A short history of transmedia

Transmedia, crossmedia, shared narration, extended universe… So many terms for different types of stories, adventures to be experienced and shared! But how do you make sense of it all? At a time when the media are multiplying and encouraging all types of creation, let’s take a look at transmedia.

What’s transmedia?

Assassin’s Creed, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars – what do these universes have in common? Something called “transmedia”. But what exactly is transmedia?

Since we need to find a place to begin this adventure, let’s start with the basics: the definition. The terms aren’t yet in the dictionary, of course, but transmedia (like crossmedia) has well-defined characteristics that allow it to emerge in this or that context. If we go back to the historical origins of the term, we owe it to Henry Jenkins in 2003. In his essay Transmedia Storytelling, the MIT essayist, who specializes in new media, participatory culture and the types of storytelling that emerge from them, examines shared universes, the influence of fans and communities in the construction of stories, and the contribution of different media to storytelling. Transmedia, as we know it, comes from the title of his essay, and responds to the idea that a narrative will extend beyond a single medium, towards several sources, taking into account and making use of each specificity. There are many different media (more on this later), but they all form a coherent whole that works together. So, depending on the medium, we can see different stories appearing in connection with this universe, or even different points of view.

This is where the difference with crossmedia lies: the multiplicity of plots, of gateways to a universe. Firstly, because the terminology “crossmedia” is borrowed from marketing and communications before becoming a narrative tool, and secondly, because crossmedia offers a unified narrative: the same story told in several media (to put it simply: adaptations of the same scenario in books, comics, films and games). Transmedia, on the other hand, offers several stories, each one forming the grand fresco of a world, a universe, a group.

But then, you might say, transmedia universes are everywhere! Yes, in a way. If we go back to Henry Jenkins again, he defines transmedia as follows in his essay: “a process in which the elements of a fiction are dispersed across various media platforms in order to create a coordinated and unified entertainment experience. Ideally, each medium makes its own contribution to the development of the story.”  But as with crossmedia, a language borrowed from communications, transmedia is also becoming a marketing tool: labels, franchises and “cinematics universes” are being formed to offer coherent, plural universes in which we can all find our way as consumers. The shift is more or less present depending on the medium: in video games, we speak of licenses, saga or franchises, for example.

Is everything transmedia?

The more time passes, the more resources are available to creators, enabling them to offer increasingly detailed and in-depth transmedia universes. There are many examples of this, and all of them are becoming increasingly well-known. Assassin’s Creed is a video game that focuses on the exploration of genetic memories throughout the history of mankind, allowing for distinct narratives and protagonists between the games, novels, comics and even book-games released within the license. This even gives rise to visit itineraries in certain historical monuments. Each time, a new story is told, reinforcing the universe and the possibilities for immersion. But the idea is not new: the terminology of “extended universe”, familiar from Star Wars, is also transmedia.

The stories of fan-made and official books, comics and films are all different (with a few exceptions) and form a vast, coherent universe. A transmedia universe using the specificities of each medium to offer a gateway to as many people as possible.

Everything can be transmedia, but not everything is. This is where the subtleties begin to appear. Of course, some universes are more present than others: Marvel’s entire transmedia universe, for example. Several articles and studies have shown the importance of the transmedia strategy behind Marvel productions in recent years, notably Armen Gevorkian’s article, The implementation of Transmedia Storytelling by Marvel Comics. While Armen Gevorkian’s article is entirely in English, second-year Art History and Archaeology undergraduates at the Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne have created a website, Le transmedia (https://transmediaparis1.wordpress.com), which analyzes and dissects the article in question, as well as many others. The idea of their website is to dissect transmedia, its construction, its known and future universes. The site even includes an interview with Henry Jenkins. While the students highlight well-known transmedia universes (Star Wars, Harry Potter, etc.), it’s also worth taking a look at other, lesser-known but equally captivating initiatives.

Recognized universes

Star Wars, okay. With its plethora of series, films, comics, novels, the extended universe that has become popular (especially when it was announced that the new films would ignore years of creative emulation), it’s hard to beat it as a flamboyant example of transmedia. The same goes for Marvel, as we’ve already mentioned. But have you considered that, for example, The Lord of the Rings could also be a transmedia universe? It’s a complex, hybrid transmedia universe, with a few subtleties. The novels, whether The Silmarion or The Lord of the Rings, are certainly part of the same universe, but it’s not a question of transmedia: the medium is the same, in this case the book. Similarly, if you’ve been following along, adapting the novels into films, without varying the plot (and even if there are more films than volumes of the book, and of course without judging the quality of the adaptation) doesn’t make The Lord of the Rings transmedia, but crossmedia. We agree. Except that, with the appearance of the Rings of Power series, which is not an adaptation of any specific story, but rather a continuation (albeit set in the past of this universe) of Tolkien’s work. Similarly, the video games Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War feature original storylines that extend the universe to new horizons (as does The Third Age, released in 2004 on GameCube). Here, Tolkien’s work becomes transmedia.

Other well-known universes include Doctor Who.The British series that began in the 1960s has been translated into novels, comic books, webisodes and even several video games, each recounting a specific adventure of the Doctor, with no link to the original series other than its characters and infinite universe.There are even several spin-off series, such as Torchwood and The Sarah Janes Adventures. 

But can spin-offs be considered part of a transmedia universe? We’re beginning to touch on one of the knots in the dense ball of yarn that are universes, spin-offs, licenses, saga, franchises and other terminologies that cast a pall over our understanding of transmedia.

If we take Henry Jenkins’ definition, no. Spin-offs form a coherent universe. Spin-offs form a coherent universe, a variation on other characters, but do not form the basis of a transmedia universe.For the simple reason that it’s always the same medium! The basic idea behind transmedia is to make one world available on all available media. To be able to use the written word of novels to benefit from an unlimited quota of special effects; to offer the interactivity of video games to accentuate immersion; to take spectators into a theater to benefit from sound and image quality that they won’t have at home; to be included in their daily lives via social networks; in short, to exploit and offer different types of narration depending on the media to make it as effective as possible. The only real question that remains to be answered is how many media are needed to create a transmedia universe. Strictly speaking, several can mean two or more. For example, James Cameron’s Avatar exists as a film as well as a comic book, telling a story that is not told on the big screen.

Through its multiplicity, transmedia encourages us to question how we use different media, how they can be hijacked (for example, by using social networks as vectors for horrific stories), and even accessibility. In fact, it’s on this last point that transmedia and crossmedia are linked: isn’t a particular story accessible in a novel (for a wide variety of reasons, from the availability of the book to various disabilities)? Then you’ll be able to discover it in another format, such as audio, film or series (which is crossmedia if it’s the same story, remember). You like a certain universe, but you can’t see it on film? No problem, it’s not the same story, but you can discover it through comics (in this case, transmedia). Although there’s always room for improvement, the multiplicity of entry points offers a certain degree of accessibility, albeit variable. 

Today, the main questions are how many media are needed to create a universe and, above all, what misunderstandings exist about the principle of adaptation. Indeed, it’s not uncommon even today to see the term transmedia used to designate the adaptation of a work in another format. But as we’ve shown so far, it’s a little more subtle and precise than that. 

Transmedia before its time: the Japanese example

One example probably springs immediately to mind when you read these lines: Pokémon. But it’s not the only one. Japanese animation, especially in the 80s and 90s, had a global creative strategy. By creating a character that could be featured in anime, Bandai Namco also offered a whole world of merchandising. The avowed aim is to create a figure of attachment for the public, encouraging them to buy all the derivative products, figurines first and foremost. Once in the home, in addition to the adventures that children will invent for them, Bandai Namco sets about staging its heroes in productions of varying scale: manga, anime, films, games… This gives rise to Goldorak and Power Rangers, whose adventures must be brought to life as much as possible to make the public want to buy derivative products. 

In addition to anime, you can also find paper manga with different stories, or video games. It doesn’t matter who created the universe: the egg, the chicken, the manga or the anime. What counts is the emergence of vast, coherent universes that hold together over a long period of time. Because the longer these universes proliferate, the longer the production of the various media lasts. From that point on, it doesn’t matter which of them began: they exist and continue to exist in a multitude of forms.

Pokémon, then, is one of the perfect examples: video games, anime, films, manga, but also light novels, card games, figurines and so on. Each element contributes to a narrative, expanding the universe and giving it substance. The authors are also numerous, as they share these stories to offer them to the public. But that’s not all! Pokémon quickly became a worldwide phenomenon, unleashing passions and encouraging many creators to code their own adventures. There are many “fan made” games, each with its own story, sometimes taking up the basic plot of one of the episodes (relatively always the same until the latest Scarlet and Violet, which reshuffle the cards). There’s even an “ultimate fan made” (according to some fans), the famous Pokémon Infinite Fusion, a game made by fans that transcends all boundaries.

The premise of Pokémon Infinite Fusion is simple: a classic Pokémon story of capture, battle, exploration and defeating Team Rocket. But a new item makes its appearance: the DNA Splicer. The DNA Splicer is a device that fuses the DNA of two Pokémon to create a Fusion (hence the name of the game) of the two creatures. And these “sprites” (the name given to a character’s visuals in a video game) are for the most part made by the community, allowing for significant fan input – we’ll come back to this – and completely infinite possibilities, since each fusion can have two forms (depending on which pokémon is dominant in the fusion, something you choose during the fusion). The Pokemon Infinite Fusion website (https://glitchworlds.com/jeu/pokemon-infinite-fusion-48) states that “There are over 145,161 possible combinations” for 381 integrated pokémon at the time of writing. A colossal number that’s growing all the time, since the community, notably on Discord, is also growing, and it’s entirely possible to offer your sprites to the developers for future integration.

But that’s not all: Infinite Fusion propels Pokémon into the heart of many other universes. Because the fusion of this and that pokémon creates a new creature whose visuals are a reference to Dragon Ball, Jujustu Kaisen and other anime and manga. References and winks abound, and the meta aspect is all the more important as all members are given free rein to express their creativity. Already part of pop culture in general, Pokémon is also one of the most enduring transmedia universes. Although not an isolated example in Japanese creation, it remains one that has endured over time and across borders in a way that other Asian universes rarely have. This naturally leads us to question the influence of fans, fan fiction and other “fan-made” elements in the creation of these universes.

Of course, our little pocket monsters are not isolated examples. Dragon Ball, Dragon Quest and other anime and manga are all part of this same dynamic. 

The importance of fans

There are many different types of fan: from those who know the universe inside out, to those who actively participate in its expansion, they all have a role to play. Because today, with the evolution of means of distribution and communication, it’s becoming easier to participate, to become active in one of these universes that we love so much. Whether it’s fan fiction, which models and integrates as many variations as novelties in the various universes, or collaborations between several creators (the Star Wars or DnD universes are fleshed out by different authors as they are published, for example). Despite the need for a relatively unified transmedia experience, the contribution of the fanbase is essential: because it helps to determine how and which universes appeal, provides avenues for evolution, but also and above all, its participation strengthens the sense of belonging and the bonds within the community. Since we’re talking about a type of storytelling born of the Internet and the multiplication of media, we need to take its players into account. And they are… us.

In the midst of this abundance of elements, there are several strategies: to expand and deepen the universe (or lore, as we’d say in video games), to provide an immersive or at least multi-dimensional experience, and to encourage fans to take part. Naturally, this gives rise to endless debates about what is “canon” (i.e. an official element of the universe, whether created by its original creator or by a fan) and what is not, and to suppositions and theorizations about the future of a given character or the clues left before a given twist. These metamorphic universes are all the more fluid as they evolve with time, technology, possibilities, or even the arrival of certain types of social networks where they can also take place. For example, some universes are built with viewers: by setting up polls on Instagram or Twitter, so as to guide the narrative. Or even in the manner of a game book, where, with a click, you can take the plot in a different direction. This was the case, for example, for the documentary Fort McMoney, produced by Arte, unfortunately unavailable today, but which proposed a documentary as well as a game in which you had access to all the data to make the city evolve and participate actively in the city council, notably through discussions on several social networks. From fan to actor, to creator of a city’s destiny.

This is also how fan fiction developed. The very principle of fan fiction lies in the reinvention of key elements of the universe to do something else with them. Romances between two characters, new explorations of planets in the case of Star Trek fanfiction (which, incidentally, were the very first in science fiction universes), continuations of the official chronology with “what happens after” endings. Numerous platforms offer the opportunity to post fan fiction, enabling communities to emulate each other (notably AO3). Creation begets creation: everyone can dive in, either just to read them, or to write their own, or to comment, theorize and participate in these communities that are gradually taking shape. 

This, of course, leads to a great deal of debate, particularly on the “canon” aspect of certain events. Should we take this series into account? The events of that obscure book published long ago? Should we be satisfied with the end granted by the creators when we can, in turn, create our own? The debates are numerous, and show how readers/spectators appropriate the universes proposed, and how we project ourselves within them. The aim here is not to give a verdict, but to present the possibilities for discussion within communities and the creative impetus this generates, which in turn has repercussions on online publication platforms.

Let’s play now? D’n’D style

Among the great transmedia universes, there’s the well-known Dungeons & Dragons, one of the greatest RPGs to popularize the genre, and which has had many adaptations, stories in different universes, and on different media. Of course, role-playing is the medium par excellence for enabling people to invent their own stories. But more than that, it’s the source of many productions. From films like the one released in 2023, to spin-off series, The Legend of Vox Machina being the animated series adaptation of a DnD game played by the Critical Role group, whose games are available on Youtube. 

The list of productions related to the world of Dungeons & Dragons is long, and there’s even a complete campaign available in several formats. A Dungeons & Dragons MMORPG video game exists on PC and Xbox One. A board game, Time of Elemental Evil, is a dungeon-crawler with miniatures on a board. Four films have been released: Dungeons & Dragons in 2000, Dungeons & Dragons: The Supreme Power in 2005, Dungeons & Dragons 3: The Book of Darkness in 2012, and finally Dungeons & Dragons: Honor of Thieves in 2023. There have also been animated TV series, such as Le sourire du Dragon, in 1983. The number of novels published in the DnD universe is staggering: the Lancedragon series has been running since 1986! Then there’s Blood Wars, a collectible card game; various board games with different gameplay; miniature games; collectible dice games in the 90s…

And in a way, the DnD universe is even bigger than the tip of this iceberg: can we include Stranger Things and its strong influence? And we haven’t even mentioned video games yet! Here too, video games set in the DnD universe are numerous. One of the best-known is Baldur’s Gate, whose third opus has just been released after years of development. 

But that’s not all! As you’d expect, when we talk about role-playing, we’re also talking, indirectly, about the influence exerted by female players from all over the world: scenario sites are flourishing. These adventures made by the various dungeon masters are dispersed and played by other groups. If you’ve ever played an RPG yourself, you’ll know: no two games are the same. Forums are created to discuss the different games, the evolutions proposed by the players, the hijacking of scenarios, the possibilities and evolutions put in place by the community. Role-playing games, more than any other medium, possess the infinite possibilities that make them an inexhaustible source of potential transmedia universes.

Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah !

Who hasn’t recognized the iconic cry of our little white rabbits? And yes, Les lapins crétins are also moving into a transmedia universe. They’ve even extracted themselves from a well-known universe to invade all the others. Let’s take a look at the background: originally, the Raving Rabbids were Rayman’s antagonists. They first appeared in the video game Rayman vs. the Raving Rabbids (2006). At the time, they were Rayman’s antagonists, particularly moronic characters who did anything and caused havoc in the universe. Gradually, given the success of these white rabbits (whose cry we owe to Pierre Alain de Garrigues, or PADG, a great figure of French dubbing), our “Rabbids” (from their English name) emancipate themselves and gradually leave the Rayman games. They clamored for their own franchise, which over time became more successful than Rayman itself. The creature has surpassed the master, but is determined to conquer the world.

But that’s not all. You’ve probably seen rabbits everywhere. Really everywhere. They have their own video game series. They have the luxury of crossover with Mario himself in Mario + The Raving Rabbids (2017 on Switch for the first opus, 2022 on Switch for the second), a tactical RPG featuring the humor and quirkiness that made our famous rabbits so famous. For Mario + The Lapins crétins Sparks of hope (the second), a DLC with Rayman is released on August 30, 2023, making Rayman… the guest in a Lapins crétins game! A funny turn of events.

A cartoon on France 3 is released. Thirteen volumes of the Lapins Crétins comic strip are published. A manga, Lapins Crétins Luminy’s quest, makes its way onto the shelves, tackling the commonplaces of isekai (a Japanese fantasy genre in which a hero from our world dies, only to be reincarnated in another world of magic and fantastic creatures). Here, our rabbits are called upon by a king in distress to save the kingdom. We’ll leave you to imagine the merry mess this summons will generate, especially as it gives our hotheads powers. 

There’s even a tour of the gardens of Versailles! A mobile application (https://www.chateauversailles.fr/decouvrir/ressources/les-lapins-cretins-versailles) allows you to discover the gardens in a different way, using our rabbits as mediation tools (in the same way as Assassin’s Creed did for the Pantheon, but in a different register). From mobile games with other stories to board games, the Raving Rabbids productions and the way Ubisoft has reconstructed the history of mankind in relation to the famous rabbits make for a particularly vast and entertaining transmedia universe. 

Building a transmedia world: the Matrix

Many elements point to Matrix: a protean universe, with different stories, offshoots and a mythology that gradually takes shape and that fans and creators of all kinds invest in to let their creativity explode. These elements come together to form a creative and narrative matrix into which we can project ourselves in different ways, through different entry points. So it’s only a short step from there to the Matrix itself. 

In his article “Quand les oeuvres deviennent des mondes – Une réflexion sur la culture de genre contemporaine à partir du concept de convergence culturelle” (https://www.cairn.info/revue-reseaux1-2008-2-page-335.htm), David Peyron explains: “Indeed, for its producers, the American studio Warner and Joel Silver, and above all for its authors, Lana and Lilly Wachowski, this work was very early envisaged as multimedia and not just cinematographic”. Transmedia universes, since the famous “cultural convergence” of the article’s title is one of the other names for transmedia. Intertextualities, influences, affiliations with other works (notably William Gibson’s Neuromancien), Matrix shapes itself beyond the boundaries of cinema.

The Enter the Matrix video game was one of the first to offer an alternative adventure, rather than adapting Matrix to the videogame format. Released in 2003, it is a landmark in the construction of parallel plots: a game based on a film, but not on its plot! It’s also hard to miss the Animatrix, short films in the Matrix universe made and designed by several different creators. In addition, there are books, mangas and comics related to the Matrix. All of them offer additional entry points, additional keys to understanding the Matrix universe. But, as with the rest of the examples we offer here, knowledge of these creations is a plus, but in no way hinders understanding of any of these elements. You can play the game without seeing the film. See the short films without playing the game. Have only seen the films. Or even just seen the first film. Transmedia universes are like jigsaw puzzles, where each piece is a picture, but when put together, they form a new, different and larger one.

Only for big production companies?

Like all forms of creation, the industry’s impact is important, but it’s not the whole story. As is often the case, independent studios, small-scale creations and creators who take advantage of these possibilities to create, sometimes with a few bits of string, a work that will grow with time and its audience.

In France, with the development of the Internet, the Noob web-series is going the way of things. Originally in the form of short episodes available on their Youtube page, the adventures of this MMORPG guild made up mainly of broken arms are gaining momentum. With France’s biggest-ever Ulule campaign for the creation of a film that will see the light of day (in the form of three films!), the publication of comics, novels and even a video game in 2023, the Noob universe is expanding. And needless to say, each medium tells a different story, offering a new gateway into a universe that’s already over ten years old.

Another French creation, Le visiteur du futur, by François Descraques, also features a web series, before expanding into a comic book, a novel and a film that brings the adventure to a close. All these media respond to each other, offering elements of a vast universe based on time travel, time police and other elements somewhere between science fiction and post-apocalyptic.

The further we explore small-scale productions (which in no way minimizes their scope or evolution), the more it seems we’ve put our finger on something: the web-series. Is it one of the means of expression and narration that is becoming increasingly dominant in the creation of universes? Another example is The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, an American web-series with a modern take on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. We follow the vlogs of Lizzie Bennet, a Californian student who makes videos in real time, at the rate of two a week. The vlogs even involve the viewers, as several times she publishes “question and answer” videos, in which she responds to comments from Internet users. Gradually, other vlogs of other protagonists in the story are being created, as well as social networking accounts for these fictional characters. It’s another way of bringing them closer to us, integrating them into our daily lives, offering us a different kind of interaction – more direct, more modern – while at the same time influencing the course of the story. 

From the influence of fans who create, we’re approaching fans who play, who interact, who become part of this adventure. Another means of immersion, another way of envisioning narratives that are increasingly close to us. A gateway to ARGs.

The ARG mystery

ARGs, for Alternate Reality Games, are a new way of creating stories using the specificities of media. These are stories that straddle the line between reality and fiction, playing on our perception of reality, our propensity to believe and to be frightened, whetting our curiosity and our spirit of deduction. Perhaps you’ve already come across this type of creation, particularly on Twitter, when reading an almost horrific thread, distilling strange details, bordering on the paranormal, only to realize that it was in fact fiction. While some of these are limited to one network (often Twitter, for its ability to deliver short, punchy texts, instantaneity and the reach of messages), others have spread to several media, mixing the real and the fictional, pushing you to explore, to be active and to untangle the real from the fake. 

ARGs often take the form of a treasure hunt: a user tells the world that he or she has found a strange object, computer or other object, and asks people to help unravel the story. It can go very far: to a strange website (created for the occasion), to a telephone number leading to a voice mailbox with a message that loops around in connection with the mystery, videos, audios, books, even classified ads in the newspaper… This extension of the narrative to other media reinforces the impression of unease and the embodiment of the story in our reality, just as it explores different facets of these media that can convey stories. 

A few examples? There aren’t many in France, but one of the best-known is that of the Twitter account @Eiffeil1812. In the first tweet, a user explains that he has found a camera in Buttes-Chaumont, and appeals to its owner. Spurred on by subscribers and to help find its owner, Eiffeil1812 looked into the camera’s memory card to provide more information. All he finds is a virtual business card and some strange photos. As he answers questions and interacts with his community, a treasure hunt begins that will lead everyone to videos, threatening SMS exchanges and Google Maps of a place that doesn’t exist… The whole of his story is still available online, even if the narrative has come to an end and is now in a frozen form. 

Another example, in September 2017, the “3ème droite” account is a Twitter fiction about the strange apartment the user rents in Paris. The rent is very modest, the phenomena that take place there at night are strange and gradually plunge the user into an anxiety that shines through in his tweets. There are videos, audios, etc. to support the story, which, we won’t know until the conclusion, was directed by François Descraques. 3ème droite subsequently became a novel, published by Editions Flammarion, and follows the frenetic, fast-paced sequence of the initial tweets, minus the vocals and videos, of course.

We can also mention Malfosse, by Damien Maric. This great story unfolds across several media, drawing readers/viewers into the resolution of three fictitious court cases. The clues are disseminated in a novel, published by Bragelonne, an Audible audio series, websites created for the occasion, a mobile app, an Alexa hidden command, etc. The Malfosse project was nominated for the Grands Prix de la Publicité Radio & de l’Audio Digital, in the “Innovative Device of the Year” category. 

French Youtube creator Feldup showcases these horrific transmedia creations in several of his videos. He dissects some of them, and creates others, to show both the mechanics involved in this type of creation. 

The multiplicity of means provokes two things: curiosity, of course, but also, as with all other ARGs, the need to take everything into account to reach a full and complete conclusion. As you can see, with ARGs, transmedia evolves into a more global experience. Where the various media represented so many gateways that could be entered without the need to read/see/hear everything, with ARGs, it became essential to look at all the pieces at our disposal. 

But then, is it all advertising?

The possibilities are immense, and of course, like any narrative medium, marketing, communication and advertising have seized upon them. And increasingly so. ÀAt the time, the LOST series had scattered clues throughout the series leading to a site, leading to other information, videos and so on. The Blair Witch Project based its communication on hidden videos, websites and so on. More recently, with the film Barbie, where the house from the film was available to rent on AirBnb, for example. But these marketing examples always lead back to a major medium, the one for which the advertising is intended.

Transmedia, as we’ve seen, encompasses an enormous number of things: from creative tools to a new type of narrative, to the possibility of opening as many doors as there are media to discover one’s universe. Like any toolbox, it can be used for many purposes, whether promotional, immersion, discovery or even sales. In the same way that there are differences between first-person and third-person narration, between the choice of portraying this story as a comic book, or that one as an animated series. Transmedia is constantly developing, not least because it adapts to innovations and new media, and offers great freedom to viewers/readers and creators alike. As we’ve seen, you don’t have to be alone to create transmedia. You can share a universe and tell every possible story, or you can control the whole thing on your own, overseeing the creations and adding your own touch, giving free rein to your universe and letting the fans take it over. 

The end of the story?

If we had to conclude on the vast subject of transmedia, we could say several things. First of all, the difference between crossmedia and transmedia lies in the stories offered: one and the same story adapted to several media for crossmedia; several stories in a common universe and on different media for transmedia. After that, it’s all a question of freedom: while the term “medium” is often taken to mean books, comics, series, video games, films and audio-fictions, there are many, many more. Street art, photography, social networks – every medium can be a vehicle for a story, an adventure. Interactivity between media is certainly not necessary to create a transmedia universe, but it does develop over time, rewarding assiduous fans who skim all the media in their favorite universe, for example. Or the curious who want to discover everything. The addition of easter eggs (i.e. hidden details) where they are least expected reinforces both the excitement and the desire to immerse oneself in these universes. For example, details hidden in Google Earth images, provided you have the right coordinates. 

These universes are vast, some of them totally different from our own, some of them taking place in them and slightly modifying reality to make us question it. 

Sources
– Dossier initialement publish in Présences d’esprit : https://presences-d-esprits.com/
– https://mediatheque.aveyron.fr/images/articles/espace_pro/actu_pro/transmedia_retour_formation_pwpt.compressed.pdf
– https://www.enssib.fr/bibliotheque-numerique/documents/68579-le-transmedia-storytelling-dans-l-edition.pdf
– https://www.fabula.org/colloques/document4421.php 
– https://luck.synhera.be/bitstream/handle/123456789/530/PUN-TRANSMEDIA-E2.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y