 |
| The many aspects and forms that transmedia can take. |
Multimedia is telling the same story over
different platforms. It does not really allow the audience to interact or
change the story. That is different with transmedia because this actually allows
the audience to participate, to change the story and be part of it as well. For
example, it takes a book series and turns it into a movie and then there are
fan fiction websites that are created as well as games and so much more. In
other words, it takes a story and tells it in various different ways over
different platforms all with the audience playing a key role.
Transmedia
is becoming a more important way to tell stories because it is different and
now the audience isn’t just composed of spectators, but creators as well. It
allows for creativity to flow and for the story to stay alive. It also gives
the participants an opportunity to add or change anything they wish because the
story is now in their hands. This makes it more attractive to follow a story
and brings in more fans. It intensifies the experience and makes the audience
more excited instead of giving them fear that their favorite fictional world
may end as soon as the last book or movie does.
 |
| Platform 9 3/4 from the Harry Potter franchise |
Harry
Potter is an example of transmedia story telling. It began with
books, transferred on to movies, and now there are games, theme parks,
websites, etc. All of these platforms allow the audience to engage with the Harry Potter world. It is easy to see
that the Harry Potter fans are very
engaged with all that has to do with this fictional world. Harry Potter fan
fiction is a huge element in keeping the story alive because it really has no
limitations.
In Henry Jenkins’s Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, he brings up
The Daily Prophet, a Harry Potter fan
fiction site. Jenkins brings this up to show that this interactive world allows
anyone to come in and create their own Harry Potter narrative, no
discrimination, no judgment, and become an active participator and even an
author. He gives examples of some fan fiction that was posted on the site and they
are completely different but both live in the same realm. One of the examples
takes on the role of Harry Potter’s only sister, who does not exist in the
books or movies. ( Jenkins,184)
Another example of transmedia storytelling in
the Harry Potter world is Pottermore. It is a website that allows the author,
J.K. Rowling, to continue the narrative and give her readers more information
on the wizard world she began. In addition to this the website added a sorting
process, similar to the one used in Hogwarts. Pottermore made the Harry Potter
fan base more interested in the world since it was interactive and the author
released more information and pieces to the story. In Jenkin’s website,
henryjenkins.org, he writes why Pottermore is important. He includes a quote by
a fan that writes that this could give the fans at least two more years of
information and interaction. Jenkins is also thinks of transmedia as being
positive and says that it “these materials as expanding our knowledge and
deepening our experience of the story … by allowing each medium to do what it
can do best”
 |
| A still of the interactive world in Pottermore. In this picture the user is able to create their own potion. |
The usage of various platforms benefits the
audience because their interaction with their favorite characters isn’t limited
anymore. There are no more specific gatekeepers that give only a certain amount
of informatio
This is also different from traditional story
telling itself. As Jenkins pointed out before “you would pitch a story because
without a good story, you didn’t really have a film. Later, once sequels
started to take off, you pitched a character because a good character could
support multiple stories. And now you pitch a world because a good world can
support multiple characters and multiple stories around multiple media.”
(Jenkins, 116)
Audience members can design their own world
within a fictional universe and interact with others that have also created
their own world. This creates ties within the fandom itself and that makes it stronger.
In addition to giving them their own voice, they can also choose how they
interact with the original story. It isn’t just through social media or just
reading the books or watching the movies, it adds blogs, fan fiction, and so
much more. “The world is bigger than the films, bigger even than the franchise-
since fan speculations and elaborations also expand the world in a variety of
different directions.” (Jenkins, 186)
Jenkins, Henry. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New
Media Collide. New York: New York University Press, 2006. Print.
No comments:
Post a Comment