Benjamin
Gabe Nazario
Convergence
Post
#3 – Transmedia Storytelling
11
November 2014
The Walking Dead - Transmedia Kings
(Walking Dead Season 5 Promo Picture)
Media has grown
tremendously from when the term was first introduced. Media used to be known as
simply radio broadcasts or television, but now it is much more. It has grown
into a variety of mediums such as television, Internet, radio, social media,
mobile applications and much more. This would be the basic definition of multi
media. Multi media is something that all companies now days have to have. These
companies must have televised events, whether they produce shows or
commercials, they must have phone applications and they cannot be seen without
having a website. When I say companies, I mean all companies, whether it be a
TV show, a large company like Disney, or even a company as simple as Shell, the
gas company. All of these wouldn’t be who they are without multi media.
(Multimedia - Google Images)
Now when it
comes to the most current times another type of media has been on the rise.
Transmedia, which is essentially the technique of telling a story with the use
of multiple media platforms. This is something that has become popular for many
companies. Now the main point
is not to use as many platforms as you can.
Instead, “a far more
important aspect of interactive media is how it changes the media experiences
for users” (Pavlik 161). This use of Transmedia storytelling is what gains
audience awareness. This is the biggest difference from multi media and
Transmedia. Multi media is simply the idea of using multiple media platforms to
spread the word of your product. But Transmedia storytelling is the idea of
using multiple media platforms to connect to viewers in an interesting way.
(Sunday Night Football - Google Images)
One of
the best examples I could think of when it comes to a product or company using
Transmedia storytelling would be AMC’s most popular television show, “The
Walking Dead.” This show comes on Sunday nights, which is a pretty risky time
to broadcast due to America’s number one sport, football. However, “17.3 million viewers, before we even count up DVR
recordings and encores (which brought its viewership up to 28 million last
season). 2.5 million more adults under 50 watched it [The Walking Dead] than
Sunday-night football” (Poniewozik 1). This was a quote for just one week, but
this seems to be happening almost every week now. Sunday Night Football is a
huge event for television, but The Walking Dead seems to blow it out of the
water every time. The question is why? The most basic and dumbed down answer
would be Transmedia storytelling.
(Walking Dead Season 5 Promo Picture)
The Walking
Dead has been a on the air for 5 seasons now, but in the past two or three
seasons they have been doing a lot more than just creating an interesting
television show. They have created a video game based on the television show
called, “The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct.” This is just one example of The
Walking Dead using Transmedia storytelling to spread the word of their product.
Now that they have a video game all of a sudden their story goes out to all the
gamers. This makes the viewer think they are actually in this story. John
Pavlik, author of Converging Media speaks upon this idea of media becoming
interactive when he states, “The
dialogic nature of interactive media can personalize our relationship with
content and make it more relevant and compelling.” (Pavlik 161-162). By
creating a video game now this product becomes interactive.
(Walking Dead Story Synch Picture)
This is not the only way that The
Walking Dead uses Transmedia storytelling. During their episodes at the daring
time of Sunday night at 9:00 P.M. they have little messages that go out to the
viewers during the commercials. They have something called “The Walking Dead
Story Synch” and the viewer must wait for two secret words that come up on the
screen during the commercials to access the story synch. Once the story synch
is activated you can get behind the scenes info and extra video to watch on the
episode. This is all based on their website, this is using Transmedia
storytelling. Because now the viewer is not only watching their product on a
television, but they are on The Walking Dead website at the same time. This is
something that is getting the viewer involved with the TV show. Pavlik
explained it well when he said “…televisions take on more interactive
programming and convergence with computers and mobile devices” (Pavlik 143). So
not only is the Walking Dead using multi media by using the internet and the
television, but it is also using Transmedia by telling their story and getting
their viewers involved through these media platforms.
I would argue that the reason that
The Walking Dead has surpassed Sunday Night Football so many times is because
of their amazing use of Transmedia storytelling. This helps engage
participation, the viewers buy the video game and participate in the story, they
also use The Walking Dead website to participate in the behind the scenes
action. The Walking Dead also has a variety of mobile device applications; one
of them allows the viewer to turn himself or herself into a walker (zombie).
All these different aspects of Transmedia storytelling make this television
show more then just a normal show. It becomes a story that every viewer is
participating in, in one way or another. This benefits the show because now the
audience is interacting with them, much more then any other television show.
(Transmedia - Google Images)
In conclusion, The Walking Dead is a
great example of this use of Transmedia storytelling. It doesn’t just show the
use of it, but it also shows the success of it. But as you can see multi media
is used as well here. Transmedia is simply multi media but with a greater focus
on getting the audience involved. The ultimate question would be how is
Transmedia going to grow into something greater? Since multi media grew into
Transmedia, what will be next?
(Transmedia - Google Images)
Work Cited
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Benjamin Gabe Nazario
Convergence
Post #3
11 November 2014
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