https://www.flickr.com/photos/nickpiggott/5212959770
Human and AI Powered Creativity in Storytelling
Ian Forrester
Senior Firestarter, BBC R&D
@cubicgarden

The future of storytelling
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Salvatore_Postiglione_Motiv_aus_dem_Decamerone.jpg

Storytelling timeline
http://www.flickr.com/photos/feuilllu/302001867/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/smcgee/234278571
Oral storytelling

https://www.flickr.com/photos/140034174@N05/26077478920
Immersive, engaging, participatory & adaptive

Object based media
http://thenextweb.com/media/2016/03/09/bbc-r-and-d-object-based-media/

Media + Metadata = Objects
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nickpiggott/5212959770
The idea behind ‘object-based’ media is that you take all the
assets for a given TV or radio show – the video clips, the
accompanying audio, any music soundtrack, and extras like
subtitles and sign language translations
wrap it up in useful metadata and then use software to ‘remix’
it as needed

The objects make the story

Storytelling has variables

Context, location, environment...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/haaijk/14196995087

Narrative on Rails
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ag2r/4437697015

Media with more potential
Wired magazine Top trends for 2013

Perceptive Media “Breaking Out”
http://www.futurebroadcasts.com

Responsive Radio
http://www.bbc.co.uk/taster/projects/responsive-radio

Forecaster
http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/blog/2015-11-forecaster-our-experimental-object-based-weather-forecast

Perceptive drama
http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/projects/visual-perceptive-media

How does it work?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXKu-b4Afh4

Scalable experiences (50000+)

Variations not versions
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0816692/ Interstellar – © 2014 – Paramount Pictures

Variations not versions
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0816692/ Interstellar – © 2014 – Paramount Pictures

8 Variations
VideoContext timeline - https://github.com/bbc/VideoContext

http://www.flickr.com/photos/d_lee/2394548742
It’s the small things

Variations matter in storytelling
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thNvpubJir8

Hollywood has been doing this for decades
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2096673// Inside Out – © 2015 - Disney

Memorable narratives experiences
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0259711/ Vanilla Sky – © 2001 – Paramount Pictures

Highly relevant
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114369/ Se7en – © 1995 - New Line Cinema

Relevance
https://www.flickr.com/photos/leweb3/6471629995
It will be very hard for people to
watch or consume something
that has not in some sense been
tailored for them
- Eric Schmidt, Google

Masterful storytelling
https://www.toastmasters.org/Magazine/Issues/July-2014

Machine intelligence?
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/10/artificial-intelligence-screenplay-sunspring-silicon-valley-thomas-middleditch-ai

Garbage in : Garbage out
https://www.flickr.com/photos/10213764@N02/8037389194/

Algorithms free of bias?
http://www.wnyc.org/story/deep-problem-deep-learning/ | https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/apr/13/ai-programs-exhibit-racist-and-sexist-biases-research-reveals

Data ethics research
https://www.flickr.com/photos/birgerking/5137440872
Privacy
Security
Ownership
Identity
Data management
Accountability

Data ethics research
https://www.flickr.com/photos/noodlepie/7256071790
Trust is the foundation of the BBC:
we are independent, impartial and honest

Transparency in algorithms?
https://www.flickr.com/photos/enidmartindale/7749342258

X-Ray mode?

Machine learning, trust and public service
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/machine-learning-trust-and-public-service-tickets-36038927402

Creativity and art?
https://www.flickr.com/photos/giuseppemilo/15414290956 - Scott Adams quote
“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes.
Art is knowing which ones to keep”

Generative adversarial network
https://futurism.com/ai-now-produce-better-art-humans-heres-how/ | https://www.flickr.com/photos/pralineb/23844215314/

Deep blue vs Kasparov - 1997!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/videomagusfx/14761557336

Don’t fear intelligent machines
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NP8xt8o4_5Q

Transcendent moments
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jlarnos/8297692520/

AlphaGo & Lee Sedol Redefined the Future
https://www.wired.com/2016/03/two-moves-alphago-lee-sedol-redefined-future/
“...although machines are now capable of moments of
genius, humans have hardly lost the ability to generate their
own transcendent moments.
And it seems that in the years to come, as we humans work
with these machines, our genius will only grow in tandem
with our creations.”

Synergy of storytelling
https://www.flickr.com/photos/adelinapeltea/9026208637/

Some media reaction
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3350076/BBC-experimenting-smart-shows-adapt-personality-male-female.html

No more shared experiences?

This shared experience?
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2013/dec/16/tv-viewing-christmas-netflix-on-demand

A different shared experience
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cjc/3140642627

The Internet of things

Perceptive Radio

Hyper reality experiences
www.imdb.com/title/tt0119174/ - The Game (1997)

Devices working together with media
https://www.flickr.com/photos/schoschie/4294160420

Even better storytelling for all

Media which bends to your context

New types of learning experiences

Build experiences like these
https://github.com/bbc/VideoContext

Making storytelling human again with Ai

Thank you for listening… questions?
Ian Forrester
Senior Firestarter, BBC R&D FXT
@cubicgarden - ian.forrester@bbc.co.uk