On comics and non-linearity

1. In his paper “Modular Structure and Image/Text Sequences: Comics and Interactive Media”, George Legrady states: “Meaning in the interactive work is a result of the sequential selection of components that the viewer assembles in the viewing process. The viewer can then be considered as someone who actively constructs the narrative through the assembling of fragmented or modular information elements. The sequential sum of viewed selections becomes the narrative.” This approach to interactivity is reflected in his work Slippery Traces.
   
   Discuss how this approach to constructing a narrative changes the roles of the reader and the author in the process of narrative transmission.

This task given to the user not only gives the user more control, but also more responsibility in the revelation of the narrative. In such approaches, the user has a larger part to play in discourse than in other types of media.

As discussed in class on Tuesday, the challenges faced in such approaches are many. Firstly, there must be enough coherence between components for the user to make connections within the narrative. The user also has to have enough motivation to proceed with the narrative even if there is no apparent coherence. Also, as much as there is freedom to do whatever you want, certain boundaries must be set to ensure that a fulfilling experience results.

2. Write about the narrative that your group has chosen for project 1. Why have you chosen this work? How might you approach the task of re-configuring it as an interactive piece? Be prepared to discuss your group’s choice of work in class on Thursday.

For our project, we chose the 2001 thriller The Others by Alejandro Amenabar starring Nicole Kidman. The Others is a chilling movie with a shocking (wicked!) twist at the end. We chose this movie because the narrative moves in the way a game usually does, in that pieces of information are revealed as the story progresses but aside from subtle hints, the plot is never revealed until a critical bit near the end.

We wanted to approach the task of converting the movie to an interactive form by using poignant still frames from the movie, installing hotspots within the frame where the user can click and be navigated to another still frame. Within each frame there are multiple hotspots. In some frames, hotspots will produce short video segments about the scene in question. In as many frames as possible, we want to have sound effects playing in the background, some sounds will also be integrated into certain hotspots, for example, bits of dialogue. Thus, the user follows a non-linear narrative throughout the first 70% of the film, where the frames are interconnected via a web of frames. Once the user has seen at least 70% of the frames, subsequent frames will proceed in a linear fashion until the climax is reached. Here, the critical scene that reveals the ending will be played.

The main idea was to play with thie nature of non-linearity, giving the user more control over the task at hand, but also preserve some of the narrative not only be restricting the number of hotspots and link-ups in the frames, but also to ensure that the critical kernels towards the end are displayed in a linear fashion so as to do the original narrative justice.