Team 10: update

Up until now, we have met up a couple of times to discuss our transmedia project.
This week we want to finish answering the questions on the sheet we got handed out,
so that we can start working on the final presentation.

The narrative core of the story
The narrative core of the program ‘Take me Out’ and the media-extensions that we will be creating is a play on the classic story of boy meets girl. The twist in this narrative holds that the boy needs to  conquer the girls and make them want to date him, after which the girls that are left over have to compete to win the date.

Three ways to express the “core” idea, three mediums
The main medium for this transmedia story was TV, seeing as ‘Take me Out’ originally is a television programme. To support the program, its interactivity level and its popularity, three media extensions will be created.
Firstly, a series of webisodes about the programme’s participants will be produced. Each week a show in which the participants will be followed on their date and couples that got together thanks to ‘Take me Out’ will be visited, will be available online.
Also, a mobile game application will be made that allows for viewers to bet on certain participants. One can for example bet on who will get together in the end, or how many lights will still be on after the first round. By doing so, players can earn points to à
Then, to stimulate the program’s ultimate goal: to help people find relationships, a special Take me Out- social network shall be set up. Here, viewers can get in touch with participants of the show and other viewer, to eventually work as a dating-website.

Narrative techniques used
The narrative technique used in this case will be mainly participatory, as the audience will be involved in the program, but will not be able to change the original narrative. By actively participating in the game and social network, and watching the webisodes, the audience will feel more involved and will be more eager to watch the next episode of  ‘Take me Out’, which is ultimately what we want to achieve.
The storyline of “Take Me Out”

Act: The “Act” of  “Take Me out” is the game that letting the boy meets his ideal girl, it is a social platform for people to get their partner.

Scene: The narrative is being put on the TV show and other means will be the internet (social website), mobile application and so on.

 Agent: The primary characters of this narrative are the participants in the game. However, having extending the context, audiences can also be part of the characters in the narrative via the social network site or the mobile application.

 Agency: For the TV show, It is divided into 2 rounds. The first round, A boy would be voted by the girls to decide whether he can stay or not. For the second round, girls, the ones have to be chosen, will have interaction with the boy, the one have to make a choice. The boy will then omit the girls that he doesn’t want by pressing the light until the final one is elected.

Purpose: The purpose of “Take Me Out” is to create a platform for people to have fun and socialize with others. Given that almost all people have a social need and willing to meet more friends.

Fictional world and setting
The central fictional world of ‘Take me Out’ is a dating platform for all single people. It is originally a TV show but with several extensions in our project.

Other than the TV show, a webisode, which shows the story of the participants behind the TV show, can be accessed online, e.g. YouTube, and this serves as a platform for the audiences to get further details.

Besides, a social media site, which is a platform for the audience to find another one for dating, would get audiences involved more in the story and get more involvement by owning their site.

Moreover, the mobile application of ‘Take Me Out’ can be downloaded from App stores and that would provide a convenient channel for audience to access some games about ‘Take Me Out’.

The main challenge in these worlds would be getting deeper audience engagement and maintaining the popularity, for instance, the social media site. To make it functions, we have to ensure it is easily accessed by the target audience and thus we have to select a good point of entry and trigger point. Besides, to maintain the freshness of the story, marketing strategies have to be renovated periodically and have a call to action in order to arouse continuous interest of targeted audiences as well as motivate them to engage in this story.

Medium, platform, and genre
– The interactive media which are involved in this project are television, webisodes, a website and a mobile application.

– The greatest strengths are the engaging factors. For example, the application really involves the users/audience. This way they don’t only have to watch ‘’Take me Out’’ and its candidates but they can actually experience it. A weakness might be that some people might not have a smart phone which narrows the list down a bit. However, the application is only an extension of the website, so users without a smart phone can still experience ‘’Take Me Out’’ if they only have internet.

– The platforms are smart phones, televisions and mostly laptops/PC’s and tablets.

– There are multiple genres concerning our transmedia project. Of course, we have the webisodes which show us life after ‘’Take Me Out’’. Next to this, our genre can also be seen as mobile applications and social networks through digital media.

 User’s role

• When considering the users role in take me out, we have developed three different platforms where the user can interactively participate in the series.

•The first platform is the Webisode. The webisodes enable fans and users to follow different couples, who were set up on take me out, on their dates.

• The second platform is mobile application game. This particular mobile application game is available in both apple and android stores. The game will enable the users to bet on different show contestants as well as, for example, guesstimate the amount of lights that will stay on during every single round. For every correct guess the user will generate a certain amount of points on their mobile game. Scores will be posted on a virtual scoreboard where users can compete. The winners of the different virtual competitors could possibly win a chance to be chosen as a contestant for the show based on the numbers of points that they have earned

• The third platform is the ‘Take Me Out’ Social Network. This particular platform will be used to promotes the shows main goal- to help people find relationships. The social network will combine actual show contestants and fans. It will act like a dating website so that contestants and fans alike have the opportunity to meet people online.

 Structure and interface
The starting place in terms of the user’s experience and what are the possible end points
The audience can reach our Take  me Out transmedia project through each of the mediums used by the project, therefore: through television, internet and mobile phone. However, it is likely that the user Point of Entry will be through television by watching the show Take me Out on TV or through online promotion. The webisodes will be promoted during the Take me Out television show as well, and as a consequence these will be viewed mostly after the shows air.
After engaging with the social network that will be built, the mobile app connected to this and the webisodes, one could end their participation with the project at any time

Seeing as we got some questions concerning the betting on contestants during the Take me Out liveshows, we have decided to leave that part out and work on an online game that reflects the television show, that will allow people to participate in their own Take me Out. This game will be an application on the social network site:

How is the project structured? What are the major units of organizations (i.e. modules or levels), and how many of them are there? What structural mode is being used?

The Take me Out social network will be a combination of both a social network and a game in one. The social network will be a collection of profiles of users, and a search engine that will provide the tools to look for people with certain characteristics. People will be able to communicate with one another both privately and publicly.
Then the game, is a reflection of the actual show. This holds that every game consists of three levels, that will bring the player further to its goal. There are two types of players: people that present themselves and people that choose. The people that choose of course have the advantage of being able to choose. The people that present themselves  however can earn credits by participating, that will later give them discounts or even a complete refund for dates, such as a menu for two persons in a romantic restaurant. This is one of the Call to Actions that will make people want to participate.
The game will run as following. After having filled in preferences, players will be put into a virtual ‘room’. Choosers have the ability to see their fellow choosers, as well as one picture, name and age of the person presenting him or herself. After having had 30 seconds to decide, choosers either leave the light on and continue participating, or decide to push the red button and leave the room. Then, round two. Round two gives the presenter the option to either upload a short video, or write a story about him or herself. Here again, choosers decide whether they want to leave the room or not. Then, in the final round, the presenter gets the chance to look at a picture, name and age of all choosers left, and then dismisses them until two are left. After this, he or she can ask the participants left a question, either multiple  choice or with a short open answer. Then, the presenter has to make the decision of choosing with which participant he or she wants to make contact.

How does the user control the material and navigate through it? How can the user tell how well he or she is doing? Does the project make use of navigation bars, menus, icons, inventories, maps, or other interface devices?
In the case of the Take me Out game, the participant that presents him or herself knows how well he or she is doing judging by the amount of lights that are still on.
There will be a navigation bar in round 1, that will allow the people that choose to click on names of the other participants to look at their summarized profiles. Also, the presenter has to upload his or her informational video or text for round 2 and fill in the questions he or she wants answered by the two contestants left (if there are any).

We will meet again on friday to discuss the work that we divided and prepare the presentation.

******

28, October, 2012

Up to now, we have come up with the phase 2 – Branding & Marketing and divided the works on Audience and Market, User Engagement and Marketing Time Lines.

 Audience and market
– Who is the intended audience?
The audience we aim to reach are essentially everyone that seeks for love. However, in practice the project will appeal mostly to a younger crowd aged 18-35, seeing as there is a lot of internet and mobile phone use involved.
– What type of entertainment do people in this group enjoy? How technically sophisticated are they?
– Look up an academic article about what people aged 18-35 would watch: according to Nielsen 9.3% of all people watching TV, watches Dancing with the Stars. Since TmO is a reality TV show, this means that this type of entertainment would be enjoyed by our targeted age-group.
Also, a program like ‘The Bachelor’, which is kind of in the same category; reality to do with love and dating had 7.74 million viewers, which is a huge number. Therefore, programs in the same category as the one we are elaborating on are dominating prime-time television.
– People aged 18-35 are pretty technically sophisticated, seeing as they were born in an age where all these mediums were getting used regularly already, meaning they naturally learnt dealing with them.
– Why would this project appeal to them?
– Look up an academic article about people being social animals.
– People in our targeted age group are generally interested in working with all kinds of different technological devices.
– What other projects like this exist, and how well are they doing?
See above

 User engagement
– What keeps the users engaged and why would they want to spend time with it?
The social network keeps people wanting to come back.
There are incentives that will make the public want to participate in the game/mobile application, (the credits earned by being the one to present him or herself)
– What important goal is the user trying to accomplish by the end of  this work?
To either find a partner, entertain him or herself or become a contestant in the online game or even the actual show.
– What is the nature of the oppositional forces that the user encounters?
– What adds tension to the experience? Are there any ticking clocks?
30 seconds in the first round, there is a time-slot on the video uploaded.
– Is there a system of rewards and penalties?
Incentives etc. see above
-What kind of meaningful activity is offered to the user, and does this interactively have a significant impact on the material?
– Social interaction
– The impact on the material will be that people can become contestants on the show, which eventually will influence the show.

Marketing time lines
– Development

– Distribution and delivery schedule
– Website is the hub where everything is connected.
– Webisodes are distributed through the website
– Game can be played on the website and on mobile application
– The mobile application will  be downloadable in application (free)
– Overview of phasing
The take meouttelevision season starts in September. Half a year before the start of the season we will begin advertising the Take me Out transmedia project. This will be done through social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, and real world experiences by having girls promote Take me Out on busy squares (Teaser). Two months before the start of the season, we open up the social network so people can register. However, they will not be able to use all services, these will only be open when the season starts.
On YouTube and Vevo, before video’s there will be pre-views aired that advertise Take me Out.

– Social media strategy
On the Facebook account we will display the ‘Couple of the Week’, update statuses, quotes from the show, show bloopers.
– Possible business models and why
– Testing strategies: to test the concepts
A certain number of students or other members of the community will be asked to participate in the testing, which will be a survey. They will be offered a chance to participate on the show if they are found to be appropriate participants.
– Budget
Ask kapoor

– Passive/active audience

Passive might register for the social network site, and watch the webisodes. The active audience will also play the games we offer and may want to be a participant on the actual TV-show.

Rabbit hole: the social network itself, voting people into the show.

We will meet to come up with the details of presentation and the report in the coming days