transmedia storytelling

Virtual fan communities are growing as the Internet and new technologies become increasingly dominant in our daily lives. Since the emergence of Web 2.0 applications, we’ve become a participatory culture. Rather than passively viewing and consuming, fans actively contribute to global fan bases through creation and participation. Media consumers are also producers.

With the rise of user-generated content, companies are finding success by creating new kinds of content as well. Most brands have extended their name to the web, but the narrative is traditionally found within one medium. Fans aren’t satisfied with one medium anymore. Our lives are multi-platform, and so our entertainment should be as well.


True Blood is a transmedia story. True Blood fans can engage with new content across different media platforms. The complete narrative is not confined to one medium (e.g. HBO tv series); instead, it continues across many platforms, and the fictional world becomes integrated with real life.

There are two main benefits to this new approach: transmedia content promotes the main platform (tv series), and it also provides fans with a more immersive experience in their fictional world of choice.

For transmedia n00bs, here’s an overview (mostly based off of an introductory handout called "Transmedia Storytelling 101" by Henry Jenkins):

• In transmedia storytelling,"integral elements of fiction are dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience”(Jenkins).

• Most brands are multi-platform, but not all use transmedia storytelling. The content shouldn’t be repurposed or adapted to a new platform; instead, it should expand the narrative and the fictional world with unique content. “Ideally, each medium makes its own unique contribution to the unfolding of the story” (Jenkins). These narrative extensions can keep the interest of audiences (while they wait for season 4 of True Blood), provide insight into characters (Jessica Hamby’s blog), and elaborate on parts of the fictional world (Fellowship of the Sun website, American Vampire League website etc.).

• A successful transmedia narrative is planned to benefit from the strengths of each media platform. Content should be where fans “already are, with tools that they’re already using, and in ways they already understand” (Thompson) (e.g. Twitter can reach fans and share information quickly, but you have a 140 characters to work with). Transmedia storytelling expands fanbases “by creating different points of entry for different audience segments” (Jenkins). People who are familiar with one media platform are likely explore others to get more of the story. For example, the Dying for Daylight game is based on one of Charlaine Harris’ characters in the world of True Blood. Dahlia is on a quest to find a sun potion that allows vampires to walk with the living in daylight. Although True Blood fans may not normally be gamers, a True Blood-themed game will attract fans who enjoy True Blood in its other forms and want more of the story (…and to understand the new addition of sun potion to the True Blood mythology).

• Transmedia storytelling is closely linked to worldbuilding—the creation of “complex fictional worlds that can sustain multiple interrelated characters and their stories” (Jenkins). A fictional world provides opportunities for a complex transmedia story and encourages fan participation. Fans gather and organize information found in the different media forms for reference. The transmedia narrative provides a set of rules and mythology for the world, which fans use to guide their participation (e.g. fanfiction, role playing). For example, the Harry Potter Lexicon is an online encyclopaedia of the Harry Potter world (JK Rowling herself was known to use it for fact checking).
  

1. Jenkins, Henry. “Transmedia Storytelling 101,” Confessions of an Aca-Fan: The Official Weblog of Henry Jenkins, March 22, 2007.
2. Thompson, Brooke. “4 Easy Steps for an Accessible Transmedia Experience,” Giant Mice, April 29, 2010.