Transmedia Lens Framework

The power of connected narratives

Image: Mullen

The media canvas for story-telling has changed from this…

Image: Gary Hayes www.personalizedmedia.com

Image: Gary Hayes www.personalizedmedia.com

…to this

Transmedia stories are those which ‘unfold across multiple media platforms with each new element making a distinctive and valuable contribution to the whole.”

Original definition of Transmedia

2003

That role was formally recognized by the Producer’s Guild of America (PGA) last April following the formation of the Transmedia Artists Guild (a non-profit organization in the development aiming to provide a network and base for transmedia artists). This historic decision for the PGA, marks the first time the guild has voted to add a new credit.

The seal of approval

Two paths…

ARGs for Marketing

Communications

Storyworlds for Entertainment

Franchises

The principle is fairly simple, the whole should be greater than the sum of its parts.

Zen Films: http://bit.ly/YDsSv

Storyworlds for Entertainment Franchises

Steve Sponder: twitter @stevesponder Lawton Communications Group - Version 2.1 - 10/06/11

Creative Commons: Attribution-Non-commercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 UK: England & Wales License

Multiple story arcs within a single storyworld.

Regardless of the format (book, game, film, toy etc.) the story arcs overlap each other.

These overlaps can be character, location or time based.

Storyworlds for Entertainment Franchises

Starlight Runner creates and expands fictional universes in the form of elaborate intellectual property bibles and story & style guides.

Guides cover all major characters, story arcs, world details, weapons, vehicles, creatures, technology, magic and insignia.

This allows for multiple franchise extensions into traditional, interactive and advanced media.

Starlight Runner Entertainment are one of the leading companies in this space.

They have created storyworlds for some of the worlds largest entertainment IPs.

Storyworlds for Entertainment Franchises

Entertainment franchises get the transmedia storyworld treatment

Storyworlds for Entertainment Franchises

Other IPs get the transmedia storyworld treatment

Storyworlds for Entertainment Franchises

Strategic Partnerships to create transmedia storyworlds

http:

//w

ww

.des

truc

toid

.com

Storyworlds for Entertainment Franchises

Storyworlds for Entertainment Franchises

TV programmes get the transmedia storyworld treatment

Wired: http://bit.ly/m0oTYv

ARGs for marketing communications

Film and game launches get the transmedia ARG treatment

ARGs for marketing communications

ARGs for marketing communications

TV programmes get the transmedia ARG treatment

ARGs for marketing communications

Brands get the transmedia ARG treatment

“The Art of the Heist” embraced the target audience’s need of control over their environment and invited them into an immersive 24-hour-a-day alternate reality. This story blurred fact and fiction by concocting a mysterious storyline that involved consumers in the recovery of an A3 stolen from Audis Park Avenue headquarters in New York City.

At the heart of the narrative were six new A3s containing coded plans for the largest art heist in history; however, one car contained the key to decrypting the information hidden in all the others, and the mystery surrounding the “heist” unfolded in real time over three months across the country. The Heists final chapter was played out in front of a live audience at the Viceroy Hotel in Los Angeles, where we finally discovered who the real villain was.

Transmedia Mutants

Transmedia Mutants

Barbie and Oasis - Brands get the transmedia treatment, but not the ARG variety.

This activity is a storytelling-based campaign.

Coke - Brands get the transmedia storyworld treatment.

This activity is storytelling-based brand planning.

Transmedia Mutants

The Million Pound Drop – TV Programmes get the transmedia treatment, but not the ARG format.

Sometimes referred to as two-screen entertainment, this activity could also be called ‘Live Transmedia’.

This is related to Social TV, see http://bit.ly/m11xTl

Head Trauma - Franchises get the transmedia ARG treatment.

Transmedia Lens Framework

Having meaningful discussions about transmedia opportunities is becoming increasingly difficult with so many variants.

This is exacerbated when talking about the marketing of entertainment properties.

We need a simple way of identifying different types of transmedia.

So to this end I have created the Transmedia Lens Framework.

Either this….. …or this

Origination

Lens

Transmedia GreenfieldDesigned as a transmedia architecture from the outset

Transmedia BrownfieldRetrospectively re-engineered as a transmedia architecture

Purpose Lens

Transmedia FranchiseThe output is monetised. It is the ‘product’

Transmedia BrandingThe output is free. It is the ‘branding and promotion’

Architectural Lens

Transmedia StoryworldMultiple, individual, but related storylines (story arcs) that unfold across different media platforms that take place in a single storyworld

Transmedia StorylineA single storyline (story arc) that unfolds across multiple, media platforms e.g. ARG, storytelling campaign or two-screen entertainment

Steve Sponder: twitter @stevesponder - Lawton Communications Group - Version 3.0 - 10/06/11

Creative Commons: Attribution-Non-commercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 UK: England & Wales License

Transmedia Lens Framework

Transmedia Briefing

The power of connected narratives

Image: Mullen