jenkins, henry - transmedia storytelling
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7/28/2019 JENKINS, HENRY - Transmedia Storytelling
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Transmedia Storytelling | MIT Technology Review By Henry Jenkins on January 15, 2003
technologyreview.com http://www.technologyreview.com/news/401760/transmedia-storytelling/
Severalyearsago,Iaskedaleadingproducerofanimatedfeatureshowmuchcreativecontrol his team exerted over the games, toys, comics, and other products that
deployedtheircharacters.Iwasreassuredthatthedistributioncompanyhandledall
such ancillary materials. I saw the movement of content across media as an
enhancementofthecreativeprocess.Hesawitasadistractionorcorruption.
This past month, I attended a gathering of top creatives from Hollywood and thegames industry, hosted by Electronic Arts; they were discussing how to
collaboratively develop content that would play well across media. This meetingreflected a growing realizationwithin the media industries that what is variously
called transmedia,multiplatform, or enhanced storytelling represents the future of
entertainment.Let’sfaceit:wehaveenteredaneraofmediaconvergencethatmakesthe flow of content across multiple media channels almost inevitable. The move
towarddigitaleffectsinfilmandtheimprovedqualityofvideogamegraphicsmeansthat itisbecomingmuchmorerealistic tolowerproductioncostsby sharingassets
acrossmedia.Everythingaboutthestructureofthemodernentertainmentindustry
was designed with this single idea in mind-the construction and enhancement of
entertainmentfranchises.
And the push isn’t just coming from the bigmedia companies. The kids who have
grownupconsuming andenjoyingPokemon acrossmediaare going toexpect this
samekindofexperiencefromTheWestWingastheygetolder.Bydesign,Pokemon
unfoldsacrossgames,televisionprograms,films,andbooks,withnomediaprivilegedoveranyother.Forourgeneration,thehour-long,ensemble-based,serializeddrama
wasthepinnacleofsophisticatedstorytelling,butforthenextgeneration,itisgoingtoseem,well,likelessthanchild’splay.Youngerconsumershavebecomeinformation
huntersandgatherers,takingpleasureintrackingdowncharacterbackgroundsandplotpointsandmakingconnectionsbetweendifferenttextswithinthesamefranchise.
And inaddition,allevidencesuggeststhatcomputersdon’tcanceloutothermedia;
instead,computerownersconsumeonaveragesignificantlymoretelevision,movies,CDs,andrelatedmediathanthegeneralpopulation.
Whilethetechnologicalinfrastructureisready,theeconomicprospectssweet,andthe
audienceprimed,themediaindustrieshaven’tdoneaverygoodjobofcollaboratingtoproducecompellingtransmediaexperiences.Evenwithinthemediaconglomerates,
units compete aggressively rather than collaborate. Each industry sector has
specializedtalent,buttheconglomerateslackacommonlanguageorvisiontounify
them.Thecurrentstructureishierarchical:filmunitssetlicensinglimitsonwhatcan
bedoneingamesbasedontheirproperties.Atthesametime,filmproducersdon’t
know the game market very well or respect those genre elements which made
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somethinglikeTombRaidersuccessful.Weneedanewmodelforco-creation-rather
thanadaptation-ofcontentthatcrossesmedia.
Thecurrentlicensingsystemtypicallygeneratesworksthatareredundant(allowing
nonewcharacterbackgroundorplotdevelopment),watereddown(askingthenewmediatoslavishlyduplicateexperiencesbetterachievedthroughtheold),orriddled
withsloppycontradictions(failingtorespectthecoreconsistencyaudiencesexpectwithinafranchise).Thesefailuresaccountforwhysequelsandfranchiseshaveabad
reputation.Nobodywantstoconsumeasteadydietofsecond-ratenovelizations!
Franchise products are governed toomuch by economic logic and not enough by
artisticvision.Hollywoodactsasifitonlyhastoprovidemoreofthesame,printinga
StarTreklogoonsomanywidgets.Inreality,audienceswantthenewworktooffer
newinsightsintothecharactersandnewexperiencesofthefictionalworld.Ifmediacompanies reward that demand, viewerswill feel greatermastery and investment;
denyitandtheystompoffindisgust.Sofar,themostsuccessfultransmediafranchiseshave emerged when a single creator or creative unit maintains control over the
franchise. Hollywood might well study the ways that Lucasfilm has managed and
cultivated its Indiana Jones andStarWars franchises.When Indiana Joneswent to
television,forexample,itexploitedthemedium’spotentialforextendedstorytelling
and character development: the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles showed us the
character take shape against the backdrop of various historical events and exotic
environments.WhenStarWarsmovedintoprint,itsnovelsexpandedthetimelineto
show us events not contained in the film trilogies, or recast the stories around
secondarycharacters,asdidtheTalesoftheCantinaseries,whichfleshesoutthosecurious-lookingaliensinthebackgroundoftheoriginalmovie.WhenStarWarswent
togames,thosegamesdidn’tjustenactfilmevents;theyshoweduswhatlifewouldbelikeforaJeditraineeorabountyhunter.
On the other end of the scale, independent filmmaker Kevin Smith (Chasing Amy,Clerks),alongtimecomicfan,usesthislowercostmediumtofillingapsandextend
characterbackgroundwithinhisNewJerseyfilmseries.JossWhedon,thecreatorof
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, similarly uses comics to extend his storylinebackwards
(TalesoftheSlayers)andforward(Fray)intime,depictinghugespansinthehistory
oftheWatcher’sCouncilandtheSlayers.SonyusedtheWebtooffernewinsightsinto
thecharactersofDawson’sCreek,mimickingthetitlecharacter’sdesktop,sothatwe
canreadhise-mail,sneakapeekathisjournals,orevenplagiarizehisschoolessays.A
teamofwriters updated this content eachweek inresponse to the airedepisodes,using the Web to both plant seeds for future plot development and provide
backgroundtoremindviewersofpastactions.
Intheidealformoftransmediastorytelling,eachmediumdoeswhatitdoesbest-so
thatastorymightbeintroducedin a film,expandedthroughtelevision,novels,andcomics, andits worldmightbeexploredandexperienced through gameplay.Each
franchise entry needs to be self-contained enough to enable autonomous
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consumption.Thatis,youdon’tneedtohaveseenthefilmtoenjoythegameandvice-
versa. As Pokemon does so well, any given product is a point of entry into the
franchiseasawhole.
Reading across the media sustains a depth of experience that motivates more
consumption.Inaworldwithmanymediaoptions,consumersarechoosingtoinvestdeeply in a limited number of franchises rather than dip shallowly into a larger
number. Increasingly, gamers spendmost of their time andmoneywithin a singlegenre,oftenasinglefranchise.Wecanseethesamepatterninothermedia-films(high
successforcertainfranchises,overalldeclinesinrevenue),television(shorterspansformostseries, longerrunsforafew),orcomics (incrediblylongrunsfora limited
numberofsuperhero icons).Redundancybetweenmediaburnsupfan interestand
causesfranchisestofail.Offeringnewlevelsofinsightandexperiencerefreshesthe
franchiseandsustainsconsumerloyalty.Suchamultilayeredapproachtostorytelling
willenableamorecomplex,moresophisticated,morerewardingmodeofnarrativetoemerge within the constraints of commercial entertainment. And it also makes
economicsense.Differentmediaattractdifferentmarketniches.Filmsandtelevisionprobablyhavethemostdiverseaudiences,comicsandgamesthenarrowest.Agood
transmediafranchiseattractsawideraudiencebypitchingthecontentdifferentlyin
the differentmedia. Ifeachworkoffers freshexperiences, then a crossovermarket
willexpandthepotentialgrosswithinanyindividualmedia.So,womenmaynotplay
games,butwomenwholikeLordoftheRingsmightexperimentonarelatedgame
title.
Havenofear-notallstorieswillflowacrossmedia.Mostwon’t,butagrowingnumber
will. Transmedia stories aren’t necessarily bad stories; they are different kinds ofstories. According to Hollywood lore, a good pitch starts with either a compelling
character or an interesting world. We might, from there, make the followingargument: A good character can sustain multiple narratives and thus lead to a
successfulmoviefranchise.Agood“world”cansustainmultiplecharacters(andtheir
stories)andthussuccessfullylaunchatransmediafranchise.
Manyofourbestauthors,fromWilliamFaulknerto J.R.R.Tolkien,understood their
artintermsofworld-creationanddevelopedrichenvironmentswhichcould,indeed,
supportavarietyofdifferentcharacters.Formostofhumanhistory,itwouldbetaken
for granted that a great storywould takemany different forms, enshrined in stain
glasswindowsortapestries,toldthroughprintedwordsorsungbybardsandpoets,
or enacted by traveling performers. Sequels aren’t inherently bad-remember that
HuckleberryFinnwasasequeltoTomSawyer.ButTwainunderstoodwhatmodernstorytellers seem to have forgotten-a compelling sequel offers consumers a new
perspectiveonthecharacters,ratherthanjustmoreofthesame.