What the transmedia is that?
Transmedia is a "multimedia product which communicates its narrative through a multitude of integrated media channels“ (Kalinov, 2017)
A mouth-full, right?
Simply put, transmedia, or transmedia storytelling, is telling a story across multiple media.
Let us take Star Wars as an example. It is told through multiple media channels. A media channel is the format in which a story is being told, so film, video games, comics, and Facebook are examples of media channels. Film is one media channel where the story of Star Wars is told.
Video games is another media channel where the same story is told. But, what is different about the story when it is told through film or through a video game?
The media channel used to tell the story is the difference. Each media channel offers a different way to get audiences involved in the story, and that is an essential element of transmedia storytelling.
Perhaps you have heard of the term transmedia.
No?
Not to worry, here's the quick and dirty about transmedia.
There are many ways to tell a story.
Transmedia is how we tell stories in our digital age.
Audience participation, or interaction, which can mean the collaboration of the very people who are consuming the story, is what makes transmedia storytelling different from more traditional means of storytelling.
In transmedia storytelling, engagement (the interaction) with each successive media makes the audience’s understanding, enjoyment and affection for the story stronger. Fan fiction is a great example of this more intense enjoyment of a story. The user (example, video game player) becomes a producer, and becomes a produser (producer + user).
