Saturday, 15 December 2012
Final If:Then story Reflection
The final assignment has both been one of the most enjoyable and the
most stressful. The long length allowed me really explore the situation
and write it out as I saw fit without cutting too many corners. I felt
that with the limitations of the past assignment, I was too rushed into
telling the story and left out some details. The weeks of preparation
really let me work through some of the problems and develop the story as
a whole. The process can be seen here.
Of course the longer length involved more if/then moments which is the
part I struggle most with. I find myself writing out the story in the
way I think it should be laid out and going back and adding the decisive
moments in afterwards. This leaves the secondary options much less
developed than the original story. This for sure is not my strong suit
in writing, but with the constant developing of technology, this is an
important thing to practice and I will continue to write in this style
in my free time. I think my problem is, as a writer, being sympathetic
with the characters personalities. In the choose your own adventure
games of my childhood, I failed to relate to the process since the
options we're never something I would have chosen myself.
I
realized in this assignment that the decisions aren't as relevant to
the personality of the audience as to the personality of the characters.
The character bios really helped in terms of writing character and
character development.
Image courtosy of
http://jonathanshipley.blogspot.ca/2010/09/forked-path-childhood-death-and-choose.html
Thursday, 6 December 2012
Class trip to Film set
I have mixed opinions on the program wide trip we went on the other day. The trip was divided into two halves; one half was visiting Pinewood Studios while the second half allowed us to visit the film set of students in the Advanced Television and Film program. While I did enjoy the informative session at Pinewood, the film set I found rather dull.
At Pinewood Studios, we were given a demonstration of the new age of 3-D and the visual appeal of higher frame rates. We got to see clips shot at 48 and 60 fps and the comparison to traditional filming techniques, though somewhat difficult to get used to, was remarkable. The presentation was 'presented' on screen by James Cameron and his insight to the technological aspects made the presentation come alive as he pointed out aspects that I would have missed. I found the information intriguing as it is being presented in The Hobbit, which is a film I would really like to see.
The second half I found rather uneventful. Having a hundred-odd students crammed around a tiny film set was not a fun experience. There was hardly a view of the crew and no chance to ask questions or to learn. It seemed like a waste of time to be perfectly honest. The minor excitement from being on a film set was squashed by the realization that there was nothing to do.
Image from : http://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=40304
At Pinewood Studios, we were given a demonstration of the new age of 3-D and the visual appeal of higher frame rates. We got to see clips shot at 48 and 60 fps and the comparison to traditional filming techniques, though somewhat difficult to get used to, was remarkable. The presentation was 'presented' on screen by James Cameron and his insight to the technological aspects made the presentation come alive as he pointed out aspects that I would have missed. I found the information intriguing as it is being presented in The Hobbit, which is a film I would really like to see.
The second half I found rather uneventful. Having a hundred-odd students crammed around a tiny film set was not a fun experience. There was hardly a view of the crew and no chance to ask questions or to learn. It seemed like a waste of time to be perfectly honest. The minor excitement from being on a film set was squashed by the realization that there was nothing to do.
Image from : http://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=40304
Final If/Then Story Process
Week 1
This week we have our first interview regarding our final story. My idea is as follows. There is a river, full of money. People in the nearby town have nicknamed it Spare Change River, since you're more than likely to find money in it if you go searching. I take the inspiration from a wishing well. Whenever I see one, I always wish i could just go in and take the money out. Except the wishing well is now a river.
For
a while now, I've had this mental image of a man fishing in a shallow
river, and have thus far been unable to incorporate it successfully into
any writings.
As much as I like this idea, it needs a lot of work. For instance why is
there money in this river? It can't simply appear there, that wouldn't
make any sense. Is there a limited supply of the money? How does it
benefit the people that use it? How does it impact the society that
surrounds it?
These are all very important questions that must be tackled. I look
forward to undertaking this task, despite its evident complexity.
Image from
Week 2
The story has continued to flow and develop. I've discovered that the river is full of money after a angry business man throws handfuls of bills away. He is doing it to spite a charity worker who has annoyed him. The character bio i really important for the business man. Why is he being such an asshole? His values have always been that a days pay requires a days work, and he believes that donating to charity is giving out money to people who don't deserve it. The choices he is going to make will hopefully change how he looks at the situations of others and not his core values. I've decided to make his secretary more important as well. She will help he business man evaluate his situation, through acts of sarcasm and downplaying his intelligence. She'll provide an outside perspective on his situation. The character will realize how his decisions influence others in a serious manner.
This week we have our first interview regarding our final story. My idea is as follows. There is a river, full of money. People in the nearby town have nicknamed it Spare Change River, since you're more than likely to find money in it if you go searching. I take the inspiration from a wishing well. Whenever I see one, I always wish i could just go in and take the money out. Except the wishing well is now a river.
Image from
Week 2
The story has continued to flow and develop. I've discovered that the river is full of money after a angry business man throws handfuls of bills away. He is doing it to spite a charity worker who has annoyed him. The character bio i really important for the business man. Why is he being such an asshole? His values have always been that a days pay requires a days work, and he believes that donating to charity is giving out money to people who don't deserve it. The choices he is going to make will hopefully change how he looks at the situations of others and not his core values. I've decided to make his secretary more important as well. She will help he business man evaluate his situation, through acts of sarcasm and downplaying his intelligence. She'll provide an outside perspective on his situation. The character will realize how his decisions influence others in a serious manner.
Wednesday, 5 December 2012
Run Lola Run.
The topic of digital if/then stories reminds me of a movie I saw several years ago. It was around 10th grade I believe, possibly in English class. I don't remember why exactly we were watching it, but I remember it being an exact visualization of what has been discussed in class. The story is something like this. The film is called Run Lola Run.
Lola's boyfriend is in trouble with a gang after losing 100,000 francs. After explaining the situation, he tells her that if she isn't there in 20 minutes, he's going to rob a grocery store to get the money.
Lola then goes through the actions of going to her boyfriend Manni, before he robs the store.
Though a simple concept the way the movie is produced is quite unique. Lola runs to her dad, a banker, and asks him to get the money for her. I'm unsure of the reason exactly, I believe it has something to do with an affair, her dad does nothing to help her, instead leaving her in the street empty handed. Lola runs to the grocery store to see Manni going in to rob it. Lola runs in to help him, but dies in a confrontation with the police immediately afterwards. After the story "ends", The story immediately starts over from where Lola hangs up the phone. By doing some things slightly differently and at a different time, the outcome is different, though on this second run it is still unfavorable. It starts over again, a different set of actions occur and a final, favorable outcome is attained. I wish I had seen the film more recently to express more details, as it is an enjoyable film to watch.
I'm surprised more media isn't approached in this way. It definitely makes the story more involving, since the audience realizes such fine details that affect the narrative.It made the experience much more in depth.
image from: http://wesleybauman.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/run-lola-run-lb-r.jpeg
Lola's boyfriend is in trouble with a gang after losing 100,000 francs. After explaining the situation, he tells her that if she isn't there in 20 minutes, he's going to rob a grocery store to get the money.
Lola then goes through the actions of going to her boyfriend Manni, before he robs the store.
Though a simple concept the way the movie is produced is quite unique. Lola runs to her dad, a banker, and asks him to get the money for her. I'm unsure of the reason exactly, I believe it has something to do with an affair, her dad does nothing to help her, instead leaving her in the street empty handed. Lola runs to the grocery store to see Manni going in to rob it. Lola runs in to help him, but dies in a confrontation with the police immediately afterwards. After the story "ends", The story immediately starts over from where Lola hangs up the phone. By doing some things slightly differently and at a different time, the outcome is different, though on this second run it is still unfavorable. It starts over again, a different set of actions occur and a final, favorable outcome is attained. I wish I had seen the film more recently to express more details, as it is an enjoyable film to watch.
I'm surprised more media isn't approached in this way. It definitely makes the story more involving, since the audience realizes such fine details that affect the narrative.It made the experience much more in depth.
image from: http://wesleybauman.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/run-lola-run-lb-r.jpeg
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