A PPT on `Story and Transmedia' presented at UNSW in 2014 by JT Velikovsky. See also: https://storyality.wordpress.com/2013/02/13/storyality-64b-story-and-transmedia-at-unsw-cofa/
1. Story & Transmedia*
JT Velikovsky
Doctoral Candidate:
(Film/Screenwriting/Transmedia)
University of Newcastle
http://storyality.wordpress.com/
(* or: `Transmedia and Interdisciplinarity’)
JT Velikovsky
2. This Presentation @
(1) What is `Story’?
(2) What is `Transmedia Storytelling’?
(3) Some Key Theorists in Transmedia
JT Velikovsky
3. What is: Story? (aka `Narrative’)
`Story = Character + Problem + Attempted Extrication’
(The Storytelling Animal, Jon Gottschall 2012, p. 52)
http://storyality.wordpress.com/2013/08/23/storyality-71-consilience-is-coming-
read-all-about-it/
4. `In the case of fiction the most immediate patterns are those
of character and event (goal, action, obstacle, outcome) and
their combination in plot.’
(On the Origin of Stories, Brian Boyd, 2009, p. 254)
http://storyality.wordpress.com/2013/08/23/storyality-71-consilience-is-coming-read-all-
about-it/
What is Story? (aka `Narrative’)
5. See: Evolution, Literature & Film: A Reader (2010)
http://storyality.wordpress.com/2013/08/23/storyality-71-consilience-is-coming-read-all-
about-it/
What is Story? (aka `Narrative’)
`The Central Themes of Fiction: …survival, growing up, love and sex, family life, life
within a social group, relations between social groups, and the life of the mind.’
Carroll, J (2012), p. 141
'The Truth About Fiction: Biological Reality And Imaginary Lives', Style, vol. 46, no. 2.
6. The Screenwriter’s Workbook (2011)
Velikovsky, JT (2011), 4th Edn., The Feature Film
Screenwriter's Workbook, Lulu.com, Sydney
Key elements of a Film Story:
• Premise (or `Logline’ / `Hook’)
• Character/s
• Plot
• Structure
• Theme/s
• Dialog
• Style
• Genre
• Voice
`STORY’
http://storyality.wordpress.com/2012/12/17/storyality-28-screenwriting-manuals-since-1913/
7. Some key concepts in Narrative
• All `stories’ are: characters solving problems…
• Story `Syntagms’ (structure) vs. `Paradigms’ (agency)
• Plot vs. Structure (or: Fabula vs. Syuzhet)
• Storytelling: Some Elements & Choices (for writers)
• Story `Loglines’ (the 25-word teaser - or `hook’)
• A side note - Freud on: “the uncanny” in Art…
• Some popular story templates (for: plot structure)
• Character motivation: using Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
• Evolutionary Psychology on Human Nature
• Consilience – Science meets the Arts/Humanities
• On the monomyth (the hero’s journey, heroine’s journey)
• Themes
8. Story – `Syntagms vs. Paradigms’
http://storyality.wordpress.com/2012/12/20/storyality-34-screenplay-paradigms-or-
screenplay-syntagms/
9. Story (`Plot’ versus `Structure’)
Fabula = Plot chronology (or: temporal order of actual events);
Fabula – the raw material (the events that happened in order)
Syuzhet = Structure (e.g: End, Start, Middle), i.e. flashbacks, etc.
Syuzhet – The order in which You choose to tell (or, reveal ) it.
(e.g., Vladimir Propp, Viktor Shklovsky, David Bordwell)
e.g. Citizen Kane, Rashomon, Memento, Pulp Fiction, Irreversible,
Primer, TimeCrimes, Edge of Tomorrow – and, Breaking Bad, etc.
Event 1 Event 2 Event 3 Event 4 Event 5
Event 5 Event 2 Event 4 Event 3 Event 1
10. Storytelling: Some Elements & Choices…
1. Genre Sci-Fi, Thriller, Mystery, Horror, Romance, Comedy ?
2. Setting Place(s) / Location(s) ?
3. Time Present, Future, Past ?
4. Style Realist, Surrealist, Expressionist, Impressionist ?
5. Theme/s Message/s, Motifs, Symbols, Tropes, the `Moral’ ?
6. Character Bio-Psycho-Socio-Cultural… (Humanimal, `Agent’)
7. “–ization (1) Character `change’/arc ? (2) `Learn’ something?
8. Plot Events (obstacles/problems)
9. Structure Linear, Nonlinear, Parallel (Beginning, Middle, End)
10. Pacing Slow, Medium, Fast ?
11. Dialog Realism, Hyper-realism, Stylized, Silent (i.e. Text) ?
12. Mood `Atmosphere’ (Joyful, Bleak, Stark, Romantic) ?
13. Tone Serious, Sentimental, Naive, Ironic, Satirical, Absurd
14. P.O.V Omnipotent narrator, Subjective, Single, Multiple
15. `Voice’ (Yours…!) Ask: Who are your influences ?
16. Media Screen (Visual), Audio, Text, Locative, Digital, etc ?
11. Story – `Logline’ or `Hook’ (25 words)
[Character/s] in [a problem-situation] must
[take action / make a sacrifice] to [solve the problem/s].
e.g.:
Paranormal Activity (2009) – After moving into a suburban home, a
couple becomes increasingly disturbed by a nightly demonic
presence.
Mad Max (1979) – A vengeful Australian policeman sets out to
avenge his partner, his wife and his son whom were murdered by a
motorcycle gang in retaliation for the death of their leader.
http://storyality.wordpress.com/2012/12/31/storyality-56-examining-the-loglines-of-the-
top-20-roi-films/
12. A note on `the uncanny’ in art
In discussing his horror / ghost film, The Shining (1980) with the
film critic Michel Ciment, filmmaker Stanley Kubrick notes that,
Freud observed: the uncanny is stronger in art, than in real life…
Kubrick & Ciment interview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvoxjkTNOXE
(see minutes 31 - 36 of the above interview)
But, Freud can be problematic: see also posts #90 & 94
http://storyality.wordpress.com/an-index-to-this-blog/
13. Story Templates (or: syntagms)
Aristotle (335 BCE) – The Poetics (drama: `comedy’ vs. tragedy)
Vladimir Propp (1928) – The Morphology of the Russian Folk Tale
Joseph Campbell (1949) – The Hero With A Thousand Faces
Maureen Murdock (1990) – The Heroine’s Journey
Umberto Eco (1979) – The Role of the Reader (incl: James Bond)
http://storyality.wordpress.com/2012/12/17/storyality-27-narratology-since-
plato-a-brief-lit-review/
Movies - (Screenwriting `Gurus’): Syd Field, Linda Seger, Michael
Hauge, Chris Vogler, Phillips & Huntley (Dramatica), Robert
McKee, Richard Stefanik, Blake Snyder, Victoria Lynn Schmidt,
John Truby, Todd Klick
http://storyality.wordpress.com/2012/12/17/storyality-28-screenwriting-
manuals-since-1913/
14. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (1943)
(as: the story `stakes’)
Maslow, A.H. (1943).
`A theory of human motivation’. Psychological Review 50 (4) pp. 370–96
15. On Human Universals
Brown, DE (1991)
Human Universals,
Temple University Press, Philadelphia.
http://ai.ato.ms/MITECS/Entry/brown.html
http://condor.depaul.edu/mfiddler/hyphen/humunivers.htm
Pinker, S (2002)
The Blank Slate:
The Modern Denial of Human Nature
17. Stories appeal to: `Human Nature’
Koestler, A 1967, The
Ghost In The Machine,
Hutchinson, London.
Wilson, EO 1998,
Consilience: The Unity
of Knowledge, Random
House, New York.
18. `Human Nature’ = Ev Psych
Buss, DM 2012, Evolutionary
Psychology: The New Science of
the Mind, 4th edn, Pearson Allyn
& Bacon, Boston.
Buss, DM 2005, The
Handbook of Evolutionary
Psychology, John Wiley &
Sons, Hoboken, N.J.
19. Ev Psych: `Human Nature’
Carroll, J (2012), 'The Truth About Fiction: Biological Reality
And Imaginary Lives', Style, vol. 46, no. 2. (pp.33-5)
20. Evolutionary Psychology: Human Nature
Carroll, J (2012), 'The Truth About Fiction: Biological Reality
And Imaginary Lives', Style, vol. 46, no. 2.
21. Ev Psych: Human Nature
Carroll, J (2012), 'The Truth About Fiction: Biological Reality
And Imaginary Lives', PowerPoint slides.
https://umsl.academia.edu/JosephCarroll
22. Consilience: Science meets the Arts
And see : E O Wilson `Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge’ (1998)
https://storyality.wordpress.com/2013/08/23/storyality-71-consilience-is-coming-
read-all-about-it/
23. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (1943)
For Characterization & wants/needs
Maslow, A.H. (1954).
Motivation and Personality, New York, NY: Harper.
1. Biological
2. Psychological
3. Sociological
4. Cultural
5. Spiritual
24. The `monomyth’ (Campbell 1949)
1. The Call to Adventure
2. Refusal of the Call
3. Supernatural Aid
4. The Crossing of the First Threshold
5. Belly of The Whale
6. The Road of Trials
7. The Meeting With the Goddess
8. The Woman as Temptress
9. The Atonement with the Father
10. The Apotheosis
11. The Ultimate Boon
12. Refusal of the Return
13. The Magic Flight
14. Rescue from Without
15. The Crossing of the Return Threshold
16. Master of Two Worlds
17. Freedom to Live
http://storyality.wordpress.com/2013/08/23/storyality-73-the-heros-journey-its-
not-what-you-think/
Vogler, C (1990)
The Writer’s Journey
26. The Essay Film (Non-Narrative)
Sans Soleil (Chris Marker 1983)
2014 `Sight & Sound’ Best Documentary Poll
http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-28602506
Man With A Movie Camera (Vertov 1929)
27. The Essay Film
The Essay Film can be `anti-narrative’; more stream-of-consciousness,
(think, say: James Joyce’s Ulysses, etc.) More about impressions, memories,
perception and cognition – and in essence, `Doing Philosophy On Film’.)
Dziga Vertov’s (1929) documentary Man With A Movie Camera opens with:
"The film Man With A Movie Camera represents
AN EXPERIMENTATION IN THE CINEMATIC COMMUNICATION
of visual phenomena
WITHOUT THE USE OF INTERTITLES (a film without intertitles)
WITHOUT THE HELP OF A SCENARIO (a film without a scenario)
WITHOUT THE HELP OF THEATRE (a film without actors, without sets, etc.)
This new experimentation work by Kino-Eye is directed towards the creation
of an authentically international absolute language of cinema – ABSOLUTE
KINOGRAPHY – on the basis of its complete separation from the language
of theatre and literature.“ (Vertov 1929)
28. The Essay Film
Chris Marker’s Sans Soleil (1983) begins with a T S Eliot (1930) quote:
"Because I know that time is always time
And place is always and only place
And what is actual is actual only for one time
And only for one place".
30. Transmedia Storytelling super-set … (a transmedia story = `2 or more’ media)
Novel
Film
Game
TV
series
Music
/ Song
Poem
Joke
Website
Comic
Play
Alternate
Reality
Game
?
Audio
Locative
Media
Social
Media
31. Transmedia Examples: The Blair Witch Project, The Matrix, Dexter, LOST
`Case Files’ book, Short film anthology, Dexter ARG, Bad Twin novel, Find 815 ARG
33. Transmedia Graphic Novels: HEROES & BUFFY
http://www.nbc.com/heroes/novels/
http://www.darkhorse.com/Books/14-
115/Buffy-the-Vampire-Slayer-Season-8-
Volume-1-The-Long-Way-Home-TPB
Transmedia narrative extensions, and/or continuations in other media
35. Dr Colin Harvey’s Taxonomy of Transmedia Storytelling
(Dr Who - 2.5D Venn representation – by JT Velikovsky)
Ur text
Intellectual Property Dr Who
Directed TMS Spinoff novels from BBC
Books; video games
Devolved TMS Audio plays & prose
fiction produced by Big
Finish, Dr Who Annuals
produced by World (1966
onwards)
Detached TMS Faction Paradox books,
graphic novels and audio
plays; K-9 television
series; Iris Wildthyme
anthologies
Directed TMS Dr Who comic creator on
official website; Dr Who
toys produced by
Character Options,
licensed RPG
Emergent User-Generated TMS Fan fiction prose, short
films, modded RPGs
Devolved User-Driven TMS Youtube UGC
Detached User-Driven TMS Slash fiction
Note: all stories overlap the ur text :
Either characters, settings, events, all
http://www.storyworlds.de/programme-thursday-2011-06-30/
37. Locative Narrative - e.g. Janet Cardiff: Walks
Forest Walk (Cardiff 1991)
http://cardiffmiller.com/artworks/walks/index.html
Alter Bahnhof Walk (Cardiff & Miller 2012)Myst (The Millers, 1993)
[compare with…]
38. TRANSMEDIA CREDITS - JT Velikovsky
• 91-94 – Newcastle Uni (B.A. Communications - Screenwriting)
• 95-96 – Screenwriting & Filmmaking – AFTRS - 2 years
• 98 – Story Analyst (Fox Studios, Polygram, ScreenNSW, etc)
• 2000 - Inform P/L – National Games Market Analyst (Aust)
• 2000-2002 - Game Writer/Designer @ Ratbag Games
• 2004-5 - Director/Game Designer, A-Rage Games/UniSA
• 2005-7 - Game Designer/Writer – Red Tribe Games
• 2008 – Transmedia Consulting: Film, TV, Comix, ARGs
Writing Feature Film Scripts (30+)
• 2010-2013
• XCOM (Game) – 2K Games – Game Screenwriter
• CAUGHT INSIDE (2011) – Film Screenwriter
• THE JUNGLE (2013) – Script Editor, Directing Attachment
• Script Assessor & Judge – the Australian Writer’s Guild
39. `JUMPER' – Transmedia storytelling
YA Novel series Fox Feature Film
Console Game:
JUMPER: Griffin’s Story
Novel tie-in for
Console Game
Movie
soundtrackMovie website
40. `LOONEY TUNES’ (2007) Transmedia
PS2, Wii, 360 Game (2007)
`Backstory’ comic:
Game lead-in
(Looney Tunes characters
as children)
(Looney Tunes
short films)
41. `AM SO AS' (2011) - Transmedia
A Transmedia Novel /Short Film/Game/Website - about Transmedia…
http://www.am-so-as.webs.com/
43. WHAT IS `TRANSMEDIA’?
(1) Thw PGA’s `CODE OF CREDITS’ (2010) Definition
(2) Screen Australia’s Definitions (2013)
(3) Dr Christy Dena’s Phd Thesis (2009)
(4) Starlight Runner Website (Gomez) (2007)
(5) Prof Henry Jenkins (Blogs, Books) (2003)
(6) Marsha Kinder - on TMNT (1990/1991)
06/03/2015 JT Velikovsky
44. PGA Code of Credits : `Transmedia Producer’
PGA 2010,
Producers Guild Of America - Code Of Credits - New Media
http://www.producersguild.org/?page=coc_nm#transmedia
`A Transmedia Narrative project or franchise must consist of three (or more)
narrative storylines existing within the same fictional universe on any of the
following platforms: Film, Television, Short Film, Broadband, Publishing,
Comics, Animation, Mobile, Special Venues, DVD/Blu-ray/CD-ROM,
Narrative Commercial and Marketing rollouts, and other technologies that
may or may not currently exist.
These narrative extensions are NOT the same as repurposing material from
one platform to be cut or repurposed to different platforms.
A Transmedia Producer credit is given to the person(s) responsible for a
significant portion of a project’s long-term planning, development,
production, and/or maintenance of narrative continuity across multiple
platforms, and creation of original storylines for new platforms.’
06/03/2015 JT Velikovsky
45. Screen Australia - Definitions
Single-platform: Content produced for one platform only (e.g. a standalone
website or game or mobile series).
Cross-platform: Using multiple digital media to distribute a piece of content
(e.g. a webisode delivered online and via mobile device; a program for TV
broadcast and online delivery)
Multi-platform: Content created to exist on different platforms in different
forms (e.g. a TV program with a website delivering separate audiovisual
content; a feature film with an associated game):
Transmedia: Storytelling across multiple forms of media, with each element
making distinctive contributions to a user's understanding of the story
universe, including where user actions affect the experience of content
across multiple platforms (e.g. reaching a score level in an online game
unlocks the next mobile episode).
http://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/funding/allmedia/definitions.aspx
06/03/2015 JT Velikovsky
46. Christy Dena’s PhD on Transmedia Practice (2009)
(the first PhD on Transmedia Practice)
Dena, C 2009,
Transmedia Practice: Theorising The Practice Of Expressing A Fictional World Across
Distinct Media And Environments, Department of Media and Communications,
PhD Thesis, Sydney: University of Sydney
http://www.christydena.com/phd/
06/03/2015 JT Velikovsky
http://www.christydena.com/phd/
47. ‘Cross-Media Production Process Comparison’ Chart, by Crossover Nordic
Conceived by Crossover Nordic Team, chart visualization by Daniel (DaPonte 2008)
(Dena 2009, p. 65)
Dena, C 2009,
Transmedia Practice: Theorising The Practice Of Expressing A Fictional World Across
Distinct Media And Environments, Department of Media and Communications,
PhD Thesis, Sydney: University of Sydney
http://www.christydena.com/phd/
06/03/2015 JT Velikovsky
48. Starlight Runner Entertainment - Jeff Gomez
http://www.starlightrunner.com/
World’s leading/biggest Transmedia consultancy/practice
49. Starlight Runner Ent. (Jeff Gomez)
Gomez, J 2013,
Starlight Runner Entertainment webpage: `What Is Transmedia?',
starlightrunner.com/, viewed 20th Oct 2013,
http://www.starlightrunner.com/transmedia
06/03/2015 JT Velikovsky
50. Henry Jenkins in Convergence Culture (2006) states:
“Transmedia represents the integration of
entertainment experiences across a range of
different media platforms”
Jenkins defines Transmedia as - Storytelling that:
“immerses an audience in a Story’s universe
through a number of dispersed entry points,
providing a comprehensive and coordinated
experience of a complex story”.
Prof. Henry Jenkins (USC, ex-MIT)
Jenkins, H 2008, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New
Media Collide (Revised Edn), New York University Press, NY
51. Marsha Kinder: Playing With Power (1991)
Kinder, M 1991,
Playing With Power In Movies, Television, And Video Games: From Muppet
Babies To Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, University of California Press, Berkeley.
06/03/2015 JT Velikovsky
`Transmedia intertextuality’ (first use of term transmedia)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles expanded from comics
(1984) to television (1987), videogames (1989), and a
feature film (1990).
Kinder argues that pre-cinema-going children ‘learn that
movies make a vital contribution to an ever-expanding
supersystem of entertainment, one marked by
transmedia intertextuality’ (Kinder, 1991: 1).
52. Gary’s Social Media Count:
http://www.personalizemedia.com/garys-social-media-count/
See also - Gary Hayes’ `Transmedia Production Bible’ Template:
http://www.personalizemedia.com/dummies-guide-to-writing-a-transmedia-
production-bible/
Transmedia - The “Business”
Social Media Heritage Media
53. Jenkins’ “7 Principles of Transmedia Storytelling”:
1) Spreadability vs. Drillability
2) Continuity vs. Multiplicity
3) Immersion vs. Extractability
4) Worldbuilding
5) Seriality
6) Subjectivity (2ndary chars)
7) Performance
#1 - Henry Jenkins - Revenge of the Origami Unicorn (Part 1) 3 x Principles
http://henryjenkins.org/2009/12/the_revenge_of_the_origami_uni.html
#2 - Revenge of the Origami Unicorn - (Part 2) The Remaining Four Principles
http://henryjenkins.org/2009/12/revenge_of_the_origami_unicorn.html
06/03/2015 JT Velikovsky
54. `8 Characteristics of a Transmedia Production’
Jeff Gomez (2007)
1) Content is originated by one or a very few visionaries
2) Cross-media rollout is planned early in the life of the franchise
3) Content is distributed to three (3) or more media platforms
4) Content is unique, adheres to platform-specific strengths, and is not
repurposed from one platform to the next
5) Content is based on a single vision for the story world
6) Concerted effort is made to avoid fractures and schisms
7) Effort is vertical across company, third parties and licensees
8) Rollout features audience participatory elements, including:
- Web portal
- Social networking
- Story-guided user-generated content
http://pganmc.blogspot.com.au/2007/10/pga-member-jeff-gomez-left-assembled.html
06/03/2015 JT Velikovsky
55. Gomez’ “8 Characteristics of a Transmedia Prod’n” [CONT.]
Examples of Transmedia properties:
• The Blair Witch Project
• The Matrix
• Hot Wheels: World Race / Acceleracers
• Bionicles
• Pokemon
• Magic: The Gathering
• & many Disney projects including: High School Musical,
Pirates of the Caribbean, Fairies, and Hannah Montana.
06/03/2015 JT Velikovsky
http://on-writering.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/transmedia-storytelling-and-beyond.html
56. `TRANSMEDIA PRACTICE: A COLLECTIVE APPROACH’ (2014)
06/03/2015 JT Velikovsky
http://storyality.wordpress.com/2013/11/18/storyality-96-transmedia-practice-a-
collective-approach-2014/
The Top 20 RoI Films
57. StoryAlity: the Top 20 R.o.I. Films
(3 of the 20 are: `Transmedia films’)
1. Paranormal Activity (2009)
2. Mad Max (1980)
3. The Blair Witch Project (1999)
4. El Mariachi (1993)
5. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
6. Rocky (1976)
7. Halloween (1978)
8. American Graffiti (1973)
9. Clerks (1994)
10. Once (2007)
11. Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
12. Open Water (2004)
13. Friday the 13th (1980)
14. The Devil Inside (2012)
15. Saw (2004)
16. Primer (2004)
17. The Evil Dead (1983)
18. ET: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
19. The Full Monty (1997)
20. Star Wars (1977)
21. My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)
Data Source: http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/records/budgets.php
http://storyality.wordpress.com/
58. How Many of the Top 20 RoI Films
Were Transmedia..?
(i.e. on launch - by the PGA Definition…? Two of the 20 Films)
JT Velikovsky’s chapter on `Transmedia in the Top 20 RoI Films’ is here:
http://storyality.wordpress.com/2013/11/18/storyality-96-transmedia-practice-a-
collective-approach-2014/
59. Star Wars (1977) was not Transmedia on launch…
(It only later became Transmedia)
Originally a low-budget film sequel (novel) to Star Wars (1977) was written by Alan Dean
Foster, Splinter of the Mind’s Eye. However when Star Wars became a surprise smash-hit,
this story was sidelined (forgotten?) - in favour of The Empire Strikes Back film storyline.
60. FILM/TV/GAME/NOVELS – Are they always TRANSMEDIA ?
Brand Franchises / `Narrative Extensions’ vs Adaptations:
Games, Movies, Sites, Books, Comics
• Harry Potter, Star Wars, LOTR,
Blair Witch, The Matrix, etc
• Shrek, Over The Hedge, The Simpsons
OR - Alternate Reality Games ? (Q: Are ARG’s `Transmedia’?)
• Majestic (a standalone ARG, by EA)
• The LOST Experience, Find 815
• Spielberg/Kubrick’s movie `A.I.’ & `The Beast’ ARG
• Dexter `Game On’ (ARG)
Note: Adaptations are not transmedia. (Q: Is The Bible transmedia?)
65. TRANSMEDIA – Story Formats:
• Prequels / Backstories (Blair Witch Dossier - book)
• Interstitial Stories (e.g. Buffy comic = Season 5->6, & 8)
• Parallel Stories (e.g. Jumper: Griffin’s Story – Game/Novel)
• Peripheral Stories (e.g. Buffy / Angel – TV, Comics)
• UGC (User Generated Content) – (e.g. Web Fan Fiction)
• Twin Peaks / The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer/ The Dale Cooper Audio Tapes
• LOST – the PC Game (starring a new character – `Non-Canon’!)
…To `Canon’ or Not To `Canon’?
(That is the question...)
66. Transmedia Links - Christy Dena
http://www.YouSuckAtTransmedia.com/
http://www.christydena.com/
http://www.authenticinallcaps.com/
67. Rick Deckard - and the origami unicorn left for him, by Gaff
Blade Runner (1982, Dir: Ridley Scott)
Jenkins’ notion of `the origami unicorn’ – a story element/ plot twist that
casts the rest of the (transmedia) story in a totally new/different light…
`The Origami Unicorn’ (Henry Jenkins 2009)
http://henryjenkins.org/2009/12/the_revenge_of_the_origami_uni.html
69. http://storyality.wordpress.com/2013/02/12/storyality-64-Why-Transmedia-is-Destiny/
DISCIPLINES/FIELDS/MEDIA in Transmedia Production
06/03/2015 JT Velikovsky
Novels Prose/novel writing/Marketing
Film Screenwriting/Film Production/Marketing
Game Game Design/Development (incl: Computer Science, 3D Art)
TV Series TV writing & screen production/Marketing
Websites Web site Design/Development/Marketing
Webseries Webseries writing & screen production/Marketing
CharBlogs Web design/Dramatic-Character Writing/Marketing
Comics Comic writing/Design/Production/Marketing
Songs Music writing, Performance, Recording, Publishing/ Marketing
Plays Theatre Writing & Production / Marketing
ARGs Game & puzzle design, production / Marketing
Audio Tours, Walks, Audiobooks, etc. / Marketing
(etc…)
See also Christy Dena’s TEDx talk on Transmedia: (Storytelling in all media)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtuthYUrntw (12 mins)
Important Q: What does each media do best? (And: not as well as others?)
70. http://storyality.wordpress.com/2013/02/12/storyality-64-Why-Transmedia-is-Destiny/
SUMMARY - Transmedia Research:
Some Key Theorists/Practitioners in Transmedia:
- Henry Jenkins (see also, 2003 MIT Review, and, Askwith on `The Matrix’)
- Jeff Gomez (Starlight Runner Entertainment)
- Christy Dena
- Gary Hayes
- Rob Pratten
- Marsha Kinder
- Transmedia Activism (e.g. `An Inconvenient Truth’)
- Note also the PGA (USA) - and Screen Australia definitions of Transmedia.
Some Controversies in Transmedia:
- Is transmedia `3 or more’ (i.e. PGA), or just `2 or more’ (i.e. Dena) media?
- Are ARGs transmedia, or, just one component of a Transmedia property?
Note: Each media should contribute unique elements to the story universe.
Transmedia is *not* just: adaptations, sequels, franchising, or merchandising.
06/03/2015 JT Velikovsky
71. TRANSMEDIA: UNITY & DIVERSITY
06/03/2015 JT Velikovsky
STORY UNIVERSE:
STORY EVENTS:
(TRANS) MEDIA:
http://storyality.wordpress.com/2013/02/12/storyality-64-Why-Transmedia-is-Destiny/
https://storyality.wordpress.com/2014/12/06/storyality-122-ie2014-international-
interactive-entertainment-conference/
72. WHAT IS: `CULTURE’ (?)
See Kroeber & Kluckholn (1952) … for 164 different definitions of `culture’.
What is: `the unit of culture’?
(e.g.: books, movies, songs, poems, jokes, stories ? )
See: `Memetics’ (e.g., Dawkins (1976) The Selfish Gene)
Is `culture’:
…Ideas, Processes, Products ?
See: Csikszentmihalyi, M (1996), Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of
Discovery and Invention, 1st edn, HarperCollins, New York.
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73. On Creativity – R K Sawyer (2012) & Csikszentmihalyi (1996)
http://storyality.wordpress.com/2012/12/06/what-is-creativity-and-how-does-it-
work/
74. Culture = a system of nested domains… i.e. `bio-psycho-socio-culture’
Novel
Film
Game
TV
series
Music
/ Song
Poem
Joke
Website
Comic
Play
Alternate
Reality
Game
?
Audio
Locative
Media
Social
Media
75. MEMES – UNITS OF CULTURE – HOLON-PARTONS
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http://storyality.wordpress.com/2013/12/12/storyality-100-the-holonic-structure-of-
the-meme-the-unit-of-culture/
76. UNITS OF BIOLOGY = HOLON-PARTONS (SYSTEMS)
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http://www.practicalmemetics.com/index.php/memetics-101/202-mem-101-
holons.html?showall=1&limitstart=
You are here…
77. MEMES = UNITS OF CULTURE = HOLON-PARTONS
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http://www.practicalmemetics.com/index.php/memetics-101/202-mem-101-
holons.html?showall=1&limitstart=
78. MEMES = UNITS OF CULTURE = HOLON-PARTONS
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http://storyality.wordpress.com/2013/12/12/storyality-100-the-holonic-structure-of-
the-meme-the-unit-of-culture/
80. `Schools of Thought’
in the Arts/Humanities
A list of 50 `Schools of Thought’:
http://storyality.wordpress.com/2014/05/07/storyality-113-schools-of-thought-in-the-
arts-humanities-survey/
e.g.:
• Digital Literary Studies (e.g. Siemens, Schreibman, Crompton, Hoover, Liu)
• Ecocriticism (e.g. William Rueckert, Joseph Meeker, Cheryll Glotfelty)
• Empirical Literary Studies (e.g. Willie van Peer, Sonia Zyngier, Marisa Bortolussi,
Frank Hakemulder)
• Evocriticism/Biopoetics/Literary Darwinism/Consilience (e.g. EO Wilson, Brian
Boyd, Joseph Carroll, Jon Gottschall, Brett Cooke, Frederick Turner, Michelle Scalise
Sugiyama, David Bordwell, Richard Dawkins, Steven Pinker, Daniel Dennett)
• Existentialism (e.g. Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Maurice Merleau-Ponty,
Albert Camus, Søren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche)
• Feminism (e.g. Julia Kristeva, Hélène Cixous, Luce Irigaray, Laura Mulvey)
• Formalism (e.g. Plato, Aristotle, Vladimir Propp, Roman Jakobson, Viktor
Shklovsky, David Bordwell)
• Etc!
(Choose a school - or schools - that fit best with your own worldview…)
81. TRANSMEDIA Group (@ Uni IQ)
http://www.uniiq.com/groups/transmedia/
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82. Story & Transmedia*
JT Velikovsky
Doctoral Candidate:
(Film/Screenwriting/Transmedia)
University of Newcastle
http://storyality.wordpress.com/
(* or: `Transmedia and Interdisciplinarity’)
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