Creators Guide to Transmedia Storytelling: Chapters 5 & 6

             In the fifth chapter of the Creator’s Guide to Transmedia Storytelling, the author explains that the reasons to use a transmedia approach can “fall into two basic camps: the business case and your creative vision.”(41) They explain how transmedia storytelling allows for more opportunities for the storyteller to work with and sell from.  They then use several examples of extremely successful series in Hollywood including True Blood, Twilight, Game of Thrones, and Lord of the Rings.  All of these series were book series and then were turned into either films or television shows.  I am not super into any of these series, but from what I know, because they have such large followings, there are countless different ways that the companies market these stories, the most obvious being the books and film productions, but I’m sure there are also spin off productions, online publications, merchandise, etc.  I think that when a franchise is able to market their stories in so many different ways they are able to do two things, sell multiple different things, and to multiple different groups of people that they may not have been able to reach before.  What I mean by that is that different types of media effect different people in different ways.  So if the book or the movies don’t appeal to someone, the other might.  Also, people react differently to different mediums, so having those multiple different experiences will allow the companies to market different products or messages.  As beneficial as transmedia storytelling can be, it also must be carefully crafted, because “every single element of a transmedia story has to be fulfilling a narrative purpose, without exception.”(43) 
          Chapter 6 takes a step back and looks at the “Basics of Traditional Storytelling.”  This acts as a guide for people who are not already storytellers to catch up so they can effectively utilize the transmedia story telling method.  They go over the importance and use of elements of a good story such as character, conflict, plot, rising tension, setting and mood, theme, and originality.  I really liked their use of examples that a lot of people would recognize such as Romeo and Juliet, and Star Wars, because I think that will help people have a deeper understanding of what they are trying to explain about good storytelling.