In effect, this concrete, textual manifestation of economic and intertextual ­synergy is so fundamental to the form of reflexive sitcoms as to constitute ­mise-en-synergy. While traditional mise-en-scène is about the relation between visual style and meaning, mise-en-synergy concerns the multi-platform relationship between audiovisual style, meaning, and economics. It can be thought of as a schematic and quantitative approach to the vast, multi-platform, intertextual components that comprise contemporary cultural texts. Using tools such as data ­mining, distant reading, and data visualization, the economic and intertextual parameters of the form of visual texts can be investigated on a scale that would not be possible without computation. A specific attention to mise-en-synergy highlights both textual and financial phenomena, interlocking processes that inform ­strategies of representation as well as structures of financialization. This ­mise-en-synergy should be seen not (just) as a crass business decision, but as an integral part of the canvas upon which contemporary cultural texts paint their commercial art.

DEFINE: Introduces the coined term 'mise-en-synergy' as a computational framework for examining the multi-platform intertextual and economic dimensions of contemporary media. XREF: Extends traditional film studies concept of mise-en-scène into a data-driven, cross-platform media-economics framework.

Andrew deWaard, Derivative Media, loc. 383