The Grafedia Project imagines a way to hyperlink words that exist in a physical space (specifically graffiti, but not necessarily).

The drum|head project plays with (a video projection of) your head.

Participatory Culture offers a launching point for user-created Internet TV using the Bit Torrent protocol starting in June. (Related: Google's new Video Upload Program.)

A Lesson Is Learned But The Damage Is Irreversible is a webcomic that is just plain awesome.

Website: http://www.redvsblue.com

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.

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.

(via BoingBoing)

Title: TBD

Concept/Theme: This film explores the central role commuting and transportation have on our experience of the world, especially in a sprawling metropolis like Los Angeles. Three characters (husband, wife, and elderly father/father-in-law) make their way from a common starting point to pursue their daily commute-the elderly father walks to the local donut shop with his faithful dog companion, pausing in the park along the way to chat with other neighborhood locals; the husband drops his wife at the rail station and proceeds by car, racing down boulevards onto the freeway, taking conference calls on his cell phone, and getting trapped by traffic jams, all the while images of snow capped San Bernardino mountains fleet by as unnoticed as the giant billboards advertising new televisions shows and the current lottery prize; the wife boards the MTA Red Line, noting the artwork in the station before boarding the train, struggling to maintain a comfortable personal space as the train car fills with commuters, students, tourists, panhandlers and all manner of persons.
In each vignette (father, husband, wife) the pace of images proceeds coincident with the pace (and relative peace) of the commute: pedestrian=slow, meandering pace; driver=frantic and fast paced, with the world fleeting by as if on screen, until traffic jam; rail rider=speedy and steady pace. The image-speed will not be “real time” but will be “proportional time”. That is, each of the three characters spends the same amount of time traveling within the storyworld (diegetic time), but standard cinematic techniques of time compression and ellipses, in addition to the rapid image speed, will allow the portrayal of significantly different distances covered by the different modes of transport.
The progress of each character can be followed by means of an interactive map. The icon representing each character will move along his or her route appropriately and the user can investigate each.

Interaction Design: The screen is divided into 5 frames, on large and four _ size thumbnails on the left hand side of the screen (one per character and one for the map). The map has three icons (each color coded to the character's costume) moving in proportion to the corresponding characters' commute. Clicking the icon will load that commuter's image track into the large window. To begin the piece, the three character thumbnails are not loaded, all characters are on screen in the large window and selecting a character populates the sidebar thumbnails and loads that character's image-track into the main window.

Misc. Notes: Currently thinking that the “image track” is still image montage, sound design (not described above) also a key element to capturing the experience of these commutes/lifestyles.

TBD elements: title, authoring platform, narrative closure.

One of their recent projects was the MP3 Experiment, inspired by the Flaming Lips' Parking Lot Experiments and Headphone Concerts and Andy Kaufman's Performance at Carnegie Hall. Weeks in advance, participants were instructed to download a 27-minute mp3 file to their audio-player of choice and told the location and time of the performance. At the theatre, each audience-member donned headphones and started their mp3 players at the same time. Throughout the performance, participants were instructed to blow bubbles, give high fives, divide into groups (including secret instructions to each group), take photographs, and dance. All done in complete silence as seen by the outside viewer!

As visual media players become more portable and pervasive, one can imagine a similar project incorporating an active audience that reacts in groups to pieces of video each member is individually presented with. Perhaps participants are shown a set of shapes that they must form in groups (a la Michel Gondry's music video for "Mad World"), or they are given a map of some space and led on a treasure hunt with the added temporal challenge of clues being uncovered along a timeline. Not everyone would have to have the exact same video either. Groups could be instructed to use different versions, or technology permitting, video streams could be changed in real-time based on location or other variables.

This installation seemed to indicate a disturbing evolution where human beings are becoming more mechanical due to the advancement of technology. This theme is played out all across the arts for generations. It is not an original idea, but this presentation packs a powerful punch using multiple projections.

In 1979, her first interactive art videodisc called “Lorna” was the first experimentation towards interactive filmmaking to create an experience that uses moving images to defy conventional structure, whether this be the creation of alternate endings to the script and soundtracks. I believe her experimental film “Lorna” has given a new direction towards Interactive cinema with non linear form of story telling. Lorna involves interactive environment, videodisc, monitor, remote control interface; sound, video footage basically a mixed media based system. In this system users can interact and make choices for the videotaped character, Lorna, an agoraphobic woman who has difficulty making choices for her self. Every object in Lorna’s tiny apartment has a number. Pressing each object accesses video and sound information about Lorna’s fears and dreams as well as her history, personal conflicts and possible future. Some of these can be seen backwards, forwards, at increased or decreased speed, and from several perspectives though the footage is only of seventeen minutes.

Her other project called “Deep Contact” was also the first Interactive sexual fantasy videodisc. This piece invites participants to actually touch their “guide” Marion on any part of her body via a touch screen monitor. Adventures develop depending upon which body part is touched. I find such technical and artistic experimentation with installations very important for development of interactive filmmaking.

Much of de Nijs' work “explores the dynamic clash between bodies, machines and other media.” What I find most interesting about de Nijs' use of the viewer's own body as an interface/control device in Run Motherfucker Run is its capacity (here only loosely appropriated) to affect both stylistic and narrative components of the piece. As described in Future Cinema, only two things change with speed on the treadmill: pace through the landscape/environment and brightness of image. Conceivably, parameters could be introduced to affect the timeline of a plot (affecting the meetings of various characters), as well as embedding markers in the film that would control changes in the speed or angle of the treadmill, contesting the viewer's ability to exercise control.