Adipat Virdi

Adipat Virdi studied Architecture before deciding to make films. Having studied at both Oxford and Cambridge, Adipat has qualifications that include Creative Writing, Marketing and Design, Strategy and Innovation. Adipat set up MAAJI PRODUCTIONS to develop socially responsible projects and has gone on to practice Transmedia Story Architecture where he has written and produced various projects and set up TRANSMEDIOLOGY as a hub for designing experiences, engaging audiences and managing communities within brands and storyworlds.

What Adipat will be doing at DIY DAYS

Project Searching: Can transmedia help to eradicate honor crimes

With over 17,000 cases of Honour-based crimes reported in the UK alone last year - SEARCHING is a project that focuses on engaging audiences around the concept of 'Honour' on a personal and socio-cultural scale. If Transmedia is defined as a way of engaging audiences, through narrative, across multiple platforms - the central question for this project is whether this mechanism can help to 'activate' a response and engender change. The central methodology has been to build from the core and work outwards so as to create experiences that are immersive but also look at the curative goal of how to eradicate Honour Crimes rather than just shining a light on its victims.

The key questions:

1. How do you build a project to create awareness?

2. What is the power of information in creating a storyworld?

3. Can 'edutainment' really provide a forum for real world social change?

DIY DAYS asks Adipat

What are you currently working on that you’re excited about?

Alongside SEARCHING (the subject of my talk), I am working on two key projects. UNDERGROUND – a crossmedia project about a team of Ghosthunters on the London Underground. Based around a TV Series, the project is about what it means to be alive and uses aspects of London’s actual history as a storytelling device. LOST IN SUNSHINE is an indie film about the life choices we make and how we deal with the consequences. The use of transmedia here is to accentuate the themes and create an understanding with the audience that will last beyond the feature film. This is a project

What are some of your favorite sites and / or mobile apps and brief why?

There are so many APPS and sites out there that are pushing the boundaries of how we tell stories. One APP and one site stick out for me as examples of this and of innovative design:

SITE: Collapsus (www.collapsus.com) shows how data and an urgent global issue can be woven into a compelling storyworld. The way in which users engage with the site is immersive and engenders active engagement.

APP: Papa Sangre (www.papasangre.com) is a Sonographic App that uses technology to create a story environment that is played with our sense of hearing. The simplicity of the concept and the way the UX has been setup make this a breakthrough piece.

What’s are you currently watching, reading or playing?

I am currently watching House M.D, The LXD and Fringe. All of these completely absorb me in the way the characters, story and themes interweave and just the way they make me feel and inspire my own storytelling.

I always have a fiction and non-fiction book at hand. I’ve just finished Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell and What The Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell. Love both authors and have read most of their stuff.

Lastly – I am playing LA Noire. It is a phenomenal experience. I am normally a Call Of Duty kind of guy but this was worth the investment. I am also a big EVE Online fan. I love managing huge datasets and putting strategies in place that play out over time in a fantasy world that feels real and immersive.

For more on Adipat and his work visit

Site:
www.transmediology.com
www.facebook.com/groups/216232828387024