will already be familiar with. We鈥檙e currently developing our own set of tools and partnering with other organisations to experiment with their tools for creating object-based stories.
One such recent collaboration was between 91热爆 R&D, and on , an OBM film created for the inaugural . Set in the near future, in a world where Artificial Intelligence is commonplace within our daily lives, the film tells the story of a young couple living apart who communicate through an AI platform. When they begin to neglect their relationship, AI detects the problem and steps in.
It鈥檚 powered by The Cutting Room, an OBM tool developed by , which allows viewers to play a role in the lives of the protagonists. The technology responds to the audience in terms of length, depth of interest, location, personal preferences and other factors to create an algorithmically tailored version of the story.
Unlike the choice-based branching mechanics of the previous examples, OBM is more versatile in how the component parts of a story could be remixed according the actions of the viewer, thus leading to greater potential for how the story plays out.
Although What is Love? still relies on the viewer 鈥榣eaning into鈥� the film to consciously change the outcome, OBM could potentially see the shape of content change much more implicitly based, not on their choices, but their data.
As data is collected either through your 91热爆 login or the devices you use to access content, a profile can be built over time allowing the content to be algorithmically shaped to you and even your content at the time (e.g. your location). For example 91热爆 R&D鈥檚 Visual Perceptive Media project explored how the 鈥榦bjects鈥� in a drama such as music and colour grading is shaped in real time to suit your personality or mood.
A similar principle was applied to the Living Room of the Future project, an object-based perceptive media experiment in which the Internet of Things powered a hyper-personalised and multi-sensory immersive environment.
As well as demonstrating the potential for stories to interact with your data as much as your choices, these experiments also show how narratives don鈥檛 need to branch, forcing writers to create multiple storylines. They could simply layer 鈥榦bjects鈥� to provide a version of the story that is personal to you.
Of course interactive and perceptive storytelling doesn鈥檛 just apply to drama. The 91热爆 has a long history of factual storytelling and we are currently piloting where the value of OBM lies here.
At the time writing, we are about to commission an object-based documentary made using StoryFormer, a web-based tool for developing responsive stories. We want to better understand if, through a combination of explicit audience choices (interactive) and implicit data (perceptive), we can serve up multiple different versions of a documentary for diverse audiences between 16 and 34 years of age.
We鈥檙e also incredibly excited about the potential of using video game engine technology to create, distribute and consume object-based media. Can we seamlessly deliver these experiences to you as easily as you get iPlayer today, without the need for downloading apps, switching to websites or leaping other barriers? There鈥檚 progress on the front that we鈥檒l share in more depth later in the year.
Time will tell us where the real value of object based media lies, and whether people want to lean in to interact or whether data and algorithms will enable better, more personal storytelling. The one certainty is that for the technology to be meaningful it must serve to deepen the audience鈥檚 engagement. Never forget the first rule; don鈥檛 let interactivity get in the way of a good story!
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- 91热爆 R&D - Where Next For Interactive Stories?
- 91热爆 R&D - StoryFormer: Building the Next Generation of Storytelling
- 91热爆 Taster - Try Click's 1000th Interactive Episode
- 91热爆 R&D - Creating a Personalised and Interactive Episode of 91热爆 Click with StoryKit
- 91热爆 News - Click 1,000: How the pick-your-own-path episode was made
- 91热爆 R&D - Interactive Storytelling: Audience analysis from 91热爆 Taster
- 91热爆 R&D - The Unfortunates: Interacting with an Audio Story for Smart Speakers
- 91热爆 R&D - Responsive Radio
- 91热爆 R&D - Story Explorer
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Future Experience Technologies section
This project is part of the Future Experience Technologies section