What the &#*% is Transmedia: Heroes of Transmedia - Webisodes

    So you've read the introduction about what the #%&@ transmedia is and you're still confused. Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it. Personally, I've always felt that seeing an example is the easiest way to learn.

    A perfect example of the way a television show can expand into transmedia is one I have personal experience with, NBC Universal's Heroes. The show's writing staff and online team do an incredible job expanding the story across multiple platforms and I was lucky enough to be a part of it for a season and a half.


The Show
    So where to start? For the purposes of our little demonstration, let's focus on season four. The actual show is the beginning of the experience. While we tend to focus on the aspects of transmedia that are about expansion, the story can't begin without the main content. It seems obvious but this is where it all starts.

    NBC airs the show on their network weekly and puts in online, VOD and eventually DVD. Here you get to follow the action with all of your favorite characters in a regular television environment. It's normal, comfortable and regular. Here you get your main storyline(s).

    Now let's assume that you're a big fan of the show, you can't get enough of these superheroes; bottom line, you want more. Here's where your transmedia experience continues.


The Webisodes
     Easily the most prominent content online are the webisodes. Since these are essentially miniature episodes, they're the easiest for the casual viewers to slide into. Heroes has had several different methods of approaching their webisodes.

    During the fourth season, in a partnership with Sprint, NBC devised a new form of webisodes. These 90 second long episodes, known as "Slow Burn" were broken into two parts, a 30 second piece that aired during the episode and a 60 second follow up that was viewable online (pictured above) or on Sprint phones.

   These webisode pods tell the story of Lydia, a fortune telling carnie with the ability to see a person's innermost desires. This is our side story. If you only watch the aired episodes, Lydia appears to simply another member of carnival boss Samuel's entourage. However, if you follow through and watch "Slow Burn," you learn that she has an estranged daughter who is developing a dangerous ability of her own and that Lydia is hiding the whole situation from Samuel.

    What this accomplishes is to add a level of depth to a more minor character. We get to find our more about her relationships with characters like the knife wielding speedster Edgar. It's in these webisodes that we're first introduced to the romantic feelings that he has for her.

    Knowing things like this early on doesn't just add a couple minutes of extra entertainment for a fan, it changes the way they watch the show. Knowing about Edgar's feelings, make on air scenes with him and Lydia take on a different meaning. Something a more casual fan might overlook could turn out to reveal something altogether different to the more dedicated fan.

    For example, if Edgar sees Lydia getting close to Sylar, the casual viewer may think Edgar is merely spying on what Lydia is doing but the fan who has seen the webisodes knows that he is watching them out of jealousy.

    In this way the webisodes have not only added to the episode but also changed the way you look at the main show/storyline. The webisodes/side story expands the mythos of Heroes and adds a level of depth you won't necessarily get with other shows. This keeps fans interested and coming back for more.


Credit Where It Is Due
    This post would of course be incomplete without acknowledging the people who worked hard to make these stories come to life. Everyone from EPs Tim Kring and Dennis Hammer, webisode writers Ollie Grigsby, Foz McDermott, Zach Craley, Jim Martin and Harrison Wilcox, webisode directors Tanner Kling and Chris Hanada (and everyone with Retrofit Films), NBC.com team Carri Wagner, Joe Tolerico, Peter Hammersly, the intern Kelly Mack, and so many others. And of course everyone else on crew with Heroes (if I left anyone out… my bad, beat me up later).


If you'd like to watch the Heroes webisodes please check 'em out http://www.nbc.com/heroes


NEXT TIME: Heroes: Transmedia Storytelling Beyond the Camera

What the &#*% is Transmedia: Explaining This Mysterious Thing

I recently attended my five-year high school reunion. As expected, the standard first question (other than the generic, 'how've you been?') was, of course, 'what are you doing now?' Never have I been met with so many blank stares as when I responded, "I'm a transmedia writer". I got plenty of polite nods followed by "trans-what?"

In the interests of simplicity in an environment where the people I was talking to were getting progressively more intoxicated as the night went on, I simplified the concept of transmedia by just responding, "I wrote internet stories and content for Heroes". But transmedia is certainly not that simple. It's bigger and much more complex than just 'internet content'.

So what the &#*% is transmedia?
Transmedia is the process of telling a story over more than one medium. Now you might think, well there have been tons of films adapted from/into books or graphic novels or video games or even theme park rides. Is that transmedia? No, it's not. That's the retelling of a story. What transmedia aims to accomplish is to add to a story in a way that cannot be done by simply watching a television show or a film.

The goal of any good transmedia team should be to create a layered experience. That's the key to the entire project. Transmedia is about multiple platforms and multiple stories. Sound complicated? It's not.

Think about any good television show or film. The story is told with multiple settings, characters with varying connections and separate plotlines. Each piece guides you towards the final goal of the story.
In most of these, you can understand the main character and their story even if you missed a scene or two from the B-story or subplot but knowing what happened in those scenes enhances the main story. The characters lives become more full and real because you can see more of the fake universe that they reside in.

Transmedia takes this concept to the next level. You get one story from the movie or show but you know that each one of those characters has a feature length story of their own to tell (if not an entire series). There are a million different ways to tell these side stories and here is where the transmedia team comes into play; to fill in the gaps in the story that viewers never even realized were there.

Each extra piece of media adds a little bit more to the story. Not every piece is necessary to understanding the story either, allowing fans to decide how much they want to be involved with the show. The casual viewer can check out a couple of 'in-universe' sites and not feel like they're missing anything from the show. On the flip side, a truly hardcore fanatic can watch the webisodes, read the fake character blogs and get involved in as many aspects as the producers want to throw at them.

Each of those two fans gets an experience equal with what they wanted from the storytellers. Since the simpler layers do not require delving into the more intense pieces, the first fan does not feel cheated. The second fan however, feels more connected to the story and the characters because they understand things about the show universe that the first fan doesn't.

That second fan gets many more hours of entertainment and will enjoy the product that much more. At the end of the day, this is the goal of any producer, transmedia or no.

To sum it all up, transmedia is the process of telling a bigger story than what one film or show can do in the time it has or in ways that it simply cannot do. Interactive games, graphic novels, webisodes and so many other methods producers now have at their disposal; these are the building blocks of a new method of storytelling.


So thanks for reading my first musings as a blogger. I hope that in this blog we can explore the way that transmedia is adding to and changing the way we think about story. Check back in a week or so for my next post.


NEXT TIME: An example from some transmedia Heroes…