THE PROJECT

The project

Elbamovie is an innovative transmedia territorial storytelling project for experiential tourist promotion of the island of Elba.

It is based on four elements that characterise the experience:

• Storytelling set between the past and the present, permitting the audience to live a Napoleonic experience in a modern setting.

• Suspension between reality and fiction, which enables visitors to Elba to see the places where the film was made and enjoy all the experiential elements included in the narration that can be discovered on the island. The characters in Elbamovie are imaginary, but their life experiences and friends are very real.

• The depth and variety of the transmedia storytelling experience, which can be lived uninterruptedly on various media and in the territory of Elba.

• The evolution of the narration project ,which develops like a living organism through the nutrition supplied by the contribution of the audience.

Since 2014 is the Bicentenary Year of Napoleon at Elba, VisitElba decided to make a short artistic film to reappraise Napoleon from a modern point of view, underlining the beauty and the rich tourist amenities of the island, with a narrative slant that differs from a traditional publicity style. The film will be divided into four episodes, each eight minutes long, forming a web-series published on YouTube and Vimeo to be used for web communication of the island.

The film is fully-fledged branded content that develops by means of captivating narration, but includes the elements of the Elba island brand, making it desirable. After having seen the film, people will desire to go to Elba for a first person experience like that of the actors.

The aim of the project is to reinforce the image of Elba even more.

To increase the degree of involvement in the venture, the entire process of production of the film will be published on the Elbamovie site:

• Video with interviews of the producers, director and actors

• Images of the making of the film

• Photographs of the actors

• Photographs of the scenes

• Life experiences of the friends of the characters in Elbamovie

The project is innovative because it integrates the skills of storytelling and film production with those of tourist experience design in a new way to support the enhancement of a tourist destination, using the Tourist Experience Design® model of Andrea Rossi and Maurizio Goetz.

As Maurizio Goetz, Destination Manager of Elba points out, “We really believe a lot in this project. We decided to work together with independent video makers, to promote a story of independence, in harmony with the positioning chosen for communication regarding the island of Elba, which is based on an ‘independent lifestyle’”.

Andrea Rossi, Social Media & Marketing Manager for Elba adds, “It’s a new approach to tourism storytelling, in which the destination is the hub of an experiential narrative, which we believe will engross adventure lovers. Working with the Licaoni has been very stimulating: we have integrated our skills of tourist experience design with their great cinematic expertise, to produce an original and innovative product.

The idea was born with the celebration of the Bicentennial of Napoleon’s disembarkation when he was exiled to the Island. We wanted to unite a strong tourist promotion asset with the creativity that a personality like Napoleon can unleash in the imagination of people all round the world. The goal is to do high profile, captivating and fascinating promotion – aimed at a very attentive audience – while at the same time highlighting the resources and great professional skills of this territory.”