Transmedia Storytelling Notes Part 2

I do not like reading such long pages of texts
I do not enjoy the search
I will not take part in this discussion
I will not be a film student's friend
Destroy this topic today! Today! Today!
Today I say!
Without delay!

Part 3: Distinctive vs Valuable Contribution

Summary: There's a difference between transmedia storytelling and transmedia. Brands fall under transmedia. To tell whether something is not part of brand, Long says to evaluate how "well they set themselves apart from transmedia branding through narrative cohesion and canon" (pg 34). Long then looks at Star Wars and its expanded universe. Basically, George Lucas agreed that fans can have fun and create stories. But what he also said is that he doesn't consider them to be a part of his universe. Long then assumes fans will create two Star Wars universes- one Lucas approves of (canon) and one that has everything in it. And because I am lazy ...

This is where a crucial distinction can be made concerning true transmedia
narratives like The Matrix, and can be considered a first step toward establishing an
aesthetics of transmedia storytelling: each component of a transmedia story is
designed as canonical from the outset. While it's still possible to argue for a distinction
between 'primary elements' (the films) and 'secondary elements' (the comics, the video
games, the anime, and everything else) in the franchise, plot points were revealed in the
secondary components that greatly enriched one's understanding of what was happening
in the primary components. Fans that consumed these additional components came away
with a fuller understanding and a better experience of the world as a whole.

Long pg 40

This is a complete contrast from licensing. Licensing is basically taking whatever is original and making it suck.

Migratory Cues:

Referring to the Letter in the Matrix that became central to the game:

Ruppel refers to these intermedial hooks as 'migratory cues', "the means through which various
narrative paths are marked by an author and located by a user through activation patterns

 Long pg 42

Part 4: From Plot to Character to World

Aristotle is arguing that it’s more important to focus on the actions of the players – the what happens, the plot – rather than on the qualities – the personalities and emotions – that distinguish the players onstage into separate characters.

Long 44

That said, a storyteller's priorities begin to shift if the end goal changes from telling one good story to keeping an audience engaged for multiple stories. Audiences enjoy a thrilling plot, but they become more deeply engaged with good, solid characters. Consider the epic adventures of heroes like Hercules: a single solid character can keep audiences coming back for more over and over again.

Long 44

Transmedia narratives, however, are indicative of a new shift in emphasis. The entertainment industry has learned that yes, popular recurring characters can increase repeat revenue, but better still is a rich story world that can host multiple sets of recurring characters, as in Star Trek and Star Wars.

Long 45

When developing a narrative that's meant to extend across multiple media forms, the
world must be considered a primary character of its own, because many transmedia
narratives aren’t the story of one character at all, but the story of a world.

Long 48

This is also not to say that all transmedia narratives need to focus on the world as the primary character; it is easy to imagine a smaller, self-contained transfiction story that begins and ends with one primary character. However, a storyteller charged with creating a story open to eventual transmedia expansion should be aware that while the story he or she is currently writing may focus on one character, a different storyteller might focus on someone completely different, in a completely different era. The trick is to build enough compelling texture, opportunity and character into the larger world to bring audiences back again and again no matter what media form future extensions may take, and to do it gracefully.

Long 50

Worldbuilding is dull. Worldbuilding literalizes the urge to invent.
Worldbuilding gives an unnecessary permission for acts of writing
(indeed, for acts of reading). Worldbuilding numbs the reader’s ability to
fulfill their part of the bargain, because it believes that it has to do
everything around here if anything is going to get done.
Above all, worldbuilding is not technically necessary. It is the great
clomping foot of nerdism. It is the attempt to exhaustively survey a place
that isn’t there. A good writer would never try to do that, even with a place
that is there. It isn’t possible, & if it was the results wouldn’t be readable:
they would constitute not a book but the biggest library ever built, a
hallowed place of dedication & lifelong study. This gives us a clue to the
psychological type of the worldbuilder & the worldbuilder’s victim, &
makes us very afraid.

 M John Harrison