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Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Storytelling Via the Transmedia Lens

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Excerpt:

"...Super Session "Transmedia: Telling the Story Through Narrative Content, Games and Real-World Adventures."

"TV is no longer the only canvas," said Jeff Gomez, president and CEO of Starlight Runner Entertainment. "You can now dovetail and provide access across new media channels."

For example, producers of the program "Ghost Whisperer," which aired on CBS, use a transmedia model to drive eyeballs from one medium to another, said Kim Moses, executive producer of Sander/Moses Productions. "Ghost Whisperer" leverages different platforms — mobile phones, the Internet and social outreach — to keep viewers engaged.

"I'm always asking myself, 'What would a fan want?'" said Danny Bilson, executive vice president of Core Games. Fans of the video game "Homefront" are able to experience the game in widely varying ways: through a recently published novel written from the perspective of a journalist, YouTube video clips that advance the game's plot and an interactive online map with video clips shot by a reporter on the run.

It's that fan base that transmedia experts say is the most important element to consider when attempting to branch out into different media.

For hard-core fans of the comic "The Walking Dead," for example, it was imperative to consider the attachment and knowledge the fan base had with the original comic when attempting to re-create it on the small screen.

"These fans have an enormous connection to the material and they're terrified [the new program] will no longer be true to the underlying material," said Gale Anne Hurd, executive producer of the show, which airs on AMC.

In response, the producers worked closely with the comic's creator, put up a website to show the evolution of the television program and made adaptations to the program after seeing viewers' responses, both positive and negative...."

Posted via email from Siobhan O'Flynn's 1001 Tales

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