Media Story & Society: Trends Forecast
At first glance, the terms “trends” and “story” seem almost like an oxymoron. After all, we’ve been doing this for a long time now, telling stories. Some say that our capacity for narrative is the defining human trait, after language itself. It is how we make sense of the world around us, and how we store our memories. Ever since the Caves of Lascaux (and probably long before, too, through traditions of oral storytelling) we have been communicating our struggles, anxieties, hopes, fears and needs through stories.
From the dusty walls of caves, to the invention of the motion picture camera, to the explosion of reality television, to video games, our stories help us see ourselves in the world, and in that respect, help us make the world better. While our stories by and large stay the same (human versus human, versus himself, versus nature…) the way we tell those stories keeps changing and evolving, era after era, as new technologies emerge.
So, how do you predict the next trend in storytelling? What is the media forecast for the year ahead?
With such a plethora of options available to media makers, how do you figure out what new platforms to learn or technologies to test, let alone become a master at your craft? How do you figure out which tool is best for telling your story, when nearly anything is possible… and where do you begin?
The decisions can feel overwhelming, but for brave storytellers, we are now in an era where you can find precisely the right medium, the right format or collections of experiences, with which to communicate the story you want to tell. As an incubator established to foster innovation in storytelling, that’s what we look for in the Transmedia Zone: creators driven by the story they want to share, or the desire to take audiences on a narrative journey, through the creative use of technology.
In the Transmedia Zone, we have two priorities:
1. Support teams doing exciting, innovative work with storytelling and media.
2. Help push the ecosystem forward, with creative innovation and R & D.
As an incubator that operates at the intersection between creative work and research, supporting the innovative use of new technologies and experience design to develop emergent forms of narrative experiences, these are questions we ask on a daily basis. But we don’t just look at the new tools and technologies that are coming to the market. We also look at audiences, to see what they’re up to: Who is the audience, and where are they engaging with stories? Are they streaming? Reading? Playing? Commenting? Making?
In order to pinpoint the most timely design challenges, identify audience and industry needs, and recruit the best talent, we are constantly monitoring trends in technology, storytelling, social media, and gaming. But we are curious minds, so it doesn’t end there. We’re tracking other elements of our networked digital lives, too, from the way we socialize offline and break bread with friends, to the ways we get around, and the ways we learn and educate ourselves about the vast world around us.
We want to read, to play, to explore, to listen, to see, to taste, and to swipe left AND swipe right.
Our curiosity leads us around the world to festivals and conferences, and all across the Internet, to discover the most innovative ways that stories are being shaped, shared and experienced. Based on that ongoing journey, we’ve developed an evolving list of the trends and opportunities brought about by new tools, platforms and processes that we are most excited about.
