Held in conjunction with the 2016 edition of Africa’s largest television content market, DISCOP Africa Johannesburg, Digital Lab Africa’s (DLA) global pitching competition attracted in excess of 500 entries from 30 different countries.
Digital Lab Africa, launched at DISCOP Africa Abidjan 2016, is a programme organised by the French Institute of South Africa, in partnership with DISCOP Africa and TRACE, to encourage multimedia innovation and nurture African talent for the new digital era. In his speech given at the launch of the DLA, Frédéric Chambon, regional head of Media, Film and Music at the French Embassy in South Africa and producer of the DLA said: “Digital Lab Africa is a platform dedicated to the African digital content of tomorrow. In the age of digital convergence, TV, film, music and video game content in Africa is increasingly consumed on internet and mobile phones, like everywhere else.”
Earlier in 2016 the DLA announced a call for projects targeting artists, producers, start-ups, developers, and students in the media and creative industries. The call invited any individual with an innovative project or idea that fell into one of four predetermined categories of multimedia production – web creation/transmedia, virtual reality, video game (serious game) and digital music – to submit their entry and stand a chance to take part in the final pitching round taking place at DISCOP Africa Johannesburg 2016.
An international panel of industry experts narrowed down the initial 500 applications to just 15 finalists. Of these 15, South African production company TH Films’ writer/director John De Vries and producer/actor Gregory Kriek were selected to pitch their idea in the Transmedia category, in which they ended up taking home top honours – a cash prize as well as a one month incubation to be held in France next year. “While we’re there, we’ll get to team up with, and learn from, some of the greatest in the industry in order to get our project to the next level and to a point where we will sell the show and get ready to start shooting,” comment Kriek and DeVries.
The theory behind transmedia is to communicate one single narrative or story across multiple digital platforms at the same time. “So one TV series for instance can have elements supporting the narrative through web, VOD, VR, games and social media,” explain Kriek and DeVries, “Transmedia embraces digital technology and helps to create content that interacts and engages with the audience on a deeper level.”
The duo describes their winning idea as a high octane, narrative driven action series with big international pull. “The transmedia element comes in by combining an engaging story with an innovative platform, incorporating a multi-threaded narrative giving the audience the power to choose their own story…Our project aims to not only redefine the genre but also the way the audience engages with content,” says Kriek.
Drawn from a shared passion for telling stories that engage and inspire, and DeVries’s keen interest in gaming, the winning project came about with the decision to combine their idea for a new action television series with the gaming constituent of a multi-threaded narrative resulting in a new narrative platform. “Gaming is a unique space. It lets us live into a narrative and transports us into a world where our decisions matter. With this in mind it’s no wonder that the gaming industry is growing larger and faster than any form of entertainment,” Kriek explains. “A big trend in gaming is the multi-threaded narrative. Here your choices influence the story as a whole. Choosing who lives or dies, going left or right, all these choices influence the eventual outcome of the game. Our thinking is, why not give this power to the TV audience? We want to give people another level of engagement with content turning them from a passive, to an active audience.”
As the writer/director of the project, DeVries will be focusing primarily on the creative side of things. Additionally, as a ‘techie’ he will be dabbling in the implementation of the new platform. As the producer, Kriek will be focusing not only on the packaging of the entire project, but will also be working together with the team in Europe in honing the concept and seeing things through to implementation and distribution.
“Projects like these are the product of a lot of hard work so there’s still a long road ahead of us to get this ready for market, but we’re making great progress,” says DeVries, “Other than that, we have another series and couple of feature films in development, so watch this space.”
