In today's technologically-dependent world, there's more than one way to get a story out. For a while we had just multimedia storytelling, which according to Peter Holmes, creative director of Reason Partners and founder of Flatacre Music Publishing, is "a single story is told concurrently via different media, with the core narrative being supported by artifacts spread out across many types of media.(Holmes n.pag.).
Transmedia storytelling, though, involves a story unfolding "across multiple media platforms, with each new text making a distinctive and valuable contribution to the whole" (Jenkins 97-98), said Henry Jenkins in his essay about transmedia storytelling called "Searching For The Origami Unicorn", using example of the Matrix movies, which spawned multiple graphic novels, animated full-lengths and video games, while all original stories still fell under the umbrella of The Matrix. Another example of these is all of the various comic book movies being made in the last decade or so, like Batman, Green Lantern, The Avengers et. al., using the same formula as The Matrix but increasing the financial windfall from it tenfold.
Another example of transmedia storytelling is ARGs or alternate reality games, which are defined by Jane McGonigal as "an interactive drama played out online and in real-world spaces, taking place over several weeks or months, in which dozens,hundreds,thousands of players come online, form colllaborative social networks, and work together to solve a mystery or problem that would be absolutely impossible to solve alone." McGonigal has created many ARGs, most notably I Love Bees, which was a advertising tool for Halo 2. ARGs are also used to get people to creatively think and solve world-challenging problems and are based off of real-word situation like a world without oil. The band Nine Inch Nails used an ARG based off of their 2007 album Year Zero as a way to better promote the album, which was picked up on by news outlets like CNN, NBC and Rolling Stone.
In 2008, a random website popped up on the Intenet posing as a campaign page for Harvey Dent, who was running for Gotham City District Attorney. Fans of Batman will instantly abuzz as this would be this the first glimpes at the finished product of what would be the movie The Dark Knight. Soon after, the website Why So Serious? came online which sent visitors on a online scavenger hunt for clues that would lead to release dates as well as any other info about the movie.
Getting fans involved with the the story is not only a way to attract more interested parties to your story but also fresh takes, outlooks and ideas on and about your story with the idea of making your story grow and prosper.
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