One story form is obscure and modern.\u00a0 It\u2019s called transmedia. The other form of storytelling dates back centuries and is universally known. It\u2019s opera. Thanks to some students in the Transmedia Projects course in the School of Communication and Media, plus a couple of extremely open-minded and forward-looking education directors at the Metropolitan Opera Guild, the obscure has met the obvious; transmedia storytelling is helping young public school children throughout the Metropolitan New York area learn \u2013 and actually get excited about \u2013 opera.<\/p>\n
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Stuart Holt and Carianne Bennett are involved in community outreach and educational programs for the Metropolitan Opera Guild Education Outreach programs. Their job seems a daunting one \u2013 teaching public school children to learn and love opera. And, they\u2019re armed with a variety of Guild programs, such as Urban voices, an outreach to inner city schools; Access Opera, which gives students the opportunity to see an opera at the Met; and there\u2019s even a program that allows students to create their own operas.<\/p>\n
As you can see, the Guild offers a host of music educational opportunities to schools, so when Transmedia instructor Larry Weiner approached them a couple of years ago with the idea of adding cross-platform storytelling techniques, or, transmedia, Holt and Bennett were intrigued and decided to see how the additional tool could help them.<\/p>\n
After a number of experiments in previous semesters with various social platforms, such as Facebook and Tumblr, the decision was made to try animations and post them to the Guild\u2019s Youtube, and then its Vimeo channels. This semester, the Guild decided to make the transmedia animations part of what the Guild refers to as its \u201cPathways to Understanding\u201d packages which are filled with supplemental material on each opera and supplied to educators to help direct their students\u2019 opera education.<\/p>\n
This semester, three SCM Transmedia Projects students \u2013 Don\u2019a Smith, Kinga Kosmala and Brianna Capik, had the assignment of creating transmedia stories based on one of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart\u2019s lesser-known works, \u201cThe Abduction From the Seraglio,\u201d or as it\u2019s better known by its German title\u00a0 — “Die Entf\u00fchrung aus dem Serail.\u201d\u00a0 The transmedia stories they created were a series of nearly a dozen one to two minute animated videos that focused on character, plot development, and the elements of opera.\u00a0 Since the story takes place in Turkey, another animated short was created in which the opera\u2019s lead character, the Pasha Selim, takes the school children on a tour of his country.<\/p>\n
Once the scripts were approved, the videos were created using a website known as Goanimate.\u00a0 Then, text to speech placeholders was inserted to give Bennett and Holt a sense of the story. Once those were approved, students from the theater department \u2013 Annaliese Capero, Virginia Vass, Alexander Carr, Nick Monaldo, and Jason Smith recorded the voices. Music and sound effects were added. The final versions were then delivered to Bennett.<\/p>\n
According to Capik, a senior Organizational Communication student, \u201cCreating the videos for the Metropolitan Opera Guild was something new and exciting for me. I’ve never worked in this medium nor have I ever worked closely with an organization such as the Metropolitan Opera Guild.\u00a0 Transmedia, in general, is a new concept for me, but through this project, I found that Transmedia is much more than just building upon and promoting a brand, it can also be used as a tool for teaching and learning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bennett, the manager of the Guild\u2019s Access Opera program, expresses her appreciation of the ongoing partnership with SCM.\u00a0 \u201cThe Metropolitan Opera Guild\u2019s partnership program with the transmedia class at Montclair State University has been an eye-opening and deeply informative experience. The students at MSU bring knowledge, perspective, and energy to a topic [opera] that many younger people believe to be dense and somewhat contrived. By making short interactive video clips that follow the plot of the opera The Abduction from the Seraglio, younger students participating in the Guild\u2019s final dress rehearsal program are actively engaged by the character-driven storyline and can also explore the music in a new way. My only regret with the partnership is that we didn\u2019t start it sooner!\u201d<\/p>\n
The relationship with the Guild has dated back to 2010, when, for two years, the Metropolitan Opera Guild cosponsored The Curtain Call Awards, which was a classical singing competition for high school students. When that event ended, the relationship went dormant, until the School began offering a course in transmedia.<\/p>\n