Transmedia storytelling

Transmedia storytelling

 

Also called multiplatform storytelling; I will be looking at what exactly this is. This is a method of telling a story over differing platforms, while still engaging with the audience. As in writing for a book would not be the same as it would be for a film; the pacing would be too slow for a viewing audience as opposed to a reading one. The aim is to immerse the audience to the point where their minds do no wander off; which can also be applied to a gaming lifestyle, particularly RPGs, the entire basis of an RPG game is to immerse oneself into the storyline.

Basically you have your storyline, but expand it to something much less simple than that alone; multiple narratives with their stories, adding much more complexity to the mix. This is shown over differing medias, mostly it seems to be assumed that video games are the first to jump to with this, but it does spread to television and books etc.

As an example there is the lord of the rings trilogy, they have utilized the books over to film, which then bled over to games. All of which are still telling the same story but in a different media. The audience is immersed into the experience, similar to children pretending to be their favorite characters; this I suppose could also bring in fanart and fanfiction into this subject. The audience responds to their enjoyment of the story and characters that this is utilized in making stories and art with these existing devices.

Another example of transmedia storytelling would be the 'Star Wars' franchise. "...Captured that imaginations of millions of would-be jedi knights first through an approachable and classically structured story, and then through books, comics, animated films, games and toys intended to only to maximize profits. These extensions however, helped encourage fan immersion and involvement."  1. It is interesting that Lucasfilm was merely trying to make money on the franchise, but in so the immersion of this world became so much greater.  

Another interesting one is in Japanese modern culture you have the birth of 'cosplay' the person dressing up at said character and pretending to be them. 'Otome' and 'dating SIM' games, where the player is given choices over their love interests and so forth; to 'Drama CDs', this is not commonly seen over in western countries as such, it would be better known as a dramatic reading, it is voice actors of their characters of said story acting it out as opposed to just one person reading it.

In short this method of storytelling is heavily reliant of the immersion that the audience experiences.