The Stage is Waiting.   The Audience thirsts for Adventure.   Who Am I?   I Could Be Anyone!  — Rango

Shedding light on the transmedia and it’s meteoric impact on entertainment properties are a host of movers and shakers at the forefront of the transmedia movement, slated to convene  April 8-14, 2011:  at Transmedia, Hollywood 2: Visual Culture and Design in Los Angeles, April 8, 2011 and at the NAB 2011 Show, April 9-14 in Las Vegas. These parties of cross-platform paradigm pushers include some of the more resounding voices in the transmedia universe;  Transmedia Guru Henry Jenkins, Starlight Runner’s Jeff Gomez, “Heroes” creator Tim Kring, “The Walking Dead” super-producer Gale Anne Hurd, “Ghost Whisperer” producer Kim Moses, and gaming giant THQ’s Danny Bilson.

Hosting the NAB panel Monday, April 11, from 2:30-3:30 pm is none other than Transmedia Guru Henry Jenkins.  Guiding the discussion, Jenkins will moderate as the panel members explore the ins & outs of creating ‘immersive & expansive cross-platform entertainment experiences’. From the NAB site:

“Henry Jenkins, author of Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, takes the stage with some of the most innovative voices in transmedia to explore how to create an immersive & expansive cross-platform entertainment experience. With examples from recent and upcoming feature films, TV series, Alternate Reality Games, video games and location based projects, they will examine the necessary ingredients of a fertile transmedia property, the impact of video games and multi-player participation on storytelling and the need for  fresh creative skill sets and new forms of collaboration.”

Another great one-day Transmedia symposium, Transmedia, Hollywood 2: Visual Culture and Design. Going down as a joint program between USC and UCLA, this will surely prove enlightening. Here’s the scoop from the site:

Transmedia, Hollywood 2: Visual Culture and Design is a one-day public symposium exploring the role of transmedia franchises in today’s entertainment industries. Transmedia, Hollywood 2 turns the spotlight on media creators, producers and executives and places them in critical dialogue with top researchers from across a wide spectrum of film, media and cultural studies to provide an interdisciplinary summit for the free interchange of insights about how transmedia works and what it means.

Co-hosted by Denise Mann and Henry Jenkins, from UCLA and USC, two of the most prominent film schools and media research centers in the nation, Transmedia, Hollywood 2: Visual Culture and Design builds on the foundations established at last year’s Transmedia, Hollywood: S/Telling the Story. This year’s topic: Transmedia, Hollywood 2: Visual Culture and Design is meant to move from an abstract discussion of transmedia storytelling in all its permutations to a more concrete consideration of what is involved in designing for transmedia.

Crysis 2; game to transmedia franchise

The past year has seen the Producer’s Guild of America (PGA) embrace the concept of the transmedia producer. The other Guilds have begun discussing the implications of these developments for their membership. A growing number of small production units are springing up across the film, games, web, and television sectors to try to create and distribute transmedia content. Many of today’s new transmedia producers are helmed by one-time studio or network insiders who are eager to “reinvent” themselves. Inside the studios, the executives tasked with top-down management of large media franchises are partnering with once marginalized film directors, comic book creators, game designers, and other creative personnel.

Transmedia, Hollywood 2: Visual Culture and Design will bring together comic book writers, game designers, “imagineers,” filmmakers, television show runners, and other media professionals in a conversation with leading academic thinkers on these topics. Each of our speakers will be asked to focus on the unique challenges they faced while working on a specific production and detail how their understanding of transmedia helped them resolve those issues. From there, we will ask all our speakers to compare notes across projects and platforms with the hopes of starting to develop some basic design principles that will help us translate theories of transmedia entertainment into pragmatic reality.

The creative personnel we have assembled include many of the key individuals responsible for masterminding the fundamental changes in the way traditional media operates and engages audiences by altering the way stories are told temporally, by exploring how graphic design translates from one medium to another, and by explaining how these visually-stunning worlds are being conceived in today’s “connected” entertainment arena.

Be there, right?

Transmedia, Hollywood 2: Visual Culture and Design

Friday April 8, 2011

James Bridge Theater, UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. 9:45 AM- 7:00 PM

2011 NAB Show & Conference

April 9 – 14, 2011 / Exhibits April 11 – 14