The main goal, says Howe, is to break new ground. “Co-creating and retrofitting IP” across media, as he describes it, is something that hasn’t happened in a large or visible way yet. As Howe says, normally when a game ties into a comic, movie or TV series, it’s directly derived from it, not created simultaneously. “If you conceive something from the get-go to be transmedia, to be platform-neutral, you know your chance of success is going to be greater that way,” he asserts.

“What’s fantastic about this strategy is, if we get it right, we’ll figure out ways for people to consume those characters and stories across multiple platforms whenever and however they choose to,” says Howe. “It’s an always-on world we’re living in, and that’s exciting to us. Dynamic, immersive experience is critical to future storytelling.”

It’s a good interview and worth a read, especially for fans of Syfy, even though phrases like “consume those characters” brings to mind various acts of consuming characters scifi-style, such as the T-Rex in Jurassic Park consuming the lawyer in the bathroom or Jabba the Hutt threatening to consume his court jester Salacious B. Crumb. But that might not be what Howe meant.

Cambridge, Mass. (Vocus/PRWEB ) May 7, 2010 — Assembling the foremost thought leaders in the areas of children’s play and learning, media, and toy and game development, the 2010 Sandbox Summit®, promises to reveal future trends and expert predictions about how – and with what – future generations will play.

“Sandbox Summit is about understanding the context and the content of children’s play today and in the future,” says Wendy Smolen, Sandbox Summit cofounder. “Technology is moving us forward at such a rapid pace and on so many different platforms, that we need to look at this topic from multiple angles. This is the one conference where researchers and game and toy developers come together to discuss where we have been and where we are going.”

Taking place May 18 and 19 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA, attendees will be the first to hear, see and discuss the future of children’s play with those on the frontlines of development. As if looking into a crystal ball, attendees will be absorbed by topics such as:

1. Where will kids be playing tomorrow? Now they’ve got the iPad and the Wii, but what’s next?

Kids today move seamlessly through multiple dimensions in their pursuit of fun. Today’s tech play will all-too-soon become tomorrow’s traditional play. Sandbox Summit presenters will explore all facets of this evolution while also looking to the next frontier of play.

2. Why “transmedia” is today’s buzzword and how it is transforming Hollywood and the home.

Returning to his roots at MIT, Henry Jenkins, now Provost’s Professor of Communication, Journalism, and Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California, will deliver the opening keynote address, “Toying with Transmedia, The Future of Entertainment is Child’s Play,” which will take a close look at Hollywood’s recognition of the larger implications of a world where every story, image, and sound plays out across multiple media channels.

“Transmedia is transforming children’s play landscape,” comments Jenkins. “The Sandbox Summit is an opportunity to share our current thinking and bring the conversation from the labs to the family room.”

3. Can video games make science hip?

With the Obama administration’s focus on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) curriculum, the Sandbox Summit will explore how new play platforms can make these subjects enticing and accessible young learners, anytime and anywhere.

Sponsors:
The 2010 Sandbox Summit is presented by the MIT Education Arcade and sponsored by VTech, Toy Industry Association, Inc., (TIA), frog design, Inc., The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Techno Source, Women in Children’s Media (WiCM), and YPulse.

A limited number of seats are still available at SandboxSummit.org.

About Sandbox Summit®
Sandbox Summit® is a highly respected series of conferences that explores how technology affects the way kids play, learn and connect. As technology is woven into every part of our children’s lives, Sandbox Summit raises the bar on questions surrounding the use and development of new playthings and play spaces. Through high-energy panels, innovative demonstrations, original research, and thought-provoking discussions with industry leaders, analysts, journalists, educators and parents, each Summit strategically intermingles disciplines and viewpoints to bring fresh ideas to every event and never talks to a room full of nodding heads.

Media Contact:
360 Public Relations
Skye McIntyre
617.585.5773

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From the entry:

A Transmedia Narrative project or franchise must consist of three (or more) narrative storylines existing within the same fictional universe on any of the following platforms:  Film, Television, Short Film, Broadband, Publishing, Comics, Animation, Mobile, Special Venues, DVD/Blu-ray/CD-ROM, Narrative Commercial and Marketing rollouts, and other technologies that may or may not currently exist. These narrative extensions are NOT the same as repurposing material from one platform to be cut or repurposed to different platforms.

A Transmedia Producer credit is given to the person(s) responsible for a significant portion of a project’s long-term planning, development, production, and/or maintenance of narrative continuity across multiple platforms, and creation of original storylines for new platforms. Transmedia producers also create and implement interactive endeavors to unite the audience of the property with the canonical narrative and this element should be considered as valid qualification for credit as long as they are related directly to the narrative presentation of a project.

This is a modest but important step toward officially recognizing where the entertainment business has been heading for some time. The major blockbusters across all media — film, television, gaming, music, and the rest — have been transmedia affairs, though the term transmedia has not necessarily been used.

In addition to the Transmedia Producer credit, I expect to see an increase in job opportunities relating to transmedia storytelling.

We will be embedding audio, video, and gaming into everything we do. The .epub format, which is the standard for ebooks at the present, is designed to support traditional narrative text, but not this cool stuff that we’re now talking about. So for the time being, at least, we’ll be creating a lot of our digital content as applications, to be sold on app stores, in HTML.

Penguin will be selling these “books” not in the Apple bookstore but in the app store. They are more app than book, which brings up an interesting question that people will likely debate for some time: where does one draw the line between an ebook and an app? For book publishers, who are moving by choice or cowpoke across the digital frontier, it’s an important distinction. For young readers, who already consume their stories with a side dish of community and gaming for dessert, this distinction doesn’t matter much.

I loved the idea, and here’s how it looks with Rom and Spot in the animation test:

Rom

Spot

Spot in the Arena

Mei in the Sky Village missing her parents

Disclaimer: this is from an animation test, which was used to explore a particular style of animation we are considering using for Kaimira. Whether or not we ultimately go with this style, it’s too interesting not to share.

I’ve mentioned the work I’ve been doing with BBC Worldwide to develop the Kaimira story for other platforms (such as TV, film, and gaming). I finally got permission to show a sneak peek at a direction we’re exploring for animation. When these are final, they’ll be part of a short animation test.

The disclaimers are: we’re still in exploratory phase, so any of this could change at any time. So this is just a peek at the process, not the final thing. Also, please don’t use the images without permission.

BBCWW hitches its wagon to Star Farm
7 Apr 2008 Subscriber content
MIP NEWS: BBC Worldwide has closed a 360-degree development deal with Chicago-based kids producer Star Farm Productions, which will see it roll out the producer’s pre-teen property Kaimira across multiple platforms.

more (subscription required)

Tragically, I don’t have a subscription to C21Media, so I don’t know what the rest of the article says. The press release will, methinks, go out soonishly.

In other news, today I sent the final final first draft to Candlewick of the second book in the Kaimira series. The book is called THE TERRIBLE EVERYTHING.