Transmedia: Storytelling for the Digital Age

Kevin Hodgson:  "In simple terms, I like to think of transmedia as storytelling with few if any boundaries, and as we continue to explore digital writing this month and beyond, this idea of taking a story for a walk across platforms seems to be right in tune with the possibilities of writing in a digital age" ...

Bryant Francis:  "For better and for worse, Halo 5 is the first Halo game to acknowledge those small ways of looking at the Halo universe. It's loaded with meaningful plot points and character beats extracted from context so far away you literally have to spend additional money elsewhere to understand it. This may be the insurmountable challenge that "transmedia" stories like Halo will face in going mainstream. But as someone who already bought in, it's rewarding to play a Halo game that in brief moments, celebrates the small ways of looking at its big galactic war."

Anne Zeiser:  "Just as Disney and Lucasfilm have orchestrated it, you must go see Star Wars: The Force Awakens to untangle all of its mysteries. But in the meantime, you can scour Star Wars-themed products on grocery shelves and retail stores to look for more clues."

Henry Jenkins:  "In this three part interview, B.T. [Burghardt Tenderich] reflects about the changing nature of strategic communications, the value of transmedia branding, and the ethics of blurring between fiction and reality while making claims about real world products and services. Enjoy."

[DRC:  Parts Two and Three can be found here and here respectively.]

Rae Votta:  "The series follows a college student who lives her life according to classic novels, played out through vlog-style videos, various social media sites, and a podcast series. Transmedia—storytelling thrown at users across varying mediums—continues to evolve but often it's difficult for new viewers to engage wholly in the narrative experience."

Emmett Furey:  'Something important happened on Marvel’s “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” this year, and if you blinked, you may have missed it. The very first job title that pops up after the “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” end credits begin to roll is “Transmedia Producer.”'

Lyn Gardner:  "A new presentation of Ibsen’s play Hedda Gabler has been preceded by tweets from its heroine – an example of how digital media draws in theatre audiences in ingenious ways" ....

Jay Bushman:  "Whether you call it transmedia, crossmedia or multi-platform content development, here's what you need to know."

Elisabeth Greenbaum Kasson:  "While Baby Boomers and older Gen Xers may feel everything from dismissive to perplexed or even paralyzed by the shift to digital storytelling, the upcoming generations fear none of that. To get information delivered via virtual reality, gaming or interactive, as well as film, television, video, radio and photography—or any combination thereof—makes complete sense to them, and it's indicative of how documentary content will be delivered in the near future."

Matt Bolish:  "Contributions will establish a mentorship program in Brian’s name to provide guidance to emerging artists and creators in the field of participatory storytelling."

Robert Pratten:  "I created the diagram above in preparation for my talk at Neuchâtel film festival next week.  It probably needs a little explaining" ...

Michelle Herbison:  "Content-led storytelling on transmedia platforms coming from an agile, always-on approach – these are the new ways of successful marketing, says scholar and consultant Mohanbir Sawhney."

"My name is Yomi Ayeni, I’m a storyteller and one of my favourite activities is exploring new ways of interacting with narratives across any platform."

Jason Thibeault:  "I think it’s safe to say that marketing has changed. A lot. Gone are the days of telling your message. It’s all about engagement now. It’s about digital presence. It’s about storytelling. And how you tell that story may make or break your business. But the old way of storytelling may not cut it."

Avril Hwang:  " It started out as a Twitter fiction experiment where a scene description, a dialogue or a line from a character is posted every day. Overtime, they could then be strung together to form a larger story. The story was eventually extended to Facebook, Tumblr and even to a website of its own to allow longer pieces of writing to be published."

Noah J Nelson talks with Alison Norrington and Steve Peters about crowdfunding Dark Detour 2.

Simon Staffans talks with the team behind Dark Detour: Season 2, a multi-platform horror story ....

Pierre Ziemniak:  "What’s the specificity of transmedia projects in this very competitive space? There are only two ways to get a transmedia project out, according to [Rebecca] Smit: find your transmedia project first, and then look for potential partners; or look at the projects that are already there and make them transmedia."

Eric Kohn:  "The 46-year-old founder of GMD Studios was a major figure in the film and transmedia communities."

DRC:  The Transmedia community mourns a great thinker and friend.

Houston Howard's powerful case for why screenwriters should embrace transmedia ... it's the key to innovating the independent film industry!