THE SPHERE OF TRANSMEDIA STORYTELLING

When previous generations only had a pen, some paper, and a typewriter to tell a story, a literary imagination and the ability to write a story were the key components of becoming a good storyteller. These days, however, you have to be equipped with the technology to film and the ability to edit with an artistic mind. You also need the ability to communicate with people while acquiring a social nature to share the work. The person who introduced the concept of transmedia storytelling to the masses was Henry Jenkins of MIT’s Comparative Media Studies department. In his book Convergence Culture (2006), he describes transmedia storytelling as various media platforms expressing what is understood by the audience as a single story, as well as the experience of such a phenomenon. He provides the following explanation of transmedia storytelling: A transmedia story unfolds across multiple media platforms, with each new text making a distinctive and valuable contribution to the whole. In the ideal form of transmedia storytelling, each medium does what it does best—so that a story might be introduced in a film, expanded through television, novels, and comics. … Each franchise entry needs to be self-contained so you don’t need to have seen the film to enjoy the game, and vice versa.