Transmedia storytelling

Transmedia storytelling exists at the intersection of multiple academic disciplines and creative practices . It is generally understood as a story that is told across multiple media platforms. However what distinguishes it from other multi - media stories is described by Henry Jenkins as ‘each new text making a distinctive and valuable contribution to the whole’ ( Henry Jenkins, “Transmedia Storytelling,” 2003). The ways in which scholars and practitioners discuss, evaluate, analyze and design transmedia storytelling projects continues to be debated and various frameworks have been proposed. What has become clear from the theory and practice of transmedia storytelling is that existing methodologies – literary theory, narratology, semiotics, film theory, media studies – all contribute important perspectives to the scholarship of transmedia storytelling but none is sufficient on its own. As such , transmedia storytelling necessarily encompasses a range of theoretica l, philosophical and creative approaches and continues to develop in ways that expand our understanding of narrative. This makes transmedia storytelling a unique field with fluid borders , and subsequently it has created entirely new form s and represents an innovative approach to storytelling that made use of emerging media platforms. This shift to creating stories that can be experienced across a range of platforms or that incorporate multiple modes of storytelling — games , blogs, video, audio and text — now seems inevitable with the rapid uptake of mobile technologies and the availability of software for amateurs to create sharable stories . Transmedia storytelling may incorporate these diverse narrative modes and is a hybrid form, as such the fields of gaming, documentary and film influence transmedia and vice versa but these remain distinct fields in their own right. It is not only the use of platform s and technology that is distinctive to transmedia storytelling but also the role of fans and audiences. The complexity and reach of transmedia storytelling means that a variety of texts are associated with it — from scholarly books and journal articles to p ractical guides and creative pro ducts — while also being relatively few in number