University of Valencia logo Logo Master's Degree in Audiovisual Contents and Formats Logo del portal

15 May 2014 - Aula Magna of the Universitat de València

  • The consolidation of the Internet as a platform for the distribution of audiovisual contents and the irruption of mobile communication devices, especially tablets or phones, are fundamental when we talk about multi-display environments able  to offer constant connectivity, very desired by young people.
  • Our present scenario makes us think in new narrative formulas, but also in business models, different from the traditional ones which adapt to the variety of languages and formats. Nowadays, the stories are expressed and developed by means of a great number of devices.
  • There are several ways to interpret the impact of this consumption which goes beyond television. The mysteries are specially remarkable in the Spanish audiovisual system, lost in an absolute vagueness.
  • For many people, digital convergence, instead of representing the erosion of television as an audiovisual reference, is strengthening it. This is shown by the constant consumption in the last years and the ability to adapt to the new scenario of television companies.
  • At the same time, the consumption of conventional television is experiencing important changes. The access to television is more individualised each time, which will force the channels to generate more personalised products and contents.
  • We are living a radical cultural change, a “new paradigm”, according to other people. A transformation process that is not a substitutive. Both ways to access audiovisual contents must coexist for a while, because television companies want to be hegemonic in the audiovisual business and are making important efforts to be well situated in the process of change towards a model which is yet uncertain.   An effort that, in the case of state televisions, is still not profitable. It is made for serving the audience.
  • It would be preferable to talk about “connected” television, instead of “intelligent” television, in order to explain the tight relationship between the television and the net.
  • The other display devices have changed in the last years and forever the consumption patterns of audiovisual contents of an audience that is more and more active. The user has become a fan and requires the ability to access the contents when he or she wants, without programming impositions.
  • New actors appear in the content business like manufacturers, telecommunication companies or audiovisual distribution platforms. Together with the mobile devices, the way we design the contents from the beginning is being modified. The contents need to be thought in a transmedia scenario.
  • The phenomenon is not new, but its impact in the audiovisual industry may be. Following the theorists, the transmedia contents are those short stories which are distributed by means of different formats and in which the audience has a very active role in the appropriation and creation of new materials.
  • Transmedia narration does not appeal to only one story but to the creation of a universe in which all the pieces have to be coherent short stories. The objective is that the users can enter a world they want to know everything about and a world they want to discover by themselves and on their own, without intermediaries. This is why, in transmedia contents, the ideas of game, engagement or user immersion in the narrative device, are encouraged.
  • To achieve the success of these products the role of the transmedia producer is essential. They give coherence to the whole narrative universe. The creation of a documents that serves as a guide is also indispensable.  In any case, the most important thing is to have a story to tell.