Talk:Digital Media & Culture: Collaborative Essay Collection 2018/Transmediality/Research Question 3:Jenwards

Hi team Jenwards!

This is the discussion page for collaborative essay. Use this pages to edit in discussions, decision making, project planning, and information sharing. Invite other groups to add to the discussion, and contribute to others. Ask for advice from others and share your knowledge. This builds contribs considerably. Start off your discussion by recording your decision-making process re: your research question, email the lecturer to get approval/suggested amendments.Once that's done, you're away.

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Good Luck!
 * GregXenon01 (discuss • contribs) 19:18, 8 March 2018 (UTC)


 * where is your discussion guys? - we need to see lots of discussion recorded here for you to amass "contribs" which are used to evaluate engagement. GregXenon01 (discuss • contribs) 12:51, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

Meeting 1: Discussing Possible Topics
This is a recap of the first meeting Jenwards had on possible topics and question

To begin with, two of us arrived at the meeting first, and dived right in. We exchanged notes, and discussed what was to be involved with this collaborative essay

At first,the two of us decided that doing a massive franchise that spanned over several mediums would be a good idea, and of course Marvel was the first topic we came up with. We discussed that it would be a good thing to focus on one character, instead of several or a large group. Some characters that came up in discussion were:

1. Iron Man 2. Captain America 3. Thor

We also discuss possibly doing DC comics instead, and looked at characters such as:

1. Batman 2. Superman 3. Wonder Woman 4. The Joker

After deciding that Marvel would be an excellent choice, as we have several research papers done previously saved that it would be easier to find information regarding Marvel and Transmedia.

We then decided that the best approach would be to break down the essay into sections and to each focus on a section to contribute whilst the entire group write the Introduction and conclusion. We broke it down into four categories:

1. Comics 2. Movies/ TV 3. Merchandising: Toys, soundtrack etc. 4. Story World: Cosplay, fan art, fanfiction etc

Once we had this all noted, we decided to come up with a rough outline for a potential question:

'Research how transmedia has affected the Marvel Universe by looking at a specific character(s) in relation to comic books, movies and TV shows, merchandise and story world.

The two people present decided that either Captain America or Guardians of the Galaxy would be interesting characters to research.

When the other two girls arrived, we relayed our thoughts and the girls decided against it so we discussed other possible research topics we could use. These were: 1. Disney 2. Pixar 3. Star Wars 4. Ghostbusters

In the end we decided to return to the comic book world but this time, look at DC. We discussed what characters to use, and finally came to an agreement that Wonder Woman would be such an interesting topic to collaborate on, with the recent Wonder Woman movie having being released. We decided that the original question we discussed earlier was a good one, but we changed the wording so it would make sense:

Research how transmedia has affected the DC Universe by looking at Wonder Woman in relation to comic books, movies and TV shows, merchandising/franchising and story world.

We also discussed which section each of us would be interested in and it goes as follows:

Introduction: Everyone Comic Books: @MillyZombie Movies/TV: @Rej00012 Merchandising: @jeneds Story World: @Lauraanniegoodwin Conclusion: Everyone

Rej00012 (discuss • contribs) 20:23, 18 March 2018 (UTC)

Lauraanniegoodwin (discuss • contribs) 13:24, 19 March 2018 (UTC)

Jeneds (discuss • contribs) 13:55, 19 March 2018 (UTC)

MillyZombie (discuss • contribs) 14:28, 19 March 2018 (UTC)

Discussion Log 2
Ndalianis, A., 2011, Why Comics Studies?, Cinema Journal, Volume 50, Number 3, Spring 2011, pp. 113-117

The first couple of pages of this article are really interesting regarding the media and history of comic books, which is beneficial to my focus of the essay mainly. The writer goes into a lot of detail about the public's view of comics and their standing in comparison to the other forms of media available at the time. This helps in giving a more audience based experience of transmedia.

Pages 115-117 get really into the changes comic books have faced due to media pressure and differences. I think if you're interested in looking at the comic book side outside of your own personalised research this is a really worthwhile short article to do so. But it also doesn't go into much detail about Wonder Woman.

While beneficial in some points, I don't really think most of this article is worth considering in relation to our topic as a whole. It would be only truly useful in regards to my personal topic. MillyZombie (discuss • contribs) 14:52, 19 March 2018 (UTC)

Discussion Log 3
van Leeuwerden, Tim. (2016). Dawn of Worldbuilding: a critical review on DC’s Cinematic Universe.

Van Leeuwerden’s article focuses solely on the DC Universe; it discusses it’s transmedia qualities in comparison to that of a topic we had thought of doing, Marvel. He goes on to explain that many producers don’t understand fully the concept of transmedia storytelling as Henry Jenkins tells us that; “Each franchise entry needs to be self-contained so you don’t need to have seen the film to enjoy the game or vice versa.” (Jenkins, 2006) Van Leeuwerden goes on to take a look at Marvel which he states as “One of the biggest companies that understood this practice of meaningful transmedia worldbuilding” (p.2)

Before the Avengers film in 2012 which brought the characters alltogether; there had been five cinematic blockbuster films starting in 2008 and then two short videos in 2011 which all contributed little hints towards the 2012 film that would see everyone from Iron Man to Thor come together to save the city of New York from Loki and his ulterior motive to take over the world. The thing that is exceptionally clear through the Avengers and the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is that you didn’t have to watch all five movies to be able to understand and engage with the Avengers movie which all these films had been building up to. That is why it’s clear that Marvel have garnered so much success and critical acclaim from their franchise as they’re able to worldbuild within their universe and make it accessible to all.

On the other hand; DC had success before marvel with the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy from 2005 to 2012. Even back in 1966 on the success of the live action TV series starring Adam West as Batman they made a feature length movie, and the 1970’s with the Wonder Woman TV series starring Linda Carter as the title character. It’s well known that the DC Universe has been around longer in TV and Film than Marvel. This can be attributed to the second two Spider-Man films back in the early 2000’s for Marvel that although now are cult classics, back then garnered bad reviews. So seeing that Marvel has been raking in the millions and getting critical acclaim for their cinematic universe; DC has tried to jump onto that.

Van Leeuwerden explains that the new DC universe is still in it’s infancy and has yet to really take-off. Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) introduced us to Wonder Woman (within the narrative of their Universe) before her own film came out in 2017. Her 2017 stand alone film though, does not fit the timeline of the 2016 film she starred in or the 2018 Justice League film which is DC’s answer to Marvel’s avengers. It took Marvel five films, two short videos, comic books and such to get to the point where they were able to incorporate all the characters into a film. DC hasn’t really got the comic book timeline and it is unclear if the TV series such as Supergirl, fit into the Justice League narrative.

Although this article mentions Wonder Woman; it does not go into full detail of the film and her part in the DC universe or even Justice League. This article isn’t particularly useful on that stand point but it is a very interesting article in the scope of transmedia and DC vs. Marvel.

SOURCE: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Tim_Van_Leeuwerden/publication/299598601_Dawn_of_Worldbuilding_a_critical_review_on_DC's_Cinematic_Universe/links/5702326608aee995dde8e563.pdf Lauraanniegoodwin (discuss • contribs) 09:48, 22 March 2018 (UTC)

Open Discussion
Hey @MillyZombie, @Jackaodha, @Jeneds and @Lauraanniegoodwin

I thought I'd start this discussion page so we can discuss trandmedia, please feel free to invite others to join in the discussion. What does transmedia mean to you all? I feel like the whole concept of transmedia itself is an open concept and I'm interested in seeing what direction everyone is drawing towards.

Personally, I follow along the lines of Henry Jenkins inn which he speaks about how transmedia is storytelling across different platforms that help create an entire world. I find it particularly interesting because transmedia is such a huge part of my life yet I hadn't really thought about it in theory, or media terms before taking this course. There is a lot more to transmedia than I realsied and I feel it is an important part in digital media and culture, particular with the rise of superhero franchises and video games. Rej00012 (discuss • contribs) 15:25, 22 March 2018 (UTC)

(Just added the reply function as I think that'll give them the direct notifications that they're tagged!) Transmedia at first to me was simply the change in media platforms from 'old' to 'new', but upon further reading it can be a difficult topic to completely wrap your head around. I do find it really interesting though, the notion of building a world and story between different types of media. I really like the idea of transmedia as a tool of building fictional worlds as I feel it does so really efficiently (when done well!). I also agree in that I have come across it before but just didn't know there was a word for it! An example of mine is from the TV show Misfits. During the airing of the second season, the characters in the show had Twitter profiles which had tweets that corresponded with the action in the show which viewers could then use as clues for an online game involving the characters. This was a solid few years ago too, but definitely shows how transmedia storytelling can create a world for viewers outside of just watching the show. If anyone else has some examples or personal opinions, that'd be awesome to discuss! MillyZombie (discuss • contribs) 15:43, 22 March 2018 (UTC)

(Thank you Milly! I'll conquer Wikibooks one day). I agree with you there. Transmedia is really how the person in question sees it, and it's both a blessing and a curse. I think scholars use transmedia however they want and that can be problematic when it comes to studying what transmediality is and how it has evolved and adapted over the years. However, this can be beneficial as well as it can help narrow down how one sees it. I've been involved in transmedia for a good number of years, my biggest examples in my life being comic books (both Marvel and DC) and video games (examples include Pokemon, Spyro the Dragon and Overwatch) and it's interesting how TV series, movies and such have evolved with the times to include social media as a platform and as part of the user experience. It's amazing how fictional worlds have gone from being solely on one platform to being spread across multiple! Rej00012 (discuss • contribs) 10:50, 23 March 2018 (UTC)

Great idea to start this open discussion!! I agree with you Milly that transmediality is really interesting, I myself never really realised how much transmedia is around me and how it affects the way i personally connect to certain television shows, films and media until I learnt about the concept. It really goes to show how much effort corporations and production companies put into creating their franchise, resulting in their profit. I think it's both interesting and useful that you mention social media, this is now becoming a large and important part of world-building as it enhances the world and is ultimately accessible to anyone with an internet connection. This reminded me of the methods my favourite TV show Parks and Recreation. The show created websites for all aspects of the storyline: the town Pawnee where you can explore what seems like a website for a real town, the fictional band 'Mouse Rat' that features on the show has a website with tour dates and merchandising on it. Furthermore, they have put Mouse Rat's music on iTunes and the book that the character Leslie Knope made about Pawnee has been turned into a real book that fans can buy- and it's as if Leslie wrote it herself. This makes the fictional world seem very real, deepening the fandom's connection to the show. Until studying transmediality, I took these aspects of the world for granted, but know I realise the thought process behind it and I find it interesting to apply the theory to different medias and franchises. Jeneds (discuss • contribs) 11:22, 23 March 2018 (UTC)

It reminds me off all the additional information that J RR Tolkien put into creating Middle Earth: from creating a detailed history of the world, to coming up with new creatures and even creating his own language for the Elves. It makes me a little envious when creators put so much effort and detail into creating fictional worlds, It's something I want to attempt to do at some point in my lifetime. It's amazing at how adaptable transmedia actually. I love how you can apply it to any fictional world, especially the more modern ones which bring in social media into account. Do you guys think we'll be seeing more and more franchises bring into their own methods of social media in the future? Rej00012 (discuss • contribs) 13:08, 26 March 2018 (UTC)

Transmediality to me is such an interesting concept and like you Milly; I didn’t realise it had a name until I started this module yet i’d been involved with it for years. I read an interesting article for my annotated bibliography like last month it was about Dawson’s Creek and about the website that coincided with the show; now this was even earlier than Milly’s example of Misfits but it showed a difference in a UK and US audience especially when it came to class and how regular the show is on. A sort of relevant example I have is Pottermore which was launched in 2012 which was a year after the last film had premiered in the cinemas but it gave fans a way to stay in touch with something they had grown up with even though the films had finished. Through it you can be sorted into your Hogwarts house, find out your wand and then in 2016 you were able to discover your patronus and also what your Ilvermorny house was which is the American equivalent of Hogwarts which coincided with the release of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

You were also given information that you were not given through the books and the film and it was a way for people to connect and it’s still going today as the franchise grows with new films. They even came out with a new logo recently and it was through Pottermore a few weeks ago that people got the first teaser trailer for the new film due out in November.

In reference to your question Rebecca; I do believe that we will be seeing more franchises involve themselves with social media as time goes on. I believe that as social media platforms grow and expand; franchises will be quick to jump onto those social media platforms and come up with inventive ways to promote their franchise. Lauraanniegoodwin (discuss • contribs) 13:36, 26 March 2018 (UTC)

lauraanniegoodwin rej00012 MillyZombie Jackaodha Becca and Laura, I think the examples you've brought up are really good! I completely agree that transmediality is totally adaptable to most major franchises, the list is really endless. Admittedly, I'm not too familiar with Lord of the Rings, but I will definitely look it up. Pottermore is a brilliant example of using social media and the internet to further build the world. Harry potter, in general is a brilliant example of transmediality. For example the amount of merchandising is extraordinary, the fanbase is huge with an extensive collection of fan created material and there's even the theme parks and studio tours- further enriching the world in a very physical way. These types of dedicated fans are brilliant examples of Toffler's 'prosumer' concept where the consumer is also the producer. They are consumers as they use sites like Pottermore, yet they are producers as they are producing fan-made products- subsequently enriching the world. Personally, I think Harry Potter us a great example of licensing (a transmedia concept) as the world has evolved from the original text, however the subsequent materials have remained true to the original story and universe J.K Rowling produced.

To respond to your question Becca, I believe social media will undoubtedly play a large role in transmedia storytelling in the future- in fact, I think it would be stupid for corporations not to take full advantage of it! The majority of social media is free, the internet is highly accessible, most people use some form of social media and the internet and it's a worldwide community. Therefore, it can help gain a larger audience by drawing in people in, as they see it on their timelines and gain an interest. It can also globally unite members of each 'fandom', creating a sense of community. In general, this results in profits for production companies as people watch and buy their media products. I think a good example of social media building a world and displaying the products of transmedia storytelling is Tumblr. There are so many fan accounts, but also there is a ridiculous amount of fan created content whether it be fan-art, video edits, fanfiction and much more. What are your experiences with Tumblr and transmediality? Do you have any other examples of online transmedia platforms. Jeneds (discuss • contribs) 17:22, 26 March 2018 (UTC)

While I think the big franchises are obviously good examples, I feel it would be more interesting to see how people use transmedia for lesser known franchises. There's an example of the webcomic 'Check, Please!', where alongside the comic online the main character has a corresponding Twitter account that's active and relevant to the comics content at the time. That's just a small example, but a good one nonetheless!

However, Harry Potter is a good franchise to look at fan dynamics for sure. There are a LOT of 'Potterheads' and the fandom can easily be considered a cultural and global one. While I don't personally involve myself in that fandom, I see it spilling out onto day-to-day life. I don't think I can go a single day without seeing someone wearing Harry Potter merchandise or referencing it. This is a great example of how fans use media as personality traits or social identifiers.

Becca, in response to your questions I agree with Jen. I think it would be silly to leave social media out of future endeavours for producers of media. Social media is free and depending on a media's 'shareability' it can reach an audience in the millions and from all corners of the planet! Jen, my personal experience of Tumblr and transmedia isn't much, but there have been cases of comic artists creating profiles for their characters and then that character responding as though they were real. I can definitely attest to the fan created content that's available on the site though, I see endless amounts every day! Personally, I think Twitter is a great way of creating storyworld, while Tumblr is the place for fan created content. I also think that Snapchat has many possibilities but I haven't personally seen any in use.

My question to you guys is in the same vein as Jens, but are there any social media platforms you think are best suited to a particular kind of fan interaction in regards to transmedia? Like, for example why would you think Tumblr is the best space for fanart or fanfiction in comparison to other social media sites? (I also tried to separate our previous discussions in this thread to make them more readable, let me know if that's worked out for you guysǃ) MillyZombie (discuss • contribs) 14:02, 27 March 2018 (UTC)

I always feel like it would be interesting to investigate a community within a bigger fandom, because I am aware that there are often different groups of people within a fandom who either share an ideal or disagree on the same subject matter. For example, the Rick and Morty Fandom is greatly divided by the types of fans, and it''s interesting to watch these fans interact with one another.

I agree with Milly when you say that the Harry Potter fandom is a definite global one. It is one of the biggest, large scales fandoms and I am surprised that I haven't came across more case studies on Harry Potter Audiences when looking for my own references and research. Even though I am part of the 'Potterhead' fandom, at times i feel like I need to take a step back because even to this day, there are some hardcore fans and that is something I just cannot be bothered.

I definitely agree with you both that social media will need to be taken into consideration, even now when it comes to studying transmedia. I used to be on Tumblr quite a lot a few years back, and most of the pages I followed where fandom pages. There is a lot of user generated content on tumblr however, a lot of that is just people making gifs of their favourite scene or characters. Should making gifs be consider part of transmedia and expansion of a world?

Tumblr is a good choice for fan interaction, however I feel like Twitter is another goo choice, as shows in the past have created specific twitter account for their characters, and for a while, I was following a couple of roleplayers for characters from specific TV shows or movie characters. Rej00012 (discuss • contribs) 13:52, 28 March 2018 (UTC)

Becca, your question about gifs really threw me off. I don't know if I consider them transmedia, but I also would consider them to help expand a storyworld. Maybe due to the gifs usually being from canon scenes they could be argued that way, but I dont think they could stand alone as an example of transmedia. Roleplayers are another really interesting part of fandomsǃǃǃ All or most are devoted fans to a franchise, and they take their own personal time to produce content toward their passion. I've seen roleplayers of actual characters and some of OC's (Original Characters) which are produced by the fan and is projected into the fictional world by the roleplayer. These roleplayers usually interact with other roleplayers. Do you guys think there are any franchises you would dedicate as much time and effort to? Not necessarily in terms of roleplaying. Another question which I'm looking for personal views onː do you think these fan-created worlds/communities are important in the scheme of the franchise or media itself? MillyZombie (discuss • contribs) 15ː05, 28 March 2018 (UTC)

Hello Everyone, reading the discussion so far has been really fascinating, the engagement with transmedia would almost suggest you are all 'fans' of the concept of it, I know I find it interesting myself!. Speaking of being a fan, I myself am one of many franchises and story worlds but I had never considered creating content that expands upon them, I usually gravitate towards my own projects that are not expanding on other material, I love looking at people's work on these projects though especially re-edits of films and sequences within both film and television, a lot of these are fans attempts to improve the technical or story telling issues of the source material they love. This is something that I think I would love to do as I am actively writing and editing in my spare time. On this website you can find a lot of fan's reimagining of the films they love in order to improve them. the most infamous example of this is Star Wars special editions. Going by the name of Harmy this fan went ahead with a fairly monstrous task, taking the new special editions of the original Star Wars trilogy and getting rid of all the changes to its content from the original theatrical screenings while keeping the high quality format. Here is a video showing some of the changes, you can tell people are invested in this project as the video itself has amassed over 1million views!. these 'De-specialised' editions are a great example of hard core fan engagement going beyond just watching the material. This I think shows that fan engagement is important, in this form it is not only a fun past time activity but in the case of these Star wars film edits is a form of preservation. Have you heard of fans doing things like this before? do you find that these communities are important? @MillyZombie Jackaodha (discuss • contribs) 17:02, 28 March 2018 (UTC)

Check please! Is one of my favourite things in the world. I stumbled across it a couple of years ago and fell in love. In response to your discussion on gifs; I feel like they can be useful when building a story world especially if they are made from scratch and contribute to a new visual kind of fan fiction. It’s still awkward for me to admit but i’ve been a roleyplayer on Tumblr since 2012 before finishing in 2015 and that was through the Torchwood/Doctor Who Fandom although being an OC made it easier to crossover with other characters from other fandoms. Tumblr in all honesty was where it was all at, at least that’s what I thought but turns out its all across Facebook and Twitter. I’ve been rping on Twitter in the Harry Potter fandom since the beginning of the year and it’s very enlightening to see how far everything has come on since 2012. I feel like roleyplayers are extremely dedicated and add something new to the fandom, especially original characters.

I think these types of fans are crucial to the franchise but that really depends on how the creators and actors feel about it. It’s well known that the Sherlock fandom feel like they are unable to do anything anymore lest they have Martin Freeman and Moffat be not too kind about them in the press, this then can discourage some people to interact with the fandom.

I’ve heard of fans doing edits before and making canon scenes slightly different to the point i’ve had to go back to the film or episode to check it’s not suddenly changed. I can only speak from the Sherlock and Harry Potter fandom but there are some really cool edits within them especially fan-trailers and parody’s of the film and scenes. It also allows fans that ‘ship’ certain couples to make their OTP canon in video form. Have you guys ever been put off watching something because of the fandom attached to it? How do you think fandoms will expand in the coming years as technologies change?

Lauraanniegoodwin (discuss • contribs) 07:47, 29 March 2018 (UTC)

I used to enjoy reading fanfiction and I even wrote a few fanfics when I was younger. Nowadays, I prefer planning on own worlds and expanding on them. I do however, still enjoy some of the memes that generate from films, for example this Kylo Ren meme and I abolsutely love the honest trailer videos that are going about.

In response to Jack’s question, I have heard of people doing these things, my first acknowledgement was the Potter Puppet Pals, followed by other various Harry Potter fan made videos and remakes of the movies and books. I think this kind of content is important, perhaps not in the expansion, but definitely in other logics of what Jenkins suggests as multimodality, and that it changes story on various platforms (comics books moving to movies and TV shows is a good example of this). This inclusion from the fans keeps interest in the selective franchise alive and gives those who own the franchise an excuse to keep it going, for example the multiple Transformers movies and generations of toys.

Laura, I agree that these gifs and other fan made content produced on Tumblr is important, however, like you have mentioned, sometimes it is difficult to determine what is, as you call it ‘canon’ and what is just wishful thinking. an excellent example of this is the Supernatrual franchise. I have only seen the first two seasons, however with so much fan content out there, I know exactly what has happened, and sometimes I find it difficult to tell if it is actually a real thing, or just people recreating their favourite scenes but to suite their desires, e.g. all the fans who want dean Winchester and Cas to get together.

Do you guys think that sometimes fandoms can take these things too far? I feel this way about the Harry Potter fandom. I absolutely loved the books, and films, and going to the theme parks and the studio tour however, I feel like people need to stop demanding new material, and for J.K. Rowling to just let the fandom be. It’s. strong enough fandom that she doesn’t need to keep adding fuel to the fire. Rej00012 (discuss • contribs) 20:51, 29 March 2018 (UTC)

Minor edit: tried to add a YouTube link to an honest trailer but Wikibooks blocked it. If you want to see the video, please message me on Facebook Rej00012 (discuss • contribs) 21:07, 29 March 2018 (UTC)

Jack, thank you for the links! I found them really interesting. I was aware of the fan-made Star Wars content but I honestly didn't even consider all the time and effort that obviously went in to them! When I thought about it, I have seen and even tried similar things. At the age of 11-12 I tried my best to do a shot for shot remake of Shaun of the Dead. I remember pouring my heart and soul into it, only to show how much I loved the film. A good example of another kind of 'franchise' with similar fan content is from bands. There was a fanmade video for the single Sleep by My Chemical romance, because fans loved it so much but the band didn't release it as a single and therefore no video. This is surprisingly common among fans whose favourite songs aren't released as singles, they create their own storyworld around that song and create their own contribution to the world. I personally find ANY kind of fan community (I hope it's obvious that negative or hate-filled ones are excluded) is important. Just because I wouldn't 'stan' one thing but I would something else, doesn't make my contributions more important than theirs. I think even on a larger sociological sense, they're important. In terms of alienation, I think fandoms online and in person can help someone feel like they belong to a community. And even then I think they're a fascinating area of study in relation to their relationship and the production of certain kinds of media!

Laura, to reply to your question on technology advances so will the fan created content. I think communities can only grow more engaged and encouraged to put out their own thoughts or contributions to franchises. Do you think as the 'fandoms' grow bigger, so does negative attention? I think a lot of people are wary of self described super fans and I see a lot of mocking on stan twitter through various media. Do you also think that there's a possibility fan created ideas or content would be incorporated into some franchises someday? I can't think of any examples myself right now, but I'm sure there must be at least a few.

Becca, I can definitely see your point about fandoms sometimes taking things too far. I can understand their passion, but I agree demanding more content from the creator is entitled. But I think the example of J.K. Rowling isn't your best shot because she repeatedly lets out little bits of information to stir up the fandom and I mean that both positively and negatively! Personally, I wish people would let it die, but if it was something I cared about then I understand the excitement when your knowledge of a storyworld expands! Supernatural however, I 100% agree with!!

I thought a lot about transmedia and how many examples were related to film or TV media. I found this article about Janelle Monae really, really interesting. I can't stress that enough, I loved it. A brief summary though, Janelle Monae creates an entire storyline and world through a series of albums and songs. The plot is inspired heavily by the film Metropolis and adroids. Do you have any other either fan centric content that's intriguing or other examples of less common transmedia? MillyZombie (discuss • contribs) 22:06, 30 March 2018 (UTC)

I can see your point about J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter Fandom, and as much as I love Harry Potter and being in the fandom, I agree that it should just die peacefully. I would personally prefer more content that is revolving around the newer Harry Potter films: Fantastic Beasts, but again, this is just personal opinion. The Harry Potter fandom however is still highly revelevant, especially in transmedia as it is so well loved and it still hoping strong, despite it being a good few years since the last movie was released.

In your response, Milly to your questions to Laura, an example comes to mind is Sherlock. I remember when the season four was aired, I was highly disappointed as the writers seemed to be trying to pander to the massive fan following, which irked me because I felt like I was watching someone create their own fan-made episodes rather than actual canon. If it were fan made content, I think I would have reacted better and enjoyed it more. I do believe that as technology advances, so does the negativity. I fell like nowadays fandoms are more split between opinions, and ‘shippings’ and what people accept as canon or not. I remember when I was younger, I was a huge Twilight fan, and I loved going through all the fan made fan art and fan fictions, and discussing my theories with my friends. Perhaps it was because I grew out of the phase, or I just became more aware, but after a while, I began to grow annoyed with the fans, who were constantly bickering and hating on my girl Kirsten Stewart. Do you guys have any examples of being part. Of a transmedia fandom that has turned sour? What were your experiences like? I never really considered any other platform for transmedia other than comics, movies and tv shows. When you mentioned Janelle Monae it reminded me of My Chemical Romance’s Danger Days Album. I recall the music videos that were released told a story in relation to the album, and that after the album was released Gerard Way released a follow up comic book series (which I, of course, collected every one of them). it is interesting to think of other forms of transmedia that isn’t well known and I would love to hear if anyone else has any examples of obscure story-worlds? Rej00012 (discuss • contribs) 10:02, 31 March 2018 (UTC)

I have more instances than I'd like to admit from toxic fandoms (from disney to my chemical romance, to marvel and drag queen shows), but I think the community of fans you surround yourself depends on where you stand in the fandom. I think it's easy to remove yourself from the toxic fans. I also don't see much wrong with the aspect of shipping. I agree some fans can take it too far, but I think headcanons and shipping in general isn't harmful. I think it can actually help include fans, whose headcanons are usually so they can relate to characters. Queer theory includes readings of traditional films, like last semester with Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, that change the meaning of the film once you look at it with a different perspective. There's other examples, like for people with mental disabilities or health issues, reading a popular character as having the same traits as a minority can sometimes help inclusion. I think I personally enjoy that area of fandoms and fan contributions, it's quite easy to just dismiss these things if they're not for you.

This was an interesting blog post about transmedia storytelling and it's importance in fan engagement. Whilst the franchise is possibly bigger than ones we've discussed, I think the storyworld of The Simpsons is really fascinatingǃ There are so many examples of both transmedia and fan involvement to explore when looking at The Simpsons. In Universal Studios in Hollywood, there is an entire area of the park dedicated to the well known yellow family. They have their very own Kwik-E-Mart, Lard Lad Donuts and outside of the park there's even real life Duff Beer and Krusty̠-Os (available on amazon). The Simpsons world has been depicted most famously on TV and film, but also in comic books and crossovers (like the Family Guy one for exampleǃ). There is a LOT of fan created content for the show too, from big to small projects. There have been life size replicas of the Simpsons' home, for example. On a smaller note, there was recently a meme created which focused on The Simpsons. Called 'Simpsonwave', it involves fans splicing up various clips from the show and adding special effects or colours layered with 'wavy' music. The effect of each was unclear, but they gained popularity really quickly, I even had a 'favourite Simpsonwave' video (which is a really weird sentence to think about). Why do you think something like The Simpsons is still so popular, to the point that even after 19 years of airing, people of all ages are still sharing theories and content toward it? Do you have any other examples similar to this phenomenon? Open to all of youǃ MillyZombie (discuss • contribs) 17:39, 31 March 2018 (UTC)

@Rej00012 in response to your question concerning transmedia fandoms going sour, i wouldn't say i have had much in depth discussion with 'toxic' fandom members but i have seen a few fan communities become divided because of a vocal few who take their own thoughts and opinions as gospel and take the media in question perhaps a bit too seriously letting their ego run wild. An example of this would be the Rick and Morty fanbase. if you are not aware Rick and Morty( 2013 - ) is a American adult animated sience fictionn comedy series created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, the show i find hilarious, in my opnion it rides the line very carefully between being gimmicky fart joke humour and clever dramitization. Growing in popularity over the past few years has led to a boom in its viewership. The toxicity of the fandom did not rear its head for the majority of us until last year's release of the third season. within the first epsiode there was a joke that Rick's only goal in life within the show was to get a hold of Szechuan Sauce. Szechuan Sauce was a promotional sauce packet to coinside with the release of Disney's Mulan back in the 90s, since then it has not been apart of the menu. However, the fanbase on all social media outlets cried out for the sauce, even Mcdonalds got in on the craze sending the creators a crate with a 64 Oz bottle of the sauce. The demand was so popular that Mcdonalds in selected places around America brought it back. This was the catalyst for some disgusting fan behaviour and mob mentality. I tend to air on the cautious side of fandoms, as i know there are people like this use fandom expression as an outlet for their ill behaviour, there are a few other examples of the Rick and Morty fan base being a grim place to be here is an interesting article detailing this phenomenon. Since reading about fan communities online for my group's assignment, i found a piece by Rhiannon Bury for the The International Journal of Research into Media Technologies, she talks about fandom and community in the "second age of mass media" (Poster, 1995: 3) Detailing how communities of fans have always existed e.g Trekkies would met IRL to discuss their beloved show back in the 1960s, However they were "dismissed or rendered invisible by first media age logic, which characterized viewers as mindless ‘dupes’" (Bury, 2017) it seems now without the restrictions of old media, fans that would normally not have such a prominent voice, now do for better and worse cases. To conclude i love fan participation but it can be taken in steps too far.

To answer your second question @Rej00012 I think comic expansions are often overlooked, two televsion show programmes that were cancelled 'Firefly' and 'Pushing Dasies' never got to complete their stories, until comic versions were created to satisfy fans. Sadly alot of people are not aware of this form of closure through the convergence of media. I only found out a few weeks ago that a comic for 'Pushing dasies existed, now i tend to look into other show's that may have spin-off books/comics to satisfy character arcs or stories that went unfinished. I now hope that many Televsion shows can be resurrected in a different format if there is no other alternative to bring them back! Jackaodha (discuss • contribs) 17:13, 1 April 2018 (UTC)

I agree that fandoms are an important part of transmedia, I don’t think transmedia can expand the way that it has for some franchises without the help of fans and their contributions to their own headcannon and shipping. I am all for the whole idea of shipping, having done so myself, however at times I often find it quite toxic, and sometimes disturbing in the sense that people can, at times, try to force the shipping on other people, and the show itself. An example of this is Sherlock x Watson from the BBC version of Sherlock where fans are quite insistent that ‘Johnlock’ exists. As much as I would like to see more mainstream queer c on screen, I would like to see them naturally occur and not inflicted upon my own interactions in whichever fandoms I am involved with, I do agree however that I find it easy now to forget the toxicity that certain communities within fandom display and to ignore them. Do you think that sometimes fans own inclusion with franchises can influence what the writers and creators of a certain franchise create?

I’ve never consider this sort of transmedia as a sort of second wave of new media and it is definitely something I will look into. I have found this aspect of studying transmedia interesting and it is something I would definitely like to dive into in more detail later on in this course (if the opportunity presents itself).

What you’re saying about comics leading on from TV shows is an interesting take. I remember coming acrosss some Buffy The Vampire Soayrr graphic novels and being mildly surprised, until I learned they were a continuation of the show. At this time I hadn’t watched the show but now that I have, I might return to see how the show has transferred into comic form. I agree that this is a method to bring fans satisfaction if the ending of tv show didn’t give them closure, and for beloved tv shows such as firefly I think it’s a positive thing. Also, Firefly had a movie, Serenity, that was a follow on from the tv show, but it also stood on its own and I think that is often a overlooked part of transmedia. Do you guys think that Tv shows with movie adaptations or comics should be a direct continuation of a story world, expanding it and keeping it going or do you think that it should also be able to stand on its own so new fans can enjoy the movie, show or comic without any prior knowledge to the franchise? Rej00012 (discuss • contribs) 21:46, 1 April 2018 (UTC)

Right; i have a few responses here so.. let’s go.


 * In response to your comment on ‘Firefly’ and ‘Pushing Dasies’; as a huge pushing dasies fan myself I was heartbroken when it got cancelled. (I also was not aware that there was a comic floating around and now i’ll have to go searching for it.) I think i’ve mentioned the show ‘Torchwood’ before but when the five part mini series ‘Children of Earth’ aired in 2009 a lot of thought that was it as there was on really two of the Torchwood employees left at that point and a lot of people abandoned ‘Miracle Day’ back in 2011 due to characters such as Owen, Tosh and Ianto being dead and not a part of the team for Miracle Day. Since it ended though Torchwood has been carried on in an official capacity by brief mentions in Doctor Who, books that are meant to fit in between episodes to give more context to relationships such as Tosh and Owen and Captain Jack Harkness and Ianto Jones. Although the series seemed to have been revived in the last couple of years by audio dramas that are coming from Big Finish so who knows, the show may be revived but I think these types of things like comics, audio books and such are important to franchises that didn’t get the ending they wanted or the creators never got a chance to end. Should more franchises that have been cancelled do this?

In response to your question; I do think fan encorporated media will come one day, possibly in films and shows that allow for fourth wall breaks; for example Deadpool. On your mention of the Simpsons, it’s very similar to Harry Potter but I feel like the Simpson’s is more amazing in this regard. As someone who has had the absolute pleasure of actually sampling a krustry burger (which is actually pretty good), I think it’s amazing that you can actually go somewhere and sample food and drink that is fictional or go and visit a recreation of what you’ve watched on TV. Especially in a show like the simpson’s which is animated makes it all the more of a real experience when you go to these places and experience it. Personally I feel like it makes you feel a part of the show. Do you feel like there should be more places that around that cater to big shows and let you immerse yourself in them?

I sadly disagree with you on some points. For starters I believe that it’s not fandoms that should be blamed but certain fans that take things way too far. Those 1% of fans sometimes ruin it for everyone and that is annoying because it makes things less fun. Also about J.K.Rowling adding things to the fandom is actually quite nice because it lets the fans know that she is listening and engaging and it’s just a nice touch but that’s just my opinion. In reference to the fourth season of Sherlock, I could write a thesis on it. Personally, I think what went wrong with season 4 was the promotion for example this tweet and this article show how audiences reacted to season 4 and how it let them down. For the past three seasons fans thought everything had been building to some kind of content but were let down so I personally feel like season 4 certainly was ‘pandering to a massive fan following’ because how can it be pandering if 85% of the fandom were disheartened and annoyed by the series and also there seemed to be nothing in the three episodes for the fans of the original books.

In response to your point about toxic shipping, I do agree that people do try and force ships on other and you find that within every fandom. When shipping I couldn’t care less who you ship and I know that may seem hypocritical by my defending of ‘Johnlock’ but please bare with me. As an avid shipper of that couple I can honestly understand where you are coming from and yes I would agree that some fans take it far too far with johnlock especially with the death threats sent to Amanda Abington who played Mary Morstan. That’s not right in any capacity. Going back to the fans that are just trying to enjoy a show and ship a couple like Johnlock I feel like the show runners should take a little bit of the blame with this particular ship. For eight years the fans feel like they were teased through promotion and even within the show itself that Johnlock could become a thing as time went on which only spurred fans on. It was all adding fuel to the fire and many fans felt like this was taken away from them and they were being laughed at by show runners. All you had to do was scroll through Tumblr and Twitter the day after The Final Problem aired to see the responses of fans who were deeply upset. Moffat was surprised and upset by the response that he got that he basically said that season 4 was the end. To be honest a year on, I think many within the fandom have jumped ship, pardon the pun, because the drama surrounding it made the fandom less fun. Mind you; these are just the opinions of myself and a large section of one particular fandom. Do you believe that show runners can have a negative effect on fandoms by being dismissive of fanworks? Lauraanniegoodwin (discuss • contribs) 20:16, 2 April 2018 (UTC)

I agree! I definitely find it fun to 'experience' a world that's even more impossible to because it's animated. The Simpsons did it really well, I also ate at Lard Lads and visited the Kwik-E-Mart! Didn't you just find it really cool?! In response to your question, on a completely personal note: yes! I would love it if more franchises had similar things! In Parks and Recreation there's a diner called 'JJ's Diner' which appears to make the most amazing waffles I've ever seen! I'd love to be able to visit it! I couldn't really find many other examples except the stay puft marshmallows that originated from the 1984 film Ghostbusters. Can you think of any other good examples? Or do you have any specific places or products from any type of media you wish you could visit or buy? There's obviously plenty of examples in this Buzzfeed Article that people online have discussed!

I'm also really interested in your little comment about Deadpool. It made me think about an area of transmedia I hadn't considered! I personally think, when done right, fourth wall breaks can work really well. The Deadpool film obviously does it very well, but that's because it follows from the lead of the comic books the character originates from. Deadpool itself is another great example of transmedia and audience interaction. When Deadpool was first proposed, many considered it inappropriate for Deadpool to have anything other than an 18/Mature rating. On this web page there's detail of how Deadpool got made. Someone leaked the test footage of Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool, and audiences went absolutely crazy for it! There was a lot of doubt among producers of the film that there would be enough demand for an X-rated comic book film. People have been trying to make Deadpool for years, but only once audiences were trending the film online and getting worked up, was it finally greenlit. It's done so well, a sequel will be out soon! In the same vein of the original point though, other than Deadpool, I can remember a couple examples of where fourth wall breaking both does and does not work. In Fight Club, there's several instances of the narrator and Tyler Durden directly addressing an audience. I think it works really well in this example, because it helps build up a world and experiences that influence your viewing of the film (and how you take the twist! (which I won't spoil here)). When watching Family Guy, there's a scene where the characters are stuck in a traffic jam and it's revealed to be due to it 'not being drawn yet!', the illustrator then wakes up and apologises to the characters and continues to draw. Other instances in Family Guy however, don't work out so well. Sometimes when they directly address the show as a cartoon with a formula, I think it's boring. It seems a little lazy, especially when it happens more than once. My questions to you, if you'd like to discuss anything further, would be what are your own encounters of fourth wall breaking? Do you think they can hinder or enhance an experiences of media? And overall, how do you think they work in relation to transmedia and creating a storyworld? (This is open to everyone too if they're interested!) MillyZombie (discuss • contribs) 22:13, 2 April 2018 (UTC)

Laura in response to your point about Sherlock: I believe the show runners attempted too pander to the mass audience but it turned out they had greatly misread what the fandoms wanted and it was turned against them. i believe they tried too hard to please too many people and it resulted in them going completely off the rails with the show. I know Martin Freeman has spoken out about Sherlock, saying it wasn’t fun anymore, and with both him and benedict Cumberbatch being extremely busy with other projects, Sherlock too a back seat. It’s disappointing, yes, but in my opinion, the show hasn’t been quite so good since season 2. I agree with the fact some fans take it too far, especially with the death threats to Amanda! It’s those fans that ruin the experience for everyone. There may not be that many overall but they do get the most attention and scream the loudest so fandoms are mostly associated with them unfortunately.

I’m on the fence about your question about show runners disregarding fans own work. On one hand, the showrunners cannot pick and choose what headcanons they want to include by fans, as it is unfair to those who do not get to see this headcanon become cannon but on the other had I have seen and read some pretty plausible headcanons from Tumblr and on Devian Art, although I cannot come up with an example for the life of me.

I agree with both you and Milly on the whole idea of the Simpson area in Universal. I also felt the same way when I went to visiting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and actually got to drink a butter beer in the Leaky Cauldron (it was nice but got sickly after a while). Rej00012 (discuss • contribs) 19:20, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

It really is cool especially with things from Harry Potter, eating something like a chocolate frog is so cool knowing that you got it from a theme park that looks like Hogsmade in Florida. It was so weird that, that can become one of your favourite memories and it’s a testament to the the films and TV shows knowing that it makes it special for someone and it’s very immersive because it’s a physical thing you can hold and eat like replica of things from TV shows and movies that you can own like in Doctor Who and Torchwood you can get a hold of the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver or Captain Jack’s vortex manipulator and feel like you’re a part of that world.

When it comes to Deadpool I always thought it was crazy when the leaked footage came out, being a big fan of Ryan Reynolds and hearing that he was meant to be playing Deadpool I remember when that leaked test footage came out and they then went on to use it in the movie. As an acting student it’s easy to do fourth wall breaks in person because half the time the audience isn’t expecting it and i’ve Done my fair share of them over the years but I think it’s much harder to do in film and TV because the person is behind a screen so it’s harder to really immerse yourself in it and you’re right; when done well it’s great but I don’t think it’s as effective in media. Although I do think it helps with transmediality because it allows the audience to immerse themselves in that world a little bit more as you feel like you’re being talked to directly by the character. There’s good examples of it in the TV show Lizzie McGuire and the animated TV series of Spider-Man, especially the episode where Deadpool appeared. Deadpool is clearly the king of fourth wall breaks, to quote the movie “A fourth wall break within a fourth wall break *gasp*”. Do you feel like shows like family guy are trying to hard with the fourth wall breaks and do you feel like those shows are trying to match the Simpson’s appeal especially within transmediality and creating a storyworld. Where do you think they’ve gone wrong or do you think if we give them a few more years there will be something like the Simpson’s bit in Florida opening up to do with Family Guy?

I agree with you on them misreading what the fans wanted and they did mess up the show. I thought season three was one of the better seasons especially with his last vow and how it played very much on the story of Milverton from the original books. Do you think with a show like Sherlock that pulls from the original stories could be soon running out of ideas and that it should maybe do another one-off special to round everything up and give the fans closure?

Headcanons are very important within fandoms and I do agree that showrunners shouldn’t have to pick and choose from sites like Tumblr but they could take inspiration a little bit more but then again I do feel like a lot of headcanons are out there and would be hard to incorporate to some franchises. Also you’ll always never be able to please everyone.

Lauraanniegoodwin (discuss • contribs) 19:34, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

Discussion Log 4
As our research process continues, I thought it would be useful to upload a few annotated bibliographies of readings i have discovered whilst planning our collaborative essay. Most of these refer to the merchandising element of Transmediality and how this transfers to the 'physical' world.

Meikle Graham, Young Sherman, 2012, 'Transmedia', Media Convergence: Networked Digital Media in Everyday Life, Palgrave Macmillan, London, pg. 94-102 Whilst this book is about media convergence, the chapter 'Transmedia' provides a good recount of Transmediality with valid examples of trans media storytelling. The chapter describes how media convergence correlates with transmediality; franchises use media convergence to enhance their world and world-building. The authors use a variety of case studies (such as The Matrix) to provide solid examples and bring in different scholars which aids the argument and understanding. Interestingly, it notes the role social media has in transmedia storytelling- which is highly relevant in todays digital culture. We could discuss and draw from this in our essay. The main limitation to this chapter is that there is heavy emphasis on convergence, therefore it will not form the basis of our research. However, it is interesting to see how these theories themselves converge and it's something to consider. This chapter was an interesting read and made me consider how trans media story telling benefits from media convergence.

Blodgett Bridget, Salter Anastasia, 2017, 'Through the Boob Window: Examining Sexualised Portrayals in Transmedia Comic Franchises', Toxic Geek Masculinity in Media, Palgrave Macmillan, pg. 101-129 The presented chapter in Toxic Geek Masculinity in Media provides an interesting, thought provoking and very relevant discussion on the portrayal of female figures in comic books. Salter et al use examples to analyse and criticise the hyper-sexualisation of female characters in comic book culture. This piece is very useful to providing context to our essay as we are focusing on Wonder Woman. It provides useful statistics about the number of women who attended specifics 'cons' which we could use when discussing world-building and fandom. This article doesn't explicitly mention transmediality and its uses and effects, as it focuses on sexualisation of female comic book characters- therefore this is a large limitation. This will not form a main argument as it isn't completely relevant, but it's interesting background reading for context and we could definitely use the statistics mentioned.

Davis, H Charles, 2013, 'Audience Value and Transmedia Products', Media Innovations: A Multidisciplinary Study of Change, pg. 175-191 This chapter by Davis introduces the topic of transmediality and how it is produced, relates to audiences and how it is distributed. This chapter is useful as Davis explains the concepts well, lists definitions, mentions examples of franchises that utilise transmedia storytelling and also draws from different scholars- which as well as enhancing the chapter, we could use these references in our essay. The main libation of this chapter is that is doesn't examine a case study thoroughly, this could have provided greater understanding and strengthened the argument. Whilst this won't form the basis of the essay, I believe it is a concrete chapter we can refer to.

Jeneds (discuss • contribs) 11:21, 24 March 2018 (UTC)

Discussion log 5
After having a discussion with the groups, one of the girls found some interesting articles for us to share. Here is a short, annotated bibliography on the article she sent me that I found relevant to my chosen subject withing the trandmediality question we are doing, along with some of my own notes and research from class:

Comics: For film, Games and Animation: Using Comics to Construct Your Transmedia Storyworld; Tyler Weaver, 2013; Focal Press; Burlington, MA

In the first chapter of the book, Weaver explores what transmedia is and how it relates to the comic book world by using his own personal experiences as examples. The author looks at various definitions of transmedia, before concluding that there is not any complete understanding, and then chooses to tell the audience what transmedia is to him. Transmedia to him is that it is an expansion of a universe, a movement from one media platform to another that connects a storyworld into one universe, and that it is intertwined with always-on culture. His research focuses on how comic books build up expanded universes, drawing on both Marvel and DC for inspiration and examples. This article is extremely useful as it explains how the comic book franchises uses various media platforms to expand their universes, which is what I am looking into for my collaborative essay. The chapter is limited because google scholar only allowed me access to the first couple of chapters however they were relevant to what I needed to read.

I'm also inserting a link here to the annotated bibliography I did on wikibooks as the article is relevant and another link here to the blog post that I did, as both articles are relative to transmedia

To keep our essay simplified and not to over complicate things due to the restricted word count, we have agreed to use Henry Jenkins' definition of transmedia, from his article Transmedia Storytelling 202: Further Relfections (2011). In this article, Jenkins describes "transmedia storytelling as representing a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed sysmtematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified, and coordinated entertainment experience. Ideally each medium makes its own unique contribution to the unfolding of the story" (Jenkins:2011:NP). This is the quote in which we have defined transmedia in our introduction, and to me, it is how i personally define transmediality. He also speaks about the logic of transmedia, and how it is used to build worlds and expand stories. The article is extremely useful as it not only explains the terminology, but it is also Jenkins returning to his previous theory and adapting it with what he has learned and thought off since he first proposed the idea of transmedia.

Rej00012 (discuss • contribs) 12:07, 24 March 2018 (UTC)

comments
Hey Becca! I just realised now I reviewed the same book as you! Silly me. But, did you find the first chapter on Transmedia helpful? I thought it helped simplify things even more when I find myself getting easily confused! Weaver has a really good way of explaining things throughout the book, I've been able to access it via a study site (all legal/subscribed!) so if you'd like to read any further, just let me know!

In regards to your second comments though, I've looked through the official blog and the 'further reflections' and they're really interesting. What are your (or anyone else in the group   ) thoughts on him saying there is "no formula" for transmedia story telling? I think personally on the one hand that can be irritating because it feels like there are always secret recipes for understanding or producing content. But on the other hand, I agree! I think the quote "The more we expand the definition, the richer the range of options available to us can be." sums it up well. While Jenkins warns that we shouldn't be quick to slap the label of transmedia on everything, by making the definition slightly more lenient we allow a wider perspective. I'd be interested to know any thoughts/other readings you guys have come across!MillyZombie (discuss • contribs) 12:48, 26 March 2018 (UTC)

Oh god! I found it extremely helpful as the author was able to relate it to something that is not only relevant but appeals to my own personal interest in comic book word storybuilding. I liked how he broke it down and highlighted the key elements, which I think would help all of us as we write our essay. I might take you up on that offer at there was a chapter further into the book which I think might be relevant to my own section of the essay! Rej00012 (discuss • contribs) 12:41, 26 March 2018 (UTC)

Rej00012 MillyZombie This article is so relevant and really useful, we can definitely mention. That is a really interesting thought and like you, I agree with it. A reason why I think there is 'no formula' is because it is so adaptable and it as there are several forms and aspects to the concept, it really depends on how each media products applies it. Furthermore, as technology, media and social media advances and expands, the definition of transmediality changes and adapts as media products take on new forms and expand to different platforms.

Jeneds (discuss • contribs) 17:50, 26 March 2018 (UTC)

Discussion Log 6
Here's a short analysis on some reading I was looking over before work. I didn't think an annotated bibliography was relevant here because there wasn't any study or result to measure. Also, sorry this is posted late guys, I just got back in! If you'd like to discuss I'll be free before and after work tomorrow (8-10:30/5:30-onward), and I hope to bring up some talking points about your previous posts because the readings at a quick glance look really interesting!

Weaver, T. 2013 Comics for Film, Games, and Animation: Using Comics to Construct Your Transmedia Storyworld, pp. 5-14 ; 57-62.

pp. 5-14 Chapter 1: What Is Transmedia?

This part of the book was really helpful in reiterating and refreshing points of transmedia, so if you're still confused on some of the basics this does lay it out fairly well. Using the TV show Castle in relation to other forms of media it inhibits. In a graph it shows how popular and overlapping it is in Graphic Novels, Social Media and even written Novels. This is fairly interesting to look at, because while we've spoken a lot about media 'upgrading' to new technology there is noticeable surge of a similar 'regression'. As a fan of The Walking Dead from near the beginning I've seen something similar. At first it started like Wonder Woman, as a comic book. It's well known now as a live action TV series, but there's also now the addition of novels. These novels came after the comic and TV Show, but are quite popular among the fandom. They help increase the storyworld by focusing on minor characters but oppose the 'new technology = moving forward' trend. When I think about this though, I've seen instances through many kinds of media! Hannah Montana released book series relating to the TV show, and new films like Guardians of the Galaxy bring around reboots of the comic series. These are an interesting path to look at when studying transmedia, as I feel it can be easy to fall into the view that keeping up with the times requires new technology to build a storyworld.

(I will be reviewing the second chapter (57-62 in the morning in this same log!) MillyZombie (discuss • contribs) 00:51, 25 March 2018 (UTC)

(working late again! sorry guys! any discussion is helpful though! will be free before 3 and after 5 tomorrow!) pp. 57-62 (from Part 2: Comics: The Creeation and Evolution of a Medium) Chapter 6: The Elements of Comics Story telling

This is where there is more interesting content from this book. Weaver notes that he has been enamoured by comic books from a young age and a quote from this section I found cool was "In all of my creative work, history has played a significant part." He goes on to explain that the history behind the comics (among other interests) is what draws him in. However, this chapter isn't really about the physical history of comic books, but moreso the stylistic changes the medium has faced throughout the years. The overall structure of comics are fairly simple. They cannot 'exploit' other components like other types of media as Weaver says. By this he means the different effects TV and Movies can use to make the on-screen action more realitsic, whereas comics are usually pen to paper. But even with it's 'basic' make up, it manages to be a form of escapism and include works of art admired for decades (this is a beautiful and interesting read with examples!). Weaver goes on to display these changes by actually creating a comic in the chapter and dissecting it.

I would really recommend reading either the chapters I've mentioned or even the whole book. It's been really helpful and opened my eyes to a lot of stylistic choices in comics I've never even thought of before, and I'm an avid reader of physical comic books! Weaver goes into a lot more detail surrounding the fans that withstand time and says "No stylistic movement happens in a vacuum, and in order for a style to be mined and utilized, the societal implications of the rise of each new form of storytelling must be explored."

Overall, this has really aided part of my focus on our essay (the comic history and transmedia story telling it uses in relation to Wonder Woman). I hope to put at least a couple more up here tomorrow, let me know if you guys would like to discuss any parts of what I've posted so far!

MillyZombie (discuss • contribs) 00:28, 26 March 2018 (UTC)

Discussion Log 7
Wonder Woman

BEATTY, S., GREENBERGER, R., JIMENEZ, P. and WALLACE, D., 2009. Wonder Woman. In: A. DOUGALL and V. TAYLOR, eds, The DC Comics Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide To The Characters of the DC Universe. Great Britain: DK, pp. 376.

Hey, so I have this massive book on all the DC characters so I wrote up some background information on Wonder Woman that might be useful, even if it is a bit of foreground information. If you want to read the full chapter, let me know and I can lend you the book:

First Appearance: All-Star Comics #8 (Winter 1941) Status: Hero	Real name: Diana Occupation: Ambassador of peace; adventurer Base: New York City; Themyscira Height: 6ft	Weight: 165lbs	eyes: blue	Hair: black special powers/ abilities: blessed with the gifts of the Olympian gods, wonder woman is one of the strongest beings on the planet; she can fly at sublight speed; while not invulnerable, she is highly resistant to bodily harm; she can psychically communicate with animals; she is an expert at all forms of classical armed and unarmed combat; a master of sword, axe, and bow and arrow; skilled tactician and diplomat; her arsenal includes a magic lasso that forces anyone within its confines to tell the absolute truth; her bracelets can deflect bullets.

Wise as Athena, stronger than Heracles, swift as Hermes and beautiful as Aphrodite, Wonder Woman is Princess Diana, champion of Themyscira, the home of the immortal amazons. Sculpted from clay by her mother, Queen Hippolyta, and brought to life by the Olympian Gods, Diana secretly entered a contest to find the worthiest amazon and emerged as the victor. Given the task of ending the war god Ares’s made scheme to destroy the planet, Diana stepped forth from her idyllic existence into the chaotic world of Man as one of earth’s greatest defenders, Wonder Woman, the Amazing Amazon!

Sculpted from Clay

The reincarnated soul of a woman who had died 30,000 years ago, Hippolyta longed for the child she had carried centuries before. An oracle told her to sculpt a baby from clay; the gods themselves gave the child life. The only child ever born on Themyscira, the infant was named Diana, after aviator Diana Trevor, who once crashed on Themyscira and died a hero defending the island. Princess Diana was raised by a nation of 3,000 teachers and sisters, always under the watchful eye of her overprotective mother.

The Contest

the goddess ordered the Amazons to send for their greatest warrior to thwart Ares’s mad schemes. Forbidden by Hippolyta to enter the Contest, Diana disguised herself and became Themyscira’s champion. Garbed in a uniform decorated with symbols honouring Diana Trevor, Diana was reward with a magic lasso and silver bracelets. Soon after, Steve Trevor, Diana Trevor’s son and an unwitting pawn pf Ares crash-landed on Themyscira. Diana was charged with taking him back to Patriarch’s World, the mortal world of humankind, as part of her sacred mission.

The Madness of Ares

after battling Ares’ monstrous sons upon her arrival in Patriarch’s World, Diana, Steve, and several allies were mystically transported to a commandeered military base in Colorado where Wonder Woman stopped Ares from launching his nuclear arsenal and ended his insane threat. Diana then embarked on a worldwide tour, promoting peace and Amazon ideals. Living with Julia and Vanessa Kapatelis in their Boston brownstone, Wonder Woman garnered a formidable Rogues Gallery which included the Cheetah, Silver Swan, Doctor Psycho and the sorceress Circe, who most resented Diana’s please for peace and harmony.

Rej00012 (discuss • contribs) 15:55, 26 March 2018 (UTC)

Comments
Hey Becca, this is some great context we can touch on and definitely furthers enriches my own knowledge of Wonder Woman! I think it is really interesting to see amount of thought that DC have put into the character of Wonder Woman. I think the fact that she has developed from a goddess from Ancient Greece really reinforces the idea that she is strong and powerful, as that's how Ancient Greek god's and goddesses are viewed. Wonder Woman is almost a feminist hero too as she is strong, independent, tackles stereotypes of women being weak and inferior, and is one of the few female superheroes giving young girls and women interested in the comic book world a role model. I believe this background of her being a strong goddess who was completely superior to the rest of the Gods and Goddesses (most importantly, she is physically superior to the males), really supports the idea of her being a feminist icon. I think we could touch on her impact on the feminist community and how this has built the world. This context would be highly relevant, do you think we should mention it? Jeneds (discuss • contribs) 17:35, 26 March 2018 (UTC)

I think it is important to mention how she is meant to be this strong, beefy, Amazon woman who is strong, physically and emotionally and this character development is important. I think if we can tie it into our respective sections, we should totally add in the impact. I know for a fact that people were loosing their minds over the fact that Gal Gadot, who plays Wonder Woman in the movie franchise, had shaved her armpits, people argued that as an Amazon from the 1940s, who has never encountered that kind of technology shouldn't have her armpits shaved. And I do believe people have been fighting for her armour to be changed as well, so it could be an interesting view, as long as we can keep it related to transmediality and don't turn it into a feminist reading instead! Rej00012 (discuss • contribs) 19:07, 26 March 2018 (UTC)

I agree that it's really easy to cross territory from transmedia to feminist theory especially in regards to Wonder Woman. I also know there are a few people who find ethical problems with Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman because of her ties to IDF (the Isreal Defence League) but that's a whole other can of worms to open! I'm personally really interested in the feminist readings, so I'd be more than happy to discuss this with anyone else! But this background is really important and thank you Becca for putting it up here! Do you guys think that alongside transmedia there are any other theories that would interlink well? Obviously, feminist theory would work in our specific case, but I was wondering if there's any other we've come across you think would work with it too? MillyZombie (discuss • contribs) 13:44, 27 March 2018 (UTC)

((reply to|Rej00012}} Yes Milly, I was reading up on the controversy surrounding Gal Galdot's Israeli ties, and I agree that really is another can of worms and a whole other topic. I am also really interested in the feminist reading, I follow a few feminism social media accounts and it was really interesting to see the impact the film had! I will need to revisit my film theories and get back to this post! Jeneds (discuss • contribs) 19:39, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

Discussion Log 8
Davis, C., 2013 "Audience Value and Transmedia Products", Media Innovations: A Multidisciplinary Study of Change, pp. 175 - 186. (accessible via this link)

This is a really worthwhile read in relation to our topic, but especially in fan relation to transmedia franchises. ( This could benefit your research! Especially the section titled Fans as Paradigmatic Consumers of Transmedia Products) Davis goes through the different theoretical approaches to transmedia, from Jenkins to Kinder to Hardy and Kerrigan (pages 177 -178). However, for me, the most interesting notion put forward in this chapter is "must transmedia be restricted to fictional media content?" Davis argues that much of the principles and factors of transmedia can be applied to what he calls 'factual media products'. Using the news, he points out that news publishers create 'narrative content' that spread across many different types of media platforms. They are included in newspaper form, film form, social media form and others. He also mentions that they are too faced with cross-platform asset management and have an audience base that regularly engage in the 'news world'. What do you guys think of this? I'll admit I hadn't even considered it, but he makes some valid points. I think maybe the story-world aspect might not be applicable in the way we understood it, but it definitely gave me another avenue to explore! Another part I'm looking to discuss with you guys is from the conclusion. Davis puts forward the debate over whether the concept of being a 'fan' is meaningless. He says this because of 'fanlike media consumption behaviour' has become the main element of fan study, but does this make the 'fan' as an individual unimportant? I'd be really interested to see your opinions on this as I don't fully know my own views. Look forward to discussions! MillyZombie (discuss • contribs) 13:34, 27 March 2018 (UTC)

Discussion Log 9
J. Gray, 2017, Three Waves of Fan Studies Revisited, ‘‘Fandom, Second Edition: Identities And Communities in a Mediated World’’: NYU Press, pp 2-7

This section of the book looks at fans and how, since the book was first published, that has changed due to the influx of social media which gave fans a change to answer back to the critiques by many about how they handle themselves and how those who don’t understand the passion of fans and such take them and stereotype them. A interesting quote from the section is as follows; “In other words, fan cultures commonly subject to ridicule and other negative forms of representation - from Potterheads to Twilight fans, fans of The Only Way is Essex in Britain, and funk fans in the favelas of Brazil - are those associated with the young, the female, the queer, the outsiders, the poor, the ethnically different.” He then goes on to say “These fans are discriminated against, not as fans, but as members of groups their fandom represents.” Although that is a bold statement to make; from my own personal knowledge and experience within fandoms I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment he’s putting forward.

Although this doesn’t have anything to do with Wonder Woman or indeed with Transmediality as a whole; It was an interesting section to read. I think it’s important when researching to not just look at things that coincide with your topic, your case study and the part of the topic you’re solely focusing on. As much as fan studies is something I understand on a personally practical level, reading about the theory has given me a deeper understanding especially as I am focussing on Storyworld within the case study of Wonder Woman And Transmediality. This article was extremely useful to me and I will be quoting a couple of lines from it in my section as I believe it will help give context.

SOURCE

Lauraanniegoodwin (discuss • contribs) 15:51, 27 March 2018 (UTC)

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R. S, Rosenberg & A. M, Letamendi, (2013), Expressions of Fandom: Findings from a Psychological Survey of Cosplay and Costume Wear; ‘Intensities: The Journal of Cult Media’, pp. 9-18

Searching through google scholar I came across a research on cosplay and through this could help with the story building part of the essay as we know Wonder Woman has been around since the 70’s and people having been dressing up as her for Halloween and cosplaying as her for more than 40 years now. This research is very interesting and looks at the psychological reason behind it. It’s a very well put together report that gives statitstics that could be very difficult to get to grips with but they’ve put it in a chart that makes it even easy for me to read (when it comes to statistics it just goes over my head unless it’s in chart form)

Though the statistics are interesting and the way they got the results which was promdimatley through Facebook, Wordpress and Twitter which to me was interesting in itself because i never would’ve thought that would be where they got their results from but those are things people use daily and of course would be more likely to see the surveys.. I digress. The point is they used an example of a response that independence, self-reliance, and physical appearance was the inspiration behind the cosplayer dressing as Wonder Woman and I must admit it’s a very heartwarming and inspiring in itself, response and I wanted to share it with you guys.

“It’s a character I have always lovers and been inspired by. Wonder Woman was a beautiful princess, but strong and independent. She took care of herself and everyone she cared about, and didn’t need a prince to rescue her. Those were important qualities to me growing up in an all-woman household, just like the Amazons on Themiscrya. It didn’t hurt that we were all brunettes over 5’7” either! In Wonder Woman I saw the best qualities of my mother, and the type of woman I wanted my sister and I to become. I’ve always idolised her from childhood and wanted to ‘be’ her when I grew up.”

Due to the fact this research was done in 2013; four years prior to the release of the movie I thought this might be relevant to us all as a group just if any of us were wishing to mention the impact Wonder Woman as a character has had on females since the 1970’s.

here’s the source

Lauraanniegoodwin (discuss • contribs) 18:09, 27 March 2018 (UTC)

Comments
These two entries seem really good and relevant. Did you get a chance to look at the lecture from Understanding Audiences? I believe that was on Fandoms and it might contain some useful information for story world building (I have yet to have a change to look at it).Cosplay has been such a huge part of transmedia for a good few decades and it helps bring characters to life. The first entry seems like it contains some good background information which you in particular Laura, would find interesting and helpful for your own little section! Rej00012 (discuss • contribs) 18:36, 27 March 2018 (UTC)

I agree with Becca, the understanding audiences lecture today was relevant to your area of study and could give you some extra things to think aboutǃ I agree with your comments on your first reading though, just because we might not be able to reference the book directly, it's still interesting and good to discuss in order to expand our view on the topicǃ I liked your second reading a lot though, as I've said before the impact of Wonder Woman in a feminist viewpoint is really something I enjoy. I think the results are great too, and I agree that it's a bit strange to see the results coming from social media sites such as Twitterǃ But, they are relevant and free sites people still use to communicate things, so it's a new approach but a valid one tooǃ Do you think a character like Wonder Woman is as important today as she was in history? Let me know if you'd like to discuss thisǃ Great relevant articles though, thank youǃ MillyZombie (discuss • contribs) 21:05, 27 March 2018 (UTC)

Hey Laura, I think you've highlighted two really good articles here. I actually think they could be relevant, or at least mentioned briefly. Particularly with the latest Wonder Woman film, the transmediality of her influence from comic books transferring to social media? It's an interesting thought or discussion to be had at least. The second article is really interesting. I'm discussing merchandising so this was an interesting piece to understand the cosplaying world! I think it is a fascinating world and hobby and I found the reasons why people dressed as Wonder Woman intriguing! Jeneds (discuss • contribs) 19:57, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

Discussion Log 10
Superman: Building A Transmedia World For A Comic Book Hero

Scorlari, C & Freeman, F; “Transmedia Archeaology: storytelling in the borderlines of science fiction, comics, and Pulp Magazines, Basingstoke; Palgrave Macmillan”, 2014

So, I found this interesting chapter on Google scholar and I think it would definitely help us with looking at the story building element. Instead of looking at it from a historical point of view (which is what a lot of scholars do), Freemen looks at transmedia from a here and now, choosing to look at how transmedia adapts and has evolved, rather than trying to pinpoint the exact moment. He uses Superman as a case study, and although Superman is completely different from Wonder Woman, we can take elements from the case study and apply it to Wonder Woman.

Freemen uses the definition, that transmedia is a narrative which expands across different platforms. He takes note that Jenkins’ idea of convergence and participatory culture is extremely valuable to transmedia. He also notes that with nex technology, comes new opportunities to expand and get involve with a universe (Meikle and Young: 2012: cited: 40). This brings new engagement to a franchise. Freemen states from the start that he is looking for a different methological approach from what other authors he has read. He chooses to see that media is constantly changing and so transmedia must too, which I find relevant to any case study relating to transmedia.

He looks at the beginning of Superman and how the first comics hint at narratives of untold stories. For example, in the first panel of the first Superman story, readers get to see a planet blowing up, without much explanation but readers are aware that this planet once existed and because Superman survived and was sent to earth, readers are led to presume there wa slide on this planet at one point, meaning that Superman’s universe was already hinting at expansion from the word go.

Freemen talks about how comic books emerged from pulp fiction, and that comic books carry attributes from pulp fiction e.g. the short stories. He also notes that the most commmon genres which have world-building transmedia are science fiction and fantasy. Science fiction is important as it explores a greater universe than just earth. Throughout the first Superman comic, the writers hinted at untold stories of Kryton, Superman’s home planet, which they used to keep readers hooked. To do this, information about Superman's past was released throughout the comic books releases.

He also mentions that July 3rd is known as SUperman Day because it goes back to when someone dressed in a SUperman Costume appeared before the world, giving the world its first look at what their favourite comic book hero would look like in the real world.

As movie serials become more popular in the world, it was only a matter of time before Superman jumped on board. The movies overlap with the pulp fiction element of comic books. The two movies released in the late forties and early fifties were in serial with the radio production of Superman which was going on at this time. Rej00012 (discuss • contribs) 18:31, 27 March 2018 (UTC)

Small edit: adding link here to article

Discussion Log 11
Ioannidou, E. 2013, Adapting Superhero Comics for the Big Screen: Subculture for the Masses, Adaptation, Volume 6, Issue 2, pp. 230–238 (accessed here)

Ioannidou follows Jenkins' definition of transmedia in this article. However, they do so in relation to convergence culture. Using the franchise of Doctor Who as an example, they express how the engagement process is crucial for fans and quotes Perryman with how audiences are forced to "actively engage with a franchise that flows across different platforms" in order to collect all surrounding 'easter eggs' and little bits of information into a "coherent and satisfying whole". This is interesting, and I was wondering what anyone elses thoughts on this are. Basically, do you think that it's fair for franchises to expect their audience to keep up with all the different media? Also, do you think it's also unfair that if they don't, they don't get a complete picture? I personally think it's a clever idea, but I don't think it should be necessary to understand and enjoy what was originally a TV show.

Other parts I find interesting from this article is when they look at the relationship between films and comic books. Ioannidou looks at 'collector culture' among film and comic audiences, tied heavily to the superhero franchise. However they do note differences in the two audiences, and it's in how they actually physically take in the product. Film watching uses the 'same visual perceptions' as we do in day to day life, but Wolk (in the article) argues that comics rely on personal interpretation and lead the eyes.

Anyway, this is a worthwhile read for our essay even if it does get a little wordy sometimes. If you have responses to my questions I'd be happy to discuss them too! MillyZombie (discuss • contribs) 21ː39, 27 March 2018 (UTC)

Comments
In answer to your questions about 'easter eggs' I find easter eggs something that is catering to the long term fans, or fans who enjoy more than one platform. My father is a massive fan of superhero, such as The Flash and Supergirl and whever we watch the TV series together, he will sometime pause it to point out a little easter egg he's noticed. It's a good an fun way to gwt fans to interact with the text but I also feel it singles out those who aren't as involved with the fandom. For example, when Star Wars fans are constantly pointing out small Easter Eggs and acting superior over it, I feel bad because i didn't pick it up or understand the reference. I definitely agree with you that looking at the relationship between comics and film is interesting, and highly relevant. I agree that audiences are two completely different groups when it comes to comics and movies. Comics are often serial, the stories carrying on whereas films often take parts of different comic book story lines and add in more information to build up a movie separate from the comics (which I am going to talk about in the essay). What do you think about the relationship between comics and movies? Rej00012 (discuss • contribs) 13:38, 28 March 2018 (UTC)
 * This sounds like a really good article and I am definitely going to read this when I rewrite my paragraph for our collab essay, especially between our two paragraphs on Comics and the TV/Movie adaptation.

See, that's where I was going with the easter egg idea. I think it's really uncool of fans to act superior over new (and just regularǃ) fans. I can definitely relate to the idea that you feel almost alienated, like you don't know enough to be a real fan but you do enjoy the content and want to discuss it with other passionate peopleǃ But, I also see your point about them being intended for long term fans. I just don't think that knowledge of these 'easter eggs' and trivia should be vital to enjoying the product. Your short view of film vs comic audiences has widened my own thoughtsǃ I didn't even think of the fact that films are produces as one long product intended to be consumed in one sitting vs. comic books being released sequentially. I think personally I find myself aligned to both audiences. I'm an avid comic book reader and read The Walking Dead (among others), anxiously awaiting the next chapter of the story week by week and I definitely take time to process the information on the pages more. When watching a film though, I can find myself distracted or, if I'm bored halfway, completely abandoning it. This isn't to say I don't enjoy films, but I'm just far more aware of it being a film. On a related noteː Do you think an actors popularity can affect the world building aspect sometimes? For example, Chris Pratt. Now I love Guardians of the Galaxy, but whenever I hear him say something silly I can't help but see him as Andy Dwyer from Parks and Recreation. But I don't see it with Zoe Saldana (who plays Gamora). Do you find that with any particular actor/actress? How much does it affect your enjoyment and immersion into a fictional world? MillyZombie (discuss • contribs) 14:55, 28 March 2018 (UTC)

I agree with what you said about Easter eggs. I know there is a lot of superiority around certain fandoms, and people like to feel smug and belittle people if they don’t know everything, or know behind the scene facts or trivia or notice the Easter eggs. I feel like this whenever I mention Star Wars. In particular, people like to act like they are better than me because I didn’t properly get into the franchise before I saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and claim i’m Not a real fan because I didn’t see the origins before (spoiler alert, the original trilogy was around before you (the superiorists) were) so I tend to avoid getting too involved with the fandoms.

I am both an avid comic book reader, to the extent that I collect them, and I definitely enjoy the films. I find myself choosing to pick list comics if i’m enjoying a story line (this means I reserve a copy every time the comic is released to my folder at my local comic book shop) and I enjoy just sitting and reading my comics without any distractions. I am the same when I watch films: unless i’m Sitting in a cinema watching a movie I find myself easily distracted, and more likely not to make it to the end because I’m bored or tired or want too watch or do something else.

Actors and actresses certainly bring a certain popularity to a franchise. i know directors will hire certain actors due to their popularity and know they will bring in certain audiences to the film. I totally agree with you on Andy Dwyer. I am the same with Cole Sprouse. he’s currently starring in Riverdale but I still see him as the young kid from The Suite Life of Zack and Cody! I find it both distracting and amusing as I like to think about those actors playing a certain role that I see them as (for example, Chris Pratt as Andy Dwyer) in a completely different and more serious film (Chris Pratt as Andy Dwyer in Jurassic World) to spice things up. Do you think these actors who we associate as certain characters affect how we view them in completely different films?? Rej00012 (discuss • contribs) 21:03, 29 March 2018 (UTC)

Hey team just wanted to say a big well done, I think we've all done massively well. Good luck to you all!MTxPrincipessa18 (discuss • contribs) 10:54, 5 April 2018 (UTC)

Discussion Log 12
I thought it would be useful to note down some transmedia terms and definitions so we can go to this post when writing our collaborative essay, but also just to deepen our own understandings. Most of these are pulled from Henry Jenkins 'Transmedia Storytelling 101' and 'Transmedia 202: Further Reflections' blog posts, as well as the online video presentations- I will leave all appropriate references down at the bottom. A lot are paraphrased so I'd recommend reading the articles to pull direct quotes and to consolidate your own understanding of the terms. Personally, these two readings have consolidated and strengthened my own knowledge of transmediality.

Synergy: To do with the economics of transmediality. The blurring of the lines between marketing and entertainment.

Co-creation: involves conceiving the property in trans media terms from the outset.

Licensing: when the subsequent transmedia texts stay original to the 'master' text.

Prosumer: abbreviation and convergence of producer and consumer

Produser: abbreviation and convergence of producer and user

Franchising: 'Franchising is a corporate structure for media production which has a long history and throughout most of that history, there has been an attempt to move icons and brands across media channels, but not necessarily an attempt to extend the story in ways which expanded it's scope and media'.

Additive Comprehension: refers to the degree that each new text adds to our understanding of the story as a whole'.

References:

Jenkins Henry, 2007, Transmedia Storytelling 101

Jenkins Henry, 2011, Transmedia 202: Futher Reflections

Jeneds (discuss • contribs) 12:57, 31 March 2018 (UTC)

comments
these are super handy! There are a few other terms which I find might be useful for our essay and they are:

Adaptation: same story, different medium

Expansion: adds to story as it shifts from medium to medium

Radical Intertextuality: movement across texts that stay on the same medium e.g. Marvel Comics

Multimodality : text looking different across mediums e.g. Green Lantern

But thank you for putting up the list of words! Rej00012 (discuss • contribs) 21:58, 1 April 2018 (UTC)

Thanks Becca, glad you find them useful. Thank you for adding some more, these are really helpful! Jeneds (discuss • contribs) 19:33, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

Discussion Log 13
Since the deadline has been pushed back, I have decided to revamp the paragraph I had written out last week, in order for it to make more sense and not run over the word limit too much. I’m a little divided about the direction and layout of my paragraph, however I would love to hear your guys thoughts about my ideas so far!

1. There is a lot of Wonder Women in screen adaptations but for the sake of the word limit I am going to focus on the first successful adaptation, the Lynda Carter Wonder Women tv show and the Patty Jenkins movie from 2017, Wonder Women whilst also discussing her introduction in Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justic and the Justic league movie

2. I’m considering discussing the similarities and changes that have been made to the character in both the tv show and the movie, discussing her powers, origin story and how it’s transgerred onto the big screen (although this might conflict with the Comic Book section)

3. I’m also going to discuss Warner Brothers fresh attempt at creating a cinematic universe for DC heroes.

Do you guys think i’m Missing out on any crucial details? I appreciate all thoughts on this!
 * sidenote: i have a few more articles to finish reading and to add tomorrow but they are saved on my laptop which I’m not near right now

Rej00012 (discuss • contribs) 21:52, 1 April 2018 (UTC)

Comments
Rej00012 Hey Becca, I think this is a good plan particularly making the connections between the different platforms and franchises- of course all vital parts of transmedia storytelling. All I would say is make sure you don't be too descriptive and make sure to connect all your points to transmediality. Other than that sounds like a good plan! Jeneds (discuss • contribs) 19:31, 3 April 2018 (UTC)


 * yeah, I totally get that. I have to admit, I am struggling not to go into too much detail and I'm already on my third rewrite because I'm struggling to keep it within the word limit and keep it relevant to transmedia Rej00012 (discuss • contribs) 00:08, 4 April 2018 (UTC)

I totally understand. I think we've picked a really deep and interesting world and question which we could devote 3000 words to each! Personally I have made sure to use lots of terminology so it forces me to return to the topic of transmediality. That could help you maybe? I'm sure we can discuss and help each other out when we meet later! I could do with a bit of peer guidance myself. Jeneds (discuss • contribs) 09:33, 4 April 2018 (UTC)

Discussion Log 14
Hi guys, this is just an additional log of something I found relevant and a worthwhile read in relation to both our essay and transmedia studying as a whole.

This blog post here, written by John Alberti, is titled "Transmedia... As Opposed to What? Has a Movie Ever Just Been a Movie?"

Some interesting points:

1. Alberti talks about how fans consider our universes as multiverses, separated by TV and Film, yet they do co-exist. He goes on to list lots of features found in these 'universes' that we find in transmedia to "tell the best story". 2. He considers the history of storyworlds. Alberti notes that in a modern world it's easy to imagine that the notion of culture was more easily and specifically defined in the past. ("A book was a book, a movie was a movie") 3. He looks at cultural phenomenons surrounding transmedia. Why would you read books based on something like a film that's meant to be watched, and in turn why would you watch a film from a novel that's intended to be read? These are really cool to think about. 4. He concludes that transmedia is simply nothing new, even in the case of fans. He gives an example of poetry inspired by Star Wars, but even without that I can remember there being discussion of Star Trek fans meeting in person to discuss this. Alberti points out that transmedia is just a new label on an old and still going effect of media.

if anyone wants to have a discussion or to add on to anything from here please do! MillyZombie (discuss • contribs) 22:27, 2 April 2018 (UTC)

Comments:
Hi Milly, this was bold was a good read and particularly useful as it discusses the DC world and Batman vs. Superman- where Wonder Woman appeared! I think the idea of why we watch book film adaptations or vice versa is intriguing. I think for most people, it's the image coming alive and seeing a favourite character be given a proper image and character. However this can just result is disappointment as the film or the book doesn't follow the narrative or the settings or characters aren't how we imagined or pictured. Also, some people just prefer books or some prefer films so I guess it caters to all audience preferences and broadens the audience. I think it would be a quite an interesting area to research. I completely agree that transmedia isn't a new concept, it's just something we take for granted and therefore we do not notice it happening around us. Even thinking back to Shakespeare, he would write his sonnets and plays and then they'd be performed at theatres - the narrative transformed on to a different platform. Jeneds (discuss • contribs) 09:49, 4 April 2018 (UTC)

Discussion log 15
So I found this critical review, written by Tim van Leeuwerden in 2016, of DC's worldbuilding with Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and I found it an interesting read. Here is a short summary of what the article is about:

The article starts of by establishing what information was released at the time. This was after Man of Steel had been released and around the time DC announced it was creating the Batman vs. Superman film (around 2014/15), and it also mentioned how DC had announced some of the cast of the future Justice League film, Gal Gadot as Wonder Women and Jason Momoa as Aquaman. This information is important for this critical review, as Leeuwerden compares the DC Cinematic Universe to Marvel's Cinematic Universe (MCU). He also mentions in the introduction about the reaction fans had to the third and final trailer for Batman vs. Superman. Fans felt the movie was going to be more central to cameos of future heroes, rather than focus on the fight between Batman and Superman and it also brought to light the fact that DC were moving too fast in an attempt to catch up with the MCU.

Again, Leeuwerden uses Henry Jenkins description of transmedia, specifically this quote: "The audience gets a greater enjoyment of the narrative with each new platform because of the narrative knowledge they carry with them from previous franchise" (cited:2016:2). he also mentions Carlos Scoarli's theory that transmedia storytelling is important to the franchise.

he then moves on to compare the DC Cinematic Universe to MCU and how MCU took their time to establish key characters and backgrounds to the characters before creating a team=up movie. He mentions how right back in the first Iron Man film, Marvel were already hinting at a greater universe beyond Tony Stark with the appearance of Nick Fury in the end of credits scene where he mentions the 'Avengers Initiative'. He then criticises DC's decision to include other characters in Batman Vs. Superman as it now limits DC with what they can now do with those characters included in the movie. Please note that this is before the Wonder Women movie was announced but I find it relevant as this includes theories and critique of where DC went wrong, and also how the DC Cinematic Universe was built up. Leeuwerden also mentions the already well established DC TV Universe, in which none of the 'big three' characters were involved at this time. He theorises that the TV Universe is separate from the cinematic universe, concluding that the only link is that it is mentioned that Supergirl is Superman's niece. However, this theory is proven wrong as Superman, played by Tyler Hoechlin, is introduced in a few episodes of Supergirl, furthering the separation between TV Universe and Cinematic universe.

There is a lot of brand familiarity when it comes to the characters of Batman and Superman whereas the other Justice League characters such as Aquaman and Cyborg may not be as well known. It is also noted that in Man of Steel, there is no mention of Batman or the villain in Batman vs. Superman, Lex Luthor. This hints at poor planning and not enough time to build up the DC cinematic universe's world.

Leeuwerden also mentions 'Hyper Worldbuilding' and I find this term is extremely useful and relevant to our essay, particularly my section on Movies and TV shows. Hyper Worldbuilding is when too much of a mystery is left hanging around worldbuilding fundamentals. he also mentions Mark Wolf's term of internarrativity (2014:cited:2016:8) which is multiple narratives taking place in the same story which can interact with each other, and I find that term important to any transmedia.

What do you guys think? Did you find DC's approach to worldbuilding problematic or do you think it is a unique way that they went, considering the MCU is still dominant with their transmedia worldbuilding methods? Rej00012 (discuss • contribs) 11:05, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

Discussion Log 16
Hey everyone, hope you're getting okay and your paragraphs are coming together for the deadline! I found a blog piece from a marketing company on the reasons why companies invest in trans media storytelling. I thought it was interesting to get the perspective from those who build the narratives, worlds and encourage transmediality.

 Shewell John, 2017, The Rise of Transmedia Storytelling, www.foco-global.com [Date Accessed: 4th April 2018] 

The article presented is quite an informal blog post by John Shewell discussing the motives and reasons behind encouraging transmediality and it's benefits for companies. The main benefit Shewell puts forward is that transmedia storytelling (through social media) engages and amasses a larger audience- something particularly useful for non-profits who don't have the funds to invest in growing their audiences.

He also discusses the importance of the 'prosumer' and what he calls 'human-centred storytelling'. This basically means how the audience is really important to cater to when developing a narrative so that the audience can immerse and engage with the content. I think this is something we could discuss; with certain transmedia products, the audience is in control and at the heart of the project meaning that they can fully engage and as Shewell puts it, the story can 'stick in the epicentre of the audiences mind and heart'.

Finally, a paragraph is dedicated to the importance of the term 'prosumer'. This term is the abbreviation of 'producer' and 'consumer'. It epitomises how we have transformed from passive consumers to producers of content too, thanks to transmediality. I think it's a really important concept as it is at the centre of transmedia storytelling as the controls of the narrative switch from the brand to the everyday consumer.

In general, I think this is an interesting read as it clears up the motives behind transmedia storytelling from a corporate level. Whilst it won't form the basis of my argument, I might mention it and maybe others might benefit from this reading!

Jeneds (discuss • contribs) 10:39, 4 April 2018 (UTC)

Comments

 * This sounds so useful actually and it honestly helps me understand transmedia from a merchandising side, rather than focusing solely on the story. I find it extremely informative to something I have not really thought about in too much detail, and I am interested in seeing how your own argument will pan out, especially since you are taking a different approach from Shewell Rej00012 (discuss • contribs) 17:43, 4 April 2018 (UTC)

So glad you found it useful Becca! It definitely helped my understanding from a corporate level. Like you, I never really thought about how much planning goes into transmedia storytelling from the franchise owners. I've included a quote from this article in my paragraph, hopefully it helps to strengthen my argument. It's definitely relevant as merchandising is ultimately created to create profits for franchises, so the background context this blog gives is very useful. Jeneds (discuss • contribs) 21:03, 4 April 2018 (UTC)

INSTRUCTOR FEEDBACK
General Feedback
 * Essays of this standard attain the following grade descriptor for the collaborative essay. Whereas not all of the elements here will be directly relevant to your particular response to the brief, this will give you a clearer idea of how the grade you have been given relates to the standards and quality expected of work at this level:
 * Satisfactory. Among other things, satisfactory standard work may try to relate an idea from the module to an original example, but might not be very convincing. It may waste space on synopsis or description, rather than making a point. It may have spelling or grammatical errors and typos. It might not demonstrate more than a single quick pass at the assignment, informed only by lecture materials and/or cursory reading. It may suggest reading but not thinking (or indeed the reverse). The wiki markup formatting will need some work.

Specific Feedback:


 * You have submitted a fair response to the brief. Here you outline a number of arguments that specifically address the theme of transmediality, and your discussion of the research into comic book franchises evidences a working knowledge of some relevant scholarship on your chosen topic. The examples that you have chosen to discuss your theme are well-chosen.


 * The essay is written in a fairly accessible style, and your argument is fairly well structured overall. However, there is little sense that each section is connected explicitly to the others. A bridging sentence or two in between the sections would help to summarise the argiument and make those links stand out. There are moments where the work is not critically engaged, and is reliant on description. You have not really demonstrated awareness of the contradictions inherent in the theme itself, although there certainly is enough here for you to have achieved an overview of the subject area. Discussion of some of the logis of transmediality (branding, co-creation, additive comprehension, etc.) would have brought this out much more.


 * As an important note – signatures and timestamps appear on the essay page, but they do not belong there. Discussion pages fine, but it isn’t conventional for the book pages to include these, and it exacerbates the effect of having a somewhat disjointed integration between sections. Another critique here is that the essay is made up of extremely large chunks of text. Inclusion of embedded links and images would have helped break this up and make more of the platform’s affordances. I think an eye on formatting and presentation would have been worth the effort.


 * N.B.:Feedback for your Discussion, engagement and contribs elements for the assessment will be given on your individual User Discussion Pages. Grades for all work will communicated confidentially via Canvas.’’’

GregXenon01 (discuss • contribs) 11:54, 23 April 2018 (UTC)