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MULTI-PLATFORM NARRATIVE ENGAGEMENT
Pamela Rutledge, PhD, MBA Director, Media Psychology Research Center
Faculty, Media Psychology, Fielding Graduate University
@pamelarutledge
PSYCHOLOGY OF THE TRANSMEDIA TRIP
Start End2 3 4 5 6 Transmedia Travel Brain Science Transportation Theory Flow Theory How Theories Fit Together Psychological Boosts
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TRANSMEDIA is a fancy word for a simple concept: telling stories across multiple platforms
Tim Kring Hollywood Screenwriter and Producer Creator, Heroes and Conspiracy for Good
Transmedia Journey
StoryWorld
Story Awareness Engagement Experience Explore
Engagement Path
StoryWorld
Create anticipation
Provide signposts Develop artifacts and rituals
Multiple channels, gaps
Source: Adapted from http://www.slideshare.net/sioflynn
Success Without A Plan
Reduce the Costs of Travel
• Practical – Time
– Money
– Access
– Knowledge/Ability
• Psychological – Effort
– Choice
– Estimation of value
Make the Trip? WHY
Success Lies in Psychology
People use media and
technology to satisfy needs,
we can design to anticipate
fundamental human goals*
*If we figure out what they are
therefore
Start Here è
Emotional Brain
Reptilian Brain
New Brain
Triune Brian Theory: 3 in 1
SIGHT
SOUND
TASTE
SMELL
TOUCH
70% New brain
Old brain
It’s not the size the counts
Instinct Over Intention
Experience is Holistic
Experience
Goals
Emotions
Senses Instincts
Beliefs
Seeing is Believing
Imagining is Believing
We are storytelling
animals Ruled by
instinct and emotion
OLD BRAIN NEW BRAIN Emotions Skill-building
Visual images Responsive feedback Pain and gain Participation, ownership
User-centric, personal Social validation Safety Empathy
Narrative
Motivational Goals Attention starts here
Narrative Transportation
• Being transported into a fictional world • Components:
– Cognitive Engagement
– Emotional Engagement – Mental Imagery
• Accepts laws & logic of storyworld
• Creates sense of presence and immersion
Narrative Becomes Sticky
• Increased self-reference • Greater enjoyment
• Lower cognitive resistance to persuasion
• More accepting of narrative discrepancies
• Facilitates recall and learning
• Challenging activity requiring skill
• Merging of action and awareness
• Clear goals with feedback
• Concentration on activity
• Sense of control
• Loss of self-consciousness and time
Flow: Optimal Engagement
Loss Of Sense Of Time
Clear Goal
Sense Of Accomplishment
Experience Of Place
Empathy
Lack Of Self
Consciousness and Physical Surroundings
Identity-Enhancing
Activity
Overt Narrative And Characters
Conscious Directed Focus Conscious Sense of Presence
Emotion-Enhancing Activity
FLOW NARRATIVE
Flow vs. Narrative
Unconscious Processing: Attention + Perception
Task-Based
• Goal importance • Skill/Knowledge • Feedback • Action = Expectations • Self-efficacy • Directed focus • Social validation &
connection
Narrative-Based • Self-Relevance (Identity) • Creative ambiguity • Feedback • Action = Discovery • Agency • Emotional activation • Social connection • Transformation
Conscious Processing: Meaning Making
Challenge
Skill
HIGH AROUSAL
LOW AROUSAL
Flow Channel
Boredom
Anxiety
FLOW
Challenge
Skill
HIGH AROUSAL
LOW AROUSAL
Flow Channel
Boredom
Anxiety USER PATH
FLOW
Tension
Release
HIGH AROUSAL
LOW AROUSAL
Satisfaction
USER PATH Frustration
NARRATIVE TRANSPORTATION
Narrative Channel
Challenge
Skill
HIGH AROUSAL
LOW AROUSAL
Flow Channel
Boredom
Anxiety
Decreasing Challenge
Less Demanding
Skills
Increasing Challenge
Increasing Skills
FLOW
Decreasing Tension
Decreasing Release
Increasing Tension
Increasing Release
Tension
Release
HIGH AROUSAL
LOW AROUSAL
Satisfaction
Frustration
NARRATIVE TRANSPORTATION
Narrative Channel
Challenge
Skill
HIGH AROUSAL
LOW AROUSAL
Flow Channel
Boredom
Anxiety
FLOW EXIT POINTS
FLOW
Tension
Release
HIGH AROUSAL
LOW AROUSAL
Narrative Channel
Boredom
Anxiety
NARRATIVE
EXIT POINTS
NARRATIVE TRANSPORTATION
Anchor: Website
Stores
@TOMS
TOMS Channel
Transmedia Story: TOMS Shoes
Shoe Drops
Fan Created Content
Style Your Sole Parties
Day Without Shoes
@BlakeMykowskie
Google+
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Tension
Release
HIGH AROUSAL
LOW AROUSAL
Narrative Channel
Boredom
Anxiety
NARRATIVE
EXIT POINTS
NARRATIVE TRANSPORTATION
• Simple, compelling and believable origins story
• Simplification of larger problem (poverty) to human level (children with no shoes)
• Equate consumer behavior with positive social outcome – ego enhancement
• Unique - early entrant new business model
• Group affiliation, social identity
What Makes TOMS Work?
• Fans appropriated story, connecting with each other
• Highly sharable media and activities to support growing community
• Linked and reinforced offline and online actions
• Rituals and artifacts continually trigger narrative experience
• Provides audience with feedback about results of their actions
• Maintains authenticity and continually reinforces identity
How Does TOMS Bridge the Gaps?
‘East Los High’
Anchor: Hulu Videos Website
@eastloshighshow Facebook
Transmedia Story: ‘East Los High’
Character Vlogs
School Newspaper
Instagram Tumblr
Links to Resources
Dance Videos
• Strong story based on theory – Sabido Methodology
– Dramatic theory for characters and structure (Brewer)
– Emotional and realistic content
– Archetypal characters (Jung)
– Social Learning Theory: Transitional characters model realistic change (Bandura)
– Frequency allows creation of parasocial relationships (intimacy at a distance, Horton & Wohl)
• Narrative stays true across media – Enhances suspension of disbelief (Bruner)
What Makes ‘East Los High’ Work?
• Clear “signposts” on every medium
• Offers value proposition in skills & resources (mastery)
• Provides hub for social connection and affiliation
• Access to alternate media fills time gap between episodes
• Validates teen experience
• Content creation creates stakeholders
• Encourages & values audience
• Soap opera/telenovela format uses emotional narrative devices (e.g., cliffhangers)
• Models behavioral choice/demonstrates hope & resilience
How Does ‘East Los High’ Bridge the Gaps?
StoryWorld
Story Awareness Engagement Experience Explore
Engagement Path
StoryWorld
Create anticipation
Provide signposts Develop artifacts and rituals
Multiple channels, gaps
Source: Adapted from http://www.slideshare.net/sioflynn
StoryWorld
Actionable Content
Story Awareness Engagement Action Transformation
Sustainable Engagement
Source: Adapted from Lina Srivastava http://transmedia-activism.com/
Story Immersion
StoryWorld
• Psychology emphasizes audience-centric view of transmedia journey
• Neuroscience highlights the role of instinct in narrative experience
• Increases persuasion, diminishes resistance
• Human behavior varies but goals and needs are stable
• Combines with other metrics for richer analysis of results
Getting to the ‘Why’
MULTI-PLATFORM NARRATIVE ENGAGEMENT
Pamela Rutledge, PhD, MBA Director, Media Psychology Research Center
Faculty, Media Psychology, Fielding Graduate University
@pamelarutledge
PSYCHOLOGY OF THE TRANSMEDIA TRIP
THANK YOU
