以下是课程Transmedia storytelling的coursework。coursework由三个项目：电影，网站，主人公的日记本，以及理论性的portfolio组成。三个项目利用了不同的媒体形式，讲述了相互联系且独立完整的故事（故事纯属虚构）。Portfolio将这三个项目作为case study，结合该领域的理论，进行批判性分析。
三个项目，只有电影可以在behance上完整呈现。该电影是我的第一项电影作品，自导自演。
In this portfolio, the transmedia project The Defacker will be introduced and analyzed with the application of the transmedia theories. In particular, this portfolio will firstly explain why the production process of this project could be perceived as a transmedia practice with the support of the theories about transmedia storytelling. In the second part of the portfolio, the discussion will narrow down to the conceptualization of transmedia world-building, in which different theories about transmedia world-building will be evaluated with the case study of the project The Defacker.
Screenshot from 'The Defacker's fake website' project
The definition of transmedia storytelling, according to Jenkins (2007), is that transmedia storytelling represents an on-going process where multiple mediums, each of which narrates a self-contained story, synergize together to unfold a more extensive and comprehensive narrative as well as to create a coordinated entertainment experience. Correspondingly, in the project The Defacker, there are three products representing three self-contained stories in the medium of fake diary, film and website, and these three products as a whole endeavor to depict a fictional world where further stories and characters could dwell in. The narrative of the whole project is originated from the idea that what if in here (China) and now (2018), the Chinese government is secretly in a military war with the U.S., and the country is becoming increasingly tyrannical with the pressure of war. Based on this idea, regarding to the three products, the website represents the story of the creation and development of the rebellious organization the Defacker. In this website, which is served as an online decision-making website for the members of the Defacker, the archived decisionexplains the logic of the world-setting by narrating the story of the Defacker’s history, and the current issuesallows the consumers to role play as the members of the Defacker to contribute new plots in this on-going transmedia project. On the other hand, the film and the fake diary manifest a character-building process in two different media platforms. Although these two products could be perceived as mutual extensions of one another, the film tells the story of Eric (the protagonist) successfully escaping from the chasing of the government after he knows the war message, while the fake diary focuses on the significance of Eric’s prophetic ability to the fate of his own as well as the Defacker.
The Defacker's flyer that appears in the film.
Filmmaking project: This short film narrates the story of Eric (protagonist) escaped from his city after he knew the secret that his country was secretly in war and the existence of a rebellious organization called 'the Defacker'
To further analyze the interconnected relationship of these three products in terms of narrativity, the concept “seriality” could further illuminate this issue. In a transmedia context, a serial creates story chunks and then disperse the full story across multiple segments in disparate forms of medium (Jenkins, 2009). One issue emerges in this conceptualization of seriality in transmedia context is that “what would constitute the cliffhanger in a transmedia narrative” (Jenkins, 2009). This is actually a media-centered question rather than a narrative-centered question, focusing on why and how dispersing story chunks across multiple mediums could contribute to the cliffhanger. In the case of the Defacker, one particular example relating to this issue is the presence of Eric’s diary in the film. Close up shots have given to Eric’s diary for multiple times, suggesting the significance of this diary in terms of the plot, yet the content of the diary is unrevealed by simply watching the film. In the post-credit scene of the film, the diary alone is picked up by a stranger in the wilderness, which may make the audience wonder what happened to Eric. Therefore, the cliffhanger is constructed and could only be answered by consuming Eric’s fake diary. One could argue that the cliffhanger could be answered by creating another film explaining why Eric leaves the diary in the wilderness. However, the fake diary as a material object, with mud on its surface and Eric’s handwriting on the paper, could create a more immersive experience and invite the audience to enter into the fictional reality from this material entity. Furthermore, the diary is put into a plastic bag with a sticker saying, “Property of the Defacker”, indicating this diary is discovered by the Defacker rather than the government, just as what Eric has wished when he left the diary in the wilderness. For these reasons, the materiality of this medium itself also contribute to the unfolding of the story.
The "Eric's fake diary" project
However, one limitation of the concept of seriality is that it assumes the stories are delivered systematically in a coherent and unified sense, ignoring the unplanned, contingent and organic nature of transmedia storytelling especially when fan-produced material is valued in the transmedia franchise. In fact, Fast and Örnebring (2017) points out the emergent, which usually refers to fan-produced content, and the planned, which usually refers to media companies’ planned and strategic content, as the two opposite aspects in the narrativity of transmedia. This dichotomy is particularly relevant to analyze the architecture of participation when the story is manifested in the medium of website. The architecture of participation refers to the construction of a digital public sphere where co-production of content and interaction of individuals are facilitated (O’Reilly, 2005, cited in Jackson & Lilleker, 2009).
Regarding to the project, the fake decision-making website of the Defacker not only serves as a prequel that explaining why Eric is informed with the message of war, but also provides the consumers with opportunities to role play as the members of the Defacker and co-produce the content to develop the story as well as this fictional world. However, the democratic potential is limited and the interactivity is controlled in the architecture of participation of this website. For example, the consumer is not allowed posting ‘new issues’ in the website directly, because the issue will only be displayed based on the “rational evaluation of the council of the Defacker” (i.e. the official producer), as the button also indicates “applying forposting a new issue”. Therefore, fan-produced content only provides inspiration for the official producer. Thus, the architecture of participation of this website is designed in a way that the emergent content could be digested into planned content, which infers that continuity is valued over multiplicity in this transmedia franchise.
"The Defacker's fake website": Not only functions as a storytelling site, but also facilitates consumer's participation
So far, this portfolio has analyzed the transmedia project in the level of the individual products, and it has been demonstrated that each product is a self-contained story. However, by examining the narrativity of the whole assemblage, one can notice that the story has not reach to an end, for the fate of Eric, the Defacker and China are all in suspense. In fact, the aim of this transmedia project is not simply to complete a storytelling, but to create a transmedia world. The concept of world building has also been mentioned by Jenkins (2009) as he values world-building because ‘a world can support multiple characters and multiple stories’. His perception is actually story-centric, neglecting that the world-building itself could considerably enhance the entertainment experience and active fandom. Contrasting to Jenkins’s emphasis on concrete storytelling, Klastrup and Tosca (2004) define transmedial world as a shared mental image of the ‘worldness’ by the audience and the designer, which incarnates itself in stories and characters across various media forms. Corresponding to this definition, the project the Defackerendeavors to construct an image of this world alongside the storytelling. For example, in the first half of the diary, in addition to his prophetic dream, Eric also talks about the political situation around him. Political situation such as president changing constitution for reappointing and trade war with U.S. are actually real events, which in this transmedia world become bricks for constructing a fiction and contribute to the plausibility of the mental image of a fictional ‘worldness’. In the film, while the main story about Eric’s escaping is shown in the latter part, the ambition of the first half of the movie is to depict an increasingly coercive society as an endeavor of world-building. Therefore, elements such as the forbidden of Avenger movie, visual presence of police station and monitor and audio presence of police siren are shown in order to depict this worldness.
According to Klastrup and Tosca (2004), although a mental image of worldness is usually communicated through the storytelling, a transmedial world is more like an imaginary construction in the audience and participants than specific stories. Therefore, while the fake diary and the film serve as the original plots of the transmedia world, the website aims to invite the fans to expand this world and add meaning in this imaginary construction. However, one concern could be that, because the architecture of participation of this website values continuity over multiplicity in terms of the development of the transmedial world, the website alone may fail to provide abundant opportunitiesfor fans to expand the story-world in the official canon.
To conclude, this portfolio firstly demonstrates why the project The Defacker is a transmedia storytelling by primarily applying the concept of seriality and theorizing the dichotomy of emergent and plannedin a transmedia practice. In the second part, this portfolio challenges Jenkins’s notion of transmedia world-building by promoting Klastrup and Tosca’s conceptualization of transmedial world, and demonstrates that the project The Defackeralso endeavor to construct a mental image of ‘worldness’ in the audience.
Bibliography:
Edwards, L. H. (2012). Transmedia Storytelling, Corporate Synergy, and Audience Expression. Global Media Journal, 12(20).
Fast, K. & Örnebring, H. (2017). Transmedia world-building: The Shadow(1931-present) and Transformers(1984-present). International Journal of Cultural Studies, 20(6), 636-652.
Jackson, N. & Lilleker, D. (2009). Building an Architecture of Participation? Political Parties and Web 2.0 in Britain. Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 6(3-4), 232-250.
Jenkins, H. (2007, Mar 21). Transmedia Storytelling 101 [weblog]. Retrieved from:http://henryjenkins.org/2007/03/transmedia_storytelling_101.html
Jenkins, H. (2009, Dec 12). The Revenge of the Origami Unicorn: Seven Principles of Transmedia Storytelling (Well, Two Actually. Five more on Friday) [weblog]. Retrieved from:http://henryjenkins.org/2009/12/the_revenge_of_the_origami_uni.html
Jenkins, H. (2009, Dec 12). The Revenge of the Origami Unicorn: The Remaining Four Principles of Transmedia Storytelling [weblog]. Retrieved from:http://henryjenkins.org/blog/2009/12/revenge_of_the_origami_unicorn.html
Klastrup, L. & Tosca, S. (2004). Transmedial worlds – rethinking cyberworld design. 2004 International Conference on Cyberworlds, pp. 409-416.
