Transmedia is “deep media”- stories that are not just entertaining but immersive as well. They take you deeper than an hour-long TV drama or a two-hour movie or a 30-second spot will permit.
According to Jeff Gómez, (Starlight Runner), “Transmedia narrative is the technique of conveying messages, through systemic and concerted use of multiple media platforms. It is the technique of conveying concepts and themes to a mass audience. The implementation is designed to engage the audience members individually. This is done by validating their involvement and positively reinforcing personal participation in the narrative. The result is long-term engagement, intense loyalty, and a desire to share the experience.”
Transmedia – Definition
Whenever we talk about Transmedia, its existence beyond the multiple media forms always comes to our mind. Transmedia is usually defined as a narrative or project that combines multiple media forms. Many different types of prints or prose text, graphics, and animation; may be combined in a transmedia project. Work across multiple platforms, like different types of social media platforms, interactive websites or advertising outlets are also included in this.
Traditionally, the term media has been used as a label for mainstream news outlets. More recently, there has been a reclamation of its use from such negative and political connotation. It is now commonly used to refer to the variety of multimodal (and increasingly digital) communication forms.
The plural form of the singular medium– media are simply ‘ways’ of communicating ideas and thoughts. This is a cause and affects of digital literacy which includes letters, novels, magazines, emails, paintings, videos, and infinite other forms that can be considered media. It might also come in classic or modern forms, formal and informal.
According to Frank Rose, (The Art of Immersion),
“What we’re witnessing is the emergence of a new form of narrative that is native to the Internet. Mentioned through many media at once in a nonlinear fashion, these new narratives encourage us not merely to watch but to participate, often engaging us in the same way that games do. This is “deep media”- stories that are not just entertaining but immersive as well. They take you deeper than an hour-long TV drama or a two-hour movie or a 30-second spot will permit.”
Marshall McLuhan
Without making any claims; any balanced discussion of media has to… has to include Marshall McLuhan.
During his professional prime during a time when televisions were replacing radios and McCarthyism was changing lives. McLuhan was witness to a powerful and important change in culture. McLuhan experienced that the ‘individual man’ was being replaced by ‘tribal man’ through media. In this media was acting as a kind of conscious glue.
He saw that humankind was coming to define itself involuntarily through media. Before Zuckerberg had his big idea, McLuhan saw media forms as social long as it was through numbing consumption and persistent conditioning.
Majorly, McLuhan viewed media as powerful contributors to “how we experience the world, interact with each other, and use our physical senses.”
In today’s times, media is in a radiant state of flux. Frankly, there is so much of it. There are so many forms, so many platforms, and hence, so much consumption. McLuhan says that “media is the message.”
Classic media forms like music, DVDs, and now movies are being surpassed by videogames. This is increasing our interaction with narrative texts and ramifying media consumption.
Now the question arises… what becomes of books?
Transmedia
It is difficult to imagine a world where the stalwart of narrative structure. The novel is vaporized by YouTube addiction and Beiber fever, anything is possible. And in terms of total sales (at Amazon, anyway) eBooks are now giving ground to physical books. Making the future incredibly complicated.
If an eBook, pdf files, Google Currents, and mashed blog posts, etc. can be displayed in a Kindle …where does one begin, and where is the other end? And what about the video game with the facebook page that pushes notifications to an app that itself is gamified and is automatically shared on your twitter stream?
Interestingly, the overlap is more extraordinary than the difference.
The content can be overwhelmed in itself sometimes through the notions of fluid texts, hypertexts, presiding of quasi-intertextuality. a kind of passing of the guard in terms of pop culture forms comes with this fluidity.
READ MORE – UGC Recognizes 14 New Higher Education Institutes For Open And Distance Learning
Defining Characteristics Of Transmedia
The ‘definition’ of transmedia is a narrative, extending beyond multiple media forms. It may or may not be interactive. This makes it possible to have interactive video game portions of a narrative married to prose-rich novellas combined with smart use of specific social media platforms. All of them collaborating strategically, to narrate a compelling story while offering the potential for the innovative use of crowdsourcing and audience engagement. Here are some defining characteristics of Transmedia:
- Born-digital– The first characteristic is Born- Digital. Transmedia lets the content to be Written first for and specifically to be read and viewed from the screen… being digitalized.
- Interactive– Transmedia requires user action to drive the story forward.
- Multimedia – Transmedia uses text, images, music, sound effects, puzzles and games to illustrate and enhance the narrative.
- A Novel – Transmedia involves a reading-from-the-screen experience for the “always-on” generation.
- Episodic – Transmedia lets us experience each a self-contained story, the chapters are both interactive and occur across media channels.
Examples Of Transmedia
There are abundant examples of transmedia in popular modern culture. Many may point to the intersection of prose novels or copyrighted songs in the arcade and video games. While others might suggest devices like the Amazon Kindle reflect the use of transmedia approaches. Another good example of transmedia efforts can be seen in the inclusion or embedding of Facebook or social media content in other applications or websites as well.
Certainly, the deeper analysis of the transmedia phenomena very often includes a reference to Marshall McLuhan, who is a renowned theoretician and philosopher of the 20th century.
As referred above, McLuhan pioneered some of the theory around analyzing both the medium and the message that is transmitted through it. Some of McLuhan’s ideas can be incorporated in the conversations about transmedia, for example, analyzing the combined impact of a message and its surrounding medium.
Transmedia is nothing but what the word parts suggests it might be: a merging of media forms. Here the digital is with the narrative, but with the multiple platforms, it is a part of the narrative. While interaction is promoted through transmedia, it is clear to be noted that they are not videogames, but rather new digital narratives offered in a way that has been inaccessible to classic forms威而鋼
.
Transmedia also provides an opportunity to keep looking for new and innovative ways for businesses or other parties to connect with audiences in a culture that is media-rich.
