During chapter 5 and 6 of the book Creators Guide to Transmedia the author talks about the different important steps in order to create a good transmedia storytelling and how to conduct that story through the length of it with a good plot, characters, and connections with the audience, In the first chapter, the author specifies that a transmedia story is created in order to make a business case and use somebody's creative vision. In order to create a good transmedia story four things are necessary. First, you need to create a world around your story; this can be a real world, like Romeo and Juliette, or a fiction world, like Star Wars. Then, creating the characters. The characters of the story are the ones who create a connection and an interaction with the audience, who will be the one involved with the story and spending the money on it. Ionic states, the change of the characters and environment within the story, and backstory and exposition, parallel stories that can help to understand the main story, are also key in order to create a good transmedia storytelling. In chapter 6, the author broadly talks about how to create and develop such story using all the potential it may have.
While reading this two chapters, two things attracted my interest in a special way. On one hand, the importance of the characters, for the author, and their development thoroughout the sotry; before, druing, and after. On the other hand, how transmedia stories use alternative types of media just to explain or give a background story of what happens in the main story. It is a way to explain why things are the way they are, but that it wouldn't make sense to explain in the middle of the main story. This new media stories create more interest in the audience and create a higher number of spectators.
Good examples of this two characteristics can be Harry Potter and The Office. Harry Potter is a great example of the development of the characters within the story. During the story of Harry Potter, their books and movies give us an idea of how the characters were before and at the beginning of their adventure. Then, as the plot develops, they develop and grow with it. At the end of the main story, the characters are completely different than how they were before. Also, books and theater plays, other media, also represent how they are after the story. Also, a movie that will be released this December, Magic Creatures and Where to Find Them, tells the story of how Hogwarts was created and why the creatures that appear in Harry Potter are there and are the way they are. The Office, on the other side, is also a good example of character development through the 9 seasons of the show, the creation of new characters, and the death of others. The office is also visible in other platforms that tell background stories of each character. Finally, there are also rumors that a new movie may be coming up for next summer.
Adrian,
ResponderEliminarYou bring up some really good points about how transmedia can add to the story arc of a particular character. Instead of explaining the backstory of a character in the middle of the main plot, transmedia presents an opportunity for the audience to really engage with the character outside of the plot. This makes me think about the example the author gave in previous chapters about The Dark Knight. Before going to the theater, audiences had the chance to play mini games involving the Joker, even helping him steal the bus he uses in the bank robbery scene. By playing these games, the audience walks into the theater already feeling a connection with the Joker as a character. This allows people to become more invested in the story itself, thus, as you say, increasing the number of spectators, and pumping up engagement.
-Sam