In my last post, I noted Harry Potter/Pottermore as an
example of transmedia storytelling. Pottermore also exemplifies worldbuilding,
an idea discussed in chapter 5 of The
Creator’s Guide to Transmedia Storytelling. Although Pottermore offers the
same information as the Harry Potter books, it extends the information by
expanding the world in which the story is set. Character backgrounds, explanations,
terms, or concepts can be further explored on Pottermore. Worldbuilding can
also be physical - I was born in Salem, Massachusetts and still live on the
city’s border; as a city that grasps onto anything occult-like, Harry Potter
was popular enough that a wand store selling the character’s wands was opened
downtown. Worldbuilding allows the consumer to interact with or connect to the
story in unique ways. Harry Potter and other transmedia stories are proof of
how deeply invested an audience can be in a story.
Sometimes an audience is so involved with a story that fan
culture develops, which has found a home on social media and other Internet
platforms; because fans become so emotionally invested, transmedia storytelling
has transformed the ways that social media can be used. As much as fans benefit
from transmedia storytelling, having access to new information and more
content, the story creators also greatly benefit from transmedia storytelling.
It creates a better, more cohesive story in general purely because the
characters and background stories are more drawn out and explained.
From the second reading, I liked the author’s comparison of
the computer to a camera in the 1890’s – just at the beginning of its
storytelling capabilities. This made me question the future of transmedia
storytelling, as it has already advanced so much and still expands – such as
fictional characters having their own real Twitter accounts. How far will
storytelling go?
You make a good point about transmedia reaching different media based on location, even one as small as a town in Massachusetts! I think that really speaks to the effectiveness of a franchise marketed as well as Harry Potter has been, especially through means of transmedia.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your example of the wand shop popping up in your town. In my mind, I mostly think of these transmedia stories as intangible worlds that merely exist in the realm of technology. However, your example brought up the idea of being able to tell these stories in our world as well, as places that we can physically go to and feel as though we are immersed in the story.
ReplyDeleteI also talked about Pottermore as an example! I like how you tied it to your town and how especially being an international fan culture and series it still ties to people on a smaller scale. You gave a good example of how it is a transmedia story both on large and small scale, which from what we have learned so far about transmedia storytelling sounds like an good example of a successful one!
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ReplyDeleteI liked how you related the transmedia storytelling example of Pottermore to a more local and personal level when describing worldbuilding. I had no idea such a shop would exist in Salem, MA but that is super cool! It is a great example of how transmedia storytelling could expand its worldbuilding and in doing so these physical aspects, along with what transmedia storytelling does through technology, can become more commonplace.
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