Introduction to Interactive Screenwriting by Marc Roberge
Presentation by Marc Roberge, CREO screenwriter, and professor of interactive screenwriting at INIS, in the context of our Digital Ludology Workshop.
Marc Roberge has written scripts for numerous TV series (youth, documentary, drama) for over 10 years. In addition to writing for television and film, Marc Roberge co-wrote and co-produced the interactive site of scientific vulgarization “The Mission, a great scientific adventure!” produced by the National Film Board of Canada. This website has been widely recognized for the excellence of its content.
Roberge holds the post of interactive screenwriter for CREO since 2005, where he has conceived of and developed many serious games (Sayansi, Mission : Rescapé, M.A.R.S) combining playful navigation with contents of encyclopedic proportions. For the past 5 years, Roberge has being teaching interactive screenwriting in the Interactive Media Programme at INIS. He also sits on the board of directors of SARTEC and enjoys the occasional storytelling event or festival.
“Introduction to Interactive Screenwriting” Presentation
The “Introduction to Interactive Screenwriting” workshop provides an overview of the main stages of creating a multimedia script. The presentation will consist of highlighting, through various concrete examples, the necessary steps required to create a successful interactive script.
The Workshop will cover the following stages:
1. Choosing the subject
2. Defining the purpose, and general and specific objectives of the project
3. Defining the target audience and their expectations
4. Identifying how the project will meet the expectations of the target audience
5. Defining the medium (DVD-ROM, interactive website, mobile phone, etc.) and establishing their minimum requirements
6. Reviewing comparable media (Studying the competition)
7. Brainstorming / research to develop a concept (type of product, metaphor, comparative, etc.).
8. Establishing the overall concept, and drafting guidelines
9. Describing how the concept meets the goals and objectives (benefits of the concept)
10. Writing the synopsis (or equivalent)
- Brief description of the story, intentions and content.
- Describing the characters (if any) and how they will be presented to the user, explaining their relationship with the content, history, etc.
- Developing a comprehensive tree/global mind map first.
11. Developing the content
- Identifying and combining elements of the same nature
- Defining items to be created or found (percentage) in audio and video with examples
- In the case of a game, setting and writing the “game design”
12. Setting processing, design interfaces
- Setting the type of architecture (the degree of interactivity of the product)
- Ergonomics and usability, function, the look and feel (color, texture, contours, typography, sound, accessories, buttons, icons, etc.).
13. Developing a comprehensive tree
14. Writing the preliminary script
15. * Defining the tools of production and checking for possible technical problems (in collaboration with the programmer, integrator and facilitator)
16. * Creating the storyboard (to be determined by the team with whom you work)
17. * Establishing the technical pipeline (determined by the team with whom you work)
18. * Establishing a production budget (often imposed from the beginning)
* These steps are not only for the writer, but the role she plays is crucial.