This school year is almost finished. This is the time to look into which subjects will have to be reviewed. I am now working on the subject of web content. Traditionally a very text focused subject, in which the students have to write articles for an e-zine We are now aiming to broaden the subject to include other forms of content. I then started wondering if there is something like cross-medial writing. The Amsterdam college offers a module with such a name. It is, however, focused on writing a cross-medial concept, instead producing one. Do you need to be taught to produce cross-medial content? Do you need separate rules? Wouldn’t you agree that every media has got its own rules? What is so special about cross-media? Has it got its own ‘grammar’? I do not have a ready-made answer. But I think we should start to look at the theory about (digital) storytelling. In cross-media it also all about the story. Searching You Tube of found these movies by Ira Glass, host and producer of the well known radio and television show This American Life.

In the first part he tells about the building blocks of a good story. The two most important building blocks are the use of anecdotes and questions of moments of reflection. It’s the trick to switch between them at the appropriate moment.
In the second part Glass elaborates on the issues in finding a decent story. Subsequently you have to be very strict which parts you will add to your story. In the last two videos Glass mainly talks about a number of pitfalls, among others he mentions that you can demand too much of yourself if you are a rookie in story telling. To prove that he learned the hard way, he puts on an old radio piece of himself, which he then totally burns to the ground. That is the main power of these video’s; they are not just informative, but alos entertaining. Have a look!

It could be useful to see if this kind of advices can contribute to the birth of a cross-medial grammar. Does anyone know if attempts were made to do so?

tagged with: cross-medial, storytelling, grammar

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