This is Transmedia

The Downton Abbey truck was parked outside of where I intern in midtown today. Surprisingly there was only a couple people in line when I got to work, and there was no one in line when I left at 5. This might just be coincidental, so I'm curious to see how successful their foodtruck campaign will be. 

There is a truck for everything now. The Dowager Countess approves.

How do you assess the audience base and know what kind of transmedia will work on which audiences? It is mostly a formula based on statistics; gender, income, age, ethnicity even, or is there not really a cut-and-dry way of analyzing how a transmedia campaign will translate to audiences/ more of an intuituve strategy? Have there been times where a campaign just didn't work with audiences at all? Why do you think that was?

How does the type of show/client dictate what kind of transmedia is produced for them?

Interesting article with links! 

"The elaborate new X-Men: Days Of Future Past teaser site alleges that Magneto killed JFK"

What are some of the main steps you take in developing your largest transmedia projects?

How do you land these sorts of jobs?

"And you know, to be honest, I think it’s a little polarizing, we’re getting pros and cons, I think a lot of the fans just really want to see what happens, and some of the others are just really embracing this whole fictional world that they can be part of, kind of like an MMORPG (massive multiplayer online role playing game), and for me personally I’d say I’m still a little… I don’t know if this is really effective, but it’s really fun." (Bernie Su) Louisa Stein's Embracing Fan Creativity in Transmedia Storytelling speaks on fan-contribution content to The Lizzie Bennett Diaries spin-off series, Welcome to Sanditon. The initiative invited viewers to become actors and writers by creating their own characters, subplots and videos. The Domino vlogging application encourages its residents to vlog about their experiences and perspectives as town members. I found the quote above interesting because although such platforms provide the opportunity for fans to engage with the macrostory in an interactive manner, some may argue that it waters down the plotline or that it will take it in many directions and possibly hurt the the fan base that the original series has garnered. In this case, quantity won't necessarily lead to quality, and when co-producer Bernie Su admits of there being pros and cons to it, he must be taking such elements into consideration and thus he's not really sure of its effectiveness. Furthermore, being that it is relatively new, monetization of it might also be unclear for the time being -- although as we've learned throughout the semester, a particular transmedia component might not necessarily carry out the objective of making a profit from it.   

"when an officially affiliated author such as Misha Collins positions himself as joint-creator, participant and inhabitant of millenial read/write culture, the result is a simultaneous perception of a flattening of the transmedia playing field"

Before reading the article A Companion to Media Authorship I was unfamiliar with Misha Collins, the television show Supernatural and the web series Divine. I have to say, they all now have peaked my interest. So on some level Misha Collins is certainly functioning as marketing for anything and everything he has been/will be involved with. 

I think Misha Collins really did something innovative here in terms of fan interaction. When actors treat fans like normal people, the world takes notice (See: Aaron Paul). Having just watched the first episode of the web series Divine I think I could get behind this guy. When Zach Braff implored the use of kickstarter there was an outcry from certain critics who said that kickstarter should be used by those who don't have the means to make a project/talk to the right people in the business. I agreed with that at the time, but as I just mentioned I could get behind Misha Collins on pretty much any project he was with. Is it his relationship with his fans? Yeah, I guess so. But there is also a 'screw the system lets be innovative' attitude he seems to have that I like.

His kind of fan-interaction and have fun with the fans attitude seems to be contagious within the Supernatural cast. I went to the subreddit for the show and this was the top-rated post of all time:

But wait... it gets better. The top rated comment on the post says "Jared is way too pleased with himself" and links to this...

And here is a top comment on that proving that there is certainly a fan market out there that responds to this kind of fan-engagement, and that marketers can sure get behind:

Heather Urbanski states, “the Digital Generation seems to be no longer content to remain passive receivers of messages but instead demands to be part of their creation” (406)

    Louisa Stein quotes Heather Urbanski in “#Bowdown to Your New God” to describe the new demographic of transmedia storytelling. She cites Henry Jenkins’ definition of “transmedia storytelling” and the eventual revision of the definition to fit the development of the “Digital Generation.” The desire to be part of the creation leads to rising tensions between the writers and readers and Stein explains that it can manifests itself in lawsuits or restrictions. There are exceptions in which the producers allow the fans to participate in the creation—with restrictions. Stein offers examples of producer provided transmedia paratexts the likes of remixing interviews and remixing pre-approved clips of Battlestar Galactica (407). These attempts at pleasing the “Digital Generation” are, however, “tools through which producers attempt to shape and control fan culture, fan investments, and fan authorship” (406). The ability for the fans to become the “producer” is only allowed on a specific platform within restrictions. It isn’t easy enough to simply vilify the official producers for this: as Bernie Su, the executive producer of Sanditon, explains, “As an artist, […] you inspire [fans] to do this art and play in the world, and it’s pretty intoxicating” (Embracing Fan Creativity in Transmedia Storytelling). He continues, “… as a storyteller, it’s hard, I know it scatters the audience a bit, so I’m not going to say it’s all great” (Embracing Fan Creativity in Transmedia Storytelling). The producers have a story to tell and the fans also have a story to tell—in a way that conflicts with the vision of the producers. Although the creativity of the fans are perhaps appreciated by the producers, it is not usually acknowledged in a large way and only adds to the growing tensions between the official and the “unofficial.”     The problem at root is a struggle for power and ownership of content. There are numerous examples of unsatisfying fan participation (one we discussed the previous week with Suzanne Scott regarding the Avengers remix toolkit). So, how can both parties be equally satisfied? Should the producers allow the fans all creative control—stop providing a platform/restrictive space? Or, acknowledge the outside fan-production within the official-production a la Supernatural?

In her article “Embracing Fan Creativity in Transmedia Storytelling (LeakyCon Portland),” Louisa Stein discusses how Welcome to Sanditon encourages fan-fiction creation.  Using the ‘Domino vlogging application,’ which appeared in the show’s predecessor the Lizzie Bennet Diaries, producers encourage fans to create their own characters and plots through video that immerse themselves into the story world.  This activity allows fans to directly immerse themselves into the world, using the context of the show to implant their own beings within the world itself.  Fan inclusion, in this instance, has allowed the story world to successfully penetrate the online sphere, offering a new and easy space for the everyday fan to become an actor or creator. However, as Stein points out, fan inclusion in the creation of content, while often successful, can develop obstacles for producers.  In the example of Sanditon, co-producer, Bernie Su, is rather divided, or ‘polarized,’ in fan creation’s affect on the show itself.  While this transmedia acts almost like an MMORPG—or, an interactive space for fans to engage and play—the ability to measure its success is hard. Too, the affect of transmedia on the story world can often be seen as risky business for producers and the product that they have control over. Stein is hopeful that these producers will continue to encourage fan creation, and understands that this risk taking is what could change the way we make meaning in popular culture.

Stein admires Sanditon’s attempt to encourage fan creation, as it includes some of these viewer-created videos in the show.  However, as Stein even explicates in her article “#BowDown to Your New God…”, it is difficult to simply call anything transmedia when it could easily be marketing.  Likewise, as Henry Jenkins shifted from calling transmedia a means to delver a story across multiple media channels, to a different way to think about the flow of content across media, it is important to dissect the transmedia to understand its true purpose: for marketing or fictional immersion and development.  Unlike Stein, I originally saw this encouragement as a marketing ploy, for producers to take advantage of free viewer content to expand the show and propel the plot.  Originally, I only saw the link between the transmedia and the show as a meager brand extension of the Domino vlog application into the real world.

LOST, for example, did something similar with a chocolate bar, where the Dharma Initiative brand extension acts as marketing means to make elements of the show as visible as possible in the real world.  In this instance, brand extension appears as story world marketing, where the iconic fictional brand is uselessly being incorporated into the real world for increased brand encounter.  However, when the show is integral on the brand, like in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, brand immersion appears to be less invasive and In this example, the chocolate bar is a key symbol of the story world itself, acting as a core element of the plot and fictional world of the film.  And, despite being a huge LOST fan, the Chocolate Factory’s chocolate’s inclusion in the real world is more ‘allowed’ than LOST’s chocolate bar for its strong link to the fictional storyworld.  Thus, producers must be careful in developing transmedia, especially when linked to fans, as they may deem the transmedia as useless or immersing.