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March 26, 2005
seven sons
Seven sons is a nice non-linear documentary about Bedouin life, shot in the Sinai desert in Egypt, made with Korsakow and by the author of Korsakow, Florian Thalhofer.
Posted by mlew at 03:18 AM | Comments (0)
March 25, 2005
Red vs. Blue Machinima
We were talking about machinima in class today. The episode I showed in class was Episode 46 of Red Vs. Blue: The Blood Gulch Chronicles. This machinima series is made using the Halo (now Halo 2) game, using one "player" as the camera (since it's a first-person perspective game) and the other players control their avatars like puppets/actors to make the film (dialogue dubbed in later).
Website: http://www.redvsblue.com
Posted by sruston at 02:20 PM | Comments (1)
March 04, 2005
Katherine Hayles' Narrating Bits
Katherine Hayles' project Narrating Bits for the first issue of Vectors relates to the subject of narratology, specifically the relation of fabula and syuzhet as it is enacted in interactive media. Her essay is itself an instantiation of a multi-temporal structure, providing the opportunity for site visitors to add their own layers of commentary and to navigate the story through a non-linear interface.
Posted by sanderson at 01:43 PM | Comments (0)
March 02, 2005
Got to Get to Grandpa
A revised version of "Untitled" (apologies for the crappy formatting):
CTIN 499 Project Treatment and Notes
Title: “Got to Get to Grandpa”
Treatment: On a sunny day in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, Barney takes his faithful mutt Alfonse for a walk in the late afternoon. Barney loves these walks with Alfonse, through the park, sometimes to the donut shop, sometimes chatting with other dog walkers, sometimes just stopping to smell the flowers. This day, however, the walk end differently-Alfonse is expectantly barking at a passerby; recognizing a loose dog, the good Samaritan checks his tags and dials the number.
Meanwhile in her downtown office, Sally's workday is going well. The latest merger and acquisitions deal is set to go through and she's looking forward to a relaxing vacation with her dad, Barney, and her husband, Sam, and their kids (and, of course, Alfonse). The phone rings and a semi-frantic stranger tells her of the situation at the park with Alfonse loose and Barney not in sight. Sally is frantic, sure that any number of terrible fates could have befallen her elderly father: fallen and broken his hip, had a stroke or heart attack, mugged by a thug, or had a senile episode and wandered off. She calls Sam, and both decide to rush home as fast as they can. Sally races to the elevator, out the building and towards the MTA stop to board a train and get home as fast as she can. Sam shouts to his assistant that he must leave early, hops in his car and starts the challenging commute back from the Westside.
They arrive at the park (or do they? And are they in a mental state capable of dealing with the crisis?), see Barney and Alfonse, assess their condition…. and fade to black.
Screen Layout:
o one main viewing window, with four thumbnails on the left side
o one thumbnail for Grandpa (Barney), Sally, Sam and the map of LA
o each character thumbnail has a “faster” and a “slower” button beneath
o on the map, dots appear representing the characters' movement; Barney is still, Sam and Sally's move in accordance with the buttons (described below)
Interactivity Design:
o View control
o clicking on any of the three character thumbnails loads that scene into main viewing window
o sound design elements only apply to the sequence in the main viewing window
o Character Speed Control
o Character's speed of travel represented by corresponding moving dot on map
o As player's speed increased/decreased, dot moves accordingly
o Default movement speed is 30 minutes from departure point (downtown office or Westside office) to Grandpa's park (diegetic time)
o Sally always takes 30 min to reach the park
o Sam's travel takes into account time spent at 1.3, 1.5, 1.6 travel rates
o Character “Speed Level” matches character “Emotional Level”
o Each character's thumbnail has “faster” and “slower” button, affecting their speed of movement
o Grandpa
o Faster and slower buttons only speed up or slow down the image rate (if stills are used) or the shot rate (if video is used)
o Sally
o Faster and slower buttons image/shot rate
o Faster/slower buttons increase audible footstep rate while she's walking
o Faster/slower buttons DO NOT increase her travel speed once she's on the train, only the image/shot rate
o Image/shot rate levels
o 1st level (one “Faster” click): increase shot rate
o 2nd level (second “faster” click): increase shot rate again, and introduce extra 'anxiety' shots (checking cell phone for coverage)
o 3rd level (third “faster” click): again increase shot rate and amount of anxiety
o 4th level: dizzying shot rate
o emotional register
o speed levels 1-3=competence
o level 4=nervous breakdown
o Sam
o Faster/slower buttons change image/shot rate
o Faster/slower buttons DO change speed of Sam's travel to Grandpa
o Speed levels
o 1st: increase in shot rate; geographic travel rate increase by 1.3
o 2nd: increase in shot rate; increase in anxiety shots; travel rate increase to 1.5
o 3rd: increase in shot rate; add anger shots in addition to anxiety; travel rate increase to 1.6
o 4th: increase in shot rate to dizzying rate; all shots are of traffic jam; travel rate decreases to zero; shots frozen in loop; Sam can't go anywhere
o Emotional Level Effect
o If both Sam and Sally arrive at the same time, then the problem is resolved
o Both express relief at other's presence; fade to black
o If Sam arrives first
o At emotion level 1 or 2, he solves problem
o At emotion level 3, he explodes in anger at all bystanders and cannot deal with situation; expresses relief at Sally's arrival; fade to black
o If Sally arrives first
o At emotion level 1 or 2, she solves the problem
o At emotion level 3 or 4, she has a nervous breakdown at the park
Unresolved Questions:
o Use video or still images?
o Stills: shot rate can be manipulated by a change in frame rate of Flash
o Video: might be more convincing/engaging
o How to increase cut rate algorithmically? (rather than having a different scene with a different .mov)
o Platform
o Flash? Director? Other?
o How challenging is the link between the moving dot and the speed rate of Sam (which will also be the mechanism to determine who arrives first and how the story ends)? Each “Faster” button click moves from 1x to 1.3x to 1.5x to 1.6x speed. Each “slower” click moves back sequentially towards 1x speed (and one .5x speed level). The system needs to constantly update the dot's position and movement rate so that if Sam travels _ the distance at 1.5x and _ the distance at 1.3x, he'll arrive in 21.4 minutes.
Posted by sruston at 10:38 PM | Comments (0)