We’ve issued a press release on the GooTube Conspiracy, and the “participative storytelling” has taken some interesting directions even since we wrote the release.
Here’s the creative challenge. The various plot branches are missing a trunk, as one of the videographers mentioned last night. Some of the characters — who submitted videos unsolicited — are asking for direction because they want to ensure their videos are relevant. So now it seems to want to shift from an organic to a more prescriptive storyline.
With that, we’re assembling some of the core players to develop the motive, prime plot and roles of individual characters. We’re using Stickam to brainstorm, and it’s probably one of the wildest projects on which I’ve ever worked. Most of us don’t know each other and are on totally different timelines… a woman in Paris who stays up to 6 a.m., a waiter in NYC that works the night shift, a PR professional that has a day job, and a high school teacher. Basic practicalities set in. Today I needed to update the storyline without being in the same location as one character. So he recorded his part and e-mailed me the audio file. We’re not really together in this clip called “Sleepless & Confused.”
This will eventually reach a peak, and we want to end it before it gets old. As Highlander says: “Better to burn out than to fade away.” In the meantime, we’re trying to focus the various contributors so that there’s a progressive storyline. It needs to build to something interesting and then have conflict and resolution. Dang- maybe I should have gone to film school instead of getting this stupid MBA.
If any of you have ideas, or know someone that’s interested in helping develop a “blueprint” of a plot… we’re all ears! Naturally we can’t pay because none of us have figured out how to make a dime on this. Maybe a sponsor will surface?
I’ve embedded my favorite video of the series. Here’s a guy that I would never have met, and we spoke at lunch yesterday for the first time.
No related posts.
Sounds interesting, i’ll need to check up on this at home to see your favorite and that video where your not acctually together lol. I don’t look out for those sorts of things
I’m seriously going to have to join in soon lol.
I think you need to start using some flowcharting software to track the plot twists… Your project is not exactly nonlinear scriptwriting, but pretty close.
you can try to use Visio (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/visio/FX100487861033.aspx) – a microsoft product – or Inspiration (www.inspiration.com). They both have free trial versions you can check out.
I’d suggest building a core plotline, with a “box” for each of the core episodes by Nalts. Then the ancillary stories can branch off the side of that to track what happens when.
As stories are added, you could publish the flow to the web so other contributors can see where their pieces would fit… If you wanted to get really fancy, I’m sure there’s some way to embed the clips within the flow.
Good luck.
[...] of WillVideoForFood will recall that in December a collection of online video creators began a “participative video storyline” called GooTube Conspiracy. Initially this included a random plot based on comments and videos posted by the YouTube [...]