Immersion in Transmedia Entertainment
In a previous article we explored the proliferation of franchises in Hollywood, the reuse and recycling of past IP to earn an enormous sum of profits. We dabbled briefly into the economics of such a trend, but there is a wealth of reasons left to be uncovered.
And one of the biggest reason is technology, or to be more accurate, the things entertainment companies are doing with technology.
The Proliferation of Media
There’s no question that the number of screens has skyrocketed in recent decades. Dating back even to the sixties, the percentage of television sets in each household in America had gone from 9% all the way to 90%. Recent estimations predict that by 2020, 41% of the entire world will have smartphones. In the wake of this era of screens, what can films do? To watch a film now is to leave a home where your television is almost constantly on (statistically speaking), to drive to the nearest theater, and to not check Instagram for around two hours.
Hard? Maybe, but annual box office profits and theater statistics tell us that blockbusters are recording record profits and that the average American moviegoer goes to theaters at least five times a year.
And you might already know what I’m getting at: Movies aren’t just movies anymore, they’re multimedia. Take a look at Iron Man, beloved superhero born from the comics, now possessing multiple iterations in television, more comics, movies, video games, amusement ride, and even YouTube parodies and fan-made content. That’s not even to mention the multitude of toys and dolls made under his likeness. Nowadays, we can see Iron Man everywhere; what’s more important now is that we want to be him. In other words, the proliferation of media has allowed movies to enhance immersion.
Whereas movies were once the most immersive experience, footage of a train arriving at a station enough to send people running out in terror, its hundred years or so in existence has arguably made the experience too predictable, too passive. Due to its ability to generate fan economy, allow unique, immersive participation, and create richly colored universes, transmedia storytelling is the rising trend alongside Hollywood’s love for franchises and is described by USC professor Henry Jenkins as the meaningful use of multiple mediums as delivery channels to establish a unified and coordinated entertainment experience.
Most transmedia franchises use the so-called mothership model, where one media platform — typically film — is the core property and the other platforms arise as entry points for hardcore fans to engage with and to reach all kinds of audiences. Take home of Iron Man, Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe, for example. While the films — namely the Avengers films — are the mothership, the entire transmedia franchise has extended to TV shows on ABC and Netflix, exclusive comics detailing more backstory, a multitude of games, some VR experiences, and even a future district in Disneyland. Though not all extensions provide more story, they certainly bring about different modes of play. Particularly with VR and the upcoming Disneyland amusement park rides, these channels allow an immersion not possible with movies in of themselves. All in all though, the proliferation of more channels to engage in the property funnels out more content, creating a rich world for attendees to mine, explore, and uncover secrets.
Worldbuilding is the New Storytelling
Transmedia franchising means storytelling is not a self-contained screenplay for a film, but rather an ongoing conversation guided by the so-called “producers.” Storytelling is then not so much giving passive viewers an experience, but more so a playground for participants to create their own stories. Perhaps this is why transmedia entertainment is so much more appealing. While there is definitely still an authoritative authorial voice that ensures narrative coherence (eg. Kevin Feige for the Marvel Cinematic Universe), transmedia storytelling creates a collaborative environment in which the mothership inspires more stories to tell, official or unofficial.
This idea certainly isn’t new. Literature has long had a habit of franchising and creating offshoots of certain profitable properties. Just look the Oz stories. If anything, the modern day just has more channels to utilize now, to help contribute to a cohesive and engaging ecosystem. Though we see the evident consequences of prioritizing worldbuilding over simple, decent storytelling with Universal’s Dark Universe (an attempt to create a transmedia franchise off classic monsters such as the Mummy, Frankenstein’s monster, the Invisible Man, etc.) and Warner Bros.’s DC Extended Universe, the trend is not going to go.
Worldbuilding for blockbusters is just as integral as storytelling. While such a penchant for purporting a movie as bigger than itself by means of multimedia dispersion is interesting, what’s even more worth pondering is the next step. With more and more time spent in these virtual worlds created by virtue of transmedia storytelling, perhaps what would elevate mere virtuality would be having the hard work, time spent, and information gleaned within these worlds pay off in not just personal satisfaction, but also real life, tangible benefits. Perhaps by bridging virtuality and reality, any location, any action, is a means of participating in both a virtual world and reality. Perhaps this is the next level of immersion.
