The Art of Immersion: How the Digital Generation Is Remaking Hollywood, Madison Avenue, and the Way We Tell Stories

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The Art of Immersion: How the Digital Generation Is Remaking Hollywood, Madison Avenue, and the Way We Tell Stories

by Frank Rose (Goodreads Author)

3.82 of 5 stars 3.82 · rating details · 250 ratings · 39 reviews

A field guide to the visionaries—and the fans—who are reinventing the art of storytelling.

Not long ago we were spectators, passive consumers of mass media. Now, on YouTube and blogs and Facebook and Twitter, we are media. And 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...more

Hardcover, 354 pages

Published February 21st 2011 by W. W. Norton & Company (first published January 15th 2011)

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Sep 05, 2012 Andrew rated it 4 of 5 stars

Hyperlink films, like hyperlinks themselves, are really about simultaneity—the sense that you can be seeing one thing and instantly switch to something else that’s occurring at the same time. At some basic level, the implication is that we exist in a multiverse. Simultaneity as the salient fact of our culture long predates the Internet. It was television that got people acclimated to the idea—especially after remote controls started to proliferate in the seventies. But simultaneity predates even...more Hyperlink films, like hyperlinks themselves, are really about simultaneity—the sense that you can be seeing one thing and instantly switch to something else that’s occurring at the same time. At some basic level, the implication is that we exist in a multiverse. Simultaneity as the salient fact of our culture long predates the Internet. It was television that got people acclimated to the idea—especially after remote controls started to proliferate in the seventies. But simultaneity predates even broadcasting. It began with the nineteenth-century inventors like Alexander Graham Bell, who gave us the telephone; and Nikola Tesla, who pioneered the development of alternating current.

“The greatest of all reversals occurred with electricity,” Marshall McLuhan wrote in Understanding Media, “that ended sequence by making things instant.” That ended sequence: from that point on, McLuhan was saying, the demise of sequential narrative was inevitable.

***

Frank Rose’s The Art of Immersion occupies an interesting cross-section between marketing and art—more specifically, the production of art. Throughout history, the two have not always been so intimately entwined, but we live now in an age where they are, in fact, inseparable.

The water cooler concept is at the heart of Rose’s argument—the understanding that as individuals, we (a broad percentage of us, at least) want to somehow participate in our world and the narratives constructed therein. Often that participation is passive (watching television, reading a book), but Rose’s thesis shows that passive role turning active. Through things like Alternate/Augmented Reality gaming (real-world treasure hunts), Web 2.0-based social immersion (Twitter, Facebook, and blogging), and the crossing of mediums in ways that have not before been achieved, storytelling has changed, and is still changing, dramatically.

In many cases, the narrative implications are minimal, and it is the social element—the marketing language, distribution, and social delineation—that is seeing the largest push. Using the Why So Serious? alternate reality game that led to participants, after jumping through a series of real-world hoops, to being given a glimpse of 2008’s The Dark Knight and Heath Ledger’s Joker before anyone else was an early successful example of the sort of event posited by Jane McGonigal in her 2011 book Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. Games (video games, specifically), though often lacking in terms of narrative construction and development, offer a feeling of accomplishment that few other artistic mediums do—a sense that, as a player, the individual has played a part in the telling of a narrative. Whether or not that narrative was decided in full prior to the gamer’s involvement changes depending on the type of game being played—an open-world role-playing game versus a platformer, for example—but the rewards, to a large degree, remain the same: a heightened sense of immersion in the story being told. In the case of The Dark Knight, individuals participating in the Why So Serious? game did not, of course, have any direct impact on the film’s actual narrative, but their actions involved them in what eventually became a blockbuster cultural experience—and their voices, from that initial screening, bled into the cultural hive mind, playing part and parcel with the film’s marketing message regarding Ledger’s final performance and its cinematic impact.

While alternate reality games involve human interaction on a grand physical scale, smaller digital pushes are also being made. Twitter, for example, played host during Mad Men’s infancy to individuals writing as its main characters—in their voices, in their time period. This was an unexpected event: free detailed marketing, of a sort, by fans of the show. Offering individuals both the chance to be creative as well as to extend their preferred cultural and narrative sandbox, several companies and studios have learned to encourage these types of viewer interactions, seeing them as a means of drawing in a larger crowd by allowing for the infinite expansion, sometimes beyond their control, of their initial creative concept.

Going even further are the cultural touchstones like Lost, which have adopted the Easter egg approach: hiding extra content within the program itself, encouraging (but not demanding) audience participation. By seeking out and researching seemingly innocuous clues, such as a specific book seen in one shot, or a piece of art or a statue seen in another, and by telling their story in a non-linear manner, the creators and writers of Lost courted audience sleuthing on a grand scale, without ever making the extra material necessary for the casual viewer to understand the larger narrative. In the process they created a narrative of differing dimensions: a surface-level battle between good and evil on an island of mystery for the casual audience; and a deeper, semiotic-laced discussion for those wanting to dive in to attempt to discover the hidden meanings and mysteries yet revealed.

In The Art of Immersion, Rose posits this level of immersion, be it for creative desires or for the needs of a marketing department, as the future of narratives. What isn’t covered to the same extent, unfortunately, is the possibility that, for some, employment of too many devices in too many different ways might in fact damage the sense of immersion—case in point, a television show or a book holding key details from the audience in an effort to shepherd them to a website or online resource to fill in the blanks. It’s one thing to encourage a deeper level of immersion by offering these as possible but inessential elements, but another thing altogether to provide only a partial to a larger narrative, leaving firm details, or possibly even a conclusion, to another medium altogether. Though the possibilities that stem from the immersive activities Rose outlines are incredible, there is also the chance that some may feel left out in the cold, not wanting to divide their attention from the one thing they hoped would provide a fulfilling experience—it would be as if the climax of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows cut off mid-sentence with the final resolution available online or as a downloadable video or PDF… one cannot sacrifice narrative momentum and integrity for the sake of the multiverse-based marketing push. It is a bit of a slippery slope, which, admittedly, we are still figuring out. However, the potential for greatness—for using people, not non-interactive advertising, to encourage, examine, and accentuate narrative going forward—is there.

What we are entering into with respect to artistic and narrative expression, what Rose sees as our future going forward, is an accelerated form of the thesis given in Janet Wolff’s The Social Production of Art—not only is art made and given meaning through society’s influence, but now it is being pushed, promoted, and generally affected and given additional weight—often while still in progress—by the very people for whom it is made. In this sense, the creators are looking more and more like instigators, setting forth a plate of ideas for relentless consumption and redistribution.

The Art of Immersion is essential reading for anyone in a creative field. It’s a strong first step to gaining a better understanding of where society and culture is taking our art, whether we want to accept it or not.(less)

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Jun 18, 2012 Barrie Collins rated it 2 of 5 stars

My interest in Immersion plunged when it got to discussing the TV series Lost, which I loath. The prose could do with a a bit of a massage too. These things aside the topic, the concept is up for some timely discussion and this book does a reasonable job.
Ever since I read about Char Davies' VR artworks in the late '90's http://www.immersence.com/ and the effect they had on people, the topic of immersion has fascinated me. The same applies to good writing/writers, as Orwell pointed out 'prose sh...more

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Jul 13, 2011 Caleigh Minshall rated it 3 of 5 stars

I picked up The Art of Immersion out of personal interest and out of some vague, low-lying desire for this kind of immersive storytelling in my own life. (Embarrassing fact: Much of my life has been spent playing The Sims, one of Rose's favourite examples.) The book fails to cover much in the way of novels, instead choosing to focus more on worlds that begin on the screen: Star Wars, Avatar, The Sims, FarmVille, among many others. Of course all of these worlds begin with text in the form of scri...more I picked up The Art of Immersion out of personal interest and out of some vague, low-lying desire for this kind of immersive storytelling in my own life. (Embarrassing fact: Much of my life has been spent playing The Sims, one of Rose's favourite examples.) The book fails to cover much in the way of novels, instead choosing to focus more on worlds that begin on the screen: Star Wars, Avatar, The Sims, FarmVille, among many others. Of course all of these worlds begin with text in the form of scripts, and, in some cases, these worlds sprout their own novels and comic books later on -- but I'm still excited to find a book that deals with text-based stories and how even that's becoming more participatory (e.g. online role-playing games and collaborative world-building).

The Art of Immersion is an excellent introduction to the topic of transmedia and immersive story-telling. There were a lot of examples that I was unfamiliar with, either because they occurred slightly before my time or -- in the case of an online game for The Office -- because I was too busy watching and re-watching the show to play! Rose hesitated to get very critical of the failed stories, games and marketing campaigns, instead often calling them simply "ahead of their time." But for a newbie to the field, just hearing the basic gist behind some of the top thinkers and story-tellers of the day was a real treat.

The really good stuff, though, only came out at the end when Rose delves into the psychology behind gaming and stories. He could have easily expanded those few chapters into an entirely different book, and I would love to read it. Again, however, his hesitation to criticize and his unquestioning love of the subject leads to a couple of missed opportunities.

In one case, Rose describes Skunk Works' Gunslinger: a holodeck game set in the Wild West of the 1880s. It's "essentially a stage set," complete with three life-size projections of characters: burly bartender, cowering bar help and the nastiest, fastest gunslinger in the West glowering in the corner. Players were sent in to interact with these screen characters, and ultimately told to bring out the gunslinger under arrest. Well, turns out 40% of the players chose to shoot on sight (prompting the gunslinger to inevitably win the draw contest and kill the player in the first few minutes of the game), and several declined to fight at all. Rose shows this example in just a couple paragraphs, and ends it with a quotation from Kim LeMasters, the creative director: "How do you get a human being to behave the way you wish them to behave? In a normal story, I have complete control over all characters. In this story, I have control of only three characters. The other character has a human brain."

So the issue becomes one of control, reflecting back on an earlier chapter of authorship. But I have some more questions: Is there a certain point where people don't want to be immersed any more? Can games and stories become too immersive, and when will game producers, story-tellers etc. face that backlash? Will the typical superheroes at the heart of videogames have to change at a certain 'immersion threshold' and players start acting more, well, like themselves (regular human beings: cowardly, selfish, clueless)? Rose only barely touches the surface of these questions in the last chapter, but to me these are some of the most interesting questions to ask.

What would have made this book really great, for me, would have been a list of recommended reading at the end. Rose provides the introduction; I wish he also gave a guide for more in-depth work to really chew on. The one must-read I've come away with is Convergence Culture by Henry Jenkins -- but I'll wait for a few more weeks before starting that one. I need time to digest! The Art of Immersion has only whetted my appetite and after Rose's breezy style, I think I can handle some more density (and substance).(less)

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Feb 25, 2011 Guy Gonzalez rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: research

"People have always wanted to in some way inhabit the stories that move them. The only real variable is whether technology gives them that opportunity." --Frank Rose

The Art of Immersion is a much-needed bridge to/from Henry Jenkins' seminal Convergence Culture, as Frank Rose crafts an engaging, insightful overview of how storytelling has evolved in the digital age that's accessible to all, whether enthusiast or skeptic. Focusing primarily on the intersection of film, TV and gaming, there are ple...more

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Jan 19, 2012 João Pedro da Costa rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: web

An interesting companion reading of Henry Jenkins' Convergence Culture, full of examples of immersive and transmediatic storytelling. It is superbly well written and a real page-turner. Personally, I am not a fan of the “transmedia” concept, because of its non-critical use of “medium” (two different movies are two different media, but transmedia tends to foolishly consider only relations between different media genres like videogames, movies, etc.). Instead of “transmedia”, I definitely prefer t...more

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May 31, 2011 Nick rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, professional, tech

Frank Rose is a great reporter, which means, he's a storyteller. (I've been reading his stuff for years in WIRED). This orientation shows on every page of this book about the way media are morphing in the age of digital platforms and audience participation. But Rose goes well beyond the fascinating character studies and on-site reportage for which he is known by using these particularities as emblems of our new age. There is a theory of media that emerges from the details of his storytelling, bu...more

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Nov 27, 2012 Ben Brackett rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I bought this book thinking it would really cut into the meat of the matter of how media consumption and creation is changing. It didn't even break the skin. It reads like a string of fluffy wired articles (go figure!) without even cohesively linking the premise throughout. Too much attention paid to pop culture examples that had a special place in the author's heart - for example there's about 20 pages of lost (hey, people read message boards about it and stuff) and then about a page dedicated...more

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May 13, 2011 Craig rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: games

First, the cover is very appealing.

That might not sound like I have much good to say about this, and that's partially true. Rose is a very clear, engaging writer but the chapters do not ultimately feel connected in any grand scheme or overall message. I'm left feeling on the hunt for the argument. This evokes a too-pedestrian feel, like a collection of Wired articles about your favorite TV shows and films and how they have utilized an immersive entertainment experience. But as a reader intereste...more

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Jan 30, 2013 Helen rated it 5 of 5 stars

A lot of business books are so poorly written, you wish you could just jam a thumb-drive into them and download info into your brain without having to actually ingest the pages.

Happily, The Art of Immersion is that rare business book you don’t want to put down, a riveting read for anyone whose business is impacted by how audiences are changing--which is to say, anyone reading this. The author, Frank Rose, a Wired editor, is a terrific storyteller who imbues in the reader his own fascination with...more

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Feb 19, 2013 Analog Girl rated it 3 of 5 stars

I had been focusing just on digital culture in an "information overload" sense, with specific relevance to an anxiety about the proliferation of historical narratives to the detriment of any sense of cohesiveness. This book made me refocus on usage. Deep media replaces mass media. Content consumed in one specific way shifts to content that is "cocreated." Interpretation becomes a function of consumption itself. Which is more hopeful that what I started off with, and is part and parcel of the 'de...more

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Jun 15, 2011 Chad Post rated it 4 of 5 stars

Pretty interesting description of various "immersive" trends in culture and media (the Lost ARGs, various video games, new trends in advertising as experience, etc.). Rose doesn't draw a lot of conclusions, or really do any philosophizing about this stuff, which is cool, but also maybe a bit of a letdown. And at times this reads like a series of Wired pieces strung together. (Certain anecdotes and examples get repeated a few times--a pet peeve of mine.) It's a very compelling read though, and qu...more

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Apr 29, 2011 Dav rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book goes over a lot of recent phenomena of which I was moderately aware, so it was nice to get some details, but overall I didn't get as much out of this book as I had hoped. It was short on theory and heavy on case studies. It was good to get a sense of how much massive immersive experiences created by marketers are starting to gain traction however, especially among the younger generation.

The main impact this book had was to highlight that my tendency to avoid these new marketing experie...more

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Jul 26, 2011 Herschel rated it 4 of 5 stars

"What we are doing is fucking with the rules": Peter Biskind Easy Riders, Raging bulls.

"I think we're getting closer every day to a wholly immersive experience-something you can touch and feel......." Sean Bailey

".......I have a secret love of chaos. There should be more of it!." Philip K. Dick

This was an immersive book pun intened! Frank Rose has made a compelling novel educating readers with the change the Internet and Broaddband has on homes, business and the way media is evolving.

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Oct 19, 2011 Eric rated it 4 of 5 stars

It looks like a business but thankfully, it's not. It's a very straightforward collection of recent transmedia executions - i.e. Lost, I Love Bees, Myst - that pushes the agenda of immersion. Rose is a great writer and does a pretty good job of tying together science to some of the stories. Ironically, the book could have used more depth, for someone entrenched in this area both personally and professionally, it was a surprisingly, even if it felt at times like just rereading very well-trodden r...more

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Apr 03, 2011 Mike Violano rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: business-economics

Art of Immersion is a very good two dimensional analysis of 3D stories and storytellers. The author takes threads from novels, TV and movies, and video games and relates how the creators and their fans provide immersive and interactive experiences far beyond the original work.

Long before the internet Dickens relied on audience feedback to his serials of now classic novels to more fully develop characters and propel plots in different directions. More recently, Star Wars fans embraced the epic st...more

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Mar 13, 2013 Jake Rossman rated it 4 of 5 stars

I am a huge fan of alternate reality games (ARG)s and I loved how this book navigated through many modern campaigns. I was already fairly well versed in the use of social and traditional media to bring fans into large story worlds, but this book definitely got my creative juices flowing on how to improve and explore storytelling in new ways.

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Apr 02, 2012 Stephane rated it 4 of 5 stars

A very interesting survey of the current "state of the art" media immersion that is out there. Very thorough look at all media, including movies, books, games, advertising and more. Well worth the read, even if most of the cases are known, just to see the juxtaposition and to remind us of what is possible, even without any high tech.
Well worth reading.

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Nov 19, 2012 Nathan Fox rated it 5 of 5 stars

This has got to be one of the most informative and engaging books I've read on the art, immersion, advertising and profession of visual storytelling and popular culture in years. (Longer review to come...)
Visual stortyellers!!! Artists & Authors - This is a must read.

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Feb 23, 2013 Neil Jomunsi rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is definitely a great book for those who want to understand the way storytellers actually think their work in a new era of ultra-connection and social networking. I found it very interesting, and I learned a lot. Great job, Frank!

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Jun 05, 2011 Brandon rated it 4 of 5 stars

A fast exploration into the creative thinkers on the precipice of new media. Inspiring stories and prompts creative thought, but provides very little in direction towards creating content for new media.

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Mar 21, 2013 Patricia Wayne rated it 5 of 5 stars

Rose offers incredible insight into the growing momentum within entertainment and storytelling to provide immersive experiences that feed a growing desire within modern audiences to become part of and contributors to the stories they consume. He recounts groundbreaking campaigns in advertising, television/ internet media and social organizing that highlight influential shifts in strategy that every marketer, screenwriter, or member of the modern media environment should mark as historical. The b...more

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Apr 02, 2013 Astrid7marie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Impressive amount of information and examples of how various entertainment product have experimented with immersion over the past years. Wide range of reference and written in a readable and enjoyable fashion. Fizzled out at bit in the end for me. The final chapters were sadly the least immersive in my opinion.

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Dec 21, 2011 Sarah marked it as to-read

Haven't read it yet but I've found it on two recommended lists so far, the latest one was the Technology & Learning blog at Inside Higher Ed (12/21/2011).

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Oct 30, 2012 Meike rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: storytellers

Shelves: non-fiction

What a great book for the storytellers out there and those interested in the art!

A great tour d'histoire through modern storytelling and how it changes through digitalization.
If you want to read about the art of storytelling, meta, yes, but very practical, with concrete examples of good and bad coping with the new reality and prospects what is likely to happen in the near future, go get this book.

This book made me love my art and appreciate storytellers even more, and it gave me a whole new resp...more

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Sep 19, 2011 Brian rated it 3 of 5 stars

It's more interesting as an overview of current changes in technology than it is as a commentary on immersion.

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May 01, 2012 Ian Moss rated it 4 of 5 stars

Pretty good. Many of the same examples as other books in this genre.

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May 19, 2012 Joe rated it 3 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this look into immersive/transmedia storytelling -- most of which I was unaware ever existed. In this regard, it was a great into and first dip into this world. Many of Rose's examples, though, seemed to fail (didn't gain traction or find the audience they needed for whatever reason), but he chose to see this as a result of "being ahead of time" -- not so sure about that. The last chunk of the book -- which Rose dedicated to exploring the psychology of games and stories was awes...more

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Oct 14, 2012 Kate Stone rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommend for anyone working in screen production

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Sep 05, 2011 Anna rated it 5 of 5 stars

One of the best books on the contemporary digital marketing, because:
-there are no buzz words "social media", "engagement", etc
-the books presents you with facts, rather then opinions and speculations about "how it should be done"
-Mr. Rose makes a crucial point that it is not about the platform, but about the storytelling

All in all, I just loved it and Frank Rose receives well deserved 5 stars

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Mar 30, 2011 yessmiss marked it as to-read

fabulous so far. cant put down.

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