Transmedia and Convergence: What, When, and How

The transmedia market is as broad as the definition of transmedia itself...and is often confused for the multitude of non-integrated entertainment and narrative experiences that have been around since the Japan Media Mix of the 70’s according to the author of “The Art of Storytelling” Frank Rose, in an interview with Transmedia Storytelling expert Henry Jenkins. 

Transmedia narratives aren’t simply rehashing stories for different devices or platforms. Instead they are about building an experience that uses each device or platform to its strongest function, and delivers a piece of content that when assembled, create a sum greater than its individual parts. 

Alternate Reality Games (ARG) provide us with a great look at how this successfully works to drive user engagement through the roof, and hence create a marketing buzz that can generate millions of additional dollars for what could already be classified as a blockbuster entertainment release.

ARGs like 42 Entertainment’s campaigns “Why So Serious?”, which triggered buzz about a year before the film’s launch, or Halo 2’s “ilovebees”, both were responsible for gathering a tremendous following. 

These campaigns immersed and engaged fans of the franchises into the respective worlds that had been created by the producers of the film “The Dark Knight” and core video game “Halo” in a way the not only made sense, but added to the depth of the storyworld that was created.

Elan Lee and a couple of key performers, Jim Stewartson and Sean Stewart, formerly of 42 Entertainment and leaders of the above mentioned ARG campaigns, left the company to start Fourth Wall Studios in 2007. Founded by these key individuals, Fourth Wall Studios realizes that as a society, we are really just beginning to crack the surface of what the future brings for what these deep and immersive ARG experiences can bring to the entertainment table. For a more clear illustration of what is in store for fans click play in the header video [here].

Henry Jenkins, a brilliant mind credited with the term “transmedia”, says in his book “Convergence Culture”: 

“For the foreseeable future, convergence will be a kind of kludge- a jerry-rigged  relationship among different media technologies- rather than a fully integrated system. Right now, the cultural shifts, the legal battles, and the economic consolidations that are fueling media convergence are preceding shifts in the technological infrastructure. How those various transitions unfold will determine the balance of power in the next media era.”

 Convergence plays a vital role in transmedia storytelling and ARG experiences both. Without the ability to seamlessly transition across devices, deep media just doesn’t hold the same appeal. It is my view that this could be part of the business decisions of many of the biggest names in technological platforms who are seeking to copy what Apple began with the launch of the iPod. An integrated ecology that allows the individual this smooth experience between devices. 

The battle for the time, attention, and wallet has been forged for many years now, but the advances in technology have also led to information overload. The new leaders will have found the ways to break through and impact the lives they seek attention and market share from...I believe that transmedia storytelling and ARG experiences are a developing mechanism to do just this. 

Gamification of what 42 Entertainment calls “The World as the Platform”.