Chad Bradford, a director, actor and composer based in New York City, taught students about transmedia storytelling in Bridges Larson Theatre, Feb. 10.
The event was a part of the Artists in Residence program, hosted by the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. The residencies bring artists who practice various mediums to UCA to expand the student body’s knowledge of the arts.
Bradford is a member of the Actor’s Equity Association and is the Associate Artistic Director for Shake on the Lake Shakespeare, located in Western New York. Bradford has also worked for many theaters, such as the American Shakespeare Center and the Arkansas Shakespeare Theater. Bradford received his BA in theater arts at the University of Central Arkansas.
Bradford began the presentation with a clip from the “Star Wars” franchise, explaining that George Lucas created “the most popular and most successful transmedia franchise we’ve ever seen.” He used this example to emphasize the relevance of transmedia storytelling.
Transmedia storytelling is the act of sharing stories through multiple different platforms or formats.
“You have a story, and you share it as many ways as possible,” Bradford said.
Bradford continued to give the audience everyday examples of transmedia storytelling, citing the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Schitt’s Creek,” and Pretzel the Scottish Dachshund.
Using these examples, Bradford showed the audience how prevalent transmedia storytelling is in today’s world.
“You don’t have to take crap from people that tell you that being an art major won’t make any difference. It’s for international travel and tourism, and it’s making billions and billions of dollars,” Bradford said.
Bradford showed the audience, using Pretzel the internet-famous Scottish Dachshund, how people can create parallel universes, merchandise and secure brand partnerships.
When speaking on drillability and spreadability, Bradford showed examples of fan art and even merchandise created on specific TV shows and book series.
“Spreadability: able to shoot stories to play into places that they normally would never get to,” Bradford said.
“Transmedia storytelling is the catch-all phrase we use to describe that kind of activity that we’ve always done, but now we’re exploring in more depth,” Bradford said.
Bradford even tied in transmedia storytelling into immersive theater. “Now we get to see how we can stand into these other realms that will continue to make theater an essential art,” Bradford said.
Sophomore Eli Summers said, “It’s interesting how it’s different from normal theater because I didn’t understand how it [transmedia storytelling] translated into that, but I found it interesting.”
The next Artists in Residence presentation will be Elizabeth Rush, the author of “Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore” and “Still Lifes from a Vanishing City: Essays and Photographs from Yangon, Myanmar.” Rush’s first presentation on Masterclass on Literary Journalism will take place at 3:30 p.m. Feb. 22 in Win Thompson Hall 331.
Her next presentations will include a Public Reading at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 22 in the College of Business Auditorium and a Craft Talk: Environmental Writing, Climate Change, and Literary Journalism at 3 p.m. Feb. 23 in Win Thompson Hall 331.
