Saturday 3 December 2016
Friday 28 October 2016
Miyazaki
http://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/hayao-miyazaki-interview
I told Miyazaki I love the "gratuitous motion" in his films; instead of every movement being dictated by the story, sometimes people will just sit for a moment, or they will sigh, or look in a running stream, or do something extra, not to advance the story but only to give the sense of time and place and who they are.
"We have a word for that in Japanese," he said. "It's called ma. Emptiness. It's there intentionally."
Is that like the "pillow words" that separate phrases in Japanese poetry?
"I don't think it's like the pillow word." He clapped his hands three or four times. "The time in between my clapping is ma. If you just have non-stop action with no breathing space at all, it's just busyness, But if you take a moment, then the tension building in the film can grow into a wider dimension. If you just have constant tension at 80 degrees all the time you just get numb."
Which helps explain why Miyazaki's films are more absorbing and involving than the frantic cheerful action in a lot of American animation. I asked him to explain that a little more.
"The people who make the movies are scared of silence, so they want to paper and plaster it over," he said. "They're worried that the audience will get bored. They might go up and get some popcorn.
But just because it's 80 percent intense all the time doesn't mean the kids are going to bless you with their concentration. What really matters is the underlying emotions--that you never let go of those.
What my friends and I have been trying to do since the 1970's is to try and quiet things down a little bit; don't just bombard them with noise and distraction. And to follow the path of children's emotions and feelings as we make a film. If you stay true to joy and astonishment and empathy you don't have to have violence and you don't have to have action. They'll follow you. This is our principle."
Wednesday 26 October 2016
Illustration quotes
Cummins, J. (2005). Illustration. In B. Cullinan & D. Person (Eds.), Continuum encyclopedia of children's literature. London, United Kingdom: Continuum.
"That liveliness of spirit and excitement has continued amid the changes that have taken place in illustration, and the measure of delight has increased as visual images depict, interpret, enliven, and enhance words on the pages of children's books."
---
Imagination, creativity, child appeal, and adaptation of style to story are the key ingredients in the cornucopia of successful illustration.
Graham, J., Wise, I., Stanton, J., Partridge, J., and Thomas, R. (2001). Illustration in children's books. In V. Watson (Ed.), The Cambridge guide to children's books in English. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from http://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/childbooks/illustration_in_children_s_books/0
, A.b. Frost was one of the first of many American illustators to bridge the gap between journalistic comics (his infamous sequence ‘Our Cat Eats Rat Poison’ of 1881 is a ferocious classic of the form) and book illustration. Frost’s best-remembered illustrations are for volumes of Joel Chandler Harris’s Uncle Remus tales published in 1892 and 1895; these classic pictures provide deft caricatures of the very human nature of certain animals amidst affectionate renderings of the American countryside.
---
An unwavering confidence in the potential of children’s book illustration is Pyle’s most enduring legacy to America’s illustrators. Such Brandywine-influenced artists as Maxfield Parrish shared Pyle’s conviction that illustrations could aspire toward artistic greatness. Parrish’s particular contributions to the form included his innovative use of photography for the derivation of images and his fabulous employments of bright colour. His wonderful use of blue may derive from the works of N.C. Wyeth, but no one did more than Parrish to develop and demonstrate the expressive and decorative potential of vivid colour in book and poster art. Parrish’s works for children included Eugene Field’s Poems of Childhood (1904) and L. Frank Baum’s Mother Goose in Prose (1897). An illustrator even more famously associated with the works of Frank Baum is W.w. Denslow. His pictures for the first Wizard of Oz book (1900) established the definitive look for one of the world’s favourite American fantasies and showed that poster-like forms could add excitement and verve to the illustrated book for children.
The Lantern Bearers, 1908
"That liveliness of spirit and excitement has continued amid the changes that have taken place in illustration, and the measure of delight has increased as visual images depict, interpret, enliven, and enhance words on the pages of children's books."
---
Imagination, creativity, child appeal, and adaptation of style to story are the key ingredients in the cornucopia of successful illustration.
* * *
Graham, J., Wise, I., Stanton, J., Partridge, J., and Thomas, R. (2001). Illustration in children's books. In V. Watson (Ed.), The Cambridge guide to children's books in English. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from http://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/childbooks/illustration_in_children_s_books/0
, A.b. Frost was one of the first of many American illustators to bridge the gap between journalistic comics (his infamous sequence ‘Our Cat Eats Rat Poison’ of 1881 is a ferocious classic of the form) and book illustration. Frost’s best-remembered illustrations are for volumes of Joel Chandler Harris’s Uncle Remus tales published in 1892 and 1895; these classic pictures provide deft caricatures of the very human nature of certain animals amidst affectionate renderings of the American countryside.
---
An unwavering confidence in the potential of children’s book illustration is Pyle’s most enduring legacy to America’s illustrators. Such Brandywine-influenced artists as Maxfield Parrish shared Pyle’s conviction that illustrations could aspire toward artistic greatness. Parrish’s particular contributions to the form included his innovative use of photography for the derivation of images and his fabulous employments of bright colour. His wonderful use of blue may derive from the works of N.C. Wyeth, but no one did more than Parrish to develop and demonstrate the expressive and decorative potential of vivid colour in book and poster art. Parrish’s works for children included Eugene Field’s Poems of Childhood (1904) and L. Frank Baum’s Mother Goose in Prose (1897). An illustrator even more famously associated with the works of Frank Baum is W.w. Denslow. His pictures for the first Wizard of Oz book (1900) established the definitive look for one of the world’s favourite American fantasies and showed that poster-like forms could add excitement and verve to the illustrated book for children.
The Lantern Bearers, 1908
updated where I am so far
My Fucking Mess Of A First Proposal Draft
Abstract (Overview)
Hello, fucking motherfuckers. I would like to find out
whether a combination of narrative and
time based media techniques can positively influence the concept art form. Im
thinking that narrative techniques can only help with the world building of art
right? although, most concept art is done to a brief? time based media has the
ability to take you through the world rather than the image being flat and
sometimes hard to read or can be lacking in immersion that time based media
could give? Only thing is concept art as a thing is more focused on design and
iteration than final pieces. This could be something done at the end of the
concept art pipeline/process, to emphasise or market final designs? especially
for social media? a lot of advertising, even on billboards now is moving. can
use the art done in pre production to advertise the game? but then does this
take the project away from being concept art? can time based media and
narrative actally help the process of design?
maybe for showing the lay of the world to other artists on the team
maybe for showing the lay of the world to other artists on the team
line based art not polished?
need to do more research on the concept art process. find
out where these things could be the most beneficial.
" Thus, if you prefer Drama to Literature (as many
literary critics plainly do), or form your critical theories
primarily from dramatic critics, or even
from Drama, you are apt to misunderstand pure story-making,
and to constrain it to the
limitations of stage-plays. You are, for instance, likely to
prefer characters, even the basest and
dullest, to things. Very little about trees as trees can be
got into a play."
conceptart and time based media make story making
morewellrounded. give emphasis to thigs as well as people
CONCEPt art is unfinished and explorative
use drawings to communicate an idea
. I would like to find out whether a combination of narrative and time based media techniques can help
drawings to communicate ideas.
An investigation into whether a combination of narrative and time based media techniques, can
improve the way concept design is communicated down a professional pipeline.
Wait no, all concet design is down a professional pipeline
so thats irrelevant...
THIS IS BETTER
An investigation into whether combining narrative and
time-based media techniques can improve the communication of concept design.
FZD Illustration & industrial Design
http://fengzhudesign.com/tutorials.htm
Design Cinema
Episode 53: Illustration & industrial Design
Illustration
Illustration produced directly for consumer
artwork = dollah $$$$
Funding = materials
client, advertising agency, book cover
end result is the artwork is the money
Artwork = money art tied together with money
Illustration direct to consumer
Painting is the result
final image has value
value is in image
image is final product
illustration is final product.
purely meant to sell artwork itself.
Industrial design
Main focus is not artwork but product itself
average consumer never gets to see artwork behind product the art is used for
average consumer cares less what artwork looks like
(ex: entertainment design industry)
average 2-6 month design (pre production)
product = money
consumer doesn't see art
consumer only cares about ipad, not designs of ipad. ipad designs would be destroyed and no one would care.
if original artwork is destroyed, value is gone.
Education
Illustration
evoke emotion
technical skill
develop own style
heavy focus on anatomy and figure drawing
different mediums
style is/can be defined by materials
experimenting with different style
experimentation
artwork is income
how do you make drawings look good/how do you make light look good when its fractioning through glass
how do u make cloth look good
Industrial Design
paintings are meant to show to producers/executives/guys with money.
what will film look like when its done
scenes help illustrate what final product may look like when consumer sees it
mean for pipeline, not consumer
rapid prototyping
easier for the next guy to see
unique style is not so important, clients paying for content not indevidual style
most schools teach common technique used in industry
design LANGUAGE very important
clients want a clear design
perspective, light particle, wavelength, what does blue light on black material look like - more sciency kind of
"have to work with a massive group of people. To make sure your design, once it's finished can move down the pipeline and help these nine hundred and ninety nine people, make it into a final product" - feng zhu quote
mass consumer focus
sell product to as many people as you can - mass market approach
Design Cinema
Episode 53: Illustration & industrial Design
Illustration
Illustration produced directly for consumer
artwork = dollah $$$$
Funding = materials
client, advertising agency, book cover
end result is the artwork is the money
Artwork = money art tied together with money
Illustration direct to consumer
Painting is the result
final image has value
value is in image
image is final product
illustration is final product.
purely meant to sell artwork itself.
Industrial design
Main focus is not artwork but product itself
average consumer never gets to see artwork behind product the art is used for
average consumer cares less what artwork looks like
(ex: entertainment design industry)
average 2-6 month design (pre production)
product = money
consumer doesn't see art
consumer only cares about ipad, not designs of ipad. ipad designs would be destroyed and no one would care.
if original artwork is destroyed, value is gone.
Education
Illustration
evoke emotion
technical skill
develop own style
heavy focus on anatomy and figure drawing
different mediums
style is/can be defined by materials
experimenting with different style
experimentation
artwork is income
how do you make drawings look good/how do you make light look good when its fractioning through glass
how do u make cloth look good
Industrial Design
paintings are meant to show to producers/executives/guys with money.
what will film look like when its done
scenes help illustrate what final product may look like when consumer sees it
mean for pipeline, not consumer
rapid prototyping
easier for the next guy to see
unique style is not so important, clients paying for content not indevidual style
most schools teach common technique used in industry
design LANGUAGE very important
clients want a clear design
perspective, light particle, wavelength, what does blue light on black material look like - more sciency kind of
"have to work with a massive group of people. To make sure your design, once it's finished can move down the pipeline and help these nine hundred and ninety nine people, make it into a final product" - feng zhu quote
mass consumer focus
sell product to as many people as you can - mass market approach
Tölva Video
Fairly happy with how this is shaping up. We're working on a new video. More soon. #tölva #madewithunity pic.twitter.com/SRKvQMIKBO— Big Robot Ltd 🤖 (@BigRobotLtd) October 25, 2016
The skillful Huntsman
"When approaching the environment as a whole, I
decided to create a monumental world, something of
epic proportions that dwarfs the characters. I felt that
this giant world could in a sense become an additional
character and worked to give it a sense of history and
casual grandeur. I saw the story of the huntsman almost
as that of a character coming of age and discovering
ones self. The locations vary in degree of cultural influence,
some are more organic, some are modernist,
some are crude, but I sought to include this feeling of
history as though it has existed for a very long time." pg
FOREST
Mike: At one point I thought it might be a good idea to
design monoliths for the forest, instead of designing the
entire forest. The monoliths are inspired by photos of
geological formations called tors and old decaying
remains of columns and statues in the rain forest.
Scott: Somewhere during the development of the forest
for our story we asked ourselves this question: Does
the forest have to be made of trees? Could it be a forest
of rocks or some other form of vegetation as yet
unimagined? Sure, why not? This is a project of design
process and exploration; of course a forest can be
made of rocks or something all together different. On
this page Mike starts out with the same process used
for character development, searching for a unique silhouette.
This sort of side-view, quick, thumbnail-sketching
technique is fast and easy to do because you eliminate
the thought needed to draw interesting compositions
and perspectives. You free up more headspace to
focus on design. After you have discovered a few new
forms, you can integrate them into a composition, as
Mike does on the opposite page." pg58
These above statements fit with points tolkein made about the nessesity of characterising "things"
Castle
Felix: In this room of the castle, the captain meets the
king. I tried to visualize the scene while keeping it loose.
The dramatic perspective view shows the magnitude of
the interior, making it more imposing. pg 102 - could benefit from time based media, in making it imposing.
Khang: I would love to see this building animated. All the piping rumbling, the loose metal plates flapping about as the cook tries to cool a simple loaf of bread.
Could be aided by time based media - limited animation.
decided to create a monumental world, something of
epic proportions that dwarfs the characters. I felt that
this giant world could in a sense become an additional
character and worked to give it a sense of history and
casual grandeur. I saw the story of the huntsman almost
as that of a character coming of age and discovering
ones self. The locations vary in degree of cultural influence,
some are more organic, some are modernist,
some are crude, but I sought to include this feeling of
history as though it has existed for a very long time." pg
FOREST
Mike: At one point I thought it might be a good idea to
design monoliths for the forest, instead of designing the
entire forest. The monoliths are inspired by photos of
geological formations called tors and old decaying
remains of columns and statues in the rain forest.
Scott: Somewhere during the development of the forest
for our story we asked ourselves this question: Does
the forest have to be made of trees? Could it be a forest
of rocks or some other form of vegetation as yet
unimagined? Sure, why not? This is a project of design
process and exploration; of course a forest can be
made of rocks or something all together different. On
this page Mike starts out with the same process used
for character development, searching for a unique silhouette.
This sort of side-view, quick, thumbnail-sketching
technique is fast and easy to do because you eliminate
the thought needed to draw interesting compositions
and perspectives. You free up more headspace to
focus on design. After you have discovered a few new
forms, you can integrate them into a composition, as
Mike does on the opposite page." pg58
These above statements fit with points tolkein made about the nessesity of characterising "things"
Castle
Felix: In this room of the castle, the captain meets the
king. I tried to visualize the scene while keeping it loose.
The dramatic perspective view shows the magnitude of
the interior, making it more imposing. pg 102 - could benefit from time based media, in making it imposing.
Khang: I would love to see this building animated. All the piping rumbling, the loose metal plates flapping about as the cook tries to cool a simple loaf of bread.
Could be aided by time based media - limited animation.
J.R.R. Tolkien, On Fairy Stories
J.R.R. Tolkien, On Fairy Stories
Originally published: 1947
Author: J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Essay
Country: United Kingdom
Editors: Douglas A. Anderson, Verlyn Flieger
enchantment, and an ever-present peril; both joy and sorrow as sharp as swords. " pg 01
"fairy-tale is recorded since the year 1750, and its leading sense is
said to be (a) a tale about fairies, or generally a fairy legend; with developed senses, (b) an unreal
or incredible story, and (c) a falsehood.
The last two senses would obviously make my topic hopelessly vast. But the first sense is too
narrow. Not too narrow for an essay; it is wide enough for many books, but too narrow to cover
actual usage. " pg 01
" Faerie contains many things besides elves and fays, and besides dwarfs, witches, trolls, giants, or
dragons: it holds the seas, the sun, the moon, the sky; and the earth, and all things that are in it:
tree and bird, water and stone, wine and bread, and ourselves, mortal men, when we are
enchanted. " 02
"We are therefore
obviously confronted with a variant of the problem that the archaeologist encounters, or the
comparative philologist: with the debate between independent evolution (or rather invention) of
the similar; inheritance from a common ancestry; and diffusion at various times from one or
more centres. " PG 03
" All three things: independent invention, inheritance, and diffusion, have
evidently played their part in producing the intricate web of Story" 03
"Among those who still have enough wisdom not to think fairy-stories pernicious, the common
opinion seems to be that there is a natural connexion between the minds of children and fairystories,
of the same order as the connexion between children's bodies and milk. I think this is an
error; at best an error of false sentiment, and one that is therefore most often made by those who,
for whatever private reason (such as childlessness), tend to think of children as a special kind of
creature, almost a different race, rather than as normal, if immature, members of a particular
family, and of the human family at large. " 04
The human mind is capable of forming mental images of things not actually present. The faculty
of conceiving the images is (or was) naturally called Imagination. But in recent times, in
technical not normal language, Imagination has often been held to be something higher than the
mere image-making, ascribed to the operations of Fancy (a reduced and depreciatory form of the
older word Fantasy); an attempt is thus made to restrict, I should say misapply, Imagination to
“the power of giving to ideal creations, the inner consistency of reality.” pg 05
"The mental power of image-making is one thing, or aspect; and it should appropriately be called
Imagination. The perception of the image, the grasp of its implications, and the control, which
are necessary to a successful expression, may vary in vividness and strength: but this is a
difference of degree in Imagination, not a difference in kind. The achievement of the expression,
which gives (or seems to give) “the inner consistency of reality,” is indeed another thing, or
aspect, needing another name: Art, the operative link between Imagination and the final result,
Sub-creation. " pg 05-06
Fantasy (in this sense) is, I think, not a lower but a higher form of Art, indeed the most nearly pure form, and so (when achieved) the most potent. pg 06
"Drama is naturally hostile to Fantasy. Fantasy,
even of the simplest kind, hardly ever succeeds in Drama, when that is presented as it should be,
visibly and audibly acted. Fantastic forms are not to be counterfeited. Men dressed up as talking
animals may achieve buffoonery or mimicry, but they do not achieve Fantasy. This is, I think,
well illustrated by the failure of the bastard form, pantomime. The nearer it is to “dramatized
fairy-story” the worse it is. It is only tolerable when the plot and its fantasy are reduced to a mere
vestigiary framework for farce, and no “belief” of any kind in any part of the performance is
required or expected of anybody. " pg 07
Thus, if you prefer Drama to Literature (as many
literary critics plainly do), or form your critical theories primarily from dramatic critics, or even
from Drama, you are apt to misunderstand pure story-making, and to constrain it to the
limitations of stage-plays. You are, for instance, likely to prefer characters, even the basest and
dullest, to things. Very little about trees as trees can be got into a play. pg 07
"If you are present at a Faërian drama you yourself are, or think that you are, bodily inside
its Secondary World. The experience may be very similar to Dreaming and has (it would seem)
sometimes (by men) been confounded with it. " 08
in Faërian drama you are in a dream that some
other mind is weaving, and the knowledge of that alarming fact may slip from your grasp. To
experience directly a Secondary World: the potion is too strong, and you give to it Primary
Belief, however marvellous the events. You are deluded— whether that is the intention of the
elves (always or at any time) is another question. They at any rate are not themselves deluded.
This is for them a form of Art, and distinct from Wizardry or Magic, properly so called. They do
not live in it, though they can, perhaps, afford to spend more time at it than human artists can. pg 08
Originally published: 1947
Author: J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Essay
Country: United Kingdom
Editors: Douglas A. Anderson, Verlyn Flieger
* * *
"The realm of fairy-story is wide and deep and high and filled with many things: all manner of
beasts and birds are found there; shoreless seas and stars uncounted; beauty that is anenchantment, and an ever-present peril; both joy and sorrow as sharp as swords. " pg 01
"fairy-tale is recorded since the year 1750, and its leading sense is
said to be (a) a tale about fairies, or generally a fairy legend; with developed senses, (b) an unreal
or incredible story, and (c) a falsehood.
The last two senses would obviously make my topic hopelessly vast. But the first sense is too
narrow. Not too narrow for an essay; it is wide enough for many books, but too narrow to cover
actual usage. " pg 01
" Faerie contains many things besides elves and fays, and besides dwarfs, witches, trolls, giants, or
dragons: it holds the seas, the sun, the moon, the sky; and the earth, and all things that are in it:
tree and bird, water and stone, wine and bread, and ourselves, mortal men, when we are
enchanted. " 02
"We are therefore
obviously confronted with a variant of the problem that the archaeologist encounters, or the
comparative philologist: with the debate between independent evolution (or rather invention) of
the similar; inheritance from a common ancestry; and diffusion at various times from one or
more centres. " PG 03
" All three things: independent invention, inheritance, and diffusion, have
evidently played their part in producing the intricate web of Story" 03
"Among those who still have enough wisdom not to think fairy-stories pernicious, the common
opinion seems to be that there is a natural connexion between the minds of children and fairystories,
of the same order as the connexion between children's bodies and milk. I think this is an
error; at best an error of false sentiment, and one that is therefore most often made by those who,
for whatever private reason (such as childlessness), tend to think of children as a special kind of
creature, almost a different race, rather than as normal, if immature, members of a particular
family, and of the human family at large. " 04
The human mind is capable of forming mental images of things not actually present. The faculty
of conceiving the images is (or was) naturally called Imagination. But in recent times, in
technical not normal language, Imagination has often been held to be something higher than the
mere image-making, ascribed to the operations of Fancy (a reduced and depreciatory form of the
older word Fantasy); an attempt is thus made to restrict, I should say misapply, Imagination to
“the power of giving to ideal creations
"The mental power of image-making is one thing, or aspect; and it should appropriately be called
Imagination. The perception of the image, the grasp of its implications, and the control, which
are necessary to a successful expression, may vary in vividness and strength: but this is a
difference of degree in Imagination, not a difference in kind. The achievement of the expression,
which gives (or seems to give) “the inner consistency of reality,” is indeed another thing, or
aspect, needing another name: Art, the operative link between Imagination and the final result,
Sub-creation. " pg 05-06
Fantasy (in this sense) is, I think, not a lower but a higher form of Art, indeed the most nearly pure form, and so (when achieved) the most potent. pg 06
"Drama is naturally hostile to Fantasy. Fantasy,
even of the simplest kind, hardly ever succeeds in Drama, when that is presented as it should be,
visibly and audibly acted. Fantastic forms are not to be counterfeited. Men dressed up as talking
animals may achieve buffoonery or mimicry, but they do not achieve Fantasy. This is, I think,
well illustrated by the failure of the bastard form, pantomime. The nearer it is to “dramatized
fairy-story” the worse it is. It is only tolerable when the plot and its fantasy are reduced to a mere
vestigiary framework for farce, and no “belief” of any kind in any part of the performance is
required or expected of anybody. " pg 07
Thus, if you prefer Drama to Literature (as many
literary critics plainly do), or form your critical theories primarily from dramatic critics, or even
from Drama, you are apt to misunderstand pure story-making, and to constrain it to the
limitations of stage-plays. You are, for instance, likely to prefer characters, even the basest and
dullest, to things. Very little about trees as trees can be got into a play. pg 07
"If you are present at a Faërian drama you yourself are, or think that you are, bodily inside
its Secondary World. The experience may be very similar to Dreaming and has (it would seem)
sometimes (by men) been confounded with it. " 08
in Faërian drama you are in a dream that some
other mind is weaving, and the knowledge of that alarming fact may slip from your grasp. To
experience directly a Secondary World: the potion is too strong, and you give to it Primary
Belief, however marvellous the events. You are deluded— whether that is the intention of the
elves (always or at any time) is another question. They at any rate are not themselves deluded.
This is for them a form of Art, and distinct from Wizardry or Magic, properly so called. They do
not live in it, though they can, perhaps, afford to spend more time at it than human artists can. pg 08
Overview of where I am now
I would like to find out whether a combination of narrative and time based media techniques can
positively influence the concept art form. Im thinking that narrative
techniques can only help with the world building of art right? although, most
concept art is done to a brief? time based media has the ability to take you
through the world rather than the image being flat and sometimes hard to read
or can be lacking in immersion that time based media could give? Only thing is
concept art as a thing is more focused on design and iteration than final
pieces. This could be something done at the end of the concept art
pipeline/process, to emphasise or market final designs? especially for social
media? a lot of advertising, even on billboards now is moving. can use the art
done in pre production to advertise the game? but then does this take the
project away from being concept art? can time based media and narrative actally
help the process of design?
maybe for showing the lay of the world to other artists on the team
maybe for showing the lay of the world to other artists on the team
line based art not polished?
need to do more research on the concept art process. find
out where these things could be the most beneficial.
Tolkien and Worldbuilding
Tolkien and Worldbuilding
Catherine Butler
[For the full published version of this essay see Peter Hunt, ed.,
J. R. R. Tolkien (New Casebooks) (Palgrave, 2013), pp. 106-20.]
"Fantasy and science-fiction novelists, game designers, and role-play enthusiasts all acknowledge Tolkien as a master in the art of constructing a universe with its own history and geography, flora and fauna, cultures and languages, magic and physics." pg1
" it is a world almost six decades in the making, and has a depth and detail to which other writers, whether for adults or children, can only aspire." pg 1
"considerations of audience may have affected the representation of Middle-earth." pg 1-2
"For Tolkien, sub-creation arises from the imaginative ability of humans to recombine elements of reality (the ‘Primary World’) in new ways. " pg2
"a Secondary World may be an imaginative space of any kind, as long as that space is sufficiently well rendered to enable Secondary Belief."pg 3
"create a world that has been ‘thought through’ to a far greater extent than is required by the plot" pg 3
"Tolkien’s greatest achievement, […] in retrospect, was in normalizing the idea of a
secondary world. Although [Tolkien] retains the hint that the action of LOTR
takes place in the prehistory of our own world, that is not sustained, and to all intents and purposes Middle-earth is a separate creation, operating totally outside the world of our experience." ph 12
"One purpose of Tolkien’s work seems to have been to create, in Humphrey Carpenter’s
resounding phrase, ‘a mythology for England'"pg 13
LOTR is " a reconstruction of what an English mythology might have looked like had it survived." PG 13
"Tolkien makes repeated use of English placenames in his work, with a substantial number deriving from the countryside near Birmingham (where he grew up) and Oxford (where he lived as an adult)." pg 16
"world caters directly to this taste. Other readers (or the same readers in other moods) valueMiddle-earth as a place to which we are geographically and temporally connected, which we can hear echoed in familiar names and landscapes, and which lends an enchantment(sometimes melancholy) to the contemplation of our own world, presenting us with vistas of a deep past from which we are nevertheless irrevocably exiled." pg 17
Catherine Butler
[For the full published version of this essay see Peter Hunt, ed.,
J. R. R. Tolkien (New Casebooks) (Palgrave, 2013), pp. 106-20.]
* * *
"Fantasy and science-fiction novelists, game designers, and role-play enthusiasts all acknowledge Tolkien as a master in the art of constructing a universe with its own history and geography, flora and fauna, cultures and languages, magic and physics." pg1
" it is a world almost six decades in the making, and has a depth and detail to which other writers, whether for adults or children, can only aspire." pg 1
"considerations of audience may have affected the representation of Middle-earth." pg 1-2
"For Tolkien, sub-creation arises from the imaginative ability of humans to recombine elements of reality (the ‘Primary World’) in new ways. " pg2
"a Secondary World may be an imaginative space of any kind, as long as that space is sufficiently well rendered to enable Secondary Belief."pg 3
"create a world that has been ‘thought through’ to a far greater extent than is required by the plot" pg 3
"Tolkien’s greatest achievement, […] in retrospect, was in normalizing the idea of a
secondary world. Although [Tolkien] retains the hint that the action of LOTR
takes place in the prehistory of our own world, that is not sustained, and to all intents and purposes Middle-earth is a separate creation, operating totally outside the world of our experience." ph 12
"One purpose of Tolkien’s work seems to have been to create, in Humphrey Carpenter’s
resounding phrase, ‘a mythology for England'"pg 13
LOTR is " a reconstruction of what an English mythology might have looked like had it survived." PG 13
"Tolkien makes repeated use of English placenames in his work, with a substantial number deriving from the countryside near Birmingham (where he grew up) and Oxford (where he lived as an adult)." pg 16
"world caters directly to this taste. Other readers (or the same readers in other moods) valueMiddle-earth as a place to which we are geographically and temporally connected, which we can hear echoed in familiar names and landscapes, and which lends an enchantment(sometimes melancholy) to the contemplation of our own world, presenting us with vistas of a deep past from which we are nevertheless irrevocably exiled." pg 17
Tuesday 25 October 2016
Attention to distraction: a visual investigation of temporal experience through time-based media
Attention to distraction: a visual investigation of temporal
experience through time-based media
By Raef Sawford
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Tasmanian School of Art, University of Tasmania
Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours), Tasmanian School of Art, University of Tasmania
Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
University of Tasmania, April 2013
"These works challenge viewing habits and expectation through strategies of duration, re-contextualisation and re-examining" pg 4
"to offer a contemporary experience
of the here-and-now, the work must fluctuate between states of immersion and
awareness; between attention and distraction. Here, the inherent tension activated
by the intersection of these temporal states directs audience attention toward the
potential of a moment." pg 5
"For a narrative film to work – meaning that the audience becomes involved in
the story by identifying with the characters and following the action through
to its logical conclusion – time has to be compressed so that the action can flow
in a logical sequence. This creates a sense within the viewer of being present in the
diegetic world of the film – unaware of their lived experience. If the viewer were to
become aware of the discontinuity of the production process i.e. the temporal and
spatial distance between shots, then the narrative illusion would be broken" pg 26
"Of course time and space are intrinsically linked, so the strategies devised to foreground temporal awareness, such as duration and repetition also incorporated a spatial element." pg 27
experience through time-based media
By Raef Sawford
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Tasmanian School of Art, University of Tasmania
Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours), Tasmanian School of Art, University of Tasmania
Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
University of Tasmania, April 2013
* * *
"These works challenge viewing habits and expectation through strategies of duration, re-contextualisation and re-examining" pg 4
"to offer a contemporary experience
of the here-and-now, the work must fluctuate between states of immersion and
awareness; between attention and distraction. Here, the inherent tension activated
by the intersection of these temporal states directs audience attention toward the
potential of a moment." pg 5
"For a narrative film to work – meaning that the audience becomes involved in
the story by identifying with the characters and following the action through
to its logical conclusion – time has to be compressed so that the action can flow
in a logical sequence. This creates a sense within the viewer of being present in the
diegetic world of the film – unaware of their lived experience. If the viewer were to
become aware of the discontinuity of the production process i.e. the temporal and
spatial distance between shots, then the narrative illusion would be broken" pg 26
"Of course time and space are intrinsically linked, so the strategies devised to foreground temporal awareness, such as duration and repetition also incorporated a spatial element." pg 27
Look Into
- Structural film, or “cinémapur”
- Theorist P. Adams Sitney’s formal criteria for qualification as structural.
- Works exploring the potential for the moving image to both absorb and distance viewers
by Andy Warhol, David Hockney, Chantal Akerman, Christian Marclay, Douglas Gordon, Tacita Dean, Daniel Crooks and David Claerbout. - the rejection of narrative cinema’s goal of ‘closure and fixity: Cubitt, Sean. The Cinema Effect. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2005, p 40
The Golden Ratio in Time-based Media
The Golden Ratio in Time-based Media
Emily Verba
4222 Dane Avenue Cincinnati,
Ohio 45223
DOP: Aug 2012
Publisher: Maryland Institute of Research
Place of publication: Annapolis
Last updated 2015-01-30
"Time-based media has the ability to expand and contract movement, thus directing the way viewers experience and spend their time." pg 56
"Life is a constant rhythm of internal and external tension and release. Time-based media7 is successful when the pacing of its editing mimics this modulation. In cinema, audiences consistently expect things to occur; as events draw near, tension builds. The event eventually takes place, and tension is released. Time-based media has the power to control emotional and physiological reactions as such." pg 61
"Pioneer Soviet director and film theorist Sergei Eisenstein had an extreme fascination with Pavlovian psychology, and integrated these principles into his work. His groundbreaking efforts in film-editing, or montage, paved the way for modern filmmaking and other time-based media. He implemented techniques such as gradually decreasing the length of successive shots to tense his audience and build up to grand culminations." pg 61
"editing absorbed the audience much more than the passive presentation of information through long, static shots." pg 61
"Moving images allow us to temporarily escape our lives. They are a window into an abstracted reality, simultaneously real and unreal." pg 64
Emily Verba
4222 Dane Avenue Cincinnati,
Ohio 45223
DOP: Aug 2012
Publisher: Maryland Institute of Research
Place of publication: Annapolis
Last updated 2015-01-30
"Time-based media has the ability to expand and contract movement, thus directing the way viewers experience and spend their time." pg 56
"Life is a constant rhythm of internal and external tension and release. Time-based media7 is successful when the pacing of its editing mimics this modulation. In cinema, audiences consistently expect things to occur; as events draw near, tension builds. The event eventually takes place, and tension is released. Time-based media has the power to control emotional and physiological reactions as such." pg 61
"Pioneer Soviet director and film theorist Sergei Eisenstein had an extreme fascination with Pavlovian psychology, and integrated these principles into his work. His groundbreaking efforts in film-editing, or montage, paved the way for modern filmmaking and other time-based media. He implemented techniques such as gradually decreasing the length of successive shots to tense his audience and build up to grand culminations." pg 61
"editing absorbed the audience much more than the passive presentation of information through long, static shots." pg 61
"Moving images allow us to temporarily escape our lives. They are a window into an abstracted reality, simultaneously real and unreal." pg 64
Monday 24 October 2016
The Hero's Journey (Unfinished)
The Hero's Journey
The Hero's journey is actually a writing process I've been looking into in my own time as I like to write/edit fiction as a hobby. The topic came up however when I was reading the journal "Interactive Storytelling for Video Games - Josiah Lebowitz, Chris Klug." as one of the ways used to write/create an interactive story.I wanted to look into this to see if these narrative techniques could influence my character/world building.
Using "The Hero's Journey" as a guide.
(Taken from "Interactive Storytelling for Video Games - Josiah Lebowitz, Chris Klug.")
Stage 1: The Ordinary World The so-called ordinary world is where we’re first introduced to the hero, who is living out his or her normal everyday life. Of course, depending on the setting and the hero him- or herself, this “ordinary world” could actually be quite extraordinary. For example, life in a magic academy or space marine outpost is anything but ordinary to us, but if you grew up in that type of environment, there really wouldn’t be anything special about it at all. This time in the ordinary world is a chance to introduce the hero and explain a little bit about who he or she is before the start of the adventure proper. In Harry Potter, Harry’s ordinary world is life with his unpleasant aunt and uncle; for Luke, it’s his uncle’s farm on Tatooine. You want to use this stage to show a bit about the hero’s background and his or her normal life, such as family, friends, and occupation. You shouldn’t give away everything, especially if your hero is really much more than he or she seems, but it’s important to convey a sense of who the hero is and what the hero does or doesn’t stand for. One important thing to remember is to not let the ordinary world stage run on for too long. Introducing your hero and setting the stage for things to come is all well and good, but if you spend too much time focusing on the hero’s boring everyday activities, players will start to lose interest. Learning that the hero is a farmer in a small town is all well and good, but describing his or her activities on the farm every day for an entire week is probably overkill. Sooner or later, something has to happen!
Stage 2: The Call to Adventure
Naturally, the hero can’t continue going about normal life forever. Sooner or later, something has to break the hero away from the ordinary world and set him or her on the path toward adventure. The call can come in many different forms. At times it’s an actual call, such as Harry’s letter from Hogwarts or Princess Leia’s famous “Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi” message. At other times, it’s less direct. Hearing rumors of a long-lost treasure, spotting a suspicious figure in the woods, and dreaming of life in another place can all be calls to adventure. The call is anything that starts to take the hero away from normal life and causes him or her to wonder if he or she really belongs in the ordinary world after all. Depending on your story, the call could be a sudden and immediate event, such as an unexpected enemy attack, or a slow and gradual thing, such as the hero becoming discontented with his or her life. In video games, however, in which you generally want to get the player into the action as quickly as possible, a sudden call is often the best way to go. It’s also important to think about just what the call is going to be. Usually the call is something related to the main plot like rumors of a treasure or an attack by the main villain, though in some cases the call itself is relatively unimportant, serving only to lure the hero away from the ordinary world and into a position in which later encounters will involve him or her in the main conflict. Sometimes the call is even an attempt to lure the hero into a trap. What the call is and how the hero reacts to it will say quite a lot about the hero’s personality and motivation, so be sure not to gloss over it. A retired space marine may be eager to jump into battle during a surprise alien attack, but a young boy is likely to be scared and more interested in survival than anything else. Keeping your characters consistent and believable is a very important part of good storytelling and one we’ll be covering in depth in Chapters 4 and 5.
Stage 3: Refusing the Call
Stage 3 is an optional stage that reflects significantly upon the hero’s mindset. Although some heroes will accept the call to adventure immediately (removing the need for this stage entirely), others will resist. Maybe they’re scared, maybe they don’t want to leave their ordinary life behind, maybe someone talked them out of it, or maybe they just don’t care.Harry,for example, initially refused to believe that he could possibly be a wizard, as it all just seemed too crazy and impossible;Luke’s uncle urged him to forget about the mysterious message and focus on his normal work. Whatever the reason, if heroes refuse the call, something needs to happen in order to make them change their minds. Quite often, this something is a tragedy or disaster brought about by the hero’s initial refusal to take action, but at times it’s a more benign event, and on rare occasions it even turns out that refusing the initial call was in the hero’s best interests. Either way, by the end of this stage the hero must have answered the call and, willingly or unwillingly, taken his or her first steps toward starting the adventure.
Stage 4: The Mentor
Though some heroes begin their adventure knowing everything they need to know, or at least thinking that they do, others need a bit of information and/or training to help them get started. This is where the mentor comes in. At times the mentor actually provides the call to adventure and/or forces the hero’s hand if the call is refused. At other times, the hero and mentor don’t meet until the adventure is already underway. The cliche ´ mentor is a wise old person – often a wizard or such – who has come to aid the young hero in his or her task. Following the cliche,´ the mentor’s job is to teach the hero just enough to get by and then die (often in a heroic self-sacrificing way) before having a chance to relay the most important bits of information. Obi-Wan Kenobi is a perfect example of this type of mentor. He teaches Luke the basics of fighting and using the force, but sacrifices himself in the battle against Darth Vader when the adventure has only barely gotten underway. However, just because it’s a common cliche ´ doesn’t mean that you have to stick to it. Mentors can come in any shape or form, and there’s no law stating that they have to die in the second act. Because the old man mentor is so overused, it often pays to do things a bit differently in order to keep player interest high. In some stories, the mentor is young and only slightly more experienced or knowledgeable than the hero himself like Etna in Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness. In others, such as Higurashi: When They Cry, the mentor may, either knowingly or unknowingly, end up giving the hero false information, causing more harm than good. At times, the mentor may even betray the hero entirely. And, of course, there are games like FINAL FANTASY VII that don’t have a mentor of any kind. I’ll be discussing all those games in the coming chapters, so keep the hero/mentor relationship in mind when you read their case studies.
Though some heroes begin their adventure knowing everything they need to know, or at least thinking that they do, others need a bit of information and/or training to help them get started. This is where the mentor comes in. At times the mentor actually provides the call to adventure and/or forces the hero’s hand if the call is refused. At other times, the hero and mentor don’t meet until the adventure is already underway. The cliche ´ mentor is a wise old person – often a wizard or such – who has come to aid the young hero in his or her task. Following the cliche,´ the mentor’s job is to teach the hero just enough to get by and then die (often in a heroic self-sacrificing way) before having a chance to relay the most important bits of information. Obi-Wan Kenobi is a perfect example of this type of mentor. He teaches Luke the basics of fighting and using the force, but sacrifices himself in the battle against Darth Vader when the adventure has only barely gotten underway. However, just because it’s a common cliche ´ doesn’t mean that you have to stick to it. Mentors can come in any shape or form, and there’s no law stating that they have to die in the second act. Because the old man mentor is so overused, it often pays to do things a bit differently in order to keep player interest high. In some stories, the mentor is young and only slightly more experienced or knowledgeable than the hero himself like Etna in Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness. In others, such as Higurashi: When They Cry, the mentor may, either knowingly or unknowingly, end up giving the hero false information, causing more harm than good. At times, the mentor may even betray the hero entirely. And, of course, there are games like FINAL FANTASY VII that don’t have a mentor of any kind. I’ll be discussing all those games in the coming chapters, so keep the hero/mentor relationship in mind when you read their case studies.
Stage 5: The First Threshold
So the hero has answered the call and met the mentor. Now what? To close out the first act, the hero needs to cross the “first threshold” and begin the adventure in earnest. This stage often serves as both the hero’s first big challenge and the point of no return, from which there’s no more avoiding the call or returning to the ordinary life. Battles and long journeys are common types of first thresholds, as are CHAPTER THREE • THE HERO’S JOURNEY AND THE STRUCTURE OF GAME STORIES 50 people who are determined, for one reason or another, not to let the hero leave (parents, commanding officers, or similar), but there are many variations. Luke’s first threshold was escaping from Tatooine on the Millennium Falcon, which involved skill and a certain level of danger; Harry’s occurred when he stepped through the barrier on Platform 93/4 and began his journey to Hogwarts, which required nothing more than an act of willpower on his part. The threshold can also be an event triggered by the hero refusing the call (as previously mentioned). Often the hero will have the mentor to help with this stage of the journey, and it’s also one of the more common times for the mentor to sacrifice him- or herself to save the hero, but at other times the hero will need to take this first step into the great unknown alone and unaided. This is a time for heroes to strengthen or affirm their resolve and show what they’re really made of. It’s also a good time to give the player the first real challenge in the game itself, perhaps in the form of a tricky puzzle or boss battle. With the first threshold crossed, it’s time to move on to the second act, which constitutes the majority of the story.
Stage 6: The Journey
Despite the fact that there were five stages leading up to this point and five more still to come, this stage actually takes up the vast majority of the story, spanning from immediately after the crossing of the first threshold until the point when the hero has nearly completed his goals. In game speak, that means that this stage goes until the player reaches the final level, dungeon, or quest. The first thing that should be focused on is showing just how different this new world and life are from the ordinary world where the hero began. In Star Wars, Luke found himself drawn into the battle between the Rebel Alliance and the Empire almost immediately after leaving Tatooine, when his ship was captured by the Death Star. Harry’s train ride to Hogwarts was similarly filled with strange sights and magical happenings, showing him and us that he had truly left the ordinary world behind. Once the world itself has been established, there’s still plenty of ground to cover. As this stage makes up the bulk of the hero’s journey, it’s full of encoun- ters and adventures. This is when the hero travels about, exploring the world and gaining friends, enemies, and rivals. The hero may fall in love, face loss and betrayal, and be forced to deal with all manner of monsters and obstacles. If the cliche ´ old man mentor is still alive when this stage begins, he’ll be sure to heroically sacrifice himself at some point (occasionally returning later on in a more powerful form). Throughout their travels and trials, the heroes will learn more about the new world and themselves; grow more comfortable, skilled, and confident; and have numerous encounters (some good, some bad) with other people and creatures. They’ll also learn, if they haven’t already, THE HERO’S JOURNEY 51 what their eventual goals will be and the things they’ll need to do in order to accomplish them. Although the Star Wars movies and Harry Potter books can actually be broken down into a series of small hero’s journeys, each occupying a single entry in the series, when we take them as a whole, the journey stage in Star Wars starts when Luke leaves Tatooine and doesn’t end until he and the rebels begin plotting the destruction of the second Death Star in Return of the Jedi (the third movie in the first trilogy). Harry’s journey is long as well, beginning when he boards the train for Hogwarts in the first book and continuing up until the start of the seventh and final book when he begins his search for the horcruxes. This is your chance to fully take the reins of the story, develop your places and characters, and explore the events that lead up to the final confrontation. Just about anything can happen in this stage, with the only limit being your imagina- tion (and possibly your budget). By the time this stage is complete, the main characters (both heroes and villains) should be known, most mysteries and secrets should have been revealed, and the hero should be almost ready to push forward toward the final battle or challenge and bring the adventure to a close.
Stage 7: The Final Dungeon
My videogame–inspired name aside,this stage of the journey doesn’t necessarily have to contain a dungeon or anything of the sort. (However, when you’re writing for video games, there’s a good chance it will.) With the bulk of the quest complete and the goal clearly in sight, this is the stage where the hero makes any final plans and preparations and then goes off to storm the villain’s castle, blow up the alien mothership, challenge his or her greatest rival to a last duel, prove who the murderer is, or the like. Luke’s “final dungeon” stage involves the planning for the assault on the second Death Star, the mission to shut down its shield generator, and then the assault itself. Harry’s was his quest to find and destroy the remaining horcruxes in order to strip Voldemort of his near immortality. The final confrontation itself isn’t part of this stage, but everything leading up to it is. In this stage, you should focus on wrapping up loose plot threads (remaining mysteries, character relationships, and the like) and giving the heroes and the player a chance to show off how much they’ve grown and improved over the course of the adventure. Some of the toughest puzzles, battles, and challenges are usually found in this portion of the story – all leading up to the final confrontation. That said, it should be noted that you can also create a fake version of this stage at some point during the journey in order to play some mind games and set things up for a big plot twist. In Square Enix’s The World Ends with You, for example, the story centers around a deadly game that lasts for seven days. Against all odds, the heroes, Neku and Shiki, manage to survive until the last day, clear the final challenge, and defeat the ominous figure running the game. But just when it seems that their adventure is at an end, a new villain shows himself and reveals that the game is far from over. These fake or mini final dungeons and challenges, if done CHAPTER THREE • THE HERO’S JOURNEY AND THE STRUCTURE OF GAME STORIES 52 correctly, can throw players off balance and/or serve as good transition points between different sections of the story. Just as Luke had a different challenge to deal with at the end of every movie, and Harry a new villain to face and mystery to unravel at the end of every book, game stories can similarly be broken down into volumes or episodes of sorts. In some games, these points merely serve to break up a long story into easily identifiable sections; in others they actually do mark the end of a volume or episode and try to leave the players with a partial sense of closure and a lot of anticipation for the sequel.
Stage 8: The Great Ordeal
This is it: the big moment, the event that the entire journey has been building toward, and the last stage of the second act. At long last, the hero has made it through the final dungeon, and only a single challenge remains. In most video games, and many books and movies for that matter, the great ordeal will take the form of a final boss battle, with the hero facing off against the ultimate enemy. Sometimes it’s a physical battle fought with swords, guns, or magic, like Luke’s battle with the Emperor or Harry’s battle with Voldemort. But in some games, such as Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse, it can take the form of a battle of wits that plays out more like a puzzle than an actual fight. Then there are games such as Braid in which there’s no boss at all and the great ordeal is a final test of the hero and player’s skills. During the ordeal, the hero often has to face not only the physical villain or challenge but his or her own inner demons as well, and can be victorious only in the physical ordeal by completing the inner ordeal, almost as if the hero is dying and being reborn, a metaphor that in some cases is handled in a very literal fashion. The completion of this ordeal serves as the culmination to much of what the hero has worked for throughout the story and often (though not always) serves as the hero’s last great trial. But the story isn’t over quite yet – there’s still the third act.
Stage 9: The Prize
With a few exceptions, heroes don’t hunt down evil villains or complete difficult and dangerous challenges for fun (or at least not only for fun), they’re doing it to rescue the princess, claim the treasure, save the world, or fulfill some other personal goal or desire. Sometimes they legitimately claim their prize and other times they steal it or just get lucky, but either way it represents the reward for all their hard work and effort up to this point. Depending on the hero and story, the prize and how the hero reacts after acquiring it will vary greatly. Many heroes celebrate after obtaining the prize or pause to think back on all the things they’ve been through to reach this point, perhaps achieving some form of understanding or enlightenment. But in some stories it turns out that the prize isn’t what they expected at all, which can lead to anger, grief, or disappointment. THE HERO’S JOURNEY 53 However you choose to present it, this stage should be fairly short, and regard- less of whether everything turns out the way the hero had hoped, it should provide the player with at least some measure of success and accomplishment.
Stage 10: The Road Home
With the prize in hand (whether literally or metaphorically, depending on what the prize actually is), it’s time for the hero to return home, either to the ordinary world where he or she started out or to a new home discovered during the journey. Some heroes choose to never return home, but the majority do, for one reason or another. Luke and Harry, for example, just wanted to live out peaceful lives free from the threats posed by their enemies. In other stories, the hero’s home may be in desperate need of the prize. Then there are some heroes like Zack, in CRISIS CORE – FINAL FANTASY VII, who merely want to see their friends and loved ones again. In many stories, especially in video games, this stage is often quickly glossed over or even skipped entirely. Dragging it out too long can create an anticlimax, causing the story to end with a drawn-out whimper rather than a big bang. However, you can make good use of this stage as well. With the villain defeated and the prize in hand, returning home might seem to be an easy task, but that’s not always the case. In CRISIS CORE – FINAL FANTASY VII, Zack finds himself hunted by his former allies, leading to a very epic and emotional ending (which we’ll discuss in depth in Chapter 5). In this stage, it’s fairly common to see a new villain (who was, of course, secretly manipulating everything behind the scenes) emerge or a previously defeated foe make an unexpected return to cause one last bit of trouble for the hero. This can also be the place to work in a final plot twist or surprise, as in Shadow of the Colossus (which we’ll talk about in Chapter 4). Or, if you prefer a more cliched ´ event, the fortress, cave, space station, or other structure that the hero is in could start to collapse, because everyone knows that all evil lair's self-destruct shortly after their owner is defeated. There really are a lot of things you can do with this stage; it all depends on what direction you want the story to go. It’s an opportunity to throw a final challenge in the hero’s path, give the hero one last chance to correct a mistake or realize an important truth, wrap up any remaining loose plot threads, or provide a shocking revelation that makes the hero and the player reexamine the events of the journey in a new light. These things don’t always have to happen on the road, though – they can also take place in the hero’s home itself as a final obstacle preventing him or her from returning to ordinary life.
Stage 11: The Return
At last the final stage of the story has been reached. The hero has returned, any last threats have been dealt with (unless you decided to save them as a sequel), and it’s time to bring the story to a close. For many, endings are the hardest part of any story to write. A good ending needs to tie up at least most of the major issues present in the story (with the exception of a cliff-hanger ending, which can best be thought of CHAPTER THREE • THE HERO’S JOURNEY AND THE STRUCTURE OF GAME STORIES 54 as a break in the middle of the journey rather than a true ending), show the hero’s ultimate fate, and provide a certain degree of closure and satisfaction to the player. There’s a fine degree of balance needed here. You want to tie up loose ends to avoid annoying the player with dropped plot threads and unanswered questions, but if you wrap everything up too neatly, the ending may seem cheesy or contrived. You also don’t want an ending that’s too short or abrupt, in which case players may feel cheated or disappointed because they weren’t able to really see things through to their full conclusion. Yet if you make an ending too long, it’ll drag and players will lose interest. Some endings also contain an epilogue, giving the players a glimpse at what happens to the world and characters long after the ending proper. If done right, an epilogue can satisfy the player’s curiosity about the hero’s life after the adventure, help with the all-important sense of completion and closure, and/or help set things up for an eventual sequel. But if done poorly, an epilogue can drag or feel tacked on and unimportant. Writing a good ending is something that can’t really be taught and is a challenge that even many of the most experienced writers struggle with. Ultimately, it’s less a skill to be acquired than it is an art form, something beautiful and complex that in the end you’ll have to discover for yourself. We’ll be talking about endings quite a lot over the course of this book and will examine the endings of many different games as well, so pay close attention to how those games handle their ending scenes and what did and didn’t work for them. If you can avoid the more common mistakes, you’ll at least be off to a good start.
So the hero has answered the call and met the mentor. Now what? To close out the first act, the hero needs to cross the “first threshold” and begin the adventure in earnest. This stage often serves as both the hero’s first big challenge and the point of no return, from which there’s no more avoiding the call or returning to the ordinary life. Battles and long journeys are common types of first thresholds, as are CHAPTER THREE • THE HERO’S JOURNEY AND THE STRUCTURE OF GAME STORIES 50 people who are determined, for one reason or another, not to let the hero leave (parents, commanding officers, or similar), but there are many variations. Luke’s first threshold was escaping from Tatooine on the Millennium Falcon, which involved skill and a certain level of danger; Harry’s occurred when he stepped through the barrier on Platform 93/4 and began his journey to Hogwarts, which required nothing more than an act of willpower on his part. The threshold can also be an event triggered by the hero refusing the call (as previously mentioned). Often the hero will have the mentor to help with this stage of the journey, and it’s also one of the more common times for the mentor to sacrifice him- or herself to save the hero, but at other times the hero will need to take this first step into the great unknown alone and unaided. This is a time for heroes to strengthen or affirm their resolve and show what they’re really made of. It’s also a good time to give the player the first real challenge in the game itself, perhaps in the form of a tricky puzzle or boss battle. With the first threshold crossed, it’s time to move on to the second act, which constitutes the majority of the story.
Stage 6: The Journey
Despite the fact that there were five stages leading up to this point and five more still to come, this stage actually takes up the vast majority of the story, spanning from immediately after the crossing of the first threshold until the point when the hero has nearly completed his goals. In game speak, that means that this stage goes until the player reaches the final level, dungeon, or quest. The first thing that should be focused on is showing just how different this new world and life are from the ordinary world where the hero began. In Star Wars, Luke found himself drawn into the battle between the Rebel Alliance and the Empire almost immediately after leaving Tatooine, when his ship was captured by the Death Star. Harry’s train ride to Hogwarts was similarly filled with strange sights and magical happenings, showing him and us that he had truly left the ordinary world behind. Once the world itself has been established, there’s still plenty of ground to cover. As this stage makes up the bulk of the hero’s journey, it’s full of encoun- ters and adventures. This is when the hero travels about, exploring the world and gaining friends, enemies, and rivals. The hero may fall in love, face loss and betrayal, and be forced to deal with all manner of monsters and obstacles. If the cliche ´ old man mentor is still alive when this stage begins, he’ll be sure to heroically sacrifice himself at some point (occasionally returning later on in a more powerful form). Throughout their travels and trials, the heroes will learn more about the new world and themselves; grow more comfortable, skilled, and confident; and have numerous encounters (some good, some bad) with other people and creatures. They’ll also learn, if they haven’t already, THE HERO’S JOURNEY 51 what their eventual goals will be and the things they’ll need to do in order to accomplish them. Although the Star Wars movies and Harry Potter books can actually be broken down into a series of small hero’s journeys, each occupying a single entry in the series, when we take them as a whole, the journey stage in Star Wars starts when Luke leaves Tatooine and doesn’t end until he and the rebels begin plotting the destruction of the second Death Star in Return of the Jedi (the third movie in the first trilogy). Harry’s journey is long as well, beginning when he boards the train for Hogwarts in the first book and continuing up until the start of the seventh and final book when he begins his search for the horcruxes. This is your chance to fully take the reins of the story, develop your places and characters, and explore the events that lead up to the final confrontation. Just about anything can happen in this stage, with the only limit being your imagina- tion (and possibly your budget). By the time this stage is complete, the main characters (both heroes and villains) should be known, most mysteries and secrets should have been revealed, and the hero should be almost ready to push forward toward the final battle or challenge and bring the adventure to a close.
Stage 7: The Final Dungeon
My videogame–inspired name aside,this stage of the journey doesn’t necessarily have to contain a dungeon or anything of the sort. (However, when you’re writing for video games, there’s a good chance it will.) With the bulk of the quest complete and the goal clearly in sight, this is the stage where the hero makes any final plans and preparations and then goes off to storm the villain’s castle, blow up the alien mothership, challenge his or her greatest rival to a last duel, prove who the murderer is, or the like. Luke’s “final dungeon” stage involves the planning for the assault on the second Death Star, the mission to shut down its shield generator, and then the assault itself. Harry’s was his quest to find and destroy the remaining horcruxes in order to strip Voldemort of his near immortality. The final confrontation itself isn’t part of this stage, but everything leading up to it is. In this stage, you should focus on wrapping up loose plot threads (remaining mysteries, character relationships, and the like) and giving the heroes and the player a chance to show off how much they’ve grown and improved over the course of the adventure. Some of the toughest puzzles, battles, and challenges are usually found in this portion of the story – all leading up to the final confrontation. That said, it should be noted that you can also create a fake version of this stage at some point during the journey in order to play some mind games and set things up for a big plot twist. In Square Enix’s The World Ends with You, for example, the story centers around a deadly game that lasts for seven days. Against all odds, the heroes, Neku and Shiki, manage to survive until the last day, clear the final challenge, and defeat the ominous figure running the game. But just when it seems that their adventure is at an end, a new villain shows himself and reveals that the game is far from over. These fake or mini final dungeons and challenges, if done CHAPTER THREE • THE HERO’S JOURNEY AND THE STRUCTURE OF GAME STORIES 52 correctly, can throw players off balance and/or serve as good transition points between different sections of the story. Just as Luke had a different challenge to deal with at the end of every movie, and Harry a new villain to face and mystery to unravel at the end of every book, game stories can similarly be broken down into volumes or episodes of sorts. In some games, these points merely serve to break up a long story into easily identifiable sections; in others they actually do mark the end of a volume or episode and try to leave the players with a partial sense of closure and a lot of anticipation for the sequel.
Stage 8: The Great Ordeal
This is it: the big moment, the event that the entire journey has been building toward, and the last stage of the second act. At long last, the hero has made it through the final dungeon, and only a single challenge remains. In most video games, and many books and movies for that matter, the great ordeal will take the form of a final boss battle, with the hero facing off against the ultimate enemy. Sometimes it’s a physical battle fought with swords, guns, or magic, like Luke’s battle with the Emperor or Harry’s battle with Voldemort. But in some games, such as Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse, it can take the form of a battle of wits that plays out more like a puzzle than an actual fight. Then there are games such as Braid in which there’s no boss at all and the great ordeal is a final test of the hero and player’s skills. During the ordeal, the hero often has to face not only the physical villain or challenge but his or her own inner demons as well, and can be victorious only in the physical ordeal by completing the inner ordeal, almost as if the hero is dying and being reborn, a metaphor that in some cases is handled in a very literal fashion. The completion of this ordeal serves as the culmination to much of what the hero has worked for throughout the story and often (though not always) serves as the hero’s last great trial. But the story isn’t over quite yet – there’s still the third act.
Stage 9: The Prize
With a few exceptions, heroes don’t hunt down evil villains or complete difficult and dangerous challenges for fun (or at least not only for fun), they’re doing it to rescue the princess, claim the treasure, save the world, or fulfill some other personal goal or desire. Sometimes they legitimately claim their prize and other times they steal it or just get lucky, but either way it represents the reward for all their hard work and effort up to this point. Depending on the hero and story, the prize and how the hero reacts after acquiring it will vary greatly. Many heroes celebrate after obtaining the prize or pause to think back on all the things they’ve been through to reach this point, perhaps achieving some form of understanding or enlightenment. But in some stories it turns out that the prize isn’t what they expected at all, which can lead to anger, grief, or disappointment. THE HERO’S JOURNEY 53 However you choose to present it, this stage should be fairly short, and regard- less of whether everything turns out the way the hero had hoped, it should provide the player with at least some measure of success and accomplishment.
Stage 10: The Road Home
With the prize in hand (whether literally or metaphorically, depending on what the prize actually is), it’s time for the hero to return home, either to the ordinary world where he or she started out or to a new home discovered during the journey. Some heroes choose to never return home, but the majority do, for one reason or another. Luke and Harry, for example, just wanted to live out peaceful lives free from the threats posed by their enemies. In other stories, the hero’s home may be in desperate need of the prize. Then there are some heroes like Zack, in CRISIS CORE – FINAL FANTASY VII, who merely want to see their friends and loved ones again. In many stories, especially in video games, this stage is often quickly glossed over or even skipped entirely. Dragging it out too long can create an anticlimax, causing the story to end with a drawn-out whimper rather than a big bang. However, you can make good use of this stage as well. With the villain defeated and the prize in hand, returning home might seem to be an easy task, but that’s not always the case. In CRISIS CORE – FINAL FANTASY VII, Zack finds himself hunted by his former allies, leading to a very epic and emotional ending (which we’ll discuss in depth in Chapter 5). In this stage, it’s fairly common to see a new villain (who was, of course, secretly manipulating everything behind the scenes) emerge or a previously defeated foe make an unexpected return to cause one last bit of trouble for the hero. This can also be the place to work in a final plot twist or surprise, as in Shadow of the Colossus (which we’ll talk about in Chapter 4). Or, if you prefer a more cliched ´ event, the fortress, cave, space station, or other structure that the hero is in could start to collapse, because everyone knows that all evil lair's self-destruct shortly after their owner is defeated. There really are a lot of things you can do with this stage; it all depends on what direction you want the story to go. It’s an opportunity to throw a final challenge in the hero’s path, give the hero one last chance to correct a mistake or realize an important truth, wrap up any remaining loose plot threads, or provide a shocking revelation that makes the hero and the player reexamine the events of the journey in a new light. These things don’t always have to happen on the road, though – they can also take place in the hero’s home itself as a final obstacle preventing him or her from returning to ordinary life.
Stage 11: The Return
At last the final stage of the story has been reached. The hero has returned, any last threats have been dealt with (unless you decided to save them as a sequel), and it’s time to bring the story to a close. For many, endings are the hardest part of any story to write. A good ending needs to tie up at least most of the major issues present in the story (with the exception of a cliff-hanger ending, which can best be thought of CHAPTER THREE • THE HERO’S JOURNEY AND THE STRUCTURE OF GAME STORIES 54 as a break in the middle of the journey rather than a true ending), show the hero’s ultimate fate, and provide a certain degree of closure and satisfaction to the player. There’s a fine degree of balance needed here. You want to tie up loose ends to avoid annoying the player with dropped plot threads and unanswered questions, but if you wrap everything up too neatly, the ending may seem cheesy or contrived. You also don’t want an ending that’s too short or abrupt, in which case players may feel cheated or disappointed because they weren’t able to really see things through to their full conclusion. Yet if you make an ending too long, it’ll drag and players will lose interest. Some endings also contain an epilogue, giving the players a glimpse at what happens to the world and characters long after the ending proper. If done right, an epilogue can satisfy the player’s curiosity about the hero’s life after the adventure, help with the all-important sense of completion and closure, and/or help set things up for an eventual sequel. But if done poorly, an epilogue can drag or feel tacked on and unimportant. Writing a good ending is something that can’t really be taught and is a challenge that even many of the most experienced writers struggle with. Ultimately, it’s less a skill to be acquired than it is an art form, something beautiful and complex that in the end you’ll have to discover for yourself. We’ll be talking about endings quite a lot over the course of this book and will examine the endings of many different games as well, so pay close attention to how those games handle their ending scenes and what did and didn’t work for them. If you can avoid the more common mistakes, you’ll at least be off to a good start.
Other sources that talk about this storytelling method:
Interactive Storytelling for Video Games (Unfinished)
Author: Josiah Lebowitz, Chris Klug. Pages: 332 Size: 3.15 MB Format: PDF Publisher: Focal Press - M.U.A.
Published: Sep 10, 2012
eISBN-13: 9780240817187
eISBN-10: 0240817184
Print ISBNs: PB: 9780240817170, 0240817176
BIC Classification: UG
Dewey Decimal Classification: 794.8
https://www.dawsonera.com/abstract/9780240817187
"Either way, taking that basic idea and expanding into a full-length tale that’s suitable for games is a very important task and one that, if done incorrectly, can easily turn even the best ideas into dull, uninteresting stories. To help you prepare for this process, we’ll start out by examining which types of stories are best suited for games and why, then move on to study a classic story structure that is used as the basis for a wide variety of stories, especially in the game industry. We’ll also take a look at some of the common themes and cliches ´ present in game stories and discuss when they should and shouldn’t be used."pg40
"The tools mentioned so far augment the "show, don't tell" nature of drama and must be used carefully as they affect the pace at which the story is consumed." pg42
Paraphrase this.
"... says the show don't tell nature of media must be used carefully as it affects the pace at which a story is consumed"
"For many players, the interactivity also helps them form a close bond with the characters much more easily than in print and film". pg43
"One common mistake young writers make when they design characters is to make them general instead of specific. They fear that if the character us too specific, it will feel to the audience as if this is someone so unique that they couldn't possibly relate to them... Nothing could be further from the truth" pg111
"fully traditional stories are noninteractive. The "player" isn't a player at all, but rather a viewer who can only watch as scenes unfold." pg 125
"Although the viewer of a fully traditional story may have the ability to flip to the back of a book or skip through chapters on a DVD, thereby experiencing the story out of order, this can’t be considered truly interactive. First and foremost, doing so does not actually change the story, but merely the order in which the viewer sees it. Second, as discu ssed in Chapter 6, when a person turns page s or fast-fo rwards through movies, that person is not actually interacting with the story’s world or characters but instead with the medium containing the story (the book or DVD). Nothing the viewer does can change the story itself. Fully traditional storytelling has a rich history and is the style used to tell the world’s most-loved and well-known stories. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and the Star Wars movies, for example, are both fully traditional stories, as are ancient tales such as the Iliad, Romeo and Juliet, and the legend of Hercules. Story- tellers have spent thousands of years creating and refining the techniques used in fully traditional storytelling, creating a very mature and perfected style that is suitable for telling stories of any length and genre. The strength and beauty of fully traditional stories is that the writer is always in full control of the experience. Because of this, the author can shape the scenes in order to convey exactly the events and emotions he or she wants at exactly the right time. Ensuring proper pacing and keeping characters consistent and believable is far easier in fully traditional storytelling than in any of the other styles we’ll discuss. The only problem is that in their pure form, fully traditional stories can’t be used in video games." pg 127
"As such, the concept of fully traditional storytelling and that of video games are innately opposed. There have been some attempts at creating games that use fully traditional stories, but without interaction, is a video game really a video game? In the end, it would probably be more proper to call these “games” movies or digital novels. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t have good stories in and of themselves, with their own unique advantages – they just aren’t true games. " pg 127
"Interactive Traditional Stories Interactive traditional stories combine the tightly controlled narratives of fully traditional stories with a degree of interactivity. They’re the most common type of video game story, due to a combination of familiarity, structure, and creation pro- cess (fo r more detail s, see the rest of this chapter and Chapter 13). They’re also extremely popular among players, as shown by the research data in Chapter 14. In an interactive traditional story, the main plot itself can’t be changed, or at the very least can’t be changed in any significant way. As with fully traditional stories, it will be the same no matter how many times the player experiences it. However, outside important story scenes, the player is given a degree of freedom to interact" pg 130
Published: Sep 10, 2012
eISBN-13: 9780240817187
eISBN-10: 0240817184
Print ISBNs: PB: 9780240817170, 0240817176
BIC Classification: UG
Dewey Decimal Classification: 794.8
https://www.dawsonera.com/abstract/9780240817187
* * *
Looking at interactive storytelling for video games to see if any upcoming technologies mentioned could help develop concept art in a beneficial way.
Notes and Quotes:
"The tools mentioned so far augment the "show, don't tell" nature of drama and must be used carefully as they affect the pace at which the story is consumed." pg42
Paraphrase this.
"... says the show don't tell nature of media must be used carefully as it affects the pace at which a story is consumed"
"For many players, the interactivity also helps them form a close bond with the characters much more easily than in print and film". pg43
"fully traditional stories are noninteractive. The "player" isn't a player at all, but rather a viewer who can only watch as scenes unfold." pg 125
"Although the viewer of a fully traditional story may have the ability to flip to the back of a book or skip through chapters on a DVD, thereby experiencing the story out of order, this can’t be considered truly interactive. First and foremost, doing so does not actually change the story, but merely the order in which the viewer sees it. Second, as discu ssed in Chapter 6, when a person turns page s or fast-fo rwards through movies, that person is not actually interacting with the story’s world or characters but instead with the medium containing the story (the book or DVD). Nothing the viewer does can change the story itself. Fully traditional storytelling has a rich history and is the style used to tell the world’s most-loved and well-known stories. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and the Star Wars movies, for example, are both fully traditional stories, as are ancient tales such as the Iliad, Romeo and Juliet, and the legend of Hercules. Story- tellers have spent thousands of years creating and refining the techniques used in fully traditional storytelling, creating a very mature and perfected style that is suitable for telling stories of any length and genre. The strength and beauty of fully traditional stories is that the writer is always in full control of the experience. Because of this, the author can shape the scenes in order to convey exactly the events and emotions he or she wants at exactly the right time. Ensuring proper pacing and keeping characters consistent and believable is far easier in fully traditional storytelling than in any of the other styles we’ll discuss. The only problem is that in their pure form, fully traditional stories can’t be used in video games." pg 127
"As such, the concept of fully traditional storytelling and that of video games are innately opposed. There have been some attempts at creating games that use fully traditional stories, but without interaction, is a video game really a video game? In the end, it would probably be more proper to call these “games” movies or digital novels. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t have good stories in and of themselves, with their own unique advantages – they just aren’t true games. " pg 127
"Interactive Traditional Stories Interactive traditional stories combine the tightly controlled narratives of fully traditional stories with a degree of interactivity. They’re the most common type of video game story, due to a combination of familiarity, structure, and creation pro- cess (fo r more detail s, see the rest of this chapter and Chapter 13). They’re also extremely popular among players, as shown by the research data in Chapter 14. In an interactive traditional story, the main plot itself can’t be changed, or at the very least can’t be changed in any significant way. As with fully traditional stories, it will be the same no matter how many times the player experiences it. However, outside important story scenes, the player is given a degree of freedom to interact" pg 130
Influence of character type and narrative setting on character design for fictional television series
Wanted to skim read this journal because, whilst I'm researching whether upcoming technologies could influence concept art, for a bit of background reading it's nice to know how characters are typically designed/created currently in concept art/design. Including the current processes, methods and stereotypes used.
Whilst my project is based on whether upcoming technologies could influence art, art is still a focus and there is still an emphasis on designing my own concepts and worlds. That's why this kind of research is important when developing immersive characters, props and environments.
Notes and Quotes:
"The character type to be designed affected the narrative role, role in the plot, educational level and socio-economic status assigned to the created character."
"the ethnic or racial origin of the main character in a fictional program acts as a kind of cue that leads the viewer to experience greater or lesser similarity, assess the character in a differential way and manifest a greater or lesser desire to continue to consume specific audiovisual contents."
"the ethnic or racial origin of the main character in a fictional program acts as a kind of cue that leads the viewer to experience greater or lesser similarity, assess the character in a differential way and manifest a greater or lesser desire to continue to consume specific audiovisual contents."
"It has been observed that screenwriters of fictional television series base their ideas for creating plots and characters on the news (Galán, 2006), and the media usually provide a very partial view of reality in regard to immigration, emphasizing the problematical side and a link to lack of safety in the streets and delinquency"
Citation: Igartua, J-J. & Marcos Ramos, M. (2015). Influence of character type and narrative setting on character design for fictional television series. Communication & Society 28(1), 63-77.
Whilst my project is based on whether upcoming technologies could influence art, art is still a focus and there is still an emphasis on designing my own concepts and worlds. That's why this kind of research is important when developing immersive characters, props and environments.
Notes and Quotes:
"The character type to be designed affected the narrative role, role in the plot, educational level and socio-economic status assigned to the created character."
"the ethnic or racial origin of the main character in a fictional program acts as a kind of cue that leads the viewer to experience greater or lesser similarity, assess the character in a differential way and manifest a greater or lesser desire to continue to consume specific audiovisual contents."
"the ethnic or racial origin of the main character in a fictional program acts as a kind of cue that leads the viewer to experience greater or lesser similarity, assess the character in a differential way and manifest a greater or lesser desire to continue to consume specific audiovisual contents."
"It has been observed that screenwriters of fictional television series base their ideas for creating plots and characters on the news (Galán, 2006), and the media usually provide a very partial view of reality in regard to immigration, emphasizing the problematical side and a link to lack of safety in the streets and delinquency"
Citation: Igartua, J-J. & Marcos Ramos, M. (2015). Influence of character type and narrative setting on character design for fictional television series. Communication & Society 28(1), 63-77.
Sunday 23 October 2016
Saturday 22 October 2016
HIVE: Case Study (Unfinished)
Case History/Background
Contextual Research:"Tools and software like Tilt Brush have the potential to revolutionize visual design just like Adobe did years ago. This new immersive artwork may pave the way to a new age of art." BIW Joural, Posted on May 16, 2016 by Abraham Matias. http://brandingironworldwide.com/journal/2016/05/google-tilt-brush-virtual-reality-painting/
"The Data Arts Team at Google was presented with the challenge of showcasing this experience to those without a VR headset, on the web where Tilt Brush doesn't yet operate. To that end, the team brought in a sculptor, an illustrator, a concept designer, a fashion artist, an installation artist, and street artists to create artwork in their own style within this new medium." Last updated October 21, 2016. https://developers.google.com/web/showcase/2016/art-sessions
There has been a VR exhibition is San Francisco. June 13th 2015.
Video captured from the event - Watch artists paint in VR: https://virtualart.chromeexperiments.com/#/artists
"Tools and software like Tilt Brush has the potential to revolutionize visual design just like when Photoshop and Illustrator did years ago." https://virtualrealityreporter.com/tilt-brush-virtual-reality-painting-art-exhibition-world-first/
"Every archetect will soon design using 3D goggles. According to designer and visualiser Oliver Demangel, who beleives that virtual archetecture will be as convinceing as the real thing within 5 years."
"Demangel predicts that archetects and designers will be designing using VR tools within a few years and sending clients virtual models of their projects so they can walk through them wearing a VR headset."
"Probably the two mains problems will be addiction and isolation"
http://www.dezeen.com/2015/04/27/virtual-reality-architecture-more-powerful-cocaine-oculus-rift-ty-hedfan-olivier-demangel-ivr-nation/
Historical Research:
Panoramic Paintings
nineteenth century panoramic paintings were made to fill the viewers entire field of vision, making the viewer feel present in the scene.
1838 - Stereoscopic photos and viewers
"In 1838 Charles Wheatstone’s research demonstrated that the brain processes the different two-dimensional images from each eye into a single object of three dimensions. Viewing two side by side stereoscopic images or photos through a stereoscope gave the user a sense of depth and immersion. "
(Virtual reality society).
Principles of stereoscope today are used in popular google cardboard and low budget VR head mounted displays for mobile phones.
1929 - Link Trainer The First Flight Simulator
Edward link created the "Link Trainer" (patented 1931)
First commercial flight simulator, entirely electromechanical.
"It was controlled by motors that linked to the rudder and steering column to modify the pitch and roll. A small motor-driven device mimicked turbulence and disturbances. Such was the need for safer ways to train pilots that the US military bought six of these devices for $3500. In 2015 money this was just shy of $50 000. During World War II over 10,000 “blue box” Link Trainers were used by over 500,000 pilots for initial training and improving their skills." (Source: Virtual reality society).
1930's - Science Fiction story predicted VR
"Pygmalion's Spectacles" by Stanley G Weinbaum - contains the idea of a pair of goggles that let the wearer experience a fictional world through holographic's, smell, taste and touch. In hindsight, the experience is very like VR.
1950s - Morton Heilig's Sensorama
Arcade-style theatre cabinet that would stimulate all the senses, not just sight and sound.
Features:
- Stereo speakers
- stereoscopic 3D display
- fans
- smell generators
- sight
- sound
- vibrating chair
Meant to fully emerge the individual in film. Six short films were invented which he shot, produced and edited himself.
1960 - First VR head mounted display
1961 - Headsight,First Motion Tracking HMD
1965 - The Ultimate Display by Ivan Sutherland
1968 - Sword of Damocles
1969 - Artificial Reality
1987 - VR name was born
1991 - Virtuality Group Arcade Machines
1992 - The Lawnmower Man
1993 - SEGA announce new VR glasses
1995 - Nintendo Virtual Boy
1999 - The Matrix
Virtual Reality in the 21st Century
http://www.vrs.org.uk/virtual-reality/history.html
Questions/Issues
Cost.
Time.
Resource.
How effective does it need to be/what points/positives/attributes does it need to surpass a process/method already in place in industry.
Time.
Resource.
How effective does it need to be/what points/positives/attributes does it need to surpass a process/method already in place in industry.
Analysis/Discussion
Practical augmented reality
controller mimics gestures of painting
controller mimics gestures of painting
Conclusions
Acknowledgements/References
Friday 21 October 2016
First meeting With Chris Kelly, Web and Data analyst, DC Thompson
I joined the Abertay Careers mentoring scheme as I thought that getting paired with an industry professional would benefit me in developing my organisational skills, self-confidence, presentation skills and would prepare me with other skills/abilities to prepare me for the working world in general. Through this program I hoped to benefit by being more prepared for employment. By being exposed to an industry professional, I would become aware of how I would be expected to conduct myself in the workplace. In addition to this, I would benefit from the experience of a person currently in industry who could help me with developing skills or traits I may not know that I need to have/work on. This would give me a head start when looking for a job.
Firstly I would like to work on my online presence. A lot of my work will/could be freelance and on a contract-basis. because of this, how I conduct myself online is very important as this behavior will give an initial impression of how I conduct myself to prospective clients. Secondly, I would like to develop my presentation skills. Being able to present myself and being able to give the impression that I am confident and knowledgeable will help me in industry. Thirdly, I would like help developing my proposal and dissertation. I would like to know whether the topic I am looking at will help me in industry. I would also like to know what programs/software/skills that are used in industry so I can incorporate them into my work.
Currently, I am a university student (honours year). I have had experience with part time work and presenting to clients in third year through professional project. I currently have resources (lecturers) inside of university, and facilities like HIVE that can help with the development of my project however being partnered with a mentor and being able to experience a work environment through on-site visits will be very valuable to my development. This is because a work environment is very different to a university environment.
Problems that might occur to prevent me from achieving the best result in this scheme could be:
We arranged a first meeting and these are my notes:
Main points I was given that will help with my proposal:
Firstly I would like to work on my online presence. A lot of my work will/could be freelance and on a contract-basis. because of this, how I conduct myself online is very important as this behavior will give an initial impression of how I conduct myself to prospective clients. Secondly, I would like to develop my presentation skills. Being able to present myself and being able to give the impression that I am confident and knowledgeable will help me in industry. Thirdly, I would like help developing my proposal and dissertation. I would like to know whether the topic I am looking at will help me in industry. I would also like to know what programs/software/skills that are used in industry so I can incorporate them into my work.
Currently, I am a university student (honours year). I have had experience with part time work and presenting to clients in third year through professional project. I currently have resources (lecturers) inside of university, and facilities like HIVE that can help with the development of my project however being partnered with a mentor and being able to experience a work environment through on-site visits will be very valuable to my development. This is because a work environment is very different to a university environment.
Problems that might occur to prevent me from achieving the best result in this scheme could be:
- Personal/professional differences with my mentor that we don't work had to overcome.
- Me not putting in the work/doing enough work. This would stop my mentor helping to their best ability because I don't have enough content for them to work with/I'm not acting on their advice/making the most of the process.
***
I found out via email form the careers office that my mentor was Chris Kelly from DC Thompson.We arranged a first meeting and these are my notes:
- Main program used in his offices/for artists at DC Thompson is photoshop
- I shouldn't link my personal twitter to my Behance account, make a separate twitter/private my personal twitter. Only post positive things because thinks could be interpreted to make me look unreliable/lazy when this isn't true.
- My wordpress/online portfolio needs improving to make it look more eye catching/noticeable. He said people in his office can help with this.
- He said i need to be clearer about the area of art I want to go into so I can better prepare myself for applying for a job in this area. He said he would be able to get me into DC Thompson to see the different departments/shadow artists to see which areas I was interested in.
- He said he would be able to help out in developing my organisation skills. He advised that I plan my work week to week rather than day to day so if something comes up my plans are not entirely thrown off and I can move them around. (I can put this advice into real effect when planning my time in my proposal for my second semester project.)
- He said he can help also with my presentation skills. He presents regularly in his job and sometimes has only five minutes to prepare for a presentation. He says the key is to be able to present yourself as if you know what your talking about and he can help me learn this.
- He also said I will need to develop my interview skills and will set me up a mock interview with him and also the art director at DC Thompson to give me interview experience/advice.
Main points I was given that will help with my proposal:
- Concentrate on VR Painting to 3D print (Tilt brush to 3D model).
- "How do emerging technologies effect concept art & its application?" - Rather than just focusing the question on VR.
- Look at (Chanel?) Fashion Mirror.
- "emerging technologies" could constitute old technologies used in a new area of the first time.
- What does a new technology need to have/what does it need to be in order for it to surpass something/a technology or process already in place in industry.
- What are the obstacles? Cost/Time/Resources?