Transmedia Project!

Activity 1. But first, a little reflection on transmedia storytelling. View video.
Transmedia Storytelling

Essential Question: What is transmedia storytelling?

The term “transmedia storytelling” has been used synonymously with “transmedia narrative”. Henry Jenkins states that “transmedia storytelling represents a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience. Ideally, each medium makes its own unique contribution to the unfolding of the story.”

Working in small groups, students will research and read about transmedia storytelling. They will then create a"storyworld" and develop a transmedia project to be presented to the class.

Each transmedia project should contain a basic narrative expanded and explored with additional multi-generic "texts"and/or entry points across different media platforms which may include an element of interactivity

Activity 2: Go to the following websites and with a partner, develop a definition of transmedia.  Do these
"transmedia" experts agree or disagree about what transmedia is?

WHAT IS TRANSMEDIA?
Define the term "transmedia" as it is used by:
Henry Jenkins
(http://henryjenkins.org/2007/03/transmedia_storytelling_101.html)
Christy Dena (http://www.yousuckattransmedia.com/)
and Andrea Phillips
(http://www.deusexmachinatio.com/blog/2013/5/6/wtf-istransmedia-
2013.html).

Activity 3: Brainstorm Examples of Transmedia
With members of your group, brainstorm examples of transmedia
that you have been exposed to. Create a list on chart paper and
share out with the class. Share out to whole class.

VIDEO: https://www.provideocoalition.com/video-8-elements-of-transmedia/
HANDOUT: Elements of Transmedia Projects
HW: Think about possibilities for your group's transmedia project and roles.  Who will write?
Who will create a game?  Who will make a video? Who will create a blog? etc. 

Five elements of Transmedia Projects:

1. Does
   it have something to say?

It’s
not enough that you’ve got an idea that can be bounced around between
Facebook, an app, and a short film. Like any artistic endeavor, the
work has to communicate something potent and human, and it needs to
do so with a degree of originality that thrives upon the use of different
media rather than sublimating itself to them. 

2. Comedy
   is fine, but a joke is not worth chasing.

If you’re
creating a transmedia narrative that is simply an elaborate maze to
get to a punch line, forget it. Projects of this nature require work
on the part of the audience. The process of traversing one media platform
to the next is an interactive one, so you’d better make this worthwhile
for me.

3. Characters
   need to be compelling.

Digital
bells and whistles can be amusing, but good stories are marked by characters
that yearn, struggle, triumph or face defeat. Transmedia stories are
stories first. For some strange reason an inordinate amount of native
transmedia narratives that have hit the public eye in the past year
have been about douchebags: murders, amoral slackers, and (weirdly)
anti-technologists! Hook me with a good character that I actually like
or at least identify with, and I’ll follow her anywhere. 

4. Story
   elements that are self-contained but additive.

One of the
reasons transmedia is so remarkable is because it facilitates a type
of cubism, allowing for different perspectives on a narrative even while
the narrative is unfolding. The protagonist of the story does not have
to be the star of each piece of it on each medium. So you can examine
the story world through the eyes of different characters, or get the
omniscient perspective, and as a result everything can change about
how you perceive what is happening.

The most
brilliantly executed transmedia stories are also ones in which you can
enter the narrative from any of the media the piece was designed to
include. So if I’m introduced to your story through a comic book,
I’ll get a fairly complete experience, but then I’m led to an app
that shows me a different aspect of the story that is in itself complete,
but also significantly increases my appreciation for the narrative and
the overall story world. Then, maybe, I’m led to a short film that
actually shifts my perspective or interpretation of some of the characters
or the entire work. 

5. The
   work leverages the strengths of each medium it uses.

If you’re
just putting video on the web, that’s not very exciting. The web is
there to foster dialog, participation, it’s not television or a movie
theater. If you’re going to use a mobile phone as one of your storytelling
platforms, why not emphasize the user’s intimacy with the device.
Smart phones have become intensely personal items.

In short,
transmedia creators and producers would do well not to simply scatter
their stories across different media. They have to carefully consider
the features and strengths of the platform, and design the expression
of that aspect of the narrative to take best advantage of them. 

It’s also
important for creators to place within each expression of the story
a marker of some sort that will lead the audience to the next medium.
This can be done subtly, within the context of the story, but some aspect
of the interface will also need to more overtly tell us how to get to
the rest of the presentation. Fail to do that well, and you’re audience
(or as I prefer to call them, participants) won’t be able to enjoy
the complete work.