Transmedia storytelling is something of a passion of mine. Roughly 50% of the posts on this blog are either articles exploring its potential or designing examples of it. If you’re new here and want to know what it is (which you must or you wouldn’t be reading this), Transmedia storytelling is the practice of telling a single story over multiple media or franchises.
That seems simple enough, right? Wrong! It is simpler now than it once was, though. During the experimental days of The Matrix, audiences were bamboozled by the fact they needed to do ‘homework’ to understand what’s going on in the central movies. Nowadays, audiences almost expect everything to be connected. Twitter (not ‘X’) is awash every week with new speculations about how Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness could have affected Agatha All Along, and discussions on how the events of Marvel Studios' latest TV outing will develop in other stories down the line. Even casual audiences have come to expect a certain knowledge gap when watching superhero content, but still choose to go.
So, with audiences simultaneously growing more intelligent and exponentially more stupid, it’s about time we looked at how these stories are told and consider how changing our viewing habits can help improve these stories.
As I see it, there are currently three methods of transmedia storytelling being utilised, none of them particularly effectively. This series of articles will explore each method, weighing up their perks and failings so that writers and audiences alike can better set their expectations when they next go to the cinema / open Disney Plus / turn on their PS5.
First things first, Transmedia storytelling is not a get out of jail free card to tell a bad story. It’s a method utilising multiple mediums, not meandering mediums. It requires absolute expertise in the narrative craft, and the ability to see moving pieces in a way that literally nobody else can.
Storytelling rules still apply. So, each instalment must have its own satisfying beginning, middle, and ending. The point of transmedia storytelling is to tell individual complete stories that also have their place in a wider narrative, like chapters in a book.
Therefore, it stands to reason that a transmedia story, like any other, should be told by a singular voice. That can be a single writer, though good luck to whoever undertakes that task, or it can (and probably should) be done in a more ‘writers’ room’ style environment. Multiple voices all contributing to a single creative vision. Have you ever seen a movie franchise that’s brought in a new director or writer for later instalments that ‘kill’ the franchise? Avoid that (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, I’m looking at you).
Finally, transmedia stories should set and then meet audience expectations early on. This will become clearer as the series of essays goes on, but for now just understand it to mean that a linear story is linear, and while flashbacks are acceptable, suddenly jumping around a timeline is confusing and alienating for audiences. Essentially, it’s a case for being confident in the story you’re telling and sticking to it.
Okay, ground rules out of the way. Let’s get into it.
Exposition in External Media
This is the oldest form of Transmedia storytelling, and often the one first discovered by those reading Henry Jenkins and other leading Transmedia Storytelling experts. The Matrix is a trilogy of films (I wonder if they’ll ever make a fourth?) with a beginning, middle, and end. However, within it, there are multiple narrative gaps. These weren’t accidents left by amateurs, but deliberate breadcrumbs left by the Wachowski’s for audiences to follow once they left the cinema (and sometimes before arriving).
Every comic, game, and TV series within The Matrix universe is designed to deepen audiences understanding of the central narrative. It is perhaps the purest, easiest form of transmedia for modern audiences to understand. As previously mentioned, audiences at the time were not particularly receptive of the Wachowski’s ambitions.
That began to change in 2008, when George Lucas cinematically released an animated movie set within his Star Wars franchise. The Clone Wars was a film that, on its surface, explored the galactic war that the prequel trilogy skimmed over. Underneath that it was actually George Lucas’ way of deepening audiences understanding of how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader, which was the central narrative of the prequel trilogy.
Other franchises were also beginning to do the same thing. Doctor Who had begun splintering its universe off into mini franchises that would tie frequently back into its central show, for example.
For a litany of reasons, this method of transmedia storytelling isn’t particularly prevalent anymore. It’s a shame, as when it’s done right it can be one of the single most satisfying experiences audiences can have.
Multimedia Linear Narrative
Multimedia linear narratives are definitely the most prevalent in modern storytelling, especially in the cinematic sense. The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) was once the king of this particular hill.
Much like structure one, this structure has a strict beginning and end, but unlike The Matrix’s central trilogy, multimedia linear narratives have no central franchise. Instead, the stories of its central characters are split across seemingly disconnected franchises, culminating in one enormous crescendo. As an example of this, think of Tony Stark. After the end of Iron Man 3, Tony’s story continued through Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and two Avengers movies, with a final farewell in Spider-Man: Far From Home.
These stories are not sustained by single franchises, but by clear direction of its characters stories. The post-credit scene of Iron Man promised a future Avengers team up, and once that had been fulfilled, the threat of Thanos was pledged and then woven throughout every story between The Avengers and Avengers: Endgame.
Other franchises have tried to mimic the ‘MCU’ model, but none have quite succeeded, and even the MCU itself is faltering for this one simple reason: they don’t know where they’re going.
Meandering from one project to another, franchise after franchise is falling apart. Each and every one has begun to echo a third structure, one that doesn’t strictly speaking exist yet.
Once it does exist, this third structure could change storytelling and audience expectations for a long time to come.
Multimedia Non-Linear Narrative
This is a tough one to explain. Essentially, it’s the method of thematically covering an event or era through inter-connected stories. Take World War II (WWII) for example. The war has a distinct beginning and end. Hitler invades Poland, America drop bombs on Japan.
However, within that, there are stories so completely disconnected from that linear chain of events which audiences pine to see. The war is ingrained in our culture. We're able to identify a story within this era simply from the image of a sandbag and a union flag. The war itself becomes a backdrop on which almost any story can be imposed. From Dunkirk to Operation: Mincemeat, the over-arching ‘narrative’ of the war almost doesn’t matter. It’s the story that adds texture to the event.
In essence, this is a form of ‘thematic’ transmedia, rather than narrative. One project could take place at the era’s end, and the next take place at its start, with a third somewhere in the middle, and none are connected through character or story, but through what they add to the overall theme of the era.
As a final example before moving on, think about how watching Hacksaw Ridge makes absolutely no impact on your enjoyment of The Imitation Game, but both clearly exist within this pocket of ‘WWII’ media. That doesn’t mean there isn’t scope for more direct connections. Dunkirk, for example, becomes a completely different viewing experience if watching immediately after His Darkest Hour.
If this structure is giving you a headache, don’t worry, I’ll go into it in proper detail in the coming weeks.
But what is coming in the next few weeks?
Well, dear reader, I’m glad you asked. Over the course of November, I’ll be posting a new article each Monday that will dive into each of the above structures. We’ll look at examples, explanations, and another ‘e’ word that means potential (I can’t think of one).
Why? Because it’s interesting, fun, and it’s my blog so I’ll write what I like. Also, genuinely, because I think that understanding these structures and how they should be used is fundamental to saving modern storytelling. We are on the precipice of disaster, and it’s time for storytellers to claim back storytelling.
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