Keith Johnson talks about how two-screen has come of age and how his company SyncScreen is creating tools to open the imagination of the creative storywriting audience to think about how a narrative can be created that works across the two screens in harmony, real-time. After a successful year developing a number of apps for producers and broadcasters in the UK and US, he believes that the novelty factor has worn off and it’s now time to let the creative community loose to invent some exciting new.

1. The Conducttr Conference 2014
Keith Johnson
Creative storytellers - Open your imagination to two-screen ideas
@syncscreen
#cdttr2014

2. ©SyncScreen 2013/2014 Proprietary & Confidential
SYNC-SCREEN

3. ©SyncScreen 2013/2014 Proprietary & Confidential
SYNCSCREEN IS ALL ABOUT
BRIDGING THE CREATIVE DIVIDE
BETWEEN TV AND MOBILE AND
DIGITAL MEDIA

4. ©SyncScreen 2013/2014 Proprietary & Confidential
NOT JUST TV / VIDEO
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE AUDIO

5. ©SyncScreen 2013/2014 Proprietary & Confidential
SECOND SCREEN

6. ©SyncScreen 2013/2014 Proprietary & Confidential
SO CALLED
“SECOND SCREEN”
IS NOT A
CONSUMER
PROPOSITION

7. ©SyncScreen 2013/2014 Proprietary & Confidential
SO CALLED
“SECOND SCREEN”
CAN NOT TRULY
ENGAGE THE
EMOTIONS

8. ©SyncScreen 2013/2014 Proprietary & Confidential
IMAGINE!

9. ©SyncScreen 2013/2014 Proprietary & Confidential
THE HARMONY GAME
Jennifer Lebeau
2011 documentary for BBC ‘Imagine’, Alan Yentob

10. THE DISHARMONY GAME
IMAGINE ..... AN IMAGINATION GAP
The advent of so-called “second-screen” TV apps has surfaced a creative problem that
prevents this harmony from organically happening
It has exposed the imagination gap that exists in TV formats for the connected generation
and the lack of relevant creative and production skills to begin to address it.

11. ©SyncScreen 2013/2014 Proprietary & Confidential
THE TWO-SCREEN TV HARMONY GAME
“If audiences find a 2-screen experience either
confusing or distracting – it’s clearly not working”

12. ©SyncScreen 2013/2014 Proprietary & Confidential
IMAGINE.......THE BOXER
Content + production + performance
- Great lyrics, story-telling
- Great melody and arrangement
- Collaborative creative process / musicality
- Commitment to the highest production values
- Innovation to push the sound boundaries
- Know-how and execution
- Quality team
Complete production and performance harmony to make a great song into a great record

13. ©SyncScreen 2013/2014 Proprietary & Confidential
Transmedia Storytellers!
Abandon the notion of so called “second-screen” and
think about extra layers on the core narrative that can sit
across devices

14. ©SyncScreen 2013/2014 Proprietary & Confidential
IMAGINE .........
WELL DESIGNED TWO-SCREEN
TV EXPERIENCES WILL CREATE
CHANGES IN TV VIEWING
BEHAVIOURS

15. ©SyncScreen 2013/2014 Proprietary & Confidential
WE UNDERSTAND:
THE CREATIVE INDUSTRY NEEDS
EDITORIAL TOOLS TO ENABLE DUAL
SCREEN TO BECOME A MAJOR PART
OF MAINSTREAM TV INDUSTRY
WE ARE DELIVERING:
CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT TOOLS
 PILOTING & TESTING TOOLS
 PRODUCTION WORK FLOW TOOLS

16. ©SyncScreen 2013/2014 Proprietary & Confidential
PLAY ALONG TV
Video

19. ©SyncScreen 2013/2014 Proprietary & Confidential
REFRESH FORMATS WITH PLAY-
ALONG INTERACTIVITY
CREATE NEW SYNCHRONOUS
FORMATS
**CREATE AUDIENCE VALUE
FOR THEIR PARTICATION**
Video

20. ©SyncScreen 2013/2014 Proprietary & Confidential
WELL CONCEIVED
SYNCHRONOUS
PARTICIPATION DOES
ENGAGE
THE TV AUDIENCE

21. ©SyncScreen 2013/2014 Proprietary & Confidential
 It’s still a TV viewing experience first and foremost!
 Avoid confusion and distraction
 Avoid duplication – synchronised events must
compliment the show
 Multi-sensory input is fine but must be sympathetic
 Build in the time for audience to think and complete
actions
 Don’t overwhelm the audience by over-burdening them
 Be aware of the cognitive load
SCREENS IN HARMONY

22.  Be clear on desired user experience
 Be clear on objectives
 Be clear on desired audience rewards and benefits for
their participation
 Be sure to create added value content - multi-sensory
input is fine but must be sympathetic
 Optimise the audience effect of real time synch
technology
CREATIVE PLANNING

23. ©SyncScreen 2013/2014 Proprietary & Confidential
 Seek to seamlessly extend the story beyond the
linear show
 Involve the audience
 Build in the time for audience to think and
complete actions
 Don’t overwhelm the audience by over-
burdening them
 Be aware of the cognitive load
NARRATIVE CONSIDERATIONS

24. ©SyncScreen 2013/2014 Proprietary & Confidential
The right two-screen content will add value for
the audience
 Rewarding
 Supplementary
 Commercial
 Educational
 Social
 Entertaining
 Offline, for later
NEXT GENERATION TV

25.  Seek to seamlessly extend the story beyond the linear show with concurrent
storylines
 Allow people to be part of the story, to interact with it
Be flexible, allow the story to take unexpected turns
 Integrate social media
 Use the real-time synch tech to build conversations
 Conducttr / SyncScreen demo app
CRAFTING A TWO-SCREEN STORY

26. The Conducttr Conference 2014
Keith Johnson
THANK YOU!
@syncscreen
#cdttr2014