=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-1914/NHT17-4
|storemode=property
|title=The Structure of Transmedia Storytelling: A Case Study of 19 Reinos
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1914/NHT17-4.pdf
|volume=Vol-1914
|authors=Ryan Javanshir,Beth Carroll,David Millard
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/ht/JavanshirCM17
}}
==The Structure of Transmedia Storytelling: A Case Study of 19 Reinos==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1914/NHT17-4.pdf
The Structure of Transmedia Storytelling: A Case Study of 19
Reinos
Ryan Javanshir Beth Carroll David Millard
Electronics and Computer Science English and Film Electronics and Computer Science
University of Southampton University of Southampton University of Southampton
rj1g15@soton.ac.uk e.carroll@soton.ac.uk dem@ecs.soton.ac.uk
ABSTRACT Up to this point, there have been very few visual analyses of
transmedia stories. The advantage of mapping out these complex
With technology and platforms for storytelling becoming more
structures and connections is that it allows the identification of
diverse, the potential for novel methods of storytelling has been
story structure and story progression, which can help authors
expanded. The phenomenon known as transmedia storytelling
identify standards, effective transmedia storytelling methods and
involves telling a story across multiple media and has gained
how to apply conventional narrative structures to transmedia.
popularity both in terms of audience interest and research,
especially given the wealth of methods for storytelling. The
This short paper will analyse the transmedia story 19 Reinos,
problem is that authors of transmedia potentially have little
which ran in Spain and was based on the popular TV series
background knowledge about how to structure such stories, and Game of Thrones. It will do this by visually identifying the
how to best portray certain parts of the story to the audience
overall structure of the story, including what platforms were
using transmedia. This paper will analyse a transmedia story
used and how narrative flow and migratory cues link them
using a visual aid. This will help better understand the structure
together.
of the story, the specificity of media being used and how the
platforms used, including the connections between them, reflect 2. BACKGROUND
both narrative progression and also migratory cues which direct
The term transmedia as defined by the media theorist Henry
the audience. This can then be used as a basis for other
Jenkins is the process of representing a fiction systematically
transmedia story analyses. The visual representation was across multiple delivery channels [5][6]. This same phenomenon
compared to the author's intentions of the story, with a clear often has different names and definitions depending on which
connection between an intended 3-act structure and the final field is defining it. In games study, they can be called Alternate
product. This raises further questions relating to Reality Games (ARGs), ubiquitous games [13] or any game that
narrative/platform progression duality and how connections has one or more salient features that expands the game either
between platforms can be used to facilitate this progression. spatially, temporally or socially [7]. In narratology, they are
1. INTRODUCTION narratives which expand immersion by playing out in multiple
public and private venues [14].
Transmedia practice involves telling a story over multiple
distinct media which employ different media techniques [5]. As In recent years, transmedia storytelling practices have emerged
technology advances, more platforms can be used for telling more commonly and have been used to navigate human
stories that are not only more pervasive (especially with Web behavior to solve social problems [11], create more immersive
technologies), but are potentially more satisfying to the museums [12], promote products and to promote locations [4].
audience. Over the past few years, content creators have been The use of differing technologies and platforms has allowed
experimenting with emerging platforms and methods of
content creators to unshackle themselves from a single platform,
storytelling, creating new types of entertainment which do not
medium or method of storytelling, allowing stories which can
neatly fit into conventional definitions used in other fields.
satisfy a larger group of people by fueling their curiosity and
fitting their lifestyle [9].
There is a potential problem faced by authors of transmedia
projects however, which involves limited understanding of the
However, the full benefit of implementing transmedia practice
poetics, or media specificity, of both the parts of a transmedia
could be argued to be not fully realised. This is partly due to
story and the story as a whole. The principle of media specificity
authors perhaps not having a grasp of what media to use for
involves understanding the tools or affordances which that
specific parts of their narrative or experience, and also how these
media allows, so that the media can be used effectively [2]. This parts come together in the transfer of narrative between them, to
also involves looking at the connections between the media and become what Murray describes as one big platform [8].
how narrative flows from one form to another in terms of story
progression. Although current research develops some understanding of
maintaining narrative consistency within a transmedia fiction
NHT’17, Prague, Czech Republic, July 2017
Copyright held by the author(s).
[1] and understanding of transmedia practice [3], there is living in the 19 Reinos world, with him giving the audience
arguably little knowledge on how different transmedia story advice about how to live in such a land. This help, although not
structures change the narrative of a story or experience and vice mandatory to know, would later inform participants when every
versa. Ruppel has taken a formal approach to structuring Monday night during the second half of the new season, they
transmedia stories using visualisations which allow for a deeper would fight each other on Twitter in MMORPG style combat
understanding of the structure of a transmedia story [10]. using certain keywords and commands (such as kill, seduce,
However, these types of study are limited and it is worth betray etc.). During the rest of the week, participants could
expanding this idea of visual representation, especially in a create communities on Facebook with fellow realm members,
landscape where different platforms emerge from technology and plan their strategy for the following Monday, whilst also
and the Web on a regular basis. Attempting to analyse and expanding their character's backstory and creating quests for
understand transmedia stories without a clear visual aid is not each other. After the TV series finale, the winner of the Twitter
practical and in some cases almost impossible. battle became ‘King’ at the second live event, where many
people attended to watch the coronation of the King of 19
3. CASE STUDY Reinos. This then concluded the story.
The example which was chosen as a case study was the
transmedia story 19 Reinos [15] (19 Realms in English), which
was based on the popular HBO series Game of Thrones (GoT),
which in turn is based on a book called A Song of Ice and Fire by
George RR Martin. The parts of the story which were told using
technology were implemented using a transmedia authoring tool
called Conducttr, which allows the monitoring of social media
accounts and the sharing of variables between them to facilitate
a flow of story. Data for the case study was acquired from
various sources by the authors of 19 Reinos, including Conducttr
case studies [15], a post mortem presentation [15] and a
reflection by one of the authors [9].
There were two main authorial intentions behind the project.
The first was to create excitement for the new season of GoT,
and the second was to create a separate self-contained story
which in part was formed by the audience themselves. This story
was intended to follow a 3-act structure with a set-up,
confrontation and resolution being embedded into the whole
experience. In a post-mortem reflection, the authors also
considered that for the weeks it was running, 19 Reinos was
intended to be considered the primary focus of the Game of
Thrones universe, with the TV series acting as ‘cut scenes’
between the action occurring in 19 Reinos [15].
The transmedia story invited participants to imagine that Spain
was part of the fictional land of Westeros (a continent in GoT),
and that it had been split up into 19 realms. A live event, which
communicated this concept to 300 fans who were invited by the
authors, included a performance of a fictitious character,
Edwyck. This performance primed the audience for the rest of
the story. The audience were then given parchment which lead
Figure 1: A visual representation of 19 Reinos
them from the performance to the digital world, where the rest
of the story would unfold. A website was set up as a main hub,
Figure 1 shows the structure of 19 Reinos, the different platforms
which would allow these participants and anyone else interested
and media employed and the intended flow of both narrative and
to create their own fictitious GoT character with full
audience migrations.
descriptions and backstory, living in the world of 19 Reinos.
Participants could also buy weapons and armor for their
When creating visual representations of transmedia stories, it
character, in preparation for later. At the time when the first
must be noted that subjectivity can become a factor when
episode of the new season of GoT aired, a Web series featuring
grouping different platforms together. For example, there are
Edwyck was released, which ran until the halfway point of the
two separate columns for static content and social Web, whereas
new season. The Web series included a story about Edwyck
other analysts may include these as one. The figure is concerned
2
with authorial intentions rather than audience experience author (Live Event 1 links the audience to the Web series and the
patterns. Web series to the TV show), and created by the audience (user
generated Facebook quests would point people to Twitter to
The columns represent the platforms or way in which the story perform certain actions). Users would also naturally talk about
is told. The way in which you experience story told in a live the new season on social media and make reference to the show,
performance is different to the way in which you experience a which would then act as a migratory cue to others participating
story told on your television. One big difference being that live or viewing the posts. Arguably the same can be said about the
performances cannot be paused or rewound, whereas typically Web series, however the popularity disparity between the Web
TV can. How you use a website (typically on your own, at a time series and the TV show is apparent, and less people would be
of convenience and with no interaction with others), is different inclined to make a reference to the Web series so explicitly to
to the way you interact with social media. Although the latter warrant it being called a migratory cue [15].
can be on a website, the dynamics change due to the high level
of social interaction (you have to make an effort to connect with 4. ANALYSIS
people), and timing conditions (as with the Twitter wars in 19 Looking at this structure, it is clear that the main intention
Reinos). In some parts of the story, these types of distinctions behind the story was to create as much excitement and publicity
made can become blurred and it is important to keep in mind for the new season as possible, with the new season receiving
that as an audience member, you may for example watch a Web the maximum amount of migratory cues. However, with the
series on your television, rather than the perhaps intended second authorial intention in mind, it seems as though the
viewing on a website whilst sat at your computer. structure reflects the intended experience. The flow of narrative
shows that a lot of narrative was created and expanded by the
Inside these columns are types of media or instances of the audience, which was then partly used as a basis for the ending.
platform. They hold a piece of the narrative in a particular form. This is further backed up with a 3-act structure employed, with
Considering Facebook and Twitter, although they are both the first live event being the set-up, the battles being the
considered social media platforms, and involve narrative being confrontation, and the second live event being the resolution.
received from communication with others, the information is This model also allows for the point of the view that the TV
represented differently and each have their own requirements, show was simply cut-scenes to the 3-act 19 Reinos story. If the
functionalities and user interfaces for social networking. Twitter intention of 19 Reinos was simply to get more viewers for the
uses 140 character tweets, whereas Facebook allows large show, then the effort of conducting the second live event as the
chunks of text, with comments and more detailed discussions resolution would not have been needed.
being commonplace.
In terms of media specificity, the choices behind why these
The black dots represent that medium being active, with time platforms were used is clear in some cases but unclear in others.
going from top to bottom. These black dots then connect to the Firstly, the first live event could have just been the web series of
finished nodes which illustrate that no more content is being Edwyck, which would not have limited the audience to 300 in
generated by that medium. the beginning. For those who were not initially invited, the set-
up phase of the story was missed, and could have impacted the
The solid arrows represent the flow of narrative. This includes way they responded to the rest of the story. That being said, the
both author created and user-created narrative. For example, the authors did recognise that Edwyck, his character and backstory,
narrative on Twitter includes battles between different houses, could be transferred over to video quite easily. This makes for a
the alliances and the particulars of the battles (how someone better choice than a blog for example, which for a character in a
died). The reasoning behind the battle (the backstory), was medieval time setting would make little sense. This aspect of the
generated from communities and user generated quests made on story has to be distinguished from the audience participation and
Facebook, which may have been based on the Web series. The the way in which they interact with 19 Reinos with their
official website, where weapons could be browsed and bought fictitious characters. For one, the audience had no choice but to
added to the fictitious characters’ (audience characters’) story use technology to ‘control’ their characters, but Edwyck did not
and facilitated the battle, giving the Twitter players a basis for need to because he was his character. It seems as though the
more user generated content. Another example is the link intent was that the social platform be used as a layer on top of
between Live Event 1 and the Web series, which featured the the imagined world, where Facebook would be imagined as a
same character in both, with the story of Edwyck’s life town square, the static website as a fort and Twitter as the
progressing on. battlefield [15].
The dashed arrows show migratory cues. Migratory cues, a term The structure of this story raises some interesting questions
adopted from [10], are points in the narrative where a reference about transmedia practice and authorial intentions compared
is made to another medium, in an attempt to migrate the with actual outcome. More specifically, the most interesting
interests and focus of the audience member to that part of the research questions that are raised include:
story. In 19 Reinos, they were both explicitly inserted by the
3
1) How are transitions from one medium to another used to Environments.
represent narrative transitions? Act 1 in 19 Reinos was http://dl.dropbox.com/u/30158/DENA_TransmediaPractice.pdf
represented as the first live event, the website and the Facebook Accessed: 10/04/17
community discussions which then transitioned into act 2 which
took the form of episodic content and Twitter battles, with the [4] Ferreira S., P Alves A. & Quico, C. (2012). Location based
resolution taking the form of the final live event. Investigations transmedia storytelling: The travelplot Porto experience design,
into the different methods of this medium/narrative transition Revista Turismo & Desenvolvimento, 17/18, 95-99
duality will provide a better understanding of which platform
combinations are good for a particular part of the story. [5] Jenkins H. 2010. Transmedia Storytelling and Entertainment:
An annotated syllabus. Continuum, Vol 24 issue 6 2010.
2) What is the nature of migratory cues and how is the story
progression influenced by them? Migratory cues were used [6] Jenkins H. 2003. Transmedia storytelling. Technology
heavily in 19 Reinos to direct the audience to the TV show. How Review, 15 January
would these cues have to be set up in a story not revolving
around a source universe or medium? How can the author set up [7] Montola M. (2012). Exploring the Edge of the Magic Circle:
these migratory cues to allow for their intended telling of the Defining Pervasive Games. University of Tampere Game
story? Research Lab
3) How do you apply different story structures to transmedia [8] Murray H J. (2012). Transcending transmedia: emerging story
stories? In 19 Reinos, the 3-act structure was chosen as a basis for telling structures for the emerging convergence platforms.
the story, whereas some transmedia stories are clue or puzzle EuroITV 2012 Proceedings of the 10th European Conference on
based. How do other transmedia stories apply conventional story Interactive TV and Video, pages 1-6
structures and do they achieve what they want? What new,
never before seen structures does transmedia allow? [9] Pratten R. (2011). Getting Started in Transmedia Storytelling:
A Practical Guide for Beginners. 2nd Edition Published by
4) Are the audience stuck with the authors intended structure? Pratten, R., ISBN 978-1-515-33916-8.
What does the structure of the story mean for the audience?
What happens if the audience join halfway through the story, [10] Ruppel M. (2012)
will the story make sense to them? Is there a way to return to act Visualizing Transmedia Networks: Links, Paths and Peripheries.
1 if they missed it? If not, can they fill in the blanks? http://drum.lib.umd.edu/handle/1903/13589 Accessed: 10/04/17
5. CONCLUSION [11] Sakamoto M., Nakajima T. (2015) Incorporating Fictionality
Transmedia practice is becoming increasingly prevalent in the into the Real World with Transmedia Storytelling. In: Marcus A.
creative arts in the dissemination of stories. The more (eds) Design, User Experience, and Usability: Design Discourse.
understanding there is about the structures and processes of DUXU 2015. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 9186.
transmedia, the increased room for innovative and engaging Springer, Cham
stories and experiences there will be.
[12] Veth, K. (2014). Transmedia & Charms: The opportunities of
Visual representation of transmedia stories allows for immediate Transmedia Storytelling in the Contemporary Museum. Nodem
identification of the story as a whole and how the pieces come 2014 Proceedings of Nodem 2014 on Engaging Spaces:
together, and allows interesting discussions to be had about its Interpretation, Design and Digital Strategies, pages 176-184
structure. This short paper has used 19 Reinos as a case study,
and applied a visual representation to it which identified further [13] V Borries F., Walz S., Bottger M. (2007). Space Time Play:
questions in the area of transmedia as a whole. Computer Games, Architecture and Urbanism - the Next Level.
Published by Birkhauser Verlag AG, ISBN 978-3-764-38414-2,
6. REFERENCES page 236
[1] Barbara J. (2015) Towards Measuring Consistency Across
Transmedial Narratives. In: Schoenau-Fog H., Bruni L., Louchart [14] Walker J. (2004). Distributed Narrative: Telling Stories
S., Baceviciute S. (eds) Interactive Storytelling. Lecture Notes in Across Networks. Presented at AoIR 5.0, Brighton
Computer Science, vol 9445. Springer, Cham
[15] Conducttr website http://www.conducttr.com/success-
[2] Bazin A. (1960). The Ontology of the Photographic Image. stories/game-of-thrones/ Accessed: 10/04/17
Film Quarterly 13(4)
[3] Dena C. (2009) Transmedia Practice: Theorising the Practice
of Expressing a Fictional World across Distinct Media and
4