Newsweek talks to the creators of today’s most addictive shows about what they’re doing to make sure we just can’t stop.
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a look at the creative and technical worlds of immersive storytelling
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The Digital Rocking Chair
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The Digital Rocking Chair's insight:
Wow! I couldn't stop reading this article ... the science of storytelling and why it's currently the "Age of the Hyperserial." Delete the scoop?
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Diane Wild: "When I read the media release about Arctic Air's transmedia extravaganza finale, I had two thoughts" ...
The Digital Rocking Chair's insight:
I found this an interesting read, even though I'm not in an area where Arctic Air screens. 
Debbie Elicksen (LION)'s curator insight,
April 17, 10:09 PM
CBC discovers transmedia and seems to think its ahead of the curve. Delete the scoop?
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Jennifer Miller: "For years we’ve tuned into Breaking Bad, Homeland, or Dexter and watch really horrendous things happen. Blood splatters as Dexter plunges his knife. Walter White hacks up bodies and cooks meth" ...
The Digital Rocking Chair's insight:
A study to confirm what good storytellers intrinsically know .... Delete the scoop?
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Tom Vanderbilt: "From Game of Thrones to the new Arrested Development, television is better than ever. And it's not just a lucky accident. Turns out that networks and advertisers are using all-new metrics to design hit shows."
The Digital Rocking Chair's insight:
A look behind the curtain: "the new rules of the hyper-social, data-driven, actor-friendly, super-seductive platinum age of television".
Tom Brehme's curator insight,
March 22, 12:20 PM
Interesting article regarding the influence social media has on programming. Delete the scoop?
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John Gaudiosi: "Building on the success of the Emmy-nominated, fan favorite HashTag Killer, SocialSector.usanetwork.com centers around an online reality competition in which contestants are sequestered in an unknown location and one contestant is voted off each week."
The Digital Rocking Chair's insight:
A great look at how lessons learnt from Hash Tag Killer informed the development of Psych's new second screen experience, The S#cial Sector. Delete the scoop?
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Steve Peterson: "Trion SVP Nick Beliaeff on how this game and TV show developed together."
The Digital Rocking Chair's insight:
An interesting look at the business model behind Defiance.
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Alison Willmore: "[...] as the fuzziness between TV and film increases, with filmmakers moving more frequently between the two mediums and small screen storytelling beginning to catch up with big screen scope and ambition, will the invasion of TV projects into territory that was previously the domain only of movies become a more common thing?"
The Digital Rocking Chair's insight:
Cool! Jane Campion's six-hour television miniseries, Top of the Lake is screening in a single session at the Sundance Film Festival.
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Alissa Quart: "By pulling us away from Twitter, texts, e-mails, pointless videos and all the other technological distractions demanding attention, “Homeland,” “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad” provide a coherent (albeit sometimes disturbing) refuge from our fragmented lives."
The Digital Rocking Chair's insight:
An interesting look at why good television is beginning to look a lot like the serialized novel of the 19th century.
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Alan Robinson: "Whether it has been through novels, webisodes, or interactive “alternate reality” games, the concept of transmedia storytelling continues to evolve in news ways as technology becomes more accessible. Nothing has been quite so immersive, however, as the SyFy Channel’s upcoming TV series, Defiance" ...
The Digital Rocking Chair's insight:
I'm really hoping Defiance lives up to expectations ... I guess only time will tell.
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Natan Edelsburg: "The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are back and are taking over multiple platforms as Nickelodeon grows the brand for a new generation of kids (and pizza lovers)."
The Digital Rocking Chair's insight:
The "how?" and the "why?" of Starlight Runner's approach to transmedia storytelling.
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Cory Doctorow: "If companies refuse to release films or TV shows in US and UK at same time, they only have themselves to blame for piracy" ...
The Digital Rocking Chair's insight:
Cory Doctorow always makes a lot of sense when commenting on the piracy debate.
Tags: Piracy, Copyright, Legal, Film, Television
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Successful TV dramas are unfolding one episode at a time, and procedurals are taking notes
The Digital Rocking Chair's insight:
Personally, I prefer shows that balance serial and episodic storytelling, and this article nicely captures the pros and cons of each approach.
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Every medium stimulates and meets the sensibility of an audience as well as, impacting its orientation, political and otherwise.
The Digital Rocking Chair's insight:
At a guess, I'd say we all new the answer to the question ... but here's the how & the why ....
Digital Cinema in Transition's curator insight,
May 18, 12:21 PM
Also find our study on digital cinema at http://www.digitalcinema.ca
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![Defiance: The Agony and Ecstasy of Codeveloping An Integrated TV Show-Game Experience [#Transmedia] | Transmedia: Storytelling for the Digital Age | Scoop.it](http://img.scoop.it/9hhkpZrAnF07ds2iI3eiUjl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBVaiQDB_Rd1H6kmuBWtceBJ)
Susan Karlin: "In Defiance, the Syfy cable channel and Trion Worlds gaming company tackle a never-before-tried $100 million transmedia experiment--a crossover TV show and an MMO game that are interdependent and independent of one another. Showrunner Kevin Murphy tells us how he straddled the two worlds."
The Digital Rocking Chair's insight:
There's been a lot of buzz about this project, and a lot of articles about its gaming aspects. But now, articles are starting to appear which give insight from a television perspective. Here's a good one.
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Peter Smith: "Defiance is both a TV series and a video game, designed to support each other. The game launches today, the TV series in two weeks."
The Digital Rocking Chair's insight:
In case you've missed all the coverage to date, here's an excellent article explaining what the transmedia experience called Defiance is all about.
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Brian Anthony Hernandez: "Syfy is striving to keep pace with viewers’ ever-changing TV viewing habits, concocting interactive digital and social tactics. An exec details the strategies on Mashable" ...
The Digital Rocking Chair's insight:
Truer words ... " we have to make sure we're on the top of our game when it comes to social, because if it feels like we're faking it, the audience will know right away."
Henrik Safegaard - Cloneartist's curator insight,
March 10, 4:13 AM
We don't look at social as something we do, we look at social as part of who we are.
Luca Brigada's curator insight,
March 18, 6:56 PM
"Ideally before any show begins production we'll sit down with our TV development team, the show's creators and our marketing and digital teams to kick around social ideas and discuss what we think makes the most sense for that particular show. We focus on ideas that complement the show's content, that will have a wide reach and that are technically feasible to achieve.
Our major emphasis is that any social TV content has to feel organic to the audience and authentic to the show, not like it's a force fit, because that's not fun for anyone. We'll discuss dozens of ideas and then hone in on the one that makes the most sense. Sometimes that's a variation on something we've done before, but most often it's something that no one has tried before. Those are the most gratifying."
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Megan Garber: "From literature to appointment television, episodic storytelling is flourishing" ...
The Digital Rocking Chair's insight:
And, at the opposite end of the scale from binge viewing ... is episodic storytelling. It's interesting to compare this with the recent release of 'House of Cards' on Netflix.
Philippe Trebaul's curator insight,
February 24, 1:41 AM
Thriller série
: " De la littérature à la télévision rendez-vous, la narration épisodique est en plein essor "...
Serial Thriller via @D_RockingChair http://sco.lt/...
Deanya Lattimore's curator insight,
February 24, 9:46 AM
Flash fiction attention spans get their audiences. I'm personally hooked on the new WIGS channel on YouTube, where most episodes are between 4 and 8 minutes long.
Debbie Elicksen (LION)'s curator insight,
February 24, 1:56 PM
Okay, how many of you had this song immediately come to mind? http://youtu.be/nUP9A5IS-vo ;
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Dawn C. Chmielewski: "Services like Netflix and Hulu let fans watch multiple episodes or even entire seasons of shows all at once, giving life to new series such as 'House of Cards.'"
The Digital Rocking Chair's insight:
Yep, count me in! I'm definitely a fan of binge viewing.
Eileen Marable's curator insight,
February 3, 11:46 AM
I'm all for it! Keeps the story arcs fresh in my mind!
Cultureel Persbureau's curator insight,
February 4, 4:35 AM
De term 'Binge-viewing' is eigenlijk wel grappig: net als het achteroverslaan van ettelijke kratten bier en wodka ineen zuipkeet comazuipen heet, is het kijken van een hele serie op een dag een vorm van comakijken. Wij doen het in ieder geval regelmatig en er is geen betere manier om de boze buitenwereld buiten te sluiten dan dat. Wat vind jij?
Henrik Safegaard - Cloneartist's curator insight,
February 12, 4:39 AM
After watching the first 5 episodes I'm impressed.
I do like the style and i find it top entertainment.
4 out of 5 stars from me and my family.
Love it:-)
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Charlie Jane Anders: "Many of us have commitment issues with television, because we've been burned so many times by weak or overblown endings" ...
The Digital Rocking Chair's insight:
Yep, I can definitely relate to the disappointments expressed in this article. (LOL)
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Simon Staffans: 'During the eight years I’ve been working in the television format field, I’ve nearly lost track of all the people who’ve claimed they were going to ”disrupt television”' ...
The Digital Rocking Chair's insight:
There's a lot of interest in television at the moment ... I guess it's because of all the great storytelling to be found there ... if you know where to look, that is :)
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Brian Raftery: "Dan Harmon drives himself crazy making Community, the most brilliantly weird comedy on TV."
The Digital Rocking Chair's insight:
An indepth look at the gensis of a great show, and a peak at the unique creative process behind it.
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Christine Champagne: "HBO’s head of social media marketing, Sabrina Caluori, talks about the evolution of HBO Connect and social TV."
The Digital Rocking Chair's insight:
A look at HBO's strategy for brand extensions and audience engagement in the social media space.
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Adam Poltrack: "You've probably been hearing a lot about the "second screen" lately, but do you understand what it is and what it means for the future of televised entertainment?"
The Digital Rocking Chair's insight:
A straightforward, yet in-depth, explanation of the second screen "phenomenon".
Tags: Multiscreen, Second Screen, Social TV, Television
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Christine Champagne: '“Oh, I don’t watch television.”Remember when your pretentious friends used to say that? You don’t hear it so much these days.'
The Digital Rocking Chair's insight:
An interview with Alan Sepinwall, the author of The Revolution Was Televised: The Cops, Crooks, Slingers and Slayers Who Changed TV Drama Forever.
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Absolute Leseempfehlung!
Das Phänomen des "Binge-watching"s (Komakucken?!) und "Hyperserien"
“I’ve always said that I don’t see my show as serialized so much as hyperserialized,” explains Vince Gilligan, creator of AMC’s Breaking Bad. “That is something that, honestly, I wouldn’t have been allowed to do 10 or 15 years ago.”
Während Serien wie Sopranos, The Wire oder Deadwood zuerst ihre Charaktere entwickelten und die Handlung erst an zweiter Stelle kam, entwerfen heutige "Hyperserien" Tableaus, die von einer zentralen Frage vorwärts getrieben werden - und noch größeres Suchtpotenzial haben:
"And that’s ultimately the biggest difference between the Hyperserials and the legendary shows that spawned them: a purer, more intense focus on one linear, series-long plotline. Hyperserials tend to do away with recaps, teasers, and exposition of any kind. They make even less sense when viewed out of order"
IN A certain sense, all television is addictive. This should be pretty obvious, given that Americans watch more than five hours a day, on average. At that rate, a person who lives to the age of 80 will spend 21 percent of his or her adult life—the equivalent of 4,175 days, or nearly 13 years—in front of the tube.
Machinimatographers can take some tips from this thought-piece on how we consume television serials.