A quick little upload that outlines why I'm doing a thesis in transmedia storytelling. I've just handed it in but I thought I would put this up for anyone who was interested.

1. Audience Engagement
In Transmedia Storytelling
CAMERON CLIFF
DISCIPLINE: FILM AND SCREEN MEDIA
SUPERVISORS: DR JON SILVER & DR SEAN MAHER
FORMAT: 15,000 WORD THESIS

2. “How do successful transmedia producers engage with
their audiences during a project”?
Thesis proposal: How do producers engage people with stories that expand across
multiple media platforms?

3. Key Terms, Ideas and Context
Audience Control Shift
Convergence
Transmedia
Engagement

4. Audience in Control
http://orangemilky.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/
china-challenges-and-opportunities.html
“Power is shifting from media institutions to consumer communities” (Achrol and Kotler
2012 p. 43).
“Today the customer is in charge and whoever is best at putting the customer
in charge makes all the money” (Stephen F. Quinn, Senior Vice President for Marketing, Wal-Mart quoted in Elliott, 2006) .
“Brands that formerly were tightly controlled by their managers increasingly are
being shaped by their consumer markets” (Christodoulides, Jevons et al. 2012 p. 53)

5. We Don’t Yet Fully Understand
Social Media
WOM, in a social-media setting, has been shown to be a highly complex system of networked
co-production of a variety of narratives that is significantly changing our previous
understanding of how and why WOM works (Kozinets et al., 2010).
There is little doubt, however, that WOM referrals still do have stronger
effects than traditional marketing (Trusov et al., 2009).

6. Media Converging
A paradigm for thinking about the current moment of
“
media change, one which is defined through the layering,
diversification, and interconnectivity of media” (Jenkins 2011).
“In all of our minds these days – narratives
are not
confined to the medium they were born in; they
are part of the larger collage that we all construct from the fragments of
everything we watch, read, hear and surf. (Abba 2009 p. 59)”
http://maher.filfre.net/writings/convergence.html

7. Transmedia Storytelling
“The real value of TS is that the user carries the storyworld
with them from one life event to the next – chatting about The
Matrix with a friend on the phone, thinking about it in line at the
grocery store, or Googling a question about Neo that popped
up while they were driving home. Any of these thoughts may
then manifest in a user generated YouTube, a blog post or an
original script submitted by a fan”(Hartman 2011).

8. How Do We Engage Audiences?
Think about the world we live in, if you, the audience can access content how,
when and where you want it, how do we engage with you?
“From a cognitive perspective, engagement is a positive state of mind that is
characterized by high
energy, commitment, and loyalty toward a
firm. From a behavioral perspective, engagement refers to actions toward
a firm that go beyond transactions. Such actions are motivated by both
cognitive and emotional forces.”(Porter, Donthu et al. 2011 p. 83)

9. Thesis Outline
Abstract Brief Overview / advert for my thesis.
What am I doing?
Introduction Background of transmedia / field definition.
How do we measure what makes a successful transmedia producer?
Literature What does the transmedia literature say? What does the marketing / advertising literature say?
(5 years of history) (60 years of history)
Review
Using this inter-disciplinary literature review to integrate the theories of giants in their fields and use a lens to look at what is
Methodology going on. Analysing the findings to examine contemporary practice methodology.
What construct can we make from the current cross-disciplinary body of knowledge that allows for analysis of engagement
Lens Creation methodologies? (drawing from marketing, advertising (50 years) and newly emerging transmedia and film culture to create a lens
to peer through and analyse data)
Interviews Targeting two of the leading producers, time permitting four. Asking how they approach it and what works / doesn’t?
Analysis How does the lens measure up against professional practice?
Conclusion Findings and further questions raised by the research.

10. Situating My Research
Field has only existed since 2006 / 2008, 2003 (convergence)
Lit Review -19 results total in EPSCO in the relevant, film, television
and screen media journals (40 business included)
Practitioners have led the way in exploring my field already, I work to
reinforce their work (Starlight Runner, Matrix, Lost, Firelight).
Leveraging current knowledge in other fields that, after completion, will
hopefully yield, new knowledge.

11. Original Contribution to Knowledge
There are a couple of “original” contributions to my research:
1. Synthesising applicable interdisciplinary literature that is
relevant to transmedia storytelling
2. Integrating that interdisciplinary theory into a framework that
explains engagement in transmedia storytelling
3. Demonstrating the application of that theoretical lens

12. Ethical / Copyright Considerations
Justifiable selection of inter-disciplinary materials to create an even
perspective
Practitioner interviews
Commercial in confidence information
Treating them without bias or judgement in their practice in the
way my questions are asked
Remaining as objective as possible in analysis

13. Timeline
Tasks May June July August September October
Checking for updates / Checking for updates /
Research Marketing Film & Marketing Synthesis new articles new articles
2nd Draft /
Lit Review 1st Draft Assessment 3rd Draft
Lens Creation Collate Elements Draft 1 Draft 2
Case Studies Begun Completed
Sourcing Interviews
Interviews Ethics Approval
Interviewees Undertaken
Methodology Dot points Draft 1 Draft 2
Analysis
Data Analysis of Data
Editing Draft 1 Draft 2 Draft 3 Finished Product

14. Bibliography
•Abba, T. (2009). "Hybrid Stories: Examining the Future of the Transmedia Narrative." Journal of Science Fiction Film and Television 2(1): 16.
•Achrol, R. S. and P. Kotler (2012). "Frontiers of the Marketing Paradigm in the Third Millennium." Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 40: 17.
•Christodoulides, G., C. Jevons, et al. (2012). "Memo to Marketers: Quantitative Evidence for Change. How User-Generated Content Really Affects Brands." Journal of
Advertising Research 52(1): 53-64.
•Gomez, J. (2012). "Jeff Gomez on Transmedia Producing." Retrieved 7 April, 2012, from http://www.producersguild.org/?page=jeff_gomez.
•Hartman, J. (2011). "A Tale of Two Trends: Augmented reality and transmedia storytelling." Transmedia Producer. Retrieved 7 April, 2012, from http://
www.transmediaproducer.org/archive/1/2011
•Jenkins, H. (2011). Transmedia 202: Further Reflections. Confessions of an Aca-Fan: The official weblog of Henry Jenkins. 2012, http://www.henryjenkins.org/
•Kozinets, R. V., K. de Valck, et al. (2010). "Networked Narratives: Understanding Word-of-Mouth Marketing in Online Communities." Journal of Marketing 74(2): 71-89.
•Porter, C. E., N. Donthu, et al. (2011). "How to Foster and Sustain Engagement in Virtual Communities." California Management Review 53(4): 80-110.
•Trusov, M., Bucklin, R., & Pauwels, K. (2009). Effects of word‐of‐mouth versus traditional marketing: Finding from an Internet social networking site. Journal of
Marketing, 73, 90‐102.
•Zwick, D., S. K. Bonsu, et al. (2008). "Putting Consumers to Work: Co-creation’ and New Marketing Govern-Mentality." Journal of Consumer Culture 8(2): 163-196.