I recently saw a tweet from @tMediaStrategy asking “Do you think new forms of #transmedia storytelling will develop? http://t.co/IHuNpQaV”
With media and technology’s rate of advancement and experimentation it’s only natural that I responded a “Yes”. To me, it’s like the mathematical probability of life on other planets.
But then the dreaded follow up tweet “@ethernick what forms do you think will emerge? #transmedia”
Oh crap.
Honestly, it’s a “you don’t know what you don’t know” experience.
So without the 140 character limit, tMedia, I’ll try to blog it out. Here we go.
Say It – Make It
The lines are blurring between fact and fiction. If a story mentions a book, website, twitter account, etc… People will start hunting for it in real life. I know I do.
The moment a story makes any reference to fictional material on the web or otherwise – buy it, make it, register it, use it!
I was watching Girls and saw reference to a twitter account “HannahHorvath”. Did it work: no. Why did I look? Because in the scene I clearly saw tweets I wanted to read, namely something about eating wet bread? Instead I found a fan account without the tweets I was looking for.
I commend shows like How I met Your Mother for publishing The Bro Code and for bringing barneysvideoresume.com and lilysinlabor.com to life.
Right Now
Part of the trend of Social ( which has been the dominant focus from media ) is Real Time. The hashtag is probably the biggest “in your face”, at least from TV. That little faded word in the bottom corner.
The show New Girl doesn’t just show the classic “#NewGirl” they’ll also start highlighting catch phrases that they want like “#schmidtbaby” or “#McMouse” – the idea is to see what other viewers are saying about it right now!
Additionally the Conan App looks to be pretty cool ( although sadly to say as a Canadian I can’t see it in action for myself ). From what I gather it can show time delayed tweets, comments and conversation when playing back older episodes while you watch. See what people are saying at the exact same moment in the show.
I don’t really have a good solution to this one – but I do know that with apps like hootsuite it’s not hard to hire a writer for a day to time delay a few tweets on behalf of a character
The media of real life
This I think is the mother of all.
Taking a look at successful brands, successful personalities, successful stories, they all at one point in time, jump off the page to shake hands and be with real people.
Brands have on the street promotions like that RedBull car always driving around town.
Personalities go to conventions, answer questions, and get filmed by TMZ at bars late at night.
Stories? Take a look at Comic-Con’s, Cosplay, LARP, even Quidditch. These take the stories way beyond anything the original storyteller could imagine for. Participants become the story; they make the story; they evolve the story.
Now is this transmedia? By definition, not directly. But does it have exponential positive influence on the story itself? To allow the story to branch out beyond itself? To give it the material it needs to up the ante in the next instalment? Absolutely!
