Transmedia: Storytelling for the Digital Age

Nuno Bernardo:  "A transmedial experience should invoke the most human elements of the storytelling tradition."

Simon Staffans:  "I think we can all agree that the world is a pretty complex place. It would be easier for most of us if it was simply cleary black and white, right and wrong, for and against, like a LOTR movie with all nuances wiped away."

DRC:  "@Simon_Staffans talks with transmedia guru @Jeff_Gomez for 'One Year in Now Media vol V.'"

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" ...

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."

James Whitbrook:  "When Star Wars released in 1977, the face of science fiction in popular culture was changed forever — but a year later, the movie helped transform the toy industry as well. Since then, Star Wars and the toys it inspired have been forever linked, a story that can just as easily be told through figures as it can the films."

Erik Urtz:  "The Classic Alice and its heavy social media integration are a great example of what storytelling in the twenty first century just might become."

Jordan England-Nelson:  "Rather than rely on popular films to generate buzz for new products, toy companies are creating in-house studios to produce their own video content to get kids excited about new toy lines."

Simon Staffans:  "If we think of our story on different layers, it is logical that certain layers should have different purposes and different traits than others."

DRC:  Simon Staffans continues his series of fascinating posts on "layered storytelling".

Henry Jenkins:  "As my student Geoff Long likes to say, transmedia is an adjective, not a noun, and as such, it needs something to modify. Much of the conversation here has centered around transmedia entertainment, transmedia storytelling, or perhaps transmedia branding and transmedia learning. But, when the word transmedia modifies activism or mobilization, there is no more important voice in the world today than Lina Srivastava. In her hands, transmedia becomes a verb — something we do to make a difference in the world."

DRC: Part Two of this interview can be found here.

Nuno Bernardo:  "Audiences demand interactive and deep story experiences."

DRC:  A look at audience development and pitching as a way of finding the core of your transmedia story.

"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."

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."

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

Amie Mills:  "When we’re talking about transmedia, we’re starting to use terms like story world, where you have many stories told using multiple media forms, across many different channels and platforms … and how that content lives and breathes is uniquely tailored to the platform you’re viewing it on."  via Ben Fahy of StopPress

Mike Vogel:  "Here’s a dilemma every transmedia producer faces… You discover a new storytelling platform–maybe you get in to their invite-only beta–and you create a story that uses the strengths of that platform. The platform gives you a powerful new way to express yourself interactively, but then something happens. Maybe the startup runs out of funding, gets acquired, or changes their business model. Suddenly the DNA of your story is no longer available to you. Your story can no longer be told."