Transcript

'Is technology transforming the art of story telling?' | Sharon Reid | TEDxYork

[Music] I'd like everyone to think about their favorite story is it a favorite story from your childhood maybe something by Enid Blyton is it a story you've read recently to a child something like The Gruffalo or Charlotte's Web or maybe it's something you first read at school weathering Heights Lord of the Flies or maybe you've only just got into stories since apps like audible made it easy for us to listen to things while we're out running because stories have been around since the Dark Ages cavemen couldn't read they can write so they used fire and drawings to tell their stories of hunting of animals of rituals in ancient Egypt storytelling continued but the stories became more and more elaborate and we used to entertain as well as to communicate if you fast forward hundreds and hundreds of years to one of the world's most famous storytellers William Shakespeare whose work influences so much of what we see today and then on to Steve Jobs famous for his keynote speeches where he worked for days on the detail of how he told the story of his latest products in the most entertaining way that he possibly could but what all of these people have in common is that none of them used Hollywood special effects to bring their stories to life they didn't use intricate tricks to distract people they didn't use crazy props to make things look different they just told their stories mainly because technology didn't exist then like it does now and we talk a lot about technology about virtual reality augmented reality and artificial intelligence and it can all seem very very futuristic wearing goggles to look at the world in a different way seeing Holograms appearing in front of us giving instructions seeing giant sea creatures jump out of gym floors and then disappear because really it is very futuristic and when we talk about immersive and interactive technology that sounds really futuristic too but we actually use it every day and in many ways it's just crept into our everyday life and this is particularly the case in my world which is film on TV but storytelling hasn't really changed despite all the technology what's actually happened instead as if technology has given created people new ideas storytellers have always loved to experiment if you think about how illustrated books comic books pop-up books and coloring books meant that we could experience all stories in new ways and every development however seemingly small is a new tool for storytellers and new tools are now being created so fast that it's really hard to keep up so the reality is that technology in some form has always transformed the art of storytelling but what it's doing now is transforming how we consume these stories all of us are accustomed to passive stories having say we sit down we watch we listen the entertainment unfolds in front of us and from the caveman to Shakespeare to Steve Jobs to George Lucas Steven Spielberg that's never changed and these people were are in the case of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas they're masters at crafting this world in which they tell their story they meticulously dictate every aspect of how that story is told from the plot to the pacing to the camera angles to the lighting they're sharing their vision with us the viewer but it's totally passive and we have no choice in the matter at all and this is actually the very different definition of storytelling as we know it it's a narrative that's told through visuals and through audio that we passively accept and while we sit down and enjoy the rise we haven't really got a stay at all in the direction if you think back 10 years it's not that long ago really Boris Johnson became the first mayor of London there was Hamilton when the fur his first Grand Prix Barack Obama became president of the United States and back in 2008 when we talked about being interactive we were talking about sitting in a live studio audience of a TV show maybe being picked to participate and actually go on the telly or we were calling him to a life phone in to tell the presenter what we really thought or we were sending a text to vote on the outcome of a show traditional storytelling has always been linear by that I mean we start at the beginning we proceed to a middle point we get to an end but digital storytelling is what's introduced the idea of nonlinear stories where we're certainly invited to enter and exit at any points and digital storytelling was the point that stories alone weren't really enough and that technology really started to take over and we started to interact in different ways so now we can start a story in a website we can continue to follow it on telly we can pick it up on our mobile in between we don't really think about it anymore he's now and we talk about interactive and immersive content we're not talking about voting on the Big Brother final in 2009 we're not talking about getting tickets to the Jerry Springer Show and being able to go on and judge people we're talking about things like secret cinema we're talking about watching jaws whilst sitting in a hot tub we're talking about watching griefs at a pop-up cinema we're talking about things like Netflix and black mirrors of rumored plans to make a choose your own adventure style episode next year where we as viewers will be able to respond to situations and ultimately change the ending and in a fairly short time we've come a very long way from the days of Noel's house party or The Price is Right and while this technology sounds like the hottest and coolest big thing in the industry it's actually already old news here in York at the University they're already pretty far down the line of some technology that takes us thinking even further and allows the viewer to interact in real time making decisions that don't just change the narrative but change the whole viewing experience one of the consequences of this shift in stories having is that a thing called distracted viewing now exists and I'm going to describe a situation that I'm pretty sure has happened to everybody here so it's Saturday night you sat at home watching the film maybe watching a TV watching the haunting of Hell house on Netflix you're watching the new Jurassic Park film on the sky 15 minutes then you're paying attention but then you open your phone you check Twitter somebody messages one of your whatsapp groups you click on a link quickly flick to Instagram you see what's happening there then you remember you forgot to check out your online shop so you quickly do that and then you look up and you realize you've not concentrated on the last five minutes of what you're watching you've got no idea at all what's happening or what you've missed so what do you do do you rewind it because of course we can do that nowadays do you hope you can catch up figure out what's going on do you turn off your phone Wow not to get distracted again I read a report last year that said 87% of us use a second screen while watching TV I know it's something I do while I'm reading a book I even did it a couple of times in the cinema the other night I sat down before the film star said I turn my phone down as far as it would go so I wouldn't disturb anyone I'm sure everyone did it as they came and sat down in here today because watching a film or TV or at all it's so wildly different from what it used to be to previous generations it used to be an event it used to be something we look forward to we got our information from daily newspapers from the radio from the monthly magazine from the TV news I remember when I worked in London in the 90s if we were working late we'd go home via Kings Cross to get the early editions of the newspapers there's something that's completely unheard of nowadays and something that people wouldn't even consider doing and we're also less impressed nowadays the WoW factors disappeared because we actually know too much we can see behind the scenes Stills and video of our favorite shows we can read extended cast videos on IMDB we can look at location breakdowns we can follow the cast and crew on Facebook and Instagram before something's even released so when we actually go to the cinema or we watch on TV we don't feel the need to concentrate like we used to do when it was more of an event and this new breed of viewers that we all are we're the most powerful that today's entertainment brands have ever seen these brands and I'm talking about people like Netflix like Sky like HBO like Disney they don't dictate what kind of content they develop or where they publish it or how they distribute it anymore because we do their projects have to be developed now for all mediums and this is becoming the starting point for all film makers because it's where the money is it's not just about the show anymore when Disney makes a new Star Wars film they don't just make a film like they did in 1977 they need to consider how the apps do they need to build who did they partner with to reach more people in China versus India do they need a VR and AR experience of course they do how many do they need how different do they need to be how much of the cast times they need to go out on tour and engage with fans how much behind-the-scenes footage they need when should they release it when should they release it what does the music sound like when does it go out and Spotify a totally different world so now that technology has given us control of what we now have how we navigate their universe of content what can filmmakers do to respond to be the next big thing I mentioned Netflix earlier in their rumor to choose your own adventure style interactive show that's due to be coming soon because it's this technological development I think will actually change the art of storytelling it's this that's changing the way that stories are told because it's this technology that makes it active for the viewer and not passive it's no longer the director sharing their vision with the viewer now we'll have a say in the direction of how the story unfolds and we'll have a part in telling that story for some viewers this move from passive to interactive viewing is exactly what they're looking for the opportunity to take control to have a say to change how the story is told for some people it's the exact opposite they sit and they watch TV or film to be entertained they want to see a vision brought to life in front of them they don't want different plots or different endings or different runtimes they want a film or a TV show to be authored and presented to them and this technology poses an artistic question around if we even should have this kind of agency as viewers would we have inadvertently made the ending of The Shining less scary if we'd been able to change it would we even have groundbreaking cinema if we'd not been able to if we've been able to influence whether or not Sarah Connor destroyed the Terminator but there's another challenge for filmmakers because while a lot of technology makes our lives easier this one actually makes it much harder if you think about a scenario where the viewer starts at the beginning then is given several choice options which they need some more choice options which they need some more choice options is called a branching narrative and as you might imagine with each choice the amount that I have to do as a filmmaker to make that film or TV show increases exponentially if you were going to write a story with 10 choices and two options each choice we'd have to write over a thousand branches which is a lot of writing but it's not just a lot of ricing if you think about the rehearsal time the costumes the shoot time the Edit process the visual effects the sound design that all increases - and even if you scale it back and you've got three choices each with two options each choice that's still 18 branches and in our current world where nearly everything can be automated where we can ask a lexer to change music we can try all driverless cars we can make appointments to see a virtual doctor in the film world automation doesn't work everything needs to be written rehearsed filmed edited everything has to be fully thought through and considered it's still a handcrafted process the writer and the director and the producer they have to look at their structure they have to build absolutely every possible scenario and then they have to plan what happens next or what happened before and then at the second interaction point how are those choices that are made impacting on what the viewer did earlier there's a lot of work to do when writing a film or TV show to make sure that the story flows so how do you write a show to make sure that the characters still have a compelling character arc in most narratives whatever you watch there's a gradual progression of the protagonist as they progress through the story which culminates in the ending as we're used to but how does this characters ending change if someone else has chosen that path through the story do I make the protagonist so determined that she loses sight of her goals and become sidetracked because of her need for love does that need for love met lead to her downfall does it make her fall in love with someone else at the end of the narrative she might have reached the original goal that the director envisioned but she's an entirely different character in a different City and doing a different job so we watched another 15 minutes of footage we need to make a choice again and the viewer needs to decide between a life and death situation and this time there's three diff ways that the story could go because we're going off on so many different routes now and the viewer has chosen one of the death rooms there's actually two different death routes one of them is quite gruesome and relies on practical effects so it's a huge job for the makeup team for the stunt team and in fact it's the only part of the show where stunts are needed so we've got a whole new department that we need to get on board to get involved insurance has gone through the roof rehearsal times just increased massively the other death route involves a spectacular car crash the visual effects team the special effects team are all working overtime it's only a 30 second section of the show but it costs more than everything else put together because if the viewer is going to go off down that route they need to still feel like they've got a fulfilling ending and now we're approaching the end we've got so many different endings at this point so there's three original choices have turns what would have been a fairly simple 60 minute TV show into six hundred minutes of watchable footage that's longer than three feature films as long as a film it's a bigger budget it's more cast it's a longer edit is it really worth it is it all just a gimmick to get our attentions I think it's clear that there's major consequences when the audience becomes the storyteller some people would argue that these technological changes will make it easier for filmmakers to execute their visions and that it will also challenge the structure of the film industry and also that the industry needs a shake-up to allow filmmakers of all levels and all disciplines and all backgrounds to be part instead of just the elites and if this technology really does empower filmmakers and viewers then maybe it's the only way that this industry will grow and Hollywood in particular has had its image tarnished in recent years shouldn't we be encouraging independent filmmakers short filmmakers documentary filmmakers student filmmakers to break the monopoly of the big studios because there's only so many times we can watch a spider-man reboot or a new Halloween film and is it worth it for all of this additional effort because not only does the technology place additional effort on the filmmakers it puts an additional financial burden on us as viewers I'm sure most of us have got subscriptions for Netflix for Sky for Amazon Prime do we need to have all these multiple second screens to view the additional cons do we all need a our headsets to watch behind-the-scenes footage before the main event do we all need to turn up 15 minutes early before we watch a film and spend 10 pounds more to watch the VR version and how does this impact on our viewing habits if we allow Netflix for example to have this level of data what might they do with it every choice that's made by a viewer signals a preference of stories helling that someone like Netflix or Disney can use their advantage they already know the shows that certain demographics are most likely to watch but if we reveal the individual story beats that we favor at any given time in any show soon they'll be able to predict how every single episode of television that we ever watched should go and maybe start to create an algorithm that writes scripts for us this is the kind of echo chamber that we want technology to enable us to live in thank you [Applause]