by Sophie Davidas , published on 7.09.2009

Today, the audience’s behavior has become versatile. Depending on its desire, interest and time, its degree of immersion into the story changes.

The elements of a transmedia project

Transmedia writing consists of creating a universe with several entry points where the audience can immerse itself and interact. These different entry points can mix reality and fiction and complement each other on different media such as internet sites, blogs, cell phones, mini-games, TV series and ARG (Altered Reality Games). The goal is to get the audience to participate, to get immersed in the universe created and, in the end, to become one of the actors (concept of the Rabbit Hole).

Issues and Challenges

The challenges of a transmedia project are to master the production process, the costs of the production and the narrative conception.

The challenges of writing a transmedia project are:

-          defining the basic universe

-          defining the limits (or lack thereof) of the interactive possibilities given to the audience

-          defining the rules of the game, a user’s guide to manage the participation of the audience (how to fall into the rabbit hole?)

-          the conception of a universe with several dimensions replacing the bible of classic series projects

-          taking into account the three types of actors of this universe:

• the characters
• the internet users who interact
• the community who discusses the universe

A few examples of successful transmedia projects:

• Lesh Kowaski “Camera War”
• Gaza Sderot
• The Twenty show
• The Blair Witch project
• Batman & Lost with the creation of an ARG between each season
• The Truth about Marika (Sweden)
• The brothres Washoski

Conclusion

-          Always ask ourselves what the appeal is for the audience. Knowledge? Emotion? Suspense? Games?