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imogenbennettblogsdp · 4 years

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Non linear story telling - Session 5

So this blog is going to be different from the others (mostly for me that is) because of CONVID-19 the lesson is coming via virtual teaching - which ironic as its a virtual course - so how have I coped? developed my knowledge? what did I learn? well keep reading and I will take you through as I ask myself the same questions.

working by myself in the comfort of my pyjamas sounds nice but the problem is i’m very easily distracted, and live in a loud house hold with no room to be by myself so personally its not an ideal location for my learning and I tried to deal with it by doing it in my room by myself which doesn't help much but its the best I can do, I also learn by explanation... in a visual way, reading is not my forte (even tho there is a voice over, I found myself drifting off or not focusing entirely which is my problem not the lecturers). I also found that in a class i’m more motivated by other people working to, Floyd Allport in 1920: ‘The social Facilitation effect’ he found that people worked better in teams (even if not on the same project) than people working individually. “the mere presence of other people engaged in the same task as us can boost our motivation.”. So to summarise I can definitely tell that learning in a class surrounded by others and having ability to ask the lecturer a question straight up other than over emails. In future (fingers crossed) I will not take that for advantage.

Listening to the slides talking about non linear films Pulp Fiction I mentioned, this sparks a personal evaluation as I studied pulp fiction in the past for my level film course so I have quite a bit of knowledge on the film.

The way Quintin explored the non-linear structure is very fascinating almost episodic and circular (he seems to dabble in a few) I like how he opens the story and ends it the same... in the diner with the bonnie and Clyde homage couple.

One mention in the slides, when Vincent actual dies (Spoiler i’m sorry) half way through the film in butch’s storyline. Which creates irony for the ending scene, when Vincent is asked what he will do in future... we knows he dies so it creates a different vibe for the audience but also allows to understand that we can't get to attached to the characters as in their dangerous job, they can die at any time. I like the way Tarantino played with narrative in this. it intrigues me and is very different to the norm linear structure we're all familiar with.

From the slides I read this line about Interactive storytelling written by Carolyn Miller “Interactivity is a conversation between the user and the content...People who participate in interactive entertainments are given two gifts that are never offered to audiences of passive entertainments: choice and control. They get to chose what to see and do within an interactive work, and the decisions they make have an impact upon the story” I really agree with this especially allowing the audience to feel like they have control. personally I enjoy that aspect and it widens my experience giving me something non interactive stories can't, which is making me feel like I'm apart of creating the game and that my choices matter.

paper based interactivity is interesting although personally I don't think ill be as invested in this type of interactive storytelling type as I find it hard to read a book as it is, with the added complexity of multiple story I don't think ill be able to follow. on the other hand interactive reading is made simper with visuals without losing the ‘reading’ element of it. which Is where I introduce to you “Episode”. episode is a interactive story telling mobile app which allows the reader to chose their own storyline and characters look ( what I mean by this is in some episodes the reader can personalise their characters looks which I feel adds a lot to how the reader views the story - A lovely added touch if you ask me!-

Episode is great in the way you can play/ read and create episodes from the comfort of their home to the top of a pyramid (providing they get a great internet service that it).

For a task of creating our own interactive story, I find this a good way to challenge the two softwares, originally i was supposed to make a story on twine but to be honest I tried to work it and I hated it instantly... no hate to twine but its very much not my forte, compared to episode its just text and is quite boring/ Dull I feel I am limiting myself. (as you can tell Episode is quite colourful and cartoon like which I lean more towards (and the fact you can create the characters and animate them more). So I asked my lecturer and he confirmed I will be making my story on episode... now before you moan saying ‘i’m not challenging myself’ I am ok, I really only made one episode story and that was via mobile, I’m now doing it on PC which looks like a bunch of coding.

And to sell you Episode even more...YOU CAN GET PAID TO DO IT!! here is the link again for you to rush over and begin your story haha ..... yes they pay you based off your user reads (how many people read your stories) which is great and can encourage more story to one made.

I made a ‘rough’ Episode and I found it quite fun, its nice to see something you achieve

The way you create episodes on PC is much different to the app... harder.

its formed in the way like a play script or code. but it is unforgiving with spelling errors, one error and the whole script errors- not allowing you to view it-. very annoying when you in the flow of writing and you want to preview it and you get shot with tons of these red errors.

Especially when you have no idea where they are or how to correct.(watch all my blogs from now on have perfect grammar and spelling haha. I found my self googling what's the problem was or deleting it a redoing it. other than that when you get the hang of it and learn all your errors... its fun. I could easily make a whole story and get lost in writing. but then again that's what I do... I get lost in my writing and I love it. perhaps it'll be nice to explore that and be able to have a purpose to write again, even if it is for a ‘game’. Another annoying mention is that I wanted to link the story I made but you can't punish it until you have 3 episodes for it...ugh. maybe I'll finish this random story and publish it for you to be amazed #NextJK. like I said ill like to explore this further... perhaps my idea for my media rich projects who knows (eyes_waggle_motion)... oh gosh too much episode writing. I actually screen recorded the episode I created and put it in the google folder...Enjoy!

Playing Black mirror’s Bandersnatch I found the experience fun and interesting, one thing I found happened with other people swell as my self is that after I had my personalised story, I went back to fix what i ‘did wrong’ (essentially I played all the story lines through making a hour and something film into almost 4 hours... wow that shows how much free time I had) and I guess that's something people get wrong with interactive films/games. they feel although they can change or correct something...go back and change it which ultimately ruins the experience (when I say they i’m mostly referring to myself). When I killed a character I didn't really feel that emotion of grief I should have as I know I can go back and keep them alive, kind of takes away the personal touch.

I liked how it was all based around the book Bandersnatch (which I just researched isn't an actual book... which again resinates to Transmedia in the way they created the book for the film, they are widening the world of the film- more about Transmedia in blog 6-

I wanted to see how else interactive games were made, and I remember form a long time ago I watched interactive games/video via Youtube. So I looked into it and found this video.

youtube

which Is very clever in making an interactive story via multi video links and has a good message.. helping the viewer understand debt. - just to say I got it all right and ended up paying my debt :) - although a criticism I would add was that they forced the debt onto you at the beginning, what ever you picked they made you buy the drone which kind of takes the personal touch away but other than that it was a good awarenesses video. Perhaps in future I would like to explore interactive videos ill do it this way (Youtube is a massive content sharing website so it'll most likely get the most interaction via youtube).

I then watched Aloe Blacc’s “love is the answer” on Eko, ‘They allow the user to interact with multiple narratives within a single film.’ Firstly I really liked this episode, it's based on a recording of a music video for Aloe’s song ‘love is the answer’. it was interesting to see the different directions and roles people undertake at the same time: Aloe the artist himself, Nick the floor manager, Leo (i think) is one of the back up dancers swell as Hannah. Almost portraying what happens beyond the screen, what people do to create such things - like a community as-well as the artist-.

interesting way of a music video, more of an interactive type, noting I just realised; referencing back to my previous point that people will watch the multi storylines over, and over again. its actually quite benefiting in this case... the song will get stuck in your head leading the viewer most likely download the song on Spotify and listening to it over, and over again... not talking from experience. this is also a type of Transmedia as its not just on Mtv’s music channel or the radio/ youtube, it reaches out to another audience (the interactive audience). just to let you know I followed Hannahs story first as I was curious to wards her role was (I thought she was a model of some sort)

one of the things I like which this ‘music video’ has is when you go onto Aloe’s storyline the music is much louder, to suggest it's prominently his story, he's the focus..it is his voice after all and you are closer to him. making it more immersive again - giving you a choice to hear it at that volume- .

what I didn't like about it? personally I did find it a little boring. its not like there's not much happening action wise, perhaps if there was more interactivity it would intrigued me more? maybe if you chose the location of the set or colour of lights... the little things.

I liked this session... it was nice to dive back into episode and writing, something which I casted away for a while. made me feel inspired and that's a nice feeling.

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