Hey, my name is Elyse Langer! This is my blog for school, I am a New Media student and like every other arts student can be found in the Image Arts building.
Small blizzards whirled around the streets as the blizzard was being announced on every piece of technology. Every television, every radio station, the same various things were said. “School’s closed.” , “Stay inside”, “Biggest and Coldest storm or the year” Myself and my siblings waited inside my house with the babysitter we were stuck with because our mother still had to work. We watched the snow lightly breeze by the front window. Only desperately wanting to go outside and enjoy the cool winter breezes that clearly weren’t enough to call off school. The front door slammed and I jumped slightly, than relaxed as I heard my father’s groan as he entered the warm house. I wondered what he had been doing home, he was supposed to leave on a business trip two states away, there wasn’t a point in asking. He’d already started complaining to whoever was listening that his flight was cancelled three days because of the warnings of what seemed to be the non existing storm.
Hours passed by and snow picked up slightly, but this massive storm that was being talked about for days in advanced seemed to be just one more mistake to add to the many that the weather men and women have predicted in the past and would probably predict in the future.
Jennifer Gordon the normal kind of teenager. She was a floater as her mother called her. She wasn’t the popular nor the nerd. She was right in the middle. Somewhere she has been placed before; her family for example. She was the middle child, the sandwich between two brothers. Her life had been normal, she came from a good family, an amazing family. A family who all loved each other very much, they had never done anything wrong. And she always wondered why life went against them, what did they do wrong to deserve such pain in their lives.
Melissa Jefferson the woman of the family, the girl who wears the pants as her children joked. Things were never the same after 2011. The years felt longer as opposed to shorter, the winter days grew longer and the date she dreaded came closer and closer. She wished the year would stay in summer, a season she knew he loved, the season he always felt safe, safe and away from the evil that tortured him in between those four walls of the building he would’ve used the education to be more of a genius and successful in his later years, if he’d got there.
Henry Gordon the nerd child, the youngest child. The one who didn’t get to experience as much time as he could have with people he cared about. Life didn’t last in the long run for him, being himself didn’t make the cut the other kids at school. He couldn’t handle another locker door smashed in his head, or pencils stabbing him on the bus. ‘Only one more day’ he thought to himself just to get through the day. ‘One more day til peace’ and peace is what he got, on the night of April 5th 2011. Peace to him, but pain for others.
With the many inventions of passes such as Presto, Metro card and with the new and improved Rental Bikes stations. It’s too hard to keep track of all the different of which card goes with which transportation method.
With this new app, it will change everything. All transportation will be in one app. Everything all on your phone. If you want to get from one end of the city to the other whether it be by train, subway, street car, bicycle? Pull up your Speedy Swift app tap on, and like that you are on your way
This app will be your way of transportation. Every owner will have an account that will be set up by a user name and password and will also be set up to their banking system. This will be a free app, available for any smart phone.
Speedy Swift is targeted to any city folk. Someone without a car who needs to take city transportation to get from point A to point B. Especially if said person needs to take two types of transportation. So this app is targeted mostly for commuters, although can be used to city folk as well.
The only thing that I think relates to my app is the ability to send your airplane ticket to your phone and are able to scan it from the scanner. What makes it similar is that there is a interactive feature to the app. Meaning that is will be used in the same way, which is to get from point A to point B. The difference, is that there won’t be a scanner it will mostly be like a presto tap card.
Norah has always just been the “Little Espinoza”. Being the younger sister of the infamous Jensen Espinoza, she never really got much attention growing up. Her brother was the popular one at school and with neighbors. Even her friends wanted to know him. Norah doesn’t sing, she doesn’t play an instrument, and she’s not sporty. She mostly just stands in the background, watching everyone and everything. Despite that, Norah and Jensen get along quite well. She is a smart girl, contrary to what the sometimes ditzy act would let on. She’s a studious girl and works hard for everything she gets.Being in the shadows for so long has taken a major hit to her self-confidence. Norah is constantly wary of the things she says to other people and it takes her a while to open up. Once people break through her timid shell they see the smart, funny girl that Norah truly is.
Norah holds a dark secret. One that she herself doesn’t even know of…yet. She never heard of such thing as supernatural creatures, except in books or movies and even those, she finds them pathetic and very untrue. Such things could never be real. Her family never told her about the curse that runs among them, one that so far, only her older brother Jensen has broken. They have thought of telling her, to make her aware of the dangers. But they’re too afraid of her reaction and the consequences this might have in her life.
Lives in very small town in the country side in the United Kingdom. She's 18 years old. She's a shy and quiet but has a sense of humour. She self conscious about her appearance and not very confident with herself or the choices she makes. She's comfortable in her own skin but not confident enough to do what she's always wanted to do or what she's wanted to say.
Because sehs' so shy, she only has a handful of friends and stays with them. She's not one to float around or have the courage to meet new people. Because she doubts herself as someone that she'd want to be seen with.
Her dream has been to act and sing, she's not sure if she's very good at it and that's something that is stopping her to pursuing her dream. She doesn't want to embarrass herself or her family to pursue something she's not good at.
Conflict:
The conflict that she is facing is that she is moving out of the house soon and is nervous that she won't make very friends. So she is using youtube specifically to try to get more confident and more comfortable with herself and wants to expose herself on a very public level.
Websites:
Youtube (X)
Twitter (X)
Vine (X)
Tumblr (X)
Goals with the Websites:
All of the websites I chose will show a different side of Wendy. I chose the previous 4 websites because they can
Youtube is the main goal, she's going to create a year bucket list. A list she'd like to complete before the year is over. Many of these things I will reflect over what's going to happen to me in real life. For example, I will be going to both Florida and Vancouver over the year so I can say she's travelling somewhere.
Twitter & Vine are webfaces that will show her witty written aspect for Twitter, and shows a little more of her personal life and how she thinks on a day to day basis. She uses Twitter to express little thoughts and interests. And she will use Vine as a video version to express herself of little moments in her life.
Tumblr will show her interest through photographs. There will be photographs of her and things that she likes, things she wants, places she wants to go. It's will be portrayed as her interface of dreams.
Climax:
Wendy was a shy person and never had a relationship. One day when she's going to the nearest cafe so she can upload a video. She bumped into a guy that she immediately found attractive. She didn't expect the guy to offer her to buy her a new cup of coffee because this was England. Not Canada, no one was that nice.
Wendy has always found a love in Canada, and since both her parents are Canadian. She'd always wanted to move away from home and back to the roots that her parents were from. She applied to Ryerson University in Toronto Canada, hoping that she could be able to live a Canadian life like her parents did.
Office: RCC Transmedia Centre; Office hours Monday and Wednesday, by appointment
Description:
A follow up to VISUAL NARRATIVE, students will extend their design investigations into space, sound, light, colour and form components of their digital, film, photography and video productions, while pushing their investigation of narrative in the context of new media production.
This course will focus on new ways of telling stories and conveying meaning in non-linear and interactive formats.
Assignments will provide opportunities for students to explore issues of interactivity, nonlinearity and transmedia storytelling using media including digital imaging, film, installations, code-based work and video productions, as well as game design practices and explorations in social media storytelling. The goals of this class are to encourage students to experiment with form and content, to expose students to theory and cultural context, and to facilitate discussion of design concepts and critique of student work.
Throughout this class, students are encouraged to ask the following questions: What are you trying to convey or communicate? How does the way in which the viewer interacts with the piece impact the narrative? What context (creative and cultural) does your visual narrative exist within and how does that impact the viewer's experience of the work?
Goals:
Students will expand on their narrative work from the fall semester and learn how to tell stories in a non linear way, without losing the emotional impact.Students will be expected to articulate their creative goals and intentions and reflect those in their produced works. This class is focused on concept development and the communication of creative intent through presentations and prototyping.
Assignments: For each assignment, students will be given a design brief detailing the goals and parameters of that project. In most cases, the creative media and form will be the choice of the student, based on his/her interpretation of how to best execute the design challenge with the express understanding that the chosen media is part of the narrative itself. Acceptable mediums for production include digital imaging, photography, video, Processing, Max/MSP, Flash, stop motion, animation, projection, sculpture; The use of multiple/mixed mediums is encouraged. Students must use at least three different mediums over the course of the year. For assignments with a graded proposal component, students will be asked to present a proposal and then to incorporate feedback into the execution of the project, which will be presented for critique by the class. All assignments should be documented. Some assignments will be collaborative.
Evaluation Methods: All project briefs will be presented to the class. Students are required to create proposals comprised of a vision statement, mockups, sketches and materials list. Work will be evaluated on the basis of understanding of each project brief, originality, inventiveness and presentation. Where proposals are required, process work will be graded.
All students will have the opportunity to submit a Faculty Course Survey.
The Ryerson Grading Rubric is available on the website here:
Grades, readings and assignments will be posted to Blackboard.
Submission of work: Work is due at the time of presentations. Projects must be done by each due date. Late assignments will be subject to penalty, unless you have an excused absence and have made arrangements with me beforehand. Lateness in assignment submission due to illness or dire family circumstances
will be taken into consideration. Unexcused absence from a critique will result in a late penalty. You must follow Ryerson’s Student Medical Information Guidelines by having your doctor fill out Ryerson’s Student Medical Certificate (see James McCrorie). Any planned alterations to the course, including assignments, grade weights, due dates, assignment or submission formats, will be discussed in class prior to implementation.
Readings, screenings and discussion: All assigned readings and screenings are required. Students are expected to participate in discussions of the material. Non-participation in critical discussions and peer review critiques will result in a lowering of your grade.
Email: All email correspondence must be done through Ryerson.ca email accounts.
SEMESTER AT A GLANCE
Week 1 (Jan 13/15)
- Intro
- Assign: Internet Persona
- Resources: LonelyGirl16, Cindy Sherman, ARG.net, Wired Off the Grid story, Cathy’s Book, Bronx Zoo Cobra, Year Zero
- In class assignment: Show and Tell - Character
Week 2 (Jan 20/22)
- Guest Lecture: Alternate Reality Games – The Internet as a Platform
- Blog response: Narrative and Self, Narrative and Life, from the Cambridge introduction to Narrative; include reaction to guest lecture and preliminary ideas for Internet Persona
Week 3 (Jan 27/29)
- Show and tell: Conflict
- Proposal presentations
- Conflict and character in narrative
- in class work session
Week 4 (Feb 3/5)
- In class work session
- Progress presentation
Week 5 (Feb 10/12)
- Presentations/Project Due: Internet Persona
- Assign: Crowd Sourced Story
- Resources: Resources: Sophie Calle, “Double Game” (book) “Take Care of Yourself” (link), PBS Frontline’s Digital Nation, Post Secret, Texts from Last Night, NFB Out My Window, Mad Libs, Exquisite Corpse, Fan Fiction; World Without Oil, Henry Jenkins
READING WEEK (Feb 17/19)
Week 6 (Feb 24/26)
- Show and Tell: News Story Fairy Tale Remix
- Proposal Presentations
Week 7 (Mar 3/5)
- Show and Tell: Mini Story/Epic Story
- In Class Work Session
Week 8 (Mar 10/12)
- Presentations/Project Due: Crowd Sourced Story
- Assign: The Do over
Week 9 (Mar 17/19)
- Resources: Rashomon, Run Lola Run, Timecode, Memento, Sliding Doors, Texts from Last Night, Post Secret, Façade (link), “Cathy’s Book”
- Show and Tell: Find a “Hub” for Many Stories
- In Class Work Session
Week 10 (Mar 24/26)
- Proposal Presentations
- In class work session
Week 11 (mar 31/Ap2)
- Progress presentation
- In class work session
Week 12 (Ap 7/9)
- Presentations/Assignment Due: The Do over
GRADING:
Blog – Documentation & Artists Statements 10
Show and Tell – Character 3
Show and Tell – Conflict 3
Show and Tell – News Story Fairy Tale Remix 3
Show and Tell – Find a “many story hub” 3
Show and Tell – a mini story/epic story 3
Crowd Sourced Story 25
The Do Over 25
Internet Persona 25
TOTAL 100
ASSIGNMENTS:
BLOG
Document all of your work on your blog! This includes concepts, sketches, process work, research (summaries, images and links), technological experiments (circuits, code and media), conceptual development and anything else you feel is relevant to your project. Your blog should also include documentation of your finished projects, as well as reflections on the feedback from critiques and what you might change or refine in the works. You should be adding to your blog regularly. You can present your blog using blogging software or develop a site yourself. You can use the same blog for other courses but you should uniquely tag and categorize your effort by course. Blogs will be checked regularly throughout the term.
Your blog is worth 10% of your total grade.
SHOW AND TELL
Show and Tell assignments are your chance to refine your skill at finding stories out in the world, or finding inspiration and turning it into a narrative. This is an important skill to hone and encourages you to look at the world around you as a creator, maker, and storyteller.
There are five Show and Tell assignments throughout the semester, designed to help you brainstorm for the individual projects.
Character: Characters are all around us. A walk in the park, a ride on the subway, or an afternoon in a café will reveal countless characters if you watch closely and let your imagination fill in the blanks. You are one third anthropologist, one third researcher, and one third storyteller. Jot down as many details as you can about the person – how is he dressed? What is she doing? Does he seem happy, angry, sad? Then build out with your imagination. What does he do? Has she ever been in love? What is his greatest wish or desire? Create a fully fleshed out person.
Conflict: Conflict is an essential ingredient in a story. Usually conflict comes about when something stands in the way of a character getting what he/she wants or needs. Find a conflict in the real world. Maybe it is a conversation that you over hear, a conversation, an argument, a breakup. Maybe it is something you read about in the news. Maybe it is something happening in your own life! Remember there are multiple types of conflict: Man vs man, man vs nature, man vs himself…
News Story Fairy Tale Remix: Find a story in the news and remix it as a fairy tale or parable. It is said that there are no new stories. If that’s the case, everything that happens has happened before. Find a story that is in the news, and relate it back to a fairy tale, parable or classic well-known tale.
Mini Story/Epic Story: Time is a funny thing. Sometimes a full story can take place in an afternoon, sometimes it takes generations for a story to unfold. Choose mini or epic and then find a story that fits the bill: For a mini story, find or create a narrative that unfolds in under a day. For an epic story, find or create a narrative that unfolds over 150+ years.
Find a “many story hub”: Interactive stories and Transmedia narratives often involve multiple characters or storylines. Find a “hub” a location where multiple stories might intersect, and identify three of those characters/storylines. This could be anywhere public: the library, a hospital, a bus stop, or something digital like a nice website. It could also be somewhere that connects people atemporally, like a taxi.
Each Show and Tell should be written up into a paragraph of 200-300 words and posted to your blog. You will also be asked to share your narrative discovery with the class.
Each show and tell is worth 3%, together they form 15% of your total grade.
INTERNET PERSONA
Project Brief:
Facebook Profiles, LinkedIn Accounts, Avatars, Youtube Channels, Leaked Photos: The internet is full of different places to be different people. Or is it? Is it true that we are different people online, or does the internet allow us to be our truest selves?
Nowhere is the line between truth and fiction more blurry than on the internet. Your assignment is to create a new online persona and make it/him/her as real AND/OR as compelling as possible.
With this project you are exploring identity and the balance between public and private. You are also creating a narrative, as character is revealed through the choices we make and the actions we take. Who is this person? What is he/she going through? What are the trials and tribulations of his/her life? How do you reveal that in a way that is not expository?
Your challenge is to tell a story, without your audience thinking they are participating in a narrative. By following your character, we are pulled into that life.
You can be your fictional character, or get someone to play you, or not use personal images. What happens if you put a sticker or blur the face in all photos? How do you get the most friends? (You are not limited to creating a human character.)
What is AUTHENTIC? Relationship status? Job? School? Connections? Other links online?
What does it require to convince people online that you are “real”? A lot of friends? Lists of favorite books and movies? Photo albums? A personal website? A youtube page? A job? What about what others say about you? Is “realness” based on the quality of content you have online, or the quantity of links and likes?
First you will create a persona online. Then, something will happen, you will add an element of conflict, to create the beginning of a narrative. You must utilize AT LEAST four platforms (includig YouTube Flickr Technorati Alexa Twitter MySpace Facebook Vimeo Tumblr Instructables Quora Reddit Yahoo Google Wikipedia)
Deadline 1: proposals due
For your proposal, you should present your character and concept, and also a list of what media/platforms you intend on using, and in what capacity. You should also detail key beats and conflict(s).
Deadline 2: Progress presentation
You should have the accounts set up, and you should be fleshing out character and conflict online through images, videos, media, blog posts, tweets etc. You should be well into seeding narrative cues.
FINAL DEADLINE: Final Presentations
You will be graded on creativity and execution, originality or concept, “realness” or authenticity of character, narrative engagement and visibility/reach.
This project is worth 25% of your grade. You will be graded on production quality, richness of character, engagement/narrative, and originality/experimentation.
CROWD SOURCED STORY
Project Brief:
With this project, you will turn to your audience to help create your narrative.
This can either be a fiction or a non fiction endeavor.
If it is non-fiction, you will choose a topic to explore, and “crowd source” answers. This could mean:
- streeters: taking to a popular fitness club and a fast food restaurant to talk about body image, and speaking with a range of people
- OR having different people interpret a set of rules (like a dance routine)
- OR having a wide range of people read/interpret a personal document (like Sophie Calle’s “Take Care of Yourself”)
If you choose to create a work of fiction, you will create some kind of narrative structure or rule-set and then let the audience guide you, or fill in the blanks. This could mean:
- A “mad lib” type narrative fiction
- A branching path style fiction where the audience votes for what direction they want to go in
- A Vine “soap” in which the audience gives the characters advice about what to say or do next
With this project, you start with an idea, but the power of the narrative comes from the range of opinions, perspectives or interpretations that you source.
This can be produced as video, photographs, a web project, or using other media.
Content and form should intersect with this project: How you engage with the audience and how you present your collection of material is up to you… and an integral part of the project.
Proposal and execution plan must be approved by instructor.
This project is worth 25% of your winter grade:
THE DO OVER
Project Brief: In teams of 2-3 people, you are going to create a non-linear narrative experience that involves a “do over”. You have two choices as to what the “do over” entails:
The same story is experienced/recounted by different characters, so that we get to see their different perspectives on the same sequence of events.
Ex. Rashomon
OR
One character (your protagonist) is put in the same situation multiple times, but makes different choices, what then impacts the sequence of events.
Ex. Run Lola Run
Essentially, you are creating what Chris Crawford calls a rich story world, within which the character(s) make a series of choices. If you were creating this as an interactive narrative piece, you would do all of the same setup work of creating a fully fleshed out world in which a series of choices can take place. For this assignment, and for the sake of presentation, you are asked to document the three alternate experiences as your final product.
The parameters are:
• There must be three versions of the story, either three different perspectives, or three “re-do’s”
• While each “take” will be different, they must all share the same narrative elements: These are not totally different stories. The reason they will be compelling is that together the three versions or three perspectives give us a greater understanding of “truth”. Each take must start in the same location, incorporate the same artifacts, acknowledge the same set of characters, and have the same “trigger event”. The challenge here is that even though each take incorporates the same elements, they must be significantly different.
• Each “take” must be comprised of at least four beats. Each beat must include a choice for the protagonist to make. These beats include:
- the set up (which leads to)
- the trigger event (which causes)
- the moment of conflict (eventually resulting in)
- the conclusion.
Your finished project can be completed in a number of formats: Video, photo “slide show” with an audio track, animation, machinima, or a performance (which must be documented with video). Note that whatever medium you choose, your artifacts must be consistent with. So, if you decide to create your story world in “live action” as video or performance, then your artifacts should be “real”. If you decide to work in machinima, your artifacts must be of the same world, for instance, the map must be an aerial view of the game world.
Think about how you want to present the three versions of your work. Do you want to use a split screen, to demonstrate parallel action? Do you want to intercut the three versions, so that there is a sense of urgency about how the conflict will be resolved? Do you want to create a slideshow, and have one of the versions unfold backwards? How you choose to produce and present this project is as important as the actual story.
