Transmedia, by definition, expresses how one media text is shared and identified across multiple media platforms.
Evans (2011, p. 28) expresses how there is three elements that build transmedia: narrative, authorship, and temporarily. These elements are varied to produce contemporary transmedia pop culture.
NARRATIVE
Narrative is a large and fundamental role within transmedia. Jenkins expresses how Jenkins expresses transmedia storytelling is “integrating multiple texts to create a narrative so large that it cannot be contained within a single medium” (2006. p. 95).
Narratives are fundamental within our society and culture; ‘shared knowledge’ of narratives are communicated between individuals and groups to assist our understanding of the world produced.
The concept to narrative is that it requires both a speaker and audience: the speaker is the powerful story-maker that manufactures the culture and industry. Whereas the audience is the one who listens and engages with the narrative.
However, narrative is not naturally produced, but rather culturally constructed to seek a specific audience. Narrative particularly focuses on personal identity to engage and entice larger audiences.
Narrative is formed by several elements: character, background, order and plot.
Theorists have looked at these construct of narrative and discovered what makes a successful narrative.
Aristotle stated there is a simple story order to narrative: beginning, middle and end.
This is significant within a narrative as it states a cohesive and easy story order. The significance of this is to help broaden our understanding of the narrative through an easy and cohesive story.
Likewise, Propp’s research into folk tales concluded how there is 24 typical characterizations, which help to thicken or engage with narratives. These characters include ‘the (magical) helper’, ‘the villain’, ‘the damsel’ and ‘the hero’.
Further to his research, Propp (1968) also articulates how these characters adhere to a 32-point circular narrative.
Main narrative points to be considered are the following:
1. ‘Introduction’ phase:
This is where’ the hero’ discovers something is wrong, typically caused and reinforced by ‘the villain’.
2. ‘Body of the story’:
Here, ‘the villain’ typically causes a problem, which forces ‘the hero’ to act heroic and leave to solve the problem.
3. ‘The donor sequence’:
‘The hero’ is challenged and proves that they are heroic by resolving the original problem. ‘The hero’ then battles and defeats ‘the villain’ and is branded hero.
4. ‘The hero’s return’:
The final phase, here is where the hero returns home and his achievements are celebrated and the villain is punished.
TRANSMEDIA STORYTELLING
Jenkins wrote how ‘convergence culture’ is where stories unfold across multiple media platforms, all with individual contributions to the world built within the franchise. Paratexts produced would not be understood without the help of the main text, and the main text could be further understood by the Paratexts. These platforms should coexist fluently (2006, p. 322-334).
Furthermore, Jenkins (2009) believes there is seven principles build up transmedia storytelling. These continue of:
1 & 2. Spreadability vs drillability:
Spreadaibility is refered to the capacity of active public engagement of media through social networks, which expand economic value and cultural worth of the media text.
Whereas drillability is where additional media context in a transmedia narrative can offer more or additional content (often supported by fans) that engage a new narrative complexity.
3 & 4. Continuity vs multiplicity:
Continuity is important in the fan world to help fans feel relief and complete by new found knowledge in paratexts. The continuity would serve as an excuse to the investment of time and energy in collecting and assembling paratexts with the main text.
Multiplicity allows fans to engage in ‘alternative retellings’; this is where new texts can fit into a ready-built world and seek fit.
5. Seriality
Seriality is where information is released in multiple installmentss across different media platforms. In order to understand the full perspective of the media text, you would have to engage in all (or most) texts.
6. Subjectivity
Subjectivity is where a media text is purposely left open; therefore left for fans to interpret and engage with. Therefore campaigns on social media, such as Twitter, allow audiences to uprise and engage with each other to interpret the text. The
7. Performance
This is where audiences will actively engage with a text. Performance is built by two elements: cultural attractors and cultural activators.
Cultural attractors are an audience of people who produce a community built on common interests. In transmedia, the common interest would be related to the text, such as finding out who the gossip girl was in series Gossip Girl.
Whereas, Cultural activators give the cultural attractors community something to do – these are the participators and producers of the media text. For example, Marlene King (writer and director of Pretty Little Liars) would upload photos, such as a old framed photo of the DiLaurentis family, onto Instagram to Twitter to entice the audience and get them talking.
CASE STUDY: CONVERGENCE CULTURE EVIDENT WITHIN THE MATRIX
Looking into Henry Jenkin’s ideology of convergence culture, The Matrix is a perfect example of transmedia, particularly looking at cult culture, media convergence and collaborative authorship:
After the initial release of The Matrix in 1999, a series of comics was published as an engagement and content into the series.
A comic of three friends viewing and discussing the first Matrix is shown. One of the viewers didn’t seem to understand the film. This comic is meant to be comical and satirical, however only audiences of The Matrix would understand the comic. We find out later in the comic, that the those who did understand The Matrix within the comics were in fact “agents”, which is a character element within The Matrix.
The agents are artificial-intelligence whose motive is to set out to feed on and destroy all humans. The fact the intelligent robots only understood the film act as a joke and reference to the film. This either left audiences complimented and empowered (comparing themselves similar to intelligent robots) or inadequate because they didn’t understand the original text.
This connects to Jenkins discussion of transmedia storytelling, because it expresses how in order to understand a fundamental text, you have to understand and engage with all paratexts.
Meaning those who didn’t understand the film would have difficulty because they don’t and won’t understand the text, unless they read up on all linked texts.
The Matrix can serve as entertainment for the age of media convergence, as to engage with the matrix, you have to engage with all media platforms involved. This includes the films, comics, mini-films (‘anamatrix’) and computer games.
This typically means only super-fans will have enough will-power to engage with all media texts.
Typically, Jenkins refers to The Matrix being entertainment for the era of collective intelligence due to that comprehension of the multiple media texts.
For example, the second film dove straight into the continuing story of The Matrix, without recap. This meant the film would only be understood with reference to the first film.
Furthermore, to understand all three films fully, you also needed to engage with The Matrix game.
And, to understand The Matrix game, you would need to engage in the mini-animate series, The Anamatrix.
Therefore, those who are fans of The Matrix are typically well-educated on the series. Jenkins’ makes links to Umberto Eco’s work. Here, there are recognised elements to convergence (see above to: 7. Performance):
1. The cultural attractor are fans who have found commonalities within their fan base.
2. Cultural activators, who are those who produce the complex texts and produces hype surrounding the text.
Furthermore, Jenkins and Eco exhibit elements to cult culture:
1. Texts should produce a “completely furnished world so that its fans can quote characters and episodes as if they were aspects of the private sectarian world”.
2. The world produced (characters, scenes, etc) could be encyclopaedic – all elements should work coherently and make sense.
3. Texts should provide resources that consumers can construct to produce their own fantasies.
4. Cult films should be made from different quotes, archetypes, allusions and references – requiring a sense of expertise.
5. Lastly, not all cult films have to have a coherent/obvious narrative. This allows subjectivity, which would trigger different fan communities.
Lastly, collaborative authorship is salient in transmedia to help produce and develop Paratexts. This is particularly evident within The Matrix.
The Wachowski brothers worked with multiple authors to produce the image they wanted The Matrix to convey.
To construct a coherent narrative that would serve as canon, the Wachowski brothers worked closely with the partners of the game to keep the story flow – they did this by directing and writing the scripts to the game.
Furthermore, they hired choreographers such as Woo-Ping Yuen, a Hong-King fighting choreographer.
Lastly, they hired specific animators for The Anamatrix that kept to a consistent and visually-appealing style. The Wachowski brothers purposely chose certain animators, who had links and interest to The Matrix series. This allowed creators freedom to explore the series artistically, whilst adhering to the narrative.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Evans, E. (2011). Transmedia Television: Audiences, New Media, and Daily Life. London: Routledge
Wachowski, L. & Wachowski, L. (Directors). (1998) The Matrix [Warner Brothers]. United States: Roadshow Enteratinment
Propp, V. (1968). Morphology of the Folktale. United States, Austin: University of Texas Press.
Jenkins, H. (2006).Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: NYU Press.
Jenkins, H. (2009, December 12th). The Revenge of the Origami Unicorn: Seven Principles of Transmedia Storytelling (Part 1). Confessions of an Aca-Fan. Retrieved from http://henryjenkins.org/2009/12/the_revenge_of_the_origami_uni.html
Jenkins, H. (2009, December 12th). The Revenge of the Origami Unicorn: Seven Principles of Transmedia Storytelling (Part 2). Confessions of an Aca-Fan. Retrieved from http://henryjenkins.org/2009/12/revenge_of_the_origami_unicorn.html
Gervás, P. (1998). Propp’s Morphology of the Folk Tale as a Grammar for Generation, Knowledge, Representation, Formalism and Methods.