Film Form Assignment

An Interactive Hell

During the course of my class, Telling Story in a Digital Format, I have been subjected to the horror that is an interactive script. Half of the problem for me lines in the script part of this assignment. I hate scripts but for any media related task for broadcast you need to have a script. the other half of this problem deals with the interactive portion of the script. The IF/THEN moments that allowed the story to be interactive and more tailored to suit a variety of audiences. This combined was my hell and this post is the culmination of my three and half weeks in said hell.

Interactive media give the audience a variety of choice when they pick up a product, however this practice is hard on the writer, especially when said writer is unable to organize themselves properly. I am one of those authors. My project was a ten page horror themed script, complete with five IF/THEN moments and various twists.

 During the outlining phase this seemed quite easy. Write four short stories instead one? Ok but in practice it was horrible. I found the IF/THEN moments kicked my ass harder than harder than the Canadians kicked the American's asses in the war of 1812. It was brutal and actually lead to me leaving my home late at night to escape the insanity that is an interactive script. (Note: Don't do this it is, you can be kidnapped without anyone knowing)

 Of course all of this was just the script, there were the character maps we had to fill out as well as the story maps. Never again...

 At the end of this assignment my teacher posed the question, "Would I do it again if offered a $100,000?" My answer:

NOPE

Web 2.0 and Content

Web 2.0 is relatively new in linear time but in relative time it's quite old. It's been around since the dawn of the new millinum and so far has managed to infect every part of our daily lives. From Phone to laptop, every portable device has the ability to pick up the internet and quick witted store owners know they can draw a crowd with free internet.

To that extent the web browser industry became competitive. Various companies starting up and jumping at the door to offer new clients as many services as they could with addons and quick surfacing times. With so many preferences it is easy to see that each person would have their own personal favourite.

 Each Web browser is a portal into the Web 2.0 world, doing away with long complicated coding and program just to get to a specific site while adding a search feature that made finding new content easier than ever.

Tokens are for Games

When I learned about story maps, I thought the best application for them would be to create the evolution of a character. They map out the beginning, end and transformation a character goes through during the course of a story. I think this application would have worked out best for many of the Token Characters in history.

Token characters are the bane of many media consumers and tend to be the minority character in movies and TV shows. Usually they are one dimensional and have very little redeeming qualities. Recently, I went to see a movie called Rise of the Guardians where one of the characters happened to be a Token Character.

This is the Tooth Fairy. She is the only female in the main cast of characters and the only one who happened to be under developed. Seriously. She is the only underdeveloped character in the movie. Even a little girl named Sophie had more character development despite having only four very short lines.

It would have been better to focus their writing time of the Tooth Fairy than trying to cram smaller details here and there. This movie is so highly dependent on the actions of the Guardians that having one of them, especially the one who represents memories, being flat and just dragged along leaves a sour taste on the movie.

NaNoWriMo- Four Weeks Of Hell.

November is the month of the year all writer, hobbiests and professional alike, look forward to. It also plays host to the infamous Nanowrimo. Now that the month has come to the end all writers can breath easier and soak their pain riddled fingers. For those who don't know what Nanowrimo is, you can check here. In writer language it's a month dedicated to tormenting yourself and your mind for a change to sharpen your skills. In Layman's term it's a month to write a novel.

 Taking part in Nanowrimo is the same as saying good bye to any of the fundamental writing rules you've learned before hand. Due to the time restraint and the spirit o the month it is not recommended to make outlines or plan out your story in detail. This practice is mostly used as a creativity booster and allows the writer to dump as much creativity into their story as they could, worrying about the editing only when it needs to be done - after the draft.

 Draft writing is one skill many new writers have trouble with, it's hard, time consuming and forces you to produce an imperfect work despite all the important warning your high school English teacher told you about always reading over your work. It's something that Nanowrimo lets competitors "write hot and edit cold."

Alone But Not Lonely

One of the first things you learn as a writer is that writing is a solitary process. You spend most of your time sitting at your desk with your writing instrument of choice (personally I prefer the computer) and commit your thoughts to a more physical form. During this time, it's important to remember the difference between being alone and loneliness.

 When I first found this video is was back in 2011 and I had just moved to Canada and discovered blogging.  I had even dedicated one of my past entries to this video. I found the video as moving then as I do now and an accurate portrayal about how I feel when I write. Sometimes I feel ashamed, staying alone and spending so much time in my head when I could be with others. This video definitely put things into perspective for me.Solitary activities can be fun.

In my case I'm never truly alone, it may sound weird but it's true. I always have my characters near to me in my mind, we converse and interact. I know many writers often feel the way I do and sometimes would love to catch a break from the characters' whose stories they're writing.

 Through this video I have come to realize that doing these solitary activities may not give me much human interaction but it helps me sort out my writing with relative ease as well as the turmoil I gather through my life.

Interactive Media

Media as we know it is changing. whether this is for the better I cannot say. I can say that, when you compare today's media to that produced fifty or more years ago you can see a remarkable difference in the way it is packaged and sold.

 Today more digital media is sold, allowing a more flexible presentation of content. While the stories follow the familiar movement of Freytag's triangle -having a beginning, middle and an end- it strays off a bit by allowing heavy user interactions. That is, it allows users to chose how they want to view the media as well how much and in what order. This form of choosing does exist in the traditional form of publishing as well but mostly allows for one possible outcome.

 The first of these to come out were text based RPGs and choose your own adventure books. They changed how people thought of producing content and even the way the creators interacted with their followers. with each book or game made creators provided the raw content needed for users who can pick and choose what is best for them or even re-invent more ways to enjoy the content stretching the enjoyment out from hours to days or even weeks.

 While maybe books, games and movies are still published in the traditional style there is a growing niche market for media that incorporates multiple plot lines.