Bret Levinson

Convergence

11/13/15

Transmedia Storytelling

            Multimedia and Transmedia are two totally different things. Multimedia is stories being told through say a book and a movie but both book and movies tell the same story. For example, The Bourne Identity series (1980). Bourne Identity was originally a book; it had a plot and a story with multiple fans reading that storyline. Then they made them into movies with Richard Chamberlain then to continue the series with Matt Damon. The Bourne series is an example of Multimedia because the story doesn’t change when you switch from the book to movie or vice versa.

            Transmedia is when you have a storyline that you make into a movie but then expand and make books, TV series, comic books, video games, etc. Essentially you are going to different mediums to expand that story. “ A transmedia story unfolds across multip

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le media platforms, with each new text making a distinctive and valuable contribution to the whole. In the ideal form of transmedia storytelling, each medium does what it does best- so that a story might be introduced in film, expanded through television, novels, and comics; its world might be explored through game play or experienced as an amusement park attraction” (Jenkins 97-98). An example of “Transmedia Storytelling” would be Batman. Batman explores many different mediums for years now. Comic books, movies, video games, books, etc. Batman uses many different platforms to tell the story, but may use a different outlook or different story. In the video game they may have you fighting someone Batman doesn’t fight in the real script. Why? So that people will be excited to play as Batman and explore different villains or superhero’s to fight.

            Many different companies and or makers of certain brands like Batman, Superman, Daredevil use Transmedia in order to make the fan excited about buying a new form of media to explore the different stories they have you reading or playing. A great way to boost your money is to make different mediums because the fan of the original will always want to find out what a different medium has in store for their favorite character even if they don’t like it going to that next level. Curiosity killed the cat is a great quote to relate fans to transmedia storytelling. “ Redundancy burns up fan interest and causes franchises to fail” (Jenkins 98). Like I said above, in order to keep making money and have your fans occupied you must expand your story to different platforms.

            Many video games feature characters from different storylines in order to gain those fans and have them buy their own video games. For example, the Justice League video game features Batman. Why would they do that if Batman weren’t apart of Justice League? They want to add different characters in their own games in order to gain fans from Batman. If you’re a huge Batman fan and you find out he will be featured in a video game where you can play as him, that fan is most likely to purchase that game.

            “ A media conglomerate has an incentive to spread its brand or expand its franchises across as many different media platforms as possible” (Jenkins). Its up to the makers to spread the characters in multiple platforms so they can make as much money as possible. If you have a fan base for a certain movie, book, comic, video game, etc. then you can definitely expand on that one medium and unravel your story to multiple mediums. Makers of these stories tend to intertwine other relating stories so that the fans can experience something new and not have to deal with the same one platform and the same one story. A story can only get you so far in the media world, in today’s day in order to keep your viewers you must expand to other platforms, or your brand will fail according to Henry Jenkins.

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            Jenkins explains that many makers may switch up their stories to different platforms in order to gain different viewers. For instance, Batman the movie might be to graphic for younger children, the comic may be too complex for younger children. So the makers then brainstorm ways to get that story out there to a different/younger crowd and make a batman Lego game. These games then grasp the young viewers and then turn them into fans of the storyline. Targeting different age groups is a strategy that many makers use in order to gain viewership and continue selling their product.

            Of course the different platforms explore different stories of Batman. For instance, the comic book is telling a different story then the video game, and the movie is covering a different story then the book. But overall using Batman as your base character engages fans, and expanding your platform (Transmedia Storytelling) to other mediums gain viewers that you would have never thought you could get. Bob Krane and writer Bill Finger created batman in 1939. Did they ever think there would be Lego games about their character 70 years later? Did they think that they could expand Batman to an action figure, a game board set, and a video game? Who knows, but without Transmedia Storytelling and the brilliant minds of the creators of these different mediums there would be no extended

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story for these characters such as Batman to continue living 70 years later.

Jenkins, Henry. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York UP, 2006. Print.

"Transmedia Storytelling 101." Confessions of an AcaFan. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2015.

"The Unofficial Batman Biography." The Unofficial Batman Biography. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2015.