mediaZoo transmedia hub is an online platform for organisations and individuals who are actively involved or have a shared interest in transmedia. We offer a platform to inform, promote and exchange ideas and experiences in the field of transmedia; present and promote projects, and give an overview of workshops, funding possibilities and financing models.

Publisher: Methuen
ISBN-10: 1408129094 / ISBN-13: 9781408129098

Based on his popular international C.O.N.F.L.I.C.T. seminars, television producer Robert Thirkell provides a professional toolkit for creating compelling storylines for factual or reality-based film and television.
The book features program examples from the UK and U.S. and includes well-known series such as Kitchen Nightmares, Wife Swap, The Apprentice, Undercover Boss and Oprah’s Big Give, plus advice from leading filmmakers and TV producers on the process of finding stories and characters, structuring scripts, filming, editing, delivery, and attracting an audience.
As anyone who has watched a video on YouTube knows, amateur video usually focuses on subject areas rather than storyline construction. To make the jump to professional reality programming and engage your audience, video producers must know how to identify the components of story and organize them, employing narrative construction while not interfering with the events of the documentary. This book will become the professional handbook for this popular genre.

Excerpt from the text:
"The Hundred Rules of Television:
To create winners, get different genres banging into each other.
Pick a mythic story, and stick to it.
Films do not need introductions, they need to get going, so get rid of the next ten minutes.
Your subject and story should seem big, while being small enough to film."

Publisher: NYU Press (August 1, 2006)
ISBN-10: 9780814742815 / ISBN-13: 978-0814742815

Henry Jenkins, founder and director of MIT's comparative media studies program, debunks outdated ideas of the digital revolution in this remarkable book, proving that new media will not simply replace old media, but rather will learn to interact with it in a complex relationship he calls "convergence culture." The book's goal is to explain how convergence is currently impacting the relationship among media audiences, producers and content, a far from easy undertaking. As Jenkins says, "there will be no magical black box that puts everything in order again." Jenkins takes pains to prove that the notion of convergence culture is not primarily a technological revolution; through a number of well-chosen examples, Jenkins shows that it is more a cultural shift, dependent on the active participation of the consumers working in a social dynamic. He references recent media franchises like Survivor, The Matrix, and American Idol to show how the new participatory culture of consumers can be utilized for popular success and increased exposure. Jenkins' insights are gripping and his prose is surprisingly entertaining and lucid for a book that is, at its core, intellectually rigorous. Though wordy at times, Jenkins' impressive ability to break down complex concepts into readable prose makes this study vital and engaging.

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Publisher: Norton
ISBN-10: 0393076016 / ISBN-13: 978-0393076011

Not long ago we were spectators, passive consumers of mass media. Now, on YouTube, blogs, Facebook and Twitter, we are media. While we watch more television than ever before, how we watch it is changing in ways we have barely slowed down to register. No longer content in our traditional role as couch potatoes, we approach television shows, films, even advertising as invitations to participate-as experiences to immerse ourselves in at will. In this field guide to the visionaries-and the fans-who are reinventing the art of storytelling, Frank Rose introduces us to people like Will Wright (The Sims), James Cameron (Avatar), Damon Lindelof (Lost) and dozens of others whose ideas are changing how we play, how we relax and even how we think. The Art of Immersion is an eye-opening look at the shifting shape of entertainment today.

As a contributing editor at Wired, Frank Rose has covered Sony's gamble on PlayStation 3 to the posthumous career of Philip K. Dick. His other books include West of Eden.

Publisher: Megafilms
ISBN-10: 0976458101 / ISBN-13: 978-0976458104

Fernanda Rossi is a writer, filmmaker and story consultant who helps filmmakers craft the story structure of their films in all stages of the filmmaking process. She has doctored over 100 documentaries and fiction scripts.

Book description:
In order to raise money to make a documentary, it is essential to produce a trailer that will capture the imagination and confidence of grant-makers and investors. "Trailer Mechanics" guides the filmmaker step-by-step through the entire process of making such fundraising trailers.

UVK Verlagsgesellschaft mbH; Auflage: 2. überarb. Aufl. 2008
ISBN 978-3-86764-113-5

At the moment the book is only available in German, but translations into other European languages are planned!

Ein gelungener Pitch kann nicht hoch genug eingeschätzt werden, man darf ihn deshalb auch nicht dem Zufall überlassen!
„Pitching“ bedeutet »Präsentieren auf dem Punkt« – der richtige „Pitch“ eines Filmprojektes entscheidet in der Regel über seine Chancen auf eine Realisierung.
Es geht also nicht darum, seine Geschichte in Einzelheiten zu erzählen, sondern sie überzeugend und präzise zu verkaufen – eine Kunst, die auch brillante Autoren und Produzenten nicht immer perfekt beherrschen.

In der stark überarbeiteten und aktualisierten Neuauflage ihres Buches liefert Sibylle Kurz Techniken und praktische Tipps, die Filmschaffenden helfen sollen, sich und ihre Filmprojekte prägnant und mitreißend zu präsentieren. Die Gesprächsvorbereitung mit der eingehenden Klarheit über die eigenen Stärken und Schwächen sowie die Einschätzung seines Gegenübers sind dabei das A und O.

Sibylle Kurz hilft zu klären, welche Zielsetzungen man mit seinem Pitch verbindet, wie man kommuniziert und mit seinen Gesprächspartnern, mit Produzenten, Redakteuren, Filmförderern oder Verleihern ein Verhältnis aus Kreativität, Professionalität und Vertrauen herstellt.

Studio City: Michael Wieser Productions, 1998.
German edition. Frankfurt a.M.: Zweitausendundeins, 2001.
ISBN 3-8615-0228-3

At the beginning of The Writer's Journey, Christopher Vogler asserts that "all stories consist of a few common structural elements found universally in myths, fairy tales, dreams, and movies." Some may be hard-pressed to accept this idea (and will wonder how storytellers from Homer to Shakespeare to Robert Altman might respond to the proposition). Others may imagine that since Vogler uses movies like the Star Wars trilogy and The Lion King to defend his mythological philosophy, he is, unwittingly, listing the reasons why Hollywood films of the last 20 years have been so unimaginative. But there's no doubt that Vogler's notion, based on psychological writings by Carl Jung and the mythmaking philosophy of Joseph Campbell, has been profoundly influential. Many screenwriters have used Vogler's volume to understand why certain scenarios sell, and to discover a blueprint for creating mythic stories of their own.

Manchester Univ. Press, 1996.
ISBN 0-7190-4687-4

This work looks at the functions of documentary in film and television. Its attempts to depict reality and to comment on it have provoked disagreement from the 1920s to the present day. Recent debates about knowledge and representation, and about the changing character of public culture have increased its interest and relevance. The author presents a clear view of the theoretical issues and critical debates about documentary, and discusses the development of the main styles and approaches, including dramadocs and fly-on-the-wall. The book also looks at the dual identity of work in documentary as both artefact and as a reference. This work provides an analysis of specific examples of powerful documentary films and programmes such as: "Cathy Come Home" (whose presentation of homelessness and young women had enormous impact); "Life and Times of Rosie the Rivetter" (depicting the treatment of women in US factories during World War II); and "When the Dog Bites" (a view of life in the previously industrial town of Consett following the closure of the steel works).

If you are interested in participating in the MEDIA PROGRAMME, we recommend that you take contact with the MEDIA DESK/ ANTENNAE in your country. They can help you with information and advice.

Jennifer Merin from About.com presents her list of the 10 best documentary films of the year 2010.

TIME OUT New York presents a list of The 50 best documentaries of all time
by David Fear, Joshua Rothkopf and Keith Uhlich

'German Documentaries' is the international label for the promotion of German documentary films abroad. An initiative of the German Documentary Association AGDOK and German Films Service + Marketing GmbH, 'German Documentaries' presents German non-fiction films at international festivals and markets, and organizes co-production meetings and film series. 'German Documentaries' also publishes an annual catalogue featuring some 200 new films which are available for distribution worldwide.