The notion of transmedia and the technological and economic dynamics of the channels within media platforms, is a collective intelligence that establishes a world by encompassing different aspects of one story that can be accessed over many channels.
Creating multiple transmedia channels increases the audience segments that engage the responder and immerses them further into the fictional experience. An experience that employs not only singular channels (such as a book, a movie or a game) but rather fuses many channels including fan fiction to create a rich, complete world. George Lucas and the Starwars universe has expanded considerably beyond the movies to incorporate games, comics, TV series, literature and fan fiction and in doing so the audience has increased significantly.
The use of multiple channels to sustain a story also has its limitations and restrictions to the audience in that only those who view through every channel experience the entirely of the world. The Matrix phenomenon consists of a movie trilogy, the Animatrix series and games based on the movie that depend heavily on the content of the other channels, interweaving different elements into the same story.
The technological dynamic of the platform highlights how digital content flows fluently across channels that are not tied to stories. Content flow is a temporary contact point creating multidirectional channels. The economic dynamic of transmedia emphasises the importance of industry consolidation as a defense tactic and the role of size and scale in pre-empting and preventing failure. Many entry points allow greater interaction with responders creating a flexible, highly accessible media platform.
“We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad” 