Abstract
Transmedia storytelling involves telling a story using multiple distinct media. The remit of stories that fall under this broad definition is vast, consequently causing theorists to examine different phenomena using tools that are not suitable for all forms of transmedia storytelling. The lack of critical tools means we are unable to describe, compare and analyse different experiences using common language. In this paper, we present our model that can be used to identify the fundamental structural features of a variety of transmedia storytelling forms. We illustrate its usage with twenty case studies and discuss how three groups of patterns emerge which can be identifiable in all transmedia stories. These patterns can be used to extend transmedia language and help form taxonomies, by identifying common patterns and their usages amongst various forms of transmedia stories.
Highlights
There are many ways we can experience a fictional world, its events, characters and stories in the present day
Objects of study that overlap around transmedia have emerged and contributed to the ongoing debate surrounding how these experiences can be defined, and what tools are most appropriate for critically analysing them [7], [8], [9] [2], [10]. In their efforts to delimit transmedia stories from other experiences, a multitude of definitions have been made; transmedia fictions[11], supersystems of transmedia intertexts[12], digitexts[13], and multimedia strategies[14]. Wide definitions such as that proposed by Lisbeth Klastrup and Susana Tosca use the term “transmedial worlds” to describe abstract content systems that use a variety of media forms, where the “audience and designers share a mental image of the “worldness””[15]
19 Reinos (19 Realms in English) was an Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) with heavy role-playing elements based on the popular HBO series Game of Thrones (GoT) which in turn was based on a book A Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin
Summary
There are many ways we can experience a fictional world, its events, characters and stories in the present day. The buzzword that gained prominence in 2006, after it was coined by Henry Jenkins, has become an umbrella term used to describe wildly diverse forms such as; escape rooms, mixed reality games, secret cinema, virtual reality experiences, second screen apps, digital exhibitions and complex franchises to name a few[4]. This idea is reinforced by recent transmedia literature that considers attractions, television, photography, sports, journalism, games and music to be within its remit[5]. How can we compare an escape room to a second screen app when both experiences use different media, progress the story differently and ask for different requirements from their audiences?
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