threebodytrilogy transmedia project- recap
TRANSCRIPT
Three Body Trilogy
What is Three Body Trilogy?
This transmedia project aims at introducing the best
Chinese science fiction to the English-speaking world,
combining interactivity, film, music and documentary.
The Three Body Trilogy is one of the best-known and best-
selling science fiction novels in China, and the original
Chinese version has sold around 400,000 copies to date.
The trilogy presents a sweeping, ambitious tapestry of the
alien "Trisolaran Civilization" and creates new and richly-
imagined rules of the cosmos, resulting in a work of fiction
that is both emotionally stirring and boldly fantastic.
Literary critics have said that it "infuses its own systematic
concepts and limitless vision into Chinese literature."
The Three Body Trilogy is being translated into English by
Mr. Ken Liu, the first Chinese American winner of the
Nebula Award and the Hugo Award. Inspired by the news,
we are more than happy to introduce Three Body to more
sci-fi fans as well as everyone who believes that the outer
space is the common wealth for human beings.
Trailer
Theme Song—Not Afraid
Interactive video—Dark Jungle Theory
Game Demo
Street Interview
Website
“The Three Body Trilogy is a novel of grand imagination…It asks
big questions about the relationship between humanity and
extraterrestrials and tries to answer them. It takes the "sci" in sci-
fi seriously and delves into technical details in a way that many
Chinese fans with an interest in science and engineering
appreciate. And finally, it uses Chinese elements in an organic,
authentic way that is not available in Western sci fi imported into
China.”
------Ken Liu, Writer
Written by Mr. Liu Cixin, The Three Body Trilogy mainly
discusses the most possible relationships among different
civilizations in the universe, and whether it’s suicidal for the
innocent human beings to expose themselves to other
civilizations. The ultimate hypothesis in the book is cautionary:
the first day mankind find themselves not lonely in the universe
is going to be the last day of human civilization.
Production Notes
The project tries to employ the transmedia
storytelling to help English speakers understand the
essence of a Chinese science fiction.
To shrink the gap between two thoroughly different
cultures, the project uses a short movie to display the
background and a theme song to acquaint the
audience with the tone of the story.
To explain the fundamental axioms in an
entertaining and engaging way, an interactive video
and an iOS game application are created.
To enhance the proficiency of the team, professional
composer, film producer, singer, actors and voice
actors are invited to participate in the project.
The project has aroused the interest of both English
and Chinese speakers in reading the fiction; and
attracted more than 500 fans on Facebook. In April
2013, the Three Body Trilogy project gained a great
success on Hollywood 3.0 Forum.
Trailer
This trailer is based on and adapted from th
e first and second books of the Three Body Tri
logy.
Due to the limited equipment and funding,
a couple of the original plots have been adju
sted. This
trailer aims at providing a background story
for the audience who haven't read the trilog
y and
creating a foreshadowing for the publish of t
he trilogy in May, 2013.
China, 1967: The madness of the Cultural Revolution has
engulfed the country, but someone at the highest levels of
the Communist Party has launched Red Coast, a top
secret military project to establish contact with
extraterrestrial intelligence.
Ye Wenjie, a graduate student in astrophysics, has been
exiled to the remote frontiers of Inner Mongolia for
manual labor after witnessing the brutal death of her
father, a physics professor, at the hands of the Red
Guards. By a stroke of fortune, she enters Red Coast
Base and becomes a technician there.
After discovering a property of the sun that allows certain
radio transmissions to be amplified, Ye secretly
experiments with using the sun as an antenna to
broadcast Red Coast's message without apparent success.
Eight years later, Ye receives a signal from space that
turns out to be the response to her original broadcast
eight years earlier. Four light-years away, on the last
planet orbiting three suns, Three Body, is an alien
civilization.
Embittered by the horror she experienced during the
Cultural Revolution and believing humanity to be beyond
redemption, Ye agrees to help the aliens conquer Earth.
She hopes that humanity can be reformed through this
external intervention……
The main idea of the song is a lullaby a mother croons to
her child before the Three Body civilization invades the
Earth.
The Earth, a planet where mankind has lived so far, is
like a mother; and human beings are all her children. The
extermination is approaching, people have to bid farewell
to her. Although the end is coming, we do not need to be
afraid. The future of human civilization is unknown, but
when we review the past, we should realize that all of us
have already had a happy life and many beautiful
memories.
The lyrics are also created based on the same theme,
telling people that this is the end of the world, but it is not
the end of human civilization. Hope is still there.
In order to overcome the language barrier, music becomes
a perfect platform to cross the cultural boundaries and
express the theme of the book. Through melody and
lyrics, this theme song also tells a mini version of the
Three Body story. It expresses a feeling of infinite
melancholy, however, hope still exists.
Theme Song—Not Afraid
Interactive Video
Initially, we wanted to avoid the traditionally
dull and dry style of explaining theories and
axioms.
The two primary axioms of the universe and
the Dark Jungle Theory are the bases for the
audience to understand Three Body Trilogy:
why human beings cannot communicate
with other civilizations; why friendship
cannot be possibility built between two
civilizations; and what the only action is
when two civilizations encounter.
Therefore, we decided to produce an
entertaining interactive video to let the
audience find the answer and understand the
universe in the fiction by themselves.
Street Interview
The street interview aims at involving
our audience offline. To engage the
native speakers in US, it is effective to
walk out and introduce the Three Body
story to the potential US audience face-
to-face and invite them to follow our
campaign.
In addition to the thrilling original story
alone, questions that the audience have
emotional connection to are added to
the interview to amplify the whole story-
verse, varying from about aliens and
universe to about life and love.
Also, in order to collect different ideas
and have a better understanding of the
US audience, the fans demography of
other Sci-fi works are reviewed and the
interviewees are carefully selected, based
on ages, genders, occupations and
cultural backgrounds.
Game
In order to telling the story through a different arc, the game
demo is designed to explain why the Three Body civilization
has to conquer the Earth.
Due to its extremely unstable orbit—the result of an ancient
celestial mechanics puzzle known as the Three Body
Problem—life on the Three Body planet evolved in an
environment of extreme, sudden, unpredictable shifts in
climate.
Civilization rose and fell in cycles
of destruction and rebirth, and
the Three Body civilization
finally settled on an extremely
authoritarian form of
government, dedicated to the
cause of finding a new home
before their planet is destroyed by
its uncertain path among the
three suns, the Earth.
The game will be embedded into the Three Body Trilogy official Facebook page, providing an
interactive and competitive experience for the sci-fi fans online.
In the game, players will control the planet through the Three-Axis Gyroscope on iOS devices, trying
to keep an appropriate distance from the three suns-neither too far (too cold) nor too close (too hot).
When the temperature is proper, the evolution of the three body civilization will continue.
The players’ goal is to keep a proper temperature as long as possible until the Three Body civilization
develop the Warp Drive Engine Technology to get rid of the control of gravity, and start their
journey to the Earth.
About Our Team
HE, RUI
Team leader, producer of the trailer and the
director of the interactive video. She is the
scripter and the editor of the two videos. She
also helps promoting the Facebook page.
CHEN, LINYI
PR specialist coordinating with the copyright
owner (China Educational Publication
Import and Export Corporation) and the
translator, Mr. Ken Liu. She is the co-
producer and co-editor of the theme song
and street interview. She also inspires the
spirit of the theme song.
PEI, MORAN
The producer of the iOS game. He is the
director of photography of both trailer and
interactive video and assists in maintaining
connections with the Liu Cixin and the
publisher.
NAN, RU
The producer and editor of the interactive
video. She also films the street interview,
assists the trailer shooting, and establishes
and maintains the official website.
LI, QIN
The co-producer and video editor of the
theme song and the street interview. She also
designs the Three Body Trilogy project logo
and the team T-shirts.
CHENG, MENGYAO
In the charge of the Facebook Official Page.
She is the leading actress of the trailer.
CreditsTRAILER
Director
YU, ZHIKUN
(New York Film Academy, Los
Angeles)
Writer
LIU, CIXIN (Scripted by HE RUI)
Producer
HE, RUI
Director of Photography
YU, ZHIKUN
PEI, MORAN
Cast
CHENG, MENGYAO-YE
WENJIE
GENG, MENGYAO-LUO JI
PU, CONG-YE WENJIE
(YOUTH)
DYKMAN, PAUL-COLLEAGUE
PETER-PILLAR DWELLER
JESSICA-PILLAR DWELLER
ZHANG, HAIYANG-PILLAR
DWELLER
Dubbing
MOORE, ERIC
ALEXANDER, LAUREN
Editor
HE, RUI
Music
THE SARMANS
THEMESONG
Composer
COHEN, MATTHEW
CONTACT
CHEN, LINYI
PEI, MORAN
LOGO
Designer
LI, QIN
TEAM T-SHIRT
LI, QIN
CHEN, LINYI
PUBLISHER
CHINA EDUCATIONAL
PUBLICATION IMPORT
AND EXPORT
CORPORATION (CEPIEC)
SPECIAL THANKS TO
Professor David Craig
&
Keyvan Paymani
CMGT 550 Class
Muholland Drive View Point
California Science Center
USC ANNENBERG SCHOOL
FOR COMMUNICATION
AND JOURNALISM
Lyricists
COHEN, MATTHEW
LEIGH, JESSIC
BROCHIER, TIM
Vocalists
LEIGH, JESSICA
BROCHIER, TIM
Original Footage
ESA/Hubble
Video Editor
LI, QIN
CHEN, LINYI
INTERACTIVE VIDEO
Director
HE, RUI
Script
HE, RUI
Director of Photography
PEI, MORAN
NAN, RU
Cast
HECOX, CULLON-
REPORTER
Editor
NAN, RU
HE, RUI
STREET INTERVIEW
Director; Producer
NAN, RU
CHEN, LINYI
LI, QIN
Editor
CHEN, LINYI
LI, QIN
GAME
Producer
PEI, MORAN
Coding
LYU, QIAN (Beijing
University of Posts and
Telecommunications)
om
Designers
PEI, MORAN
HE, RUI
Consultant
CHEN, XIAOTIAN