Page 75 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report 2014

AC/E digital culture ANNUAL REPORT 2014Spanish Radio and Television ‐ RTVE in tandem with the Association of the Families of Alzheimer Sufferers. This work consists of a series of audiovisual productions (available online), an application for mobile devices and a channel on YouTube. Additionally the experimental productions of RTVE.es Lab are a good example of the exploration of new territory marked by interaction, data journalism and the convergence of languages. It should be pointed out that, in the case of interactive documentaries, we are not dealing with an explosion of media and user‐generated content, as is the case with fiction, but rather that we are witnessing the confluence of systems of meaning in a digital, interactive environment. Nevertheless, the idea can not be completely dismissed of documentaries also adopting the distinctive traits of transmedia fiction. The productions of National Geographic, for example, point in this direction.Research is starting in Spain into transmedia news production. While there are important studies into cyberjournalism—Spain was a pioneer in Latin America in this branch of study (see, for example, Armañanzas, Díaz Noci and Meso, 1996)—over the last few years the first works have started to appear on journalism and documentaries as stories that expand in many media and that incorporate user participation (for example, Cebrián and Flores, 2011; Flores and Salinas, 2012; Renó and Flores, 2012; Gifreu, 2012).A TRANSMEDIA CULTURAL UNIVERSETransmedia experiences are not, however, limited to fictional and non‐fictional narratives; we also find them in other cultural spheres such as theatre and music. How can transmedia storytelling be part of theatre? It can, for example, form part of the media network (theatre is also a means of communication!) and contribute to the expansion of stories that have their origins in cinema or television. During Gaudí Year (2002), the children’s TV series Las tres mellizas included two episodes devoted to the great CatalanAC/Earchitect (El taller de Gaudí / Los fantasmas de la Pedrera). This story spanned various books, online videogames, and a play in Catalan (Les Tres Bessones i l’enigmàtic senyor Gaudí) in which there were new situations and characters.On other occasions plays are at the core of a transmedia storytelling world that expands to the Internet. Over recent years numerous theatre companies have opted to use the social networks. For example, in 2010 together with the Muldark agency, the Royal Shakespeare Company developed the Such Tweet Sorrow project, a contemporary version of Romeo and Juliet that took place over the course of five weeks on Twitter. Other theatre companies such as New Paradise Laboratories and Waterwell have also experimented with social networks and the transmission of their performances via the Internet (Carter, 2011).It is ever more the case that theatrical works are the centre of a transmedia storytelling world that expands to the Internet through the social mediaIn Spain, atheatre grouplike La Fura delsBaus could notbe left on thesidelines of thiskind ofexperimentation. Their work Afrodita y el juicio de Paris became this group’s first viral show. People could follow the whole process, from rehearsals, the preparing of stage sets, the work of participants and the final result of the macroshow through the main social media by following the hashtag #AfroditaCanarias. The production of plays conceived for streaming is also emerging in Spain thanks to projects such as Teatron and Interteatro. Teatron is a portal that brings together initiatives such as PlayDramaturgia, devoted precisely to the creation of specific theatre events for live retransmission via the networks. Interteatro, on the other hand, devises shows which combine varying formats of retransmission via the Internet, video and live performance (Hernando, 2013). Most of these theatre‐ based projects are still far from transmedia expansion or fans’ activities to which audiovisual fiction has made us accustomed. There is still a long and exciting way to go in the construction of a new transmedia theatre.WHERE WE ARE HEADING: DIGITAL TRENDS IN THE WORLD OF CULTURETHEME 6: TRANSMEDIA STORYTELLING: NEW WAYS OF COMMUNICATING IN THE DIGITAL AGE CURRENT PAGE...75