Paul Bellezza

1. An area of interest you’ve identified:

Journey of the Self, Heroes, Los Angeles Traffic, Forgotten Los Angeles

2. A couple of questions (stated in the form of a question) and opportunities suggested by your area of interest – what do you (or a potential viewer) want or need to know about this area?

A) What is a hero? How is a hero defined in interactive media, today? Is it different from that of literature and film? Can game heroes be inspiring the same way literary, cinematic and television heroes can be? Can they be as heroic as today’s heroes: mothers, fathers, politicians, artists, musicians etc?

B) Is Los Angeles traffic a solveable problem? What will happen when Los Angeles Traffic will become unsustainable? Will we ever get a metro? How will the city handle this? Who is working on the solution right now?

C) With the expansion of Los Angeles eastward and northward, what will happen to the city center as we know it? Where is the Los Angeles city center today? Will areas of Los Angeles continue to be buried and forgotten like Bunker Hill, Angeleno Heights, Temple-Beaudry?

3. Identify a method or process that can be used to explore your question.

A) Examination of all relevant heroes from interactive media. Research the Hero’s Journey- relate it to game heroes and game design. After coming to a conclusion, design a game with a hero worth looking up to.

B) Examination of all policy being done about Los Angeles Traffic. Research on the history of the Freeway system. Examination of Population growth and car selling done in LA county.

C) Examination of all gentrification going on in Los Angeles- examination of major migration of Los Angelenos towards Valencia, Victorville and Apple Valley.

4. One to three actual topics or subjects that address your interests/questions.

A) Literature- The Hero’s Journey
Biographies- Real Heroes: Churchill, Lincoln, FDR, Pope John Paul II, Moses
Games: Identify Relevant Heroes, create some gauge

B) Newspapers, Public Policy Meetings, LADOT (Los Angeles Department of Traffic), SigAlert

C) Newspapers, Real Estate Guides, Library Research on old Los Angeles

5. Pair your topics with a genre and an audience: Not just “a game” but the type of game and the type of player you envision.

A) This project could easily be a research paper, an exhibit, or a game that strives to have a "hero" worth looking up to.

B) I imagine this project being a software appliaction that uses real time traffic information. Possible methods of interaction would be altering the flow of traffic, and re-tooling routes of emergencies on the freeways.

C) This project could be an exhibit coupling video, pictures, and constructed kit of Los Angeles. I'd like the user to be able to physically interact with the project as well- utilizing digging tools, magnyfying glasses, gnobs and a variety of doo-hickeys to explore the subject. The more hands-on the better.

6. Commit to a term (participant, viewer, player, reader, user, audience) that you will use throughout the project.

User