Comments on: Mobile Drama Round-Up

By: Cross-Media + Transmedia Entertainment » Blog Archive » Made-for-Mobile Horror: When Evil Calls

Sun, 07 Oct 2007 03:30:31 +0000

[...] Mobile Drama Round-Up [...]

By: Cross-Media/Transmedia Entertainment » Update on Mobile Phone Content

Cross-Media/Transmedia Entertainment » Update on Mobile Phone Content — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 07:16:27 +0000

[...] old list of mobile phone content has been getting some attention of late. At the time when I wrote it there were not many sites that [...]

By: christy

christy — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 03:40:39 +0000

Hello! Thanks Dean. I’ve checked out your site too and have just posted about it. I look forward to reading your research.

By: dean

dean — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 00:58:38 +0000

This is such a comprehensive body of research. I am currently working on writing and producing a drama for portable handheld devices, so it’s great to find a blog dedicated to emerging forms of storytelling.

By: Leslie Nassar

Leslie Nassar — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 06:40:36 +0000

Here's another one; Entourage

By: christy

christy — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 02:47:39 +0000

Here, here for the call for (more) good mobile content Keren and Leslie! Thanx for the welcome back Max. Tell me the good news (shoot me an email if you like).

Keren, I find your comment about a mobisode not being able to launch a property interesting. I think there are definite formats that should not be used for the initial part of a storyworld. I don’t think a videogame is a good point-of-entry (POE) or ur-text for a new storyworld. I’ve spoken about this with game design students. I don’t think you can start people off with interactivity and then move them to passive media, I think you need to build up interaction over time and media. I think a storyworld needs to be clearly defined at the beginning and the way to do that is through linear or fixed media. The characters, world rule-set and so on need to be established well, they need to be grounded, and then can be explored and inverted and so on. I hadn’t taken the next to think about it in terms of the episodic delivery that you’re talking about. The scheduled viewing approach drip-feeds the new world, nanosode at a time. Thinking of it this way, I would have to agree with you. But at the same time, if the mobile drama went with the affordances of the medium — it is a phone — then maybe it can provide a level of intimacy and investment a non-personal device cannot muster? To me, I see each platform and format as a window to a world that exists beyond those. A mobile window is a tiny one, which can be a big tease leading up to a bigger window, or it can be an inadequate entry-point…

And your point about possible poisoning Leslie is good too. As an example, I think poorly created iTV advertisements and some shows (not all!) have ruined that format for many audiences.

By: Leslie Nassar

Leslie Nassar — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 01:49:27 +0000

I mostly agree, Keren. The only point of difference, I think, is that I believe a mobisode can succeed without being an established brand off-platform.

Something I’d add to your points is that for mobisodes to succeed, the production values need to increase dramatically; anything that comes off as a bad made-for-cable telemovie (only smaller!) isn’t just going to fail, it stands a great chance of poisoning the well for everyone else. There’s been a lot of bad press with mobile services, and even more bad content. The next 12-18 months is going to see a lot of mobile users having their first experience with mobisodes, and for all our sakes, let’s hope it’s a good one.

By: Keren

Keren — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 21:28:55 +0000

This is a great list. Thanks Christy. The question still begs – have any of these been successful? When the user is the ultimate person in control, why should they follow the traditional media format of watching something on the schedule of another. I strongly believe that mobisodes will not work UNLESS there is a very strong brand already on television and that the mobile offers a unique or extended appreciation of the content, or it is such a radically different and creative thing that it harnesses the power of viral networks – like Jibjab on the web – whose success was predicated on timely or relevant content – ie the US Presidential election.
I’m happy to be proven wrong, so I invite anyone included in this list to get in touch with me and let me know what a success their series has been. keren (at) omg.tv

By: Max Giovagnoli

Max Giovagnoli — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 20:27:05 +0000

WE back, CHristie! Such a lot of things to tell you!
Max