A common technique in serial television narratives is the use of layered stories or plotlines. (Porter, Larson, Harthcock, & Nellis, 2002). This multi-layered story structure can be maintained using this framework (see Figure 1). Scenes or other elements of the main story can alternate with the sub-plots or sub-stories. TheContinue Reading
The second level of design tasks occurs at the storyworld level (see table below). At this level, the storyworld is created, level of user engagement and degree of user agency determined, and high level transmedia narrative’s interactions are documented. Design at the storyworld level is an iterative process in whichContinue Reading
One of the key aspects to understanding how to create transmedia narratives was developing an understanding of the many different elements that went into a transmedia narrative. Equally important was understanding the relationships between those elements. The result was an ontology.An ontology is a description of objects, entities, and conceptsContinue Reading
Transmedia narratives provide users the opportunity to engage in more active roles (user agency) than traditional narrative forms. Some examples of user agency include spatial navigation, problem solving, incorporating game play within narratives, and traversing links in hypertext narrative. Computer and console games that incorporate elements of narrative have capturedContinue Reading
Knowing how your audience accesses content will also shape the structure of your transmedia narrative. The experience of watching an episode of your narrative on a big-screen television is very different from watching the same episode that has been downloaded to a smartphone. One of the most interesting new devicesContinue Reading
Knowing the audience demographics and psychographics is not enough when designing a transmedia project. You also need to understand how your audience “consumes” your transmedia narrative and what they want out of it (user gratifications) should be identified early in your project. Content Consumer Type The type of content consumerContinue Reading
Understanding the audience is an essential part of storytelling. Telling a great story to the wrong audience can make the story fall flat. The author of a transmedia project needs to identify who the audience for that project is and what its characteristics are. With this information in hand, theContinue Reading
In the next few posts, we’ll look at the top level set of design tasks involved in a transmedia project. A number of key decisions need to be made very early in the design process for a transmedia project. These decisions will shape the direction in which the project willContinue Reading
Rather than trying to include a bibliography of citations in the individual posts on this blog, I’ve decided to list the entire bibliography here. In addition to referencing individual aspects of the blog posts, this bibliography can provide a useful guide to literature relevant to transmedia narratives. Aarseth, E. (2004).Continue Reading