Literature Review. Transmedia Storytelling and Theme Parks: How does transmedia storytelling work and how can it be applied on theme park rides?

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1 Literature Review Transmedia Storytelling and Theme Parks: How does transmedia storytelling work and how can it be applied on theme park rides? Impression of 'Joris en de Draak' (Willemen, n.d.) Writing Skills 2 Josse de Kievith , 3GA-4DP

Introduction Nowadays, most theme park rides are backed up with a story or theme, with as goal to place the created experience in a more graspable context for the visitors.

2 Introduction Nowadays, most theme park rides are backed up with a story or theme, with as goal to place the created experience in a more graspable context for the visitors. However, most of the stories behind those entertainment rides cannot be further explored, except for what the theme park ride offers. Transmedia storytelling is a technique to explore the universe behind a story over multiple media platforms. Maybe it can improve the experience and the success of a theme park ride. In this Literature review, two main subjects will be analyzed and reviewed: the topic transmedia storytelling and topics related to theme parks and interactive experiences. The purpose for analyzing these topics it to get a clearer view on what transmedia storytelling is, how it is used and how theme parks are currently using storytelling in their parks. Most sources which are used for this literature review contain information much broader than the topics discussed in this review. Therefore, this review will only focus on the information important to the main subject transmedia storytelling. Transmedia storytelling: The basics Transmedia storytelling is a technique to tell stories through multiple platforms. In Convergence Culture, Henry Jenkins (2006) describes it as follows: A transmedia story unfolds across multiple media platforms, with each new text making a distinctive and valuable contribution to the whole (p ). He further elaborates on this by saying that each media platform should use its strongest features to convey a self-contained story, which can all serve as an entry point to the franchise as a whole (p. 98). Representation of Henry Jenkins his definition of transmedia storytelling (Long, 2007) 2

3 Geoffrey A. Long (2007) heavily based his research paper on Jenkins, using Henry Jenkins work as the cornerstone and then expanding to incorporate aditional insights (p. 16). To represent Jenkins defitition, Long created a simple diagram in which he shows the flow between the different media. Each medium can be experienced on its own, but all are connected to each other to enhance the overal experience (Long, 2007, p. 15). However, there is a big difference in the depth between Long and Jenkins their works. Jenkins is exploring the concept of transmedia storytelling through examples and observations; Long however, performs an in-depth research in what transmedia storytelling is according to multiple people and tries to put them in the same context. For example, Long quotes Christy Dena about her view on transmedia storytelling. She describes the phenomenon transfiction, a counter to Jenkins theory, in which media components are all dependent on each other (as cited in Long, 2007, p ). However, Long argues that Dena s theory is a subset of Jenkins his definition for transmedia storytelling. While a transfictional narrative can be considered a form of transmedia narrative, as it still connects multiple stories through different media, cannot every form of transmedia narrative be considered a transfictional narrative (Long, 2007, p ). Transmedia Storytelling: The Matrix In chapter 3 from Jenkins (2006) his book, he mainly talks about the transmedia storytelling phenomenon The Matrix. The Matrix is a franchise which consists of three movies (The Matrix, The Matrix: Reloaded and The Matrix, Revolutions), an animated series named The Animatrix, two games (Enter the Matrix and The Matrix Online) and additional comics based on the Matrix world. All these media components work together to make the franchise The Matrix a new reality, but can still be experienced individually. However, Long (2007, p ) argues that The Matrix franchise is not a perfect example of transmedia storytelling and therefore calls it a chewy example. He comes to this conclusion by introducing the terms soft and hard transmedia narratives, where hard stands for designed with a transmedia narrative in mind and soft for additional media pieces added to an original media component which proved successful. The Matrix is called chewy, since the Wachowskis were allowed to develop their hard transmedia plans only after the blockbuster success of the initial film (p. 21). Jenkins (2006, p ) also argues that The Matrix may not be the best execution of transmedia storytelling. The sequel movies are too dependent on the first movie and the 3

4 games are also too reliant on the main story arc. However, even though Jenkins considers The Matrix a failed experiment, he still argues that it was very significant for the development of transmedia storytelling. Transmedia storytelling and user-generated stories Arguably, the main inspiration for the Wachowski brothers to start with converting The Matrix into a transmedia narrative, was the hype around anime series such as Pokemon, Digimon and Yu-Gi-Oh (Jenkins, 2006, p.112). Mizuko Ito (2006) talks about the success of these anime series, which used another form of transmedia storytelling, which Ito calls the the media mix (p. 4). Ito uses as examples the anime series Pokemon and Digimon but focuses on the anime series Yu-Gi-Oh. In his paper, Ito describes the process of using different media sources to enable children in creating their own adventures. Yu-Gi- Oh is a franchise which provides children a fictional world which can be brought to life using real-life tools such as trading cards, games and merchandise. Children are being motivated to make adventures with each other, by battling each other using the trading cards, or to trade them with each other to create more powerful decks. Pokemon and Digimon provide these options as well, but differ in the fact that Yu-Gi-Oh can actually be mimicked in the real world. Whereas the Pokemon and Digimon universes describe a world in which humans live side by side with creatures, depicts Yu-Gi-Oh a universe in which creatures are essentially just cards, brought to live using advanced Virtual Reality techniques (Ito, 2006, p. 5). Because the world of Yu-Gi-Oh is closer to the real world, is becomes easier to actually take part in it without breaking the suspension of disbelief. Jenkins (2006) witnesses a somewhat similar phenomenon in the fifth chapter of his book Convergence Culture, which involves the Harry Potter-franchise. In this chapter, he talks about Heather Lawver and her website The Daily Prophet. Through this website, Lawver created a world based on the Harry Potter-franchise where children could write about their adventures on the fictional school Hogwards. Jenkins (2006) suggests that The Daily Prophet has another important cultural competency: roleplaying both as a means of exploring a fictional realm and as a means of developing a richer understanding of yourself and the culture around you (2006, p. 185). Jenkins (2006, p ) further states that the success of the Harry Potter franchise as a transmedia narrative due to the many entry points in J.K. Rowling s universe. By connecting the Harry Potter-universe to the real world, Rowling created many ways for children to relate and immerse themselves into that world. 4

5 Theme Parks and their future development To talk about transmedia storytelling in relation to theme park rides, needs first to be established what theme parks are. According to Milman (2008), theme parks are a transformation from the concept of an amusement park. An original amusement park can be considered as a permanent public sites, dedicated to outdoor entertainment (p. 219). Those sites were heavily influenced by Expo s and fairs, using the concept of showcasing manufactured goods and new techniques to showcase amusement rides (2008, p.219). In Clavé s The Global Theme Park Industry (2007, p. 21) Sorkin describes this transformation as the original Celebration of production to the nowadays Production of celebration. Clavé s book also states the following difference: The most immediately perceptible difference between an amusement park and a theme a park lies in the fact that, whereas amusement parks present numerous attraction in a relatively small area, each of which has a specific price, theme parks present a small number of attractions in a large scale area, landscaped environment which does not generate revenue directly at a generally unique price (Clavé, 2007, p. 21). In addition, Milman (2008) writes that theme parks are different from amusement parks in that they try to convey a story or a theme to the visitor. This means that there is less space for general rides or intense rides, as the theme park wants to convey the story to everyone, including children and elderly. Therefore, Milman predicts that in the future, theme parks will replace the mechanical rides with interactive experiences (p. 227). Pirates of the Caribbean: A new medium for transmedia storytelling and interactive experience Currently, a few topics have been discussed using the views and observations from different people: the concept of transmedia storytelling and how it works using real-life examples; using transmedia storytelling to motivate people to create their own experiences in a fictive world; the current state of theme parks and a predication on how they can be improved. A link between those topics can be found in two articles which talk about the Pirates of the Caribbean. For example, Shochet and Banker (2001) already talk about the interactive experiences which were mentioned by Milman, namely, the interactive ride Pirates of the Caribbean Battle for the Buccaneer Gold (located at DisneyQuest). They use this theme park ride as their main example to create a guide on how to create interactive theme park 5

6 attractions. Based on the dark ride counterparts in Disneyland: The Magic Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris, an interactive ride was created using Virtual Reality to generate a so-called new medium : a mix between a video game and a traditional theme park ride. This article its content is mostly about how the interactive ride was developed and what kind of problems the team had to solve to combine a theme park ride with the interactions of a video game. Moreover, they state that because the ride is interactive, visitors can create their own adventure, using an already established world. Visitors can play the interactive story with 4 people at the same time and they have to work together to defend as much gold as possible in five minutes (Shochet & Banker, 2001, p. 1). This falls in line with what Ito (2006) and Jenkins (2006) argue: using an already established franchise to create communities who can develop and share experiences. The Pirates of the Caribbean has become a true transmedia storytelling nowadays. Carolyn Jess-Cooke (2010) states the following about the franchise: This chapter argues that the synergistic activities propagated by film franchises use the structure of the sequel as a contextualising framework by which spectators understand and participate with a film s range of associated products and events as continuations of narrative and by which the spectatorial experience is continued across a variety of associated texts, products and events (Jess-Cooke, 2010). In other words, Jess-Cooke describes that the usage of transmedia storytelling as a framework for the franchise, motivates people to participate in the fictional world established by Pirates of the Caribbean. The participation can take place by watching the movies (Jess-Cooke, 2010) or by for example experiencing the interactive ride Pirates of the Caribbean Battle for the Buccaneer Gold (Shochet & Banker, 2001). Unfortunately, Jess-Cooke her paper is not available to the public and can therefore not provide any more for this literature review. Should a research be done on the subject of transmedia storytelling and theme park rides, it is definitely worth it to gain access to this paper, as it could contain some very useful information regarding the Pirates of the Caribbean and its transmedia narrative. 6

7 Conclusion Although this literature review cannot discuss all the content available from the gathered sources, the most relevant points related to transmedia storytelling have been summarized. From the gathered sources can indeed a relation be found between transmedia storytelling and theme park rides. Through the use of multiple forms of media, worlds can be established which users want to immerse in. Theme park rides can be used to create interactive experiences, where players can create their own stories around a franchise. The most notable example is the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise and their theme park counterparts. More examples can be looked at, such as the examples discussed by Long (2007) further down in his research, or a more in-depth research into the Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon franchises due to their focus on children. 7

8 Reference list Clavé, S. A. (2007). The Global Theme Park Industry. Wallingford: CABI. Ito, M. (2006). Intertextual Enterprises: Writing Alternative Places and Meanings in the Media Mixed Networks of Yugioh. In Battaglia, D. (Eds.), E.T. Culture: Anthropology in Outerspaces. Durham, NC: Duke University Press Books. Retrieved from Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence Culture: Where old and new media collide. New York and London: New York University Press. Jess-Cooke, C. (2010). Sequelizing spectatorship and building up the kingdom: the case of pirates of the caribbean, or, how a theme park attraction spawned a multibillion-dollar film franchise (Abstract). Albany, NY: SUNY Press. Retrieved from Long, G. A. (2007). Transmedia storytelling: Business, Aesthetics and Production at Jim Henson Company. Retrieved from Milman, A. (2008). Theme Park Tourism and Management Strategy. In Woodside, A., & Martin, D. (Eds.), Tourism Management: Analysis, Behaviour and Strategy (pp ). Wallingford: CABI. Shochet, J., & Banker, T. (2001, July 3). GDC 2001: Interactive Theme Park Rides. Gamasutra. Retrieved from ark_.php Willemen, K. (n.d.). Impressie van Joris en de Draak. Retrieved from 8

Theme Parks and Immersion Scott A. Lukas. November 19, 2015

Theme Parks and Immersion Scott A. Lukas November 19, 2015 Theme Parks and Immersion Learning Objectives 1 : Focus on the reasons that immersion is such an important factor in theme parks and themed environments.