We would like You to tell a story… by Yomi Ayeni

Life is a story – one full of plots, sub-plots, twists and turns. It has many nuances, some lead the inquisitive minded on exciting adventures, others teach us not to be nosey, but you never know until you’ve taken that leap of faith whether you’re on course for a life changing experience.

Clockwork Watch is our most recent story  – although it’s been in script form for the past 3 years, the support of our patrons has given us the confidence to say this could be one of the most engaging stories ever told. Want to know why? First it’s a ‘Love Story’ – set in a mad retro-futurist world where anyone can re-invent themselves in  neo-Victorian chic. It’s a sandpit where you can experience a make believe universe, and interact with a story narrative.

Jay Bushman

Jay Bushman - Attendant at the London Zoological Gardens

This is why we have set Clockwork Watch at the very early stage of the ‘steampunk’ era, at a time when mechanical devices were the only source of power, and a ‘maker’ ethic led to some of the most amazing inventions of the industrial age. While we’re itching to see what contraptions and personas people conjure up for our live events, we’re also eager to ‘co-create’ what we’ll call ‘Clockwork World’.

Audiences involvement in Clockwork Watch was always destined to go beyond just receiving the perks listed on our IndieGoGo crowdfunding campaign. People who’ve followed my work know participation is central to everything I create, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that  some of our funders have been sketched  into our first  graphic novel: “The Arrival”, and we’ve started inviting them to help  tell the story of their characters.

Hamish Jenkinson

Hamish Jenkinson having afternoon tea in the Horniman Museum Conservatory

We are not restricting storytelling to words alone,  contributions can be in the form of tweets, photographs, drawings or even video clips. So we’re throwing the door open for you to become a storyteller. Transmedia is all about participation, and we believe that through co-creation we can tell OUR story together.

 

Team Props

Having spent the best part of last week, thanking our funders, we managed to get ‘Thank You / Xmas Cards’ out to almost everyone… Some said they arrived a bit early!

“Cheers for this year’s first Xmas card #november”

The postal service delivered our 2nd class cards in under 24 hours! This came Pink Try mp3 download as a surprise, but it’s nice to know they’re getting through before the Xmas rush, and people love them.

Happy Funder

Image courtesy of April

More Goodies

Image courtesy of Krystyn

After a couple of meetings, phone chats and Skype conference calls, we’ve finally nailed down our timeline –  it’s a tight fit, but we’re happy all the touch-points and facets will encourage interaction on many levels. Call box so far away.

While focusing on building the story, we’re also mindful of making it accessible – an immersive universe with no interaction is a waste of effort, so each element is set-up to evoke several actions.

Clockwork Watch is an independent project, we have limited resources and will need to beg, steal and borrow all the way through, but we have high hopes that strategic partnerships will elevate this project to a wider audience.

 

Congratulations – You Funded Us!

The preamble to this post is stored on our FaceBook page, which is where we coordinated our crowdsourcing efforts.

The general gist is we raised $10k (ten thousand dollars) through crowdfunding! Phew….

So what’s this all about? Clockwork Watch is a “transmedia” steampunk story starting in a limited run of two graphic novels. The Clockwork Watch world will visit festivals over the Summer of 2012, where you’ll be able to interact with elements of the narrative within a touring theatrical piece. This will be followed by a theatrical spectacular to be given a month’s residency at a London theatre. Each element builds on the graphic novel story, and contains hidden extras for the curious follower. The process feeds into a feature film which sees the story through to its unexpected conclusion… But as with all things transmedia – there’s always more than meets the eye.

So, we start with The Arrival – the first chapter in a year long story. All funders that have donated above $40 are being incorporated into the artwork of either The Arrival or Breakaway as characters in the story. They become characters in their first comic, but that is not where the fun ends. All contributors to this adventure will hopefully become active participants in Clockwork Watch.

On behalf of the team working behind the scenes to make this happen – Corey Brotherson, Alison Norrington, Sam Howey Nunn, Jennie Gyllblad, David Varela, and Yomi Ayeni – as well as the many supporters – THANK YOU!

We have funding!

Our IndieGoGo Funding Target is Met!

We Made The Target