When does

Transmedia Storytellingbecome…

CROSS-MEDIA

PROMOTION?

How can we distinguish one from the other?

• Cross-media marketing “delivers relevant content and a call to action through multiple media simultaneously as an integrated campaign”

• Transmedia Storytelling: “different channels… communicate different things… with an emphasis on putting the brand community at the center”

Source: http://creativesatworkblog.com/2011/03/what’s-the-difference-between-cross-media-marketing-and-transmedia-storytelling/

An Overview

• 2007/2008 WGA strikers challenged positive image of webisodes

• Television promotion and digital content cannot be separated.

“Nearly all of the digital shorts found on television networks’ and studios’ websites and mobile portals promote something” – Max Dawson

Source: http://bgock.com/maxdawson/research_files/Ch_10_Dawson_Revised_DUKE.pdf

Research Path

• Initial claim: ‘a TM text is concerned either with expanding on a story hyperdiegesis or promoting the core text/relevant TM’

• Revised claim: ‘a TM text will inevitably display modes of story expansion and promotion but will favour one over the other’

• We might think of this in terms of a…

… a Storytelling/Promotion Spectrum

MostlyStorytelling

MostlyPromotional

The TM Texts

• The Rookie:24 spin-off webseries

•• Dexter Early Cuts:

Dexter spin-offwebseries

•

The Rookie (2007 – 2008)

• Three seasons, twelve episodes.

• Season 1 released January 15th 2007, the day after the premiere of 24 season 6.

• Produced by a multinational consumer products corporation Unilever and 20th

Century Fox, who promoted Unilever’s ‘Degree for Men Deodorant’ (promotional motives).

The Rookie: Style and Aesthetics

• Uses licensed digital countdown and graphics, score, sound effects.

• 24’s DOP

Problems:

• Ellipses

• Tone

Season1

Showtime Realtime

Episode1 10minutes 2.5minutesEpisode2 2minutes 2minutesEpisode3 9minutes 2minutesSeason2

Episode1 30minutes 3minutesEpisode2 15minutes 3minutesEpisode3 15minutes 4minutesSeason3

Episode1 5minutes 4minutesEpisode2 5minutes 5minutesEpisode3 6minutes 6minutesEpisode4 4minutes 5minutesEpisode5 3minutes 3minutesEpisode6 5minutes 7.5minutes

The Rookie and 24

• “The Rookie [is] situated a long way from the central axis: the first one is located in Washington, DC and the second includes only some of the characters from the TV show (and not Jack Bauer, the main character).” – Carlos Alberto Scolari

• Extends franchise to mobile consumers who do not have the time to dedicate to 24 (which to totals 1008 minutes in duration)

Source: Alberto Scolari, C. Transmedia Storytelling: Implicit Consumers, Narrative Worlds, and Branding in Contemporary Media Production.International Journal of Communication 3 (2009), 586-606

Dexter Early Cuts (2009 – 2012)

• Seasons 1, 2 and 3 written by Dexter writers Lauren Gussis, Tim Schlattman and Scott Reynolds respectively.

• Features voice acting from Dexter cast Michael C. Hall.

• Example of Carlos Alberto Scolari’s ‘interstitial microstories’: expands on period before television series.

Source: Alberto Scolari, C. Transmedia Storytelling: Implicit Consumers, Narrative Worlds, and Branding in Contemporary Media Production.International Journal of Communication 3 (2009), 586-606

From TV to YouTube: Dexter

• Dexter: Live-action hour-length episodes.

• Dexter Early Cuts: animated 2-3 min episodes

Functional Uniqueness

• “Functional uniqueness can be understood as features of the online video platforms that are better – or simply different from television –in terms of satisfying consumer needs.” – Cha and Chan-Olmsted

• Dexter Early Cuts satisfies consumers because:

– It has different features to TV (stylistic animation)

– Gratifies where TV show cannot (prequel)

Source: http://jmq.sagepub.com/content/89/2/261

… the result

MostlyStorytelling

MostlyPromotional

The Rookie Dexter Early Cuts

What does this mean for us?

• All transmedia should promote migratory consumption (strong narrative links that point toward content in other channels).

• If a story is not represented in the same way across all media, it loses credibility.

• Think about the audience: functional uniqueness and affective economics.

Henry Jenkins: ‘Affective Economics’

• “a new configuration of marketing theory… which seeks to understand the emotional underpinnings of consumer decision making as a driving force behind viewing and purchasing decisions”

Textbook Jenko

Source: Jenkins, H. ‘Buying into American Idol’ in Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. NYU Press, 01/08/2006