What is Transmedia?

Transmedia is the delivery of a story through multiple platforms such as TV, Film, Games, Books, The Internet and Comics. Delivering a systematic and unified experience across different forms of media allows the story's creators to go into much more depth than is possible with one platform and gives them the ability to flesh out parts of the story that may have only been hinted at previously. Back story's can be explored in greater depth and events running parallel to the main narrative can be given the exposure they deserve.

Transmedia is beneficial to both the companies that create the content as well as the audience that consumes it. For example, a Large Hollywood studio like Universal that owns other businesses such as DC Comics, can create interest in an upcoming film and generate extra revenue by releasing comics related to the story. If they also get an associated game produced that tells another aspect of the story it enables the audience to learn more about the events unfolding than would have been possible Through just the film.

A recent example of a franchise using Transmedia is the Game Halo which has spread out to encompass multiple platforms since the original game from Bungie was released as an XBOX  exclusive launch title back in 2001. In the lead up to the game's release a series of cryptic emails dubbed "The Cortana Letters" were distributed to stir up interest amongst the gaming community. 

Bungie also created a lot of interest in the release of Halo 2 with the Alternate Reality Game (ARG) I Love Bees. The game was created and developed by some of the same team from 42 Entertainment who'd previously worked on the ARG "The Beast", created to promote the movie A.I. I love Bees had thousands of players from all over the world working to unlock its secrets and its success has inspired many more ARG's since then.

Why I Love Bees - A case study in collective intelligence gaming by Jane McGonigal PHD

The world of Halo is huge and there is an immense amount of back story just begging to be explored. Luckily, the franchise is owned by Microsoft so there is plenty of funding available to help spread the word. The first  novel based in the Halo universe was "The Fall of Reach"  by Eric Nylund in 2001 that explained the events unfolding in the lead up to the Game. The fans loved it and it went on to become a best seller.

Many novels have been written by a handful of authors since then, each delving into a different part of the rich Halo universe.

Graphic novels and comics came next, starting with the Halo Graphic Novel in 2006 and continues with regular releases from Marvel Comics.

For the release of Halo 4, the latest Halo production team 343 Industries created an episodic live action series entitled Forward Unto Dawn that delves further into events happening before the start of the first game. The series was very ambitious with a budget of more than $10 million and gave hope to fans that the long awaited Halo movie could finally be getting the go ahead. On top of this 343 Industries created the Halo Waypoint site to act as an online hub for all things Halo. Waypoint serves as the launching pad for new Forward Unto Dawn episodes as well as other episodic series such as Spartan Ops. It also acts as a repository of knowledge from previous games and fan created content.

Transmedia is an exciting way to engage an audience and create a buzz around a subject and we will continue to see more of it as more production houses see its worth. Just browsing the 42 Entertainment site is enough to get you excited when you see what it is possible to create through the use of multiple media platforms.