CS Presentation Script/Research

How does 'The Walking Dead' successfully create a coherent world through the use of Transmedia Storytelling?

To start off with I wanted to define some of the words in my title to link to my presentation. First of all Coherent basically means consistent and realistic. If a game world is not coherent, that it is not believable. Transmedia storytelling is telling a story using lots of different types of media. This links to the series that I looked at.

The Walking dead is a great example of Transmedia storytelling. They have really done a lot to this story to expand it from its roots. The expansion of the series now includes the TV Series which is based off the graphic novel and began in 2009.  It also includes 3 games, a prequel to the TV Series called Dead Reckoning, A 5 part episodic game and a FPS to be released in 2013. There has also been webisodes created based on characters from the TV Series. Robert Kirkman has also written 2 novels based on the Governors character from the narrative.

The Walking Dead began in 2003 as a series of comics created by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore. It is based around the story of Rick Grimes, a police officer who awakens from a coma to find he is in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. It follows the story of how he reunites with his family and his struggle for survival. It follows the lives of Rock, his wife Lori and their son Carl as well as his partner in the force, Shane and the tension caused by the end of the world.

The Walking Dead TV series was first aired in 2009, and is based on the graphic novel. It follows the same story arch, following Rick Grimes. However it has its own twist on the narrative also. Now on Season 3, the series is growing stronger and more popular each season. It has the same characters as the comics, as well as locations, but adds new faces and people to give it its own unique edge.

The Walking Dead, Dead Reckoning was released by AMC in February 2012 to promote season 2 of the TV series. It features the story of Shane Walsh as he survives the outbreak before he goes to see Rick at the beginning of Season 1 of the TV Series. It serves as a prequel to his role in the narrative. The game was created in a graphic novel style, with ‘pages’ and a drawn look.

The 5 part episodic game by Tell Tale Games features a new character in the world called Lee. It follows his story as he finds a young girl called Clementine and they struggle to survive in the zombie apocalypse. It features a graphic novel art style as it was directly influenced by it. It also features some well known characters from the comic. There is still one more episode left to be released in this series.

The new first person shooter in production at the moment will be a prequel to the TV series and will follow the story of Daryl and his brother Merle in the beginnings of the outbreak. It is set to be released in December 2013.

There have been 2 lots of Webisodes released by AMC to support the main TV Series. They have been based on influential characters in the TV Series. The First series of Webisodes is called Torn Apart and was released after season 1 to help promote the release of season 2. It is based on a Walker from the first season who Rick shoots. This zombie was the first he encountered in the whole series. Her name is Hannah, and it basically shows how she became to be a zombie. The second series of webisodes was released in 2012 to promote season 3 of the walking dead. It follows a new character Chase as tries to reach his sister.

Robert Kirkman also wrote 2 novels which follows  a character named Phillip Blake, who is the Governor of Woodbury estates. It follows how he became to be this influential role in both the comic and the TV series. The second novel follows the story of a girl named Lilly and her group as they come across Woodbury and its secrets.

What I decided to find out is why this world is so coherent. For this, I looked through all of the different Medias and found links. These links are what make the world coherent. Fans of the series will find these links and be like, “oh that’s Glenn, he’s in the TV series!” For fans, this is what makes this world so strong and immersive. The narratives flow into each other so well, it feels real.

The character looks from the Graphic Novel to the TV series just shows how close they wanted to make it to the comic. The coherency in the characters appearance helps to make it consistent.

There are some characters that appear in the 5-part game as well. Hershel Greene and Shawn Greene are two examples, Shawn Greene is not in the TV Series, however is mentioned as Hershel's son who died. Glenn also appears in the game. The game serves as a prequel to the comic and the TV Series of these characters narratives.

Shane also appears in the prequel game, Dead Reckoning. His look is mirrored throughout the graphic novel and TV Series.

One link that appears throughout many of the different series is Hershel. He appears in the Graphic Novel, TV Series and the 5-part game. Hershel looks the same throughout the different series. Fans will instinctively know that it is him just from how he looks.

Glenn also appears in the comic, TV Series and game. The game serves as a prequel to before he meets up with Shane’s group in the TV series and saves Rick. His look is mirrored throughout the narratives.

From the first episode of season 1, Rick kills a half eaten walker. This is the first zombie he encounters after leaving the hospital. She also appears in the Webisode ‘Torn Apart’ which shows how she came to be a walker.

The Farm also appears in the comic, TV Series and the Game. As you can see from the images the game is identical to the comic layout of his farm; however in the series they changed it slightly to include a lot more land, as the narrative is slightly different. However they kept the most noticeable links to how his farm looks such as the large barn and white house.

Atlanta appears in both the comic and the TV Series, and this is where the narrative begins for Rick. This is also where the narrative begins for Lee in the game, as he is currently being driven out of the city in a police car at the beginning of episode 1. The second webisode is also based just outside Atlanta.

Georgia is also where part of the game is based. Lee is from Macon in Georgia, and the group visit this area in episode 1. This crosses over the 2 different groups paths, and links them to the same area. Hannah from the first webisode is also from Georgia, and this is where it is set.

Kings County Sheriffs Department in Georgia is where Rick and Shane work in both the Graphic Novel and the TV Series. It also appears however in the prequel game Dead Reckoning.

Georgia is where the prison is located. The Prison appears in both the graphic novel and the series.

Woodbury in Georgia appears in the graphic novel, TV Series and in the Novels. This area is portrayed the same throughout the different medias as a sanctuary for the characters, but this is questionable.

To summarise all of my research, as you can see the creators of the walking dead world have gone into exponential detail to make sure the worlds and its characters are coherent. Every single added extra they have made onto the series links to another part in some way, and this is why this series is so successful. It’s done in such a way that a viewer of the TV series will go out and get the game or the graphic novel, or a long time reader of the comics will watch the series. It makes the viewer active to seek out the extra add ons they can get to the original story. As a fan of this world myself, I actively sought out these extra bits as I want to read the novel to find out about the governor in the story, and also find out what happened to Shane before the zombie apocalypse started. All of these links to the series create a strong believable world, and the use of characters makes the viewer want to find out about what happened to that character before this all happened, you feel empathy for them. The popularity of this world stems from its use of coherency throughout the series, whether it’s from the comic to the TV series or to the game etc, and its strong portrayal of this desolate world and its fragile inhabitants.