Transmedia Storytelling Success!

Only days before an assessment is due do I notice that I have missed one week’s blog entry. Although this is 4 weeks late, here is my blog post on Transmedia Storytelling.

“Transmedia storytelling represents a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience.” – Henry Jenkins

Transmedia storytelling has become an integral part of modern society in the way stories are reached to different audiences. This is gained through the use of a single story being scattered across several channels, creating a collective intelligence and building a world.  An example of this is the Pokemon phenomenon. Pokemon has a TV series, movies, franchise cards, comics and video games, making the spread of Pokemon huge and the availability for further indulgence in Pokemon knowledge easily available. The general idea of transmedia storytelling is to expand on knowledge of a particular fantasy world and the use of several platforms means that no one consumer will know everything so they must talk about the series with other people. Continuing with the Pokemon example, with the release of newer video games came the inauguration of fan websites and blogs dedicated to the games in order for the players to share their knowledge, creating a better understanding of not only the game at hand but the plots of previous games.

Of course Pokemon isn’t the only franchise that has succeeded through heavy audience interaction through transmedia storytelling.  Since 1977 and still continuing today is the Star Wars franchise, 2009 hit movie Avatar and The Matrix world are just a few examples.

In a world that is so strongly saturated in social media, it looks like transmedia storytelling will be here to stay for a long time. When looking at the continual success of such hits like Pokemon and Star Wars to think otherwise would just be crazy.