“Before we can talk about how to make great transmedia projects, we have to clarify what we mean when we say ‘transmedia storytelling’”, Max Giovagnoli begins his chapter in A Creator’s Guide to Transmedia Storytelling.  It also seems like the perfect way to begin reflecting on this week’s introduction to The Story Lab.  Originally coined by Dr. Marsha Kinder, the term transmedia was later extrapolated by Dr. Henry Jenkins to describe heavily integrated narrative that could be intertwined across different media components such as films, video games and graphic novels, so that “a character can walk offstage in the game and appear in the film in his very next breath”.

Giovagnoli describes the divide between the different types of transmedia as being known as East Coast versus West Coast transmedia.  West Coast transmedia, or Hollywood or franchise transmedia, may consist of larger media platforms, such as feature films and video games, and is grounded in big-business commercial storytelling.  Plotlines and characters are interwoven across the different platforms, although each piece is able to be consumed independently, yet still forms part of its own smaller but complete narrative.  Giovagnoli uses the big-budget examples of Star Wars and The Matrix. East Coast transmedia however, is described as being much more interactive and web-based, incorporating elements of live scavenger hunts, short films and the use of social media.  The plot is so tightly interwoven across the various platforms that a narrative may only become clear after audiences interact with at least a majority of the project.

It is the ideas and criteria behind East Coast transmedia that we will be heavily relying upon when the time comes to create our own transmedia project as the final assessment for The Story Lab course.