A virtual roundtable about Immersive Storytelling

I recently had the absolute pleasure of talking about the Future of StoryTelling (FoST) on a virtual roundtable with Frank Rose author of The art of immersion, Susan Bonds of 42 Entertainment and Matt Locke of Storythings.

Matt Locke had re-tweeted about it and I was thinking to myself, now thats a line up I’d love to be part of. Knowing Matt, I suggested I would love join the panel and talk about Perceptive Media’s Radio. After a few emails back and forth, I was on and I waited for 5:30pm GMT to join the panel.

The rest was captured on the Google Hangout, as you can see above. So great I could take part and not only that but throw something very new into the mix.

Think and a Drink with Frank Rose

Frank Rose

Having been invited to join a panel about new forms of storytelling in Gateshead, with Frank Rose in Newcastle. I was looking forward to meeting him and hearing what he had to say.

Frank ran through a bunch of examples of how storytelling and narrative structures have hardly changed over the years. Most I assume is in his book which he was quietly promoting (I bought a copy, even through I admitted to Frank I would end up buying the ebook version and the book would be lent out to friends who are interested).

The event went pretty flawlessly but there was no real disagreement, so hence no conflict. I did find issue with the lady I was sitting next to (Agnes Wilki). Her comment about quality of content I hear a lot from people within the BBC. So I had to point out that quality can be two things (actual pixel quality and the more subjective idea of quality of the overall concept) some audiences care about one over the other and some don’t care at all.

The overall talk was good but really needed more time for the discussion which started but never really got going unfortunately.

Straight after the talk, was food and the food choice was pretty excellent. The only shame was the lack of flat surfaces to really eat and chat. Frank signing his books the art of immersion and I got talking to a bunch of people including Frank’s wife about the differences and similarity’s of the UK north and south with the American north and south. As she asked me about the BBC’s move to the north of england.

Overall the event was good and well worth visiting if your in the North east. Glad to be part of it and I look forward to coming to more of them in the future. Its also worth mentioning Franks blog on the same subject is full of gems.

Frank Rose – The Art of Immersion – Wed 13th April

Art of Immersion

The amazing Herb Kim asked me a while ago if I’d be willing to be on a panel with Frank Rose, as part of the think and a drink session in Gateshead college. Of course I thought about it for maybe a few minutes and agreed. No but seriously this time, I checked out the topic and wondered if I would bring anything to the session. Luckily the subject matter is something I think about a whole lot plus I happen to be writing a technote for Perceptive Media (previously known as Intrusive Media)…

Think and a Drink – The Art of Immersion

We’re delighted to welcome one of the world’s most insightful technology writers, Frank Rose, to the North East in April for the launch of his new book ‘The Art of Immersion’.

In the book Frank explores the future of media, advertising and storytelling. Frank Rose is a long time contributing editor of Wired Magazine (US) and he’s making the long trip from San Francisco especially for the event. As a contributing editor at Wired, Frank has spent the past decade writing about the impact of technology on media and entertainment. Along the way he covered such stories as the making of Avatar, Sony’s enormous gamble on the PlayStation 3, Samsung and the rise of the Korean techno-state, and the posthumous career of Philip K. Dick in Hollywood.

The event will be the next Think and a Drink in the calendar and will be run in collaboration with Wired Magazine, Gateshead College, Northern Film & Media and WW Norton Publishers. Frank will talk about his life and give an overview of The Art of Immersion.

A panel session will follow Frank’s talk and we’re pleased to have some important local figures from the digital world, offering their thoughts and insight into the where we are now and where we’re heading in the digital sector. The panel will consist of Paul Smith, Never Odd or Even, Agnes Wilkie, Northern Film & Media and Ian Forrester, BBC R&D.

There’ll also be the chance to meet Frank during a book signing session and of course as with all our Think and a Drink events, we’ll have networking, food and refreshments.