The view from the fourth wall window: crossmedia fictions

The delivery of fiction across multiple platforms; cinema, television, web and mobile devices now defines the contemporary broadcasting landscape. The illumination of this nascent area will be through the consideration of two contemporary crossmedia examples: The Truth About Marika (2007, Sweden Dir: Christopher Sandberg & Martin Erikkson) and The Inside (2011, USA, Dir: DJ Caruso). Both examples deployed multiple content delivery platforms in order to create their respective narrative experiences and both offered the audience opportunities for real-time involvement within the stories to the point where in some cases audience members perceived the fiction to be real. These explications will be preceded by a summary of the evolution of narrative techniques within screen media and their associated critique. This will be followed by an exploration into the definitions of crossmedia fictions, and an overview of the broad spectrum of the varying intensities of crossmedia forms. The chapter draws upon the study of narrative and film as well as being informed by the contemporary studies of transmedia and convergence. The chapter ultimately contends that with the advent of the crossmedia fictional form comes the emergence and evolution of new storytelling grammars, styles and aesthetics, alongside an advancement of the language and frameworks for their subsequent study.