Transmedia Storytelling 101

1. There is a process where elements come together and spread across a digital channel to create one unified story, The Matrix is an example of this. Transmedia storytelling encompasses multiple aspects of media convergence. Consumers interact with producers for consumer-producer convergence because the story is available across multiple platforms allowing more people to become involved. Business consolidation also occurs because one company creates the story to be distributed by multiple outlets such as TV, Internet, books, movies, etc. Participatory culture occurs when the producer is able to show the story to many people who then communicate with one another and the company to create a large diverse community of dialogue.

2. The media business is able to have brands and products with a more diverse range targeting multiple audiences. The story can be told across books, games, TV, radio, movies, etc. So more products come in contact with more people and the company benefits from the large profit from these multiple sectors.

3. Storytelling practices can influence different audiences to purchase products because producers can gear products toward specific audiences. In the article it stated that if Marvel wanted to have females buy comic books based off of the Spiderman series they would create “Jane loves Spiderman” to gear more toward the romance and love demographic of women. Conversely producers may also create products based off of a demographic they know such as people who watch “The Real Housewives” and make a real housewives game. This would prompt people to buy this game when they otherwise wouldn’t. 

4. In terms of production, storytelling is collective intelligence because there are bits of stories that make up a larger story. It doesn’t matter if the consumer watched on TV show that told a small part of a larger story, all of the consumers would understand the large picture. It depends on what they watch that will tell if the consumer understands parts of the story.

 5. As transmedia storytelling reaches across multiple platforms of products more people get involved with the story. This causes more interactivity among viewers because someone who normally wouldn’t purchase a game watches the TV show while the gamer can still have a conversation with the TV watcher. This large storytelling spectrum encourages dialogue across many people.