1

Ciobotaru Alina

Transmedia storytelling 101
Henry Jenkins

I. Introduction
The book Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide ( 2006; Henry Jenkins):
quotations from the Introduction to the book :
- this book is about the relationship between three concepts media convergence, participatory
culture, and collective intelligence;
- By convergence, I mean the flow of content across multiple media platforms, the cooperation
between multiple media industries, and the migratory behavior of media audiences who would
go almost anywhere in search of the kinds of entertainment experiences they wanted.
- I want to argue that convergence represents a shift in cultural logic, whereby consumers are
encouraged to seek out new information and make connections between dispersed media content.
The term, participatory culture, is intended to contrast with older notions of media
spectatorship.[].
- Convergence occurs within the brains of individual consumers. Consumption has
become a collective process and thats what I mean in this book by collective intelligence.
II. Characteristics of transmedia storytelling:
- 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. Ideally, each medium makes it own unique contribution to
the unfolding of the story.
- Transmedia storytelling reflects the economics of media consolidation or what industry
observers call synergy. Modern media companies are horizontally integrated that is, they
hold interests across a range of what were once distinct media industries.
- Most often, transmedia stories are based not on individual characters or specific plots but
rather complex fictional worlds which can sustain multiple interrelated characters and their
stories an encyclopedic impulse in both readers and writers.
2

- Extensions may serve a variety of different functions: to maintain audience interest when no
new episodes are available (BBCs radio dramas for Doctor Who); it may provide insight into
the characters and their motivations; it may add a greater sense of realism to the fiction as a
whole etc.
- Transmedia storytelling practices may expand the potential market for a property by creating
different points of entry for different audience segments (ex. Romance comics of Spiderman to
attract women or coloring books to attract younger readers).
- Ideally, each individual episode must be accessible on its own terms even as it makes a unique
contribution to the narrative system as a whole (additive comprehension= each new text adds a
new piece of information which forces us to revise our understanding of the fiction as a whole -
the film Bladerunner= the addition of an image of an origami unicorn to the directors cut
edition).
- Transmedia storytelling is linked to the idea of collective intelligence, a term coined by
Pierre Levy to refer to new social structures that <<enable the production and circulation of
knowledge within a networked society>>. <<Art in an age of collective intelligence functions as
a cultural attractor, drawing together like-minded individuals to form new knowledge
communities>>.Transmedia storytelling expands what can be known about a particular fictional
world while dispersing that information, insuring that no one consumer knows everything and
insure that they must talk about the series with others (see, for example, the hundreds of different
species featured in Pokemon or Yu-Gi-O).
- It provides a set of roles and goals which readers can assume as they enact aspects of the story
through their everyday life: a performative dimension.
- The encyclopedic ambitions of transmedia texts often results in what might be seen as gaps or
excesses in the unfolding of the story: they introduce potential plots which cannot be fully told or
extra details which hint at more than can be revealed fan fiction
Nextness 101. Transmedia storytelling
Transmedia storytelling = a story told over a variety of platforms, like movies, TV, toys, books
and games.
Example of a successful transmedia storytelling: The Matrix franchise, where key bits of
information are conveyed through three live action films, a series of animated shorts (The
Animatrix), two collections of comic book stories, and several games.
What does it mean for brands?
Because today people are pirating TV shows and skipping adds because they no longer read
newspapers, most campaigns now involve a mix of earned
1
, owned
2
and paid
3
media. They

1
Coverage by journalists and bloggers achieved through public relations; Social network buzz encouraged by social
media managers etc. An earned media strategy can help generate and spread positive word of mouth.
3

can use transmedia storytelling. Instead of one simple message targeted to a few channels, brands
and organisations would develop a complex and in depth <<evolving non-linear brand
narrative>>: <<Different channels could be used to communicate different, self-contained
elements of the brand narrative that build to create an larger brand world. Consumers then pull
different parts of the story together themselves.>>
It is a word-of-mouth type of advertisement.
Henry Jenkins is quoted as linking this to the idea of collective intelligence- see Jenkins 1
Another expert is quoted as saying: What a good transmedia campaign does achieve is that it
anchors core fans in your campaign. At the same time you need to find ways to make it as
accessible as possible to the mainstream.
Examples of transmedia storytelling for marketing purposes: Hand in hand with the TV series
Lost, the Lost Experience (an alternate reality game that was part of the American television
drama Lost), the story of The Great Gatsby, reimagined as a computer game.
To read further on:
- Henry Jenkins article Transmedia storytelling ( MITs Technology review)
- Cautionary tales in transmedia storytelling by Michael Andersen (on Wired- Magazine)
- Transmedia: Entertainment reimagined by Tom Cheshire and Charlie Burton (Wired)

Henry Jenkins article Transmedia storytelling ( MITs Technology review)
- Lets face it: we have entered an era of media convergence that makes the flow of content
across multiple media channels almost inevitable.
- Everything about the structure of the modern entertainment industry was designed with this
single idea in mind-the construction and enhancement of entertainment franchises.
- We need a new model for co-creation-rather than adaptation-of content that crosses
media because instead of collaborating, even units from the same media conglomerate compete
aggressively. Each industry sector has specialized talent, but the conglomerates lack a common
language or vision to unify them.
- The current licensing system typically generates works that are redundant (allowing no new
character background or plot development), watered down (asking the new media to slavishly
duplicate experiences better achieved through the old).

2
A website, whether its a corporate site, specific to the product or brand, or a ministe just for the campaign; Some
content (such as YouTube videos youve paid to make, downloads like PDFs and brochures, beautiful hi-res images
of your product); An app or game.
3
Advertisement (You control the message, and you can take an educated guess who and how many people will see
it)
4

- In the ideal form of transmedia storytelling, each medium does what it does best-so that a story
might be introduced in a film, expanded through television, novels, and comics, and its world
might be explored and experienced through game play. Each franchise entry needs to be self-
contained enough to enable autonomous consumption. That is, you dont need to have seen the
film to enjoy the game and vice-versa. As Pokemon does so well, any given product is a point of
entry into the franchise as a whole.
- Transmedia stories arent necessarily bad stories; they are different kinds of stories. A good
character can sustain multiple narratives and thus lead to a successful movie franchise. A good
world can sustain multiple characters (and their stories) and thus successfully launch a
transmedia franchise.
- Twain understood what modern storytellers seem to have forgotten-a compelling sequel offers
consumers a new perspective on the characters, rather than just more of the same.
Cautionary tales in transmedia storytelling
by Michael Andersen

In a presentation on the ethics of transmedia storytelling, Andrea Phillips recounted a number
of cautionary tales from the genres history in order to illuminate best practices in transmedia
production. Andrea Philips has designed a number of transmedia narratives and one of her
transmedia campaigns has even been condemned by NASA.
-In 2009, Sony Pictures launched a website for The Institute for Human Continuity promoting
2012, their disaster movie for the year. NASA received emails about the site from people who
failed to notice the references to Sony Pictures. The site was declared ethically wrong.
- After finishing an alternate reality game called The Beast, Andrea Philips was faced with a
problem: a group of players (the Cloudmakers) discussed the possibility of combining their
skills to track down the perpetrators of the 9/11 attack. She and other feared that people trying to
solve 9/11 would in fact be placing themselves and others in danger.
Consequences & Risk of Harm: How Real Is Too Real?
Philips gives examples of transmedia instances that were interpreted as real situations:
-the case of Zona Incerta, a Brazilian ARG;
- Toyotas practical joke marketing campaign for their Matrix model where vitual lunatics
were stalking unsuspecting people;
- the case of Bob Lord, a player in an invitation-only event called The Game (designers of the
game experience laid a path of clues that led their players into an abandoned mining complex
with hundreds of mine openings. Bob Lord walked into the wrong mine shaft and fell thirty feet.)