NARRATIVE VS PLATFORM IN TRANSMEDIA STORYTELLING
There has been much debate recently as to the roles the audience should play in transmedia narratives. There is the argument that a strong narrative is key to audience engagement, whilst others say that user interactivity (eg between audiences and the fictional world or creators) and emphasis on the platforms as being most important. When discussing the concept of transmedia, due to its ever expanding description, it can be easy to have too broad of a meaning. The Matrix series (Larry and Andy Wachowski), since the launch platform film The Matrix (1999) has been seen to be a key template on how to base transmedia productions on for good and bad reasons, so for this reason it will become the main example in this review. This literature review will utilise sources that define transmedia as a narrative that is told over many platforms (multiplatform storytelling), and will organise an evaluate the idea of whether transmedia narratives should have high levels of audience interactivity to achieve the overall goal of audience engagement, or whether the narrative itself is most crucial in achieving this. This will be done to help create a better understanding of whether transmedia narratives have use or not in this modern world.
The story component of transmedia narratives is seen by some authors to be the most crucial component in the whole project and its overall success in engaging audiences. Gomez (in Pulman 2011), said in a keynote speech he gave at the Storyworld Conference in San Francisco, that it is not the technological advancement of the platforms, but rather the depth of the story, and it simple driving message that will keep audiences engaged (2011). Lougee has further acknowledged this concept in one of his works, as his thesis can be defined by his quote: “Though transmedia projects require cross-platform participation from the audience… story is still the central ‘pull’,” (2011). Even though The Matrix utilized many different platforms, the simple theme of not letting machines or a higher governing body control too much, helped to create a large audience focused on the simplicity of the theme but also the huge depth of the story.
Bordwell disagrees on the narrative focus. He gives credit to the idea that transmedia narratives tend to overdesign their worlds by filling excess narrative where there should be gaps in the plot (2009). This then becomes far too complicated to engage an audience, and the whole concept of transmedia is brought into question, as it is a considerable limitation to the whole project style if this can not be achieved. This idea is almost always a concern in the discussion of the realistic approach to multiplatform storytelling. It can be seen that the ever-growing universe outside the film trilogy, may create this effect. Strier seemingly agrees with Bordwell as he explains through analysis of different transmedia story types, that sometimes a single story can be just as strong in hermeneutic depth, compared to a transmedia narrative (2010). In rebuttal, Jenkins, who is seen by many to be there forefather on the topic, disagrees in one of his works on his blog (2009). His belief is that world building and extra detailing between narrative gaps lends itself more against audience interpretation and would be then assumed, their overall participation. Although he continues that once you start to fill these gaps on other platforms, they will become more engaged in a deeper story and feel as if they have become more satisfied as a result, than those who just engaged with the launch platform. The Matrix utilizes this idea by creating a world of stories that allow fans to create an in depth bond with the universe of that world, outside the film trilogy by concentrating on other characters from the world of Zion. This idea sits on the fence between the concepts of a strong narrative, and audience agency being most important to engage audiences as it defines transmedia as a story told across multiple platforms with room for extra content.
Geoffrey Long brings to the debate, the notion that interactivity between audiences and the narrative creators, including audience agency in creating content for the narrative, is most crucial to the process of truly engaging the audience (2009). He does this by explaining that videogames have been underutilised in transmedia productions. He commends the Wachowskis’ design on their first game in the series, Enter The Matrix (2003), as they bring the player into the story through filmed cut scenes that act as almost ‘bonus content’ to the first film and that players can take control of two secondary characters to help Neo. As well as this main message is the undertone that transmedia producers need to innovate their chosen platforms to new heights if they are truly to succeed in engaging audiences. Fans are more likely to interact on these digital platforms and engagement has seen to be higher in more recent years, and thus is the incentive to utilise multiplatform storytelling.
Thacher has refuted this idea as she questions the use of interactivity all together (2012). She explains that while adapting new uses for existing platforms may be clever and user agency is the key to a good transmedia story, it can sometimes be unnecessary. Some narratives do not need these innovative digital platforms for their transmedia productions. “Instead of giving instructions (to the audience) about what to do to enjoy your project (referring to the innovations in the platform), you can just jump into the storytelling.” An example of ‘old platforms’ becoming a success can be seen with The Matrix and Buffy The Vampire Slayer series. Their use of comics to continue their narratives was a huge success. It’s a classic medium and it saves on production budget. She reasons that each narrative should be analysed in terms of its audience and whether the narrative permits innovation of its’ platforms. This sort of analysis has been carried out in by avid transmedia blogger, Stackelberg (2012). Different user roles and their agency for differing platforms have been analysed to determine their use in multiplatform storytelling. He comes to the conclusion that depending on the narrative type, users should be given different levels of agency and have information presented to them in different ways. An example of this analysis is seen with the Enter The Matrix game, the user is internal within the universe and with a high agency because a story is presented for them to play through, but they still control the way they play. This means the player has to work for the extra plot to be revealed rather than I be merely presented to them.
An important area to be analysed when looking into interactivity of audiences on platforms, this is the amount of time they will be willing to spend on the transmedia narratives. Steirer talks about collaborative consumption where audiences, instead of spending time equally amongst all of the platforms, will create a hierarchy. This is usually built from the launch platform down in terms of importance. Audiences will then have to collaborate in most circumstances to combine all of the information they have, to get the whole picture. This all is based on the narrative, whether it has high hermeneutic depth and if it allows for audiences to create content. However Brooker disagrees on the importance of this as when he surveyed a group of fans of the television series Dawson’s Creek, he found that the spaces on the main websites meant for audience fiction was the least used section overall (2001). He found that however if the right balance can be found between narrative and interactivity, then there could be huge economical incentive for transmedia productions.
From the amount of time and effort that sometimes needs to be put into a transmedia production from audience and producers, its justification as a narrative style can be questioned. Askwith defines multiplatform storytelling as merely a chance for production companies to ‘cash in’ on fan devotion (2003). This is often seen to be the case with sceptical fans in the digital era. He justifies that if an engaging narrative can be the core to the project, then audiences may want to invest their time and money into the storytelling platforms and crossmedia section. Brooker agrees as he found that the main fans who were devoted to the narrative and in some cases, the interactivity of the platforms, then would even engage with the series in real life, through buying of the merchandise or collaborating about the story with their social groups. This sort of audience bonding has been said by Gomez to be highly important in creating successful multiplatform storytelling. This sort of narrative that caters to a larger range of audience is seen with The Matrix series. Audiences could gain information through simple mediums like The Animatrix short story collection, and web comics, or have higher group collaboration through The Matrix Online Game (a large scale MMORG). Steirer says that even though many transmedia productions may be too overcomplicated for audiences to bother investing their time with, they can be still useful as narrative analysis tools.
It is seen that the divide in what is seen to be the more important device in multiplatform storytelling has been split into those who believe a strong yet clear narrative to be best, and those who think it has more reliance on interactivity between audiences and concentration on the platforms. This literature review endeavoured to evaluate both claims to dissect the positives and negatives of transmedia productions.
REFERENCE LIST
Askwith, Ivan. 2003. “A Matrix In Every Medium.” Accessed April 13, 2012. http://www.salon.com/writer/ivan_askwith/
Bordwell, David. 2009. “Now Leaving Platform 1.” Accessed April 10, 2012. http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/2009/08/19/now-leaving-from-platform-1/
Brooker, Will. 2001. “Living On Dawson’s Creek: Teen Viewers, Cultural Convergence and Television Overflow.” International Journal Of Cultural Studies 4: 456-472. Accessed April 12, 2012 DOI: 10.1177/136787790100400406
Enter The Matrix. 2003. New York: Shiny Entertainment. Console Game.
Jenkins, Henry. 2009. “The Aesthetic of Transmedia: In Response to David Bordwell (Part Two).” Confessions Of An ACA-Fan: The Official Weblog of Henry Jenkins, Accessed April 10, 2012. http://henryjenkins.org/2009/09/the_aesthetics_of_transmedia_i_1.html
Long, Geoffrey. 2009. “Play Chapter: Video Games And Transmedia Storytelling.” University Diss, Cambridge University.
Lougee, Marc. 2011. “Transmedia Storytelling Should Make Us Cry.” Accessed April 12, 2012. http://marclougee.com/2011/12/07/transmedia-storytelling/
Pulman, Simon. 2011. “Jeff Gomez – Storyworld Keynote.” Transmythology, December 25. Accessed April 13, 2012. http://transmythology.com/2011/12/25/jeff-gomez-storyworld-keynote/
Stackelberg, Peter Von. 2012. “Storyworld Level Design Tasks- User Control of Characters and Role in Narrative.” Transmedia Digest, January 27. Accessed April 13, 2012. http://transmediadigest.com/blog/2012/01/27/storyworld-level-design-tasks-user-control-of-characters-role-in-narrative/
Steirer, Gregory. 2010. “Transmedia Storytelling?” Cultural Production, August 26. Accessed April 12, 2012. http://culturalproductionblog.com/?tag=the-matrix
Thacher, Sara. 2012. “How Interactive Should Transmedia Be?” I Make Adventure, February 22. Accessed April 11. http://thachr.com/2012/how-interactive-should-transmedia-be/
Wachowski, Andy and Larry Wachowski. 1999. The Matrix. Directed by Andy and Larry Wachowski. Produced by Joel Siver. USA: Warner Bros. Pictures. DVD.
