Simple, Elegant Genius: The BBC's Transmedia Sherlock - Part 1

Here’s my favourite recent integrated transmedia production. I put this one together for a talk for the Transmédia Journées Festival in Montreal and I’m still a little OCD about following the Sherlock Twitter streams. And heads up! there are small spoilers here though I've avoided the biggies. If you don't want to know anything, DON'T READ!

 

What I really like about the BBC’s approach to creating transmedia content for Sherlock was that the show’s producers kept everything super simple and everything they created was worked back into the show as important story points.  The efficacy, unity and coherence across platforms is likely helped by the fact that Steven Moffat is co-creator, an executive producer, and co-writer, with Mark Gatiss. 

 

Having chosen to make the Sherlock series a contemporary reworking of Conan Doyle’s original stories, it makes perfect sense that the characters blog, and that they’re active, no - hyper-active on Twitter. This decision then supports all kinds of cross-referencing between the blogs and blog content during the episodes.

 

That Watson blogs is mentioned in the first episode of Season One, when Sherlock states that he looked at it before meeting with Watson. Then as the episodes progress, Watson posts his accounts of Holmes’ cases through his blog, cross-linking to Holmes’ blog, The Science of Deduction  and Holmes’ cross-links back, referring those who are interested in his cases to read Watson’s posts. 

 

Watson’s blog also pushes fans quite directly to help solve the cryptic puzzles Holmes is posting on his site: 


Secret_code_2012-03-07_at_1

The blog hosts further exchanges between Watson and Holmes, reinforcing their characterrs, as in this exchange after Watson posts his first case study, A Study in Pink:

 

H__w_milk

Moffat and Gatiss also use Watson’s blog to return to key moments within the TV episodes, as in the final confrontation with Moriarty in The Great Game, where the reader re-experiences the moment in which Watson is very close to death in multiple ways from his pov.

 

Season 2 then ramps up the integration of Watson’s digital life into the show and during episodes we see him writing his blog, 

 

Wats_writing_2_2012-02-19_at_9

 

Holmes irritated at the sky-rocketing number of views Watson’s blog is getting, 

 

H_irritated_2012-02-19_at_9

 

and headlines on Holmes’ becoming a “Net Phenomenon” because of the attention Watson’s blog and case studies are generating.

 

Net_phenom_2012-02-19_at_9

Holmes posts key documents onto his blog, The Science of Deduction, that connect back significantly to mysteries in given episodes. (I’m not going to spoil it! You will find it :)

 

Sh_blog_2012-02-20_at_4

 

The production then nicely breaks the fourth wall when Watson’s blog is then 'hacked' and a video filmed by someone breaking into their apartment is posted via his blog (again, I’m not giving this one away).

 

Hacked_2012-02-20_at_5

 

And ditto with the inclusion of a BBC video reporting on the climactic ending of Season Two, again, cross-posted to Watson’s blog,

 

Bbc_report_2012-03-07_at_1

 

And as Season Two ends with the mystery of Holmes’ fate and character, and Watson’s declaration that 'I’ll always believe in him,' fans across the globe take up the invitation and begin posting affirmations of their faith as well.

Believe_1_2012-03-07_at_1
Believe_2_2012-03-07_at_1
Believe_4_2012-03-07_at_1

Believe_8_2012-03-07_at_1

 

This is a smattering of the transmedia content developed for and generated by the BBC’s Sherlock. What’s really fab is that you can see how the show’s producers have started a movement that lives on after the end of Season Two, in a community that continues to engage with and create content around the show, waiting for Season Three. Genius.

 

Part Two will dip into other social media content developed around the show and there is a lot of it!


 

 

It's a MATH ARG! Whoot! Six to Start and BBC Team Up for “The Code Challenge” Transmedia Experience | ARGNet

Media_httpwwwargncomi_uvtgn

June 28, 2011 · By Kris Nordgren

"Six to Start and the BBC have teamed up to create a transmedia experience tied in with BBC Two documentary The Code, expected to air at the end of July. The Code is presented by Professor of Mathematics Marcus du Sautoy (Horizon on BBC2, The Beauty of Diagrams on BBC4) and explores how the world around us conforms to and can be explained by mathematical codes. Six to Start are next-generation storytellers with plenty of experience creating storytelling projects for different clients, often in the form of alternate reality games or treasure hunts. They’ve worked with the BBC before on projects like Spooks: Code 9 and Seven Ages Quest. As a first for the BBC and possibly a world first, an interactive experience called The Code Challenge has been seamlessly integrated in the writing and filming of The Code since inception. Viewers can participate in an engaging treasure hunt which will take place before, during, and after the series that will extend their understanding of basic mathematical principles.

The Code Challenge begins well before the airing of the actual show. Soon, 1000 people in the UK will receive a secret message with one of the first puzzles of the challenge. For a chance to be one of those 1000, keep an eye on Twitter @bbccode and apply via Twitter or e-mail. A few weeks before the show airs, several Flash games containing clues, puzzles, and more information about the Code will also appear online. The series itself is expected to air at the end of July and will be split into three 60-minute episodes: Magic Numbers, Nature’s Building Blocks and Predicting the Future. Six clues are connected to each episode. Three will be hidden in the programme itself, which can be watched live on BBC Two or on BBC iPlayer. One community clue can only be solved by working together with a group of players. Two further clues will be revealed on the blog and through a Flash game. Players can then enter the six answers they found for each episode into the ‘codebreaker’ to receive three passwords with which they can unlock the ultimate challenge.

The Code Challenge is conceived so everyone can play, even those with no prior understanding of maths or ARG experience, although the final stages of the treasure hunt will be increasingly challenging...."

Read the full post on argn.com