Thursday, October 27, 2011
Transmedia, everywhere
Transmedia storytelling has many different faces. I feel like especially for the younger and mid-aged drivers and skimmers with a good purchasing power, there are tons of transmedial involvement in the same story: Movies, Series, Videogames, Merchandise. I think a particularly interesting form of that can be found in the ways filmmakers try to retell a stories that basically have already been told, only adding or altering little of the material or plot. Ten or more years ago, videogames such as Max Payne, Resident Evil or Hitman had huge fanbases. The same accounts for all the Marvel comics (Watchmen, 300 or SinCity) that have been put on screen throughout the last years. Sometimes, it seems as if wherever there is a new marketing strategy needed to recruit new audiences or to make old matierial accessible to younger people, there will be one.
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I agree. When I was younger I used to love Super Mario Bros! As I mentioned in class it was my favorite game. This game went from Super Mario Bros to Mario Go Kart, The Koopa Game and several other games. Mario goes on and on but over the years I kind of lost interest and cannot keep up with all of the games but it is definitely transmedia. The Mario cycle continues..
ReplyDeleteI was a big street fighter and mortal kombat video game fan growing up. They both have evolved from the sega genesis days to now being on the ps3 or xbox 360 and there has also been movies for both as well. I wasn't particularly a big fan of the movies but the games were great and have been throughout the years. I think the reason the games were able to evolve is because they stayed true to the originals that we all first started with but just expanded over the years.
ReplyDeleteI just watched the latest trailer of "Battleship" that will be in theaters in 2012. Believe it or not, this is supposed to be the movie-adaption of Hasbro's famous parlor game. In fact, the production studios bought the license from Hasbro to make this movie, starring Liam Neeson. I felt like that was the straw that broke the camel's neck. This is definitely transmedia, but where is the storytelling?
ReplyDeleteI don't know, it doesn't sound like transmedia to me. The trailer for the movie doesn't really look anything like the game and I"m not sure how it would tie in... but I'm only familiar with the board game. Is there a videogame called Battleship also?
ReplyDeleteWe had it made when we were youngsters. I beat the Donkey Kong series twice and thought I was queen of the world. It does get repackaged for the younger generation and if there is profit to be made than it will definitely be made. However, I believe that some films are lacking originality because they are just new forms of older models. I love original films, and I think those are the obscure ones that get Oscars that you watch after the winner is called.
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