Transmedia Entertainment
CTSC 482
Mondays 2:00 pm-5:50 pm
SCA 310
Henry Jenkins—[email protected]
Office hours are by appointment. Please contact Amanda Ford—
[email protected]
We now live in a moment where every story, image, brand, and relationship
plays itself out across a range of media platforms, shaped top down by decisions
made in corporate boardrooms and bottom up by decisions made in teenagers’
bedrooms. The concentrated ownership of media conglomerates increases the
desirability of properties that can exploit “synergies” between different parts of
the medium system and “maximize touch-points” with different consumer niches.
The result has been a push towards franchise-building in general and transmedia
entertainment in particular.
A transmedia story represents the integration of entertainment experiences
across multiple media platforms. A story like Heroes or Lost might spread from
television into comics, the web, computer or alternate reality games, toys and
other commodities, etc., picking up new consumers as it goes and allowing the
most dedicated fans to drill deeper. The fans, in turn, may translate their interests
in the franchise into concordances and Wikipedia entries, fan fiction, vids, fan
films, cosplay, game mods, and a range of other participatory practices that further
extend the story world in new directions. Both the commercial and grassroots
expansion of narrative universes contribute to a new mode of storytelling, one
which is based on an encyclopedic expanse of information which gets put together
differently by each individual consumer and processed collectively by social
networks and online knowledge communities.
Each class session will introduce a concept central to our understanding of
transmedia entertainment that we will explore through a combination of lectures,
screenings, and conversations with industry insiders who are applying these
concepts through their own creative practices.
In this course, we will be exploring the phenomenon of transmedia storytelling
through:
• critically examining commercial and grassroots texts that contribute to
larger media franchises (mobisodes and webisodes, comics, games).
• developing a theoretical framework for understanding how storytelling
works in this new environment, with a particular emphasis upon issues of
world building, cultural attractors, and cultural activators.
• tracing the historical context from which modern transmedia practices
emerged, including consideration of the contributions of such key figures
as P.T. Barnum, L. Frank Baum, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Walt Disney,
George Lucas, DC and Marvel Comics, and Joss Whedon.
• exploring what transmedia approaches contribute to such key genres as
science fiction, fantasy, horror, superhero, suspense, soap opera, teen
dramas and reality television.
• listening to cutting-edge thinkers from the media industry talk about the
challenges and opportunities that transmedia entertainment offers, walking
through cases of contemporary projects that have deployed cross-platform
strategies.
• putting these ideas into action through working with a team of fellow
students to develop and pitch transmedia strategies around an existing
media property.
Required Books:
• Frank Rose, The Art of Immersion: How the Digital Generation is
Remaking Hollywood, Madison Avenue, and How We Tell Stories (New
York: W.W. Norton, 2011)
• Michael Saler, As If: Modern Enchantment and the Literary Prehistory of
Virtual Reality (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011).
• Andrea Phillips, A Creator’s Guide to Transmedia Storytelling (New York:
McGraw-Hill, 2012)
• Derek Johnson, Media Franchises: Creative Licensing and Collaboration
in the Creative Industries (New York: NYU Press, 2013).
All additional readings will be provided through the Blackboard site for the class.
Grading and Assignments:
Commercial Extension Paper 20 percent
Grassroots Extension Paper 20 percent
Final Project: Franchise Development Project 40 percent
Class Forums 20 percent
In order to fully understand how transmedia entertainment works, students will
be expected to immerse themselves in at least one major media franchise for the
duration of the term. You should consume as many different instantiations (official
and unofficial) of this franchise as you can and try to get an understanding of what
each part contributes to the story world as a whole.
COMMERCIAL EXTENSION PAPER: For the first paper, you will be asked
to write a 5-7-page essay examining one commercially produced media extension
(comic, website, game, mobisode, amusement park attraction, etc.). You should
try to address such issues as its relationship to the story world, its strategies for
expanding the narrative, its targeted audience, its cultural attractors/activators,
and its deployment of the distinctive properties of its platform. The paper will be
evaluated on its demonstrated grasp of core concepts from the class, its original
research, and its analysis of how the artifact relates to specific trends impacting the
entertainment industry. Where possible, link your analysis to the course materials,
including readings, lecture notes, and speaker comments. Due October 7. (20
Percent)
GRASSROOTS EXTENSION PAPER: For the second paper, you will be asked
to write a 5-7-page essay examining a fan-made extension (fan fiction, discussion
list, video, etc.) and try to understand where the audience has sought to attach
themselves to the franchise, what they add to the story world, how they respond
to or route around the invitational strategies of the series, and how they reshape
our understanding of the characters, plot or world of the original franchise. The
paper will be evaluated on its demonstrated grasp of core concepts from the class,
its original research, and its analysis of how the artifact relates to specific trends
impacting the entertainment industry. Where possible, link your analysis to the
course materials, including readings, lecture notes, and speaker comments. Due
November 4 (20 Percent)
FINAL PROJECT – FRANCHISE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT: Students
will be organized into teams, which—for the purpose of this exercise—will
function as transmedia companies. You should select a media property (a film,
television series, comic book, novel, etc.) that you feel has the potential to become
a successful transmedia franchise. You will most likely be looking for a property
that has not yet added media extensions, though you could also look at a property
that you feel has been mishandled. You should have identified and agreed on
a property no later than Sept. 13. By the end of the term, your team will be
“pitching” this property. The pitch should include a briefing book that describes:
1) the core defining properties of the media property
2) a description of the intended audience(s) and what we know of its potential
interests
3) a discussion of the specific plans for each media platform you are going to
deploy
4) an overall description for how you will seek to integrate the different media
platforms to create a coherent world
5) parallel examples of other properties which have deployed these strategies
For a potential model for what such a book might look like, see the
transmedia bible template from Screen Australia, available here: http://
www.screenaustralia.gov.au/filmmaking/digital_resources.aspx. Or visit: http://
zenfilms.typepad.com/zen_films/2010/06/transmedia-workflow.html. If you use
either as a model, include only those segments of their bible templates that make
sense for your particular property and approach.
The pitch itself will be a group presentation, followed by questions from our panel
of judges, who will be drawn from across the entertainment industry. The length
and format of the presentation will be announced as the term progresses to reflect
the number of students actually involved in the process and thus the number of
participating teams. The presentation should give us a “taste” of what the property
is like. It should also lay out some of the key elements that are identified in the
briefing book. Each team will need to determine the most salient features to
cover in their pitches, as well as what information they want to hold in reserve
to address the judges’ questions. Each member of the team will be expected
to develop expertise around a specific media platform, as well as to contribute
to the overall strategies for spreading the property across media systems. The
group will select its own team leader who will be responsible for contact with
the instructor and who will coordinate the presentation. The team leader will be
asked to provide feedback on what each team member contributed to the effort,
while team members will be asked to provide an evaluation of how the team leader
performed. Team members will check in on October 7 and November 18 to review
their progress on the assignment. Final presentations will be on Dec. 2 and final
documentation will be due Dec. 10. (40 percent)
CLASS FORUM/PARTICIPATION: For each class session, students will be
asked to contribute a substantive question or comment via the class forum on
Blackboard. Comments should reflect an understanding of the readings for that
day, as well as an attempt to formulate an issue that we can explore with the
visiting speakers. Students will also be evaluated based on regular attendance and
class participation. (20 Percent)
Week 1
Monday, August 26
Transmedia Storytelling 101
• Henry Jenkins, “Transmedia Storytelling 101,” Confessions of
an Aca-Fan, March 22, 2007, http://henryjenkins.org/2007/03/
transmedia_storytelling_101.html.
• Henry Jenkins, “Transmedia Storytelling 202: Further Reflections,”
Confessions of an Aca-Fan, August 1, 2011, http://henryjenkins.org/2011/
08/defining_transmedia_further_re.html
• Henry Jenkins, “Searching for the Origami Unicorn: The Matrix and
Transmedia Storytelling,” Convergence Culture: Where Old and New
Media Collide (New York: NYU Press, 2006), pp. 93-130.
• Nick DeMartino, “Future of Film: Why Transmedia Is Catching
on,” Huffington Post Tribeca Film blog, July 6, 2011, http:/
/www.huffingtonpost.com/tribeca-film/future-of-film-whytransm_b_890330.html.
• Nick DeMartino, “Future of Film: Why Transmedia Is Catching
on (Part Two),” Huffington Post Tribeca Film blog, July 12, 2011,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tribeca-film/future-of-film-whytransm_1_b_891269.html.
• Nick DeMartino, “Future of Film: Why Transmedia Is Catching
on (Part Three),” Huffington Post Tribeca Film blog, July 7,
2011, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tribeca-film/future-of-filmtransmedia_b_892167.html.
• Andrea Phillips, “The Four Creative Purposes for Transmedia Storytelling,”
A Creator’s Guide to Transmedia Storytelling (New York: McGraw Hill,
2012), pp. 41-54.
Week 2
Monday, September 2 No Class: Labor Day
Week 3
Monday, September 9
A Brief History of Transmedia
• Henry Jenkins, “Transmedia: A Prehistory,” in Denise Mann (Ed.), Wired
TV: Laboring over an Interactive Future. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers
University Press, forthcoming.
• Derek Johnson, “A History of Transmedia Entertainment,” Spreadable
Media, http://spreadablemedia.org/essays/johnson/#.UVThI2ivNN4
• J.P. Telotte, Disney TV (Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 2004),
pp. 61-79.
(cont.)
• Justin Wyatt, “Critical Redefinition: The Concept of High Concept,” High
Concept: Movies and Marketing in Hollywood (Austin, TX: University of
Texas Press, 1994), pp. 1-22.
• Jonathan Gray, “Learning to Use the Force: Star Wars Toys and Their
Films,” Show Sold Separately: Promos, Spoilers, and Other Media
Paratexts (New York: NYU Press, 2010), pp. 177-187.
Week 4
Monday, September 16
Transmedia Engagement
• Henry Jenkins, Sam Ford, and Joshua Green, “The Value of Media
Engagement,” Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning in a
Networked Culture (New York: NYU Press, 2013), pp. 113-152.
• Christy Dena, “Emerging Participatory Culture Practices: Player-Created
Tiers in Alternate Reality Games,” Convergence 14(1), February 2008, pp.
41-57.
• Ivan Askwith, “Five Logics of Engagement,” Television 2.0:
Reconceptualizing TV as an Engagement Medium, Master’s thesis,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2007, pp. 51-150, http://
cms.mit.edu/research/theses/IvanAskwith2007.pdf.
• Frank Rose, “The Hive Mind and the Mystery Box,” The Art of Immersion:
How the Digital Generation is Remaking Hollywood, Madison Avenue, and
How We Tell Stories (New York: W.W. Norton, 2011), pp. 145-168.
• Andrea Phillips, “Interactivity Creates Deeper Engagement,” “Uses and
Misuses for User-Generated Content,” “Challenging the Audience to
Act,” and “Make Your Audience a Character, Too,” A Creator’s Guide to
Transmedia Storytelling (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012), 119-159.
Speaker: Kim Moses*
Week 5
Monday, September 23
Transmedia Logics
• Becky Herr-Stephenson and Meryl Alper, with Erin Reilly, T is For
Transmedia: Learning Through Transmedia Play (Annenberg Innovation
Lab/Joan Ganz Cooney Center, 2013), http://henryjenkins.org/2013/03/t-isfor-transmedia.html.
• “Five Examples of Transmedia Activism,” Movements.Org, December 3,
2010, http://www.movements.org/blog/entry/transmedia-activism/.
• Lina Srivastavia, “Transmedia Activism: Telling Your Story Across
Multiple Platforms to Create Effective Social Change,” National Alliance
for Media Arts and Culture, March 9, 2009, http://namac.org/node/6925.
Speakers: Katie Elmore Mota and Maurcio Mota*
Week 6
Monday, September 30
Transmedia Locations
• Henry Jenkins, “The New Arts of the Contact Zone: How Brazil Is Situated
in the World of Transmedia Entertainment” (Work in Progress)
• Otsuka Eiji, “World and Variation: The Reproduction and Consumption of
Narrative,” Mechademia 5, 2010, pp. 99-116.
• Marc Steinberg, “Media Mixes, Media Transformations,” Anime’s Media
Mix: Franchising Toys and Characters in Japan (Minneapolis, MN:
University of Minnesota Press, 2012), pp. 135-170.
• Ian Condry, “Characters and Worlds as Creative Platforms,” The Soul
of Anime: Collaborative Creativity and Japan’s Media Success Story
(Durham: Duke University Press, 2013), pp. 54-84.
• Mizuko Ito, “Gender Dynamics of the Japanese Media Mix,” Beyond
Barbie and Mortal Kombat: New Perspectives on Gender and Gaming
(Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2008), pp. 97-110.
Week 7
Monday, October 7
The Franchise System
• Derek Johnson, “An Industrial Way of Life,” “Imagining the Franchise:
Structures, Social Relations, and Cultural Work,” “From Ownership
to Partnership: The Institutionalization of Franchise Relations,” Media
Franchises: Creative Licensing and Collaboration in the Creative
Industries (New York: NYU Press, 2013), pp. 1-106.
First Check-in with Teams
Week 8
Monday, October 14
Producing Transmedia
• Brian Clark, “Transmedia Business Models,” Confessions of an
Aca-Fan, November 7, 2011, http://henryjenkins.org/2011/11/
installment_1_transmedia_busin.html.
• Henry Jenkins, Sam Ford, and Joshua Green, “Courting Supporters for
Independent Media,” Spreadable Media: Creating Meaning and Value in a
Networked Culture (New York: NYU Press, 2013), pp. 229-258.
(cont.)
• Henry Jenkins et al., “Kickstarting Veronica Mars: A Conversation About
the Future of Television (Part One),” Confessions of an Aca-Fan, March
26, 2013, http://henryjenkins.org/2013/03/kickstarting-veronica-mars-aconversation-about-the-future-of-television-part-one.html.
• Henry Jenkins et al., “Kickstarting Veronica Mars: A Conversation About
the Future of Television (Part Two),” Confessions of an Aca-Fan, March
27, 2013, http://henryjenkins.org/2013/03/kickstarting-veronica-mars-aconversation-on-the-future-of-television-part-two.html.
• Henry Jenkins et al., “Kickstarting Veronica Mars: A Conversation About
the Future of Television (Part Three),” Confessions of an Aca-Fan, March
28, 2013, http://henryjenkins.org/2013/03/kickstarting-veronica-mars-aconversation-about-the-future-of-television-part-three.html.
• Henry Jenkins et al., “Kickstarting Veronica Mars: A Conversation About
the Future of Television (Final Installment),” Confessions of an Aca-Fan,
March 29, 2013, http://henryjenkins.org/2013/03/kickstarting-veronicamars-a-conversation-about-the-future-of-television-final-installment.html.
• Andrea Phillips, “How to Fund Production Costs,” “And Maybe Make
Some Profit, Too,” A Creator’s Guide to Transmedia Storytelling (New
York: McGraw-Hill, 2012), pp. 223-238.
Speaker: Andrea Phillips*
Week 9
Monday, October 21 No Class—Meet with Your Teams
Week 10
Monday, October 28
World Building
• Derek Johnson, “Sharing Worlds: Difference, Deference and the Creative
Context of Franchising,” Media Franchises: Creative Licensing and
Collaboration in the Creative Industries (New York: NYU Press, 2013),
pp. 107-152.
• Frank Rose, “Open Worlds,” The Art of Immersion: How the Digital
Generation is Remaking Hollywood, Madison Avenue, and How We Tell
Stories (New York: W.W. Norton, 2011), pp. 121-144.
• Michael Saler, “The Middle Positions of Middle Earth: J.R.R. Tolkien and
Fictionalism,” As If: Modern Enchantment and the Literary Prehistory of
Virtual Reality (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), pp. 158-195.
• Henry Jenkins, “The Pleasure of Pirates And What It Tells Us About World
Building in Branded Entertainment,” Confessions of an Aca-Fan, June 13,
2007, http://henryjenkins.org/2007/06/forced_simplicity_and_the_crit.html.
Speaker: Alex McDowell*
Week 11
Monday, November 4
Continuity and Multiplicity
• William Uricchio and Roberta E. Pearson, “I’m Not Fooled by That Cheap
Disguise,” in Roberta E. Pearson and William Uricchio (eds.), The Many
Lives of the Batman: Critical Approaches to A Superhero and His Media
(New York: Routledge, 1991), pp. 182-213.
• Sam Ford and Henry Jenkins, “Managing Multiplicity in Superhero
Comics,” in Pat Harrigan and Noah Wardrip-Fruin (eds.), Third Person:
Authoring and Exploring Vast Narratives (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press,
2009), pp. 303-313.
• Shawna Kidman, “Five Lessons For New Media From the History of
Comics Culture,” International Journal of Learning and Media 3(4), 2012,
pp. 41-54.
• Alec Austin, “Hybrid Expectations,” Expectations Across Entertainment
Media, Master’s thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2007, pp.
97-127, http://cms.mit.edu/research/theses/AlecAustin2007.pdf.
Week 12
Monday, November 11
Immersion and Extractability
• Henry Jenkins, “He-Man and Masters of Transmedia, “ Confessions
of an Aca-Fan, May 21, 2010, http://henryjenkins.org/2010/05/heman_and_the_masters_of_tran.html.
• Henry Jenkins, “Harry Potter: The Exhibition, or What Location
Entertainment Adds to a Transmedia Franchise,” Confessions of
an Aca-Fan, December 14, 2009, http://henryjenkins.org/2009/12/
harry_potter_the_exhibition_or.html.
• Michael Saler, “Living in the Imagination,” “Delight Without Delusion:
The New Romance, Spectacular Texts, and Public Spheres”, As If: Modern
Enchantment and the Literary Prehistory of Virtual Reality (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2012), pp. 25-104.
• Andrea Phillips, “Bringing Your Story Into the Real World,” A Creator’s
Guide to Transmedia Storytelling (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012), pp.
209-219.
Time to Meet with Teams
Week 13
Monday, November 18
Seriality
• Jason Mittell, “All in the Game: The Wire, Serial Storytelling, and
Procedural Logic,” in Pat Harrigan and Noah Wardrip-Fruin (eds.), Third
Person: Authoring and Exploring Vast Narratives (Cambridge, MA: MIT
Press, 2009), pp. 429-438.
• Neil Perryman, “Doctor Who and the Convergence of Media: A Case Study
in Transmedia Storytelling,” Convergence 14(1), February 2008, pp. 21-40.
• Frank Rose, “Forking Paths,” The Art of Immersion, pp. 103-120.
• Andrea Phillips, “Conveying Action Across Multiple Media,” A Creator’s
Guide to Transmedia Storytelling (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012), pp. 93101.
Check-in with Teams
Week 14
Monday, November 25
Subjectivity And Performance
• The 9th Wonders, Chapters 1-9, http://www.nbc.com/Heroes/novels/
novels_library.shtml?novel=9.
• Henry Jenkins, “‘We Had So Many Stories to Tell’: The Heroes Comics as
Transmedia Storytelling,” Confessions of an Aca-Fan, Dec. 3, 2007, http://
henryjenkins.org/2007/12/we_had_so_many_stories_to_tell.html.
• Andrea Phillips, “Online, Everything is Characterization,” A Creator’s
Guide to Transmedia Storytelling (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012), pp. 8392.
Time to Meet with Teams
Week 15
Monday, December 2
Final Presentations