When I found out that Fontys Academy for Creative Industries has a Transmedia Storytelling Lab, I knew I had to work there. Transmedia storytelling was the subject of my Master’s thesis, and I wanted to put the knowledge I’d gained to good use. A Google search turned up the course description for the Minor Transmedia Storytelling at Fontys. Using the email address I found in the document, I got in touch with the Lab’s founder, Eefje Op den Buysch. She kindly invited me to visit the Lab, where she and her colleague Maaike Rijnders showed me around. Three editions in at that point, the Minor was proving to be popular, and they could use a third teacher there. A vacancy was announced, I applied for the job, and after a procedure that included giving a test lecture, I was hired. Woohoo!

1 February 2015 was officially my first day on the job. Eight days later, the fourth edition of the Minor Transmedia Storytelling started. We soon divided the lectures between us, based on each person’s expertise. Eefje would focus on Tools and technological matters, Maaike on Transmedia Theory and I would teach Narratology (or Storytelling, as we’ve dubbed it in later editions). In addition, we would act as coaches for the student teams while they were busy making their actual transmedia productions. In various editions, students have either worked for a client or based on a theme that we provide them with. Their goal is to create a transmedia production, so, a story that takes place across different media, with each part adding something unique to the user’s experience.

One of the stand-out projects of the fourth Minor was a campaign to find and appeal to readers of Young Adult novels. The case study video they made, which I’ve included below, goes a long way towards explaining what we ask our students to do in the Minor.

The Minor after that saw one of our student teams create a transmedia production based on local cultural heritage in Tilburg. The starting point for the group was the parallel between Syrian refugees coming to the Netherlands in 2015, and Belgian refugees doing the same 100 years earlier. The students’ layered, interactive story takes the user from the regional archive to the darkest places in the Spoorzone, a historical location that has enjoyed renewed attention over the past few years. This student team made a case study video too, which is well worth a watch for their use of technologies like virtual reality (VR), 360 degree videos and for the amazing quality of the film sections.

By now – I’m writing this in December 2016 – the Minor Transmedia Storytelling is in the final stages of its seventh edition. Over the course of the past few years, we’ve styled and restyled the precise shape of the Minor, to best suit the needs and talents of our students. We’ve welcomed many wonderful guests to the Lab, such as the creative minds behind Spektor and Submarine, and lecturer Gemma van der Kamp. Several of our colleagues at the Academy for Creative Industries have given guest lectures. We’ve even had the pleasure of welcoming back some of our own alumni, to tell new Minor participants about their experiences.

The Transmedia Storytelling Lab at Fontys Academy for Creative Industries offers more than the Minor, though. I’ll soon write about the other great projects that start there, and that take us anywhere – even abroad…