TRANSMEDIA STORYTELLING: A DYNAMIC MULTI-CHANNEL EXPERIENCE

Definitely worth a quick read:  Indiewire’s Q&A interview with Jeff Gomez, CEO of Starlight Runner Entertainment and a leading figure in the emerging field of transmedia storytelling. Among his transmedia credits are major projects, such as "Avatar," "Pirates of the Caribbean," and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles." 

What is transmedia? In Gomez’s words, transmedia is about delivering a big story across various media platforms so that the totality provides a richer, more dynamic and multi-channel viewer experience. 

There’s one central story in the form of a film or a TV or web series, but it is enhanced through supplemental side stories told via a mix of channels, possibly including an interactive book, a video site, video game, blog, Facebook community, Twitter news feeds, Instagram and Pinterest galleries, mobile apps, and more.  

The challenge with transmedia lies in funding, planning, producing and then choreographing the release of all this extra content.  But for popular, high profile franchises it may be possible to monetize each story stream with media and commercial partnerships and in some cases subscription access to exclusive material. 

On a smaller scale, could brands use transmedia for marketing? It's an intriguing idea. Stay tuned. 

Transmedia storytelling engages audiences who want to be heard and validated

Digital Media Wire recently posed five questions to  Jeff Gomez, CEO of Starlight Runner Entertainment and a leading figure in the emerging field of cross-media storytelling called "Transmedia." 

DMW’s Q&A is a very good read; here’s a sampling of what Jeff said:

“For me, transmedia narrative is a kind of subset of cross-media content. It's the technique of conveying messages, themes and storylines across multiple media platforms in a way that is both artful and coordinated with care.

With transmedia you're not repeating the same story on a movie screen, a TV screen, a novel and a videogame. You are using each one to tell a complete piece of your story, and combined they can all become a deeper, richer and more immersive experience.  Different aspects of the story or story world are created to play to the specific strengths of the medium.

From a business standpoint, much has been said about how transmedia can help build franchises and maximize return on investment for entertainment properties. The toughest aspect of getting transmedia right is that you have to build two-way communication into the apparatus of your narrative.

Everyone talks about Star Wars to exemplify good transmedia, but I love talking about Glee, because what makes transmedia so unique and relevant is that it is fundamentally about telling stories to a generation of people who want to be heard, and who are used to being validated for their participation. That's what interactive media is about in essence: response.”

On April 25th in Los Angeles, Jeff Gomez, together with Digital Media Wire, will host the first in a series of transmedia workshops on how to use and leverage the most effective transmedia techniques.