TRANSMEDIA ENTERTAINMENT Dr Matthew Freeman Senior Lecturer in Media Communications Bath Spa University, UK About me… •Dr Matthew Freeman •Senior Lecturer in Media Communications •Director of the Media Futures Research Centre •Bath Spa University, UK My Research… •International media industry studies •Production cultures across media, time, and countries –Transmedia storytelling/production –Media branding/commodification –Media and cultural history http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/c16.0.403.403/p403x403/76038_10152404995455487_197305194 2_n.jpg Course Context •Throughout the world people now engage with stories across multiple media, following the adventures of Doctor Who television to the Web, exploring the Batman universe across cinema, television, comics, and more. This phenomenon, branded ‘transmedia storytelling’ by Henry Jenkins in 2003, has since gained both significant academic and industry presence over the last decade or so. The media industries have since developed sophisticated tools for allowing entertainment to play out seamlessly across media platforms. • Course Rationale •The proliferation of entertainment across multiple media platforms is indeed now so commonplace that it is important to fully understand its workings and implications. Across this course we will analyse and explore different concepts, practices and models of transmedia storytelling, providing you with expansive examples of the role of transmedia entertainment in today’s media culture and industries. We will consider the underlying characteristics of all transmedia stories, before exploring its potential histories as well as a number of key themes of transmedia – including branding, promotion, technology, participation, and globalism. The course will be structured around explorations of transmedia’s past, its present, and its future, altogether providing you with an understanding of the forms, roles and impacts of our contemporary transmedia culture on everything from technology to storytelling, from industry to audiences. Learning Outcomes •By the end of this course, you should be able to: •Explain the concept and characteristics of transmedia storytelling. •Describe the values and roles of transmedia as a contemporary practice of the media industries. •Analyse the forms of transmedia entertainment across different genres, assessing the textual, economic, cultural and audience implications. • Monday •Lecture 1: Transmedia Introductions: Industry, Technology, Narrative • –Reading: Jenkins, H. (2006) ‘Searching for Origami Unicorn: The Matrix and Transmedia Storytelling’, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press, pp.93-130. • Tuesday •Lecture 2: Transmedia Conceptions: World, Character, Author - Promotion, Brand, Continuity –Reading: NO READING. • •Lecture 3: Transmedia Histories Part I: Early 20th Century: Industrialised Consumerism –Reading: Freeman, M. (2014) ‘Advertising the Yellow Brick Road: Historicizing the Industrial Emergence of Transmedia Storytelling’, International Journal of Communication 8, pp.2362-2381. • Wednesday •Lecture 4: Transmedia Histories Part II: Late 20th Century: Brand Hollywood –Reading: Grainge, P. (2007) ‘Media Branding and the Entertainment Complex’, Brand Hollywood: Selling Entertainment in a Global Media Age. London: Routledge, pp.44-66. • •Screening: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (2011) • Thursday •Lecture 5: Transmedia Futures Part I: Digital Participation –Reading: Tepper, A. (2015) ‘Lizzie in Real Life: Social and Narrative Immersion Through Transmedia in The Lizzie Bennett Diaries’, Film Matters (Spring), pp.45-51. • •Lecture 6: Transmedia Futures Part II: Transnational and Global Perspectives –Reading: NO READING. • Transmedia Introductions: Industry, Technology, Narrative http://maher.filfre.net/writings/convergence.jpg http://whatworkswhere.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Transmedia-Storytelling1.jpg http://www.bang2write.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/transmedia-storytelling.jpg http://truthaboutmarika.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/transmediawordle1.jpg Lecture 1 Today… •What is transmedia storytelling? •Industry context of transmedia storytelling •Transmedia as global storytelling •Transmedia’s observed codes of conventions •Transmediality: •“The increasingly popular industrial practice of using multiple media platforms to present information concerning a single fictional world through a range of textual forms.” Elizabeth Evans (2011) What is transmedia? What is transmedia storytelling? C:\Users\Matt\Documents\tms.jpeg Henry Jenkins, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide (New York: New York University Press, 2006), p.334. http://maher.filfre.net/writings/convergence.jpg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9uX_65IFpY http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pFA6TMaOVfQ/UKFf364TnDI/AAAAAAAAADQ/s7kz4vHVhxU/s1600/think_matrix.jpeg https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQoQt6J5Vs9N4O3fmGCVekmyF8VXh-nvtLW2GYu7sDbtBM 1j-O_8g http://www.bellyfeel.co.uk/bfblog/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/transmediawordle-426x188.jpg http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/sites/default/files/2012/07/warner_bros_intro.jpg http://whatworkswhere.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Transmedia-Storytelling1.jpg •‘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 … In The Matrix franchise, key bits of information are conveyed through three live action films, a series of animated shorts, two collections of comic book stories, and several video games. There is no one single source or ur-text where one can turn to gain all of the information needed to comprehend the Matrix universe.’ (Jenkins 2011) • • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHyYig43GYY Transmedia Context •So why exactly does transmedia even exist? Contemporary Industry Context http://www.icntv.tv/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/media-ownership.jpg http://www.bang2write.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/transmedia-storytelling.jpg (1) Industrial Convergence (2) Technological Convergence News Corporation: Time Warner: National Amusements: NBC Universal: The Walt Disney Company: Viacom CBS Corporation Cable: Fox Movie Channel Fox News Channel FX CNN TNT Cinemax HBO MTV Networks BET Networks Showtime Bravo MSNBC Syfy A&E Lifetime ESPN Production and Distribution: 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Blue Sky Studios Warner Bros. Entertainment Paramount Pictures, MTV Films CBS Television Studios, CBS Home Entertainment NBC Entertainment, Universal Media Studios, Universal Pictures Touchstone Pictures, Pixar, Walt Disney Studios Television Networks: Fox Broadcasting Company (Fox network) Fox Sports The CW (joint venture with CBS Corporation) CBS, The CW (with Warner Bros. Ent) NBC ABC DBS: BSkyB, FoxTel Publishing: Harper Collins, News International, The Wall Street Journal Time Inc. Simon and Schuster Disney Consumer Products Online: Myspace, Hulu NASCAR.com, CNN.com Atom Entertainment CBS Interactive Hulu, iVillage Disney Interactive Media Group Parks and Resorts: Universal Studios Hollywood Disneyland Resort Tokyo Disney Resort - ‘Creating Blockbuster Worlds’ http://pics.filmaffinity.com/Doctor_Who_Pond_Life_TV-172953690-large.jpg http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rd2GlS10BWI/UDUUcJXrSII/AAAAAAAAIQc/_i1U3ck300g/s400/Picture1.jpg http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/graphics/news3/DoctorWho_S5_DVD.jpg http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7s9vG8QXaAI/VBdjdaAG7_I/AAAAAAAA8tk/nVeGE_1Jf4w/s1600/the-night-of-the-do ctor-im-a-doctor.png http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SHJkRr9WHdY/TeGGKOE-9vI/AAAAAAAABMs/uj_OlDs2xig/s400/almost-people-doctor -who-iplayer.JPG Questions to consider… •Are transmedia stories about re-engaging the same audience over and over again? •Or are transmedia stories about engaging different audiences at different times via different media? •Which ones do you instinctively classify as ‘UK media’, or ‘US media’, or, if any, ‘global media’? –Do any seem like American products? Why? –Do any seem like they’re targeting a specific country? –Do any seem like they’re targeting global audiences? Global Case Study – Avatar (2009) •Box Office Gross •$3 billion (approx.): 27.3% (USA) • 72.7% (rest of world) • http://i.ytimg.com/vi/cX0R3mXaod8/maxresdefault.jpg How ‘American’ is Avatar (2009)? •Based on watching the trailer for Avatar, which aspects “feel” American and which aspects feel more universal? Consider: –Actors, language, production style –Genre type, story, characters –Themes, visuals, sound, etc. – – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PSNL1qE6VY Transmedia – Avatar: The Game •Based on the trailer for Avatar: The Game, what nationality of audience(s) do you think the makers are trying to attract? (i.e. US? Global?). Consider: –Themes, visuals, language, genre – • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xw5lV0KgW20 http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/jamescameronsavatar/images/f/fb/Avatar-game-ps3-front.jpg/revis ion/latest?cb=20100516163406 Avatar: The Game (2009) •Avatar: The Game (2009) Global Sales Percentages •53.0% (USA) •36.3% (Europe) •10.7% (rest of world) http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/jamescameronsavatar/images/f/fb/Avatar-game-ps3-front.jpg/revis ion/latest?cb=20100516163406 What, if anything, does this show…? •Does the transmedia Avatar example suggest that: •Transmedia is key to engaging wider audiences? •Games are a less global medium that film? •US audiences are drawn to video games? •Global audiences are drawn to sci-fi film? •Non-Western audiences prefer watching imaginary worlds to playing inside them? •Story themes of colonization, war, and love transcend media and travel internationally? • • Characteristics of Transmedia •What are the basic codes and conventions of transmedia storytelling according to scholars? • Transmedia Storytelling: Narrative Coherence Transmedia Storytelling: Authorial Coherence Transmedia Storytelling: Temporal Coherence What are the benefits of creating transmedia entertainment that is so narratively, authorially and temporally coherent? •Encourages engagement with a wider range of media texts and consumer products associated with a specific entertainment •Multiplies the potential profits for industries •Increases loyalty from audiences and consumers by rewarding the engaged viewer • Transmedia codes and conventions •(1) ‘a network of intertextuality’ (storytelling) •(2) ‘collectability’ (branding) •(3) ‘accelerates the growth curve of the commercial system’ (cross-promotion) • •Marsha Kinder, Playing with Power in Movies, Television, and Video Games: From Muppet Babies to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1991). • Intertextuality (storytelling) Heroes (2006–2010) http://seriable.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/heroes.jpg http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ldi4owmRe81qez7zzo1_400.jpg http://gallery.biorust.com/files/1/3/2/6/0/hiro-med.jpg http://www.yourprops.com/movieprops/default/496c7cf7c5ae3/Heroes-Hiro-Comic-1.jpg Collectability (branding) Harry Potter http://www.techdigest.tv/gallery/2010/11/the_ultimate_ha/Harry%20Potter%20and%20The%20Deathly%20Hal lows%20-%20Part%201.png http://i2.cdnds.net/11/47/618_movies_harry_potter.jpg http://www.coatpant.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Harry-Potter-T-Shirts.jpg http://news.toyark.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2008/10/harry_potter_toy_1224800699.jpg http://shoutitforlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Harry-Potter-logo.jpg http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTQ2OTE1Mjk0N15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwODE3MDAwNA@@._V1_SX640_SY720_ .jpg http://b.vimeocdn.com/ts/355/105/355105089_640.jpg http://collider.com/wp-content/uploads/dark-knight-rises-movie-poster-banner-slice.jpg http://www.snd.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/SF_Batkid.jpg Commercial system (cross-promotion) http://vimeo.com/51912879 Dangers of transmedia storytelling? •What are some of the potential pitfalls and dangers for the media industries in asking audiences to cross multiple platforms? Dangers of transmedia storytelling? •Audience fatigue •Confusing/incoherent narratives •High production costs – risk •High expense for audiences •Extra emphasis on production coordination What to take away from today… •Transmedia storytelling is about continuity, coherence and depth •Stories become storyworlds •Audiences become gatherers of media •Intertextuality (story), collectability (branding), and cross-promotion (commercialism) •Transmedia is key to engaging wider audiences What’s coming up…? •Lecture 2: •‘Transmedia Conceptions: World, Character, Author – Promotion, Brand, Continuity’ • •Lecture 3: •‘Transmedia Histories Part I: 20th Century Consumerism’