WORK
INVESTMENT
Media without borders
An EU grant will help Wallonia develop transmedia in Europe
BY TOM PEETERS
C
onsumers no longer digest their
information on one screen;
they use different media on
multiple screens, platforms and
devices. Transmedia is about spreading
audiovisual content all over. Its
about watching your football team on
television while checking the game stats
online on your smartphone. Its about
going to the movies after being drawn in
by a customised trailer on social media.
The ultimate goal
is to create new
products, markets
and jobs
PIERRE COLLIN
10
wallonia and brussels magazine
AUTUMN 2014
The EU has granted funding of 2
million to the Eurotransmedia project,
enabling the development of this new
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were setting up a European research
agenda, bringing together the ideas
of world-class experts on how to use
media screens in the future, says
Pierre Collin from the Twist business
cluster, whos managing the project.
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products, markets and jobs.
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evolving area with big technological,
economic and creative challenges.
As the executive manager of Twist
(Technologies Wallonnes de lImage,
du Son et du Texte), Collin knows
what hes talking about. Established
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business network in the sector of
digital audiovisual and multimedia
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accelerator of economic development,
he emphasises. Hes currently running
the three-year Eurotransmedia project,
which is funded by the EU Regions of
Knowledge programme.
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opportunities for convergence, its
only logical that Europe is trying to
facilitate the transition from monomedia to transmedia, supporting
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gathers media clusters to bridge digital
content with emerging technologies.
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European regions Wallonia, ÎleGH)UDQFH &DWDORQLD 6NnQH DURXQG
Malmö in Sweden) and Estonia
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cannot be stopped by borders, we
were encouraged by the EU to search
for a partner outside Europe, Collin
explains.
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of transmedia. The federal Canada
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million to invest in the local television
and digital media industries, and
for three years it has only supported
projects that spread their content over
at least two media. If you stay monomedia there, you dont get subsidies
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it was one of the main reasons to start
investing in transmedia.
In the future, Collin thinks Europe
can move its subsidy policy in this
direction, but were not that far
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are designing a strategic European
agenda, considering the best ways to
free content from only one medium.
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year 2030? is a crucial question we
asked ourselves, Collin says.
The Eurotransmedia project started on
September 1 last year. In the meantime,
a thorough analysis of the transmedia
industry in the regions concerned
was made and a global study about
media consumption in Europe, North
America and Asia was launched,
interviewing experts in all territories.
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edge Liège-based technology company
EVS and the television chains RTL and
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The results were due to be presented in
early October to a jury of eight experts,
all specialised in a different media
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(mobile telephony), Ubisoft (games),
Média-Participations (publishing) and
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gathered specialists in storytelling and
second-screen technology, giving us
insights into how we can tell a story
through multiple media.
According to Collin, the biggest
challenge is not the technological
or the economic one, though a lot
of convergence issues still have to
be solved and budgets will need to
increase, since theyre no longer
working with a cultural product
say books or movies being spread
through one medium.
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acquainted with only one grammar:
theirs. They still work under a onemedium paradigm, such as writing
a scenario for a movie. In Europe
especially, a few paradigms still need
to fall down. A European creative often
works by himself, unlike in the US,
where working in teams is much more
common.
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scenarists who specialise in different
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and stories for different screens can
evolve
simultaneously,
enabling
the protagonists to really think
transmedia. We need to free the
content from its medium. I think thats
what Europe wants, too, and it will be
a blessing for the international career
of our cultural products, which will be
forced to seek global appreciation.
The one thing thats still missing for
Collin is a reference project, especially
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movie Avatar did for Stereoscopic 3D,
which already represents 20 percent of
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is needed. To get a hold of that, the
plan is to identify what the technology
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can start to mark new goals and we
will try to represent transmedia SMEs
in a new consortium, developing and
launching new products, creating new
markets, all based on our conclusions.
In doing this we can hopefully create a
European transmedia style.
N WWW.TWIST-CLUSTER.COM
wallonia and brussels magazine
AUTUMN 2014
11
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