Transmedia Storytelling: Implicit Consumers, Narrative Worlds, and Branding in Contemporary Media Production
Carlos Alberto Scolari
International Journal of Communication 3 (2009), 586-606
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Abstract
Many concepts have been developed to describe the convergence of media, languages, and formats in contemporary media systems. This article is a theoretical reflection on “transmedia storytelling” from a perspective that integrates semiotics and narratology in the context of media studies. After dealing with the conceptual chaos around transmedia storytelling, the article analyzes how these new multimodal narrative structures create different implicit consumers and construct a narrative world. The analysis includes a description of the multimedia textual structure created around the Fox television series 24. Finally, the article analyzes transmedia storytelling from the perspective of a semiotics of branding.
The article proposes a theoretical approach to transmedia storytelling (TS) that combines semiotics and narratology — a combination that should be explained before these complex textual structures are analyzed. Semiotics is not just the "science of signs" as many scholars may believe but a discipline concerned with sense production and interpretation processes. It studies objects (texts) to understand processes. Semiotics is very useful for describing sense production devices — in this case, transmedia narratives — and when integrated with other disciplines like sociology or anthropology, can be very helpful for understanding complex cultural processes. As TS proposes a new narrative model based on different media and languages, the scientific intervention of narratology — a discipline born with Aristotle’s Poetics and reconstructed in the early 1900s by Vladimir Propp and the Russian Formalist movement — should not only be considered pertinent but also an invaluable strategic scientific field for understanding TS.
In other words, the study of TS, a concept introduced by Henry Jenkins (2003), could be enriched if analyzed from a semio-narratological point of view.
Introducing the transmedia storytelling concept into the semiotic approach — a discipline that has not renewed its theoretical models in (practically) the last two decades (Scolari, 2004) — may also serve as a catalyst for developing new analytical categories and methodologies.1 Like any other scientific discipline, semiotics and narratology mature and grow when confronted with new objects and phenomena. Finally, the dialogue between media studies, semiotics, and narratology delimits a territory defined by Marie-Laure Ryan as “narrative media studies” or “transmedial narratology” (2004, p. 35). This article attempts to consolidate this epistemological field by analyzing TS.
Conclusions
Transmedia storytelling is a very complex and polysemic term that should be well defined if it is employed in theoretical discourses. After analyzing Jenkins’ definition of transmedia storytelling and reflecting on satellite concepts like "multimodality" (Section 1), this article introduced a basic set of categories — “implicit consumer,” “primary modeling system,” “reading contract,” and “fictional world” —
Rush is an interactive game that promotes the Volvo Ocean Race in Spain. It is based on a rescue team that picks up a mayday (SOS) message. In a four-screen video interface, the user must give the right directions to help the team. Although terrorists are not part of the fictional scenario, the game is a realistic adventure that reproduces the screen fragmentation, the real-time effect, and the general aesthetics of 24. See http://www.volvocars.com/intl/campaigns/Misc/VolvoOceanRace/Pages/Rush.aspx (accessed December 2008).to develop a semio-narratological approach to TS (Section 2). In Section 3, these categories were applied to the narrative universe of Fox’s 24, one of the most interesting examples of TS. To highlight the distinctive traits of TS, this author compared 24 with a traditional comic strip (Steve Canyon) narrative structure.
Carlos Alberto Scolari
International Journal of Communication 3 (2009), 586-606
Abstract
Many concepts have been developed to describe the convergence of media, languages, and formats in contemporary media systems. This article is a theoretical reflection on “transmedia storytelling” from a perspective that integrates semiotics and narratology in the context of media studies. After dealing with the conceptual chaos around transmedia storytelling, the article analyzes how these new multimodal narrative structures create different implicit consumers and construct a narrative world. The analysis includes a description of the multimedia textual structure created around the Fox television series 24. Finally, the article analyzes transmedia storytelling from the perspective of a semiotics of branding.
The article proposes a theoretical approach to transmedia storytelling (TS) that combines semiotics and narratology — a combination that should be explained before these complex textual structures are analyzed. Semiotics is not just the "science of signs" as many scholars may believe but a discipline concerned with sense production and interpretation processes. It studies objects (texts) to understand processes. Semiotics is very useful for describing sense production devices — in this case, transmedia narratives — and when integrated with other disciplines like sociology or anthropology, can be very helpful for understanding complex cultural processes. As TS proposes a new narrative model based on different media and languages, the scientific intervention of narratology — a discipline born with Aristotle’s Poetics and reconstructed in the early 1900s by Vladimir Propp and the Russian Formalist movement — should not only be considered pertinent but also an invaluable strategic scientific field for understanding TS.
In other words, the study of TS, a concept introduced by Henry Jenkins (2003), could be enriched if analyzed from a semio-narratological point of view.
Introducing the transmedia storytelling concept into the semiotic approach — a discipline that has not renewed its theoretical models in (practically) the last two decades (Scolari, 2004) — may also serve as a catalyst for developing new analytical categories and methodologies.1 Like any other scientific discipline, semiotics and narratology mature and grow when confronted with new objects and phenomena. Finally, the dialogue between media studies, semiotics, and narratology delimits a territory defined by Marie-Laure Ryan as “narrative media studies” or “transmedial narratology” (2004, p. 35). This article attempts to consolidate this epistemological field by analyzing TS.
Conclusions
Transmedia storytelling is a very complex and polysemic term that should be well defined if it is employed in theoretical discourses. After analyzing Jenkins’ definition of transmedia storytelling and reflecting on satellite concepts like "multimodality" (Section 1), this article introduced a basic set of categories — “implicit consumer,” “primary modeling system,” “reading contract,” and “fictional world” —
Rush is an interactive game that promotes the Volvo Ocean Race in Spain. It is based on a rescue team that picks up a mayday (SOS) message. In a four-screen video interface, the user must give the right directions to help the team. Although terrorists are not part of the fictional scenario, the game is a realistic adventure that reproduces the screen fragmentation, the real-time effect, and the general aesthetics of 24. See http://www.volvocars.com/intl/campaigns/Misc/VolvoOceanRace/Pages/Rush.aspx (accessed December 2008).to develop a semio-narratological approach to TS (Section 2). In Section 3, these categories were applied to the narrative universe of Fox’s 24, one of the most interesting examples of TS. To highlight the distinctive traits of TS, this author compared 24 with a traditional comic strip (Steve Canyon) narrative structure.
From that analysis emerged a series of categories and models to enrich the analysis of TS: multilayer text/multipath or multilane text; single text consumer/single media consumer/transmedia consumer.
That analysis also revealed four strategies for fictional world expansion: creation of interstitial microstories, parallel stories, peripheral stories, and user-generated content. Finally, in Section 4, this description was expanded by proposing to look at TS from the perspective of a semiotics of branding.
There are several possible lines for further theoretical work in this field. Future research in this ambit should refine the definition of TS and analyze more TS experiences to establish the properties, limits, and possibilities of this specific kind of narrative structure. The set of categories and strategies proposed in this article should be applied to other examples of TS to check their analytical usefulness.
Researchers should learn more about transmedia narrative structures. As Vladimir Propp said about folktales in 1928: analyzing their structure will increase the possibilities of creating new stories. In this case, narratology can be very helpful for describing the internal dynamics of these complex textual networks. For example, the expansion of narrative programs, actants, etc. from one media to another should be part of this research agenda. Studies like Doctor Who and the Convergence of Media. A Case Study in "Transmedia Storytelling" (Perryman, 2008) or Transmedia Storytelling. Business, Aesthetics and Production at the Jim Henson Company (Long, 2008) are good examples of this research path.
Research should also expand the analysis of implicit consumers. This classical semiotic issue — based on identifying virtual figures or strategies (also called "enunciatees") inside the text — could be very helpful for producers, scriptwriters, and media programmers interested in producing complex textual structures targeted at a broad spectrum of consumers.
On another level, research should go deeper into the analysis of fictional world expansion strategies. As noted, the scientific objective of semiotics and narratology coincides with the economic interests of media producers; further exploration could create generous feedback between these groups. If convergence must be understood “as both a top-down corporate-driven process and a bottom-up consumer-driven process” (Jenkins & Deuze, 2008, p. 6), then research should not exclude the cocreation of content by audiences (Ross, 2008; Perryman, 2008; Dena, 2008; Askwith, 2007; Ford, 2007). As explained in Section 3.1, user-generated content occupies a central role in fictional world expansion strategies.
Finally, research should focus on transmedia consumers. Scholars like Evans (2008) have demonstrated that not all consumers are "transmedia" or are interested in media surfing. Is "transmedia consumption" a property of new users? A characteristic of the digital native generation? Or a practice of a limited, hardcore group of consumers, for example, the fans of a narrative brand? In this case, semiotic and narratological research alone are not sufficient to analyze transmedia consumers; ethnographic and sociological approaches also need to be applied. However, a combination of narratology and semiotics is very helpful for creating analytical models of these new narrative experiences.
There are several possible lines for further theoretical work in this field. Future research in this ambit should refine the definition of TS and analyze more TS experiences to establish the properties, limits, and possibilities of this specific kind of narrative structure. The set of categories and strategies proposed in this article should be applied to other examples of TS to check their analytical usefulness.
Researchers should learn more about transmedia narrative structures. As Vladimir Propp said about folktales in 1928: analyzing their structure will increase the possibilities of creating new stories. In this case, narratology can be very helpful for describing the internal dynamics of these complex textual networks. For example, the expansion of narrative programs, actants, etc. from one media to another should be part of this research agenda. Studies like Doctor Who and the Convergence of Media. A Case Study in "Transmedia Storytelling" (Perryman, 2008) or Transmedia Storytelling. Business, Aesthetics and Production at the Jim Henson Company (Long, 2008) are good examples of this research path.
Research should also expand the analysis of implicit consumers. This classical semiotic issue — based on identifying virtual figures or strategies (also called "enunciatees") inside the text — could be very helpful for producers, scriptwriters, and media programmers interested in producing complex textual structures targeted at a broad spectrum of consumers.
On another level, research should go deeper into the analysis of fictional world expansion strategies. As noted, the scientific objective of semiotics and narratology coincides with the economic interests of media producers; further exploration could create generous feedback between these groups. If convergence must be understood “as both a top-down corporate-driven process and a bottom-up consumer-driven process” (Jenkins & Deuze, 2008, p. 6), then research should not exclude the cocreation of content by audiences (Ross, 2008; Perryman, 2008; Dena, 2008; Askwith, 2007; Ford, 2007). As explained in Section 3.1, user-generated content occupies a central role in fictional world expansion strategies.
Finally, research should focus on transmedia consumers. Scholars like Evans (2008) have demonstrated that not all consumers are "transmedia" or are interested in media surfing. Is "transmedia consumption" a property of new users? A characteristic of the digital native generation? Or a practice of a limited, hardcore group of consumers, for example, the fans of a narrative brand? In this case, semiotic and narratological research alone are not sufficient to analyze transmedia consumers; ethnographic and sociological approaches also need to be applied. However, a combination of narratology and semiotics is very helpful for creating analytical models of these new narrative experiences.
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