JENKINS, HENRY - Transmedia Storytelling

7/28/2019 JENKINS, HENRY - Transmedia Storytelling

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/jenkins-henry-transmedia-storytelling 1/3

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

7/28/2019 JENKINS, HENRY - Transmedia Storytelling

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/jenkins-henry-transmedia-storytelling 2/3

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

7/28/2019 JENKINS, HENRY - Transmedia Storytelling

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/jenkins-henry-transmedia-storytelling 3/3

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.