Month: April 2015

Noah Bailey – Transmedia Project Presentation

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Links for my Transmedia Project Presentation:

http://shadowwindhawkandthemorticians.com/ (anchor page)

http://facebook.com/shadowwindhawk

http://facebook.com/shadowwindhawkandthemorticians

https://www.youtube.com/user/shadow138windhawk

http://reverbnation.com/shadowwindhawkandthemorticians

Why I Write – Whitney Hancock

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I have always enjoyed writing, whether it’s for school, work, or personal, I just like it. Even before I really knew what good writing was or how to tell a story it always seemed to come easy. I remember getting large writing assignments in high school and my friends would panic and stress about it but for  me – I always looked forward to those assignments. I love the opportunity to be creative and tell my story. Fiction or nonfiction, it didn’t matter to me, I just wanted to write.

I have actually struggled more with writing assignments in college but I think that is due to an overloaded schedule of full-time work and full-time school. I just don’t have enough room in my brain to open it up the way I am used to, to tell a good story. It’s frustrating for me because I want to enjoy writing. I wish I was in a position where I could quit my job and focus entirely on my education. I think I would do much better in school if that were the case but I make it work. For me writing has always been a mental escape, much like the way reading is for many people. I hope after completing my education I will be able to get back to writing the way I have always enjoyed.

Exceptional Digital Storytelling Presentation – Ben Brzowski

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     For my example of digital storytelling I would like to draw everyone’s attention to what I feel may be one of the next phases of evolution of storytelling. Especially in our digital world, videogames are becoming an ever-greater force in the world of portraying narratives. Those games are gradually becoming more advanced and complex, and the trend of audience participation of interaction in the creation of the story is spreading into them as well. Nevermind is a game by Erin Reynolds and Flying Mollusk. It integrates biofeedback, or bodily reactions such as heart rate, breathing patterns, and even sweating as inputs in the evolution of the game world. In this wondrously interesting game, the world literally changes around you as you experience it, and will reflect your own reactions

http://www.nevermindgame.com/

Within Nevermind the player assumes the role of a “neuralprober”, or a paid employee of some unnamed psychiatric care service designed to dissect and rectify psychological problems in their customers by projecting the minds of trained individuals into the subconscious of the patient. While this is an interesting narrative approach in and of itself, I find it even more intriguing that Ms. Reynolds and Flying Mollusk have expressed an interest in using the game (or its model) to create therapeutic applications for individuals suffering from some psychiatric illnesses in real life.

Analyzed solely as a videogame, Nevermind is a perplexing cross between adventure and puzzle styles and horror, as things can take a very dark turn if you are stressed out yourself. It is also intended to be played using VR (virtual reality) systems, further pushing its impression as an immersive experience. Nevermind is full of pop culture and clear, recognizable symbolism and connotation. At any given point you are very acutely aware (at least as a member of western culture) of what is going on and what it could mean. It takes these typical symbols and presents them in a way that is molded by the biofeedback received from the player: a truly startling concept.

I chose to present this particular piece of digital storytelling for many reasons, not least of which is my love for videogames and my interest in writing for them. It serves as a powerful example of what we can do to challenge the notions of “normal” and continue to evolve our techniques of sharing stories.

https://vimeo.com/121816528

Visual Storytelling Reflection – Ben Holland

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Blog Post 9 – 3/11

Prompt: Reflect on what you have learned about visual storytelling. How do you see yourself using visuals for your storytelling? What questions do you still have about images and storytelling? What areas of visuals do you wish we would have explored more in detail?

The video assignment was one of my favorite ones this semester so far. My wife and I both spent several hours going through hundreds of video clips of Gordon Ramsay, trying to find the best clips that could help tell a story. I had an issue prior to the peer review trying to construct a good story to tell. Finally, I realized that the project would be nothing without a story of some kind. Like Scott Simon says, “You don’t necessarily need to have a punchline in a story, but you must have a point.” The point to my story about Gordon Ramsay was to show all of the different sides of him.

I see myself continually using visuals, whether video or image or both, to tell stories. Pictures truly can tell stories in ways that words cannot, or take more time to tell. In Ernest Hemingway’s six-word story, “For sale: baby shoes, never worn,” we learn of the concision that stories can have. In a similar way, a video, a sequence of images, or other things can easily tell elongated stories. They have a quality of expansion, leaving much open for interpretation. It’s difficult to replicate this type of expanded storytelling via words alone.

I’m interested to see how visuals shape storytelling in the future—where video cameras (smartphones) are so widely dispersed. YouTube has completely shaped storytelling through videos, giving access to the public to create and share stories.

I didn’t have any areas in visuals that I wished we had explored more. I felt like we covered everything that I was hoping to—having the guest speakers come in and show videos was infinitely helpful. It was cool to see how they used storytelling in different ways. All in all, it was an exceptional project experience!