When I watched Inception as a 14-year-old, I remember being incredibly confused. I had to watch the film several times to comprehend the “dream-state” and multiple layers of narrative the film explored in the various states. My confusion did not mean I didn’t enjoy the viewing experience, or feel challenged. Frank Rose mentions Inception in his interview with Henry Jenkins, stating the movie is made up similar to a “game”. Rose says that screenwriters with gaming experience approach narrative by “moving across multiple levels, thrusting you directly into the story and letting you figure it out for yourself.”
Inception does exactly that, the film comprises several levels or layers in the narrative, that make the film one that requires intense concentration. Rose spoke with Jason Silva who says that “These are films that immerse us while also unsettling us. They are multi-layered experiences that suck us into their narrative on one level, while at the same time making unsettling suggestions about our own perception of reality.”
This multi-level way of telling a story in a film is similar to the multi-media method of storytelling in Burberry, who target ‘millennials’. As Angela Ahrendts describes, the brand uses music, stores that blur the line between physical and digital, the brand’s history and multiple digital platforms to tell Burberry’s story. Millennials have also been found to prefer long-form storytelling, from Netflix docu-series to Buzzfeed and VICE. As Chris Giliberti states in his Forbes article, this is because it earns our trust, it is authentic and “it’s an antidote to a 140-character world”. These values and perhaps you could say goals, are much the same as Burberry’s who are also succeeding with their storytelling.
Chris Milk is another example of a storyteller in the entertainment industry who harnesses Deep Media to tell narratives in new ways. He uses interactive, crowd-sourced curated videos, and constantly pushes boundaries in storytelling to increase the involvement of the viewer.
As we tried and tested in class last week, creating videos in new and innovative ways can be a challenge, and telling stories in multi-level, multi-media formats requires sound understanding of your target audience, what they want and expect, and who your brand or organisation is (their story). It also requires strong two-way communication with stakeholders, because the power has shifted and individuals are active participants. The future direction and what will come next in the concept of ‘deep media’ and telling stories will certainly be something interesting to watch play out. What do you predict?