Screenwriter Kristi Barnett is approaching the art of storytelling in a different way for her next project – by making a Twitter film via the use of transmedia.

‘As a writer, I am constantly stuck with a dilemma; how do I get my story telling abilities out for the world to see? To have their screenplay actually filmed and released to the public is a huge achievement but very difficult to realise,’ she says, in a tale all too familiar to the army of struggling scriptwriters out there.

Screenwriter Kristi Barnett

Her solution? Coming up with a different approach to getting her stories in front of the public. She will be using Twitter and its third-party applications like Tweetdeck, to tweet out the first Twitter movie over a three-week live period, using pre-filmed footage and photos to supplement the story.

Transmedia is becoming an increasingly popular technique to tell stories across multiple platforms and formats. See the work by Majek Pictures as another fine example.

‘As new forms of internet communication evolve, more and more film-makers and writers are taking the opportunity to get their stories out to the masses. Social networking has provided a platform for transmedia projects to flourish, allowing new and diverse ways of storytelling to emerge,’ says Kristi.

The production has just wrapped and the actors filmed themselves using a 1080p Kodak Pocket Zi8 Cam (shooting in 720p mode for online) and a high quality smartphone; the HTC Desire Z.

So what about the plot?

Karen Barley is convinced by her sinister boss to take on an outdoors project in an ancient Bronze Age woods in Surrey. Her boyfriend Darren is excited about the mysterious legend of the Hurst and can’t wait to find a hidden path he’s heard of.

A scene from Karen Barley

On first appearance the Hurst seems mundane, with traffic and people close by. But gradually they begin to experience strange sounds and druid like signs. When Darren discovers the path, he opens a portal that lets in his ‘Other’.

Convinced that her boyfriend is trying to frighten her, Karen slowly spirals into a deadly paranoia that results in tragic consequences. And all the while her madness is played out for all to see as she uses Twitter to tell everyone ‘what’s happening’.

Kristi says: “This is an experiment in storytelling that has not previously been done. Let’s show all the struggling writers and film-makers who are trying to get their stories seen and heard that there is a way to push through the gates. I hope they’ll use our example to try it themselves”.

The movie is officially called Hurst and starts at the end of the month.

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Screenwriter Kristi Barnett is approaching the art of storytelling in a different way for her next project – by making a Twitter film via the use of transmedia. ‘As a writer, I am constantly stuck with a dilemma; how do I get my story...