Transmediali-TV

 

Transmediali-TV

TV shows like the British Sherlock or the Dutch TV show Wie is de Mol? are much more than just your regular cable TV shows. These shows use several platforms like internet, tv and other media to create an intricate web that offers the audience a “puzzle” across media (transmedia) that they can interact with. Both cases allow the viewer to engage with the show in various channels and media. In this blogpost, these two examples of transmedia storytelling will be discussed and compared in order to explore how audience reception of such TV-programmes have changed by new media—specifically the Internet.

Henry Jenkins, an authority on Convergence Culture, coined the term transmedia storytelling for storytelling that is done through several media platforms that each have a specific and unique value and contribute to the story as a whole.[1] As such, transmedia and narrative are closely connected. Transmedia tells a story, from beginning to end, using different media. Each medium can tell a part of the story, and each platform contributes to the story, but can also be viewed separately.

 As transmedia storytelling relies on audiences to engage and participate on more than one level, this type of storytelling is often linked to fan cultures or fandom. As Maura Edmond argues, internet has increased opportunities for interactivity and participation, which in turn changed the culture of audience reception from passive spectators to more active fans.[2]

One TV-show that has accumulated a massive fanbase is the BBC series Sherlock, which places Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective into 21^st century London. Sherlock Holmes and his friend and flatmate John Watson solve crimes and mysteries using modern-day technology like Internet and GPS and smart phones. The success of Sherlock resulted in the continuation of the story in other media. An official companion book to the series, Sherlock: The Casebook written by Guy Adams, was published by BBC Books. Moreover, in Japan, Sherlock has been made into a manga comic series adaptation.

  

In the series, both Sherlock Holmes and John Watson have their own websites, that are sometimes used or mentioned in the episodes. Sherlock has a homepage called thescienceofdeduction.co.uk and Watson’s blog is johnwatsonblog.co.uk. Both websites are available on the internet for the audience to visit. These two examples of tie-in media (that support the transmedia storytelling) serve to extend the fictional world of the TV-series, as they also feature cases that are not (yet) covered in the series.

The second case study, Wie is de Mol? (English: Who is the Mole?) is a Dutch game show in which ten well-known Dutch people have to perform tasks and challenges in order to earn as much money as possible. However, one of the contestants is the Mole, and sabotages the game in secret. The contestants have to guess who the Mole is in order to win the amount of money the group collects with the challenges. Each week, the contestants have to answer questions about the Mole, and the contestant with the least correct answers is sent home. In order to remain in the game, a contestant will try to look suspicious in order for others to think that he or she is the Mole, so he can hunt the real Mole.

The TV show is aired every week by AVRO on the channel Nederland 1. Immediately after, the episode is followed by the Moltalk, in which contestants from previous seasons discuss the episode with the Moltalk presenters. The day after, a special Radio show, the Roodshow, discusses the episode and offers an exclusive report of the contestant that was sent home. The official website by AVROTROS features the latest episodes, as well as short biographies of the contestants and hints about the Mole. More hints are also provided by ‘the Mole’ himself via a twitter account (@ikbendemol). This twitter account, in combination with other social media like Facebook, allows viewers to discuss the hints and exchange theories. However, the main platform to exchange theories about the identity of the Mole is the forum on the officialwebsite. In 2014, an official Wie is de Mol? App was launched, in which viewers can play along each week and award points to contestants they consider suspicious.

Both these shows have received critical acclaim and several awards. Sherlock has won a BAFTA award in 2011 and numerous Emmy awards, and Wie is de Mol? has won the Televizier-ring, a Dutch television award in 2013. Perhaps, the fact that these shows can be enjoyed on more than one platform accounts for the success of these shows, as it allows the viewers to immerse themselves into the world that is created. In addition, both shows largely revolve around mystery-solving. Sherlock and Wie is de Mol? have both spurred a huge amount of fan speculation. The mystery encourages the audience’s playful interaction with the material. Many fan theories started emerging on the Internet as soon as the season 2 finale of Sherlock had aired, there was almost the same amount of solve-the-mystery going on as with Wie is de Mol?.

Yet, Wie is de Mol? is a different kind of transmedia storytelling, because it is not fictional; it is a game show with real people. It therefore does not fit in with Henry Jenkins definition of the term transmedia storytelling, who underlines the fictional and narrative aspect in his definition. In contrast to Sherlock, the transmedial aspect of Wie is de Mol? only allows the viewer to play the game along with the contestants in the show, whereas in Sherlock the transmedial practices serve to support the complexity of the fictional world. It could therefore be argued that Wie is de Mol? offers transmedia interaction instead of storytelling.

Still, in both cases internet culture and interaction with other fans play a big role. Transmedia storytelling and interaction relies heavily on the active audience and fans for the success of their story. The fans, in turn, often feel like a community through a shared interest and investment in these TV shows. These TV-shows understand the need for cultural participation and the need to serve fans who feel invested in characters like Sherlock. [3] The different layers and platforms like the Internet allow both general viewers and fans “to relate to and connect with the property on multiple levels”. [4] This participation can for example be seen in the proliferation of Sherlock Holmes fan fiction and fan videos on the internet. These fans use media “to produce fictional stories and share them with a community” and “to engage with narratives across a range of media platforms and collaboratively participate in them”. [5]

Transmedia storytelling is thus often accompanied by a more active and participating audience than regular linear television. The rise of Internet as a space to engage with texts like Sherlock and Wie is de Mol?, and the transmedial nature of these TV-shows has changed how the audience interacts with the show.

Thesis: Stories that use multiplatform resources to the fullest will be able to reach the widest audience.

FM, LB, BBB, MM, YB

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[1] www.henryjenkins.org “Transmedia 202: Further Reflections.”

[2] Maura Edmond (2014), ‘Here We Go Again: Music Videos after YouTube’, in: Television & New Media 15 (4), p. 313-314.

[3] Derek Johnson (2012), ‘Cinematic Destiny: Marvel Studios and the Trade Stories of Industrial Convergence’, in: Cinema Journal 52 (1), p. 21.

[4] Aaron Smith (2011), ‘Beyond the Brick: Narrativizing LEGO in the Digital Age’ p. 9.

[5] Aaron Smith (2011), ‘Beyond the Brick: Narrativizing LEGO in the Digital Age’ p. 18.