Revisiting multiplatform

Multiplatform is a relatively old term these days – coined from broadcasting to mean the extension of a brand or property across all entertainment platforms (film, TV, radio, online, mobile, etc). Organisations such as the BBC have pioneered this cross-collaboration for years.

So too is the gaming industry. At a recent seminar, TIGA, the UK gaming industry trade association, highlighted the need for gaming, film and television industries to work as one on joint projects, under the banner of a new TIGA/NESTA Creative Industry Switch. This initiative aims to cross-polinate talent from all the creative industries to create new commercial partnerships.

Jorg Tittel from Breakthru Films advocated that multiplatform these days is a given, but that ‘we’re all part of one common vision’. Yet an art project has taken this concept further steps forward.

Cape Farewell, founded by artist David Buckland, was created to highlight the issue of climate change. Wanting to move the discussion and debate away from just the political and economic arenas to engage the public, Buckland’s vision brought the arts and science together to create a single message and use all the art forms to communicate it.

Speaking in London recently, Buckland highlighted how the collaboration has, and continues to create thought-provoking and entertaining art surrounding an issue requiring urgent attention and action. In turn it has created a wider multiplatform experience than what we’ve been accustomed. Consider,

• Music: Musicians including KT Tunstall, Jarvis Cocker and Martha Wainwright have collaborated on music for SHIFT Festival and tracks for upcoming albums.
• Poetry: Southbank Poet-in-Residence, Lemn Sissay hit three minute poem What if? commissioned by Channel 4.
• Popular fiction: Author Ian McEwan based his latest novel, ‘Solar’, using the scientific facts uncovered by the 2005 expedition with Cape Farewell.
• Education: Postgraduate courses blending art and science are in development at the University of Liverpool and Open University, and numerous teaching resources for teachers have been created.
• Performance: Comedian Marcus Bridgstock ventured on two expeditions and is using his experiences to base an upcoming performance tour called ‘Your Time is Up’.
• Art: Numerous art installations created while on expedition and around the world.
• Film: ‘Burning Ice’, a feature film documentary of the Greenland exhibition which has attracted the interest of Sundance but as yet no broadcaster in the UK.
• Television: BBC documentary, ‘Art from the Artic’ aired on BBC Four in 2006 as part of the Climate Chaos series.
• Fashion: Cape Farewell has collaborated with the London College of Fashion’s Centre for Sustainable Fashion with events to showcase the industry’s need to question processes and embrace innovation, ie. MA Fashion and the Environment.
• Books: ‘Burning Ice’, photographing the experiences of those artists on board the Cape Farewell expedition.

And Buckland is collaboring further. All of this developed with not a scratch of what media organisations typically budget for their multiplatform productions.

What both of these instances highlight is the need for creative collaboration right from inception. The TIGA session heard from Ubisoft which worked with James Cameron three years before Avatar was released, to make Avatar, the game. Developers were able to reuse thousands of digital assets from the film to create the game environment.

Still a barrier, however, is the cost of musical licences which prohibit their use in a lot of cases. Max Scott-Slade from Johnny Two Shoes, developer of a host of successful online games, suggested that with exposure to audiences of over 100 million people for their games, partnerships with independent musicians, and other creatives, proves an attractive win-win situation.

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