Media, education and culture, a programme of the EU

Developing Interactive Narrative Content Seminar 2005
Timetable

Monday, April 25 2005
7.30 pm Meet + Greet
Tuesday, April 26 2005
9.15 am –
11.00 am

Opening Session
Brunhild Bushoff, sagasnet

11.15 am – 12.15 am

Peter Krieg, D
Can Computers Be Interactive?
The question sounds weird at first, since we identify computers with interactivity like no other machine. If, however, we define interactivity not just within the limits of the action-reaction scheme of a Skinner Box, but as a feature of adaptive interaction with an environment, the answer is quite different...

1.30 pm – 3.30 pm

Sebastian Belcher, Harbottle & Lewis, London
Legal Framework for Independent Interactive Entertainment Production

3.30 pm – 5.00 pm Networking
Wednesday, April 27 2005
9.30  am –
10.30 am

Vincent Scheurer, UK
Understanding, Creating and Securing Your Key Intellectual Property Rights
This session will review the key intellectual property rights in interactive narrative works. It will consider how these are created and secured. It will also consider what the owner of these rights can do to stop other people from misusing them.

10.45 am – 11.45 am

Frank Alsema, NL
How to Create, Write, Produce and Design Interactive Entertainment for Children

1.00 pm – 2.00 pm

Daniel Kapelian, 121Productions, F
Content Driven Development in Interactive Video

3.15 pm

5.15pm

Mark Ollila, AUS/S
Mobile Entertainment Business - A Reality Check.
A snap shot of the industry today and where it is heading tomorrow. We examine the key components of the mobile entertainment value chain and provide an overview of the business and technical challenges that are faced. Finally we end with some innovative projects in the field that can provide an indication of how the industry could be or is developing.

Thursday, April 28 2005
9.30 am – 10.30 am

Frank Boyd, UK
Pitching as Part of the Development Process

11.00 am – 12.00 am

Sibylle Kurz, D
How to Pitch Successfully

1.00 pm – 5.30 pm

Sibylle Kurz & Frank Boyd
Hands - On Pitching Training

Friday, April 29 2005
10.00 am –
11.00 am

Volker Eloesser, room Reutlingen/fmx
The Handset Fragmentation in Mobile Games Development
The mobile games market shows dozens of devices which are incompatible to each other. Sun’s promises „write once, run anywhere” have failed in the mobile games sector. Using Java, nobody can write a game which runs on all handsets. Internationally very popular handsets do not even understand Java. This lecture shows which different devices are in the markets and solutions how to minimize the programing effort when designing mobile games which should run on all devices.

11.00 am – 11.55 pm

Noah Falstein, room Reutlingen/fmx
Why is Interactive Narrative so difficult
In theory, it seems that movies and games are two forms of entertainment with much in common, and should be able to unite to create a dazzling new art form. In practice, they seem to make a match no better than any typical Hollywood marriage. This presentation will explore reasons behind this paradox by delving into the underlying rules and principles behind entertainment. Is there hope for a reconciliation or has the romance faded?

12.00 am – 12.55 am Joel Baumann, room Reutlingen/fmx
Interactivity. The use of the space between things.
To interact is nothing new. To concentrate on the ephemeral between to constants isn't either. The computer has merely switched the emphasis. We are taking the playground into the art gallery, and experiences forgotten back into everyday life. Advertising and branding blend with social phenomena in the motion blur of an interaction. I will show work by tomato and explain why it was made. I will also show work by others and explain why I am showing it in the first place. The emphasis will be on ideas, not execution. The talk should be like a journey to the ideas. I will stop when my time is over, but I could go on and on and on...
1.00 pm
–-
2.00 pm

Matt Costello, room Reutlingen/fmx
Writing for Interactive Entertainment
What are some key processes in building a narrative structure for any medium?
How can interadivity intersect with story to make a compelling experience that works
on both fronts? This presentation will be less talk and more action while
we play with key creative ideas and techniques for story telling, useful no
matter what the media. And isn't that what the world really needs?

2.00 pm

5.00 pm

Networking and fmx visit

5.00 pm

6.00 pm

Lassi Tasajärvi, room Reutlingen/fmx, fmx session
Demo versus Media Art
Lassi Tasajärvi will talk about the Scandinavian and the Finnish demoscene and its close relation to the local game and digital graphics industry. As in his book., Lassi will also introduce demoos as digital media and demoscene as a creative community.

Saturday, April 30 2005
9.30 am – 11.00 am

Richard Adams
Using dialogue as a model for interaction design in a pervasive media experience.
The nature of interaction is akin to that of conversation. When in conversation, if one participant breaks the rules, then the other party feels uncomfortable. The explosion of media channels has lead to the emergence of smart, invisible, pervasive media, however with this explosion has come complexity and with complexity comes a need to filter content and to help consumers make choices form a vast array of content. As storytellers we have to learn how to navigate this complexity and provide a meaningful narrative experience for the user. Using real life examples of these theories in action I will examine the nature of pervasive media; how dialogue and conversation can provide us with a paradigm for interactive design across TV and mobile interactive services and how storytellers might exploit these new paradigms to create new pervasive narratives.

11.30 am –
1. 00 pm

Siggi Kögl, Attaction, D
Funding models for Game Development

2.00 pm – 3.00 pm

Matt Hullum, fmx session
Machinima: Accidental Filmmaking for Gamers
In early 2003, a group of friends discovered they could make little movie using their favorite video game, Halo. They called the project Red vs. Blue and posted weekly episodes on their website. Then they discovered people would actually watch these movies. Finally, they realized they were actually part of a much larger artistic movement known as Machinima: the art and craft of creating movies by using video games and video game engines. Rooster Teeth producer Matt Hullum discusses the rise of their series, Red vs. Blue, the growth of Machinima, and the future of video game-based narrative movie-making.

3.15 pm – 4.30 pm Brunhild Bushoff, sagasnet, D
Closing Session with an Introduction of the MEDIA Plus Training Projects sagas writing interactive fiction and sagasnet and the MEDIA Plus Development funding.
Sunday, May 1 2005
Departure