This week was primarily researching for the presentation, and a particular aspect of it I found interesting was the research into transmedia; specifically the way transmedia tries to keep audiences entertained and intrigued enough to keep engaging with the piece of transmedia, even across forms of media. 

In the reading for week 8, Rutledge (2019) describes multiple ways to do so; primarily, the audience member needs to want and enjoy delving into other forms of media. They need to feel challenged enough to transcend forms to continue the story, but the media needs to be accessible and easy enough for it to still be enjoyable. A fine balance needs to be struck for the audience to feel both entertained and challenged when consuming the story. 

Scolari (2009) also delves into the semiotics of transmedia storytelling with the multilayer text: media that is able to be enjoyed on multiple levels and can be read in different ways. I think this is important to our exhibition, especially if we want to properly depict the ‘narrative’ compared to the ‘actual history’ the museum is producing with the artefacts they’ve uncovered. 

I think the form that our final piece is taking really helps with this; the fact that it’s a museum walkthrough enables an easy transference between one piece of media to another, as audience members walk through one ‘artefact’ to another. I’m unsure whether it will be ‘challenging’ enough for the audience to feel challenged and enjoy the process of moving from one piece of media to another as Rutledge states, but I think it will be easy enough for them to enjoy the whole story. 

Freeman, M & Gambarato, RR (eds) 2019, ‘The Routledge companion to transmedia studies’, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, New York. pp 350-363.

Scolari C.A. (2009). ‘Transmedia storytelling: implicit consumers, narrative worlds, and branding in contemporary media production.’ International Journal of Communication. pp. 586-606.