Throughout my primary research I have conducted several interviews regarding the subject of transmedia storytelling, each with varying professionals. The interview I had with Andrew Merkin affirmed a lot about what I thought about transmedia storytelling but also changed some of my views in the process. Firstly, when I asked, 'where do you see transmedia being used in the future? He commented, 'It will continue to define the storytelling market along with long-tail marketing. As the marketplace becomes more and more crowded (remember that digital doesn’t ever degrade or fall apart or run out of shelf-space), we’ll see larger investments in franchises. This might allow for more indies at the lower-end of the spectrum but each will require a ton of marketing to try to create a strong signal among the noise of everything.' I had never considered the way in which digital media in comparison to media sold as a physical copy will never degrade or 'run out of shelf space'. It makes sense that this is the direction that the way media is bought and sold is going as more and more media is sold and made available there would be a saturation point where individuals would not want to continue to have to buy and store physical copies of things. This naturally gives way to transmedia storytelling as it emerged in a digital age with a lot of the media platforms that give way to transmedia provide an inherently digital platform. (Netflix series, ARGs, video games sold through STEAM, iTunes).
Following on from this, the way in which I had thought the success of transmedia could very much be credited to the way society and humans approach storytelling as a communication tool was affirmed by Merkin: 'Stories are the basis of our society. It is how we, together, understand the world.'
As well as this, some of my ideas were changed by the insight that was given to me by Merkin. Specifically, the insight he provided on the role of a transmedia producer within the industry and the responsibilities on a project that the job holds. I had a vague idea that the role meant being responsible for the separate outlets working cohesively and ensuring that the appropriate media platforms were used in conjunction with one another to make sure the experience was entertaining for the audience. However, he gave me some details that provided me with a much fuller picture of the way the role interacted with others on a project.
It is the role of the TM Prod to ensure that each iteration works together and complements each other with each platform being used to best add to the world using the native benefits of that platform. For instance, the novel is better at allowing exposition of the world and allows for complex narrative threads; a feature film shows off the visuals of the world with more or less a single narrative thread (main plot). So the TMP will oversee the execution of say the film and ensure that the follow up novel does not conflict with the previous executions. If the protagonist has brown hair and a scar across her face in the book, each subsequent version would feature this (or an explanation of why it isn’t there). This can cover everything from the highest of concepts (origin, the context of the world (e.g. life during WWII, the opinion of the world after 9/11, etc.) to the smallest minutia of detail (eye color, scars, the walking gate, etc.). Certainly some contradictions are allowed (called the audience’s willingness of disbelief) and even can exist in another world (think Batman: Dark Knight vs the 1960s television show) but recognize that each iteration is now played on the same device at the same time.'
