OUAN601 - The Purpose of a Transmedia Bible

From my research into transmedia storytelling and the way transmedia IPs are created I have found that the document itself is crafted with the intention to provide a useful, best-practice guide to the thinking, planning, and execution of a franchise that spans multiple platforms. So, during the creation process when the rules of the world are created, and characters developed etc - this is all documented within a transmedia bible so that anyone who picks it up can create consistent follow on content stemming from the main story world. The document is predominantly aimed at the producers of a project, as it is the transmedia producers who have responsibility for the overall direction of all key areas. A transmedia bible can infact extend to work as to a full production reference document. Overall, the transmedia production bible includes information on the key story and design IP elements, rules of engagement, functionality and technical issues across multiple platforms, and can include a business plan or marketing strategy for the IP. Despite this rough format, every transmedia bible will differ greatly depending on the type of franchise, the different media used, the nature of the story and the platforms it is executed on.

The more I have researched further into the nature of production bibles and the purpose they serve the more I have discovered as well as being a dedicated document, detailing the specifics of a story, television show, film etc. They take on the role of a document that may be used in some ways to pitch a particular idea. As well as the template I have been studying and referring back to over the course of making my own transmedia production bible I discovered several other production bibles, or 'pitch' bibles. The content I came across within these types of documents was very close to the types of information contained within a production bible that was designed for the purpose of being purely functional and informative for the creators of a story idea. Specifically, I have been referring back to the production and pitch documents for Adventure Time, Bravest Warriors and Rocket Dog. However, due to the unavailability of these kind of documents online it is difficult to determine whether or not the format to which these documents took is the norm across all types of genres and stories or was perhaps unique to the creators and the nature of the work they produced which is ultimately 'fun' and the presentations and documents represent this.

In the crafting of my own transmedia bible for the transmedia IP I am creating, these documents were useful because they provided visual examples of the structure that was explained to me in the document 'A Creator's Guide to Transmedia Storytelling'. I used this document as a rough point of reference during the making process, and in combination with some of the visual documents I was examining I compiled a breadth of detailed information regarding the nature of the story world I was creating, with illustrations for accompaniment.

Rocket Dog Pitch Bible