THE SPREAD OF TRANSMEDIA STORYTELLING

The storytelling methods of today are not restricted to the expressions of language or the physical format of books. Not only does it encompass films, television shows, animation, and games but it has entered the fields of marketing, art exhibition, and theme parks.

The flood of information that was released with the IT revolution is quickly overwhelming the processing capacity of the human brain: Rather than a value-neutral and cognitivist transmission of knowledge, digital storytelling adopts a sentimental and constructivist approach. It is for this reason that all branches of society are seeing a greater demand for a transmedia storytelling method that fits within the digital paradigm.

Transmedia storytelling is dispersed through various media platforms. This spread is exemplified by cultural products that are completely autonomous yet form crossovers and combinations with other products. Such crossovers and combinations provide consumers with additional information about the characters and background story of the product’s narrative, which in turns becomes even more attractive to the consumers, who are accustomed to consuming content across multiple platforms.

By allowing cultural products to form crossovers and combinations, transmedia storytelling injects new significance into the idea of context, or what crafts a meaningful relationship between the substance and imaginative worlds of separate cultural products. By encouraging organic unions between different cultural products, transmedia storytelling creates an environment where context gives consumers new experiences and insights.