Jones_C Machinima Film

Waiting for Control: A Machinima Project

Jessica Huber's Final Project

Machinima using Nintendo 64

Caillois

Of course there is much more to the two chapters "The Definition of Play" and "The Classification of Games" from Roger Caillois's Man, Play, and Games than only what is represented by the chart (with or without banjo music!)



Paidia: "uncontrolled fantasy," "frolicsome and impulsive exuberance," "anarchic and capricious"
Ludus: "arbitrary, imperative, and purposely tedious conentions," "completely impractical," "requires an ever greater amount of effort, patience, skill, or ingenuity."

Agôn
Alea
Mimicry
Ilinx



Recall our Play! workshop (see cut scenes again here)

Games and Film: Where Aesthetics Meet and Diverge

Games and Film: Where Aesthetics Meet and Diverge

From film techniques in games, as so eloquently illustrated by Chris Solis in his analysis of Super Mario 64 to the very different kinds of camera angles and spectatorship that can occur in games, it is instructive to explore these two cultural forms in relationship to each other, and to consider how they have been mutually informing, first with film's influence on games, and now with games' influence on film. We also can include the human-computer interface.

Opening shot of Welles's Touch of Evil that Solis discusses in his blog post:

Solis writes, "So why do we introduce the camera before we introduce the main character? Simply the camera is more important then Mario in this title." Does Welles's film also introduce the camera before the character?

How has this evolved in games? In film? Why?

Game Design Workshop Notes

Today, we cram our snowed-out 2-hour discussion of the first 4 chapters of Game Design Workshop into a 50-minute class, and try not to think of the snow piling up outside.

KEY CONCEPTS FROM CHAPTERS 1-3:

Game structure

Salen & Zimmerman's definition of play: "free movement within a more rigid structure"

Anaylzing & thinking through formal elements

FOCUS ON CH. 4:

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's theory of flow

THE PARADOX OF CONTROL

PREMISE

CHARACTER (and avatar --character spectrum)

STORY

WORLD-BUILDING

DRAMATIC ARC (imagine me yelling "conflict" in your ear!)

Jesse Schell's 2 myths of interactive storytelling:

Myth #1: Interactive storytelling has little to do with traditional storytelling

Myth #2: Interactive storytelling has little to do with traditional game design

FOR THURSDAY: exercises 4.9, 4.10, 4.11

Overview

This course blends theory and practice in an exploration of digital narrative: how stories can be told with digital and new media technologies, and how narrative can be experienced in games and immersive environments. We will work critically and creatively with linear and nonlinear narratives in a range of media: writing, graphics, animation, games, multimedia, virtual worlds, and interactive media.

The overall theme of the course will focus on moving image narratives--both linear and non-linear--that explore ideas about storytelling, time, and memory. In particular, we will consider how interactivity changes narrative, and whether there are new kinds of digital narratives and aesthetics emerging, especially in games, and in what games might become. Students will make movies, games, websites, DVDs, and online installations that illuminate ideas about story, plot, character, time, and narration, comment on their creative work using the critical concepts they learn, and experiment with word processing, graphics, machinima capture, video editing, game design, and web design software programs.

All students will analyze their own responses to the games, films, readings, and other media we encounter in terms of the key concepts from the course in order to deepen their understanding of how meaning is made in digital narrative and interactive media, to enhance the production of their own creative projects, and to explore the nature and complexity of the role of digital media in our society and culture. Students in the Video Game Scoring Minor will focus on deepening their understanding of the subjective experiences of game play and narrative in a range of interactive media in order to be better able to score video games effectively and creatively.

LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of this course, you will be able to:

1) Evaluate current theoretical and practical tendencies in the emerging field of Interactive Media.

2) Formulate a critical framework for analyzing traditional and new forms of narrative.

3) Develop narratives that employ the theoretical and critical concepts explored.

4) Apply new media tools and aesthetics to create digital narrative.

5) Analyze the subjectivity of a game, immersive, interactive, spectatorial, or narrative experience so that you are better able to compose music for that medium, and be better at communicating with the people who make the kind of media you will score.

6) Synthesize theory and practice in an interdisciplinary exploration of narrative and technology.

7) Connect academic studies and the changing world in which we live.

COURSE MATERIALS: Required Books, available at bookstore & online
The Language of New Media, Lev Manovich (LNM)
Game Design Workshop , Tracy Fullerton (GDW)
Recommended: Man, Play, and Games, Roger Callois

Welcome to Digital Narrative Theory & Practice Spring 2011

This is the blog for our class at Berklee College of Music. We'll use it as a shared web resource to post ideas, comments, links, and material for the course.