Trans- v. Multi- Media

Fight Club (1999)

The difference between transmedia and multimedia is easily discovered through the prefix of the two. The prefix trans- means across, beyond, through, or changing thoroughly, while multi- means many, much, multiple, or many time. Multimedia is one story being told through multiple mediums. An example would be the ‘90s film Fight Club. It was originally a novel written by Chuck Palahniuk, then it became the cult classic film that we all know. Recently the author of the novel decided to make 10 graphic novels that explore The Narrator’s life after he has moved on from what happened in Fight Club. A story that manages to ascend beyond most transmedia stories is J. R. R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings.” Multimedia is just the adaptation from novels to films. The story crosses into the realm of transmedia when it goes into the gaming world and brought into the real world with the languages that were created by Tolkien. Each medium explores different stories that are mentioned in The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings.

“A transmedia story unfolds across multiple 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). Like I explained previously, transmedia is the difference between one story breaking into smaller stories that come together with the larger, and one story being told multiple times through difference mediums. What Jenkins explains is that transmedia storytelling uses the cross medium effect to expand on different parts of the story and enrich the experience with more knowledge from the smaller stories.

Shadow of Mordor

With an old story like “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” it is more difficult to create a compelling story that does not feel too old or repetitive. To capture gamers, games like “Shadow of Mordor” was created to bring them into the film franchise or the novels. In the game you do missions as Ranger Captain Talion, who is possessed by the wraith of the Elf Lord Celebrimbor. In the movies and novels this Elf Lord is mentioned in the old lore of the land. The game is made to take place 60 years before The Hobbit, and gives you the opportunity to explore ancient Middle Earth as a character that is only mentioned here and there in the novels and movies.

The aim of the studio(s) in charge of the game and Peter Jackson or the Tolkien estate is to maintain their large world but create an arm that reaches into the game world. This arm then in turn will bring those gamers back into the main picture and create a larger fan base. Transmedia serves as a purpose of not only bringing different worlds together through one common title, but also serves as a purpose to make more money.

It becomes shaky ground for stories that try to make a big impact or significant gain from physical merchandise. Since the physical merchandise cannot explain things about the story it only repeats the story or embraces images of characters and settings. This can make a story redundant. The only way for physical merchandise to grow with its fandom is to allow fans to attain a level of freedom that is dangerous to the story.

Tauriel & Legolas

If studios allowed their fandom to roam free with physical products they would possibly face the problem that Lucas Film faces with their fans creating characters and their own canon. This derails their original story and can ultimately take away from original storyline. For example, when Peter Jackson included Tauriel and Legolas in The Hobbit trilogy it threw long-time fans off and frustrated us. Tauriel was never mentioned in the novel and Legolas was only mentioned but never played a big role. This manifestation of new characters in the story distracted people from the story and was used to fill in gaps, or add a conflict for entertainment.

Pacing back to the difference between transmedia and multimedia, transmedia can be seen as the creation of smaller stories that revolve around the larger story that is explored via the main movie or novel. Whereas, multimedia is just the same story being adapted across mediums. A world that is believable but larger-than-life, with languages, history, and civilizations is a perfect start for a story that has plans to cross mediums. By setting up different civilizations within a larger world, multiple stories can be told about the development of a civilization, a character within the civilization, or the history of their interconnected relations. This becomes a transmedia experience only if it is spread throughout comics, video games, movies, novels, and websites. This transmedia experience grabs users from each medium and brings them together to the larger main story, and allows them to cross into each other’s world.

The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings triology

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

Transmedia 101. YouTube. One 3 Productions, 24 June 2011. Web. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvJbY9hUgbc>.

What Is Transmedia? Prod. Ullyses Gordon. YouTube. N.p., 17 Oct. 2010. Web. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=o9uX_65IFpY&feature=endscreen>.