Elan Lee – The Evolution of Storytelling
What is the future of storytelling– the epitome of the narrative process? Is ChatRoulette the future?
If you are a gamer, chances are you are familiar with Elan Lee‘s work. Elan is a pioneer in his field, one of the individuals responsible for the Alternate Reality Game genre. His work challenges the conventional notion of entertainment, and is shaping the future of gaming.
Elan has been telling stories for a decade: he stresses that if we take one thing from today’s presentation, it’s “as storytelling evolves, those who cling on to what’s comfortable and cling to history and force their audiences and force audiences to consume stories in ways that are outdated, they will always fail.”
Stories haven’t changed that much since the day of the cave paintings; wall scribblings aren’t really all that different from Avatar, if you think about it. However, the storytelling methods have changed, from the stage to the printing press to film to the internet, accessed by both computers and cell phones.
In 2001, Elan worked as designer for studio X. He met with Steven Spielberg to discuss making games for the science-fiction film AI– not exactly an uplifting story. “Who’s going to want to play the game,” he thought? So, his team set up an alternate system: a path of clues that led to various websites and scenarios– an adventure on the internet, all starting with a fictitious name and position on the poster. He inserted the statement that “this is not a game”– which he acknowledges was a poor idea. But we’ll come back to that.
A first-edition print of Robinson Crusoe — Daniel Defoe’s work is considered the first bound and distributed novel in English — has an influential first page that states that the book is fact, when in fact it is fiction. The author is telling the audience how to consume. At the time, there was no fiction for adults: “stories” were for kids.
Ultimately, this failed; audiences could not accept the lie, and IT was replaced by “Once Upon a Time:” essentially, “we agree to use our imaginations.” Elan did the same thing with his game and realized the importance of transparency.
The first movies had curtains: “filmmakers screaming that ‘these are not movies!’” Movies at that time were trivial, sources of entertainment at fairs. These people did wanted their works to be seen as art, not children’s toys. Early directors pioneered film techniques over time; eventually, people figured out who to make the most of film’s strength.
Why shrink movies onto a webpage? It’s a way to say, “this is not the internet!” We understand film. Film is saved for now, but it will fail as technology evolves.
He gives the example of Cathy’s book, which explores what is possible with the publishing model– an online interactive experience. Because Cathy is an 18-year-old girl, the creators needed a Facebook page for her. They created it on Cathy’s “birthday,” and by the end of the day, her Facebook page was inundated with messages. This act brought a fictional character into the real world.
Take a film like the Watchmen: wouldn’t it be cool to live in that world? Go to the website, and your phone rings. It’s one of the characters. He talks to you. Another step into what collaborative storytelling means.
So– is this the end-all, be-all? No.
But it’s okay. It takes time to figure out how to craft stories for new media. Elan stresses that we are not at the beginning of that cycle; there are already billions of examples of online storytelling. We are witnessing just another step.
Companies who don’t evolve are going to fail. If you fear the evolution, your audience will move on without you.
–Helen Pitlick
