A thousand years of story
Arts
The first of a series of immersive multi-platform stories has been launched from South Australia’s 360 Lab.
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Created by production company Triptych, the choose-your-own-adventure story called Stasis starts in a graphic novel and will expand to a web series, followed by an augmented reality game and finally a television series.
“Multi-platform storytelling is more about satisfying fans needs for more story, more backstory, more history behind their characters,” says Stasis director Bowen Ellames. “They want to know everything about them and they fall in love.”
Stasis is the story of an ancient secret order in the 22nd century and an uprising that reveals a threat that is greater than human kind. The story begins with an interactive graphic novel set 30 years in the future. Readers of the graphic novel are encouraged to interact with the story and communicate with the creators to help develop the next stages, including the web series, alternate reality game and television program.
Each platform will look at different eras of the story that span several thousands of years.
Ellames believes that by releasing the interactive graphic novel first they are able to not only engage with their audience but also derive more information about their tastes and what they look for in the genre.
“Part of the reason we wanted to do the interactive graphic novel was firstly introduce it then see how it floats with audiences,” says Ellames. “The alternate reality game is them actually influencing the narrative. It’s a more organic kind of experience for them, they get to be the storytellers, they get to be in the drivers seat.”
This is also where the community building really starts to happen as players are problem solving a mystery with online puzzles and seeking help from each other through forums.
“If you are going to engage audiences in a multi-platform way, give them something entertaining, give them story, give them something with substance,” says Ellames. “It's definitely all about play and all about interactivity and blurring that line between reality and fiction.”
Triptych Pictures has produced numerous films, including the soon to be released horror film The Babadook.
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