Frankfurter Buchmesse Contest – which format do you prefer?
admin on 12:04 PM
22
Contest News
I was so lucky as to post a lot of good news recently, but this post is a special pleasure and I am extremly happy about the news:
The Frankfurter Buchmesse, the world’s biggest and best book fair, is going to have a contest on jovoto! Specifically, FRANKFURT SPARKS – The digital Initiative of Frankfurt Book Fair, will host the contest.
In the publishing world, like in the music industry, there’s a huge hurly-burly about the latest developments in technology, and especially information technology, and what these developments will mean for their industry. The ebook was only the first challenge for the publishing world – and more are to come. On the homepage of Frankfurt Sparks they put it like this: “technology has influenced not only the way people consume content, but also the content itself. Technology and content companies become increasingly reliant on each other to deliver quality experiences to consumers.
Frankfurt SPARKS is dedicated to facilitating the future of both publishing and technology by providing opportunities for people to meet and discuss new business strategies, partnerships and cooperations, and to figure out how to move forward together.”
One of the hot topics of Frankfurt Sparks is crossmedia storytelling, which simplified can be described as telling a story about a product in different medias and to use those medias individual strenghts and advantages to create a synergie effect that strenghtens the product.
by Gary Hayes
And crossmedia storytelling is exactly what the contest will be about. A great topic to work with since it allows for all kinds of creative approaches in the wide wide field of media! How would you tell a short story crossmedially?
And as if this cool topic wouldn’t be amazing enough, there’s still some extra candy: selected ideas will be shown at Frankfurter Buchmesse, the idea authors will be invited and introduced to publishers and other key figures of the industry. Oh my!!!
So far so good, but what we’re not yet sure about and what Franfurter Buchmesse would like to ask you prior to the beginning of the contest, is about the STORIES that are to be told crossmedial.
What do you think?
- Should a set of stories be provided by Frankfurter Buchmesse (no kidding, they are actually going to ask some of Germany’s finest contemporary writers to participate. Exciting, exciting, exciting!)
or
- Shouldn’t there be given stories but only a ceratin genre? In this solution, own stories could be “crossmedia storytold” for showcase.
or
- Would you prefer having no mandatories set at all? So everybody would be totally free in choosing the story and the genre for their crosmedia storytelling concept?
Hhmmm, this is a tough one and that’s also why we decided to ask you, our very trustworthy community. I guess you know best what works best for you and on which grounds you’d like to work the most. So please, let us know which of the three options you’d prefer, just post your thoughts as a comment under this blog post. I am curious!!!
wueberg
At #1 it would be interesting to see different concepts to the same stories. Could be thrilling, but eventually it is too difficult to find concepts that really differ and the results are getting too similar?
#2 is the weakest approach to my opinion. The limitation at one genre will cut a lot of creatity and possibilties.
#3 guarentess the widest variety of stories and concepts. So I guess I tend to #3.
fwerner
@wueberg: Thanks a lot for your input, very interesting! #3 I am a little concerned that it might get too much and too overwhelming to compare (and rate) the ideas, what do you think?. Hmm, more opinions, please!
Jesko
#1 It will be great to get some inspiration & input form fine contemporary writes.
You could think of the beginning of a story. If you learn dramaturgy in acting schools you start with creating a strong detailed beginning atmosphere and a character to activate your inspiration and from there you expand the story together. It´s fun and great to see all those funny, thrilling and wired ideas people have telling the stroy together and turning the dramaturgy and red line again and again ! Suddenly a new charachter appears, we wake up on the moon, or get deeper and deeper into creating a fictional world and story. – Amazing experience!
(You could even think of a short live workshop before the contest to let the creatives experience this. If you think that´s cool, i can give you the link to an amazing young professional, a dramadocent & director from netherlands.)
#2 I agree with wueberg. No, do not limitate the options.
#3 I´d suggest to provide some optional inspiration from writes and if somebody wants to create something free and new, let him do that. = )
Great Conest ! = )
nfreischlad
agree with Jesko!
I really see the stories at the heart of this contest, and it would be most interesting to me to read stories by creatives, as diverse and colorful as possible, not limited by genre or ‘given’ by contemorary writers. Some inspirational sparks from contemorary writers are of course highly appreciated!
Frieda
@Jesko: Very good thought, like the idea of different starting points from where to take of, that could be fun!
@nadine: I think the heart of the contest is the story telling, not the story itself. The story itself is of course important because it more or less opens opportunities of how to tell the story, but the contest is primarialy about how the story can be told crossmediallly.
ThiK
I would prefer #1, so the crossmedia storytelling is the main issue and not the told storry. This way the Ideas are even easier to compare.
Janne
Hm, I am no novelist, but a designer – so I´d appreciate #1. For me it´s easier to illustrate a given story than inventing something from the start – but this might be only me….
I like Jesko´s idea of having different people develop a story toghether, this could be fun and people could learn from one another.
mgo
agree with janne #1
wueberg
Maybe there is a misunderstanding? I thougt in #3 we are free to pick an existing story/novel by an author. If we have to invent the stories, I would prefer #1, too.
countdown
I’d prefer #1 too, agreeing with the arguments of ThiK and Janne.
Masswear
I also prefer option #1. As Janne said, I’m a designer, not a storyteller. I’m sure we have some great authors here, but this is not a platform for authors, but designers.
Moreover, it’s easier to keep track if you don’t have to read and understand an individual story for each idea. It already get’s complex with all the different ideas and descriptions in a normal contest – don’t make it harder than it already is!
nfreischlad
woah, still a few ways to go til contest start, and we already have a controversy at hand!
I get your guys’ point with keeping the submissions comparable. But still in my opinion limiting it entirely to defining the channels would make this task less interesting.
Also, I like the idea of opening up this task to the less visual, more story-oriented thinkers. jovoto is not only for designers, but authors, artists, concept heads, copywriters.
Too bad our Team-Building feature is not in place yet, this would be perfect…
From what I gather FFB is quite open and interested in shaping the task in a way that is most inspiring for all – we will consider this input.
Donner-Mayer
#1 is the saver version, but #3 is the more exciting way. I know I’m a designer but maybe I’m a storyteller too. For me it’s also o.k. to choose #1.
Masswear
Nadine, why would limiting the task to defining the channels make it less interesting? In my understanding, the task IS to define channels for crossmedia storytelling. It’s not about the story itself. Personnally, I wouldn’t participate if everyone could use any story he or she wants to. Probably nobody would care if I participate, but in my opinion this is not the idea of Jovoto. What’s the point if you can look for the perfect story to use for crossmedia storytelling? In real life, you can’t choose the conditions for a task either and the challenge is to find the perfect solution within certain boundaries. In my opinion, the contest would be really boring if you have an individual story for each idea. And again – how should you rate?
If someone wants to write, there are lots of storytelling contests out there. Nobody would ask the participants to design a cover for their story in these contests. So why do the opposite here? It’s not about opening the task to the less visual thinkers since crossmedia storytelling is not about visuals only. It’s only about keeping it down to a task where everyone can participate without making it too complex to follow. Or you have to expand the rating function to allow ratings for the story and the crossmedia storytelling idea individually.
Just my 2 cents
Janne
@Nadine, you keep telling us that jovoto isn´t for designers only, but you must admit that most ideas that win prizeson jovoto are actually from designers. Take the betacup-contest for instance. There were many interesting ideas and good concepts, but those who couldn´t put their idea into a comprehensible optical form, simply weren´t recognized. People will always judge by what they see rather than by content only. So it might be true, that jovoto is open for every creative person, but in fact not all of them have the same chance.
Did I get you right, that you plan a team-building feature? Well, this would be a great idea. I often thought during the betacup-contest, that it would be great, if those with a good concept could colaborate with those, whose strength is visualizing ideas in the first place. In this case everyone had the same chance of winning a prize – not only the designers.
Jesko
@all: Maybe it´s a misunderstanding. I think this contest will be about crossmedia storytelling. It does not mean that you have to invent a story. You can take input inspiration form writers or start your concept whereever your inspiration takes you. It will mainly be about our concept, not a story.
@nadine: Jaaa! Push the team-building feature ! You are running 10 contests for the moment and jovoto is growing amazingly fast. Team-building and concept pages will be a great push forward for the community. I had so many ideas in mind where i´d loved to invite poeple for collaboration, and would have submitted a concept first, than doing the design together.
Masswear
@Jesko: If people have the opportunity to use whatever story they like (even if there is a set of stories provided), the contest won’t be about crossmedia storytelling anymore but about story telling in general. Because it always matters what story is used. It’s not that I don’t think its great to invent a story. I do like writing myself a lot. I just think (know) it’s gonna be too messy for my taste if you have hundreds of ideas with all different stories.
nfreischlad
@ masswear
I do trust the ingenuity of the jovotoans, but if there is only ‘one’ story as a starting point, the concepts submitted will sooner or later run into the problem of becoming too similar. Also, I think part of the exitement of this task will lie in deciding which story is best to be told in which channels. Not saying that it needs to be #3 for me, but also def. not #2. Perhaps you are right and #1 is optimal, giving a few starting points from which to develop.
(Btw, it’s not me who writes the task, I was just expressing my gut feeling that I tend to be interested in stories
@Janne yea, I know that this problem exists for people who submit more conceptual work. It is often less easy to grasp at one glance. It’s an extra challenge for concept approaches to bring across the message, easy, fast, and appealing. This challenge will definitely be there also in this contest. It’s however a discussion not 100% related to this task only… I’ve opened up a space here, if you’d like to elaborate on this! http://support.jovoto.com/discussions/discussion-visual-vs-conceptual/1-kick-off-post
Masswear
Nadine, I definitely agree that one story probably is not very interesting. I was assuming “a set of stories” as specified for option #1 will be at least 5 different stories. Even 10 would be possible, I guess. I just have a problem when tasks are not well defined and change over time. If you are specifically looking for crossmedia storytelling concepts, you shouldn’t be looking for interesting stories in the same task but provide a set of interesting stories to work with. Maybe I’m too fussy about this, but the Jovoto concept with a community based rating system needs some mandatories to work in a fair way. At the end, besides all the fun und excitment, it’s about money, too.
partick
i prefer no. 1 …how already said, we are designers and concepters, no storytellers
wueberg
Okay, there is a strong tendency to #1, but…
I always read “I´m not a storyteller, I´m a designer”, but #3 doesnt´t say you have to invent a story or novel by yourself. We are free to pick a good story – classic, fantasy, crime, children,… – to demonstrate the possibilties of crossmedia storytelling. Wouldn´t it be thrilling to see “Dracula”, “Axolotl Roadkill”, “Die drei ???”, etc. coming to life crossmedia?
Yes, woulnd´t be easy to compare and to rate. But the ideas in the Betacup-Contest were also complex and you had to take a little bit more time. The problem here was the flood of ideas, because it was a public contest.
Barbara
The first option is very much the same as during the Boekenweek (yearly Dutch book event used to promote reading). During the Boekenweek, a celebrated Dutch author is invited to write a novella covering that year’s theme. It provides a nice framework for the event and, more importantly, it engages readers to discuss the subject matter. And isn’t discussion and interaction the most revolutionary thing about 21st century media, which includes e-books obviously. That may even be a way to turn the technology obsessed towards reading. Only be careful not to turn it into another shallow fad…