Professor Lincoln Geraghty, Professor of Media Cultures, University of Portsmouth.
Alison Norrington, Visiting Fellow Solent University, Transmedia Producer at Story Central.
For the concluding panel of the Evolution of Story one-day symposium at Solent University on Wednesday 19th February 2020 we have on one hand scholar Prof. Lincoln Geraghty whose research is focused around science fiction, popular culture, American film and television and fandom. Lincoln is interested in the cultural and creative links between audiences and the media entertainment industries; particularly the affective and nostalgic relationships fans create when collecting media merchandise and children’s toys from their past. While on the other hand, we have Transmedia Producer and storyteller Alison Norrington who as founder and creative director of Story Central wears a series of creative hats as Brand & Creative Director and Strategist, Talent & Content Development Lead, Creative Franchise Design & Story Architect, Writer, Digital Producer and Media Lecturer and works with networks, brands, storytellers, filmmakers and theme parks.
Below you can watch Alison’s 2012 TEDx Transmedia talk on theories of playfulness within storytelling and how a story’s theme, genre and audience behaviours help shape strategy, active engagement and levels of immersion.
On this panel, Alison and Lincoln will be discussing how and why audiences want to be part of something, to live the story. Big movie franchises like Star Wars and the MCU tell increasingly complex stories with multiple characters in ever-expanding universes across the media multiplatform, and fans engage with this on every level: conventions, tourism, cosplay, gaming, fan fiction, social media, blogging, vidding and more. Increasingly, audiences are seeking immersive experiences to make their favourite fictional texts more real. AR games like Pokémon Go and Wizards Unite get people out exploring their own environment through the lens of Pokémon and Harry Potter; at the same time, this gives fans the chance to create their own hero’s journey using the established narrative framework of the original. What is more, this journey has become a collective one where fans work for and with each other to make their experiences more enjoyable, immersive and tangible. While fandom is participatory, we will also acknowledge its hierarchical and competitive nature, where social media has provided platforms for fans to contest the stories they are told and react strongly if they feel “their” texts and fandom are threatened. We hope this panel allows for open discussion; to explore the impact of storytelling on audiences and also the audience’s ability to create new stories from old.