Transmedia Storytelling

Transmedia storytelling is broadly defined by the author of this article as the telling of a story by using a combination of different medias, all related to each other to a certain extent. Transmedia uses multiple platforms with the goal of telling a single unified story. Stories in each medium can either be a segment of a story that connects with other media to tell the full story, or a stand alone story. During the reading, the author distinguishes two types of transmedia storytelling; west coast and east coast. For the author, east coast is more related with independent movies, theater, or books; while west coast is considered the Hollywood and big franchises word. Within each group he also gives some examples.

Transmedia is a concept that most people, included myself, are not related to hear on a daily basis. But, the definition of such concept is something that definitely sounds more familiar to me as an individual, and probably to most people that have heard of it. Good examples of transmedia storytelling are stories that we see and hear daily like Entourage, or books and movies like Star Wars.

Entourage is a world known story that combines multiple platforms as TV shows and a movie. In this scenario, the stories told in both platforms are stand alone stories; but, when the platforms are combined the story interrelates. On the other side, Star Wars is a combination of books and movies that are segmented but connected together with the purpose of creating a complete story. Both the books and the movies are based upon the same content. These are both examples of West coast transmedia storytelling. Good examples of East coast transmedia storytelling would be Bear 71 or 3 Weeks in May, both examples of small budget interactive stories that combine blogs, websites, and videos all available for the public.