WEEK 1: Overview of Interactivity

Transmedia or convergence storytelling is poised to supplant traditional filmmaking as the dominant dramatic form of the 21st century. Although the rapid pace of innovation and advance has left a landscape dotted with failed ventures, several dominant forms have begun to emerge. From both winners and losers, there are a host of lessons to be learned.

Given that VFS students tend to come from more of a filmmaker’s mindset, this class will serve as a wide-ranging overview of interactive forms. Students will be exposed to narrative forms ranging from simple analog interaction to hugely complex MMPOGs. This information overload will open

Topics:

· Course objectives
· State of the Union, State of the Industry
· Analog interactivity
· Simple interactive forms
· The cinematics of interaction
· Eye candy
· Limited interaction
· The atypical

Assignments:

· “Adopt-a-Nerd”
· Read McLuhan – is the medium the message?
· Read Creative Screenwriting article as prep for next week
· Read MIT article on transmedia storytelling

WEEK 2: Modeling three dimensional stories

To understand interaction, one must add a “Z” axis to our way of thinking about storytelling. This is not to suggest a wholesale departure from what we know of dramatic structure, but rather to transform our way of thinking to allow for multiple narratives and multiple outcomes. In other words, this material lives at the treatment level.

Using a model-by-by model approach, this class will show how interaction simultaneously challenges and reinforces conventional storytelling. In order to drive home these points, students will participate in an in-class, real-time storytelling exercise.

Topics:

· Five ways of looking at storytelling structures
· Examination of various interactive models
· In-class storytelling exercise
· Discussion of how interactivity co-exists with conventional storytelling

Assignments:

· Prepare sample videogame script
· What is a Moebius strip? Trajan’s column? The Bayeux Tapestry?



WEEK 3: Audience? User? Participant?

Crucial to our understanding of interactivity is an appreciation of the audience experience. As one moves from 12 yards to 12 feet to 12 inches away from the screen, everything changes. The key to unlocking this puzzle oftentimes lies in the author’s selection of interactive assets from the wide variety of media available.

This class will examine the basic elements that make up an interactive property. Discussion will focus on how their use can involve or alienate an audience/user/participant and how this resonance can be used to good effect.

Topics:

· Information architecture
· Master metaphor
· Visual narrative
· Layering media elements
· Interaction as a prop for cinema
· “PoV” screening and discussion

Assignment:


· Easter Egg Hunt
· Move to complete final projects



WEEK 4: Presentation and Discussion of Final Projects

This final session of the course will be spent presenting, analyzing and discussing students’ projects. Emphasis will be given on how well students have processed the information presented in previous sessions in both their own work and their critique of fellow students.

Trust me – it’ll be fun.

· Peer review of projects
· Discussion of results

Gamasutra - The Art & Science of Making Games

For Exploration

This site is the motherload of game-related information. Some of it is a little tech-heavy, some of it is a little more like corporate propaganda. But there is plenty of material here to satisfy gaming tastes from the mundane to the bizarre.

scottmccloud.com

For Exploration

Scott McCloud has an extremely interesting take on visual narrative - but he's a comics guy so go figure. Take a stroll through this site and make sure to check out his "Online Comics" section. Of particular note here is the non-linear story form of Carl.

Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

Required Reading!

This one is a little less fun, but the author raises more than a few good points.

McLuhan: Understanding Media

Required Reading!

Especially for Canadians working in the field. Trust me - you will be asked if the medium is indeed the message.

Transmedia Storytelling

Required Reading!

As a jumping off point, this article from the MIT Tech Review is a fair primer. A little light on analysis, it nonetheless provides a solid overview of convergence in digital entertainment.

Welcome to Transmedia Storytelling -a blog discussing the evolution of convergence storytelling, interactive narrative and non-linear film aesthetic.